And we're back!
You probably didn't notice, but we actually had a tiny break between the last chapter and this one, worked on a fun distraction for a few days to refresh our brains a bit before jumping back in.
And what a chapter to jump back into.
You'll see what I mean.
Journey of Redemption - Part 4
"I am SO glad this is the Damp Desert…" Morphomon sighed as the hot sun beat down on the three of them.
"Tell me about it." Emerald sighed, drinking water from a pouch she carried on her for those kinds of situations.
After they'd freed the last town from Ganemon's hold, the people started to celebrate, finally rid of his crooked ways. They'd also, thankfully, been able to point them in the direction of where Babamon was said to live, somewhere called Damp Desert, which got its name due to the fact that unlike most deserts, this one had plenty of oasis and water sources scattered around it.
With that in mind, Emerald and Morphomon had set out, with Norn following after them since the girl had nowhere to go still.
And thus, their current situation.
"Any sign of the next town?" Norn sighed, wiping off more sweat off her brow.
"We'll hopefully find it soon…" Morphomon sighed as they continued to trek through the desert.
Emerald grunted, but that was all they needed to hear as they continued walking.
Going through the desert, they continued to trudge on, passing by a few more oases on the way. Eventually though, they started to see a town in the distance.
"Finally. Maybe now we can get a proper lead on getting back to Remnant." Emerald said with a sigh of relief as the three of them pressed on a bit faster than earlier, and before long, they were walking into a town with buildings made of hardened sand, the town actually quite vibrant and seemed to be built around the biggest oasis in the desert.
"Well… I think we finally found a town that ISN'T being oppressed in some way." Emerald said, smiling a bit as the three of them stood in the shade of a palm tree after running the rest of the way into town.
"Hopefully that means we're catching a lucky break." Morphomon said hopefully.
"I think it would be more worrying if all the towns were like the one I was in…" Norn frowned. "That's not normal, right?"
Both Emerald and Morphomon opened their mouths and paused to think about it carefully. Fortunately they both nodded. "Yeah, it's not normal."
After they rested a bit, the trio went into the town proper, looking around curiously as it looked like on top of being a naturally thriving town, it was also an impressive trader's bazaar.
"Guess it makes sense for a desert town to be full of traders." Emerald mused "I heard that there's plenty of settlements like that in Vacuo."
"I see… I wouldn't remember." Norn said with a frown.
"Not even a single memory of Remnant huh?" Emerald said with a sigh, shaking her head.
This was something they'd quickly found out about Norn.
She had no idea where she came from, or how she ended up in the Digital World. She'd just been wandering on the beach one day before the Guardromon grabbed her and brought her into the mine.
Hopefully once they were back on Remnant they'd be able to find SOME sort of lead about her so she could go back home.
Either way, they first had to find Babamon.
"Let's ask around, somebody probably knows where Babamon is." Morphomon said.
"Uh…" Norn said, pointing at something, to which Morphomon and Emerald turned to where she was looking and…
"...really?" Emerald said dryly, as before them was a neon sign saying 'Babamon's Fortune Telling', and pointing in a direction...which soon led to a line of Digimon going to the source.
"Um… should we just…?" Morphomon trailed off, pointing at the line.
Emerald sighed "Yeah, we need to speak with her after all. Might as well not give her a reason to kick us out." she said, before they went to the back of the line, though she grabbed a pair of palm tree leaves that were hanging loosely overhead as they walked, handing one to Norn "Here, we're gonna be standing in the sun for a while, so you should try to get some shade." she said, before using the other leaf for herself and Morphomon.
Norn nodded, smiling softly, before angling the leaf over herself to hide her body with its shade while they slowly advanced through the line. Eventually they reached the end of the line, which revealed to end in what could only be called a generic fortune teller hut, complete with some mist coming out of it (probably come kind of fog machine) even though they were in a desert.
"...guess she likes theatrics," Morphomon sweat dropped as they eventually got their turn and went into the hut.
The inside looked, again, rather generic, but they could see an exit in the back, probably heading into her house. Babamon herself was sitting down in front of a table in the center, in front of a crystal ball. She looked very much like a short old woman, wearing a green shamanistic style robe, her grey hair held up in a bun, and a pink gem around her neck, a broom resting against the table on her side.
Digimon Analyzer: Babamon
Babamon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Ancient Digimon. A Digimon with the appearance of an old grandmother, she is said to have the powers of a witch and fortune-teller. Rumor has it the Tifaret she carries around her neck is proof of the claims she used to be a Rosemon that was cursed into this form. Special attacks are Empress Haze, erasing viruses with a single swing of her broom, and Tri-Banish, unleashing a spell that sends the enemy flying far away to never be seen again.
