Huh... this ended up being longer than we expected.
Seriously, this chapter is all original content, so we thought it would be shorter like others like it, but turns out we were able to make it big.
Anyway, time for something that might knock a few of you on your asses because you didn't see it coming.
Let's go!
Heavensent! HolyAngemon!
Blake sighed as she and Patamon walked down the seemingly endless road on this seemingly empty field. It had been like this for a while now, which only served to hammer in the constant fact. It had been weeks and not a single sign of her friends. The only comfort she could get from this was the fact that her Digivice was still giving a signal, meaning that they should be alright...though the signals were still pretty far off.
Next to her, Patamon flapped his wings, noticing her glum expression and landing on her shoulder. "Don't worry Blake, we'll find them eventually," he encouraged.
She sighed "I know Patamon. It's just that it's been a long 3 weeks." she explained "I'm sure we'll find them eventually, but it's getting tiring."
Patamon frowned, but quickly brightened up. "But it'll all be worth it when this is all over," he said. "I'm sure everyone is looking forward to seeing us as much as we are to them."
Despite herself, Blake couldn't help but smile a little at her partner's words. "You're right. We need to keep going. It'll be for nothing if we stop."
The two continued down the path, before going over a hill...and seeing what appeared to be some kind of village in the distance.
"Looks like our luck is turning around." Patamon said with a smile as he flapped his wings and flew ahead a bit.
"I guess so." Blake admitted with a small smile as she looked at the village, she couldn't make out much from here, but it seemed to be decently , when they arrived...they found that it had been abandoned, albeit relatively recently, seeing as most of the architecture seemed perfectly intact. "That's...strange…" Blake frowned, before on a whim they looked into one of the open houses. What they found was even stranger.
"It...looks as if whoever was here left in the middle of a meal," Patamon frowned, flapping over to the table that still had a full spread. "Hey! This food is still kinda warm!"
Now Blake was getting suspicious. It was one thing to abandon a town, but to do so while leaving literally everything behind...considering the fact that the town was still in pristine condition, there was something VERY wrong here. "Patamon...we may want to get out of here as fast as we can…" she started...only to get cut off when the sound of stomachs growling were heard. Namely her's and Patamon's.
Blake's face was blank for a long moment, while Patamon blushed in embarrassment at the timing, until slowly, Blake reached out… and grabbed the food on the table "This stays between us." she said lowly, to which Patamon nodded as they both started to eat their fill.
The food, despite being lukewarm by now, was actually pretty good. It helped too since they were running low on supplies thanks to going through paths that were seemingly barren for a while now. Eventually they'd eaten their fill. "Hope whoever made this doesn't mind," Patamon sighed contently.
"They won't know," Blake deadpanned with a sigh. "Still...its abnormal for a town to just...vanish like that. Like I said, we should get going soon. The last thing we want is for whatever did this to possibly come back."
"Do you really think someone or something caused the town to just up and leave?" Patamon asked.
"It's the most logical conclusion, yes," Blake nodded.
"Then I guess we should get out," Patamon nodded, to which they exited the building...but not before refilling their supply pouch.
...what? It's called survival for a reason.
As they made their way through the town to another exit, Blake couldn't help but take notice of the architecture.
"Is something wrong, Blake?" Patamon asked.
"Hm? Oh, no, nothing is wrong," Blake shook her head. "Just...the architecture here kind of reminded me of Menagerie," she said. Softly.
"Menagerie? Is that a place in Remnant?" Patamon asked curiously.
"Yes. It's also where I was born," Blake said.
"What's it like?" Patamon asked.
