Wow, this one turned out bigger than we expected honestly.
A whole 25 pages.
And this is just bridging between two arcs!
Although, a lot of stuff DOES get explained here.
Anyway, let's go!
Set Sail! To A New Land!
The group was now gathered at the base of the mountain, the adrenaline of the fight finally wearing off, leaving them all dead tired. Despite that, Devimon's last words still bugged them. "We knew there was more to this world than just this island, and that other islands were more dangerous…" Gyro sighed, looking at where he knew there was a beach. "But now it suddenly feels a whole lot more daunting."
"I know what you mean…" Jaune sighed. "But hey, we managed to save File Island. That's a start, right?"
"It was, but...for now we should probably regroup then plan our next move," Pyrrha sighed, looking to where Leomon was slumped against a nearby tree, the group having gone looking for him after the fight, the lion-like Digimon having a few bandages wrapped around his torso courtesy of the twins' hammerspace pouches.
"That's probably for the best. We don't actually know how we can get across the ocean, or what to do next," Blake sighed. However, as if in response to her words, the ground near where they were cracked, before an odd device revealed itself from the ground, and from it a beam of light appeared, as what appeared to be a holographic image soon appeared.
"Is this...some kind of projector?" Weiss asked.
"Indeed it is." came the voice of an adult male as a person appeared within the projector.
He appeared to be just over 6 feet tall, making him just a bit taller than most of them, wearing a beige colored robe with brown edges that made him look like some sort of sage, his skin was tanned, with short spiky brown hair that was tied into a low ponytail on the back, his blue eyes looking at the group in a mix of amusement and pride.
"I have to admit, I'm impressed with how soundly you all kicked Devimon to the curb." he said with an easy smile.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Pierce asked guardedly.
"You can call me Gennai. I've been trying to contact you all for a while now, but Devimon was constantly running interference with his Black Gears. Now that he's gone, I'm free to speak, though the range is a bit of an issue." the now named Gennai explained.
"Are you human?" Ruby asked suspiciously.
"Yes and no. I've always been in the Digital World, but my appearance is quite obviously based on that of a human." he added.
"That's… weird." Yang said after a moment.
"Everything's weird in this world." Ren said idly.
"Are you some kind of ghost person?" Nora asked as she moved her hand through the hologram before Ren pulled her away.
"I am not a ghost person." Gennai said dryly "I'm simply on the Server Continent at the moment, which is where you need to go. You may have defeated Devimon, but there are more evil Digimon out there."
"Yeah, he kinda made that last detail clear, even if it was in the vein of 'if we go, we die'," Blake said dryly.
"And like it or not, he had a point. It took all of us to defeat him. If we go up against a Digimon who is far stronger than he is…" Weiss sighed as she trailed off. Never let it be said they were all pessimist, but the logic spoke for itself.
"And that's where these little things called Tags and Crests come in." Gennai said, before right in his hand in the hologram appeared a small gold colored object similar to an army dog tag, and a tiny little glass piece that seemed to be made to slide into it. "If you can obtain them, they'll allow your partners to evolve to Perfect and beyond."
"We can really evolve higher?" Agumon asked in excitement.
"Indeed, each of you has a Tag with a corresponding Crest, tailor made for you specifically." Gennai explained further.
"Wait, I have to ask, were you the one who brought the humans here?" Tentomon asked with a raised arm.
"It wasn't me no. However, I know who it is, but he requested that I keep his identity a secret for now as he will reveal himself to you in time." Gennai spoke, and from his tone it was clear he respected whoever this other being was "At the very least, I can tell you he's basically my boss."
"Okay," Gyro nodded slowly. "So...where do we find these Tags and Crests?" he asked, figuring Gennai not wanting to go against his boss was reasonable enough...even if that made him feel a bit suspicious, but hey...free power up.
"About that…" Gennai sighed, scratching the back of his head. "The Crests are scattered all over Server Continent, while the Tags...to my knowledge, they had ended up in the hands of Devimon, who in turn hid them somewhere. Where exactly...I'm not sure."
"Of course," Jaune sighed. "It's never simple, is it?"
"Judging by how you said how they were 'tailor made' for us...let me guess," Pierce sighed. "The bad guys broke into your base, and stole the stuff, before picking up the Villain Ball, and scattering them, thus giving us the chance to find them instead of doing the smart thing and destroying them. Sound about right?"
Gennai chuckled awkwardly "That's… pretty much accurate actually, thankfully we were able to get the Digivices and the 10 Digieggs away in time, it helps we had a few extra pair of hands."
"So… that means you made us then?" Veemon asked after a moment, looking at Gennai curiously.
"More like we worked on your eggs to establish the links to the crests and Digivices and made sure you were as healthy as possible, though we may have worked on your data a bit to ensure what kind of Digimon you'd hatch as… though, Agumon was the curious case out of all of you." Gennai said in a bit of amusement as he looked at the lizard.
"How was I curious?" Agumon wondered.
"Because you'd already interacted with your chosen partner, it made setting the link easier in your case." Gennai explained with a smile.
"About that, so basically all this has been basically planned out. That we were always meant to come here and save the world, huh?" Gyro frowned. As much as he liked being reunited with Agumon, and meeting all their new friends...he still didn't like the idea that they were destiny's puppets the whole time.
"In a sense…" Gennai admitted with a sigh. "Look, its not THAT simple, but as it is, I can't explain everything right now. While Devimon's interference is gone, the connection can only last so long. For now, I'll send you all a map to lead you to Server. When you all arrive, and when we meet in person, I promise I'll explain the story."