"Welcome, welcome." Babamon greeted them "I have to say, this is the first time I've received humans in my hut."
"You know what we are?" Emerald asked curiously.
"Of course! I'm an actual fortune teller. I'll have you know, I can watch over people from afar, and I've seen humans plenty by looking through my crystal ball." Babamon informed them.
"Well… maybe you can help us then." Emerald said, sounding a bit hopeful.
"Maybe I can, yes. Come, sit down and tell me what troubles you girls." Babamon said with a smile, waving her broom, and a trio of chairs appeared on the opposite end of the table.
"I...we're hoping you could help us find our way back to Remnant," Emerald said, pausing a bit at first. She was about to say she wanted a way back, but the idea of not including Morphomon and Norn (especially Morphomon) in the request left a very bad taste in her mouth.
"A way back to your world? Let's see…" Babamon chuckled, waving a hand over her crystal ball. "Ah yes, seek out the Holy Highlands. There you will find SlashAngemon who has the power to open the path you seek," she said. "However, a word of caution. SlashAngemon is supposed to be something of the Ruler of Folder, yet as of recently he has been absent from his duties. Finding him may be easier said than done," she said.
"Right… do you know where the Holy Highlands are?" Emerald asked Morphomon.
Morphomon frowned, shaking her head "No idea, before I met you the furthest I'd gone was Billion Beach."
"Can you tell us where the Holy Highlands are?" Norn asked Babamon.
Babamon chuckled "Of course dearies, just head North-East from this town, you're actually rather close to the South-West peninsula, so you'll have a bit of a trek on your hands."
Emerald sighed at that "Great… this is gonna take a while. At least we have a proper lead though." she said, starting to get up "Thanks for your time."
"Hold on now." Babamon said, stopping the three "I can't let you just leave like that now, can I? I mean, look at you two girls."
Emerald blinked, before looking down at herself, confused for a moment, before she understood what Babamon meant.
She'd been wearing the same outfit for weeks by now, and it was showing on the clothing, which was wearing down and tearing in several places, while Norn still had her rags from when they met.
"Come with me. I'll get you girls some new clothes, let you clean up as well, I can smell you both from here." Babamon finished with a chuckle, making the two girls blush a bit at that last part.
With that, Babamon went to the entrance to her hut, stepping out to see the now much shorter line of Digimon and waved her broom, giving all of them a numbered ticket while a sign appeared in front of the door that read 'Stepping out for lunch' "I'll be gone for an hour. When your ticket glows, you can come stand back in line people." she informed them all, before stepping back inside and motioning for the girls to follow her through the back exit, which led into a small home.
"This is a nice place," Norn said, as while the house was indeed small, it had a warm and cozy feel to it.
"Why thank you, I do enjoy a home that feels welcoming," Babamon chuckled. "Now then, let's see what we can do about your old clothes," she mused.
"There we go!" Babamon said proudly, waking up the napping Morphomon.
"It's finally over?" she said with a yawn, before coming over to see their new clothes "Oh wow, you look great!"
"Thanks." Emerald said with a smile. She was now wearing a mint green crop top beneath a cropped white quilted leather, double breasted biker jacket that sported her emblem on the back, along with white, skinny jeans and brown chaps that end at her thighs, her weapon holsters still attached to her lower back while, as usual, her midriff was bared, though now a lot less than before. She also had a pair of brown ankle boots with metal toe plating, a red gradient gem pendant around her neck and a beaded bracelet on her right wrist.
As for Norn, her outfit was literally the embodiment of the gothic lolita style as a whole, dressed in black with belts and chains, but full of white frills that made her outfit look more fluffy, which made for an overall cute look, especially with black leather and studded hairband that sported more frills on it as well.
"...you know, I'd normally ask why, but considering that look actually works...nice choice," Emerald said, seeing as normally she wouldn't consider 'goth lolita' to be all that great for a normal look.
"Glad everyone likes this then," Norn chuckled.
"Thanks for everything, Babamon," Morphomon smiled.
"Don't thank me yet, you three are going to have a hard journey ahead. SlashAngemon may be able to help you, but that's only if, and I do mean 'if' you can reach him," Babamon frowned.
"Right, we'll be sure to stay on track then." Emerald nodded.
"Of course, and here, to help you with that." Babamon said, waving her broom, making a compass drop into Emerald's hand "The most accurate compass you'll ever find in the Digital World, just think about where you want to go and it'll point the way."
