Though Groundramon was hard-pressed to dislodge or land any substantive blow upon her, it wasn't long before Delta realized that her own position in the fight wasn't much better. 

Though the Diatrymon leaping up onto the beast to savage it had certainly drawn its attention away from the girl it had been about to devour, the beast's thick hide held firm against her assault. Though oily blood leaked from split scales, the damage to the flesh beneath was shallow at best, and it was simply the force of the jaws clamped onto it that kept the beast's aggression on her; as time ticked on, her options diminished down to losing this particular battle and being thrown bodily aside by the dragon’s thrashing, or taking the initiative to break off.

Under the circumstances, however, she didn't have the option of disengaging. The moment she dismounted the beast, it would likely make for the girl again, and Nora's hail mary to save her from its jaws had taken a visible toll upon the puppeteer. 

She clenched her jaw, feeling the joint creak to near-breaking point as the beast roared with pained fury once more. No, as risky as it was, maybe she had to take a chance. What the beast possessed in strength was compromised by a deficit in intelligence; if she could maintain its aggression while dismounting and pull it away, she could buy enough time for the girl to get away and for Nora to recover the strength to help her keep the situation under control until more agents arrived. With Homura nearby now, they probably wouldn't be too far off themselves; she just had to buy them a little more time.

Moving as fast as she could to deny Groundramon any opening to retaliate or swat her away, she released her jaw’s grip on the beast’s hide before propelling herself off of its back with a mighty kick that managed to jolt the Perfect away slightly. Landing upon the ground with a crash, her keen eyes narrowed to cut through the debris that had been kicked up by the dragon’s thrashing; though she’d previously been unable to see anything but a blur as it attempted to throw her off of itself, she was able to see for a good distance around her in spite of the low visibility. Still no sign of Homura; shortly after rendezvousing with her and Nora, he’d left to find a vehicle he could use to grab any interlopers from the battlefield. As her vision swept across the scene of destruction, however, he was nowhere to be seen. As before, it was just her, Nora and the gi-

... Hold on. Was that-
—
Nora’s crow stared as the girl’s form changed into something a fair bit larger, and far, far more familiar to her.

[i]Aw, damn it all,[/i] she thought, almost lowering her bow in shock. [i]We’ve got another one.[/i]

She would’ve cursed audibly if that wouldn’t have consumed her shrinking pool of strength. In fact, there was a suspicious amount of digimon now in the area that she didn’t remember sensing. No. No way. She refused to believe it-

There was a light behind her. Nora didn’t even need to look to know it came from the other human she’d spotted when she first arrived. The crow and scarecrow kept their expression carefully neutral, to avoid wasting the energy, but one thought crossed her mind.

[i]I’m going to need a smoke after this. Hell, probably two.[/i]

The ground under the Groundramon cracked, catching its leg, and Nora took that as her cue to fire a cluster of arrows upon the lizard-like digimon. Most were deflected by the scales, but one managed to snag a crack Delta made, and one caught the beast in the eye. It seemed everyone else had chosen to take advantage of the distraction as well, raining attack after attack onto the Groundramon. A shockwave knocked it further off-balance before a hail of fire caught it across the face. Then thick thorny vines tore across its hide, followed up by a blast of concussive force from Delta as she snapped out of her brief lull. Individual attacks alone couldn’t do much, but their combined force was starting to crack its tough exterior. Finally, the scaly armor broke, and the Groundramon [i]howled[/i] before its legs gave out. At that moment, it no longer seemed like a predator but rather a pitiful creature, incapable of causing anyone harm.
— 
With a series of deep, laboured breaths, Groundramon tried to lift itself back up, growling in frustration against both its assailants and its pitiful state; but a moment later and it found the strength beyond it, the pain of its wounds and the suddenly-apparent weight of its body bringing it crashing back down to earth one last time.

Damn it all, was this how it ended? Brought low by mere grubs and reduced to prey for the very morsels it had made to feed upon? 

If it were more than a beast, it may have offered a dark laugh at the bitter irony of it all. But as it were, as its body gave out under the assault of the assembled Adults, it just offered them one last defiant roar; which became distorted before fading out entirely with feedback that sent static through the air as it collapsed into a sea of green fractals that dispersed outwards like an emerald blizzard. As that cleared, naught was left but a strange, soon-fading glow- which cooled to reveal a green egg.

Nora sighed and moved to collect the egg. It’d have to be sent to somewhere that could take care of whatever would hatch now. If there was one good thing about working for DATS, they were pretty good about finding such villages and towns in the digital world. It was no longer their responsibility. Though, speaking of responsibilities...

She looked over the group of digimon. Some, she noticed, had vanished - probably cleared out after Groundramon died. But the rest.... Where to even [i]begin[/i]?