Chapter 3: Babies!
After their meeting, both teams went to RWBY's room to...decompress? Hang out? They honestly didn't know what they were doing, but they felt like they should be together, at least right now.
"Well, that doesn't seem safe. At all..." remarked Winter, once she saw the 'bunk beds.' The Specialist followed them since she wanted to know how Wiess had been doing and to find out more about her sister's team and their friends.
"Don't worry," reassured Ruby, who had Calumon on her lap as she sat on her bed. "They're a lot sturdier than they look. We used duct tape in the most important places." While the rest of RWBY sat in their respective beds, Yang let Nora sit on hers and Pyrrha sat with Weiss, while Jaune and Ren opted to sit on a couple of cushions on the floor, each one (minus Ruby) holding their Digi-Eggs.
"I know Weiss wanted bunk beds as children, but this seems a bit much," Winter commented dryly as she glanced at her sister, who blushed with some embarrassment.
"Just seemed practical," shrugged Yang.
"What's practical is buying actual bunk beds. In fact..." Winter opened her Scroll up, already searching for a pair of bunk beds to order.
"Winter!" Weiss said incredulously, "You don't have to-" But the elder sibling wasn't having any of it.
"First, you know as well as I do that I won't be getting any sleep after seeing those beds… And second..." Winter turned to Calumon and asked, "When these Digimon hatch, would it be likely that they'll behave similarly to human, or Faunus, infants?" Calumon shrugged, having never seen a human or Faunus baby before, but everyone else in the room got the message. They looked at each bed, before coming to the same conclusion…
Blake looked down at her teammates before saying, "These beds might not be the safest around children..." Weiss nodded in agreement before looking up at her sister.
"At least let me-" Winter was still not having it.
"Enough, Weiss. I'm paying for these beds. I'll just have you pay me back later. Besides, if Father ever found out about your new responsibility… Well, he'd probably go into cardiac arrest." Weiss nodded, seeing the logic, even if she didn't like it. Jacques always kept an eye on what any of his children bought with their 'allowances.'
What broke Weiss of her thoughts was Yang chuckling nervously.
"C'mon," the pugilist started, "you're making it out like we're going to become parents or something..." Everyone slowly looked at their Digi-Eggs, before the realization hit.
Holy shit, everyone thought at the same time, we're becoming parents, aren't we?!
Nora kept putting her Digi-Egg up to her cheek, but this time she asked no one in particular, "So, what should we name 'em?"
That didn't help their concerns in the least bit…
Calumon tilted his head curiously before asking, "What do you mean? All Digimon already know their names when they hatch." Nora just shrugged and went back to feeling her Digi-Egg. After a moment, Pyrrha coughed in her hand, getting everyone's attention.
"Calumon," she began, "I noticed before that you never did say what the Digital World was like..." Calumon, in turn, turned away from them and shuffled in Ruby's lap sheepishly.
"What's wrong?" asked Ruby while Yang raised a brow.
"Yeah, I bet you have a ton of crazy stories." Calumon looked at the floor, almost ashamed.
"I… I never saw it."
"...Wait, what?" asked Jaune.
"I never left Azulongmon's palace. I was too important to let outside; someone could've tried to abduct me and the Devas were too busy to guard me. I barely even left my room. ...I didn't have a lot of friends..." Silence dominated the room for a moment…
"That would make sense..." Winter mostly said to herself, but the look on her face betrayed the sadness she felt. Weiss winced at that, both of them knowing how their father tried to control them by making them feel isolated…
"But Wisemon, Dracmon, and the other Digimon that I met told me about where they had traveled to before- a couple even gave me postcards!" Calumon quickly said, trying to bring everyone's hopes back up.
Ruby perked an eyebrow and asked, "Who's Dracmon?" Calumon looked off to the side, as if remembering a fond memory.
"He's one of the few friends that I made...until I came here, anyways." Teams RWBY and JNPR smiled at the small Digimon as he said that.
"What's he like?" asked Jaune, but Calumon looked away and scratched his chin nervously, making everyone somewhat worried.
"Well, Dracmon isn't really allowed in the palace, since all he does is sneak in and try to prank everyone inside...especially Azulongmon."
"He...what?" asked Winter incredulously.
"One time, he gave me a lollipop, but he coated it in really spicy stuff, making my tongue numb for a whole week!" Calumon giggled at that. Yang frowned and crossed her arms.
"He sounds like a real jerk," the blonde girl said disapprovingly. Calumon shook his head in response.
"He's not bad once you get to know him. He just likes to prank people, that's all. He thinks people should laugh more and pranks them so they'll stop being so serious all the time." Calumon giggled at another memory, "Another time, he put whoopee cushions under the Deva's seat cushions. They all sat down at the same time, making the loudest fart noise ever!"
"Okay," Yang admitted as she grinned along with the others, "now that sounds like a good prank..." Calumon giggled some more.
"The best part was...I came up with it!" Everyone was surprised at that.
"You did?" Ruby asked, trying to hold in a laugh of her own and making Weiss roll her eyes.
The small Digimon nodded his head and continued, "You should've seen the looks on their faces. Pajiramon's face was so red, she looked like a tomato!" Most everyone (except for Weiss, Winter, and Ren- though Ren did smirk a bit...) chuckled as they tried to imagine a very embarrassed Digimon, even if they didn't know what Pajiramon looked like.
After they had settled down, they heard knocking at the door. Surprised and confused by this, Ruby set Calumon down onto her bed before answering the door. Who it was surprised her.
