And here's another!
Yeah, I'm feeling a high for this, so we're working on a few chapters of this in a row this time.
I figured you'd all like that, so enjoy the upcoming chapters!
Oh! And enjoy the new intro!
Unmei no ito wo tachikitta sono saki ni
The scene opens with a shot of the world of Remnant, before the scene shifts and is soon covered in pictures depicting various scenes from the canon story of RWBY Volume 3, before the pictures are suddenly blown away to reveal a shot of Gyro, Pierce, and Azure looking at the screen and giving it thumbs downs, confident and determined expressions on their faces.
*music*
The scene changes to show a number of spotlights that come on, creating for what appears to be a grand stage, and as the light illuminates the stage, it reveals the 10 Chosen and their Digimon, weapons ready and looks of determination on their faces, as the title appears "THOR Alter: Digital Story - Defied Fate Saga"
Senobishiteitanda kutzusure darake no semai sekai de
The scene changes to show Gyro and Agumon standing on a cliffside looking at Beacon Academy as behind them is the faded image of WarGreymon and the Crest of Courage. The scene then changes to show Pierce and Veemon sitting atop Beacon Tower with confident looks as a faded image UlforceVeedramon floats behind them with the Crest of Miracles. The next shot is of Azure sitting in front of the Dimension Gateway with a gentle smile alongside Wizardmon, while behind them the faded image of a large Blue Card spins in the air.
Runway wo aruku egao no uragawa Kakushita tsumori de
The scene changes again to show Ruby and Palmon standing on the cliff where Summer's grave was once placed, but now the stone is gone, both smiling as a faded image of Rosemon floats behind them along with the Crest of Purity. Following that is an image of Weiss walking confidently with Tentomon away from a portrait of Jacques as a faded image of HerculesKabuterimon stands alongside the Crest of Knowledge. The scene changes again to show Blake standing on a pier in Menagerie with Patamon on her shoulder as she drops a Grimm mask into the water and looks up at the sky with a smile, a faded image of Seraphimon behind them alongside the Crest of Hope. The scene then shifts to show Yang and Biyomon riding together on Bumblebee, Yang having let go of a picture of her mother which flies away behind them as a faded image of Phoenixmon and the Crest of Love follow them.
The scene changes again to show an image of Jaune standing confidently alongside Gomamon in front of the statue of Beacon, a faded image of Vikemon behind them with the Crest of Reliability. Following this is a shot of Nora with Salamon on her head as she balances a Rook chess piece on her finger, both of them smiling as a faded image of Mastemon floats behind them alongside the Crest of Light. The next scene shows Pyrrha standing in an arena, Gabumon by her side as the two look up at the crowd with a smile, a faded image of MetalGarurumon and the Crest of Friendship behind them. The scene changes one more time to show Ren holding his father's dagger with a determined smile as Wormmon sits on his shoulder, a faded image of GrandisKuwagamon and the Crest of Kindness behind them.
Dakedo itsumo kimi ni wa
The scene changes to show the 10 Chosen and their Digimon marching on what appears to be a path of lights, though Gyro is seen with a small frown as he looks to the side.
Minukareteshimatteite
The scene then shifts to reveal that the one Gyro is looking at it Ozpin with his faction behind him also marching on a path of lights, a small but somehow understanding frown on his face as he looks back at Gyro.
Konna no wa hajimete de tomadou kedo
A quick shot of several of their allies (Team SSSN, Team CFVY, Summer and Renamon, Keenan and Falcomon, Gennai, Lisa and Monitamon, and Ilia and Kotemon) are seen before the end of the path bursts into flames revealing Cinder as she stands with Emerald, Mercury, Roman, Neo, and Adam by her side, her eyes glowing with flames.
Hoka no darenimo kikonasenai
A massive swarm of Grimm appear and seemingly dogpile something before the pile erupts outward, the Grimm scattering to the winds as from the pile reveal the 10 Chosen, their Digimon in Ultimate Form as they all stood back to back in a circle, weapons drawn and soon wiping out any remaining Grimm foolish enough to try attacking.
Nandaka wakannai atsusa ga mune wo kogasu kara
The 20 of them soon look to Cinder and her group before surging forward, the Chosen with their Digimon, and Cinder with her faction and various larger/ancient Grimm, the view slowing as they are about to clash.
Unmei no ito wo taguriyoseta sono saki ni
The battlefield soon erupts into chaos as the two sides clash fiercely, blades flashing and guns blasting, neither side giving an inch or quarter to the other.
Ima! Atarashi yoake ga kuru…
The scene focuses on Cinder as she has a confident look on her face as she fights, clashing with Pyrrha, but after a few clashes, Pyrrha kicks her back, before she is suddenly hit with several attacks from several different angles, pushing her back, before the scene ends with her standing alone, while the 10 Chosen and their partners stand proud, the rest of her faction on the ground defeated, her confident expression now one of disbelief, as the sun rises over the battlefield from behind the Chosen and their Digimon, illuminating the field now full of dead and fading Grimm.
Yeaaah…
The scene changes to show Gyro with Agumon, reaching towards a silhouette with a 'V' symbol over it, a close up of a gold and silver helmet over what appears to be a Greymon evolution in the background.
Yeaaaaah…!