Gyro looked at the man for a moment longer, before nodding, accepting that for now "I'll hold you to it."
"Personally, I'm curious about why you chose people from two different worlds." Weiss added with a confused frown.
"I'll explain that part as well." Gennai promised, before his form on the projector started to waver a bit and fizzle "Looks like I'm out of time. I'll leave you all with this, good luck Chosen Children." he managed to say before the projector turned off.
"Well...he kept his first promise that's for sure," Weiss said, as on her scroll was a map detailing the distance between File Island and Server Continent.
"Looks like it'll be quite a distance. No way we can swim that far," Ruby frowned, looking at the map.
"Guess we'll need a boat then," Jaune sighed. "How are we gonna get one of those though?"
"First things first, I guess we should all calm down a bit. We DID just fight for our lives," Gyro sighed. "Anyone up for looking for something to eat?"
"We should make sure Leomon is okay too," Blake added.
"So, he's really back to normal?" Gomamon asked.
"Yeahp, he even helped us get to the mountain." Palmon answered happily.
"Just a small question before we keep going, everyone can feel the little tremors right?" Salamon asked.
"Yeah, it's just the island pieces coming back into place." Biyomon said from up high as she watched the last few pieces come back in.
"Glad to hear that," Yang nodded. "Now...how do we get the big guy here down? Anyone got the energy to Evolve again?"
"That...won't be necessary…" came Leomon's voice, as he started to slowly get to his feet.
"Easy there," Pyrrha said. "You took a bad fall earlier."
"I've had worse," Leomon reassured. "I was somewhat conscious while you were talking. If you want to get a ship...I recommend visiting File City."
"...there's a city on this island?" Ren blinked in surprise.
"Its called that mainly due to it being the largest settlement on the island, but yes," Leomon managed a weak chuckle. "It's not too far from Primary Village, so we can get there easily enough."
"We'll let you lead the way then, but don't push yourself, we aren't in a rush." Jaune advised him.
Leomon simply nodded before starting to walk at a slow pace, the group following him.
The trip down the mountain was at a sedate pace, the group more focused on ensuring Leomon's well being than reaching their destination quickly. Eventually though, they could see it.
It looked like a decently sized town with a good number of houses, several different stores were also present, as well as a restaurant, a clinic, what looked like a boxing ring, a bank, and a blacksmith.
That last one caught their attention "Um, Leomon? I think we need to make a stop before seeing whoever we need to for a boat."
Leomon stopped walking at that and turned to them, before noticing what they had stopped in front of and nodding "Understood." he said before sitting down on a bench not too far while the group went in.
Inside, they were met with a very hot room, and standing in the middle, seemingly checking on the quality of tools, was a completely red Monochromon.
"Tentomon? Who is that?" Weiss whispered with a raised eyebrow.
"Vermilimon, he's a Perfect Level Digimon, besides that he's pretty similar to Monochromon except he can survive in hotter climates." the bug explained simply.
"Heh, you sure know your stuff," Vermilimon chuckled. "So, you're all definitely new in town. What'll it be?"
"Do you do repair jobs?" Pierce asked.
"That depends what you have in mind," Vermilimon nodded. In response, all 10 of their weapons were plopped on the counter. "...okay, I'll admit these aren't the stuff I usually do. Hm...are there specialized mechanisms I see in these things?"
"Lots and LOTS of specialized mechanisms." Gyro said with plenty of emphasis.
"Right… this could take me a few hours." Vermilimon muttered "It might also help if one of you lent me a hand, since I assume you made these yourselves."
"Everyone has blueprints in their scrolls right?" Pierce asked, receiving nods all around, for the most part.
"Um, I don't." Jaune said with an awkward laugh.
"Actually I wanted to talk to you about that Jaune. I can't find a way to integrate a gun, but we might be able to make the weapon better." Gyro said as he searched through his scroll and forwarded a file to Jaune, who looked at it, his eyebrows going up after a few moments.
"This is… actually pretty cool, and that would mean it would go to two handed style." Jaune said, before his voice dipped into muttering as he tried to picture it.
"I could help you practice if you want? I use a one handed style myself, but I practiced with different styles before settling on what I have." Pyrrha told him with a smile.
"I think I'd like that very much." Jaune told her, and Pyrrha's smile brightened.
Gyro did the smallest of fist bumps before focusing back on the situation at hand "Alright, I think we all know who the best person to work on the weapons is." he said, before everyone looked at Ruby.
She blushed a bit at the implication "Um… thanks guys. I'll do my best!" she said with a grin before having the various blueprints forwarded to her scroll.
"I'll stay and see if I can help with anything too," Palmon added.
"Right, we're counting on you," Yang grinned.
"Oh, before we forget, we have some Chrome Digizoid, think you could work it into our weapons?" Pierce asked as he pulled out a piece from his pouch.
"I'd be honored, but, at the moment it's not the best idea, trying to both repair and upgrade at the same time could actually be harmful to your weapons in the long run, so I'll have to decline the chance to work with it." Vermilimon explained.
"Well, that's too bad." Weiss said with a sigh, but nonetheless, they all accepted it.
"Now that that's being worked on...we should look into where we can get a ship," Gyro said...before several growls came from their stomachs. "...and somewhere to get food, hopefully with some takeout too."
"Think we should split up for that part?" Patamon asked, figuring they could cover more ground.
"Well we're in a city, and with Devimon gone, the island is peaceful again." Agumon said as the idea had merit.
"He's right, so let's do just that, and just send a group call when you find something, Agumon and I will go with Leomon in the meantime." Gyro said as everyone walked out of the blacksmith, while he paused to pat Ruby on the shoulder encouragingly, receiving a smile from her.
