Hey guys, Aaron2014 here! Sorry it took awhile to post this chapter but work and cleaning house kept my attention. Anyways in this and the next three chapters are short since they're based off the trailers. Anyways enjoy!
Chapter 2: Red
Seasons change and years have passed. Currently the Isle of Patch at the moment was experiencing a white winter during this time. A blanket of snow covered the large isle as tender snowflakes fell from the sky. When you look it, it appears to be a perfect portrait of peace.
At a certain house on the isle, one of its habitants was waking up to the new day. She was a girl around the age of 15 with fair skin, silver eyes and black, neck-length hair that gradates to dark red at the tips cut in an asymmetrical style. At the moment her eyes were still closed but was minorly woken up from the light of her window. She decided to sleep in a little bit, but unfortunately fate had other plans.
"Rubymon!" A child-like voice spoke up as she felt something land on her chest. "Wake up! It's breakfast time and I'm hungry!"
The girl opened her eyes before focusing her vision on her chest. There sitting on her chest was a Digimon. This Digimon had a small rounded body covered in red skin. It had a white underbelly and black markings under its round yellow eyes as well as a black tip and the end of its tail. It had four stubby limbs and two bat wing-like ears on top of its head and a fanged smile. The little Digimon wagged its tail like a dog would do when it was happy.
"Gigimon," The girl said with a groan. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
The little Digimon tilted his head before replying, "Breakfast time?"
The girl snorted a bit in amusement before sitting up while picking up the little Digimon. "What am I going do with you, you little goofball?"
"Feed me?" Gigimon simply replied. "I'm so hungry I could eat an Ursa!"
This got a laugh out of the teenage girl before replying, "Okay, okay, just let me get dressed first."
A few minutes later, the young girl was fully dressed. She wore a long sleeved thick black blouse with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves, a black waist cincher with red lacing up the front, and a black skirt with red trim. She also wore a pair of thick black stockings and black combat boots with red laces, red trim around the top and red soles. The outfit was topped by a red hooded cloak fastened to her shoulder by cross-shaped pins. Her emblem appears as a large silver brooch and is pinned to a wide black belt slung around her hips on an angle, which also has bullets and a pouch attached. Attached to her belt was none other than her Digivice.
"Okay," She said aloud before picking up Gigimon with a smile. "Let's go get something to eat."
"Yay, breakfast!" Gigimon shouted with glee causing the girl to laugh.
They made their way downstairs to see two individuals preparing breakfast in the kitchen. The one prepping the table was none other than Gabumon. The one prepping the food was none other than Taiyang Xiao Long. They both turned to the sound of footsteps entering the kitchen before smiling.
"Morning, guys." The girl said with a smile.
"Morning, Ruby," Taiyang said with a smile. "How'd you sleep?"
"Pretty good," Ruby said before looking down at Gigimon. "Until this little guy woke me up."
"Not my fault I'm hungry." Gigimon replied.
"Gigimon, you're always hungry." Ruby shot back with a giggle.
"Yeah, so what's your point?"
"Well lucky for you two, breakfast is served!" Taiyang said with a grin as he presented the food.
Both Ruby and Gigimon's mouths dripped with drool at the sight. It was a large abundance of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and varieties of fruit in a neat pile before them. This is why they loved Taiyang's cooking, considering it was like eating a gourmet feast.
"Dig in, you two." Taiyang said with a smile.
"Thank you for the food!" The girl and Digimon said at once before gorging themselves in the meal.
"Geez," Gabumon spoke up. "It's like watching Yang and Koromon in an eating competition."
Taiyang laughed before replying, "Well Gabumon, like I always say, 'a great meal leads to a healthy life.'"
"By the way," Ruby said with her mouth full. "Where's Yang and Koromon at?"
"They went to town for a bit to shop for groceries," Gabumon replied. "They'll be back before supper."