"That so?" Emerald said with a raised eyebrow, before testing it out, thinking of Billion Beach, and it pointed to the way they came from, and then focusing on Holy Highlands, and the arrow flipped to another direction "Helpful." she said with a smile, closing the compass's lid and putting it in her pocket for now "We'll make good use of it, I promise."
"I'm sure you will. Now then, off with you three. There's much ground to cover and you'll want to go soon. Good luck all of you," Babamon smiled to which they nodded and soon left her home.
A short while later saw the three of them preparing to leave town, having taken the time to get some supplies. Money wasn't an issue, since Emerald had taken the opportunity in the last town to 'borrow' some cash from Ganemon. As such they were more or less prepared for the road ahead.
"Alright, I think we've got everything we need now." Emerald said, making sure her pack was well stocked "Plenty of water, some non-perishables, even something we can use to clean our clothes when we need to."
"It's going to be quite the road ahead for us." Norn said, frowning a bit.
"No choice, Babamon herself said we've got a long way to go till the Holy Highlands. Even then we'll need to find SlashAngemon's castle once we reach them." Morphomon said with a sigh.
"Then let's get moving. Daylight isn't going to wait for us," Emerald chuckled. Maybe it would be a long trip...but she had a feeling it'd be fine with them by her side.
However, any further thoughts were stopped short when there was a tremor felt.
"Uh...is it just me, or is that a large dust cloud coming closer?" Norn blinked, looking out towards the desert.
Emerald blinked, before looking out at the desert, narrowing her eyes "I… don't think that's just a dust cloud." she said, before grabbing the two with her "Best to hide." she said, pulling them in between two houses.
This proved to be a good move, as when the 'dust cloud' came near it revealed to be a gang of Digimon riding in a variety of hovering vehicles, and leading them was a large rhinoceros shaped Digimon wearing golden armor covered in red jewels, riding on a platform of some kind exclusively for himself.
"That's a Rhinomon!" Morphomon gasped.
Digimon Analyzer: Rhinomon
Rhinomon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Mammal Digimon. A Digimon clad in Chrome Digizoid armor, it is one of the stronger examples of an Adult Level Digimon, able to hold its own against weaker Perfects. Despite its sluggish appearance, its movement speed is shockingly fast due to moving its body using its excessive strength. Special attack is Atomic Burst, cloaking itself in a barrier of light generated from the gems on its armor and ramming into the enemy.
"Round them up!" Rhinomon laughed, as his gang threw out a number of nets, catching several of the panicking civilians. Once they had a number of them caught, they were reeled in and were soon being carted off by the group which soon rolled out of town. That all happened in a very short amount of time, hence why nobody had been able to properly react to it beyond panic.
"...okay...wow...that was fast," Emerald blinked.
"We'd better follow them though," Norn frowned. "I don't think they were taking them with good intentions…"
"Considering they dragged them all off like that, yeah, I think we should follow," Emerald agreed.
"Let's go then!" Morphomon said as they soon were after the marauders.
The trio ended up following the marauders for the better part of an hour, able to track them from the dust cloud they left behind in their wake, before finally, they could see the base they were using.
"Huh… never seen an unfinished one before." Emerald mused, looking up at the unfinished pyramid in the middle of some ruins.
And when she said unfinished, she meant that it looked barely even started, being only 1/6th of the way done.
"Doesn't look like they're too worried." Morphomon said, looking around the corner of a ruin, the other two joining her to see a Bakemon sleeping on the job in front of the entrance.
"Wow… talk about stupid." Emerald deadpanned.
"But good for us," Norn said. "That means we can get in without any issues," she added, earning a few chuckles of agreement before they soon walked right past the sleeping guard who didn't even stir.
The 'construction site' was...well...it really wasn't much of one. It was just a whatever mon they'd managed to catch, with whatever equipment they'd gotten together...and honestly...it didn't seem like anyone on site actually knew what they were doing.
"Okay...we definitely need to stop this," Morphomon frowned.
"Yeah...I'd be worried that even if they do finish this thing, it might fall over in a strong breeze…" Emerald sweat dropped.
"It would put everyone in danger." Norn said with a frown.
"Well then… what say we get up to some sabotage while freeing the captured Digimon?" Emerald suggested with a grin.
"Let's do it," Morphomon smirked.
With that agreed they got to work, making use of the lack of security and Emerald's Semblance to get around undetected while setting up a number of traps, such as loosening stones in a way that they could easily push them to cause a collapse, putting cracked tiles over pits, and various other makeshift traps that made use of the site's shoddy construction to begin with.
From there it was a simple enough matter to use Emerald's Semblance to trick some of Rhinomon's gang members into walking right into the traps, and watch the hilarity that ensued as the gang was thrown into chaos at the sudden and seemingly random accidents going on.