Blake hummed in thought, thinking of how best to put it "Well… cramped, for starters. See, there was a huge war several years ago, humans VS faunus, and the faunus actually won. But… the humans were sore losers, and while they granted faunus rights, a lot of humans don't care, and it doesn't help that when we were given land, it was a small continent that is ⅔ an unlivable desert. Slowly, the problems became more and more apparent, until my father began a proper faunus rights group, naming it the White Fang, a way of saying we weren't afraid to show our teeth when attacked, but that they would never be bloodied. It was during that time he met my mother and married her, and a few years later, I was born. One of my first memories is standing on his shoulders at a rally. We lived in a decent house at the main village of Menagerie, Kuo Kuana, and according to them, it was in that same house I was born," Blake explained.
"That's not fair…" Patamon frowned, not liking the part where the Faunus got what they did even though they won their rights. "But...it's not all bad, right?"
"Well… they could have been worse, I'll admit that. Like I said before, my father eventually stepped down as leader, leaving Sienna Khan to take his place, except she adopted a new method of doing things, a violent one, which a lot of faunus either loved or hated. My parents still prefered a peaceful solution… but I was young and stupid back then, and thought they were cowards, so I stayed with the group as it became violent. Eventually I came to work with a mentor of mine, Adam Taurus, and at first, I practically idolised him, but over time I saw the truth, that he was nothing more than a ruthless murderer… the last straw that opened my eyes was when he killed a faunus woman who was married to a human man… and she was pregnant."
"That's horrible…" Patamon frowned deeply. Even if he didn't fully understand, he could tell that was something VERY bad. "I'm glad you got away from them when you did," he said.
"You and me both," Blake sighed.
"Awww….isn't that sad…" came a new voice all of a sudden, causing both of them to jolt. Looking around, they saw what appeared to be a mist of some kind appearing and starting to cover the village. "So so sad…" the voice said seemingly in sympathy, but Blake could hear the malicious undertone.
"Patamon…" Blake said softly.
"Right…" Patamon tensed, ready to evolve. However, before they could even try, the mist suddenly surged forward and they were covered in it. The moment it hit, both started feeling drowsy, drowsy...and before long they were collapsed on the ground.
Blake groaned slightly, opening her eyes. What was she doing? She couldn't remember. Her eyesight soon focused and she blinked as she realized she was in...Vale? Yes, she was in Vale, yet somehow something felt...off. That something was soon visible when she saw the crowd of Faunus protesters...all carrying the banner of the White Fang, the old design at that which just featured the head of a wolf in a circle. She remembered now. This she'd been here before, seeing as well...she could see a younger version of herself right up front.
Her younger self was, evidently, much younger, as the small cat eared girl was looking around everywhere while absentmindedly holding a White Fang banner as she was sat on her father's shoulders. The protest was loud, but as true to their ideals in the day, it was peaceful. She remembered, they'd planned it such that it wouldn't get into anyone else's way, wouldn't disrupt the people not involved more than necessary, and generally intended to only aim for the ones they were protesting against. It should have been a day where they sent a strong message that people would hear. Sadly the keyword was indeed should, as suddenly a number of police were swarming the area, barely an hour into the protest, driving off the protesters, and while some tried to stand their ground, including her father and herself, they were ultimately driven off. However, the vision didn't end there. It ended on one bit that while she didn't understand when she was younger, she understood clearly as she got older. She saw her younger self turning a little as her father left...just in time to see a human in a business suit...sneaking a stack of Lien into the hand of the officer leading the group that had driven them off.
Blake grit her teeth. It hadn't meant much to her as a child, but now that she understood the world better, the reality was obvious. The Police hadn't driven them off cause they were causing trouble or they were disrupting the peace. They'd driven them off because they'd been paid to do it. That their efforts towards equality didn't mean more than some Lien to the humans who were SUPPOSED to be protecting the people. The memory caused her to bite back tears as more memories of her past started to resurface, and just for a moment, her crest became dimmer.
The scenery soon shifted, as a new memory emerged.