With that, the group split up, finally being able to just enjoy a day in town. So far things were going well, as even though they had a mission to do, they could still take the time to enjoy themselves. The town may have been small, but it was well stocked, such as Blake and Patamon visiting a local bookstore, Jaune and Gomamon managing to find the shipyard, Yang and Biyomon finding a boxing ring run by a BlackGaomon, which was a, obviously, black canine Digimon wearing boxing gloves and a headband. Then there was Pierce and Veemon who found a restaurant, though Pierce was smart enough to check currency before buying anything, and found that the Muchomon chef, a red bird Digimon, accepted all forms of currency and treated them at the same amount.
Overall, the day had been both productive and enjoyable. Along the way, they'd managed to get some info on how they'd get to Server Continent, such as the facilities/materials needed to make a ship, as well how far the distance would be, thus they could better predict how to prepare.
However, the crowning moment came when Gyro and Agumon followed Leomon to meet the elder of the city, who lived in a home that looked like an old hut… made out of cardboard for some reason.
"Yeah… this world has no logic at times." Gyro said dryly as he followed Leomon inside.
"Elder Jijimon, I brought one of the Chosen Children." Leomon announced into the house.
"What? Truly?" said a very old sounding voice from the back of the home, before both Gyro and Agumon looked on in confusion as what could only be described as a rather short old man with hair and a beard that covered his face, hobling into the room, holding onto a cane that had a cat glove at the tip, and wearing what looked like a simple rag.
"Well… this is new." Agumon said after a moment.
"What, never seen an Ultimate Level Digimon before?" Jijimon said, and they could hear the amusement in his tone.
"Wait what?" Gyro blinked. "Ultimate? Judging by the name, I'm guessing THAT'S the level beyond Perfect, right?"
"Of course," Jijimon nodded.
Digimon Analyzer: Jijimon
Jijimon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Ancient Digimon. A Digimon said to have existed since the dawn of the Digital World. Jijimon is ever present to guide those in need of his words of wisdom. His special attacks are Cat Cane, where he clobbers the enemy with his cane, and Energy Grenade, which rather speaks for itself.
Gyro...could only manage a blank stare at the supposed 'Ultimate' . If that was true, then this old looking Digimon was supposed to be even stronger than Andromon...though...appearance really didn't paint him as such. Either way, he decide it best NOT to voice any of those thoughts.
"Now then, I assume you managed to beat Devimon, right?" Jijimon asked.
"Right, it took a lot of effort to get to him, but our Digimon were able to delete him." Gyro said with a nod after recovering.
"Good job then, congratulations are truly in order, I may be of the Ultimate Level, but I'm not the strongest Digimon, I only reached this level through age, and not through battle." Jijimon explained as he pulled out a few cushions and sat on one seiza style, the others in the room copying him when he passed them the cushions.
However, before they could talk more, one of the windows suddenly broke, as something broke into the room. "Prepare yourself old mon!" came three young sounding voices.
The reactions were instant, as Gyro and Agumon tensed, Leomon's hand reflexively went to his sword...while Jijimon just let out a tired, but amused sigh. When they all got a good look at the soon to be assailants...Gyro stopped short.
"...you're kidding, right?" he deadpanned as he beheld what appeared to be three Child Level Digimon judging by the size and voices.
The first looked like a short dinosaur like Digimon with purple fur covering most of his body, though the tip of his tail and his snout where white, with a red gem on his forehead and small black bat wings on his back.
The second looked similar in body structure, and with his body covered in fur, though his was a pale yellow, and he wore a samurai inspired armor… although it could be his natural body armor.
The third was the only one that was standing completely upright, his whole body covered in a golden armor with sharp claws on his hands and feet, a white cape attached to his back, while on top of his armored head was a rather large sword like horn with a silver 20 stamped onto it. Of the three, this one was the only one who seemed dangerous in any way.
"Dorumon, Ryudamon, Zubamon, haven't we done this same song and dance enough times already?" Jijimon sighed.
"No way! We're not gonna stop till we beat you, old mon!" Dorumon said. "Let's get him guys!"
"Right!" Ryudamon and Zubamon said before the three moved to pounce on Jijimon.
Gyro and Agumon were about to intervene...when they noticed Leomon had let go of his sword and honestly looked...annoyed...like this was a common occurrence. It soon became clear that that was the case, as Jijimon sighed and lifted his staff. "Cat Cane!" Jijimon called out, and in a quick motion, all three of the attacking mon were on the ground, goose eggs present on their heads, their eyes swirly.
"...okay, that had to be the worst attack attempt I've ever seen...and that's saying something," Agumon deadpanned, which was true seeing as he was only a bit over a month old right now.
"How often does this happen?" Gyro asked dryly.
"Give or take once a day." Leomon sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"... wow… I don't know if I should admire their dedication, or pity they have nothing better to do." Gyro said as he shook his head with a sigh.
"They're harmless for the most part really," Jijimon shook his head in amusement. "They're not bad kids honestly."
"Though I still believe you should take a more firm stance to discipline them," Leomon sighed. "These three may have potential, but they're wasting it like this."
"Ever think of maybe giving them a better outlet?" Gyro suggested.
"We have." Jijimon started.
"But they keep breaking everything." Leomon finished.
"Ah…" Gyro and Agumon sweat dropped, honestly not sure what to say to that.
"Yes, that's a common reaction from a lot of mon who asked," Leomon sighed.
"So uh...where were we again?" Gyro asked awkwardly, deciding to try and change the topic.
