Dakota likes the Digiworld. It's beautiful, in its own way, sad and brilliant and so nuanced that sometimes it hurts just to walk through it and think about all of the digimon who have lived and died here, little more than data scattered in the wind. She sighs and tilts her head up to feel the sun on her face.

"Dakota?" Salamon asks shyly. "Are you... are you alright?"

"Yeah," she says with a small smile, reaching up to stroke her partner's face, chuff her under the jaw a little bit. "I'm great, just thinking. Don't worry about me!"

Salamon nods, though she stil looks a bit anxious as she peers up at Dakota. "I'm really glad we met," she says softly.

Dakota's eyes glow with happiness as she pets Salamon's forehead. "Hey, me too," she responds, a grin spreading over her face. She peeks at the others as they walk on. Drake is focused on his digivice, checking to make sure they're walking the right direction, Dream is quiet with a blank look on his face, walking a few steps behind her, and Ciampa, Rhea, and Damien Priest are all equally as talkative, each scattered here and there. Some team we make, she thinks, sighing as she resumes petting her partner.

"Dakota?" Drake asks softly, and she looks up at him with a muffled sound of surprise.

"Ye- yeah, Drake?"

"Are you ok?" he asks with a faint smile.

"Oh! Yeah, no worries, everything's fine." Thankfully he doesn't pry into what had her sighing in frustration and turns his focus back onto their path after glancing around at the others. She grimaces and buries her face into Salamon's side, feeling her partner giggle a little bit. Her wayward, anxious thoughts all fade away when they approach a village, everything still and quiet within. "Wha..." She reaches out to touch the gate, but Dream suddenly grabs her wrist. "Hey!"

"Don't touch that," he says, a strange look on his face. "Drake-"

"Yeah," he mumbles, pointing ahead with a shaking finger. "Look." They all follow Drake's direction to find- a fluttering butterfly type creature, frozen in mid-air just within the border of this village. "It's ... the entire village is stopped," he says. "As if it was somehow ... put on pause or something."

"Or something," Dream agrees, releasing Dakota once he's sure she won't move again, and approaches the gate, peering deeper within the village. Impmon is by his side, and they exchange glances. "Do you know of any digimon with the ability to stop time?"

"There are a few, but long term and wide sweeping like this?" Impmon worries his lip. "Not really."

Dream seems displeased with this answer and has just turned to look at the others when there's a sudden gleam of... gold?... and he freezes in mid-movement. Just like that. Impmon seems stuck as well, staring ahead with his mouth partially open like he'd been about to say something further when he'd been trapped.

Drake gapes at him. "Drea- Dream?" He takes a half-step forward before gasping and moving back, trying to put enough distance between him and the village. "Guys, do not approach the village, at all," he commands, hands curling into fists at his side. "Shit, shit, shit, this is not good." He raises his digivice and gives a clipped nod to his partner, all of the digidestined feeling a little relieved when Garurumon winds around them, watching out for any movement or odd show of power.

Dakota squeezes Salamon tighter and buries her face in the soft fur of her partner's body. "What are we supposed to do?" she wonders, so inexperienced with all of this that she doesn't know where to turn, what to do, overwhelmed and shaking.

"It'll be ok," Salamon tries to sooth her. "I'm here for you."

It's a sweet sentiment, but Salamon is so small, and whatever just froze Dream in place seems so strong and frightening, that all Dakota can do is hug Salamon even tighter and try not to look too closely at what's going on around her, the tension already heavy on her shoulders.

She does look, however, when there's a gasp and Drake mutters, "Ciampa. Dammit, not you too." She glances over to find the man kneeling by Guilmon, a hand outreached, and just hovering there in mid-air, his intense blue eyes fixed straight ahead without a flicker of movement.

"He- he's nowhere near the village," she breathes out and Drake nods.

"This thing... whatever it is, it's targeting us now apparently." He looks around at the others. "Guys, I know this is scary, but try to stay calm and keep an eye out-" His body just stops midword and Dakota lets out a faint cry of alarm, burying her face back in Salamon's side.

"No- no, no, no, Drake!"

Rhea and even Priest look unsettled at this point, the three of them clustering together, but no matter where they look, how hard they try to spot the cause of this, there's nothing. No sign of anything. "What the hell are we supposed to do?" Rhea demands, her temper getting the best of her.

Dakota has no clue what to even suggest, Damien remains silent as well, and Rhea huffs in annoyance, stepping away from the others. "Hey, whatever you are, whoever keeps freezing people like this, cut it out and show yourself so we can get on with the battle, yeah?" She cracks her knuckles so aggressively that Dakota flinches at how loud and grating it is, but nothing appears before them. "Still gonna be this way, huh?" She takes another step forward, and then... stops midstep, one studded boot still hovering in the air, her entire body going rigid. Just like the others before her.