The scene changes to show Pyrrha and Gabumon looking in surprise and wonder at a silhouette with a 'Z' symbol over it, a close up of what appears to be MetalGarurumon's head, only with darker armor and a green nose in the background.
Omoi wa kitto hitotsu
The scene shows shots of the Chosen, their Digimon, and their many allies in quick succession, ending with a scene of Gyro and Pierce holding Ascalon and Pandora which they then slash together, forming an 'X' shape, before the scene changes to show a mass of chains with the pictures of the ending scenes of Volume 3 of RWBY soon shattering apart, revealing a clear blue sky as the two brothers smiling at the screen with satisfaction, giving a big thumbs up.
Round 1! Startup!
"And that's what happened," Ruby said, concluding the report as teams RWGBY and JNPPR were gathered in Ozpin's office. They'd gotten back by now, but not before destroying Merlot's facility as thoroughly as they could while still making it look like a self destruct. Likewise they made sure to destroy any and all mutagen they could find. So as far as the teachers would know, Dr. Merlot died in an explosion, taking his twisted life's work with him, and with luck, nothing remotely like this would surface ever again.
"I see. While it's deplorable that Merlot took his own life, you all did a good job of stopping whatever plan he had in store for Remnant. Good work students." Ozpin told them with a smile.
"It IS somewhat annoying that his lab was destroyed though, while his work was deplorable, his research into the Grimm WAS thorough enough that any research notes would have been a huge help. Nevertheless, I'll still be sending some of my troops to try and recover any tech they can find." Ironwood said with a sigh.
"Good luck with that General, hope you find something good." Gyro said honestly, as he knew that Ironwood would never allow the data on the Grimm to be used for weaponization projects, so that was sure to be in good hands.
"At any rate, you've all done a good job. Take a well earned break," Ozpin nodded. "And don't forget, the Vytal Festival begins in a week. Make use of the remaining time to prepare yourselves."
"Will do, Professor," Jaune said with a nod, before the group soon left. Once they were gone, Ironwood soon turned to Ozpin.
"Now then, unless there's anything else to discuss, I'll take my leave for now. I need to have the island salvaged before the Vytal Festival begins," Ironwood said.
"Of course. I wish you the best of luck in finding something useful," Ozpin nodded, to which Ironwood soon left.
Once he was gone…
"I thought he'd never leave," came Qrow's voice as he stepped out of the shadows. "So, what was so important you wanted only me and Glynda to hear?" He asked as Glynda stepped out of a broom closet, much to her obvious displeasure of having to hide in there.
"And me as well," came Summer's voice as she entered...from a window. With Renamon.
"It certainly was rather unorthodox," Renamon nodded. "But I am certain it was of the utmost importance."
"Perhaps. I can say for sure it is something that was rather...interesting," Ozpin mused, before pressing a few keys, and a few images appeared on a screen. "This was taken during the time when the signals were blocked, though we were able to catch a few things," Ozpin said.
A few of the images were a bit too blurry, only splotches of color being visible on them, but the one that WAS visible enough showed Ruby being pulled along in the air by Rosemon, firing shots from Crescent Rose at GrimmValdurmon X's barely visible head.
"Okay...that...definitely was strange," Summer frowned, referring to the strange Digimon.
"Not just that, I noticed the form of the Digimon Ms. Rose was fighting alongside. I am quite certain it wasn't Togemon," Ozpin said.
"Well...the only way THAT could be possible is if they got to a higher level," Glynda mused.
"So they reached Perfect level. I don't see the issue," Qrow shrugged. "If anything its a good thing they did. That thing looked pretty tough."
"That is because I do not believe that that was a Perfect level Digimon," Ozpin mused. "I have seen the Perfect Form a Togemon gains once, and it was not this."
"What are you suggesting? That it's an Ultimate?" Qrow chuckled...and noticed Ozpin wasn't laughing. "...you really think that, don't you?"
"As a matter of fact, I believe so," Ozpin nodded. "Its also why I wanted you to see this too, Summer," he said. "You've been in the Digital World for over a decade. Tell us, what would be needed to cause a Digimon to evolve to the highest level?"
"That's...a tough one," Summer sighed.
"Different Digimon respond to different stimuli. Certainly their partners being in danger is a strong stimulus, but even in the Digital World, the existences of Ultimates are extremely rare. In short, there is no clear way to answer what could cause a Digimon to evolve to Ultimate," Renamon said.
"So, should we just ask Ruby what happened?" Qrow wondered.
"I'm not so sure that would be a good idea." Glynda said with a frown.
"Agreed. Miss Rose kept this secret for a reason, and I'm willing to give her and the others the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure they have a good reason for this." Ozpin said, with Summer internally letting out a sigh of relief.
She knew Ozpin would be discreet about it, but she'd really prefer to completely avoid having the Crests mentioned, especially when Yang told her that Takato had been with them and reached Ultimate in a new and different way.
Fusing with your Digimon… that wasn't something she expected to be possible, though, Takato clearly hadn't been ready for it, considering how Dukemon's form had apparently been glitching through the fight with that monstrosity.
Even more than that, she knew that if somebody found out about Takato fusing with Guilmon, things could get bad for the boy, as no doubt Atlas would try to swoop in and try to conduct tests on him.