A few minutes later, both the teen and her Digimon had finished their breakfast. Several plates stacked near each one as the two sighed in satisfaction. They had their share of big meals before and this time was no different. Ruby patted her belly while Gigimon sighed in contempt from the delicious food they had consumed. They were stuffed but luckily their natural high metabolisms would kick in soon. It wasn't before long that Taiyang and Gabumon were gathering the dishes.
"Best breakfast as always, dad!" Ruby said causing Taiyang to smile.
"I can't eat another bite," Gigimon added while he lay on his back on the table.
"So, pumpkin," Taiyang spoke as he began washing the dishes in the sink. "What are you going to be doing today?"
"Well," Ruby began. "I was going to take Gigimon with me to go see mom."
There was a silence that lasted a minute or two. Gabumon didn't say anything but knew about the situation so long ago. Gigimon, on the other hand, was confused. Considering he wasn't born yet when Summer went missing, he didn't really know about the mother of his partner. Ruby would tell him minor things about her but she didn't know much about her herself. She was only a toddler when the woman left. It still pained her for missing the woman even though she barely knew her.
"I see," Taiyang said calmly. "Well don't be out too late. You know how the snow gets this time of year."
Ruby smiled as she picked up Gigimon, making her exit before replying, "I know, dad."
As the sound of the door closing was heard, Taiyang sighed as he slouched a bit. All the years putting up a charade was getting to him. He didn't know how long he could keep it up. He knew Qrow still hadn't told Ruby the truth about herself. It was such a pain for keeping it secret after all this time.
"You okay, Tai?" Gabumon said with a voice of minor concern.
"I'm fine, Gabumon." Taiyang replied. "I just don't know how long I can keep this up. She needs to know the truth."
"I know," Gabumon said. "But it's not your place to tell her. Qrow will tell her when the time is right, so no worries."
"That still doesn't keep me from not feeling the guilt after all these years." Taiyang replied.
"It'll work out in the end," Gabumon replied with a smile. "Don't worry too much about it."
"You're right, pal." Taiyang said before smiling. "Where would I be without you?"
"Making corny jokes?" Gabumon replied with a hum. "Oh wait you still do those."
Taiyang softly punched his partner in the shoulder as the two of them laughed.
Half an hour passed during Ruby and Gigimon's trek. The snow, at the moment, wasn't coming down hard and was softly littering the pure white ground. Gigimon shivered a bit from the cold but luckily snuggled in his partner's warm hood. Ruby smiled from the comfort, Gigimon would always get like this during the winter since he had bare skin like her. She didn't mind considering she and Gigimon had a wonderful bond. She needed the comfort for what came next, however.
They arrived at the edge of the cliff where the two stopped in front of a low tombstone. It was made of marble with the etching of a rose on it. Also etched on the tombstone was the name of Ruby's mother, Summer Rose. Below the name was a minor sentence saying, "Thus Kindly I Scatter". Emotions deep within Ruby's heart welled up a bit as minor drops of tears dripped from her face. She bit back on it before speaking her mind.
"Hey mom," She said to the tombstone. "I can't believe it's already been 13 years since you've been gone. You'd be proud to know that I got into Signal, the classes are okay. Uncle Qrow decided to take me up as his apprentice, which means I'll be Remnant's next scythe master. Dad and Yang are doing fine. Yang will be going Beacon in the next few weeks and I'll be going two years from now. As you can see, Gigimon's with me. He's gotten bigger since the last time we were here. He still hasn't stopped calling me that nickname he gave me, but I don't mind."
She paused to compose herself for a bit before speaking again.
"I wish you were still here, watching me go to school, giving me advice about boys and other things. I miss you so much." She let the tears fall from her face.
"Rubymon?" Gigimon spoke up catching her attention. "Are you okay?"
The girl sniffled a bit before answering, "I'm fine, Gigimon. Don't worry about me."
"What was she like?" Gigimon asked.
"Huh?" Ruby replied with a question dipped in confusion.
"Your mom," Gigimon answered. "What was she like?"
"Well," Ruby spoke. "Like you I didn't know her personally, but dad always said mom was the kindest person he'd ever met. She'd do anything to help others in need. That's one of the main reasons why she became a huntress, so she could help people have better lives. She would shed tears to those of misfortune."