"I do believe I was about to have someone send word that the Chosen Children were in the city. I was originally going to ask Tsukaimon to do it… but these three seem to have volunteered." Jijimon finished, and everyone was sure he was grinning at the end.
"I'll go get a kettle," Leomon smirked as he got up and went to a different room.
"This is going to be funny." Agumon said with a small laugh.
"Yeah." Gyro shook his head in amusement, before turning back to Jijimon "So, I was wondering, is there anything you could tell us about Server? It's our next destination and we'll need a boat to get there."
"Well, you're welcome to use our shipyard to construct it, as for Server itself, it's been a long time since I was there, but I've heard talk of a few powerful and evil Digimon who live there, I don't know their names, but I do know they are at the Perfect Level, nothing else though." Jijimon explained as he stroked his beard.
"That helps yeah," Gyro nodded. "At least we have SOME idea about what's there. So...how long would a trip to Server take on average?"
"Depends on the weather and everything, but if you can maintain a decent pace, a week tops," Jijimon said.
"Huh… spent a whole week on land and then spending another on sea… well, as long as there aren't any Black Gear Digimon, I'm pretty sure nobody will mind." Gyro said after a moment.
"You lead your group well," Jijimon nodded in approval.
"Wha-Leader? Me? No! No, no! I'm not the leader… am I?" that last part was directed to Agumon.
"I always thought you were." his partner answered, and Gyro actually blushed a bit as he covered his face.
Jijimon laughed at that. "Then that just means you're all the better for the role," he said in a jolly tone. "Trust me when I say that many times the best leaders are the ones who neither want, nor think themselves fit, for the role, yet play it well anyway."
"I… I guess that makes sense. Personally I always thought that Ruby and Jaune would be better suited for the role than I was." Gyro said, honestly not sure what to think about this, he DID know though that he'd be talking to the others about the 'leader situation'. Quickly shaking his head to focus on what was important right now, he turned back to Jijimon. "At any rate, we're really grateful for any help you can give us."
"Think nothing of it. Compared to the service you've rendered us, helping preparations for a single voyage is cheap," Jijimon waved off. "Speaking of which…" right as he said that, Leomon was back with a kettle of water, which he promptly poured on the three troublemakers.
"We're up!" the three of them shouted as they got up, as the water had been cold.
"We'll deal with these three for now. You two should regroup with the others," Leomon said to Gyro and Agumon, who nodded and left the room, though not before hearing the start of Leomon chewing the three young mon out.
(Play Seven by Kouji Wada)
It didn't take long for everyone to regroup in the shipyard. "Okay, so looks like we can use the shipyard, but we'll need to get the materials together ourselves," Yang said as the 18 of them were gathered together, Ruby still working in the forge to fix their weapons while Palmon accompanied her.
"Good thing we got Jijimon's permission to use the nearby woods for materials," Agumon said.
"Whelp, no point in wasting time. Time to get chopping," Nora said with a grin, hefting one of the axes they'd been allowed to borrow.
"Still though...this could take a while…" Blake frowned.
"Unless of course you don't mind a helping hand," came Leomon's voice, drawing their attention. Turning, they saw the lion-like Digimon walking towards them, though they also noticed his bandages were still present.
"Well, you won't be doing anything too big, not with those injuries." Pierce said with crossed arms.
"Maybe not, but that's what the others are here for." Leomon said with an amused smile.
Everyone gave him a questioning look at that, before they quickly got their answer when several familiar faces strolled into the shipyard.
Thundermon, the Kunemon, Meramon, the Yokomon, Andromon, the Numemon, Monzaemon, the FanBeemon, Waspmon, Frigimon, Mojyamon, Centarumon, Elecmon, and the Drimogemon brothers.
"Wow, who ordered the party?" Yang couldn't help but ask with a grin.
"Let's just say a little bird told us you were gonna build a boat to Server," Thundermon said.
"We decided to see if we could help," Andromon nodded.
"It's the least we could do after all the help you guys gave us," the oldest Drimogemon finished with a grin.
"Well then, glad to have you all helping," Pyrrha smiled.
"Timber!" Gomamon shouted as he and several of the smaller Digimon ran out of the way as one of the trees came down.
"How many does that make so far?" Gabumon asked.
"We're already at half the amount we need," Waspmon reported, having felled the tree with his Turbo Stinger.
"Really? Feels like we've gotten a lot already," Patamon frowned.
"Well, if you wanted to build a raft or a small boat, sure," Fanbeemon, the one with a red scarf, said. "But we're aiming to build something that can handle any normal rough weather that might happen."
"He's correct. It would be best to properly build this boat," Centarumon nodded as he and Meramon were moving some logs around.
"Well, if you say so, then its fine then," Biyomon accepted the explanation.
"Speaking of which though…" Ren said, coming out from behind a nearby tree.
"We found a bunch of trees already felled not far away," Wormmon said. "Think we could use them?"
"Huh, that's pretty weird, nobody's been beyond this point yet." Thundermon mused.
"Nonetheless, it seems someone prepared assistance for us, and it would be rude to decline." Andromon said as he followed Ren back to where the felled trees were along with a few of the others.
"Think Ogremon had a change of heart?" Gyro said in a joking tone as he saw the large amount of trees.
"Well, he didn't make these ones fall, these were cleanly cut… although those ones over there are definitely his handiwork." Leomon said, pointing to a pile of tree trunks that had the base smashed.
"Now that I think about it, he never DID make good on any of his threats when we were fighting," Blake mused.
"Guess he's not that big of a jerk after all." Patamon said with a smile.
Not too far from them, Ogremon was hiding, his face red as he groaned a bit. "I must be getting soft," he grumbled to himself. "Then again, never did like that bastard anyway, so good riddance that they got rid of him."
