I OWN NOTHING! PLEASE ENJOY!
"V-Headbutt!"
Jaune sidestepped the telegraphed attack, a leg trailing behind to trip the digimon while his left hand followed through and tapped the digimon on the back of the head. The motion both adding to and redirecting Demi's momentum to send him into a head over heels tumble that ended with the blue digimon flat on his back, and staring at the ceiling. Jaune smiled down at the little digimon who simply stared past him up at the ceiling, obviously trying to keep the mounting frustration off his face.
"So what did we learn?" Jaune heard a sardonic voice ask from behind him as Fox Alistair came up to join him on the practice mats.
"Jaune is good at throwing people?" The lizard man asked sarcastically as he continued to stare up and ignore the two.
"That could be it." Fox nodded agreeably down at their current student while offering him a hand up. "Or it could be that you telegraph so hard even a blind man could see it. Ask me how I know."
Jaune stifled a chuckle at the joke as Demi took the offered hand up. In all honesty the digimon was doing very well. He had only digivolved halfway through the semester and now that they were nearing the end he could probably hold his own pretty well against the average beowulf. It probably helped that, of the various special techniques that Digimon had while Guilmon just had the two to fall back on, Veemon apparently had, like, a dozen, and they were all geared towards hand to hand combat.
Really, his biggest problem was just what Fox had said. The little lizard telegraphed just way too hard when he used his techniques. Guilmon had that issue a bit early on too but he had also had an easier time breaking the habit. Maybe one of the others would have an idea? Jaune turned and looked to the other two members of their little sparring club, seeing Yang and Ren go through their forms together.
The two faced each other as they slowly moved, each mirroring the other's movements. Yang held her hands up, palms open and forward in defiance of her usual boxer's stance and slowly threw a hand towards Ren as he did the same. Each used the free hand not to block or catch but gently turn the attacking hand aside and down before turning with the momentum and throwing a slow backspin into kicks that met at the calf mid air. The two continued the slow movements as each blow was countered and the sequence they worked on etched itself into their muscle and bone as they slowly sped up.
Wait… "Hey Demi," Jaune called the young mon over to join him. "Take a break and come watch the practice with me. I have an idea." Jaune settled on the ground cross legged as the veemon joined him, the digimon leaning back on his hands and tail with his legs splayed out in front of him. And then the two simply watched Ren and Yang move.
Jaune loved watching kata practice like this. The grand motions and smooth sweeping grace that would be violent attacks at proper speed in a real fight. Here it was gentle and slow, almost like a dance, and it certainly looked the part even as the two sped up. Still meeting each and every blow perfectly and their breath maintaining the same tempo that Ren had insisted on first when they had asked him and Fox for tips on advanced aura manipulation. To Jaune's frustration he still hadn't taken to the technique well, though it seemed Yang very much had. At least his striking techniques were improving thanks to the lessons.
Jaune watched as the dance of combat reached its climax as the two threw a palm strike forward at the same time, each facing away from the other. It could be hard to notice sometimes but Jaune saw the telltale glow of aura, yellow for Yang and pink for Ren, wrap around their hands as they threw one final strike in the air before the aura ignited and released with a loud crack like a gunshot sounding out in the sparring room. 'I REALLY need to learn how to do that.'
After the rush of the moment wore off Yang turned to the group with a smile, "You boys enjoying the show?" She teased with a sultry voice and expression putting her best efforts towards getting the boys to blush.
Efforts that were immediately ruined by Fox, "Yeah, the parts of it that I could see at least." The comment was offered so offhand and genuine, without even a hint of sarcasm that it completely caught Jaune off guard. Yang must have been too as he saw her mouth work up and down in surprise and confusion as she made sounds like she was trying to figure out how to respond.
The smug smirk that slowly spread across Fox's face at the surprised silence from the group elicited a chuckle from Jaune that was soon joined by Yang and Demi. Even Ren offered a toothsome smile at seeing the blonde bruiser's comment turned back on her. Said bruiser lunged forward as she tried in vain to get Fox in a retaliatory headlock laughing the entire time. To the surprise of no one the play fighting between the two soon turned into proper sparring as they faced off at full speed rather than the graceful dance that she and Ren had performed earlier.
Ignoring the two for the moment, Jaune silently mouthed 'time' to Ren asking him to check how much longer they had the room for. With an answer of fifteen minutes as Ren flashed one finger then five Jaune nodded and turned to adress Demi while Ren began his own cooldowns. "So did you notice anything from the way Ren and Yang were moving?"
