There are six of them this week. Nakamura casts a cool eye over the others, unimpressed but almost relieved for their diminished numbers. Less people to keep an eye on. Less arguments to potentially break out. He and Owens are lurking on opposite sides of the group while Aiden and Xavier talk lowly, and Shane and Ziggler stay close to each other as well. Shinsuke sneers and walks just a little bit faster, his dark eyes searching for something- for the reason why the map was summoning them here. It seems peaceful enough, no fire or visible signs of destruction, so he is confused...

until something zings by, ruffling his hair and leaving him standing very still, very quiet. "EVERYONE DOWN!" he barks as another arrow of flame bursts through the air, slicing through the shoulder of his gear, clearly just a warning but a pretty solid one. He lays there for a moment before looking up. "Coronamon!" The command in his tone is obvious.

Apollomon appears before him within moments, flashing off to find the owner of the arrows, and Shinsuke breathes a little easier, planting his hands in the dirt and pulling himself up, trying to spot his partner. His plans are dashed moments later when Apollomon hits the ground hard close to where he's laying, skidding to a stop only inches away from his prone body. "Ay!"

It's then that the others urge their partners to digivolve, and Shinsuke gets to his feet as the battle begins in earnest, finally catching sight of the four legged beast not that far away. If they had continued walking, they would've been picked off one by one by the monstrous creature. "Sleipmon," he intones, walking up to Apollomon and trying to brush off some of the ice cracked onto his body. "Apollomon, we need you," he tells him quietly, trying to revive his partner.

Beelzebumon puts up the best fight out of all of them, but they're all rather outnumbered, left vulnerable to the centuar like creature's attacks of fire and ice, unable to tell what attack he will come at them with next- arrows or blasts of elemental energy. And it costs them dearly, Xavier and Aiden rushing to the sides to help DeZipmon and Roamon when they hit the ground hard, suffering from burns and frost bite along their bodies. Andromon and Mega Gaogomon even try to work together, but there's so much distress and hatred there thanks to Owens and Shane's current feelings about each other that it's only a matter of time before they're flat on their back in craters as well, Shane and Kevin crying out their partners' names in a futile attempt to get them up and moving again.

"Only we," Shinsuke intones, forcing himself to his fullest height. "We must finish this!" And Apollomon suddenly shines with a bright, overwhelming light as Shinsuke's digivice thrums with his determination, awakening his partner and sharing his strength with him.

Dolph and Beelzebumon watch on in awe as they move to shield the downed Digimon and their human partners. "Took you long enough," he cracks.

Shinsuke casts an emotionless glance towards him before turning back to the evil before them. He can see it now, glowing, red eyes peering out at him, snarling breaths coming from the creature's mouth every few moments. "Possession," he muses, something that has only become more and more of a problem since their arrival in the digiworld. Most Digimon are not evil, either lulled to it by their Virus attribution or forced into it by situations like this, and he thinks they will never fully stop such things while creatures can sway each other into acting against their base nature, but he will do the best he can. "We will put you to rest," he promises the beast before looking back at Apollomon and sharing a clipped nod with him. "So you may hopefully be reborn and return to guarding that which is important to you, in time."

Apollomon stares down the creature which would've been beautiful and majestic in any other situation and, when Sleipmon attacks, fresh arrows barreling towards them, he meets them head on with arrows of his own, one after another exploding in midair as they collide. Lunging forward, fist pulsing with energy, he takes a wild swing at Sleipmon, who tries to dodge but fails as Apollomon's attack strikes along his flank, leaving him roaring out in pain. He tries to fight back, shoot more arrows out, hit back with his hooves, something, anything, but Apollomon continues striking, again and again, until Sleipmon has collapsed on his forelegs. "I apologize, my friend," Apollomon tells him somberly. "You deserve much better. But I cannot allow you to continue down this path. The Digidestined must survive, and whatever evil has ahold of you cannot be allowed to survive."

Sleipmon's head is raised with pride as he looks Apollomon right in the eye. Shinsuke thinks he knows what emotion lies there when Apollomon rocks back on his heels just to slam forward in one, final attack that shatters through Sleipmon's body, data bursting from his chest and raining down upon the ground at their feet. It still troubles him, such a magnificent Digimon having to be destroyed, data rewritten, because of yet another evil.

He takes his time, going from Digidestined to Digidestined, checking on the humans, making sure their partners, now dedigivolved and resting in the wrestlers' arms, are doing fine. He smiles, slightly, and chuffs Armadillomon before looking up at Shane. "We need to do something," he says simply.

"I agree," Shane tells him.

The but what, exactly, lingers in the air between them as Shinsuke turns on his heel and moves for the digiport, needing time to think about this.