Dakota gasps and turns to look at Damien, who is looking frustrated with the entire situation. "And then there were two," he mutters, barely offering her a glance before he spreads his arms out. "Well, come and get me if you're so bad."

She wants to yell at him to stop, make him come back to her side- whatever this was appears disinterested in going after them when they are close to each other, for whatever reason- but her mouth isn't working and all she can do is watch as light reflects off of something and as quickly as the others, Damien is frozen just like that, smug look on his face, arms outstretched in challenge. Tears well up in her eyes as she realizes she's all alone and vulnerable, no one around to help her figure this out, or decide what to do from here.

"Please, don't-" she gasps out, before she feels a light touch on her shoulder, and then... darkness.

"Dakota." Salamon's voice is the first thing she hears in the void. "Dakota! Open your eyes! Look!"

She opens her eyes with a sudden gasp, color and sound suddenly returning to her. She gapes as swirling particles form bits and pieces, growing larger and slowly taking shape, forming the world that she's slowly getting to know. "Wha- what is this?"

Salamon squeezes her hand and whispers, "I think it's the creation of the digiworld, all of those decades ago."

Things begin speeding up, after awhile, creatures forming out of the pieces of data floating in the newly created world. Good creatures, bad creatures, neutral creatures, so many types and so many versions that her head spins after awhile. Then things shift- they are on earth, she thinks, somewhere in Japan, massive apartment complexes high overhead, children hanging out of the windows, standing on balconies, watching as massive digimon battle it out. ON Earth. Dakota's gasp echoes and she looks up at all of the curious eyes peering down- before a kid runs into the melee, yelling, and one of the digimon evolves. Shortly afterwards, an entire apartment complex is destroyed with the two massive creatures battling. Dakota cries out and holds her head, even as the debris collapses through her.

She blinks in confusion and looks up as a portal is opened in the night sky, and the two massive digimon disappear as quickly as they must have appeared all of those years ago. "Oh my God," she breathes out, clutching at Salamon. Between one blink and the next, she finds herself back in the digiworld, surrounded by Drake, and Dream, and all of the others. "Wha- what happened?" she breathes out, so confused as Drake kneels down close to her.

"Oh good, you're awake," he says with a weary smile. "It appears we were all shown the same thing, separately." He reaches out and squeezes her shaking hand. "It's ok, Dakota. Apparently we have a new friend, although a simple hello, how are you? would have sufficed."

Dakota squeaks as a gold digimon suddenly appears close to her, his entire body covered in ticking clocks all showing different times, and Drake steadies her as she gapes at the creature. "You... you caused all of this! You froze that village! And then all of us!"

Timemon tilts his head at her and purses his lips, before turning to examine the village. "Necessary to bring you somewhere secluded and safe to show you the origins of this world, of you," he muses, bustling forward and grazing the barrier that Dream had been standing next to earlier. "I merely wanted you to see the beginning breaths of that which you are currently fighting so hard to save. The other Digidestined groups have their own guardian digimon, although Ophanimon nor Tankdramon seem as eager to guide them as I would prefer to do with all of you." He glows, and Dakota instinctively covers her face again, but his power doesn't affect her this time, simply freeing the village from his ability. "There, all sorted."

He turns to look at the digidestined before him and sighs. "You all are so new to this world. To best help something, I feel you all should understand it. I apologize if my attempts were unwarranted, I simply wanted to avoid any unnecessary confusion between us."

"Unnecessary confusion," Ciampa snaps. "Maybe next time just come to us and introduce yourself instead of immediately forcing us to see things from decades ago."

"My apologies," Timemon says, bowing his head slightly. "I am inexperienced with much social interaction, as before Luke contacted me regarding you all, I hadn't spoke to anyone else in a very long time."

"How come?" Dakota can't help but ask, immediately shrinking back into herself when Timemon looks over at her.

"I have been examining time. The past, the future, the present. It is all so intricate and fascinating how one, small action can affect so many things. Pulling myself away takes a great deal of willpower. But who am I to refuse a request from Luke himself?" He comes closer to them. "I hope we can move past today's error in judgment on my behalf and work together to make the digiworld a more peaceful place."

Drake examines the rest of the group, exhaling slowly. Most of them look annoyed, or hesitant, but Dream looks as nonplussed as ever, and Drake thinks if anyone would sense something off with all of this, it would be him, so Drake squares his shoulders and steps forward. "Very well. We would appreciate the help."

Dakota watches closely as Timemon's sharp blue eyes shift ever so slightly and hopes Drake's decision is not a mistake.