Jaune looked down at Demi as the digimon opened his mouth to respond quickly before he stopped and simply thought for a moment, brow furrowed in contemplation. "...neither of them looked like they were really thinking about what they were doing until the end?"
Jaune nodded in acknowledgement at the digimon's answer. "That's definitely a big one, yeah. Moving through forms like that teaches your body to move in certain ways so eventually it'll do it on its own without you having to think about it. Basically their muscles remember the moves so their brains don't have to."
"I know what muscle memory is Jaune." The veemon deadpanned as he motioned for Jaune to get on with it. Someone was certainly milking his 'teenage years' for all he could.
"Heh, sorry Demi." Jaune apologized as he rubbed the back of his head at the comment. "Just didn't want to assume. What we're going to start doing though is developing a sequence for each of your techniques to head off your telegraphing issues. We'll figure out ways for your body to move so it naturally leads from say, a stomp on the instep to a headbutt in their face."
"Ooooohhhh," the blue digimon quietly acknowledged as he mulled over the information. "But wouldn't people start realizing what each sequence is?" Demi asked in confusion.
"Eventually," Jaune acknowledged, "but you have twelve different techniques to work with so we'll help you develop twelve different forms to switch between. The idea is once you get better and know them in and out you won't have to think about what your body is doing so instead you can focus on the fight. At that point you can start one sequence and switch to another at the last second to catch them off guard. Ideally I want to get you to the point where you can flow from one sequence into the next naturally for combos."
"So we'd be developing a fighting style just for me?" Demi asked with his surprise clear on his face.
"I mean… yeah?" Jaune answered awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head once more, while trying to ignore the sounds of Yang and Fox's sparring growing more intense. 'Guys please don't wreck another room' "I mean you have limbs we don't like the tail, your legs are shaped differently, and you have different proportions from a typical human overall. I think it'd be best for us to figure out the best way for you to fight rather than just having you fight like me or Fox or Ren or Yang. My sister had to deal with the same stuff when training Gui."
"Thanks Jaune, thanks a bunch." Demi spoke in his nasally voice as he smiled up at the blonde knight. Behind him Jaune saw Yang flying across the room behind him to smack into the wall after what must've been a particularly vicious combo from Fox.
"Any time buddy," Jaune reached out to pat the digimon on the head. He really was a good kid. "I wouldn't thank me too much just yet though. This is gonna be a lot of difficult work and there's still your weapon to consider. How's that been going?" Jaune asked the mon as he eyed Yang as she picked herself up and kicked off the wall flames starting to lick from the edges of her hair. Shiiiit.
"Pyrrha, Ruby, and Guilmon have all been helping me a lot with trying new things. I think I have a good blueprint but I'm not sure." Demi explained as he rubbed the back of his head in a way that felt really familiar to Jaune for some reason. Oh hey there was Fox slamming into the ceiling feet first, good job bending the knees as he hit. Need to soften that impact and it made it easier to kick off in the direction you wanted. Oh yeah, Demi was explaining still.
"Pyrrha is really optimistic though, she got in touch with her old coach and the forge where she built her weapon and armor. We're gonna get them built while we're in Argus visiting her mom next week." Demi finished as he leaned his head back and upside down to watch the carnage unfolding behind them as well. Oof, Yang was probably gonna feel that kick later.
"You excited for the break next week?" Jaune asked. Making small talk as their training for the day wound down and Fox and Yang were taking the whole room anyway. Hard to believe their first semester was almost done already.
"Yeah!" Demi cheered as he pumped both fists in the air. Followed by his expression drooping as a worried look crossed his face. "It's just… this is Pyrrha's family. Her real family. What if they don't like me?"
"You kidding me!?" Jaune asked with as much incredulity as he could muster in his voice and expression. "What's not to like? You're Pyrrha's partner aren't you?"
"Yeah…" Demi answered in a small voice as he sat with his knees now pulled up to his chest.
"You're gonna be a badass hunter who's a member of the best team at Beacon right?" Jaune urged as he tried to cheer up the little lizard.
"Yeah, I definitely am." Demi responded with just a little more life in his voice.
"You're a good kid and a lean mean fighting machine aren't you!?" Jaune cheered and tried not to wince as he heard the sound of something, probably one of the walls or the tatami mats, cracking behind him.
"Yeah!" Demi cheered as he jumped up to his feet looking the still sitting Jaune in the eye.