"Will you all just calm the hell down?!" Rhinomon roared, stopping them after a few minutes. "Good now if you clowns are done falling all over yourselves, get back to making sure the slaves are working!" he barked.
"Uh...sir?" one of his followers gulped.
"What?" Rhinomon growled, to which the follower just pointed...at the now empty construction site...and they noticed that there were a few who were already in the middle of escaping.
There was a pause before…
"GET THEM!" Rhinomon roared.
His goons chased after the fleeing slaves… only for the floor to suddenly give away under them, causing them all to fall into a they'd try to get out, but the fall launched a rock which rebounded on several larger rocks and set off a chain reaction which ended with several big rocks falling onto the hole, trapping them in the pit.
Rhinomon just stared incredulously, before roaring to the sky "WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!"
"We happened." Emerald said as she came out from behind a broken pillar.
"You aren't gonna kidnap anybody else now." Morphomon said, appearing from the other side.
"So we suggest you give up." Norn added, walking out from behind a stone next to the pillar.
Rhinomon was silent for a moment, before… "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" he roared, charging forward, forcing them to evade. "HOW DARE YOU JUST COME IN AND START MESSING UP MY GANG LIKE THAT!"
"Next time don't go messing up other peoples' lives!" Morphomon shouted. "Let's go, Emerald!"
"Right!" Emerald nodded, not even noticing how natural this was becoming for her as her Digivice shined.
(Play 'Brave Heart')
"Morphomon, Evolution! Hudiemon!"
Rhinomon snorted and was ready to charge again, but Hudiemon lashed out, hitting him with a kick to the side of the head which knocked him back a little, but he immediately regained his bearings and charged forward again, to which Hudiemon evaded.
"Don't forget about me!" Emerald said, opening fire, which proved to annoy Rhinomon.
"Fine, I'll crush you both! Ain Soph Aur!" Rhinomon roared, a barrier appearing around him rendering the shots ineffective as he charged for Emerald.
"Whoa!" Emerald gasped as Rhinomon charged into her...only to hit a wall as Emerald had had time to use her Semblance to make him think she was in one position when she'd already shifted to another.
Naturally though that did little to slow down Rhinomon, and with his barrier still up, Emerald and Hudiemon were soon pushed to the defense since their attacks were doing nothing. As a result, the area was shaking quite a lot from the various failed charges from Rhinomon, while Hudiemon and Emerald continued to evade or fool him with Emerald's Semblance. Even so, he was relentless.
As the fight was going on, Norn remained out of the way. She didn't like how she couldn't help them fight, but trying to 'help' right now would just make things worse and thus why she stayed out of the way.
Of course, even out of the way wasn't exactly safe with how everything was shaking, but during one such tremor, one of the pillars fell apart, to which something that was inside caught her eye. Going over quickly, she took it out of the rubble and saw what it was. It was a necklace/pendant of some kind, seemingly made of gold that was roughly tear shaped with what looked like a glass cover in the center revealing some kind of white object that slid in perfectly, with an emblem in the center looking vaguely like a pair of wings floating over some kind of mound.
"This is…?" she blinked. She didn't know why, but she could tell it was important somehow. However, her moment of bewilderment was cut short when…
"Aha! There you are!" Rhinomon roared. "Atomic Burst!" he roared as he was covered in an aura and charged straight at Norn.
"Look out!" Emerald shouted, and before she even fully processed what she was doing, she had charged forward and grabbed Norn, managing to pull her out of the way JUST in time to avoid being well...no reason to elaborate.
"Emerald! Norn!" Hudiemon gasped, before glaring at Rhinomon...and noticed his shield was down. "You made a BIG mistake buster!" she roared as she charged forward, and before Rhinomon could respond, she delivered a flurry of kicks, pushing him back, before… "Infinity Dream!" she called out, paralyzing Rhinomon mid-push as he was pushed over another pit trap...to which the tiles cracked and revealed a spike trap.
"No no no!" Rhinomon managed to gasp, before his weight pulled him down and well...he was soon deleted.
(Song end)
Emerald sighed in relief, getting up "Glad he's gone."
"Yeah… that armor was tough." Hudiemon said with a wince, shaking her feet a bit to try to get rid of the numb feeling.
"At the very least, he won't be kidnapping people anymore, and his underlings are all trapped." Norn said.
"Yeah, there's that." Emerald said, before turning to her "Still though, why'd you get out of cover like that? That was really dangerous."
"Sorry." Norn frowned, before holding up the pendant she found "I just… felt I should grab this. I don't know why."