"Wow," Gigimon said in awe.
"Yep," Ruby replied before turning away from the tombstone. "How about we head back?"
"Okay," Gigimon replied as they made their trek back to the house.
The trek was quite as the two made their way through the leafless forests of Patch. Snow lightly fell as they walked down the path before them like a calm silence. Though, through the young girls experience over the years even the silence can be deadly. She and her Digimon finally came up to what appeared to be a clearing from the forest. A large blanket of snow covered the ground where a field of grass would be. It was a peaceful sight but Ruby knew better.
Suddenly the sound of Gigimon growling got her attention. She turned to her Digimon partner and saw that his eyes were slitted and his teeth were bare. He only got like this when danger was nearby. She put a comforting hand on the In-Training Digimon's head as she looked ahead. There before her was a non-surprising sight, a local pack of Creatures of Grimm had appeared before her, specifically Beowolves.
The Beowolf is one of Remnants most common species of Grimm. Like all Grimm they have bone-like masks with red markings, along with bone-like spikes protruding from their arms, back and knees. The Grimm itself is in the shape of wolves standing on two legs, albeit with a slouch, and are extremely muscular. Sometimes their height ranges from the average human height to twice as large.
The wolf-like Grimm growled at the girl as they began to surround her. Gigimon growled back at the Grimm until Ruby placed a comforting hand on his head. The Digimon stopped as both he and his partner continued to look on at the Grimm. Three Beowolves from the pack broke off before running towards the two ready to strike.
All three lunged at the girl and her Digimon, in hopes to tear them to shreds. Before they could connect, the girl and her Digimon disappeared in a flurry of rose pedals, causing the three wolf-like Grimm to collide with one another and fall to the ground in a heap.
The pack looked up above to see Ruby, who had her hood down, and Gigimon high in the air. The girl looked to her partner before saying, "Hold on tight, okay?"
The Digimon nodded as his partner pulled out their weapon. The weapon shifted to that of a stocky rifle, which had a rose red frame and black trims. The rose symbol she wore was engraved on the circular swivel of the weapon. Ruby then took aim of the weapon before firing at one of the Beowolves. The bullet took a chunk of its skull off before it fell to the ground and began to deteriorate.
This caused the pack to engage the girl as they charged forward. She landed on the snowy ground before forward flipping over a Beowolf, before taking aim at its skull and firing. She took aim again and fired at another, ripping a chunk out of the right side of its torso. It wasn't before long when she landed that she fired at another ripping a similar chunk from it.
Back flipping away, she twirled her weapon before it shifted into a large scythe. A Beowolf charged at the two hoping to get a hit. Unfortunately for it, Ruby took the chance to twirl her scythe over it and allowing the blade to face the back of the Beowolf. She gave a smile before pulling the trigger on her weapon causing it to fire and the recoil of it caused the blade to slice the Grimm in half.
Just as the two halves of the Grimm fell to the snowy ground, before dissipating, the group of Beowolves began their charge. Ruby twirled her scythe around, as well as cocked it, before slamming the blade on the ground in front of her and took aim. The Beowolves continued their charge towards the girl in the red hood and her partner. As they closed in, the girl then began her bullet assault.
One by one, Grimm were getting pieces of their body blown off by the girl's sniper rifle. A single Beowolf made an attempt to swipe its claw at her, however, she dodged with a minor jump before firing at the Grimm's face. This caused the wolf-like Grimm to whine in pain as she flew back from the recoil of her weapon. She used the blade of the scythe to catch herself before positioning herself on the handle of the weapon. She and Gigimon looked ahead to see the sight before them.
More Beowolves came out of the forest rushing towards the two. Ruby twirled around on the shaft of her scythe, dodging a claw strike, before pulling the trigger on Crescent Rose. The gun fired hitting a Beowolf before the recoil sent her flying towards another one. She placed her feet in front of her before knocking the other Beowolf away with a kick. She landed on the ground before swinging her weapon at a Beowolf, covering it in gashes. From behind, another Beowolf was about to pounce her. However, she noticed before firing her weapon again causing the blade to slice through the Grimm like a knife through hot butter. She then finished off the other with no trouble.