"And I'm your favorite person right!?" Jaune belted out with even greater energy.
"Yea-! Jaune!" The blue digimon squawked indignantly as Jaune laughed in response.
"You'll do great Demi." Jaune promised the veemon as he looked him in the eye. "Remember you're Pyrrha's partner now. That means you're her family too, and don't ever forget it. It might be awkward at first but give them time, they'll love you."
Demi's response was only to wrap both of his arms around Jaune's neck and shoulders as he went in for a hug. "Thanks Jaune," the little mon whispered.
"Anytime buddy," Jaune said quietly as he patted Demi on the back. The tender moment was soon broken however by Jaune's scroll going off and the slightly smoking body of Fox Alistair sliding to a stop just in front of them.
"Semblance?" Jaune asked wryly down at the tan redhead as he checked his scroll, it seemed they had work to do.
"Semblance." Fox answered as he gingerly picked himself up.
"Sounds about right," Jaune laughed. "Anyway guys, and Yang, the team JNPR members need to head over to Oobleck's office for DHI business apparently." Jaune said, getting Ren's attention as he moved to go grab his own bag and gear from the spot he had left it.
"Yang, Fox, you guys good to get everything handled here and turn in the keys?" Jaune asked as he fished said item from his gym bag.
"I got it VB," Yang promised as she took the keys from his hand looking ever so much like the cat that had caught the canary after her victory against the member of team CFVY. She honestly was taking to Ren's fighting style really well, Jaune half expected her to add knives to her loadout any day now. Grappling and throws were a bit wonkier for the huntress but at least she was learning how to defend against them better. Jaune honestly wasn't certain whether he could pull off another win against her one on one these days. Maybe if he started using more dust in the mix?
"Thanks Yang," Jaune replied as he shouldered his bag and headed out the door, Demi and Ren in tow. "Time to see what thrilling adventure awaits us today boys."
-HoH-
"Team! Pls cm 2 my offs. Nd disc' DHI asnmt!"
Gui reread the message as he slowly moseyed his way up to Oobleck's office. In actual english rather than the professor's odd shorthand it *probably* read, "Team! Please come to my office. Need to discuss a DHI assignment!" It was a bit surprising to the digimon to be honest. Much like the bullying, and classes in general, the DHI had been fairly quiet the entire second half of the semester.
It was honestly a bit hard to believe that their first semester here at Beacon was almost over already. After the rough start with Cardin and Jaune not being able to sleep for those weeks, things had finally calmed down and gotten back to normal. Well as normal as they ever were.
Jaune and Nora were still doing 'Weekly Hangouts' every Friday and had hit the point they hardly bothered bringing anyone with them anymore, Gui honestly wondered if the two had realized they were basically dating at this point. Still, at least it was progress on the, 'Get Jaune a Girlfriend so Gui Would Have Mini-Jaunes to Spoil' plan. Ren was still the only sensible person for Gui to hang out with and it seemed that he was coming out of his shell a bit too. That or he always smiled this much and now Gui was just much better at reading his expressions.
Pyrrha was actually doing great it seemed as well. She was still polite with everyone but it seemed less forced, less guarded over time. It seemed that Yang had been a good influence on her. Really all of team RWBY had been a blessing, it was slowly hitting the point that they may as well have been one really big team that happened to be split between two rooms. Especially since unless people were actively going to sleep the doors to each room pretty much stayed open and people from both teams wandered in and out of each.
Whether it was Weiss attempting to get combat tutoring from Pyrrha or arguing the fine details of powder versus crystal casting with Jaune. Pyrrha stepping into RWBY's dorm to hangout with Yang which could range from them watching a movie in the dorm with Demi (an activity that would inevitably spread to include both teams in their entirety) or a shopping trip down to Vale….. actually were the two of them dating too? She still kinda gave Jaune eyes sometimes though. Might need to keep an eye on that for curiosity's sake if nothing else… Where was he?
Oh yeah, Blake sneaking in to steal Ren's cooking and books being shared back and forth between Her, Ruby, Jaune, and Nora. Gui had heard them talking about starting a book club or something inviting other teams to join but he never found out if anything came of it. Ruby herself was just a treasure and helped Gui immensely with keeping an eye out for Jaune in that first six weeks of the semester when everything was going wrong. Honestly, her and Nora both had been a treasure and Gui had been happy to see the friendship spring up between the two girls with very similar energy levels and a shared love of things that went boom.