She saw her younger self, seemingly a few years older, walking through Vale, and next to her were two other faunus. One a taller boy with red hair, red eyes, and brown horns at the front of his head, while the other was a girl with a short ponytail that seemed to curve on it's own like a chameleon's tail, several freckles all over her body… and her skin and freckles changing color from time to time along with her auburn hair, becoming a rainbow of different colors, indicating she was a chameleon faunus. At first the memory started peaceful enough...but Blake grit her teeth again, already knowing what was coming. They saw an elderly faunus, a rabbit if she recalled correctly, being kicked out of a store. He had been begging for food, but the stores would have none of it. Taking pity, her younger self tried to buy some food...but was denied service. Apparently the shopkeeper just didn't like Faunus. Things got even more heated as the bull faunus with them, Adam, fought back, saying that they had just as much right as any other customer, but the shopkeeper wouldn't have any of it. It eventually took walking away, before her chameleon faunus friend, Ilia, had to focus to stop her color changing, and appeared to be just a normal human girl, as she went in, and came out with a large bag of bread and other food items, which she handed to the elderly faunus, who thanked them deeply.
While Blake did have a smile at seeing Ilia, especially when the chameleon faunus became pink in color after being praised by the younger Blake, her eyes gazed at Adam, seeing him glaring at the store, a snarl pulling at his face, finding herself wondering if this was how he started becoming the man he was today. The memories at seeing how things once had been, and how things were now...added with once again a reminder of the apathy so many had...once again it made her bite back tears as her crest became dimmer again, before the crest and tag seemingly vanished from around her neck, same with her D-Core, but she didn't notice either, as more and more memories began to flash across her vision, again and again she felt the crushing despair at how it seemed as if the world itself was determined to make her family's dream for equality just that. A dream.
"...ata...on... Pa...mon…" a voice cut through the darkness clouding Patamon's mind.
It felt familiar, but it felt like he hadn't heard it in weeks.
Slowly, the voice came further and further into focus, as he groggily opened his eyes, seeing blurred figures standing over him.
"Pata… ake up!" he almost had it on the tip of his tongue, he just knew who the person calling out his name was.
It was… it was.. "Gyro!" Patamon shouted as his eyes snapped open completely, seeing the goggle head crouched over him, his face breaking into a relieved smile.
"Thank Oum, you're awake." Gyro said with a sigh as Patamon looked around after a moment, seeing that Agumon, Pierce, Veemon, Ruby, Palmon, Yang and Biyomon were all present as well.
"What happened?" Patamon said in confusion as he flipped himself onto his stomach before getting to his feet.
"We found you collapsed in the middle of the street here." Agumon answered.
"Huh…?" Patamon blinked, wondering what had happened...before it all came back to him. "Blake! Where's Blake?!"
"We don't know," Yang frowned. "We kinda only found you by yourself, so we got worried too."
Patamon frowned in worry at that as he flew up and looked around, hoping to spot something… and he did.
But it's not what he wanted to see.
He flew towards what he saw, fluttering next to a lamp post that had Blake's bow tangled around it.
Grabbing it, he quickly returned to the others, and everyone was silent as they looked at the bow in worry.
"Blake's bow...she never takes that off…" Pierce frowned.
"We'd better find her quick," Veemon gulped.
"Right!" Everyone nodded, urgency in their voices as they soon made their way deeper into the village. As they got deeper, they soon found themselves confronted by a thick mist that was pretty much fog.
"This is…" Ruby frowned.
"Careful. I remember mist before I blacked out. I'm not sure if this is the same stuff, but still…" Patamon warned.
"Right, everybody cover your mouths and nose, just in case." Gyro said, everyone nodding as they did just that before going through the mist.
When they did enter the mist, everything seemed normal at first, until their visions became blurry for a moment, in which they saw something… different.
Gyro blinked as he was back in his and Pierce's old room back on Earth, and watched as he saw Botamon hatching out of the egg all over again and sped under the bed.
Pierce saw a light blue egg with darker blue stripes crack open amongst 9 other eggs, and out of it came Chibomon… who tripped on his way out of the egg somehow and fell face first on the ground.
