Hey guys and welcome back to yet another Digital Story.

So, last time we finished the Atlas Chronicles so... how about we give you all the next Side Story?

Enjoy!

Journey of Redemption - Part 1

Emerald was still so utterly confused about what was going on right now.

One minute she was in that really dark castle that belonged to Cinder's scary boss, the next she's in some weird forest that has no place on Remnant.

"Okay...this is weird, but if I had to guess...I'm probably in the Digital World," she muttered, remembering some of the images that she'd seen in the classes regarding Digimon while she was infiltrating Beacon. And boy did she remember some of the scenes of the world were nothing short of topsy turvy. "Too bad that doesn't help me figure out a way to get back," she grumbled but continued on anyway. The trees didn't seem to show any signs of ending, and with how weird the trees looked, she wasn't even sure if she was going in circles. Then came the signs. Oh the signs, they were everywhere and pointed all over the place she was half positive it was some kind of trick to make people get lost.

"Why am I even here anyway?" she grumbled under her breath in annoyance, just wanting to get back to Cinder. Grumbling further she continued onward, so far at least happy she didn't encounter anything. She wasn't in the mood to deal with any Digimon, not helped by the fact that if the classes were right, they could range from anywhere from easy to beat to no chance to win.

Well...maybe not completely alone. She swore she felt a presence every now and then, but whenever she turned to look, she didn't see anything or anyone. So either her head was playing tricks on her or something, probably a Digimon, was following her. She couldn't use her Semblance on it either, since she had to actually have a target for her Semblance to work. Worse, when she was in Beacon she'd found some Digimon respond better than others to it, meaning that for all she knew, she could run into a Digimon that her Semblance didn't work on.

As she continued to walk, she kept walking past random signs that made no sense for where she was, and more and more twisty trees. Checking her scroll didn't help either, since she apparently had absolutely no signal. "Great, just great," she grumbled again but in the end all she could do was keep moving. She was just glad she had her weapon with her rather than be dropped here with just the clothes on her back.

Either way she kept trudging along, and after what may well have been a couple of hours she noticed the vegetation FINALLY start to thin. "About time," she groaned as the forest finally seemed to end. However, when it did… "You have GOT to be kidding me," she said dryly, as she found herself at a small cliffside overlooking...more forests. So after all that time she was going to be stuck navigating ANOTHER forest. It almost made her want to seriously consider using some Fire Dust, if not for the fact it'd probably piss off every inhabitant if any and make them come after her.

Sighing, Emerald sat down, looking up at the sky in frustration "At least THAT looks normal… actually missed looking at the blue sky." she said, slowly lying down and just looking up at the sky. It reminded her of when she was younger, stealing to survive and hiding out in high points in the city… she wouldn't have had to live like that if her father hadn't died because of some stupid overeager muggers that never even got arrested. Just remembering that made her growl, as the only thing she had to remember her father was his old weapons that she'd modded and made her own, Thief's Respite.

Sighing, she shook her head. Getting lost in memory lane would do her no good. Right now she had to find a way back to Remnant. The fact Summer Rose apparently ended up here and managed to return was proof enough that it was possible. With that she started making her way down. The forest she found herself in seemed...more normal than the last one, but that did little to calm herself. With how this world apparently worked, the 'normal' look actually made her feel more on guard. A sentiment that soon proved true when she had to quickly backflip as some branches and roots came loose...and would have tried to launch her like a rock on a catapult.

"Okay, so this forest IS a weird place as well," she grumbled.

"Yeah, this forest has a LOT of traps like that."

"Ah!" Emerald would deny for the longest time that she jumped in surprise, whirling around at the sound of voice behind her, seeing nobody at first, only to look down and see a small… Digimon she assumed, what with it having a white body, it's arms ending in blue butterfly wings, and four more butterfly wings coming out of its head along with a pair of antennae.

"Hi there!" the Digimon said cheerfully.

"Uh… hello?" Emerald said unsurely after a moment.