"Sun? What are you doing here?" In fact, all of the members of Team SSSN were standing in the hallway: Neptune Vasilias- a blue-haired boy in a red coat and orange-colored lensed goggles, Scarlet David- a boy with long red hair and a coat hanging off of his shoulders, and Sage Ayana- a dark skinned boy with tattoos and a white trench coat.
"Well," Sun began, "we kinda wanted-"
Scarlet interrupted him, "By 'we,' he means him and Neptune, for obvious reasons..." The red-haired teenager gave his two teammates a look before shrugging, "No offense or anything, but I thought we should give you guys some space to process whatever happened with the headmasters."
Sage nodded, "Especially after seeing you carry those giant eggs." Sun glared at the two.
"We wanted to check up on you, since we're friends and we were concerned about you." Yang chuckled at their antics.
"Nah, it's fine… Though having these guys," the pugilist lifted her egg a bit in her lap to emphasize what she meant, "is probably gonna take time to get used to."
Neptune, along with the rest of Team SSSN looked at the Digi-Eggs in incredulous confusion. "Seriously," the blue-haired boy asked while pointing at the huge eggs, "what's up with the eggs?"
After a moment, Teams RWBY and JNPR explained what was discussed between them, Calumon, and the instructors about what happened. Winter did not stop them, considering that neither headmasters declared the information top secret per se, but she kept vigilance over the boys, just in case they reacted...badly to the news.
To say that they four Huntsmen-in-training were dumbfounded by what they heard would be an understatement.
"So, let me get this straight..." Sun said, with his hands in front of him, trying to understand what was just explained to them. "There are superpowered creatures-"
"Digimon," Calumon clarified, who had flown and landed on Ruby's head.
Sun nodded, "Right, Digimon… They're from another world and an evil army of them is going to invade ours and you guys are a part of some prophecy-"
"They're the DigiDestined," Calumon clarified again.
"Right, that… And these eggs are going to help you kick their butts?"
Blake rolled her eyes and deadpanned, "Yes, Sun, it's as if we didn't already go through telling you this." The monkey-tailed Faunus scrunched up his face in response.
"Hey, it's a lot to take in!" Winter narrowed her eyes at the four.
"I have to say, you are all taking this quite well...all things considered."
"Well, we were prepared to fight a giant fire-breathing lizard last night," shrugged Sage.
"And there was that talking man-lion wielding a sword," added Scarlet.
"True," admitted the specialist. Sun rubbed his chin, thinking, before he gestured towards her.
"One last thing: no offense, but who are you exactly…uh, officer?"
Winter straightened a bit before answering, "Specialist, actually. Specialist Winter Schnee, Weiss' elder sister." Neptune's eyes widened before Sage gave a cheeky grin and softly punched him in the arm.
"Now's your chance to make a good impression, Nep." Neptune glared at him in panic as Sage and Scarlet snickered. Winter narrowed her eyes, much more dangerously this time, at the blue-haired boy.
"What does he mean by that..." The white-haired woman turned her head towards her sister, who had a slight blush on her cheeks and was trying to look away. "Weiss?"
"Yes Winter?" the heiress asked, trying to sound innocent, but that only made the older Schnee to give her a disapprovingly look. Winter turned to fully face Neptune and walked up to the boy, making him flinch under her glare.
"And what are your intentions for my little sister, mister…?" Winter asked, or more accurately, interrogated him. Neptune gulped audibly as he answered.
"Neptune Vasilias, ma'am- Sir- Uh, miss…?" Weiss and Sun simultaneously facepalmed at his nervousness. Just then, a deep grumbling echoed in the room, grabbing everyone's attention.
"Oops," Nora said, blushing a bit, "guess I'm a little hungry..." Ren looked to look at the clock and saw that it was just past one.
"We did miss lunch," the magenta-eyed boy said. Neptune practically jumped at the opportunity to get as far away from this situation as possible.
"Oh, idea!" he said as he began to walk away, slowly, down the hallway. "How about we grab you guys some pizza, huh? Good plan? Great plan!" Without waiting for another word, he zipped down the hallway almost as fast as Ruby. Sun shook his head at his friend as he called out to Neptune.
"Hang on, don't go to the cafeteria! I found a great pizza place not too far-" Scarlet gave their leader a glare before interrupting him.
"You mean when you stowed away on a boat to get to Beacon before everyone else?" Sun groaned as they began to follow their teammate down the hallway.
"How many times do I have to say sorry?"
"A lot more."
"We're not going to let Nep forget about this, are we?" asked Sage with a grin.
"Nope," both boys said at the same time. The two continued to bicker as the three teammates walked down the hallway, until neither teams, Digimon, or specialists could hear them.
"I don't like him..." Winter stated after Ruby had shut the door and went to Weiss' desk.
"Winter!" Weiss said indignantly. "You have no say as to who I hang out with!"
"'Hang out?' Are you two not even dating?" Weiss blushed, unable to look her sister in the eye.
"We've...flirted-"
"And that's it?" Winter asked, whether she was relieved or not, she couldn't tell. Weiss gave her a look.
"I haven't dated before!"
"What about the young men that Father introduced you to?" Weiss rolled her eyes.
"Please," Weiss said as she rolled her eyes, "those were basically attempted business acquisitions, nothing more or less."
"True," Winter said as she nodded her head in acknowledgement.
Calumon, who had been watching the two along with the others, whispered to Ruby as he sat on her head, "I don't get it, why were they arguing?"
Ruby sighed, "It's a sibling thing..."
Yang chuckled, "Yeah, if some weird guy was flirting with my little sister, I'd go all 'big sis mode,' too."