Emerald rose an eyebrow as she saw the object, narrowing her eyes a bit "Huh… I think… I've seen something like this before… didn't blondie have something like it?" she mused, thinking back to Yang when she first saw her, vaguely remembering a pendant like that around the blonde's neck.
"What is it?" Hudiemon said as she came over to look, humming as she looked at it "I've never seen anything like this before." she said, before reverting to Morphomon "I like how it looks though."
"Yeah… for some reason, it feels… nice." Emerald admitted, wondering why she felt that.
Norn hummed "I think...you should have it." she said, handing it to Emerald.
The mint haired girl blinked in surprise at this "Wh- me? You sure? I mean, you found it and all." she said, not expecting someone to just decide to give her something like this.
Norn smiled kindly "I'm sure. You're my friend after all."
Emerald stopped at that, looking even more surprised "We're… friends?"
"Of course we are." Norn said easily, still smiling.
"Yeah, all of us!" Morphomon added with a cheer.
Emerald was silent at that for a good moment, before slowly, a smile formed on her face, even as she looked away and actually blushed a bit "Yeah… I guess we are." she finally admitted, before Norn and Morphomon both hugged her suddenly and she returned it with a sigh after a few moments. She wasn't sure when it had started, but the reality was...she really did consider them her friends.
After the two finally released her, they made their way out of the unfinished Pyramid, seeing that the kidnapped Digimon were long gone.
"Guess they headed back." Morphomon said.
"Yeah… you'd think we'd see them a bit though." Emerald said, squinting as she looked in the distance, not seeing a trace of the freed Digimon.
Norn hummed "Didn't the gang used to have hover vehicles?"
Emerald blinked, before looking around, seeing that the place was… literally deserted, with no more vehicles around anymore "Huh… guess they stole them to get back… makes sense. Waste not, want not and all that." she said with a shrug.
Morphomon hummed, flying a bit overhead, before letting out a small gasp "Hey! They left one behind!" she said, pointing to a spot behind a few stones and flying over.
"Maybe we could use it." Norn said, following after her.
Emerald smiled a bit, following after the two and starting to round the stones "Maybe yeah, would beat wal...king… holy SHIT I want this." she said after trailing off as she looked at the vehicle that was left behind.
It was a motorbike. One with with a single wheel on the back of it, a rust red body with blue flames that faded into purple painted on, a HUGE engine block on the tip just in front of the handles, a long kickstand coming out from beneath the engine to keep it upright while she could see some kind of turbine or something below the handles on the underside, probably the thing that made it hover, and there was even a sidecar on the left hand side of the bike that had its own hover engine underneath, with a kickstand dropped from below the sidecar as well to hold the whole thing up. Apparently whoever was using it forgot to grab their stuff, since she could see a blocky silver visor hanging off the gas handle with a dark green scarf as well.
Emerald continued to stare it for a moment, before she simply said "This is mine now."
Did she forget to mention her father loved motorcycles? And that it MAY have rubbed off on her a bit?
Her friends laughed a bit, before getting into the sidecar together, while Emerald mounted the actual bike, grabbing the visor and pulling it on her head, letting them rest on her forehead with the strap around her head while she wrapped the scarf around her lower face, soon pulling the visor over her eyes, while Morphomon and Norn pulled out a pair of small goggles and helmet from the sidecar and put them on as Emerald turned on the motorcycle, the engine roaring to life bringing a sigh of satisfaction from her while the kickstands pulled up on their own, the hover engines flaring up and making the rest of the bike float in the air "Oh yeah… I LOVE this thing." she said, before making the engine roar louder as the trio soon sped off into the desert, using the compass to guide them on their path, and Emerald's new pendant hanging off her neck just below the scarf, giving off a faint spark none of them noticed.
Maybe now, Remnant wasn't so far away anymore.
*shit eating grin*
Yeahp.
We went there.
Emerald has one too.
Don't worry, it'll get elaborated on eventually, I promise.
As for the bike, yeah, that's the same one from Pokemon Colosseum, just with a few extra details to give it a touch of logic... and some flame decals for cool factor because fuck yeah.
Giving Emerald more character depth was more fun too, since on top of building her up, it builds up her father too for the kind of personality he had.
You know, since RT is slow as shit in explaining their characters.
Who's willing to bet we only get Emerald's full backstory in like, Volume 10? Same with Jaune's since his is still kinda barren. And that both of them are as shallow as Cinder's own was.
Sorry, I rambled on there, just had to get that rant out.
Also, for Emerald's new compass... basically Jack Sparrow's compass.
Yeah, we're decking her out with some helpful gear.
She needs it, she's in a rough continent that's mostly barren and empty.
But hey, at least she has her friends by her side, because...
The Adventure Evolves