"You're a human, right?" the Digimon asked her.

"Yes?" Emerald answered with a raised eyebrow.

"That's cool! I've never met a human before! There's never been any on Folder." the Digimon said in excitement.

"Uh...Folder?" Emerald blinked.

"Yep, one of the Continents in the Digital World. Though it's a bit of the boonies compared to most other Continents. Nothing too important happens around here really," the Digimon said with a shrug. "Oh, I almost forgot. I'm Morphomon. What's your name?"

Emerald considered her options here. Being apparently stuck in the boonies of the Digital World sounded like a rather difficult time… but with how excitable and friendly Morphomon was being, maybe she could be of use to her in getting back? It was worth a shot at least "I'm Emerald. So… do you know anyway that could help me get back to the real world?"

Morphomon hummed at that for a few moments, before shrugging "Can't say that I do!" she said with a smile.

Emerald sighed at that, about to turn away and just ignore the Digimon were it not for the next thing she said.

"But I know someone who might."

Emerald stopped at that, before looking back at the smiling Morphomon "Really?" she said, smirking a bit, glad this looked like it would work out after all "Alright, who is it?"

"Old lady Babamon! She's bound to know something… though, I don't really know where she is, just that it's a hidden place on the continent." Morphomon said apologetically.

Emerald frowned, before sighing "Well… it's something I guess."

"If you're gonna go look for her, want me to come along? Folder might not be where most of the action happens these days, but its still got its fair share of dangers," Morphomon said. "It doesn't hurt to have someone watch your back."

"What about you? Weren't you alone before?" Emerald blinked.

"Yeah, but I'm really good at getting away from trouble," Morphomon chuckled.

"Well…" Emerald frowned, considering the offer. She wondered what Cinder would do in this situation… besides probably torch everything around her.

Maybe… accept the help but manipulate the person giving that help? Yeah, that could work.

"Sure. I mean, you probably know this place better than I do, yeah?" Emerald said with as genuine a smile as she could make.

Morphomon blinked at that one. "Uh...is there a reason you're trying too hard to smile?" she asked, before her expression brightened. "But sure, I'll help."

Emerald faltered a bit at being called out, only to look at Morphomon in confusion at her still deciding to help her "Uh… thanks." she said, looking away.

"Okay then. First things first. We've gotta get out of Funhouse Forest. Weird name I know, seeing as the traps here are anything but fun," Morphomon said. "Good news is only small and intelligent Digimon live here so talking is an option. Bad news is, this forest is a bit bigger than most would like."

"Lead the way I guess," Emerald sighed.

"I thought you said you knew where you were going!" Emerald shouted as she and Morphomon were running away...from a rolling boulder.

"I thought I did too! This one's new!" Morphomon shouted in response.

"How does a trap just suddenly show up?!" Emerald couldn't help but ask.

"It probably grew. Literally! This forest is crazy like that!" Morphomon answered, before they found a spot they could split up, allowing the boulder to roll past them. "Phew, that was too close," Morphomon sighed.

"It really was." Emerald said with a sigh of her own "Just how crazy IS this place?"

"It's the Digital World." Morphomon shrugged.

"...I'm afraid to ask, but please tell me this is the worst this Continent has to offer," Emerald groaned...a groan that grew when Morphomon just looked uncomfortable. Great...just great. She was going to be mad by the time she got back to Remnant. She just knew it.

"Hey look, I can see the exit!" Morphomon cheered.

"FINALLY!" Emerald gasped. They'd been navigating the forest for three days already, and she was REALLY looking forward to getting out of this crazy forest. Oh, and if she could ever meet whoever or whatever was making these traps, she'd give them a slow and painful death for the poop pits they NARROWLY avoided several times. "So, what's out of this forest?"

"Hope you got a sweet tooth, cause one reason some Mon brave through Funhouse Forest, is to get a bite, and I mean that literally, of Choco Canyon," Morphomon said cheerfully...before making a beeline for a small boulder and literally eating it.