"You really should be more honest with yourself." Falcomon snickered from a branch higher up.
"Hey! You two are in no position to talk, you're hiding too!" Ogremon hissed at the owl like Digimon and Keenan, who were both hiding in the shadows of the tree. The two of them had the decency to blush a little at being called out, but ultimately didn't say anything to defend themselves.
Not far from them, Frigimon who happened to be nearby noticed the conversation, and let out a knowing chuckle before resuming helping with the construction.
The process took a good few hours, but with everyone chipping in, it wasn't long before the boat was ready. "Man...it's hard to believe we managed to make build THIS in just a few hours," Gyro whistled as he looked at the sizeable Caravel style ship. It was honestly very big all things considered, easily able to hold more than 20 people, complete with a lookout on top the mast, a storage area for supplies, a dining room (small kitchen included), a living area, a covered steering section, and even, from the looks of it, an optional paddle system in the event they were hit with a lack of wind or had to navigate through rough weather.
"Oh this is nothing. You should see what we can do when we got better materials," Fanbeemon buzzed with pride, something shared by the rest of the hive, as they'd been the ones mainly to work on building the ship. And boy did they do a good job.
"Yeah, we can tell," Nora grinned. "Though...who's the figurehead?" she asked, referring to the wooden carving of a mermaid, albeit one with a pirate hat, complete with braided hair and an anchor at the end.
"Oh that? That's Mermaimon. We figured it'd be good for luck," Mojyamon said.
"Well, it's really well made. Thanks," Jaune chuckled.
"A ship like this would need a name if you ask me." Tentomon said.
"Totally! What should it be though?" Biyomon wondered.
"How about the Black Pearl?" Pierce said in a joking tone.
"No, we are not doing a Disney reference." Gyro cut off the idea quickly.
"Do you have an idea then?" Yang asked him.
"Well… how about Ocean Destiny?" Gyro said after a few moments of thought.
Everyone took a moment to consider the name, before slowly, they all voiced their approval of it.
And with that, the Ocean Destiny, ship of the Chosen Children, was born.
(End Song)
The group agreed to set sail the following morning, not only because it was finally dark now, but also because their weapons weren't finished yet.
"Do you think Ruby is finished with the repairs?" Weiss mused.
"Guys!" they all heard her voice shout as she ran into the shipyard, pulling a small wagon behind her.
"Speak of the devil." Gyro said in amusement as they turned to her and Palmon as they slowed down and looked at the ship in awe.
"So cool~" She whispered as she looked at the ship with stars in her eyes.
"Meet the Ocean Destiny!" Nora said with a grin.
"It honestly turned out better than we would have expected." Ren said with a smile.
"Only because we had a LOT of help," Pyrrha reminded with a smile.
"So, about the weapons…?" Jaune trailed off with a curious look.
"Here they are!" Ruby grinned, showing them the weapons that were all in the wagon.
"Wow, they look good as new," Jaune whistled.
"Feels good to have them back to normal." Gyro said with a relieved sigh as he flipped Ascalon between it's different modes before sheathing them at his hips.
"Man, you did a great job," Pierce grinned, seeing as Pandora was fully functional again.
"Now we only have the issue of limited ammo," Ren frowned slightly.
"Took care of that too actually." Ruby said as she lifted up several ammo cartridges, or rolls of shotgun shells for Yang.
"Ok, so how does mine work?" Jaune asked as he put the sword in the sheath and looked for how to activate the bastard sword mode.
"Twist the pommel." Ruby said simply, Jaune doing just that as he felt the blade lock itself inside of the sheath as sharp edges extended out, doing it a few more times to see it was working perfectly.
"Huh...neat," Gomamon commented.
"Yeah, it is," Jaune nodded, moving away and doing a few practice swings. "It works great! Thanks."
Ruby just smiled and gave a quick salute.
"So, how much is it gonna cost us?" Gyro asked, just about ready to use up all his money.
"Vermilimon said that normally it'd cost 700 Lien, but when he heard about what we did, he said he was willing to give us a discount, so its only 350 Lien," Ruby said. "He also gave us the option of starting a Tab if we couldn't pay for it right now."
"No need, we got the money," Pierce said as he and Gyro pulled out their wallets.
"Hey, don't act like we're not here either," Jaune chuckled as he pulled out his wallet too, something they all soon did.
"Its for all our weapons. It's only fair we all pay for it," Blake said with a light smile.
"Pretty sure I would have called you all out on it if you didn't try to pay honestly." Gyro told everyone dryly, earning a few laughs.
After a quick trip to the forge to pay their bill, the group had their dinner in the local restaurant run by Muchomon, before settling down in the Inn for the night.
The following morning, apparently everyone had learned that they were the Chosen Children, because they kept receiving thanks and praise for saving the island, while also being gifted with a few extra supplies.
"Wait… what did you say these seed packets are for?" Gyro asked the Digimon in front of him, one of the purple flowered Palmon from a few days ago, apparently called Alraumon.
"These ones are for meat apple trees, and these ones are for meat plants." Alraumon said as she pointed at the different packets in question.
Gyro was silent for several moments "Are you telling me that meat grows in the same way a strawberry does?"
All he received was a nod, but it was enough to make him sigh as he put the packets away. He was far beyond even bothering to question how things worked in this bizarre world. Once everything was ready, the 20 of them had boarded the ship, and were now raising the anchor, while unfurling the sails.
"Bye! Thanks for everything!" Wormmon and Salamon said while waving.
"Don't be strangers now, feel free to come again sometime if you can!" Jijimon called back to them.