Ruby pouted indignantly, "You mean what Dad did with JJ?" Yang returned a half-hearted glare back to her sibling.
"Same there," Jaune said as he held onto his Digi-Egg with both hands, continuing to sit on the ground. "I would act all protective if my sisters were dating guys I didn't know, but they'd just probably beat me up… My sisters would beat me up, I mean"
"You have sisters?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, seven of them." Everyone, except for the blonde boy's teammates, having already known this, looked at him with dumbfounded expressions, including Weiss and Winter.
"Seven sisters?!" asked the heiress, who couldn't even imagine the chaos that would have been.
"Yup," Jaune confirmed, popping the 'p' and counting off of his fingers. "There's Crimson, Saphron, Aurelia, Olivia, Azure, and the twins, Indigo and Iris."
They just stared at him blankly before Yang began to chuckle, "No wonder you could dance, or fit into that dress!" It wasn't long before everyone, including Jaune himself, laughed at the memory of last night, though Calumon and Winter were a little confused…
Ren, smiling not only at the memory of Jaune's bet, but at how the conversation seemed to make everyone forget the seriousness of what had been discussed before, putting them at ease. He looked at Nora and remembered how she had been when they first met and how, over the years they had known each other, she became the most excitable and lively person he had ever met.
Chaotic, but enjoyable, nonetheless.
That's when he felt the tingle. It only lasted for a second, but he definitely felt it in the back of his neck. Ren looked at his Digi-Egg and his eyes widened as he saw the slowly widening crack in the shell.
Noticing that her friend had suddenly gone quiet (well, quieter...), Nora frowned slightly and asked, "Renny, what's up?" They others heard her and looked down at their friend.
"...I think my Digi-Egg is hatching." The entire room became quiet as they registered what he had said. Blake was the first one to recover from her shock.
"How do you-" She stopped when she heard the shell cracking even more, a web of cracks slowly spread across the Digi-Egg before it began to glow.
The glow from the egg itself wasn't too bright to look at and it didn't fill the room with light; it was as if someone put a nightlight inside the egg itself and turned it on. As the Digi-Egg glowed, it changed shape, from being oval to...some sort of squishy shape that was roughly five inches tall. The light dimmed down to reveal...something that none of them were honestly expecting.
The only way to describe what it looked like was, well, it looked like a semi-translucent bed sheet ghost with a simplistic mouth and two small eyes. The newly hatched Digimon fluttered it's dark-colored eyes open, glancing at all the strange looking people that were leaning over to get a better look at it. It gave a small smile and said it's very first words.
"Poyo! Poyo!" The entire room became quiet…
...Before Yang, Pyrrha, Nora, and Weiss leaned in even closer and cooed at it.
"It's sooo adorable!" cooed Nora, eyes sparkling. Jaune looked at it curiously.
"It's so...squishy looking," he commented. Blake looked down at it, her head tilting a little to the side.
"I wonder what it is..." she wondered to herself out loud. As if responding to her, the DigiDestined's DV-Scrolls vibrated and rang, drawing their attention.
*Bee-Boop!*
Hesitantly, Weiss opened hers first as the others watched her. The options at the home screen were the same as they were before when the devices finished initializing.
[CONTACTS]
[NOTES]
[LOCATIONS]
[DIGIMON ANALYZER] (!)
[GLOSSARY]
[PHOTO MODE]
[STORAGE]
[OTHER APPS]
[SETTINGS]
"...Wait, that wasn't there before..." Weiss said, with Winter looking over her shoulder.
"'Digimon Analyzer?'" she asked out loud, "As in a database on all Digimon?"
"That does sound invaluable," Pyrrha said. "We could study about our opponents and prepare for them when they arrive." Winter nodded in agreement as Weiss touched the application.
"[DIGIMON ANALYSIS: COMPLETE]"
The device spoke out loud in a robotic and feminine voice, surprising everyone further.
"[Poyomon / Level: Fresh / Type: Slime / Attribute: - / Family: Deep Savers / Memory Size: 3G]"
"[Description: A Fresh level Slime Digimon. With a semi-translucent body, it drifts through the Net Ocean and in the air like a jellyfish. Due to it having the most primitive structure among Digimon, many believe that it is the "Missing Link" to their mysterious origins.]"
"[Attacks: Acid Bubbles - Sprays acidic foam at the enemy]"
"Wait," Jaune said as he leaned back a little, "it spits acid?!" Calumon looked at Jaune, tilting his head in confusion.
"Of course, almost all Fresh and In-Training Digimon know Acid Bubbles. It's not very strong, but it gets the job done."
Ruby looked up at the small Digimon on her head and asked, "Can you spray acid, too?" Calumon shook his head.
"Nope, I don't have any attacks like other Digimon. I can only make Digimon Digivolve."
"Poyomon?" Ren said out loud, trying the name. The Fresh Digimon turned in his lap, recognizing his name. He looked up at the Mistralian boy's face and smiled even wider. He rose into the air in front of Ren, looking even more like a bed sheet ghost, and nuzzled into his neck, making his Tamer smile at the affection.
"Poyo! Poyo-Poyo!"
Yang chuckled, "At least he's pretty friendly."
Winter hummed to herself, "Maybe that's why you were given the eggs instead of the Digimon already hatched; to have the Digimon imprint on you..." Nora, in the meantime, was gesturing to Poyomon to come to her.
"C'mon, Poyomon. Come to Aunt Nora~!"
"Nora, don't overwhelm him; he was just born," Ren chastised his friend.