A third Beowolf attacked her but was halted as Ruby caught her blade around the beast's neck. She pulled the trigger and the Beowolf was instantly decapitated. Another Beowolf showed up trying to get a claw swipe in but unfortunately it missed as Ruby jumped back before jumping back in to slice at it before catching the blade around its midsection. Like the Grimm before this one, Ruby cocked her gun before pulling the trigger causing it to fire and slicing it in two from the midsection. The gunfire was able to hit another Beowolf behind the one Ruby had severed before the first's midsection hit one of the Beowolves behind.
Two more Beowolves rushed at her, both pouncing at her. Ruby expertly dodged with a roll before facing one Grimm. She swung her scythe, severing the Beowolf's arm in the process. She swung again before the end result was the severing of its leg this time. The second Beowolf rushed at Ruby trying to get its claws in her. However, she dodged the swipe before latching her scythe's blade on its neck before looping over and landing on its back in a grapple of her weapon's blade. The Beowolf growled in anger trying to get the red-hooded girl of it. Unfortunately for it, the sound of the trigger being and the weapon firing ended the creature's anger immediately with a swift decapitation.
Thanks to this both Ruby and Gigimon were high in the air looking down on the pack below. Three Beowolves each made leaps towards the girl and her Digimon. Ruby fired her weapon again causing her to twirl towards the first Beowolf, landing on its knee before firing at the beast before taking to the air again from the gunshot. She fired again to gain momentum as she cleaved through the second Beowolf. She descended towards the ground with a turn before her eyes widened a bit as she held up her weapon defensively. The third Beowolf was on the ground rushing towards the girl with claws bared. It swiped at her causing the red-hooded girl to be knocked back by the attack.
She landed on the ground while skidding backwards. She slammed her scythe into the ground anchoring her and stopped her backwards skid. Looking up, she saw the rest of the pack of Beowolves several feet away from her. These Grimm were persistent on taking her down she'd give them that much.
"So many of them," Gigimon said aloud.
Ruby nodded before replying, "Yep. I'm going to finish this. Gigimon, hold onto me tight and don't let go okay?"
"Okay, Rubymon." Gigimon replied before holding onto his partner.
Ruby then unhooked the current clip on Crescent Rose, which fell to her feet. She then grabbed another clip which was marked with a black circle with black arrows surrounding it pointing towards the circle. While fastening the clip, she cocked her weapon before firing it, which the muzzle fire came out as a black coloration. Thanks to this she was making her ways towards the pack at high speeds, faster than the Beowolves could track.
The blade of her scythe shifted its position resembling that of a spear before firing again and spinning towards the pack. She was like a blur of red and black as she sliced and diced through the pack of Grimm as body parts and bullet shells flung everywhere. Some Grimm were either dismembered or sliced in half. One thing was certain, the Grimm all fell victim to the scythe's mighty blade.
Several minutes passed as she finally finished off the last of the pack. Giving a final swing she fired off a round which blasted the Grimm to pieces, thanks to the power behind the gravity Dust rounds. Once she finished, shells from her weapon landed on the snow as she looked out at the carnage she wrought on the pack. She could see that most of them began deteriorating of wisps of black smoke. She could help but let out a sigh that it was finally over.
She felt movement on her neck as she looked to see Gigimon positioning himself on her shoulder. The Digimon looked at the end result of his partner's battle while looking back at Ruby.
"They were more persistent this time, weren't they?" Gigimon asked.
"Persistent but dumb," Ruby replied as the she shifted Crescent Rose back to its storage form. "Luckily we didn't encounter anything worse."
Just as she said that, Gigimon sensed something and quickly reacted. He quickly moved across his partner's shoulder before giving a major push from a leap of her shoulder, causing the girl to fall over. She was confused by this action until she saw something large and black move past her and collide with her partner. She sat up and looked and saw the sight before her.