No everything was honestly going great, Gui mused as he made his way up the many stairs to Oobleck's office (stupid stairs and stupid weird leg shape). The only problem Gui had right now was himself. He still couldn't digivolve properly and he wasn't sure why. Aside from initiation and that one training session in the forest he had never been able to become Growlmon and he had no idea why. Was digivolution just this hard for everyone? But, that didn't feel right either. It felt like something he should be able to do easily at this point, but no matter how much he focused on the feeling he couldn't trigger the change.
That problem could've been devastating during the Forever Fall trip if Ms. Goodwitch hadn't saved them all at the last second. Growlmon would've been able to handle that ursa major just fine one on one but no matter how hard he tried, and he had TRIED for that entire fight, he just couldn't force the change to become the champion tier.
Seeing the door to Oobleck's office coming up on his right Gui put on an upbeat face. It wouldn't do for him to worry the team over something that honestly hadn't been that big of an issue so far, and he could always mope more later when there wasn't work to be done.
Pushing open the door to the typically chaotic workspace, Gui saw the rest of team JNPR already in attendance as they faced Dr. Oobleck and, "Uncle Rex!" Gui shouted as he dashed forward to give the rabbit faunus a hug around the waist from where he was chatting with Jaune.
"Oof," Groaned the older man in response as Gui quickly loosened his grip with a mumbled apology. "Gotta be careful there gecko, I'm not quite as spry as I used to be."
Despite what he said, Rex Scarletina was still a well built individual, especially for being in his mid to late fifties. Sporting broad shoulders, corded muscle in his arms, and salt and pepper hair going all the way up to the tips of his ears, he had always told Gui and Jaune that in a world where huntsmen and those trained by huntsmen could be criminals it was important to be able to perform at the level of a huntsman even if he didn't have the official license, and so that's what Rex had done. Worked and trained on his own along with getting his aura unlocked specifically to handle huntsman tier threats in his city whenever they popped up, a sentiment Gui could respect wholeheartedly.
"You here for work?" Gui asked curiously as he let go of his uncle and stepped back.
"Yeah actually," Rex nodded down at the dragon as he leaned back on the desk behind him and began to address the group at large. "Work that's gonna have to involve the lot of you kids unfortunately."
"Quite Detective Scarletina!" Oobleck cut in with his usual manic energy. "It seems children, that you will have your first official, non research based, mission as members of the DHI!" The hyper academic continued, before stopping to take a long pull from his coffee thermos. Apparently Uncle Rex was used to dealing with Oobleck though because he stepped in to continue the explanation without a second glance at the man currently guzzling, not quite boiling hot but not far off, coffee.
"It started about three weeks ago and at first we thought it was a random pattern," Rex explained as he looked over the six of them. "Smaller than normal rifts that always appeared for exactly thirty minutes. At first we were willing to leave it well enough alone and just keep an eye on it, then we found out what they were really doing. Somehow the rifts are being used to target specific businesses to steal them for everything they have."
"What kind of businesses?" Gui heard Jaune ask resolutely as his brother went into 'Leader Mode'. To Jaune's credit it was becoming less and less something he put on and more something he did naturally but Gui would still tease him for it as tradition dictated.
Rex opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by the no longer preoccupied Oobleck as the huntsman jumped back into the conversation. "Weapon depots, dust warehouses, and shops children! Needless to say, if digimon are equipping themselves with enough munitions to fight a small war we need to keep an eye out and hopefully put a stop to it!"
The professor spoke at his typical rapid pace as he darted across the room, checking some file or book after the other as he continued to speak. "At the very least we should attempt to open some form of dialogue to understand WHY they are stealing the dust if at all possible! For the foreseeable future you will all be 'on call' just in case, as we wait for the next rift to form so you must be ready to move at a moment's notice to get to the rift on time to confront these digital desperados!"
Had he really just said digital desperados? That was the corniest thing Gui had heard all week and Nora had legitimately had them all try corn flavored candy the day before, oh looks like he was still talking.
"Your professors have all been made aware of the current state of events and will excuse any absences for the purpose of DHI work until the case is solved." Oobleck continued, firing off words at a rapid rate as Gui followed along with the practiced ease of someone who interacted with the man nearly every day. "There will be a bullhead on call at dock twenty-two as well, specifically assigned to get you to the rift as fast as possible. Make no mistake, students, with the rifts short windows of activity, time will be against us and so you must be ready to move out at a moment's notice. Am I understood?"