"I'm not! I just don't want him to be afraid of us and all," the ginger defended herself. Poyomon turned and looked at the strange smiling girl before floating closer to her.
"Poyo?" Nora's eyes gleamed as the little Digimon landed on her outstretched hands.
"OH-MY-GODS! Ren, take a picture! Take a picture!" Ren sighed before holding his DV-Scroll up and snapping a couple of pictures of the two. Poyomon, bored with the human girl, floated back towards Ren and landed back into his lap.
Just then, Weiss felt a tingle at the back of her neck. She whipped her head around, trying to find out where it came from…
"Weiss, what's the matter?" asked the elder Schnee. Her sister shook her head.
"It must've been nothing, but I thought I felt something on the back of my neck..." Ren perked an eyebrow at hearing that.
"Was it a tingling feeling on the back of your neck?" Weiss looked at the boy in shock, but a noise stopped her from asking how he had known.
*cra-crack!*
Everyone's eyes, especially Weiss', widened. The young white-haired girl tentatively looked down as she saw the growing cracks in the Digi-Egg's shell. Weiss' breath caught in her throat, in both excitement and dread.
"I-I don't know if I'm ready f-for this responsibility!" the younger Schnee stuttered, genuinely afraid at being this Digimon's…well, parental guardian, for a lack of a better phrase. How could she not, with the parents she had; an arrogant, greedy bastard that only saw her as a bargaining chip at best and an alcoholic mother that had ignored her for all of these years. Ruby, wanting to comfort her partner, sat down beside her and put her hand on the fencer's shoulder.
"Hey, it'll be alright," the red-hooded girl said. "We're all in the same boat as you. We'll figure something out, together." Weiss smiled as she looked up at her leader, before turning when she felt a hand on her right shoulder, seeing Winter look down at her with concern, but the older Schnee gave her a small smile.
To be honest, Winter had no idea what to feel or do; her sisterly instincts told her to comfort Weiss, but how? Seeing her little sister so nervous made her insides turn with guilt, but upon seeing how Ruby was able to comfort her partner, she began to relax, even if it was only a little bit.
That is when the Digi-Egg glowed, reshaping into something not unlike Poyomon, but with a long and wide tail… As the light dimmed, everyone saw that the newly hatched Digimon was light green in color, with two triangular ears folded towards the back, two small black eyes, and a pink pacifier in its mouth. Its most peculiar feature, however, was the leaf-shaped tail that went up and over its head.
The Digimon blinked a couple times before she turned and saw a lot of people staring down at her. Suddenly nervous, the green Digimon turned away and tried to cover herself with her tail, leaving just enough space for her to peek from under the leaf.
"Aww!" cooed Nora, "It's shy!" Weiss looked down at the little Digimon in her lap as she looked up at her, and suddenly thought.
I must protect her at all costs.
Ruby poked her shoulder, getting worried. "Uh, Weiss? You okay?" The heiress nodded.
"I'm fine, Ruby..." Weiss said, wiping away a couple unshed tears of happiness. "I'm fine." Pyrrha, to her right, opened her DV-Scroll and opened the Digimon Analyzer app.
"[Leafmon / Level: Fresh / Type: Slime / Attribute: - / Family: Jungle Troopers / Memory Size: 3G]"
"[Description: A Fresh level Slime Digimon. Due to the fact that it has chlorophyll in its body, Leafmon is able to use photosynthesis to grow. Its leaf-like tail protects it against harsh sunlight and heavy rains. It has a pure nature, making it very trusting, even though it is a bit shy.]"
"[Attacks: Acid Bubbles - Sprays acidic foam at the enemy]"
Poyomon, witnessing Leafmon hatching and seeing how nervous she was, floated out of Ren's lap over to the hiding Digimon.
"Po-Poyo?" Leafmon lifted her tail and looked at the floating Digimon with trepidation. "Po-Poyo-Po!" Poyomon smiled and twirled in mid-air, trying to befriend her. Leafmon cuddled into Weiss' lap more, but lifted her tail, so as to not hide anymore. Ren smiled at Poyomon.
"Good job, Poyomon." Poyomon beamed at his praise and twirled again.
"Poyo-Po-Poyo!" Everyone chuckled at the floating Digimon's excitement. Yang's eyes widened for a second, before looking at Ren.
"Hey, Ren?" the pugilist asked. "What did you mean by feeling a tingle at the back of the neck?" Ren looked over to her and perked an eyebrow.
"Just that; I felt a tingling sensation in the back of my neck, right before Poyomon hatched." Weiss' eyes widened.
"That's exactly what happened to me!" Winter held her chin in her hand, contemplating this news.
"Maybe it has something to do with your connection with your Digimon?" Blake looked down at her partner from her bed and asked.
"Why do you ask?"
Yang sighed, "Well, I guess I'm next then..." And as if on cue, Yang's Digi-Egg cracked, and sure enough, it began to glow. The glowing egg dimmed and formed into a shape that looked a lot like Leafmon, but with several key differences.
The Digimon was a much lighter color of green than Leafmon, with a conical horn jutting out of its head. A long tail with three tips trailed behind it, bent like a zig-zag. The Digimon's face consisted of two small black eyes and a simple, smiling mouth, with a small fang sticking out.
Yang looked down as the little Digimon yawned a little before he turned around and looked up at her curiously.
"Hey there little guy… Uh, how's it going?" Much like Weiss had been, Yang was feeling a little apprehensive about taking care of a newborn. She fought with the idea, having been abandoned by someone who was supposed to be there for her. Could she do it, or would she end up just like Raven?