The thing was none other than a Creature of Grimm. This one was far larger than the Beowolves she just slew. It was a feline-like Grimm with black fur, a white skull mask and bone protrusions on its shoulders, elbows and hindquarters. Its body was very similar to a lions with its mane and tail. However, it sported two saber-like fangs in its mouth making it more ferocious. Ruby knew this one from her school studies. This was a Felfiend, a type of Grimm seen in Anima or Atlas. In Anima, they live in prides consisting of one alpha which was dubbed a Baron. In Atlas, they're more solidary but that makes them more deadly when they ambush their prey. To see a Felfiend in Patch was very rare, and given its size it was a Baron, the alpha of the species.
Ruby noticed something under the beast's paw and gasped at the sight. Under the Baron Felfiend's paw was Gigimon, who was struggling to get free. Ruby didn't waste any time pulling out Crescent Rose, which shifted to its rifle mode, and pointed it at the Felfiend.
"Let go of him!" Ruby shouted angrily before firing at the Grimm.
The beast roared in pain but shrugged it off as its paw let go of the Digimon before focusing on the red-hooded girl. This child was annoying the beast and it was about ready to strike at her. However before it could pounce at Ruby, a burning pain was felt in its tail.
"HOT BITE!"
Ruby watched as her Digimon's mouth glow red with heat before biting onto the feline-like Grimm's tail, causing steam to escape as his jaws met flesh. The Baron Felfiend roar in pain and tried to shake the Digimon off its tail. However like Ruby, Gigimon was stubborn. His jaws were locked tight on the tail as he was being shaken around like a ragdoll by the cat Grimm.
Ruby took aim at the Felfiend but with it struggling to get Gigimon off its tail, the aim was difficult. 'I can't get a good shot.' Ruby thought as she focused on her aim. 'If I fire now, I might end up hurting Gigimon.'
The Baron Felfiend roared as it then began slamming its tail on the ground, smashing Gigimon in the process. The In-Training level Digimon grunted as he was pummeled by the saber-fanged Grimm but didn't let up. He had to protect Ruby, no matter how small he was. His thoughts were interrupted as the Felfiend whipped its tail around. The force of the whiplash caused Gigimon to let go before being flung to the snowy ground. The red-colored Digimon groaned as he sat up from the fall.
"Gigimon!" Ruby cried out as she tried to rush out to her partner. Unfortunately, she never got the chance.
The Baron Felfiend turned to the red-hooded girl with a roar before pouncing at her. Ruby immediately took aim and fired at the beast, which the bullets pierced its dark flesh. The feline-like Grimm shrugged it off as it bared its claws ready to rip the girl apart. However, thanks to Ruby's semblance she was able dodge the Felfiend's strike. She took aim again before pulling the trigger. Unfortunately, the sound of an empty click was heard instead of gunfire, which shocked her as she found out she was out of ammo.
The Felfiend took this opportunity as it swiped its claws at the girl. The claw caught her in the side, causing her to cry out in pain and was flung a several feet away. She landed on the ground with a grunt as she looked at her side. The claw marks from the attack were seen in her clothing as blood minorly dripped from the wound. She seethed a bit as she touched it before looking to see the Baron Felfiend coming towards her.
Gigimon sat up turning in the direction of Ruby and the Felfiend before gasping. The big cat was closing in on his partner and not only that she was injured. He felt something inside him well up as the need to protect Ruby grew. The little Digimon growled before giving a roar as it charged the big cat Grimm.
The Felfiend turned its attention to Gigimon, which also caught Ruby's attention. Ruby tensed as Gigimon grew closer and the Felfiend turned to the little Digimon with a roar. Suddenly, a familiar shrilling digital sound was heard coming from her right hip. She grabbed something from her hip the sound was originating from which revealed to be her Digivice. The little device was giving off the noise she remembered some time ago when her Digimon first changed. From the look of it, he was going to change again.
The screen gave off a golden glow and at the same time so did Gigimon. The light from the Digimon caused the Baron Felfiend to cringe a bit away from the bright light. Ruby watched in awe as her partner began to change form immediately.