Emerald paused at that, looking more closely, and seeing that… all the stone near her was LITERALLY chocolate.

That… that was actually pretty cool.

She rarely had a chance to just stop and eat sweets now that she thought about it.

Slowly, she walked up to a boulder, and tore off a chunk of it, biting into it and smiling a bit at how nice it tasted.

It reminded her of the last time she could actually remember having sweets, back before her father died. Her small trip down memory lane was slightly interrupted when Morphomon came up to her, holding a pair of bowls made of chocolate (which judging by the slightly crude shape, she made herself), both of which had a white liquid in it...which judging by the smell was liquid white chocolate. Morphomon smiled and offered one of them to Emerald, and despite herself she smiled back and accepted the offering. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all...even if it was just a temporary deal until she got back to Remnant.

After the literally sweet break, the two were continuing on their way again. The canyon had several paths out. Either they could climb out or they could find a path out. For now they'd decided to do the latter which saw them navigating the twist and turns of the canyon. "If we keep this up, we should reach one of the settlements in the area," Morphomon said. "Hopefully then we can get some info or at least a better idea where we should go."

"Glad to hear that. Though, how far?" Emerald asked.

"Uh...might be an area or two more. Depending on if we got the right path. Sorry," Morphomon apologized.

"...eh, still better than being hopelessly lost," Emerald sighed.

The two of them continued onward for a while, before the path slowly led them away from the canyon and towards an area that bled into...metal?

"Huh? Weren't we just in a canyon?" Emerald blinked.

"Then we're on our way to the Metalicana Museum," Morphomon said. "Fun place to visit even if it gets boring after a while."

"It's really anything goes here, isn't it?" Emerald sighed.

"Pretty much yeah," Morphomon chuckled.

"...what does it say I'm not even questioning it anymore?" Emerald groaned.

"That our brand of crazy is infectious?" Morphomon suggested innocently.

Emerald's eyebrow twitched at that "I'm gonna go mad before I get out of here." she said before stomping on ahead.

The area itself looked to be like a large district of several museums, each with their own style and even their own names… but all completely made out of metal. Idly entering one that was apparently called the Smithsonian it was… well, exactly what she expected a museum to be like actually, if it were made out of metal that is, and that included the exhibits. There were even dinosaur skeletons made completely out of metal. "Wow, this place really is made of metal. Though…" she frowned, looking over some of the signs. "I've never heard of any of these artists," she frowned. Oh she was no art buff, but she at least knew enough in passing that she'd at least have heard SOMEONE who was good enough to have their art in a museum.

"Oh! Maybe these are artists from Earth!" Morphomon said.

Emerald paused at that, blinking slowly before looking at Morphomon in confusion "What's Earth?"

"Uh… how did they explain it again?" Morphomon muttered, tilting her head, before her head snapped up with her arm "That's right! They said it has half of the building blocks for the Digital World! The other half is from Remnant!"

"So… a third world?" Emerald said in surprise at that "Do you know how to get to that one?" she asked curiously.

"No, sorry… are you from Earth or Remnant though?" Morphomon asked.

"Ah… I'm from Remnant… guess I'm just pretty curious about this Earth place." Emerald admitted.

It wasn't a lie after all. What kind of world WAS this Earth place?

"It's not as connected as Remnant, but I'd heard that Earth is pretty...boring," Morphomon mused. "I think this Shamamon I met once said that Earth just has humans, and that's it really. Remnant is way more interesting."

"A world with just humans?" Emerald repeated in surprise. That obviously meant no Faunus… but did it also mean no Grimm?

"Well, humans and animals. That's it really," Morphomon shrugged. "So unlike Remnant, none of those Faunus and none of those creepy Grimm things either," she said, unknowingly answering Emerald's unspoken question.

"I...see…" Emerald frowned. She wasn't sure what to make of this, but well...any information might help Cinder, so she should keep that in mind.

Wordlessly they continued on. Despite this being a museum, it was expansive in its own way and thus could be a bit of a maze to navigate.