The small Digimon gave the blonde girl a smile before jumping up and snuggling into the crook of Yang's neck and getting covered by her mane. The brawler smiled at the little Digimon.
Yang snickered, "Looks like I have a little cuddle monster now, too!" She then opened her DV-Scroll and touched the Digimon Analyzer app.
"[Zerimon / Level: Fresh / Type: Slime / Attribute: - / Family: Nature Spirits / Memory Size: 3G]"
"[Description: A Fresh level Slime Digimon. Along with Conomon, it's twin, Zerimon is considered a rare Digimon. It is very energetic, even among Fresh Level Digimon. Also unlike other Fresh Digimon, it's body, except for its horn, which has hardened, is unusually malleable.]"
"[Attacks: Acid Bubbles - Sprays acidic foam at the enemy]"
Pyrrha, confused about what she heard, turned to Calumon and asked, "I thought that you said that Digimon don't have siblings?" Calumon shrugged from atop Ruby's head.
"Zerimon and Conomon are different...though I don't know why. Wisemon never really elaborated on that."
"Well," Yang said as she scratched Zerimon's chin, or where a chin would be, "no use worrying about it now, huh?" Zerimon, enjoying the scratches and hummed contently.
"It's so warm here..." Yang stopped, and along with everyone else, looked at the horned Digimon incredulously.
"Wait, you can talk?!" asked Jaune.
"Mhmm!" Everyone then turned to Leafmon, who shrunk in on herself a little.
"Sorry, I'm just nervous..." Weiss smiled down at her and scratched her chin, like what Yang was doing for Zerimon.
"It's okay, there's no need to rush." Leafmon 'nodded' before trying to snuggle up to the heiress even further.
"Then why can't Poyomon talk?" asked Nora, looking at the floating Digimon with a bit of concern.
"Weiss' Scroll did say that Poyomon had the 'most primitive structure' among Digimon..." Winter thought out loud. "Perhaps that has something to do with it?"
"Possibly," Ren agreed. More cracks echoed through the room and everyone looked around to see where it came from. With a sneaking suspicion, Yang looked up at her partner.
"Blake?" But she wasn't listening. The cat Faunus' eyes were glued to her Digi-Egg as she saw the Digimon inside hatch from it. She had to resist flicking her ears from nervousness.
Here we go… she thought.
The shell cracked a little more before it glowed and changed shape…
The Fresh Digimon's body was purple, but it was mostly covered by long, grey-colored hair, concealing it. The only visible parts was a pit of its face, two small black eyes, and a pair of long, flat, feeler-like things sprouting from just above the Digimon's face.
Blake opened the Digimon Analyzer on her DV-Scroll.
"[Yuramon / Level: Fresh / Type: Seed / Attribute: - / Family: Jungle Troopers / Memory Size: 3G]"
"[Description: A Fresh level Seed Digimon. It is covered in a long, soft hair-like substance. After hatching, this Digimon floats through the air in search of a suitable environment to grow. If it finds a safe area, it settles itself to the ground and prepares for Digivolution.]"
"[Attacks: Sticky Bubbles - Sprays adhesive foam at the enemy, hindering their movements]"
"Yuramon?" Blake said to the Digimon, but she started to float in the air and move around the room, as if a breeze was inside and pushing her along. Poyomon, excited that another Digimon could float around like him, spun around her.
"Poyo-Poyo-Poyo!" Yuramon ignored him, but not out of rudeness; she was too busy trying to find a suitable place to land. Finally, she floated back towards Blake and landed in her long, black hair, getting herself tangled in it. Blake grabbed her hair and draped it over her shoulder, letting the diminutive Digimon face forward.
Blake perked an eyebrow and asked, "Having fun in there, are you?" Yuramon looked up at her Tamer and hummed in contentment, making the cat-eared girl smile.
"So, instead of acid," Ruby began, "she spits glue?"
"I guess so," answered Ren, trying to calm his own Digimon. Jaune sighed in exasperation.
"So what?" he asked, "Is everyone's egg going to hatch now?" As if answering him, several loud cracks filled the room- but it wasn't his Digi-Egg hatching.
Nora gasped in excitement as she looked down at her Digi-Egg, "It's-happening-it's-happening-it's-happening!" The Digi-Egg cracked some more, before it glowed and changed shape.
The egg reformed into a turquoise, round-ish Digimon with a pair of small wings on its sides and a pair of turquoise, black, and pink-tipped horns on its head. Two small, black eyes blinked above a widely smiling mouth, showing off two small fangs. Three pink-colored scales poked out from underneath the Digimon, almost appearing like a small foot.
"Hot-hot!" the new Digimon said as he happily fluttered upwards into the air. Nora grabbed him by the sides.
"Hey there little buddy, come here to Mama! Aren't you the most adorable-" That's when the Digimon opened his mouth and literally burped fire right into the ginger girl's face, simultaneously launching himself from Nora's grasp and back into the air.
Half of the room looked at the Digimon with shock while the other half looked at Nora in concern.
"Nora, are you alright?!" asked Yang.
"Shit, it can breathe fire?!" Jaune cried out. Weiss gave him a withering look.
"Jaune, language!" the heiress chastised him. He turned to look at her and saw that Weiss had her hands to Leafmon's ears, as if trying to physically block out his cursing. Leafmon, meanwhile, was more concerned about the flying firebreather...for the obvious reasons…
Everyone sweatdropped and thought, Well, she seems to have gotten over her earlier concerns...
Weiss immediately checked the Digimon Analyzer, giving the fluttering, fire-burping Digimon a side-look.