"We will!" Veemon, Gabumon, and Agumon all said.
"You guys take care too okay?!" Ruby called as she waved, and it wasn't long before File Island was fading in the distance.
Once the ship was out of sight, the residents of the city soon returned to their daily business...though Leomon seemed to be looking around. "Something wrong?" Jijimon asked.
"I feel like we're forgetting something," Leomon frowned. "Hm...has anyone seen those three trouble makers? They're usually hard to miss."
"Oh, I'm sure they've just run off again. They'll be back soon enough," Jijimon chuckled.
"Gotta admit, I think I'm gonna miss File," Jaune admitted with a chuckle as by now File was just a little dot. For better or worse, File was the start of their journey, and it was a nice one overall too.
"Look alive everyone, we got a lot ahead of us," Gyro said with a grin as he was using his Semblance to push some extra wind into the sails.
"And so far we're on to a good start," Pierce added as he was at the wheel.
"A whole week of just sailing on the ocean… kind of makes me wish I could work on my tan honestly." Yang said… within earshot of Pierce, and could see his ears turn red from a blush, making her grin.
"What's with the sudden idea?" Ruby asked cluelessly.
"Oh right, you guys weren't there. Her and Pierce are dating now after they had an incident while we were all split up the other day." Gyro said as he sat on top of the cover for the wheel.
There was a pause in activity from the hunters as they took the information in "Huh… didn't see that coming, pretty neat though." Nora eventually said.
"Well...we're still testing the waters really, but yeah," Pierce said, fighting down his blush.
"We wish you both all the best, right everyone?" Pyrrha said.
"I don't really get it, but yeah, congrats." Gabumon said with a smile, the others joining in, which actually made both Yang and Pierce blush a bit at all the attention.
After that, the day continued to move on, rather uneventfully, but after the previous week, the group welcomed the calm of the waves.
This actually continued on into their second day at sea, after they'd layed anchor and slept the night away in actual beds.
Finally, it was during their third day that things changed. At first it seemed that things were going to be smooth again, and for a while they were. Suddenly the waves started rocking the boat a bit more violently. "Hm...rough waters we're having today," Blake mused as everyone grabbed hold of something.
"But so far nothing the boat can't handle," Pierce nodded as he was once again steering. However, that soon changed when Jaune by chance glanced over the edge...and gulped.
"Uhhh….guys?" he asked, sounding VERY nervous.
"What did you see, Jaune?" Weiss deadpanned, already used to the life and death situations this world tossed at them.
"There's a big shadow under the ship," Jaune said flatly.
Everyone peered over the railing at that, before paling as they just HOW big said shadow was.
"Well… this is going to be a problem." Ren said after swallowing nervously.
"Maybe their just passing by and won't do anything?" Veemon said hopefully.
"Somehow, I doubt it'll be that simple." Biyomon added.
As if to prove the point, the huge shadow moved ahead of them, before the water started to rise, revealing…
"Holy shit it's Moby Dick." Pierce whispered with his eyes wide.
"You and I both know Moby Dick is a white whale, this one's blue… but still just as much of a problem though." Gyro said in a bit of annoyance.
"That's Whamon! But why is he attacking us? He's a good Digimon!" Agumon shouted as the waves caused by Whamon rising rocked the boat.
Digimon Analyzer: Whamon
Whamon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Aquatic Digimon. Living in the deepest depths of the Net Ocean, Whamon carries enormous amounts of data in its body that would overload a normal computer. There are rumours of a rare, White Whamon that carries an island on its as it swims through the skies. Its special attacks are Jet Arrow, which launches a high pressure jet of water from its blowhole, and Tidal Wave, where it uses its tail to create, well, a tidal wave.
"Hang on!" Pierce shouted as he spun the wheel in an attempt to get away, but Whamon wasn't about to let them go.
"Damn! If he's supposed to be a good Digimon, do you think something's causing him to go berserk like all the others?!" Yang shouted over the sound of the water.
"Its possible! But we defeated Devimon already!" Weiss said.
"Maybe a few of the gears survived!" Ruby suggested.
"Whether that's the case or not, it isn't helping our current situation!" Tentomon said, as the boat was rocked all over thanks to the waves Whamon was kicking up. That's when he seemed to decide to stop playing and opened his mouth.
"Uh….guys?" Gomamon said, and somehow his fur was turning paler than normal.
"...well, guess we're gonna say hi to Pinocchio…" Gyro could only say flatly before they were promptly eaten.
It was dark for a moment, before a small crack was heard and Pierce was holding up a glowstick.
"Seriously, Azure even put THOSE into your pouches?" Jaune asked in deadpan, and before he could receive an answer, the ship started to move again, travelling down Whamon's throat.
"I don't wanna come out the back!" Ruby shouted as she easily guessed they were travelling down into his stomach.
"What are THOSE things?!" Yang said as she pointed to the weird, slimy, stuff falling from the top.
"I think it's his immune system." Blake answered.
"It must think we're a bacteria of some kind!" Weiss added.
"Well I dunno about you guys but I did NOT come this far to die by white blood cells!" Pierce growled, manning the wheel again, and actually managing to avoid the various blobs, till finally they reached a single large area...and they noticed the bottom of the boat was starting to sizzle.
"We're in the stomach," Jaune gulped.
"Ah! Look over there!" Salamon and Patamon shouted, causing them to look at where they were pointing to see a Black Gear.
"So I guess some DID survive Devimon's destruction," Pyrrha mused.
"Well, we'd better get rid of it," Palmon said. "Poison Ivy!" Using her vines, she latched onto the gear. "Now, someone climb up and get rid of it!"