So instead, they kept quiet on the truth, when they brought Takato to the hospital to get his arm stitched up, they said he had been hurt by a Grimm while they had been trying their best to protect him from an even bigger one, which technically wasn't a lie. Tukson had been glad to get a phone call telling him where his son had been all day, and was grateful to the kids for making sure that the worst Takato got was an injured arm, after all, Oum knows there would be worse wounds obtained from a Grimm.
Whatever the case, with a critical point in history coming up, it was necessary that they minimize issues as much as they could. As things were the situation regarding Digimon was...unstable. The last thing they needed was an internal conflict regarding the ability to reach a level that would make the Grimm a laughable threat at best.
Meanwhile, in one of the dorms, Cinder frowned as she went over her scroll once more. So far the plan seemed to have been working well despite the hiccups. One such 'hiccup', was Emerald applying ointment on her arm which was still feeling some burns thanks to her run in with the 'Foretellers'. Likewise, Mercury was busy tightening the bolts on his legs to ensure they wouldn't fly off again… not that it mattered, since THAT secret was already exposed, meaning they'd have to find another way to sneak him out of the tournament. In short, while the plan wasn't shot, they still needed a lot of reworking. Not to mention for some reason, it seemed Ironwood was less...straight laced...than they thought. Seriously, why were there some baby pictures of Penny Polendina, no doubt sent by Professor Polendina, among the things in his scroll.
"I mean, he's her godfather right? At least that's what I get when he talks with her, kinda makes sense to me for him to have baby pictures." Mercury said with a shrug, being the only explanation that made sense to him.
"I suppose that makes sense." Cinder sighed, wincing as Emerald rubbed a particularly sensitive spot, thankfully it was the last spot as the mint haired girl started reapplying the bandages to Cinder's arm. "Now, what about you Neo? Anything interesting come up during that little incident?"
The normally ice cream colored girl shrugged on one of the beds in the room, wearing a disguise which consisted of her hair being a dark black and her eyes being bright green, blowing a bubble with some gum in her mouth. She then pulled a scroll from her… well, from her cleavage, opening it to show a picture of Yang and Pierce kissing.
"Alright, so those two are dating each other… Yang Xiao Long and Pierce Vermillion right? Think we can use that for something?" Emerald wondered.
"Maybe, it's an option to consider I suppose. I'm sure if I got serious about it I could seduce him, it could anger that girl and we could use that." Cinder mused… too bad she was totally wrong.
"More importantly, any luck on the 'Foretellers'?" Emerald asked, wincing a bit when she heard Cinder growl.
Neo shrugged, showing that there was basically zilch regarding them...not surprising really if they were actually aware of the war but had never been found out before.
"No matter. The stage is still set, and they remain unaware of our main prize," Cinder said. "Once the full power of the Maiden is in my hands, they will be of no issue."
"Heh, will you hear that. She REALLY has no idea how in over her head she is," Pierce chuckled, as over in their own dorm...they'd been listening in on the whole conversation.
"Still want to punch her teeth in for the seducing idea," Yang glared.
"I'll let you have a crack at her once Gabumon and I tenderise her a little." Pyrrha said jokingly.
"I REALLY love the fact she's still hurting from that optic blast the other day." Gyro said with a small cackle.
"She's getting what she deserves." Agumon added with a grin.
"And she doesn't even know it," Veemon laughed.
"Something we fully intend to maintain until it's too late," Azure agreed.
"It's like she said herself. It's not about overpowering your enemies, it's about taking their power away," Wizardmon chuckled. "I hope she's ready for a taste of her own medicine."
"Whatever the case, remember the plan. We're not in this to win the tournament. Heck, once we get far enough, throw our matches," Gyro reminded. "What's most important is that we be ready to counter Cinder, and don't be afraid to break out Ultimate if push comes to shove."
"Right, better some damage than what they did to the city in the show," Blake sighed.
"So, anything else?" Nora asked.
"Well...there was something I wanted to show you all," Azure mused, before pulling out his scroll and expanding it, showing what appeared to be a mix of programming and schematics. They couldn't make out many details in the schematics, other than it seemed to have a pair of wings "This is my little project I've been working on, it's basically a support machine for Digimon that can't fly, for any Ultimates in our group that may be completely incapable of flight, as rare as that may likely be."
"Huh, that's pretty cool, no clue who would end up needing it, but still cool." Ruby said as she looked at the schematics.
"Of course, this isn't done yet, and I'll likely need some time before I can begin to properly build it, but the groundworks done," Azure mused.
"Still a cool project," Wizardmon chuckled. "More importantly, there's another thing I wanted to discuss. The means with which Takato and Guilmon achieved their Ultimate form. Was there anything different? Anything that changed? I'm sure I don't need to say this, but a fusion of human and Digimon is unheard of."
"Well, there's the fact that the damage Dukemon had taken was on the same spot as Takato at the same intensity, so he was bleeding when the fusion ended." Blake explained.
"I meant perhaps something that could have been a stimulus. As you know, for a Digimon to evolve to Perfect alone requires some kind of stimulus to do so. The Blue Card was made to only reach the Perfect level. At least...that was its original function," Wizardmon clarified.
