For some reason, the trek back over the rubble that was this part of Tokyo felt like it took years. But BanchoLeomon hopped up onto the pile of decimated concrete that the others were gathering around only to watch Beezlemon, no, Dirk, nearly lose his shit again. For fuck’s sake. He wasn’t dealing with this.

“Alright, is everyone here?” BanchoLeomon grumbled, folding his arms as he somehow produced a box of cigarettes out from his coat and stuck one in his mouth. Probably was on Lucas’s person when they’d Biomerged. “We’re running out of time to sit around and wait.”

“Rodendramon is with you, right?” As BanchoLeomon pulled up, Examon cautiously took his attention away from Beelzemon and Dorugoramon. Provided nothing took a sudden turn, it seemed the worst he had to worry about was BanchoLeomon strangling Beelzemon. 

BanchoLeomon jerked a finger behind him in the direction he’d came with one hand while fishing for a lighter in his coat with the other. “Idiot somehow blue-screened himself, he’s in some kind of Microsoft Sam safe mode. But he’s functional and ready to fight.”

“Yeah, that checks out.” Well, it was better than nothing, Examon supposed. If Jordan and Shrewmon could fight, they could figure out what was going on with them once this was all over. “I don’t know if Parasimon mentioned it to you or not, but Siggy’s still out for now-“

“Wait, what?” Lucas’s voice burst out of the cat man’s mouth, showing an uncharacteristic amount of concern. Or rather, it’d be more of an uncharacteristic outburst if Siggy wasn’t basically his best friend at this point besides his Digimon partner. “Shit. He’s still alive, right? Just KOed? Christ.” 

“Yeah, don’t worry, I’m all but certain he’s still with us.” Examon seemed a little taken aback by the sudden display of emotion, but a moment later and he was speaking calmly again. He should have expected that, he realized. “You know what that [i]thing[/i] did to all of us, I think it must just be affecting him worse than the rest of us. You know him, I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”

“Alright, alright, fine. Guess that’s the best we can ask for.” Lucas sighed. “Guessing Zei isn’t conscious either, huh?” If he was really saddled with just Dirk of all people for this last battle, God was real and he had the most dickish sense of humor in existence. Not even random chance was that malicious.

“She’s up, just… not quite with it.” Examon sighed. “Long story, she and Dorumon can still fight, and you’ve probably figured by now but I can still move and fight. It’s an even longer story on that one, but if Dirk and Beelzemon are somehow back with us that means that if Rodendramon is with you, unless you were lucky enough to bump into him on the way over, the only one of us still unaccounted for is UlforceVeedramon?”

“But yes, I haven’t run into Ulforce either.” BanchoLeomon took back over, puffing on his smoke. “The way I see it, we won’t have long until whatever that is up in the sky finally gets around to moving. We’re going to have to do this without him. Everyone ready?”

“I agree, but something feels really [i]off[/i] about this.” Examon was well aware that the clock was running down on their window of opportunity to get the first shot in against Moon=Millenniummon, but try as he might, there was no shifting that uncomfortable feeling from earlier. “I don’t know about you, but when I was out there in my own mind, I saw more outcomes of this fight than I care to remember, and he was there, fighting with us, but Beelzemon was nowhere to be seen. I’m sure- as sure as I am about Siggy- that he didn’t fall when this [i]thing[/i] first raised its ugly head out of the bay, but something’s not adding up.”

“I’ve been trying to figure that out for myself, for what it’s worth.” Parasimon had been quiet up until this point as Examon and BanchoLeomon reunited and reconvened, simply keeping a watchful eye on Beelzemon and Dorugoramon below him, and the monstrosity in the sky above them all. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think we all got hit at the same time. Dorugoramon mentioned moving in to attack Millenniummon when it first reawakened, but I went under almost the exact moment it rose up out of the water.”

“Makes sense.” BanchoLeomon grunted, offering everyone else in the vicinity a smoke, which only Beelzemon took. “We only went under when we looked up at the sky. Good thing none of you were flying over the bay at the time, or you’d probably have been drowning by now-” He paused in the middle of lighting Beelzemon’s cigarette. 

“Sovereigns be damned, Ulforce was over the water, wasn’t he?”

Despite the haze of heat from the titans around him, a sudden chill seeped into the air at BanchoLeomon’s words. Examon stared at him for a moment before, with a sudden dulling of his bright yellow eyes, he snapped around to look at the waters behind them in horror. 

“...” Parasimon’s reaction was a bit more muted at first, with him just staring at BanchoLeomon as Beelzemon’s mouth fell open and his cigarette tumbled to the ground below, but a moment later and- “Oh. Oh fuck. I remember now, I was more or less right here when it happened, but- he was out there over the water. He never stood a cha-”

With no further deliberation or warning, the ground around the group shook with a mighty tremor as Examon leapt forward through them and launched himself towards the waters of the bay with the powerful impact of his vast legs against the asphalt below. Avalon’s shimmering orange form flared into life as he breached the surface and formed a protective sphere around him as he dived in, sending a veritable wave of water crashing down onto the bay. 

[i]He only hoped he wasn’t too late.[/i]