Drake frowns. The only person on his team currently happy is Damien Priest, playing around with Arkadimon Child like he's one of the more cuddly Digimon. Velveteen Dream's arm is up in a sling, his face pale and drawn, Dakota Kai and Tommaso Ciampa are grim and quiet, and Rhea Ripley is just her usual intense self, keeping a close eye on everything around them. Drake himself isn't that thrilled, with the draft on the horizon and uncertainty on who will remain and who will go weighing against all of his actions. He sighs and pulls out his digivice after spending a few moments surveying them.
"Come on, let's go," he says quietly, leading the way to the portal to take them to one of the many blinking spots on their devices. It seems quiet enough, peaceful and everything one could hope for one of the many digimon villages around, but that red dot continues to flash, taunting all of them. "I see nothing," he sighs.
"Me neither," Priest says, lifting Arkadimon. "What do you think? Anything worrisome out there?"
Drake's about to suggest they go explore, look from village to village to see a reason for this alert, when something wet and nasty strikes the side of his face. He blanches, rushing to wipe it off, before looking down. There's a gold ...lump on the ground at his feet and he pales. "Is that...?" Damien sees it too and begins to cackle as Drake glares up at him, a horrified blush covering his face. "Bloody hell!"
Damien's laughter quickly stops when more of the golden mess rains down upon them, Drake looking up and trying to spot the direction it's coming from. "There!" he declares, just to flinch when more of the golden mess lands on his fingers, coats his hand up to the wrist. "Ahhh!" He shakes it off as best as he can and squares his shoulders. "Come on, Gabumon."
The group shield their faces against the onslaught and continue marching forward until they're finally within range, and Gabumon immediately strikes out with Blue Blaster, breaking through the line of mess getting thrown at them... temporarily, at least, as a golden monster with oddly beautiful wings float up in the sky and sneers at them, breathing out toxic gas that leaves them all gasping for fresh air, struggling just to maintain their balance and not completely collapse under the nastiness of it all.
Dakota's eyes are watering as she storms forward, raising her arms out on either side of her. "Salamon!" she cries out, and her partner rushes forward, ready and eager to put an end to this, but then Gold Numemon overwhelms her with more disgusting breath and she crumples. "Salamon! No!" Dakota lunges forward and covers Salamon with her body, shielding her from being targetted by further mess, and Salamon blinks tiredly up at her.
"Dakota," she breathes out, a faint glow covering them.
Drake blinks and peers out over his arm as Salamon grew, body turning more feline as her tail whips around. "She's evolving!" he exclaims, words swallowed up by the loud whirring of Dakota's digivice as the sequence is complete and Gatomon stands before them, proud and eager to fight back.
Ignoring the continuous disgusting attacks, and Gold Numemon's breath, she leaps forward and hovers directly over top of him. Eyes blazing with ferocity, she lunges, claws extended, and swipes clean across his face, scratching through his wings. His flight immediately falters and he drops, hard, landing with a sharp thud a few feet in front of the digidestined. "I'm sorry!" he babbles, flopping around on the ground and trying to reclaim his balance. "I didn't mean...!"
Drake hesitates a few feet away and watches him, unsure how to respond, when a sneer crosses Gold Numemon's face and he ceases his begging immediately, lunging at Drake.
"I didn't mean to let you all off so easily!" More toxic gas spews from his mouth, aiming right for Drake, and he pales, stumbling backwards to escape the unexpected attack... when Gatomon slams down upon him, punching him aside and opening up his wounds even further.
"Tha- thanks, Gatomon," Drake gasps, eyes still wide with some fear as he notes the few feet that separated him from being attacked and probably poisoned.
The group turns their attention onto Gold Numemon, who is struggling, shredded wings flapping uselessly at his sides. "Please- not this way," he mumbles into the dirt, fighting to stand despite the data streaming from Gatomon's claw marks down his side. "I just wanted a village all of my own, where my fellow Numemon could... live in peace, and be as messy as we wanted with... without constantly being mocked and looked down on..."
Drake exhales shakily, brushing off more of the mess sticking to his arm. "It's a nice goal, but trying to takeover other villages isn't the way to go." His eyes soften as Gold Numemon lets out a choked noise, body fading slowly as he listens to Drake. "You'll be re-formated soon. Hopefully the next time, you can find a more peaceful way to accomplish your goals."
"That doesn't include throwing mess at people," Dakota adds in with a sniff, still picking some of it out of her hair.
Gold Numemon seems at a loss for words, but just before he disappears entirely, he nods. "I'll try-" he manages before the last of his data drifts away in the wind.
The group stands there for a little bit, feeling grimy and absolutely disgusting but unable to let this moment go right away. "Sometimes, the Dream hates this world," Velveteen Dream mumbles, glaring down at the disgusting state of his sling now.
"I need a shower," Rhea agrees, already walking off to return to the Digiport.
Drake smiles a little as his group choruses after her, all eager to get out of this world and wash all of this away. "Yeah," he mumbles, glancing up at what remains of Gold Numemon's data before it too fades away to be reborn in one of the baby villages. "Me too."