"Well… I'm not sure, but I think I saw something red in his pocket, but I'm not sure what it was." Ren mused as he thought back.
"Other than that, well… maybe it was because he was in a true life or death situation?" Wormmon wondered.
"Could be. But still...this is HIGHLY abnormal. It may be good for us to ask him when he wakes up," Wizardmon frowned, folding his arms.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, Takato needs to rest," Blake sighed.
"And until then, nothing to do but keep putting spikes all over Cinder's path and get ready for the festival," Pierce nodded.
The following week went by relatively quickly after that, the teams relaxing and getting some light training in to stay in shape for the tournament. Takato was discharged from the hospital after a few days as well, and that allowed them to finally talk to him.
"Right, when Guilmon and me fused..." Takato thought back as Guilmon rested his head in his lap "I remember time stopping actually."
"That happened when Sun, Penny and I go our D-Arks." Ilia thought back.
"Yeah, well, when time stopped, my Blue Card kinda flew out and slashed my hand for some reason, and after some voice talked to me, well…" Takato trailed off as he pulled out a red card.
"Wait, so… the blue card basically turned red from your blood?" Summer asked in surprise.
"That's… not what I expected." Keenan admitted.
"Just like how I didn't expect to suddenly combine with Guilmon and learn how to fight as Dukemon in the same moment." Takato said with an awkward chuckle.
"Well, I wouldn't say you've quite gotten there," Summer frowned.
"According to what they said, Dukemon was...unstable. It could very well be that either this is a side effect of the evolution, or more hopefully, it's due to the fact it was an evolution of desperation. Neither of you were ready for it," Renamon said.
"Well either way I'm not planning on using it anytime soon. Heck, I don't even know if I can," Takato sighed, holding up the card. "It was glowing brightly when I used it. Now it's gone dull…"
"Well, either way, you saved our bacons out there Takato." Gyro said with a grin as he patted the boy on the back "So… I think at this point… we should tell you the truth."
"The truth?" Takato repeated with a raised eyebrow.
Azure hummed in thought, before nodding slowly "Yeah, if Takato's crap luck is going to keep dragging him into trouble, we should tell him what's really going on."
"You may be a kid, but I hope you're prepared to get a LOT of responsibility." Ilia told the faunus boy seriously.
Takato frowned a bit, looking down in thought, before looking back at them and nodding silently.
Once they were done….
If it was physically possible, Takato's jaw would have hit the floor, and probably rolled a few more feet.
"That… I have SO many questions." Takato said after a moment to pick up his blown mind.
"Welcome to my world." Ilia muttered.
"Speaking of that, Worlds, there's THREE of them?!" Takato was still rather incredulous about that part.
"Yeahp, so there's more aliens in this room than you thought." Pierce chuckled.
Takato's face at that was… priceless.
Time went on and before long it was time for the Vytal Festival. They'd made as many preparations as they could, trained as much as they could, and already made plans with not just their own teams, but Sun's team, as well as Penny. They were all about as ready as ready could be, so now it was time to finally change fate….but first…
The Vytal Festival Tournament had officially begun!
And the venue was definitely the most amazing, with the Amity Colosseum floating high in the skies, right in front of Beacon.
The group hadn't paid much attention to the first few matches, as it contained people they honestly didn't know and didn't care much about, oh sure, some of them were classmates, but they had never spoken to them before. Oh sure, there was the match for Cinder's fake team, but they already knew how it went, so they didn't pay attention. Though… ok, they did pay attention to Team CFVY's match, just to see how that went… pretty one sided honestly.
What they WERE paying attention to however were, well, their OWN matches. First was the fight with team ABRN. For this fight, Gyro had replaced Blake in the original lineup (they'd drawn lots to decide who was going to be their starting four). As such, he was currently fighting against Reese Chloris in place of Blake, the girl's hoverboard giving her a lot of mobility, which was problematic due to fighting in the ice half of the arena. Gyro himself was able to counter the terrain with use of his wind to keep him steady and on course. Plus, he was decent enough at ice skating that he was keeping up with her without having to fly, using his wind to keep himself properly balanced. Still though, fighting in this terrain was definitely different, but he was managing just fine. Of course, that was when Reese used an icicle as a ramp and in mid air she countered with her dual guns… which had transformed from her hoverboard. Whatever the case, now he was on the defensive.
At the same time, the rest of the team were fighting it out all over the are. Yang was holding her own against Arslan Altan, Team ABRN's leader, pretty well, as unlike in the original story, she was going at this more cautiously, rather than constantly on the offensive, making it harder for Arslan to use her dagger and bandages as a rope dart to catch Yang off guard, making the fight a bit more see saw. On the side, Nadir Shiko was busy trying to shoot at anyone he could find, something that Ruby made sure to be as difficult as possible, while Weiss kept Bolin Hori at bay with a mix of Glyphs and Dust. All in all things were going better than canon, even if just a bit.
The group maintained the stalemate for a bit longer, before they each found an opening to use. First was Gyro who maintained the game of cat and mouse, before using the terrain to try and shake off Reese, who soon followed him into a section with several ice pillars, Gyro darting out, and forcing her to defend, before he soon went back into cover, Reese following after him...or she would have if he hadn't left a little trap, causing a small whirlwind to hit, causing her board to lose control, to which he shot out, nailed her in the gut with a double kick, sending her right out of the ring.