"This place is really big," Morphomon sighed. "Going through here isn't always easy. Good thing there's more than one way through."

"Thanks for small mercies," Emerald sighed...until they both heard something. "You hear that?"

"Yep. We...might want to be careful," Morphomon frowned, as they moved closer to the sound to see what it was...but then the next thing that hit them...was the smell.

"Ugh! What is that stench?!" Emerald gasped.

"It's so rancid!" Morphomon said while trying to wave away the smell from her nose.

The source of the smell quickly came up, and they saw what was causing it.

"Hey, who you calling rancid?!" the owner of the stench growled indignantly as they had heard them and come to them. It was...a walking mass of sludge with eyes and a mouth. That was the best way Emerald could describe it.

"Raremon?! I should have known!" Morphomon gasped.

Digimon Analyzer: Raremon

Raremon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Undead Digimon. It tried to extend its life by mechanizing its rotting body, but the process failed, instead making it slowly degrade over time, yet, the machines prevent it from dying, leaving it stuck in a sort of limbo state. Due to its broken down state, its offensive and mental capabilities are subpar, making it rather weak for an Adult level Digimon. Special attack is Breath of Decay, breathing out a fog that makes everything organic slowly rot, while non-organic material like metal will rust.

"Should I be worried?" Emerald asked, pinching her nose while she recoiled in disgust.

"His breath makes everything around him rot away." Morphomon answered.

"I regret asking." Emerald said, before grabbing Morphomon's hand and running away, not wanting to deal with that kind of opponent.

Strangely, she didn't even realise she'd grabbed Morphomon's hand until the little Digimon got out of her grip and instead flew along next to her.

And then Raremon rounded the corner, chasing after them with a roar "I'll show you who's rancid!"

"Any ideas how to get away from this thing?!" Emerald gasped.

"Keep running and hope he gives up?" Morphomon suggested.

"...that works yeah," Emerald gulped.

The two continued running, but Raremon kept chasing after them, even firing shots of corrosive sludge, forcing them to shift their direction multiple times.

The chase continued for a while, before inevitably it had to end. Unfortunately that involved the two being in a position that had them seemingly cornered. "Uh...about that smell thing, it's really not so bad," Morphomon gulped...though she couldn't help but add under her breath: "Once you get used to it anyway…"

"Hey, I heard that!" Raremon snarled.

"Maybe STOP mentioning it." Emerald shushed Morphomon even as her eyes darted around, trying to find an escape route.

Sadly, there didn't look to be any in sight, and she REALLY wasn't keen on finding out of his body was as corrosive as his breath and spit.

"Guess there's only one thing left to do," Morphomon sighed...before she charged forward. "Rinrin Therapy!" she called out, releasing her scales, which hit Raremon dead on, causing him to recoil. "I'll distract him, you get out of here!" she shouted at Emerald.

Emerald nodded, before she did just that, getting away quickly, even as she heard the crash of Raremon starting to move again.

She was almost at the exit, but just as she was about to just run out, she stopped.

She didn't know what compelled her to, but she looked back, her eyes going wide as she saw Morphomon having to run from Raremon again, and clearly not doing so well.

This...should have been an easy choice for her. Morphomon said she'd keep him busy so Emerald could escape. That means Morphomon could take him...right? And its not like she wasn't just doing what Morphomon told her to do. Despite that, seeing Morphomon in trouble, Emerald didn't know what had gotten into her, but she'd turned around and was now going towards them. In the chaos and fear of accidentally getting literally melted, she'd never actually TRIED her Semblance on Raremon. She had to think fast. Something that would keep Raremon's attention, but in a way that wouldn't end with Morphomon getting hit with that gunk. She focused and reached out, and found herself hoping more than she'd expected that this works.

Raremon snarled in annoyance as he tried to swat the annoying bug flying around. However, his attention was soon cut short when he heard something hit the walls...before something broke through. What came out was what looked like some dark mishapen version of a Mammothmon with black skin, white bone armor and the most hateful red eyes he'd ever seen. As such, he could only do what anyone would do. "S-stay back!" he shouted, shooting his attacks at it, but it seemed to be unaffected.