"Yes sir!" Sounded off the entirety of team JNPR at once. Gui processed the news of their assignment with an odd feeling in his stomach. Why were digimon stealing from the human world? Why weapons? It shouldn't have bothered Gui the way that it did but still he felt a pit form in the bottom of his stomach like a trap door swinging open. Whatever was going on it gave the crimson dinosaur a bad feeling as he made small talk with his uncle and brother before the former had to leave for the day.
The thoughts plagued Gui for the rest of the day. Why couldn't he stop thinking about it? Especially the focus on stealing dust and weapons? Gui groaned in frustration and rolled over as he tried to fall asleep. But sleep would be a long time coming this evening.
-HoH-
Pyrrha was having a delightful day! It had been a bumpy start but Beacon and Vale had been just what the doctor ordered in terms of making friends and developing a social life. Now she had a team that was like extended family, a digimon partner that was like a little brother, a girl best friend, and a boy best friend who she THOUGHT she might have a crush on? Pyrrha honestly wasn't sure anymore.
The feelings were still there and he was still incredibly dear to her, but as her circle of friends grew wider the all encompassing need for connection had been spread out instead of all resting on Jaune's shoulders. He was still really cute, and if he asked her out Pyrrha would still say yes in a heartbeat but she had also managed to hit a point where if it didn't work out she didn't think it would be the end of the world either.
Which was probably a good thing, all things considered, with how close her two teammates were getting. Pyrrha didn't think they were official or willing to put labels on their feelings just yet but even she wasn't socially unaware enough to not notice how close the two had gotten. Nora should probably stake her claim soon though, no telling when someone might swoop in and try to take him. …...Oh wow that phrasing did not sound good even in her own head. It was like a villain in a mistralimation. Really though, Pyrrha liked Jaune but the two of them were honestly cute together and he smiled around her in a way he didn't for Pyrrha.
The gladiatrix wouldn't lie and say it didn't hurt. But the sting was much less than she was expecting and was almost forgotten by how happy it made her feel to see her friends finding each other that way. And every time Pyrrha told herself that she believed it a little more. Pyrrha just needed to find someone else who she liked being around, that might be interested, made her smile, and that didn't care about her fame. Pyrrha sighed in tired resignation at the description in her mind. That would likely be a long search indeed.
A familiar chime from her pocket grabbed Pyrrha's attention and a brilliant smile split her face unbidden as she answered her scroll. "Yes Yang?"
"Hey Pyr," The boisterous bruiser's voice cut through. "We're done with Demi's training for the day and I'll have him dropped off soon."
"Oh thank you! I appreciate all the work that you've all put in assisting him. I tried to help but he didn't take to weapon disciplines as well as he did martial arts." Pyrrha thanked her friend as she moved to head back to the dorm to meet the two there. It was honestly odd how much free time they had this week now that finals were finished. It was like they were on break but weren't actually allowed to leave the campus yet. Apparently, it was so they could get tests graded and see who would need remedial lessons as well as last minute missions.
"No prob Pyr," Yang assured her over the scroll and Pyrrha could see the blonde's easy smile in her mind's eye. "So, uhhh, I was wondering…," Yang began awkwardly. "Since we kinda have the night off would you wanna go clubbing later? It's kinda been a while since we did anything like that and I thought it might be fun and you can invite your team if you want or….."
Pyrrha giggled as Yang trailed off, she could never understand how a girl so sure of herself could get so easily flustered. That was supposed to be Pyrrha's job. "I'd love to, Yang," Pyrrha promised as she smiled into the phone. "Where are we going though? I thought you still weren't welcomed back at Junior's?"
"Awesome!" Pyrrha quietly giggled again as Yang cheered into the scroll. "And no, yeah, it's not Junior's place. I found a smaller venue that I think you might like better since you're not a fan of crowds. I went to check it out by myself first last week to see if it was cool and check out the type of music they play as-"
Whatever Yang was saying was lost as Pyrrha's scroll lit up with a very different chime. There was work to be done. "Yang!" Pyrrha spoke into the scroll, voice colored by urgency. "I need you to take Demi to bullhead dock twenty-two. JNPR has a mission and we need to go now."
"Got it!" Yang responded, all business, and with a clicking sound the scroll call was over. That was what Pyrrha loved about Yang, laidback and easygoing, she could light up a room but she also remained a huntress to her core that knew when to get serious. Pyrrha quickly dialed in the coordinates of the dock to her rocket locker as she moved towards the bullheads at speed.