Yang saw a pinkish egg with red hearts on it, the top of it cracking open, before the top half of the shell shot up into the air… and then fell off, revealing it was covering a small black Digimon that looked like a sprouting plant, the two leaves on its head spinning as it gently floated down to the ground.
And Ruby saw a light green egg with darker green splotches on it, cracking open as it fell onto its side, and out of it crawled out a small purple Digimon with grey hair covering its body, before it made itself comfortable on the grass and started to bask in the sunlight overhead.
Just as they started, the visions ended. "...did you guys…?" Gyro started.
"See a Digimon hatch?" they all asked, basically confirming it.
Ruby looked at Palmon for a moment, considering something "Hey, Palmon, your Fresh form, did it look like a little purple thing with grey hairs all over it?"
Palmon blinked at the sudden question "That's right, it's called Yuramon."
"Did… did we all just see our partners when they first hatched?" Yang asked in confusion.
"Considering I just saw the moment Botamon first hatched all over again, I'd say that's accurate." Gyro answered, just as confused.
"Think it's cause of this mist?" Pierce mused.
"That's...very likely…" Patamon frowned. Now that he thought about it, he DID remember seeing things after the mist hit them.
"Still...what are we dealing with that can make us see things from the past…?" Yang couldn't help but ask. This wasn't something simple by any stretch.
"I think I've heard of a Digimon that can make you see things before. I can't remember who it is though." Biyomon said as she tried to think back on what she had heard.
"We're probably going to have to fight it, whatever it is." Veemon said with a frown.
"...well, nothing new there," Agumon and Palmon sighed in unison. It was honestly the norm now that whenever something happened, they usually ended up having to fight a Digimon.
Their respite didn't last long however, as they were soon assaulted by new visions.
Gyro and Pierce were a bit surprised as they saw each other, apparently sharing the same vision, in a place that was vaguely familiar to them.
"I… I think this is Patch." Pierce said as he looked up at the house.
"So, a memory from the girls then." Gyro realised, before looking around "You know, I wonder what the Digimon are seeing right now?"
At the same time as he wondered this, Biyomon was wandering around a house at night, looking around in confusion "Where is this? Is this… a memory from someone?"
Her attention was then drawn to an open door, tilting her head in confusion, she walked into it, passing through the door as if it wasn't there, and ended up in a toddler's room, if the design was anything to go by, with a crib up against a wall, going up to it and being a little confused by the physics of the vision as she could actually touch the crib, before flapping up and perching herself on the railing, looking down into the crib to see a little baby with a tuft of blonde hair on their head, and as the baby opened its eyes, she saw lavender orbs look up at the ceiling, making her blink in recognition "Yang was this tiny before?" she blinked, wondering if humans also went through a form of evolution like Digimon did.
However, before she could think on it further, she noticed the Yang in the vision reach out to something. Turning to the sight, she saw another human, one who looked a LOT like Yang, albeit with black hair and red eyes. Wearing a black and red outfit, mostly red though, with some of her hair tied back, as she had a sword at her hip, with a rather large and circular sheith.
The woman looked down at Yang, the little baby trying to reach up to her, but the woman simply continued to stare, her face rather unreadable, but Biyomon could see a hint of regret in it as she spoke "This is for your own good. Family we may be, but you have to learn that you can't always rely on it." she said, before turning away, drawing her sword from her hip and slashing the air in front of her with it, leaving a tear in it that she walked through, before it sealed shut.
Biyomon blinked, wondering what that was about...but ultimately decided to ask Yang about it later. That seemed to be important.
Back to Gyro and Pierce, the two were looking around the outside of the house, before the two of them noticed someone else was present.
"Oh, you guys are here too." Palmon said in surprise as she had ended up on the opposite side of the house.
"Feels weird to suddenly not have Agumon and Veemon with us for once." Gyro commented after a moment.
"Well, it feels just as weird for me to not be around Ruby honestly." Palmon added.
