Ethan and Emma are walking through the jungle of the Animon World, searching for the representation of Emma's negative emotions that are preventing her from leaving. Slapshot and Swampy trail behind them in their Basic forms, all keeping their eyes out.

"So, I've been wondering. Why aren't there a ton of animon around? There's a lot of people on Earth, surely there are plenty of negative emotions resonating all the time." Ethan asked.

"Most animon won't show themselves unless there's a reason. Especially strong emotions will be impossible to hide though." Emma replied while scanning the area with her ani-tool.

Ethan turned to Swampy. "Were our emotions really that strong then?"

"Hm hm, well as chosen with ani-tools, you do have more of an impact on the Animon World than the average human. It's part of the responsibility you bear." Swampy was still beaten up from their last encounter, but he was still polishing his spectacles.

Emma pumped her fists. "Yeah! Which is why it's important that we work together and keep everyone on the same page, so things don't get out of control on the team while we deal with other issues."

Ethan scratched the back of his head. "What kind of 'other issues' do you deal with? So far all the animon I've seen have just had to do with the chosen, and nobody else."

Emma shook her head. "Well...do you remember when there were all those protests around the park when the city was going to tear it down to make more parking? The stress of all that was about to lead to violence, and we helped with some of that by defeating the animon created there, which made the negotiations all work out!"

"I did wonder why things turned around so fast when it seemed like people were about to get hurt. You must have been running up against the clock." Ethan said.

"Yeah...Isaac helped a ton. We were—wait, what's that?" Emma snapped around while her ani-tool started blinking.

"Is that your target?" Ethan asked, scanning the surrounding area with his eyes.

"Yeah. My ani-tool is going nuts around here. It must be close by." Emma tapped a few buttons on her ani-tool, distracting her from the shadow looming over her shoulder.

"Watch out!" Ethan tackles Emma to the ground as the wild animon swings its sickle claws where her neck used to be. "Swampy!"

Swampy lumbers up behind them, slowed down by their wounds. The wild animon is fully visible now: It is a gray implike figure with long claws and a small goatee. It hunches over and glares at Swampy before cackling. It splits itself into multiple copies, each afterimage flickering and trying to disorient Swampy from finding the real one. Swampy, unable to track which imp is real, doesn't even see the attack coming until it's too late. The imp latches onto their back and slashes at their face, and Swampy goes down.

"Swampy!" Ethan cries out.

Emma grabs onto his shoulders. "Ethan, be careful before you—"

Ethan blacks out.