Morphomon blinked, since all she saw was Raremon screaming and shooting his attacks at nothing while acting like he was seeing one of the Seven Demon Lords or something. "Come on! I can't keep this up forever!" Emerald shouted, catching Morphomon's attention. Morphomon had a lot of questions, but she knew better than to ask them now. With that in mind she went right towards Emerald. Once Morphomon was with her, the two of them bolted, Emerald maintaining the illusion for a bit longer, before dropping it, leaving Raremon to blink, wondering what the heck just happened.

With Raremon no longer on their tail, the two were able to make it out of the museum, letting out sighs of relief from the fresh air "Thank Oum that's over." Emerald said after a moment.

And then one of the outer walls melted, with Raremon pushing his way out through it with a roar.

Her brow twitched at the sight "Spoke too soon."

"I don't think he's gonna let us go," Morphomon frowned.

"In that case I think we're gonna have to stop running," Emerald growled in annoyance.

"Yeah, let's get him!" Morphomon agreed, before releasing her scales again, making it hard to move for Raremon. A moment Emerald didn't fail to capitalize on as she loaded up Thief's Respite and using it in its gun mode, unloaded a volley of shots onto Raremon which exploded into fire, as that was all Fire Dust rounds.

"You two are so annoying!" Raremon shouted, firing off his sludge again, but both of them evaded, Emerald even using her Semblance to create illusions to further throw off Raremon.

As that was happening, Morphomon continued to dump more and more of her scales, furthering the paralysis effect on Raremon. Raremon tried to fight back, but the two were more agile, and between them, it was getting harder and harder to even move. Heck, the only reason he wasn't in worse trouble was because his body could recover from the worst of the impact damage Emerald was doing...and the fact she hadn't even TRIED using her melee weapon mode on him out of fear of losing her weapon in the process. Eventually though the paralysis had built up so much, he was practically petrified.

"All yours," Morphomon said cheerfully.

"I think I'll take that offer," Emerald smirked a bit, before loading up some of the few rounds of Gravity Dust she had, aimed carefully and opened fire. The bullets hit, and after a moment of seemingly nothing...Raremon was promptly launched into the sky and ended up a twinkle.

"Looks like you got him," Morphomon chuckled.

"Sure did. Wherever he lands, hope it's somewhere that can deal with his smell," Emerald said with a smirk, causing Morphomon to laugh.

"On that we agree," Morphomon said. "Thanks for the save before. I kinda only had half an idea what I was doing."

"Ah… yeah." Emerald said, looking a bit awkward "Guess I just… didn't feel like being a coward that much." she said, trying to justify herself… and if the smile Morphomon was giving her was any indication, she wasn't buying it. "But… yeah… I guess we made a pretty good team taking him down." she admitted a bit more truthfully.

"We did yeah!" Morphomon said happily, before clasping Emerald's hand with her own two, and despite herself, Emerald smiled a little bit.

At that moment, something started to glow in her hand however, the two looking down in surprise, the light clearing away moments later to reveal…

"Isn't this… a Digivice?" Emerald said in shock, remembering the lesson Summer Rose had given on these.

"Oh wow, it really is," Morphomon said, before grinning at Emerald. "Guess we'll be working together a lot more now then."

It took a moment for Emerald to process that, partially because she had to remember the small lecture on the Digivices...which she'd admittedly only half listened to. A bit too...wordy for her taste. Though now that she thought of it, the most important part was… "...you're kidding...right?" she couldn't help but say with a blank expression when she remembered what getting a Digivice meant. The only answer she got was Morphomon's smiling face.

And there!

So, what did you think?

So begins Emerald's own side story, and I bet her new Digimon partner was a bit of a surprise to you all, but... well, it kind of makes sense.

Butterflies are often associated with illusions after all.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed, because...

The Adventure Evolves