"Well, let's look around until we get back to what we SHOULD be doing then." Pierce said as started towards the house.
"Feels like we're intruding though." Gyro said with an unsure frown.
"Meh, if Palmon's here, these memories are probably mostly Ruby, so we won't see anything we're not supposed to." Pierce shrugged off his worries as he walked through a wall and into the house, Gyro and Palmon glancing at each other before copying him.
When they got inside, the first thing that hit them was the smell of freshly baked cookies.
"Well… that smells good." Gyro said after a moment, smiling a bit.
"What is that smell though?" Palmon asked.
"That would be cookies fresh out of the oven." Pierce chuckled.
"You can smell them really clearly too. These must be a really strong memory for Ruby," Gyro mused. However, he and Pierce had a good idea who this memory was about.
They soon got their answer when they saw a 3 year old Ruby speed out of a room in her pajamas, with Yang running after her while holding a shirt and some pants "Ruby get dressed!"
"Na!" the little Ruby said with a giggle as she sped around the living room.
"So, guess even Ruby was a rascal at some point." Gyro chuckled.
"And Yang was pretty much always a mother hen it seems." Pierce said as he looked at the 5 year old version of his girlfriend in amusement as she chased after her little sister.
"Is that a baby version of Ruby and Yang?" Palmon blinked.
"Well...something like that," Pierce chuckled.
Then the chase continued on into what the brothers assumed was the kitchen, making them follow to see Ruby was finally caught, but not by Yang.
Holding the little Ruby in her arms was a woman who essentially looked like a fully grown up Ruby, with hair reaching her shoulders, and wearing a white cloak and hood. "Girls, the cookies are ready," she said with a gentle smile.
The twins blinked as they saw who could only be Summer Rose...and a thought crossed their minds. "Hey...don't you think she…?" Pierce started.
"Kinda sounds like Renamon's partner? Yeah, the thought crossed my mind…" Gyro finished with a nod.
"Do you think it's her?" Palmon asked, having heard about the woman a little from Ruby herself.
"Well… maybe, Yang did tell me she's been missing for the last 10 or so years. Guess we'll only know when we find her or Renamon again." Pierce said.
Meanwhile, Ruby was… confused.
Previously, she'd seen a memory of her partner hatching, so she assumed that this mist showed them the past.
But now? Now she saw things that didn't happen, or happened differently.
She saw her first day at Beacon again, except this time there was a lack of Gyro and Pierce, and somehow she made the dust Weiss had with her blow up, then she saw the initiation, where she and Weiss were practically at each other's throats, and again, no Gyro and Pierce.
And contrary to what actually happened, once the initiation was over, they didn't get sucked up into the Digital World, but just went back to Beacon and were put into teams, although she didn't see who led what team.
Then she saw several other events play out, like Weiss storming away from her, Jaune looking utterly lost about what he should do, and then walking through the docks at Vale with her team, composed of herself, Weiss, Blake, and Yang.
She saw them walking around, ending up in front of a store, before she saw last bit of them chasing after someone, though she couldn't see who, and then Weiss crashing into someone.
It was a carrot haired girl with freckles, a pink bow in her hair, and wearing an outfit which could be described as cute, old, and techy all rolled into one.
The girl seemed friendly, making Ruby smile as it looked like her other self was befriending soon followed were...well...a lot of things, but generally light hearted shots, life in Beacon, and overall things seemed...swell. Then it all went wrong…
The first thing she saw was the carrot haired girl in a arena… and her body shredded to pieces, yet there was no blood or guts, only machinery and wiring. That in itself was enough to make her gasp in shock...and then things just went from bad to worse. Grimm began pouring into the city, a massive one smashing into Beacon, she saw robots suddenly turning on people and firing like crazy, she saw her friends, yet once again notably lacking the two brothers, fighting for their lives. She saw Blake on a losing battle against a bull faunus who was almost toying with her, before that same bull faunus chopped off Yang's arm when she tried to help Blake, then she saw Pyrrha fighting tooth and nail against a woman using fire, before she saw what could only have been the end of the fight...with Pyrrha having an arrow in her chest.