"Well, best it's me since I can fly." Gyro said as he actually started running up her vines, before aiming his Digivice at the gear when he got close, the light shining on it and making it break down in pieces while he floated back down to the ship.
"I really hope that was the last one." Nora said in a bit of annoyance.
Before anyone could answer her, the whole area around them started shaking a bit, before suddenly a jet of water started to make the ship move upwards.
"I swear, if this ship breaks, the luxury gods will feel my wrath!" Gyro said through grit teeth as he hanged onto the railing. The ship was soon in the air, before crashing back down into the water. The ship creaked and groaned, but it held together despite the damage it had taken.
"Is everyone okay?" Gabumon groaned.
A chorus of 'yeah's was heard. "Good."
"Stop...the...violent shaking…" came a new voice.
"Huh?" Biyomon blinked as she walked over to a crate that happened to get launched out of the storage room in the chaos. "Did everyone else hear that?"
"Why do I feel like I've heard that voice before?" Gyro and Agumon mused. They got their answer when Tentomon opened the crate, and out came three figures who ran to the side...and started throwing up.
"We have stowaways?" Ren blinked in surprise.
"Yeah, and I recognise these ones. The troublemakers of File City apparently, the purple one is Dorumon, the samurai looking one is Ryudamon, and the golden armored one is Zubamon." Gyro said with a sigh.
"Okay...why are they here though?" Gomamon asked.
"Why don't we ask them...when they're done throwing up anyway…" Jaune sighed.
"In the meantime, we should deal with Whamon," Pyrrha said, just as Whamon soon resurfaced.
"Thank you, young ones, thanks to you I'm finally free from that dark influence." Whamon told them.
"We were happy to help." Agumon said.
"Besides, this means that we're just pissing off Devimon from his grave by getting rid of more Black Gears." Pierce added with a laugh.
"Devimon you say? I actually remember seeing him in these parts a few years ago, he came around here and hid something deep beneath the waters." Whamon remembered after recovering from his surprise.
"Maybe it's the Tags." Weiss realised.
"Do you think you could take us there Whamon?" Gyro asked hopefully.
"Of course. However, as it is underwater, please take refuge in my body," Whamon said. "Fear not, I can control what goes on in my body. You'll be safe now that the Black Gear is gone."
With that, their ship once more entered Whamon's mouth, though this time they stayed there instead of travelling down his throat as everyone was given a glow stick so they could actually see.
"Now then, while we travel there… what to do about you three?" Gyro said with a sigh as he looked down at the three troublemakers.
"Why not start with why these three are here," Weiss suggested.
"That works, yeah. Care to explain?" Gyro said.
"Going to Server sounded fun! So we hopped in a crate and snuck on board!" Dorumon exclaimed.
"Yeah! And I bet we can learn stuff to help us beat the old mon!" Ryudamon added.
"We'll show him who's boss!" Zubamon finished.
Everyone looked at the trio for several moments, before sighing "Why do we get stuck as babysitters?" Jaune groaned.
"Because apparently stupidly impulsive kids is a universal concept…" Blake sighed dryly.
"Well, no choice I guess," Yang sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"What do we do with them?" Biyomon asked.
"Take care of them until we can send them back to File, and make sure they don't get themselves killed," Pierce sighed.
"We won't get killed!" Dorumon protested "We're strong!"
"Can you evolve?" Agumon asked dryly, earning silence from the trio "That's what I thought."
"Let's just… focus on getting the Tags for now." Gyro said with a sigh.
True enough… "We have arrived," Whamon reported as he came to a stop, before opening his mouth, revealing that they were in a cave of some kind, which was actually very spacious. "The objects Devimon hid should be here. I will wait here till you all return.
"Thanks a bunch, Whamon," several of the Digimon grinned as they all got out.
"Not you!" Yang suddenly pointed at the trio who was about to get off the boat "You three are staying there, and if we see you actually get off, you're in trouble, is that clear?" she said with narrowed eyes.
The three looked at her a bit nervously before they all nodded in unison.
With that problem avoided, the group of 20 walked on into the cave, curious about what they would find, until…
"Really? A Convenience store?" Ruby said with a bemused look on her face as she looked at the store.
"It's literally a 7/11." Pierce added as he looked at the glowing neon sign above the door.
"Well...could be worse. It could have been a garbage disposal," Gyro shrugged.
"Good point," several of the others nodded as they walked in.
"Now...looking at this place I think we should split up and search. With all of us covering ground we should find the tags fast enough...assuming they're here anyway," Weiss suggested.
"Good idea," Jaune nodded.
Before they could even move into the store however, the ground shook, before it burst open in front of them, revealing… Drimogemon?
"Is… is that another Drimogemon?" Ren asked, blinking in surprise.
"No, that's NiseDrimogemon, the only difference between the two is that his mustache is scribbled on." Wormmon said, and everyone looked at the mustache which was, indeed, drawn on in marker.
"That's the dumbest difference so far." Blake said dryly.
"You think that's bad? Since evolving I've gained some new information, there's a variation of Angemon that just wears pink instead of blue and has less wings." Patamon shot back.
"Okay...what?" Ruby asked, though it seemed she was trying to hide her laughter at the mental image THAT gave her.
"Okay guys, weird recolors aside, I think we should focus on the Digimon in front of us," Ren reminded. Just in time too, as they had to dodge a swipe of the claw from NiseDrimogemon.
"He's definitely not friendly," Nora chuckled, before hefting up Magnhild.
"Hey guys, mind if we ask you all to stay out of this one first?" Gyro said.