Not far away, Ruby and Weiss had joined up and were in a tag team fight against Bolin and Nadir, Weiss keeping both off balance while Ruby peppered them with shots and slashes, keeping them close and pinned...to which Weiss sprang her trap, catching both in a giant icicle, with Ruby leaving a fire dust crystal at the base. Both men looked at it with wide eyes and were shaking their heads...to which Ruby have a two finger salute and fired, the explosion sending both flying out of the ring.
Arslan WOULD have sighed in annoyance at her teammates losing like that...but right now she was in no place to comment, as she was caught in a helicopter spin courtesy of Yang who'd taken a chance and caught her ribbons, now spinning her around, and before long she too joined her teammates outside the ring.
"And Team RWGBY wins the match! Even when not at full strength, these first year students are truly a force to be reckoned." Port commented in excitement.
"Indeed Peter, as used as they are to fighting with AT LEAST 5 of their human members, Team RWGBY had to bench one of them, and were also not allowed to bring one of their Digimon partners, due to the opposing team lacking any." Leomon commented from next to Port.
"Well, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before every student has a partner, I mean, it's happening to more and more teachers after all." Port chuckled as he patted a D-Core clipped on the front pocket of his vest, Leomon laughing along with his partner.
After the fight, team RWGBY were gathered in the fairgrounds, looking forward to a meal after that fight. "That fight went great," Ruby smiled as they walked through the fairgrounds.
"Yeah, all the training and planning is paying off," Palmon agreed.
"I dunno about everyone else, but I could go for some food. Anyone up for the Simple Wok?" Gyro offered.
"As long as they serve a half portion," Weiss sighed. Seriously, when Gyro mentioned the place in passing, she took a look and went a bit green at how BIG the normal portion was.
"To be fair, your other ordered only with 'less salt'. That wouldn't have changed the portion size," Tentomon commented.
"ALWAYS ORDER LESS SALT AT THAT PLACE!" Sun shouted… from somewhere.
"Where the heck is he?" Biyomon asked as she flew up a bit to look around the area a bit but couldn't see him anywhere.
"...so less salt...got it," Yang blinked after a moment. If Sun felt THAT strongly about that...probably a good idea.
As the group made their way to the Simple Wok shop, there was a small interruption.
"Hey, I think you dropped this." Emerald's voice interrupted them, making them turn around to see her holding Ruby's wallet.
"Wait, seriously? Is there a hole in my pocket?" she muttered, patting the pockets she had put on her belt, before accepting her wallet from the mint haired girl "Thanks Emerald, that almost cost me a lot."
"Oh, no problem." Emerald waved off, and now that they knew the kind of person she really was, they could spot a few details in her face, the way her lips twitched and all that, to realise she was forcing her smile a little. "So, you guys did pretty well in your match out there."
"Yeah, we trained a lot for this," Patamon said with a nod.
"Not that we got to use it though," Agumon shrugged. "How'd your match go?"
"Pretty well," Emerald said with a small chuckle.
"Well, why don't get some food to celebrate together?" Ruby suggested, though she did NOT mean her words at all, but she had to keep acting like she didn't know the girl in front of her was evil.
"That's… REALLY nice of you." Emerald said with a strained smile "But my teammates are all kinds of… introverted." she said, glancing back at Mercury, who was sniffing a leather boot.
"Yeah...we see what you mean," Palmon blinked.
"Another time then," Tentomon said, as they waved and walked away, the same with Emerald. Once they were a good distance away…
"I never thought smiling could be so hard," Ruby said a little stiffly.
"Yeah, we know what you mean," Gyro said dryly. Knowing what those two were complicit of made interacting with them all the more difficult whenever they had to.
"Just keep it up for a bit longer. They'll get what's coming," Weiss reassured...right before she felt some vibrations, and pulled out her scroll. "Speaking of which, should I or should I not?" she added dryly, showing who the caller was. Her Father.
"If you don't he's gonna cut your funding, but if you do that means he has some power over you...or so he thinks," Tentomon said.
"You're right, that's an easy answer," Weiss nodded, before ignoring the call. "Besides, I've been...stocking up," she said as she looked at her wallet...with actual Lien in it rather than Debit Cards.
"Please tell me that's not all your money." Blake asked dryly.
"Of course not, I asked Azure to put the rest of it in a safe in his room." she said, earning a sigh of relief from Blake.
The group soon found their way to the Simple Wok. "Huh, its bigger than in the show," Gyro mused, as true enough, the Simple Wok was notably larger this time around, and judging by the group of Huntsmen and Digimon that just left, it was probably to accomodate for the increased number of potential patrons. The group sat down, and soon made their orders (Weiss able to get a half portion which was still quite sizeable). The food came quickly, though before they got a chance to eat, a familiar group came up to the stall too.
"Nice match out there guys." Pierce said, clapping his brother on the back as he sat down next to him, the rest of team JNPPR sitting down as well.
"Thanks, hope yours is just as entertaining." Ruby said with a cheeky grin.
"Did you decide who's sitting out yet?" Weiss asked them curiously.
"We drew straws… I got the short one." Nora said with a pout.
"There's always next time." Salamon told her partner while sitting on her head.
