Morrison huffs under his breath, looking around. It's just him, Rhea, Xavier, Damien and AJ. Asuka nor Miz are with them- which, at least in the case of Mike, he thinks they're better off anyway. He rolls his eyes and examines the other digidestined. "Well, I guess we should go," he decides, none too thrilled with any of it, but just wanting to get everything done so he can go home.

"Wait, who made you leader?" Damien wonders, and John chooses to ignore him, already half-way to the digiport waiting nearby. Rhea, Xavier, and AJ all mumble to themselves about it, but they ultimately follow, giving Damien little choice but to fall in line. For now, at least.

It's a quiet looking village on a quiet looking island that they're sent to. Except that instead of actual peace, it's a kind of frozen horror factory because as soon as they approach the actual village, they find a number of digimon right by the gates, all frozen in place. None of them react when called, or hands waved in front of their faces, nothing. "It's like they're paralyzed," Rhea mumbles.

"What are these blue things?" John wonders, brushing a tentative finger over strangely soft scale-like shapes that are on all of the digimon he can see. "Maybe this is...?"

Before he can finish his sentence, there's a sharp trill from nearby and when he looks up, he comes face to face with a white digimon with blue wings for ears, a frustrated look on its face. He's about to say something when the creature's ears glow, captivating him. "Uh-"

"John! MOVE!" Guilmon cries, suddenly tackling him aside. Blue scales slam into the ground where he'd been standing mere seconds later, and John gapes at how quickly it had all happened.

"Damn, thanks, Guilmon," he mumbles, looking around to see the others tense, waiting for a fight too.

Guilmon nods, already approaching the digimon. "Morphomon, what are you doing? This isn't-"

Morphomon's eyes flash red and Guilmon swallows, hard, cutting himself off. "The world is too loud," she says pensively. "I want to be left alone!" More blue scales pour from her ears, and Guilmon retreats further.

It sucks, she looks young, and cute, and lost, but there's only so much they can do. Especially when a village full of digimon are already affected by her attacks. "Guilmon," he says simply, and his partner nods, biting his lip.

Lunging forward, Guilmon swipes out with his impressive claws, but Morphomon hisses and springs away, already readying a new set of scales to paralyze his friend. "It won't be that easy!" Guilmon declares, moving away and spinning back, snapping his jaws at the small digimon.

She moves, in kind, and responds with another attempt at hitting him and paralyzing him with her scales, but he burns them away and continues on. They continue this dance for awhile, scales and flames surrounding them, but Guilmon is faster- more determined- it only takes one misstep, and he has her- bursting through a new group of aflamed scales to pounce her, faltering briefly once he's upon her. She smirks, wings trembling as she prepares to paralyze him, but he closes his eye and dives in, slashing at her.

Her face registers shock as he gouges straight through her ears, rendering her wings unusable. "NOOOOO!" she screams, somewhere between angered and pained, and gasps, slumping down into the ground as her data pours haphazardly down beneath her. "No..."

He backs off, watches her grimly, and turns to look as Morrison joins him, resting a hand on the top of his head. "John..."

"Fantastic job neutralizing her," he says softly. "I know it wasn't easy, she is pretty cute."

"Morphomon can't survive without her ears," Guilmon responds quietly. "It's as good as a death sentence, especially here."

Her eyes are still gleaming red through her tears, and John exhales. "I think we need to finish this either way," he says reluctantly, and Guilmon nods slowly.

Before they can make a gameplan, or decide exactly how, Morphomon stands, shakily, and approaches them. "Do it," she says, pressing her body against Guilmon's hanging claw. "Let me be reborn. As I was before. When... when things were bright, and not overwhelmingly painful. Please."

John and Guilmon exchange glances and John nods slowly, Guilmon taking a deep breath before giving Morphomon what she wants, the two of them watching on quietly as the rest of her deletes, data pouring away on the soft breeze playing through their hair.

As soon as she's gone, the scales on the villages fade away into little particles of data as well, and before John and Guilmon are prepared for it, they're surrounded by grateful villagers, all once more back to normal.