Seth exhales slowly, watching Asuka and Owens as they sleep on. "How long is this going to take?" he asks Luke, frowning as the guardian of the Digiworld trails a device over them, reading... something that just looks like indescrible scribbles to Seth.

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Luke says with a vague frown, which is never a good sign. "Their vitals are normal, it's just an odd fluctuation in their energy levels."

Seth squints anew at the device in his hands and then looks over. "So it seemed like we were all affected by whatever this is, why did we wake up?" He motions to AJ, a suspicious look on his face.

Luke hums. "Hard to say, truly, unless I knew what caused this." He mumbles a few times under his breath before sitting up. "The only thing I can deduce is maybe it's because of your digimon."

Betamon looks at him curiously and Seth hums, still frowning at Asuka and Owens. "Our Digimon? How so?"

"By reports you've given me about the various missions you've been on, so far AJ's partner and yours have had complete evolutions- they haven't skipped stages, it's been consistent in power. Asuka, however, her Calumon warp digivolved to her strongest and never has evolved to the ultimate level. So there are gaps in our knowledge about Calumon's abilities." He hesitates. "I have no easy answer regarding Owens, though. He's met every power level but Mega, his evolution line has been fairly consistent as well."

Seth shakes his head, looking incredulous, and he's about to question Luke further when there's a soft groan from the side and Seth looks again, watching as Owens slowly stirs, his eyes fluttering open a few moments later. "Ow," he grunts, hands shakily reaching up to press against his eyes. "What the hell happened?"

Seth begrudgingly helps him to sit up. "We were hit by something, we all fell unconscious for varying amounts of time. We're all awake, now, except for Asuka."

Owens blinks at him, turning his head until he spots Asuka, serene and unmoving a few feet away. "Dammit," he grunts. "Why does everything have to be so ridiculous when we come here?" He curls in on himself a bit, tugging at his hair, and Seth waits him out until he looks up again. "I don't understand."

"Neither do we," Luke responds. "My only deduction would be it has to do with your partner's evolutions, but it doesn't explain why you were unconscious for longer than the others, when your evolution line is fairly consistent."

Owens shakes his head, looking up when AJ approaches. "So we're all awake but Asuka now?" he asks, kneeling down next to her. "Any idea why this is happening?"

Luke is attempting to explain his theory when Owens bites his lip and lets out a low groan. "Don't you guys hear that?" he demands, rubbing the side of his head like a child might with an earache.

"Hear what?" Seth wonders, immediately on alert as he looks around.

"I don't know," Owens mutters. "It's shrill and low, it... it sounds like... like feedback, or a very faint alarm? I swear I heard something similar earlier... God, it sucks and it just won't cut off..."

Seth shifts forward on his feet and frowns, listening intently. "Does it sound like..."

"Pipismon," Luke breathes out. "They do hang out around here, they usually keep to themselves unless it's very late. Whatever would one be doing out at this hour of the morning?"

Betamon and Modoki Betamon track it, sniffing carefully until they come upon it hanging in a tree. "There!" Seth's partner cries out, he and AJ racing over to where they're looking up. "Could it be the cause of all of this?"

"It would probably explain why we weren't as affected," AJ suggests, staring up at the creature. "Their powers have to do with sound waves and sensory destruction, right? But we have water or insect based digimon, and they aren't as affected by such things, maybe."

It's little more than speculation and uncertainty and none of them are thrilled by it, but it's really all they've got. When they approach where the Pipismon is hanging, the creature watches them, a snarl on its face. "Yeah, he looks friendly," Seth mutters, rolling his eyes. "So what should we-"

His words immediately die away and he collapses to his knees as a shrill squeeching noise comes from the bat-type Digimon once more, his hold on consciousness wavering yet again. "BETAMON!"

His digimon somehow succeeds at morphing into Seadramon, and attacks, knocking Pipismon off of its perch and destroying its concentration, the noise dying away as quickly as it'd come. Gasping for breath, the digidestined dig their fingers into the ground and groan, headaches back with a vengeance. "Shit," Owens groans, more susceptible than the others since he'd only just recently woke up from this.

"Well, that answers that," Seth grunts, forcing himself upright and staring at Seadramon. "You know what to do."

Between one blink and the next, Seadramon evolves further and wraps his thick tail around Pipismon. "River of Power!" Such a powerful blast at this range, to an already dazed digimon, is Pipismon's death kneal, data exploding out of its overwhelmed body as it deletes.

Seth breathes a little easier until he looks over to find Asuka still unconscious and pale. "Shit," he mumbles, crawling over to her and resting a hand on her cheek. "I'd hoped that would be enough to wake her up."

The other digidestined join him, Luke hovering nearby, murmuring among each other about what to do regarding Asuka's condition. They all freeze and look up when a bitter laugh echoes around them, Seth's hands clenching into fists as he recognizes it. "Sakuyamon."

"You remember me!" she says, voice cloying with fake joy. "Beautiful. Well, unfortunately, since you decided it was necessary to delete my poor Pipismon, I don't have time to come traumatize you all any further today, but soon, Digidestined. Very soon. In the meanwhile, enjoy this little gift I have decided to grant you right now." There's a subtle whisper of something in the wind and Seth frowns, closing his eyes against the sensation.

He only opens them again when he hears a faint murmur in Japanese and stares down at a bleary eyed Asuka, his jaw dropping in amazed relief. "Nani...?" she mumbles, barely conscious.

"Asuka!" the group cries out, varying emotions in their voices as they surround her.

Seth remains by her side until she's sitting up, clinging to her head and murmuring in low, sheepish English to those around her, a confused smile on her pale lips, before he settles in at Luke's side. "I am very confused," he says. "Why would Sakuyamon do any of this? It makes no sense."

Luke's gaze is distant, lost in thought, or time, or something in between. Seeing something Seth thinks he may never be made fully aware of. "Yes," he murmurs. "It truly doesn't."