>Try and get to know Ryan a little. He's the only one you haven't spoken to, and he's looking extremely unstable. If you can keep him distracted with conversation, maybe you can stop him from tweaking out and causing a scene.

“Hey.. Ryan, right?”

You stroll next to him, speaking in a hushed tone. The four of you pass by a crowd of folks chatting on the street, and Bella pulls her hood up further.

“Yeah…”

“You okay? You still have your partner, right?”

“Gizamon is fine. But Simon and Otamamon…”

He bites his lip and slows down. He’s having a rough time here.

“Don’t freeze up on me. Please. I need your help, there’s something you can do to help.”

The distraction helps him a little. Just enough to keep walking. The Digivice beeps faithfully on his belt clip, right as a car shoots down the street. You all flinch, recalling the last vehicle that passed by. You get back on topic once he recovers from the shock.

“Bella is hurt bad, I have something in mind that could help, but it’s not something I can do alone.”

“What can I do? My partner is still a Rookie, and becoming a Champion didn’t even help Lenny… Now they’re both gone.”

“Trust me, I did plenty even while mine was a Rookie. Do you go out on missions often?”

He shakes his head.

“I’m usually just in charge of guarding the base. My Gizamon isn’t flashy.”

They’re pack hunters, so it makes sense that his couldn’t live up to its full potential.

“You’ve been with the DOW long?”

“One of the newer members. Do you think we have any replacements? Wind said nobody was being recruited for a while…”

“With the scanner? Definitely. There’ll be more allies incoming. But right now I need a bit of help with Bella.”

You pull out a screenshot of the file from earlier and show it to him.

“What’s that? A pink rabbit?”

“That’s a Cutemon. It’s a Digimon that heals people. If we can find one near the hospital, it could repair anything that Squid might fail to fix.”

“Right now…?”

“No, of course not. But I was planning on searching for it eventually. Do you think you could help?”

“I… I don’t know. Why do you want me of all people?”

You don’t, actually, but giving him a goal is key to stopping him from spiraling, and focusing his attention. You read this in a book once. Ryan needs to feel useful, to push away the sense of helplessness that’s filled his life ever since his team ran into the wild Digimon.

"Because nobody else can." Porcupamon chirps.

"Huh?"

"Everybody else is occupied. You look like the kinda guy who needs to prove himself real quick. I'd say you're the perfect man for the job."

"The heat is going to be on us, we can't afford to do anything for a while. But once it clears, what do you say we go to that hospital and try to find Bella some help?"