"[Petitmon / Level: Fresh / Type: Slime / Attribute: - / Family: Dragon's Roar / Memory Size: 3G]"
"[Description: A Fresh level Slime Digimon. Due to it's extremely light body, it likes to constantly float in the air, maintaining it's posture midair by flapping its diminutive wings and blowing air out of its mouth. Do not touch the three scales on its belly, as that would make it upset.]"
"[Attacks: Hot Sigh - Uses it's hot breath to simultaneously surprise the enemy and, using the propulsive force, make a quick escape]"
Nora blinked a couple times before exclaiming, "That is awesome!" as she held her hands straight up. Her face was a little charred, but she seemed fine nonetheless. Petitmon, in the meantime, kept burping fire and bouncing off of the walls and ceiling during her shout.
"Nora, can you stop Petitmon before he burns the whole dormitory down?" asked Ren, and at that instance, Petitmon had launched himself right in between Nora's outstretched arms and she caught him in both hands.
Nora snuggled him to her face, cheek to cheek, and stage whispered, "You and I are gonna go places..." The ginger giggled as she smiled deviously while Petitmon made a similar smile.
"Yeah!" the turquoise Digimon cried out in agreement. Ren facepalmed and shook his head while Poyomon looked at the two, confused by their behavior.
Winter looked at them and asked, "Is she always like that?"
"Yes," Pyrrha deadpanned, "but she means well..." Ren took a wet washcloth and proceeded to clean her face, since she wasn't wiping the soot off as Poyomon and Petitmon were 'talking' to each other. Well, it was more like Poyomon saying 'Poyo' while Petitmon fluttered a little into the air, landed, and either responded with a 'yes,' 'no,' or 'what?' than a real conversation. They seemed to understand each other anyway.
Everyone heard more cracks as not one, but both Jaune and Pyrrha's Digi-Eggs began to crack. Pyrrha looked from her cracking egg to Jaune's in amazement.
"Wait, both of them?" asked Jaune as he held onto his Digi-Egg. It began to glow, like the others before it, and changed its shape...into a Digimon that was half the size of the other Fresh Digimon.
A small, white Digimon with flipper-like arms, two antennae, and a pair of red eyes...flopped in Jaune's hands.
"Umm..." Jaune said, confused. Calumon's eyes widened as he remembered what that Digimon was.
"Jaune, that's a Pichimon! They can't survive out of water!" Jaune, now panicking, was trying to find something to put the tiny Digimon in.
Yang immediately dumped the contents of her blue plastic bowl of stale chips from the other night and handed it to the blonde boy.
"Go into the bathroom- quick!" the brawler practically commanded and Jaune flew towards the door and flung it open. He filled the bowl as fast as he could and gently placed Pichimon into it. After a tense second, Pichimon swam around the bowl a couple times before surfacing, looking up at his Tamer.
Jaune chuckled in relief, "Close one, huh?" Pichimon gave him an unamused look before blowing out bubbles from the water he was in. "Sorry." The boy walked back to the group, along with his Digimon, much to everyone's relief.
"That was quick thinking, Calumon," said Ruby. "How did you know?" Calumon shrugged.
"Wisemon talked about how some Digimon can't survive out of certain places, and he used Pichimon as an example." Weiss turned her DV-Scroll towards the aquatic Digimon.
"[Pichimon / Level: Fresh / Type: Slime / Attribute: - / Family: Deep Savers / Memory Size: 2G]"
"[Description: A Fresh level Slime Digimon. It is one of the smallest Digimon ever known and it lives in the Net Ocean. While it is very curious, it cannot leave it's aquatic environment or communicate. They usually live in schools between twenty and a hundred individuals.]"
"[Attacks: Bubble Blow - Sprays soap-like bubbles at the enemy, blinding them]"
"That would explain why he's so small," commented Blake. "It's because he's supposed to be."
"It's sad he can't talk, though..." Yang said, which everyone agreed with.
"He will, when he Digivolves," said Calumon. Pyrrha looked down from Jaune to his Digimon, who was floating around, his eyes darting from person to person as they talked. An unmistakable gleam of intelligence shown in Pichimon's eyes, which made the spartan smirk.
She thought of how similar the two already seemed; Jaune wasn't exactly the most capable fighter, but he had heart and he was tactically gifted. Pichimon was the smallest Digimon in the room, but it was obvious how smart he was by the body language he gave as the other Digimon came over to him. Pichimon would roll his eyes, smirk at a joke, shrug, etc. There was no doubt that he would Digivolve into a powerful Digimon.
They already make a good team, she thought in amusement.
At that, Pyrrha turned her attention to her own Digimon partner, who's hatching went almost unnoticed, due to the situation. She was a pink, blob-like Digimon with two stubby, flipper-like arms and a stubby tail. On her face were a pair of small, black eyes and a yellow-colored beak.
"...Pyrrha?" Jaune's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. Pyrrha looked around and saw that everyone was looking at her with a bit of concern, including the pink Digimon in her lap.
"Yes?" the spartan asked. Yang raised an eyebrow before elaborating.
"We were wondering about your Digimon, but then you sorta...spaced out there." Pyrrha blushed a bit.
"Apologies, I was just in my head for a moment."
"What were you thinking about?" asked Ruby, but Pyrrha waved it off.
"It was nothing." She turned her attention to her partner Digimon and introduced herself, "Hello, I'm Pyrrha, and what is your name?"
The chubby, pink Digimon smiled (how she could smile with a beak for a mouth was anyone's guess...) up at the redhead and replied, "I'm Pururumon. Hello!" She waved a stubby flipper up at her.
