Things were spiraling out of control before Rubani could even be sure of what exactly was going on. What she could be sure of was that the monsters had stolen their things, and the children that were here decided that it was a good idea to to chase after them. "No, wait!" she cried out in vain. "Don't just go after them! Don't..." Her words were lost to them. One by one, they left after the creatures. Soon, Rubani was the only one left standing in the clearing.

That is, except for one other. The red headed girl (boy?) was still here, fortunately.

His question seeming to fall on deaf ears, Dante once again found himself left behind as one of the two girls dashed off after the older boy, shouting angrily after him all the way until she disappeared into the trees. Now it was just him and the last, and by the looks of it, oldest girl remaining, and her futile shout after the other girl only helped to drive in what a hopeless situation they'd found themselved in.

He did his best to expel that anxiety with a deep, heavy sigh. "What the hell are we going to do?" She seemed to have a more stable head on her shoulders than the other two: if anyone could help figure out an actual plan of action, it was likely her. 

"You're asking me?" Rubani exclaimed, surprised that someone thought she actually knew what was going on. Then she realized: they were only a kid! Of course they'd look up to someone older when he needed help! She couldn't let them down! Her posture straightened as she tried to make herself look a tiny bit taller and cleared her throat. "You don't have to worry!" she said in the most confident voice she could think of. "I can catch up to them and bring them back here safely, so don't worry" Hopefully it would be enough to keep him from chasing them himself.

Dante was quiet for a moment as she replied, his expression anxious but otherwise difficult to read. Had Rubani's words been as futile as those directed at the other two? Had they fallen on similarly deaf ears, or could he just not comprehend a state where he wasn't scared out of his head?

"... Yeah. Yeah, you're right." Fortunately, it seemed neither were the case. Dante let out another heavy sigh, but otherwise his posture and expression seemed to lose a significant amount of tension. The situation wasn't completely hopeless: it was still possible that they could catch them up before they got themselves hurt, and talk enough sense into them.

His mind told him it wasn't likely, but as far as coping mechanisms and courses of action went, it was a fairly solid one. 

Meanwhile, with everyone running off, Rubani was starting to feel as if she hadn't been doing enough here. They were children! What could these monsters expect them to do?! What did these kids think they could do on their own?! If anything, she had more of a reason to go after, in order to keep them from getting themselves hurt, or worse. Who knew what these things were capable of?

Rubani turned to the chid. "Tell me, what is your name?"

"Dante. You?" It was a little brusque, but politeness tended to take a hit when one's mind was moving a hundred miles an hour. Though he'd moved from anxiety to a near-calm, his mind had flared back up: this time with an actual further course of action. 

"What did they take from you?" At first, his next line might have seemed like a non-sequiter. He paused, seemed to realize that, and then continued. "The first one who went off said that they took his watch- maybe he'll see sense if we tell him what we've lost." It was a bit of a long shot, but still better than nothing. 

"My name is Rubani", she replied. "They took my phone, but as far as I'm concerned, that 'digimon' can do whatever he wants with it. I'm more concerned about the other two that went after them."

Realizing he may have been a bit blunt at first, Dante offered Rubani an uneasy smile: after all, it [i]was[/i] reassuring to finally have someone to talk to who wasn't a morose pink blob. Though as she confirmed what had been taken from her, his mind quickly reeled back to the topic. "I don't know what they took just yet." Nothing on his person seemed obviously missing; his pockets seemed as full as they normally did, so he crouched down and opened up his bag. "Didn't get the chance to take a good look, but right now I'm thinking the same thing. Whatever they took, it isn't worth running into whatever's out there."

Rubani was starting to get anxious herself. If she stood there any longer, she might never be able to catch them. "Dante" she said, "I'm going to need you to stay here and wait for me, okay? I'll be back as soon as I can, so please be patient."

"Alright." Dante nodded, closing his bag back up. His face seemed a little grim, but whatever he'd discovered missing didn't seem to have changed his mind on the plan. There were no more words after that: their minds were made up, and both were set on the course of action. 

There was no more time to think about things. Rubani gave the boy a quick pat on the head before running off after the other children. If anyone was going to try and be an adult here, it might as well be an actual adult. If she wanted to prove herself as worthy of the title, now was the time.

The forest was dense with foliage. Every few seconds, her shoe would catch on to a thick plant or tree root, and she would stumble. Once, she tripped over what was some sort of thorny vine, and she landed on her arms hard enough to bruise them. However, footsteps still echoed off of the trees not too far away. She was catching up to them, they had to be close! Ignoring whatever pain there was, she stood up and kept running. Rubani was going to catch those kids if it was the last thing she ever did.
---
Back in the clearing, Dante rose to his feet and dived back into his thoughts as Rubani left. 

This time, there wasn't quite the same sense of hopelessness. With any luck, the older girl could catch up to the others before they got themselves hurt, or worse, and they could figure out a plan of action that wasn't just charging off blindly into the unknown. 

Closing his bag back up, he couldn't help but feel a sense of relief. Sometimes he forgot what was and wasn't in there from day to day, but today he'd packed light: there were few things in his bag to begin with, and none of those were anything he'd miss enough to risk his life for. 

His 3DS was no different. He couldn't deny that his heart had sunk a little when he realized it was missing: it had been a gift, and was definitely one that he'd deeply appreciated and enjoyed. 

But compared to the prospect of getting everyone back together and hopefully finding some way out of this strange place, the feeling of loss was nothing. He just hoped that his mum and dad wouldn't be too worried, or his sister-

... Wait.

Dante's thoughts and facial expression froze. Then, as the seconds ticked by and his mind joined the dots, his mind set off into overdrive as his left eye and the side of his mouth began to twitch.

He remembered, now. He'd left his 3DS at home that day, even though he'd been going to a friend's. The reason he'd left it at home was because he was letting his sister use it to catch up on her game whilst hers was at the friend's house she'd left it at. He'd swung by on the day's walk to pick it up. And then whatever had got him sent to this place had happened. 

For all his spikes of anxiety and reversions to the frightened child he was beneath it all, Dante had stayed relatively calm up until that point. But now, as his hundred-miles-a-minute mind ran headfirst into a brick wall, that changed.

It wasn't something of [i]his[/i] that had been taken.

[i]"Get back here with my sister's stuff, you little [b]shits[/b]!"[/i] And with an impressive glower on his face and a impassioned near-roar of fury, Dante lost all semblance of calm and all consciousness of the plan, and tore into the forest like a wildfire after the creatures that had taken his sister's 3DS.