She didn't know why she was seeing all these horrible things, but she wanted it all to stop, not realising as her eyes started to glow.
As for Yang, she was looking around an apartment in slight confusion, only to start when two small forms ran through her legs, literally passing through them.
After recovering from the surprise, she followed the two and found two young boys, identical twins with different colored eyes, one blue and the other green, but both sporting blonde hair. Blinking she soon recognized her boyfriend and his brother...as younger children. Seeing them playing and having fun like that brought a gentle smile to her face.
"Nice place they lived in." she said to herself as she followed the two kids around the apartment.
Then, as she walked in front of the bathroom, she stopped as she heard a voice "Help!" came a strained voice from the room, and since the two boys didn't react to it, she guessed this wasn't in the memory, so, poking her head through the door to the bathroom, she was met with… Veemon, his tail stuck in the toilet bowl as he kept spinning on himself, the toilet apparently trying to flush him down the drain.
Despite herself she couldn't help but laugh at the Digimon's predicament. "What the heck were you trying to do?" she asked through chuckles as she moved to help him.
"I had to use it but my tail got stuck when I sat down!" Veemon said as Yang pulled him free, making him wince as he grabbed his tail.
"You do realise we're just looking at something in our brains right? What do you think would have happened if you actually went and took care of business?" she told him with a raised eyebrow.
It took all of two seconds before Veemon's face took on an embarrassed shade of red "Oh…"
Yang couldn't help but laugh at his expression. "Right, now then, we should see where this memory is going. I'm sure we can find a REAL toilet AFTER we're done here," she said.
"R-Right…" Veemon nodded.
Right after that the two stepped back out of the bathroom and Yang saw that the memories seemed to have jumped ahead, as she saw Gyro and Pierce, both of which looked to be just a year younger than they were at present.
The two of them were eating breakfast from the looks of it, and were soon joined by Azure, coming in from another room, which got her curious, going into it with Veemon following, and both of them starred with wide eyes at the large structure.
"What is this thing?" Veemon whispered in a mix of awe and confusion.
"I'm not sure." Yang said, before walking around the obvious workshop and looking everything over, then looked back at the machine "Maybe this is what they used to get to Remnant though." As if to confirm her thoughts, Azure came by and commented on the 'Dimensional Doorway'.
"Good guess," Veemon chuckled at the convenient timing. However, that's when they heard something interesting.
"So you both know the plan, right?" Pierce checked.
"Yep. If we time it right, we can change things. We can prevent the events of 'Volume 3' from happening, or at least minimize the damage as much as possible," Gyro nodded.
"Just keep in mind, that we're basically altering the timeline. We'd better be ready for the Butterfly Effect," Azure reminded.
"Wait, what?" Yang blinked in shock at what she'd just heard. However, once again it seemed the memories had good timing, as in response, Azure brought out a….laptop, if she recalled the name properly. What appeared on the screen was...herself? Not just that, they were soon fast forwarding and showed a few things. An older looking Ruby traveling with Jaune, Nora, and Ren, and what REALLY shocked her: a slightly older version of herself talking with a woman with black hair that looked like her. It was her mother. And the conversation didn't seem happy if the cold expressions both had was any indication.
"I don't think we should let Yang ACTUALLY meet with Raven." Gyro said with a grimace.
"Considering we plan on making sure Yang doesn't get depressed? Yeah, let's not make it so a more volatile Yang pisses off her Spring Maiden mother." Azure said, shaking his head with a sigh.
"Honestly, the only good thing Raven did was give Yang that 'freebie' when she saved her from Neo, and that talk about not believing everything Ozpin says at face value, I mean, the man has good intentions yes, but blindly following him isn't the best choice." Pierce added.