Weiss turned her DV-Scroll towards Pyrrha's Digimon and opened the Digimon Analyzer app again.
"[Pururumon / Level: Fresh / Type: Slime / Attribute: - / Family: Wind Guardians / Memory Size: 3G]"
"[Description: A Fresh level Slime Digimon. It has a chubby body that has similar properties to silicon. It uses its surprisingly handy flippers to move itself, but still can't fly, much to it's chagrin. It loves the scents of nature and enjoys lying down in grass fields on days with good weather.]"
"[Attacks: Acid Bubbles - Sprays acidic foam at the enemy]"
While everyone looked at the Digimon as Poyomon, Zerimon, and Petitmon came over to greet Pururumon, Pyrrha had a thought. The detail about Pururumon liking to lie down on sunny days got her thinking, especially after noticing how crowded the room had gotten with nine people and seven Digimon occupying it…
"Everyone," she announced, grabbing everyone's attention, "I believe I have an idea..."
/~/
Team SSSN, having returned from their pizza run, could only watch as they saw Teams RWBY and JNPR sitting outside, under the shade of a tree, and playing with several small creatures. Weiss- holding Leafmon- and Winter sat in a couple fold-out chairs as they watched Ruby, Calumon, Zerimon, Petitmon, and Poyomon bounce a ball to each other. Pururumon sat right in front of Pyrrha as the pink Digimon sunbathed, her Tamer talking to her teammates and Yang. Blake sat and was leaning back against the tree as she read a book with Yuramon, still in her hair, who was also reading along.
The scene almost looked idyllic.
Several passing students stopped and could only stare at the strange sight, but quickly moved on as both Weiss and Winter gave those who lingered a little too long a challenging look that only a Schnee could pull off.
Jaune, having noticed Team SSSN standing there with several pizza boxes, walked over to them, still holding onto Pichimon's bowl.
"Hey guys," Jaune greeted them, but they could only stare incredulously at Pichimon, who gave them a perked brow in response.
"So," Neptune began with a finger in the air, "guess they hatched?"
"Yeah," Jauner responded, scratching the back of his head. "Almost right after you guys left, actually." Sun snapped his fingers in disappointment.
"Dang… And I wanted to see 'em hatch, too."
Jaune chuckled, "Well, there's no use letting those pizzas get cold," and waved them over.
…
Ruby bumped the ball towards Calumon, who readied himself as it came down.
"I got it!" Calumon called out as he headbutted the ball, using his wing-like ears for extra oomph. The ball soared high into the air and away from the group.
"Nice hit!" Petitmon congratulated him.
"Too nice," Zerimon said. "Now the ball is way over there!" Calumon unfurled his ears again and fluttered into the air, heading in the direction that the ball went.
"I'll get it!" Calumon said.
"Don't go too far!" Ruby warned.
Calumon flew towards the other tree, where he thought the ball had landed, but he couldn't find it anywhere… That is when he found a shoe. He looked up and found a young woman leaning against the tree.
She wore grey pants and boots, a leather belt with pouches, and a beige leather, sleeveless jacket over a sarashi that was tied around her chest, with another wrapped around her hips. She also wore a pair of brown fingerless gloves and a pauldron on her left shoulder.
Looking down at him with her amber eyes, she said, "Hello there. I believe you dropped this?" In her right hand held Calumon's red and purple ball. She leaned down to give it to him, but paused. "I'm sorry, but what exactly are you?"
Calumon blinked before smiling and answered her, "My name's Calumon and I'm a Digimon- that's short for Digital Monster!" The woman nodded in acknowledgement before handing him his ball back. "Thanks ma'am-"
"Miss," she suddenly corrected, smiling down at him. "I am Cinder." He nodded, but his left ear perked up when he heard Ruby calling his name.
"Calumon, the pizza's here!"
Then Nora said, "Better hurry or Petitmon and I am gonna eat all of your slices!" Suddenly worried, Calumon was just about to leave before he turned back to Cinder.
"Thanks again Miss Cinder!" he nodded towards her and took off to stop Nora and Petitmon. "I'm coming!" Cinder smiled as she narrowed her eyes at the retreating Digimon, then towards the other Digimon in the group. Emerald, using her Semblance to hide herself from the Digimon, reappeared next to Cinder.
"What now?"
"Now?" Cinder answered, "I want you and Mercury to keep an eye on them. Befriend them, if you can. Be careful around the specialist, though."
"Yes ma- I mean, yes Miss." Cinder rolled her eyes and waved her off.
"Yes, yes… If you'll excuse me, I need to make an important call," the amber-eyed woman said as she walked towards the Emerald Forest.
...To be continued.
/~/
Oh sweet little innocent Digi-cinnamon roll, don't you know not to talk to strangers?
And with that, the contest is over!
Even though most of the Rookie forms of everyone's partners are kind of obvious at this point, I'm going to elaborate anyway as to leave no room for misinterpretation. I'm also going to describe the methods I used to pick which Digimon I used as the DigiDestined's Digimon.
Method #1: Appearance. I used which kind of archetype of each Digimon from Adventure they represent. For example, Agumon represents reptile-like or dragon-like Digimon, Gabumon represents mammal-like Digimon (I know that Gabumon is a reptile that wears a fur coat, but let me have this one, okay?), Palmon represents plant-like Digimon, Biyomon represents bird-like Digimon, Tentomon represents insect-like Digimon, Gomamon represents aquatic/marine Digimon, and both Patamon and Salamon represent holy Digimon.
