The latest battle isn't difficult. They find the village, they find the Hagarurumon ransacking it, and when it rushes to attack them, rage clouding its eyes, AJ urges the others to digivolve. They still don't accept him as their defacto leader but they listen anyway because it's sensible, and ultimately it's Roamon who gets the defeating blow in. They're all relieved that the fight had gone as smoothly as it had with no injuries or anything serious to fret about, and they return to Luke's cave to see if there's anything else that needs done before they return to earth.

Luke sits serenely in front of his hideout and observes the digidestined as they laugh with their partners, a curious look in his eye. "AJ, mind if I talk with you for a moment?" he wonders, getting slowly to his feet.

AJ blinks a couple of times, then nods. "Sure man, what's up?" They wander away from the others, out of hearing range, and AJ starts to get impatient. "What's this about, Luke? We were kinda plannin' on headin' back home soon, and-"

Luke sighs. "Ok. This is a lot, I want your input on it before I make inroads to doing this." He rocks back and forth on his feet a bit before turning to face AJ fully. "When I decided to bring in the wrestlers as digidestined, things were relatively simple. WWE was the company. Most of the people I would've wanted to choose were there, they could come and go as they please. But in the last few years, things have shifted greatly. Now there are other companies with many of the former digidestined I used to use to protect the world, and... I am curious what you think would happen if I let other companies have a crack at being Digidestined? Some still have their partners from their former days as Digidestined, it wouldn't take much. It would ease the strain on you all, at least."

AJ stares at him. "So you mean..."

"There would be Digidestined groups from AEW, and Digidestined groups from Impact," he says. "I am aware of upwards of ten former digidestined on these shows. I think it makes sense, don't you?"

AJ swallows. It sucks, in a way, he'd been proud of their helping to protect the digiworld on their own for so long, but he has to admit it does weigh on him, especially after the random, various firing sprees the last year. "Yeah," he says slowly. "It does make sense."

Luke smiles at him. "I appreciate your honesty," he says quietly. "This isn't going to happen immediately, but I wanted your opinion while I figure out the logistics of it. If you would please not tell anyone else what we've discussed here."

"Yeah, sure man," AJ finally says, feeling a little numb. "Our little secret."

Luke smiles again and sends him on his way.