Rhea is a quiet individual. Still uncomfortable more times than not when she's around people she doesn't know that well, much less in situations where her life feels like it's at risk nonstop. Like the Digiworld. She stands by the edge of a cliff, hands resting on her pockets, staring absently over the land sprawled out before her, watching, listening for something- anything. When footsteps come behind her, she tenses and turns sharply to look- just to relax when she realizes it's Drake. She nods at him before turning her gaze back outwards.

He stands next to her for a few quiet moments before clearing his throat. "How are you doing?" he asks after a moment and this is enough to turn her gaze back towards him. He shrugs a little, suddenly looking sheepish under her intense gaze. "I am still learning how to be a worthwhile leader," he explains. "I'm trying to make sure that everyone is doing ok, physically, emotionally. This is... a lot. I've been a digidestined for awhile now, and I'm still trying to learn the ropes."

Rhea hums. "Yeah," she says, voice low and thoughtful. She continues to stare at him, somewhat amused by how uncomfortable he looks. "Hey, how did you feel when you first learned you were part of all this?"

He blinks a time or two. "Well, confused, I suppose, was the first dominating emotion I felt. That there's been this entire world closed off to all of us since the formation of the internet, based off of data, and full of these creatures, and if one world fails, the other world would be changed permanently. It's a lot to digest, sometimes it still is."

Rhea nods, digging her thumbs deeper into her pockets. "I have trouble sleeping sometimes, thinking about it," she confesses and a look crosses his face- pity, sympathy, she's not sure, but it makes her skin tingle in a way she doesn't truly care for.

"Look, it may not feel like much, because I'm still learning the ropes and everything myself," he offers in a low tone, "but anytime you need anything, call me, alright? Or text, whatever you're comfortable with."

She exhales, feeling some of the tension leaving her body, and glances down at where Tapirmon has been standing, listening to all of this. She exhales quietly and nods. "I will," she promises. "Thank you, Drake."

He smiles at her. "Join us whenever you're ready. We're about done here." They'd searched, they'd interviewed village residents, there was no outward sign of why the digivice was registering a need for assistance here.

She nods. "Thanks, Drake," she murmurs, watching him turn and walk back towards the others.

It all happens so fast. One minute he's crossing near a small body of water, the next, something bursts out of the water and slams towards him at speeds Rhea's never seen before. She gapes on in horror as Gabumon tries to help, blue flames pouring from his mouth as he blasts Coelamon over and over again, but it seems to do nothing. "DRAKE!" she cries out, attracting the attention of the others- but before they can try to do anything, she's moving, holding her digivice out to Tapirmon. "TAPIRMON!"

"I..." Her partner's words fade away mid-sentence and her eyes flash, glowing an overwhelming blue as her body strips away, and reforms as- Garurumon!

Rhea stops and gapes at the large wolf type digimon that's so similar to Drake's partner, but with differences- her fur is a little more tamed, her eyes are less wild, and all in all, she acts a lot like sweet, calm Tapirmon, just with the visible difference of being so much bigger, and so much stronger. She quickly leaps onto Coelamon and pours out blue flames, so much larger and hotter than Gabumon's attempts, and he screams out in agony, quickly forgetting Drake and trying to embed scales into her more vulnerable sides.

"You killed my brother!" he cries out, and Drake chokes, trying to roll away from the brawl.

Either way, he understands now, why Coelamon drew them out, led them here, left them vulnerable for attack in the confusion of this area being quiet and peaceful. "That wasn't us!" he yells back, but Coelamon doesn't care, too lost in his own grief and rage to care.

"Must kill digidestined!" he cries out, slashing at Garurumon with horrible claws, just barely missing as Garurumon tosses her head and then faces forward once more, overwhelming him with fresh flames. He screams out in agony, which quiets abruptly as his core shatters and data dances around them all, lulled by the wind whipped up following his deletion.

Rhea breathes in deeply, eyes wide and fresh horror on her face, as she walks over and leans over Drake. "Are you ok?" she wonders, reaching a hand out to him and examining him shrewdly as he reaches out and grasps it, hoisting himself up with her help.

"I believe so," he confirms shakily. "Thank you for helping me so quickly. I thought..." He fumbles with his words for awhile, and then looks up at her, exhaling slowly.

"Yeah. I get it," she says, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. "Come on, let's get back to the others."

"Yeah," Drake says, glancing down at their Digimon, Tapirmon giggling helplessly as Gabumon pokes gently at her. "I guess our digimon have a lot more in common now than they realized."

"I guess so," Rhea agrees, watching them for a moment before following Drake across the grass to their fellow NXT competitors.

She's still not sure about this world, but there's a soft tingling in her skin, aftereffects of Garurumon's evolution, a lingering warmth that she's never felt before. Her eyes soften as she smiles. Not everything in this world is horrible, at least.