Method #2: Homage factor. Most of the Digimon I picked represents the anime or game that they are prominently featured in. Others I put in because they're different or that their line is one of my favorites.
Method #3: How well they'd fit with their partners without being too obvious. For example, Kotemon for Jaune? Too obvious. Veemon or Coronamon for Yang? Too easy. Falcomon for Ren? Snore. I wanted a challenge! And don't even get me started on Guilmon for Ruby…
…
Blake's Digimon partner is Lalamon, which represents plant-like Digimon and is a homage to Savers/Data Squad.
I knew from the get go that I wanted a plant Digimon for Blake since she is the DigiDestined of Integrity, my reinterpretation of Sincerity/Purity, and her last name is Belladonna. It was going to be Palmon or Aruraumon, but I needed a mon to represent Savers/Data Squad, and I do like Lalamon.
Thematically, picking Lalamon for Blake is a reference to her surname, Belladonna, a poisonous flower, as Lalamon's Ultimate/Perfect form is Lilamon, whose leaves are also poisonous.
...
Jaune's Digimon partner is Betamon, which represents aquatic Digimon and the Betamon line is one of my favorites.
In the fanfic THOR Alter: Digital Story (a RWBY/Digimon fic which is the retelling of Adventure, but the cast of RWBY), the author equates Jaune to Joe, which I liked. I also thought it would be funny if one of the old Dark Masters was one of the good guys up against the New Dark Masters.
Thematically, choosing Jaune for Betamon is a reference to Gargouille, a sea dragon that terrorized France but was slain by a bishop before it's head was mounted on a wall to scare evil spirits (which is where gargoyles come from), since Jaune is based off of Joan of Arc.
...
Nora's Digimon partner is Dracomon, which represents reptile-like/dragon-like Digimon and I thought it would be cool to have a mon that hasn't been a part of the DigiDestined yet (and no, I don't count Fusion/Xros Wars… I hate Fusion/Xros Wars...).
I just thought it would be cool if Nora was the one who got the dragonic Digimon. Just imagine it: a pissed off Nora riding on the shoulders of an equally pissed off Slayerdramon? Epic…
Thematically, choosing Dracomon for Nora is supposed to reference dragons in Norse mythology. Dracomon's Mega/Ultimate form, Slayerdramon, is a reference to the heroic warriors of Norse myth, such as Sigurd or Beowulf.
...
Pyrrha's Digimon partner is Hawkmon, which represents bird-like Digimon and is a homage to Adventure 02.
Pyrrha was a little tough, since any machine/cyborg Digimon would be too obvious for her, so I looked at what I had left for archetypes and only bird-like Digimon were left. Adventure 02's Hawkmon has a level-headed and polite personality, which I thought fit Pyrrha to a T. although I was surprised when someone guessed Guilmon for Pyrrha...it wasn't a bad idea.
Thematically, choosing Hawkmon for Pyrrha is a reference to how revered eagles were in Greco-Roman society and folklore: Zeus turned into or used giant eagles is several stories and the aquila (as in Aquilamon, Hawkmon's Champion form) was a prominent symbol in ancient Rome, especially to the Roman legions.
...
Ren's Digimon partner is Patamon, which represents holy Digimon and is a homage to Frontier (which I liked, even though it wasn't the most 'intellectual' season of the franchise; I thought it had good worldbuilding).
Ren's was the most difficult, imo, since a lot of Digimon would be too obvious for him to have. At first he was going to have Kudamon or Kamemon, but I changed it to Patamon because I didn't want two Digimon from the same season to be in here.
Thematically, choosing Patamon for Ren, along with his Crest, are to reference how he needs to find hope again, after losing his home, parents, and eventually Beacon. Ren and Patamon's evos are stoic warriors that show no mercy to their enemies, be it evil Digimon or Grimm.
...
Weiss' Digimon partner is Wormmon, which represents insect-like Digimon and is a homage to the Cyber Sleuth games...Hacker's Memory, to be precise…
There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that she would get Wormmon...or maybe FanBeemon, but most definitely Wormmon, considering what I have planned.
Thematically, choosing Wormmon for Weiss is meant to reference how nicer Weiss has become since Vol 1, since Wormmon's partner in Adventure 02 is Ken Ichijouji, who was the antagonist at first before trying to atone for what he did. As for Wormmon's evolutions, she doesn't become Stingmon, but Hudiemon, a graceful humanoid butterfly that is said to have a beautiful singing voice. Sound familiar?
...
Yang's Digimon partner is Terriermon, which represents mammal-like Digimon and is a homage to Tamers. I struggled a little with this one; at first, it was going to be Gaomon, Bearmon, Herissmon, or Monodramon, but Terriermon just seemed right for some reason.
To be completely honest, I don't know why I chose Terriermon for Yang; maybe because both Yang and Gargomon have obsessions (her hair and his jeans)? Maybe because they have guns on their arms (Ember Celica and Gargomon/MegaGargomon's arm-guns)? Maybe because they like explosions (Yang's explosive shells and Rapidmon/MegaGargomon's missiles)? I don't know, but it felt right to me.
...
You might be asking yourself, "What about Adventure? Isn't that going to get a Digimon to represent it?" Well, yes, but that spot is reserved for the eighth DigiDestined (which still isn't Ruby).
As I said before, Ruby will NOT get a partner Digimon until later. How much later? Well, after the Breach, but before Volume 3 starts. Be patient- I have a plan!
If you got some right, but didn't enter the contest, pat yourself on the back. For those that don't like the Digimon that I chose *shrug*
Constructive criticism is always welcome.
Do NOT repost or steal. That is rude!