"So, we clear on the big game plan?" Yang started as she was slurping down her noodles.
"Pretty much," Ren nodded as he gulped down a mouth full. "We've planned about as well as we could, and the twins made plenty of contingencies, so as long as nothing...REALLY game changing happens...we should be good."
"Let's just hope the universe doesn't decide to pull a butterfly on us now of all times," Gyro sighed.
"As long as we work together, we'll be fine," Gabumon assured.
"On a lighter note though, what strategy do you guys have for the next match? It's against team BRNZ, right?" Agumon asked.
"Well, for starters we have actual team moves this time," Jaune started, feeling VERY embarrassed his other self had planned the moves, but never practiced it. It didn't help the brothers told him that his other had used the names of ships. "Other than that, we'll just have to outmaneuver them then work from there."
"Sounds like a good plan," Ruby nodded.
"Simple, but effective," Pyrrha agreed. The group soon began chatting about various things, so much so they didn't notice a few more people sitting at the table and placing their order.
"Uh, could someone pass me the sauce please?" a feminine voice said.
"Of course," Pyrrha said, grabbing the sauce without looking at the person and passing it over. "Here you go, Yoshino."
"Thank you, Pyrrha," the other person said, and if there had been music in the air, it would have screeched to a halt when the two of their brains finally realized what they'd just said, and promptly turned to face each other.
"Oookay, I'm thinking we're missing something here," Wormmon blinked as they looked between the two girls...and noticed a certain resemblance.
"Yoshino...hey, isn't that your sister's…?" Jaune started and then trailed off when they all made the connection. "Eeeeeeh?!" the group said in surprise.
"W-when did you get here?" Pyrrha asked in surprise, her sister being just as surprised.
"Well… uh… how to put this… a month?" Yoshino admitted with an embarassed blush, looking down at her uniform and avoiding eye contact.
Pyrrha stared at her older sister for a bit "You've been here for a month… and yet you didn't come to see me?... why?"
"She wanted to try and find a way to surprise you, hasn't stopped talking about you for the whole month at least." said a voice next to her, making everyone look to see a young man with pale blonde hair and greyish blue eyes, wearing the male student uniform.
"Thomas?!" Weiss asked incredulously, recognising him.
"Hello Weiss, it's been a long time." Thomas greeted with a polite nod.
"Wait, you know this guy?" Tentomon asked.
"Yes, well… he used to be my fiancé." Weiss answered after a moment.
Once again, there was silence for a long moment, which was soon followed by a very loud collective "WHAT?!"
"You were gonna marry this guy?!" Ruby asked in surprise.
"You were engaged to Specialist Schnee's little sister?!" Yoshino asked Thomas incredulously.
"I never mentioned that?" Thomas asked with a blink "Must have slipped my mind."
"It was an arrangement made by our fathers," Weiss sighed.
"And while we didn't have any issues per say regarding it, neither of us were really all that keen on going through with it, so it was a mutual breakup," Thomas added, taking a sip from some of the tea he'd ordered to go with his noodles.
"What he said yes," Weiss nodded.
"Ok… does anybody have any other revelations they want to say now so we can keep all the shock to this moment?" Gyro asked after a moment with a sigh.
"I… don't think we have anything." Jaune said after a bit of thought, looking at the rest of his team who all shook their heads after a bit of thinking.
"Same here." Ruby said.
"We're good here to." Yoshino said after exchanging a look with Thomas.
"Good. Now, normally, I'd be all for letting you two sisters have a nice chat, but…" Gyro hooked his thumb at the PA system which blared to life right as he finished.
"Would team JNPPR please report to the stadium for their match?" Port's voice announced over the system.
"Yes, and on the double please, you're a bit late." Leomon added before the announcement ended.
"Well… I guess it's our turn to fight then" Pyrrha said with a blink.
"I'll be cheering you on." Yoshino told her, making Pyrrha smile and nod.
"Let's go see some butt kicking!" Yang said with a whoop as everyone stood up and went towards the airships to be lifted up to the colosseum.
The Colosseum was once again packed, everyone looking forward to the next match.
"Okay guys, place your bets. How fast will JNPPR wipe the floor with these guys," Palmon said with a slight laugh.
"I give them 10 minutes tops," Gomamon said.
"Nah, they're not gonna take that long. I bet 5 minutes," Veemon grinned.
"You're both wrong, they're gonna win in 3 minutes," Nora joined in.
"They're certainly lively," Yoshino chuckled as she and Thomas had chosen to sit with the group.
"You have no idea," Weiss said with a wry smile.
"This IS the first tournament they get to see from up close." Gyro chuckled.
Roughly on the opposite side of the colosseum, Emerald and Mercury were sat in some seats, Mercury carrying a huge bowl of popcorn with him "I don't even see why we're watching these, we know how it'll all end anyway." Emerald complained.
"Meh, it's entertainment." Mercury shrugged as took a handful of popcorn.
"And besides." Cinder said as she came up behind them, wearing her raider looking outfit as she took a kernel from the popcorn bowl "Even if you know how a story ends, that doesn't make it any less fun to watch." she said, heating her hand and causing the kernel to pop before eating it.