As she moved she saw the other members of team JNPR similarly running and a glance upwards revealed five rocket lockers flying to the docks one after the other. Pulling to a stop in front of her own Pyrrha began donning her weapons and armor over her regular clothes. It was no miniskirt but her armor and sash over the huntress grade yoga pants and jog bra from the boutique Yang had taken her to would work just fine.
It was as she was lacing on the reinforced corset that Yang found her, Demi in tow. "Thank you so much Yang," Pyrrha said as she pulled the laces tight and slid on her bracer. "So yeah, I would still love to go clubbing with you later if we manage to finish in time but for now this is kinda urgent so thanks for bringing Demi straight here! Love you! Bye!" Pyrrha shouted over the engines of the bullhead as she grabbed her weapon and ran into the bullhead, her digimon partner by her side. ….Wait. …..What had she just said?
With mounting horror and a furious blush Pyrrha moved to go correct herself but the bullhead was pulling up and away from a waving and crimson faced Yang. Turning back to her team Pyrrha was faced with five shit-eating grins that she promptly did her best to ignore as she sat down and closed her eyes for the remainder of the flight.
Ten minutes of rapid, bumpy flight later while Pyrrha listened to her partner/team leader try not to toss cookies all over the cabin, found them over a perfect dome of rainbow tinted fog. It wasn't terribly large compared to the size of the last rift they had entered. Just a bit bigger than the building it contained from what the street maps on their scrolls showed, and they would be dropping directly onto it. This was honestly a bit nerve wracking as far as missions go, there was almost no intel aside from location and a time frame that measured in minutes to complete it.
"COME STUDENTS!" Oobleck shouted over the open door of the airship as they lined up. Pyrrha grabbed both Ren and Veemon's hands as the three tumbled out of the airship and directly into the rift. It was strange enough when she had held onto Jaune before to enter the rift in the forest but this just felt wrong. Like every individual atom wanted to go a direction other than the direction they were going in and couldn't decide on the actual direction. Pyrrha felt as if she was being pushed and pulled every which way trying to divert her course, though she ultimately fell through in a straight line. The fall was slow though as if they were passing through water or molasses, and then they were through and everything felt right again.
Letting go of their hands, Pyrrha and her two tagalongs hit the roof of the building lightly, the slow passage through the rift breaking their momentum. A dull thud and the jangling sound of metal armor let Pyrrha know the other half of her team had landed behind her.
"Alright everyone," Jaune began as Pyrrha turned towards her leader. "We don't know what we're walking into so let's play this as smart as possible."
Stepping past Pyrrha, Jaune pulled out Gardien Rouge and tightened the straps as he took point, Pyrrha joining him. "Shields out and in front, keep your eyes open for hostiles."
Pyrrha and Jaune held the front position, shields up and weapons handy, as they made their way through the rooftop access and down the stairs into the rest of the shop. Already Pyrrha could hear voices drifting up towards her from the showroom. "Will it be enough?"
The voice was deep and resonant and spoke with an undeniable urgency, as did the voice that responded. "It will have to be, Dinohyumon. Gather up the rookies, we leave in five minutes."
Pyrrha's eyes widened at the admission, that REALLY wasn't a lot of time to do this in. The gladiatrix turned towards her leader waiting for his call. If Jaune needed time to mull it over it apparently wasn't much because he simply nodded, motioned like he was banging on his shield twice, and waved the team forward. It was time to be loud.
Pyrrha was off like a shot, down the stairwell and through the door with her shield up and Ren hot on her heels. The door crunched as Pyrrha made contact with it shield first, and then proceeded to buckle before exploding outwards in a shower of splinters and sawdust as Pyrrha hit the floor, weapon at the ready.
"Vale Huntress! Everyone put your hands up and drop the merchandise!" Despite the tense situation Pyrrha couldn't resist the internal giggle, she had always wanted to say that. Just like Romsky and Dutch.
The digimon in the room froze and so did Pyrrha as she took her count. There were roughly ten of the smaller ones in various shapes that Pyrrha hoped were all rookies. If that wasn't worrisome enough there were three larger digimon that Pyrrha felt fairly certain were actually champion level. This was bad, this was very bad. A split second after finishing her statement Pyrrha's vision was tinted by a familiar shade of cyan heralding the arrival of the rest of her team and team leader.