"Hopefully we find a way to convey that to everyone. I trust him, but I'm not going to follow him into a volcano, know what I mean?" Azure said, his brothers nodding in agreement.
"Then there's the issue with Salem and her group, but we'll work on THAT bit once we avert Beacon's destruction," Gyro sighed. The brothers continued to converse on some kind of plan, but by then Yang was utterly reeling at what she'd just heard.
"You ok Yang?" Veemon asked her as she teetered back, before he quickly put a chair behind her, sighing in relief when she landed on it instead of falling through.
"I'm...okay, I don't think 'okay' is the right word, but...I know I just saw something that we'll NEED to talk about when this is over…" she sighed in response.
"You're not mad at Pierce are you?" Veemon asked with a frown, at least understanding by now that she and his partner were very close.
She shook her head "No, no I'm not mad. What we just heard… it's something I would have called him crazy or some kind of stalker for if he had just straight up told me about it, so I can understand why he kept it secret. I mean, they came to Remnant, not just to save it, but apparently to help US specifically. I mean, sure, it's a bit weird that there's apparently a web show about us, but I can honestly say that by now, I've seen plenty of weird things."
"Though...come to think of it...I didn't see any Digimon in that," Veemon mused. "What do you think it means?"
"I doubt its cause you guys didn't come along," Yang said. "No, something tells me all 'this'," she waved around to refer to their whole adventure in this world. "Never happened in that 'web show'."
"Then I guess this is all one of those 'Butterfly Effects' they talked about?" Veemon mused.
"We'll find out eventually," Yang sighed, right as the vision began to fade. She knew they had a LOT to talk about when they got back…
Blake groaned as she opened her eyes again. That was some nightmare she had...seeing her past again. Sighing a little, she noticed she was the first up today and decided she might as well get ready for the day a little earlier. With that in mind, she got out from her bed, careful not to disturb the books that were being used to hold the upper bunk up...and not paying the loud snoring coming from her teammate on the upper bunk.
Once she was done getting ready, she came out just as her teammates were waking up, and the day started just about as normal for team RWBY.
As Blake left the dorm though she blinked as she thought she saw a shadow at the edge of her vision, before shrugging as she couldn't find it anymore. Classes were soon in session as once again Professor Port was busy droning on and on again about some story of his past which had some kind of remote connection to the topic today...if only most of it wasn't basically bragging…
Looking a bit to the side, she saw Ruby and Yang once again asleep, while Weiss was busy taking notes. Other students were also doing various stuff...though many looked ready to fall asleep. Classes went by, and the day went as usual, a seemingly straightforward routine. Even if occasionally some of the more...interesting...students like Ruby, Yang, Nora, and occasionally even Jaune, did something that caught attention. However, even as she had this seemingly normal life, she looked in a mirror and sighed at the sight of the bow on her head. How much different would things be if everyone knew? Honestly, even here it was clear people didn't care…
As if to emphasize the point, she noticed a second year rabbit faunus being picked on by the local jocks of the first year...and it didn't seem like anyone was doing anything to try and stop it. Sure they talked about it, but...nobody did anything...not even herself..
Life went on, seemingly like clockwork, the days going by. While it was somewhat enjoyable, and she felt...happy...being around friends...she still felt like something was missing...she didn't know why or what, but she felt...empty...like she was losing sight of something...but what was it…?
Time seemed to move forward, before she found herself with her team walking towards the harbor, apparently preparing to see some of the students coming from other academies. That was when a figure darted past the street, the police on their tail. She couldn't see the details clearly, only that she knew it was a faunus. From there for some reason they were soon chasing after them too, and somewhere along the way, she soon found herself in an argument with Weiss. It seemed they were arguing over the faunus, but for some reason it was starting to feel like things were playing by themselves, as she could barely hear Weiss, but they were still arguing, the argument getting worse and worse. Then she seemed to say something she shouldn't have. Once again she wasn't really sure what, only that she knew she'd given her secret away.