"I couldn't agree more." Azure muttered to himself from nearby, just far away enough from Cinder to barely hear her, and for her to not hear him at all.
The fight was off to a strong start, the main frontline fighters of team BRNZ: Brawnz Ni, Roy Stallion, and Nolan Porfirio charged forward, while May Zedong went for the trees.
Team JNPPR charged forward as well, with Jaune, Pyrrha, and Pierce meeting the three head on. Of course, having known this strategy from the 'canon' story, Ren held back a little, before jumping forward, and using Pierce as a springboard, and managed got clear the field, catching May before she got to ideal cover, forcing her on the defensive as he started attacking her with several swift attacks, followed by gunshots whenever she tried to gain some distance.
Seeing their main strategy compromised, Nolan tried to break away from Pierce and try to assist May...only for a grappling hook to be fired and wrap around him. "Where do you think YOU'RE going?" Pierce smirked, before pulling. "Get over here!"
Likewise, Pyrrha and Jaune were fending off Brawnz and Roy, the two trying to get past their defenses with their fast attacks, but the couple held their ground, and countered whenever an opening was present, the two more offense focused opponents finding it harder to block their counter attacks. Of course, the slight stalemate was at and end when Nolan came flying and hit both of them from the side, Pierce having thrown him like a flail...and he was still doing it too seeing as he was still wrapped in the grapple.
"Special delivery," Pierce chuckled. "In fact, here comes another."
Right on cue, May came flying and landed with the rest of her team, Ren having finally gotten the upper hand and kicked her back.
"Okay, let's not hold this off. Assassin: All Out!" Jaune said, earning a nod from Ren who jumped closer, Jaune grabbing him by the shoulder and boosting his Semblance, while Pierce got closer. At that point the group suddenly vanished from sight.
"Wha? Where'd they go?" Nolan asked...and got his answer as a flurry of hits impacted all four of them and when it was done they fell over again, their auras falling into the red.
"Show's over." Pierce said with a grin as the team reappeared.
"My! What an impressive victory for Team JNPPR! It's always a mystery how just exactly how their fights turns out what with Pierce's semblance having a mind of its own." Port said impressively.
"Very true. I think I even remember once incident where young Pierce narrowly avoided a floodlight falling on him." Leomon mused.
"Oh you had to bring that one up." Pierce muttered as the crowd laughed at the commentary.
"At least he didn't mention your run ins with snow." Jaune told him with a snicker.
"Yeah yeah, laugh it up vomit boy." Pierce said with a roll of his eyes as they walked off the arena, the medics picking up team BRNZ to make sure they weren't hurt too badly.
"Now then, while that match was certainly impressive, the next match is sure to be quite a sight, as finally, we'll be seeing a match with Digimon in it, as team SSSN plus their leader's Coronamon go up against team NDGO and…" Leomon trailed off, raising an eyebrow "Ah, it seems that one of the members of NDGO had to sit out the match due to illness, and as such, is being replaced by one of Vacuo's solo students, one Marcus Diamond, the Digimon slot being filled by his partner, GeoAgumon."
Sun's face dropped at hearing those words, one foot out the corridor that led to the arena "Oh you have GOT to be kidding me."
"What is it? You know that guy?" Neptune asked.
"Know him? Marcus was like, almost my cousin with how we always hung out as kids!" Sun explained "Dude's pretty much as strong as Yang without her gauntlets… all he has are fighting gloves!"
"Do you know anything about the girls?" Scarlet asked.
Sun gave him a dry look at that "Oh right, because everybody knows everybody in Vacuo. What, did you personally know Pyrrha before we met her here?"
Scarlet shut up with an embarrassed blush at that, properly chastised.
"So, chances of winning are…?" Coronamon trailed off.
The look Sun gave was… not welcome "Slim as a pancake. Marcus got into a fight with older kids plenty...and he wiped the floor with them. That was BEFORE he unlocked his Aura mind you."
"And I'm guessing his partner is somewhere along those lines if they're compatible," Coronamon groaned.
"...well, if we're gonna get our butts kicked, we might as well make them work for it," Neptune sighed.
"Don't you just hate butterflies?" Sage sighed, knowing that Gyro would have likely mentioned this happened in the old timeline, so this was obviously a change.
When they stepped into the center ring, they saw that the missing member of team NDGO was the red haired girl, Octavia if they remembered right, while Marcus grinned when he saw Sun.
"Been a long time monkey boy, how've you been doing over there in Mistral?" he said with a chuckle.
"Probably better than you have blazing away under all that sunshine ya knucklehead." Sun shot back with a grin.
Even though he knew he was gonna get his ass kicked, Marcus was still a good friend.
"Is this the guy you were talking about boss?" GeoAgumon asked.
"Yep that's him. An old friend, and he's definitely gonna give us a good fight," Marcus grinned.
"In that case let's give it everything we got!" GeoAgumon grinned.
"Muscleheads…" Nebula groaned a bit at the banter.
Once the banter was over, the field selectors came up, spinning as their normally did, selecting one half of the arena as the desert biome.
"Home field advantage." Nebula said with a grin.
"Hey, it's my home field too." Sun said with a smirk.
Right after he said that, the second half of the field finished choosing… and their luck was REALLY bad.