"I am Jaune Arc of Beacon Academy, as my partner has instructed I would appreciate it if you could please put down the stolen goods and surrender yourselves for processing before things get too messy." Huh, he actually really was getting good at the leader voice. Pyrrha wondered if he was practicing it when no one was around.
On of the large ones stepped forward, shaped like a humanoid lion and with a physique like it was carved from granite he stared down team JNPR. "No." He said softly, his voice did not sound unkind to Pyrrha but his tone and stance were both resolute as well. "Dinohyumon. Buraimon. With me. The rest of you secure the target and prepare to shift back."
Two more large, well built, humanoid digimon joined the lion man. A green lizard man in buckskins and covered in blades adopted a ready position with as many blades pointed towards team JNPR as he could manage. The third, a winged creature with the features of an eagle dressed in Mistrali clothing drew a katana and held his position. For a moment no one moved, the digimon simply needed to wait out the clock while team JNPR was unsure what to do. Then Demi charged and all hell broke loose.
Dashing between Pyrrha's legs the blue lizard lunged forward head first, his aura flaring. Pyrrha thought Demi must have caught him by surprise because she could see his eyes widen just before Demi caught him straight in the gut with a shout of, "V-Headbutt!"
With a battlecry Pyrrha rushed in after her digi-partner and the battle was on. A quick glance to the side revealed Ren and Jaune dashing towards the lizard man in blades and buckskins as Nora and Gui engaged the avian swordsman. The momentary distraction almost cost the gladiatrix though, Veemon was sent bodily rocketing back at her as the lion man physically picked him up in one hand and threw him straight at Pyrrha.
Pyrrha sidestepped in her charge, holding an arm out to catch Veemon and using the momentum to transition into a backspin before releasing him once again towards the larger digimon as Veemon's aura once again began flaring for another attack. Pyrrha followed directly behind her partner this time and dropped low at the last moment, her sword lashing out as she swung at the calves and ankles of the leonine monster.
The two pronged assault was… less effective than she would have hoped. She definitely scored a line across the side of his leg but this wasn't some rookie or wild beast apparently. Her opponent had sidestepped, pulling just far enough out of the way to prevent her from dealing any real damage and had managed to simultaneously swat Veemon out of the air with a slap. Pyrrha gasped and grit her teeth as what had seemed like a casual swat had Veemon flying through the air before slamming into the wall with a meaty thwack.
Gritting her teeth Pyrrha tried to keep the pressure up. She needed to give Demi time to recover, his aura hadn't broken so he should be ok. Pyrrha just wasn't sure she would be, the lion digimon hadn't even drawn his weapon yet as Pyrrha MOVED.
A three slash combo led into a sliding backbend to avoid a swing. A quick shot from her rifle to try and clear some space drew blood but not much else and she was forced to leap from her position over the once again swinging arm as she mechashifted once again to her spear and tried to take advantage of the reach.
Ultimately though it proved pointless, as she finally encountered a blow she couldn't dodge and Pyrrha took a fist roughly the size of her torso dead on. With a blossoming pain that not even aura could completely dampen, Pyrrha was sent flying back towards where her partner had been, and was caught by a pair of long, strong, blue arms.
Looking back Pyrrha saw Demi but different. This could very easily be what she imagined he would look like as an adult if Digimon aged in the same way humans did. A lean but still powerfully built frame covered in flame pattern armor with a large, blade-like horn jutting from his face plate.
"D-Demi?" Pyrrha asked, just a little worried. She recognized this form. It had threatened her and her friends in the forest even if it had voiced its approval of her later.
"Yeah Pyrrha?" Her partner responded with a voice that sounded just like Courage. A voice that sounded just like courage but in a manner and cadence that was one hundred percent Demi. Pyrrha felt a wave of relief rush through her.
"Ready to go win?" Pyrrha asked with renewed confidence as her partner gently set her back on her feet careful not to catch her with the wicked claws on his gauntlets.
"Of course!" Demi responded with a cocky smirk as he took a ready stance next to Pyrrha. Their opponent simply eyed the two without saying a word before drawing the sword he kept behind his back and adopting a ready stance and they were off.
Pyrrha marveled at Demi's new speed and strength as the two moved in sync. Each one of Pyrrha's attacks was complemented by a burning claw or kick from her partner at a different angle forcing their opponent to split his attention between the two of them.
A slash at the ankles was thrown at the same time as a claw strike at the head. A stable into the soft tissue of the armpit from the spear on one side was followed up by a literally sharp kick to the kidneys on the other side. Shot after shot from her rifle was supplemented by some absolutely vicious infighting on Demi's part forcing the lion man to stay at a distance.