"Gigimon Digivolve to…"
The light faded from Ruby's Digimon to reveal quite the sight. Her Digimon partner now appeared as a bipedal dinosaur-like creature with red scales and yellow eyes. He had three claws on each hand and two claws on the front of each foot, and one claw on the back of each foot. He also has two wing-like appendages on its head. He also had white scales on its belly, and a black symbol similar to a biohazard symbol was on it. He also had black horizontal lines on its arms, legs, neck, back, and tail, two black marks under its eyes, and a black triangle mark on each shoulder. An inverted triangle mark was seen on his snout, and an incomplete version of the mark was seen on his hands and feet.
"GUILMON!"
Guilmon growls as he continues his charge at the Felfiend. The Grimm itself was caught off guard as the Digimon rammed into its side. The Felfiend roared in pain and surprised as it was knocked back several feet. Ruby watched in awe at her Digimon's increased strength. She couldn't help but smile at the sight.
The Felfiend rose from the ground with a roar of anger as it charged at the Rookie-level Digimon. It swiped its claws at him in hopes to gash the reptile-like Digimon but unfortunately Guilmon dodged each swipe. The Digimon then pulled his right hand into a fist before sending a punch to the Felfiend's face.
"ROCK BREAKER!"
The Baron Felfiend roared in pain as it was sent flying back from the Digimon's punch. It crashed onto the ground before skidding back before coming to a stop. It rose from the ground with a growl but the beast noticed something on the ground next to it. It looked and to its shock saw one of its sabers had been broken from the attack. Anger welled up in the big cat Grimm as it roared and charged at the Digimon.
As the Felfiend grew closer, Guilmon readied himself. Ruby watched as her partner opened his maw as crimson light glowed from it. The Felfiend made for a pounce towards the Digimon, but unfortunately couldn't complete it for what happened next.
"PYRO SPHERE!"
From Guilmon's maw, a ball of condensed crimson flame escaped making its way towards the Grimm. The Felfiend couldn't react quickly enough as the ball of fire hit it square in the chest. Ruby watched in awe as the ball of flame began to burrow into the Grimm's chest before exploding with major force. The force of the explosion sent the Baron Felfiend careening towards the snowy ground before it crashed on it with equal force, kicking up snow, dirt and grass.
Both Ruby and Guilmon watched the Felfiend in the distance. They saw it slowly rise before staring at Guilmon. There was silence for a moment or two but the Felfiend ended it with a growl. It took a step forward before finally falling to the ground in a heap. Ruby looked and saw that the Felfiend had a gaping hole in its chest indicating it suffered a fatal blow. The answer was clear as the Grimm's body began to deteriorate into wisps of black smoke.
Ruby let out a sigh of relief as she lay on the snowy ground. She noticed a shadow over her to look and see Guilmon looking down at her with a smile. She smiled back before sitting up eye-level with her Digimon partner.
"You alright, Rubymon?" Guilmon asked.
Ruby nodded before replying, "I'm fine. That jerk scratched me a bit but I'll be fine." The girl hummed a bit before speaking again. "So I take it you're not Gigimon anymore right?"
Guilmon nodded before replying, "Yep! I'm Guilmon now."
"Guilmon," Ruby repeated with a mutter before smiling. "Well good job, partner."
Ruby then hugged her digital friend, who giggled at the touch. The two had their heartwarming moment for a minute or two before Ruby got up. She looked down at the damage the Grimm from before caused, luckily her wound had already healed thanks to her Aura but her clothing was another story. Hopefully her dad could patch it up when they got back to the house.
"No time to waste," Ruby said. "Let's head home."
"Right," Guilmon replied.
With that the two walked away from the clearing. Leaving behind the snowy field and the countless bullet shells littered across several patches.
That's for that one folks! Again I'm sorry it took this long for just this chapter. Anyways the Baron Felfiend Grimm was created by Cambosa1 on DeviantArt, look them up and see the Grimm :3. Until next time guys.
Next Chapter: White