"What?" the Digimon gasped.
"Well, we just got our weapons back," Pierce chuckled.
"And we wouldn't want to get rusty," Yang finished.
"Well...okay, I guess…" Veemon said, looking a bit unsure.
"But we're gonna jump in the moment things look dangerous," Wormmon said.
"Fair enough," the Hunters nodded, before they set their sights on Drimogemon, and with the wide cavern, mobility wouldn't be an issue.
(Play This Will Be The Day)
NiseDrimogemon (for ease of writing NDrimogemon) growled as he moved forward, drill nose spinning, aiming at Blake who simply stood there, before at the last minute, she seemingly jumped out of herself, causing NDrimogemon to plow into a wall, while she took the chance to slash him in the back. He roared in pain as he got out, and turned to face them...only to get peppered by bullets as Ren ran past and around him. He tried to fight back, but Ren was far too fast for him. Even then it turned out it was just a distraction as Yang came from his blindspot, and uppercutted him in the chin, followed by a blast from her gauntlets knocking him back further….right into Nora's waiting hammer, sending him flying forward...and crashing into the convenience store.
"Careful guys, we don't want him accidentally destroying the tags!" Ruby warned as she took aim and fired her sniper rifle at NDrimogemon, catching his attention and leading him out of the store.
"This is starting to feel like a slaughter," Gyro chuckled as he zipped around NDrimogemon with his semblance, while doing a few strikes with his sword when he found an opening.
"Not that we're complaining!" Pierce grinned as he launched the bottom of his weapon like a grappling hook as it grasped onto NDrimogemon, before electrocuting him, effectively being like a taser.
"Let's not prolong this more than necessary," Pyrrha chided as she and Jaune ran forward, both of them ramming into NDrimogemon causing him to teeter back, and they kept pushing, making him lose more balance...and revealing a Black Gear in his chest.
"Of course…" everyone sighed, before Weiss created a black Glyph, which promptly launched NDrimogemon back, causing him to tumble and roll onto his back.
"Well, that's that. Ruby, care to do the honors?" Gyro offered.
"Sure!" Ruby grinned, before turning Crescent Rose into its scythe mode, and cutting the Black Gear, causing it to dislodge from the damage and shatter.
(End Song)
NDrimogemon quickly shook his head clear as he rolled back onto his stomach, noticing exactly how many people were looking at him, and eeped as he tunneled back underground.
"Ok… I think that was the last one this time." Gyro said with a relieved sigh as they all put away their weapons.
"At least he didn't break the store too much." Weiss said, indicating the entrance which was the only broken part.
"That was pretty awesome though!" Agumon said, walking up to Gyro.
"Totally! I didn't think humans could be so strong!" Salamon added in agreement.
"Yeah! That's cause we're Hunters!" Nora said with a cheer.
"In training." Ren tacked on to her sentence with an amused smile.
"Now we just need to get the doors open." Jaune said.
"Give me a moment." Pyrrha said, stepping up and using her semblance to remove the now broken glass doors which only had a metal frame left.
When they stepped inside, they were well surprised to see just how stocked the place was.
"Grab everything!" Ruby said as everyone did just that, grabbing everything they could and stuffing it into the hammerspace pouches.
One of the finds was a bit funny to Gyro, but also made him realise something "Hey, girls! I found pads if any of you are starting soon!" Gyro said as he shook a pack of, well, period pads.
"Gimme! I need one!" Yang said as she walked up him and grabbed an offered one before going into the bathroom. The other girls looked at each other, before taking some themselves, though they thankfully didn't need them quite just yet.
The group continued searching till… "Hm?" Patamon mused as he saw something, before squeezing under a fallen shelf.
"Did you find something, Patamon?" Blake asked. She got her answer when out came a small chest/box, followed by Patamon.
"Think this might be it?" he asked.
"Well, only one way to find out," Nora grinned as she came and picked up the box, and promptly opened it.
"Nora…" Salamon groaned at her partner's antics.
"Here they are!" Nora grinned, turning the box around and showing it to everyone. True enough, inside were 10 tags, exactly like how Gennai had showed them.
"Perfect," Jaune nodded, before they all each took one (including Yang who'd gotten back from the bathroom by now)
"All we need are the Crests and we're good to go," Yang said as she put her Tag around her neck, something they all soon followed suit.
"Alright, everyone go to the bathroom before we leave, we still have some shelves to clear out right now… and thankfully for you girls, still plenty of pads." Gyro said, adding the last part with a laugh while Yang gave him a light shove.
While they were finishing up with clearing the store out, Pierce turned as he felt someone tapping his shoulder, before Gyro handed him a box "Be responsible." was all he said with a grin, prompting Pierce to look down… and see a box of condoms, making him blush as he looked back at Gyro dryly.
"Real funny bro." he muttered, yet still put the box away in his pouch.
He wasn't planning on doing anything, but having them on hand could be… needed, one day.
It wasn't long before they were back over the water, standing on Whamon's head while their ship was safely in his mouth. Their journey was far from over, but now they knew they had the first half of the means to get a fighting chance.
And voila!
Yeah, lots of stuff in here.
File City is a thing, though obviously, it's been moved away from Mount Infinity like it was in game.
They meet their first Ultimate Level in Jijimon.
Gennai isn't an old man here, which I'm sure everyone's gonna come at me, saying I'm wrong, well, I'm not wrong, and the story is going to explain WHY he's in his young appearance, well, eventually.
Also, yeah, the stowaways.
Before anyone asks, no, they aren't partnered to anyone in the story, they are all solo Digimon.
Anyway, for now...
The Adventure Evolves.