The progress was slow but it was sure. They were forcing the opponent back, one step at a time. An errant glance to take stock of the battlefield showed that her teammates were on the press as well. Jaune glowed brilliantly white as he deflected or countered every blade from the green lizard man while Ren dashed in and out slashing with Stormflower's blades from one angle before rolling back out and unleashing a hail of bullets from the SMGs. Nora and Guilmon attacked viciously, Guilmon rushing in and occupying the birdman with powerful blows from his claws and breath weapon while giving Nora the room she needed to swing Magnhild properly.
Yes, against all odds with the sudden addition of a digivolved Demi team JNPR was winning as they forced back their enemies until all three champion digimon were back to back and everything went wrong. There was no grand counterattack or anything, just one moment they were pressing the advantage and the next her attacks passed straight through her enemy as he started to fade. Soon the entire group of digimon faded away and Pyrrha and her team were left with one crushing realization. They had failed.
Pyrrha blinked her eyes as the consistent rainbow tint in the air that marked the digital rifts faded from view. That… that wasn't… that wasn't fai-... no… Pyrrha didn't want to admit it but their actions had made sense. The leader obviously hadn't been interested in hurting any of them and they hadn't needed to. All the enemy had needed to do was wait out the clock while the others had done all the work and they fell for it completely. Instead of breaking up the posse in the back they had focused on fighting the three warriors.
It was a dumb mistake even if it had made sense… honestly mistake wasn't even the right word. They had simply been at a disadvantage from the very beginning with a crippling time limit and an enclosed area for a battlefield that made any real fighting difficult. It made perfect logical sense. So why did the loss rankle her so much? Pyrrha's moment of self admonishment was brought to an end though as the familiar form of team JNPR's academic advisor burst through the entrance.
"AREYOUALRIGHTCHILDREN!?" Came the usual fast paced shout of Dr. Oobleck as he ran through the door, torch in hand. What he found was a set of six slightly winded trainees with a mood that ranged from confused to frustrated and distinct lack of both prisoners and dust in the dust shop.
What followed was an awkward debriefing with an annoyingly supportive Professor and Detective. "Yes we're perfectly fine sir. No we weren't able to stop them. Yes Demi is now six feet tall and wearing armor. I'm sure it'll go away soon."
They had failed, but apparently, if nothing else, they now had important intel on their opponents for the next time they met. 'Yes detective, three champions were the main fighters. One was a lizard called Dinohyumon, one was a bird person named Buraimon, and the last was a lion man but we never found out what he was called. They were all stronger than us and they all used swords."
Oobleck complimented them on just surviving the three champion tier digimon but even then Pyrrha couldn't bring herself to feel any pride when after the rush of battle was over she realized that their targets definitely hadn't fought as hard as they could. It left Pyrrha wondering what they would be like when they were serious. "Thank you sir, but I feel like I could've done better. Yes they were all champions but still… yes sir. Yes I think I'll go take that break.
If nothing else they needed some powerful help for the next encounter that could help and Jaune said he had an idea for that. For now on Pyrrha's end all she really wanted was a shower and to meet up with Yang. 'Actually,' Pyrrha thought with a wince as she unlaced her corset to reveal the rapidly purpling bruise covering her entire stomach. It would heal by tomorrow but for now it hurt. 'Maybe Yang would be okay with staying in tonight instead. I can order some take out for us and she can pick the movie while we watch it in her bunk.'
-HoH-
Velvet Scarletina was having a wonderful evening. She was relaxing and hanging out with Yatsuhashi. Well she was busy editing and developing some of her non-weapon related photos and Yats was either meditating or reading but honestly it worked for them in terms of quality time.
This however was all interrupted by a sharp knock on the doory. Sharing a confused look with her partner Velvet went to answer and was met by the visage of her cousin rubbing the back of his awkwardly and giving her that look that just screamed he was about to ask her for something.
"Heeeeeyyyyyy Cuuuuuz," Jaune drew out the word as he apparently chose to beat around the bush rather than get right to it. "Any chance your leader is in? My team and your dad need to ask your team for a favor….."
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hey y'all! Welcome back to HoH, thanks for reading! NO big author's note this time, I just really hope you enjoy the story and where I take it going forward as I do my first original arc lol. Y'all have a great day! And don't forget to love each other!