"Why me?" Neptune groaned as it chose not the lake biome it had been originally, but an actual ocean biome, with the only spot of land on it being a thin strip of sand in the middle to act like a small island.
Unsurprisingly, the moment the beginning bell started, Neptune made a beeline for the cliff side of the desert area.
"Can't really call him out for that one…" Sun sighed, knowing full well WHY Neptune was afraid of the water.
"Okay...that happened," Dew Gayl blinked as the group looked at Neptune in confusion.
"Talk about bad luck…" Sage sighed in annoyance. It seemed the universe was against them today with not just one but two butterflies that put them at a disadvantage.
"Enough with the comedy act! Open fire!" Nebula said as her team charged forward (Gwen Darcy going after Neptune), to which team SSSN did the same, while Neptune instead of being basically stuck, at least opted to play sniper, while doing his best to fend off Gwen.
Sun went after Dew, the girl managing to fend off his rapid attacks with her spear and a bit of her semblance, but Sun kept her on her toes with his faster movements and constant activity. Not to be outdone, Coronamon fired several fireballs at GeoAgumon...but the reptile just tanked the hits and landed a haymaker on his cheek, sending him flying back to the edge of the water, the two Digimon soon continuing their brawl on the sand.
Scarlet was put on the defensive as he evaded Nebula's crossbow shots, while countering whenever he could find an opening, managing to maintain something of a stalemate between the two...which sadly was much better than what Sage had to deal with. Speaking of which….
"And team NDGO gains the advantage by knock out. Literally," Port said, as Sage had just been sent flying by a punch from Marcus, the larger boy thrown right out of the arena along with his heavy weapon, while Marcus pulled back from a punch, his body practically blazing with a crimson/reddish orange aura.
"Holy Schneezus that had to hurt." Yang said with a wince.
"Really? Schneezus?" Weiss said with the most dry look ever.
"What? Pierce said it's from back home." Yang said with a shrug and poorly hidden grin.
"How the heck did THAT happen?!" Scarlet gasped when he and Sun managed to regroup.
"Oh yeah...I forgot about his Semblance," Sun gulped a bit, earning a flat stare from Coronamon who just got up from being punched away by GeoAgumon.
"Really now? What is it?" Coronamon groaned.
"Well...you know how Yang gets stronger the more you hit her?" Sun started. "Well...Marcus is kinda like that...only he gets stronger every time HE hits something…"
"...are you telling us he LITERALLY gets stronger the more he fights?" Scarlet asked dryly.
"Kinda yeah…" Sun laughed nervously.
"...we're screwed," Coronamon sighed, as true enough, a surprised yell was heard, and the cliff Neptune had been taking 'refuge' on fell off as Marcus landed a full force punch on it, cracking it off.
"This is starting to get painful to watch…" Gyro winced from where he was sitting.
"Yeah, that Marcus guy is just Broken," Jaune agreed at what was quickly turning into a curb stomp battle. Especially when the still somewhat dazed Neptune soon followed Sage, having been thrown out of the arena too.
"So what's the plan now?" Coronamon sighed.
"If we're going down, we're going down kicking and screaming," Sun said.
"About as good as we can do at this point," Scarlet sighed, before all three of them dropped any semblance of defense or strategy, and just charged forward, yelling at the top of their lungs, to which team NDGO responded...with Marcus and GeoAgumon in the lead. What followed could only be described as a bowling ball plowing through the pins, as the remainder of team SSSN did what they could to fight back, but were systematically thrown out of the ring one by one.
"Is it over?" Patamon asked, having covered his eyes at the last charge. Sure it wasn't anything actually dangerous happening, but its was something of a 'I can't watch' situation seeing their friends so completely outclassed...or overpowered in this case.
"Completely one sided match has come to an end yeah." Veemon said as he munched on popcorn.
Of course, not everyone was quite enjoying the match. Up where Cinder's group was, Mercury had been mid-way in munching some popcorn. Popcorn which had fallen out of his mouth in shock. They'd seen that fight, and that aura around Marcus, and well… "Shit," was the best he could sum it up.
"This...doesn't bode well…" Emerald gulped, while Cinder was glaring daggers at where Marcus was.
"Of all the times," she growled. "A holder of the Crimson Soul here?"
While Cinder was seething at another wrench throwing itself into her plans, Professor Port announced that the matches for the day were over, the group getting up to head back out.
Idly, Gyro looked up, grinning at what he noticed and nudged Weiss a bit, who followed his eyes and saw the same thing he did.
"Huh, Winter's here… hope she'll be able to watch some matches with us." she said with a smile.
"Wait… Specialist Schnee is here?" Yoshino asked "Oh my Oum… I-I don't have my stuff together, do I look presentable, should I-" she was cut off as Thomas put his hand on her mouth.
"Ok, I know she's pretty much your idol, but seriously, tone it down would you?" he said in annoyance.
"Well, didn't see that coming." Agumon chuckled.
"Yeah… let's hope we don't get too much stuff like that." Gyro muttered, hoping everything would go roughly according to plan.
And voila!
Hope you enjoyed this new chapter and everything it contained, as well as the reveal of a few new things, like Thomas and his prior relationship to Weiss.
There's more reveals in store in the future though, I can tell you that.
Anyway, see you next time, because...
The Adventure Evolves.