Weiss's reaction was less than pleasant, it started as shock, before her face became a scowl as she said… something. She wasn't sure what though, especially when the scene before her seemed to be starting to just fall apart.
That's when she started to hear… something, she wasn't sure what it was, only that it sounded rather far away, so she couldn't make it out just yet.
And everything she saw around her was changing, Beacon was fading away and she saw another place, one that just felt so familiar, but the word didn't want to come to her, as if something was stopping it.
The sound in the background was also becoming clearer, it was voices, but she couldn't make out who's voices just yet. However, she was starting to see more images. She saw her friends, all of them smiling at her, then she saw more. Two more humans appearing in the images, then 10 odd creatures who were with the group. She started seeing them working together through thick or thin, often fighting against large monsters, or simply surviving in strange places.
"...lake...Bl...Blake…!" voices started being heard through the fog that seemed to be clouding her mind.
Blake gripped her head, trying hard to focus as the view started to spin around. She knew the ones calling her name...but why couldn't she recall their names…?! She was forgetting something important, she knew that now, she realized too what she had been seeing was fake.
"Snap…! Snap out of it!" came a voice, high pitched...and one that struck a chord with her. It was someone important to her, how could she forget his name?! At that moment, her eyes snapped open when a soft light appeared, and around her neck, her Tag and Crest reappeared, while in her hand, she found her D-Core once more. "Pa...Patamon!" she shouted, the name returning to her, just as her D-Core glowed brightly, before the images trying to tear her mind apart promptly shattered, as a glowing fist quite literally punched through them, causing the scene to turn to mist.
"Blake!" a familiar stronger voice called, as Angemon broke through, causing the visions to finally subside...just in time for Angemon to grab her and pull her out of the way, as two large figures hit the ground, revealing MetalGreymon and AeroVeedramon, while looking around, she saw Birdramon and a new Digimon that looked like a fairy of some kind almost back to back, seemingly trying to find some foe in the mist.
"W-what happened?!" Blake gasped in surprise.
"Oh hey, look what the cat dragged in!" she heard Yang say from behind her, looking back to see her grinning as she had her fists raised and was scanning the area.
"Not the time Yang!" Gyro shouted in a bit of annoyance at the pun as he landed next to Blake "Glad to have you back in the land of the waking."
"It's good to be back, but what's going on?" Blake asked, still rather disoriented.
"Long story short, we're fighting an enemy who's been using this mist to mess with our memories a bit, he's pretty good at staying hidden though, all we managed to see of him was a scythe." Gyro explained.
As if to emphasise the last bit, she noticed Ruby seemingly having a scythe duel with whoever was using the mist, seeing as she caught glimpses of...something...wielding a scythe and trying to hack off a body part or two, only for Ruby to block, before the assailant disengaged and tried again later.
"Yeaaah...things aren't really going too well for us," Pierce added, narrowly avoiding an attempt for his head.
"And sadly it won't get any better," came a voice in the mist. "You should have all been content drowning in my illusions, then you could have continued living in a dream...but it seems now I must eliminate you all...how sad…" the voice seemed to show concern and sympathy, but the cold tone made it clear how fake that was.
Blake scowled at the voice, glaring into the mist "Why would you show me those things?!"
"Oh please, I only showed you the truth, exactly what your life holds in store for you, it's not my fault you're so weak." the voice said dismissively. "People like you hold onto such a useless thing as hope. You should all just drown in empty dreams like the fools you are," the voice snorted. "Worry not, you will soon know no more pain from your empty hopes and dreams."
His words angered everyone present, but none moreso than Blake, because finally, after years of keeping up her calm facade… she snapped. "What the hell…" she snarled. "Do you know about anything?!" she roared, so much so everyone actually stepped back in surprise.
"Holy shit…" Gyro gasped. Blake was actually pretty scary right now and if looks could kill, whoever was in the mist would be 10 kinds of dead.
"You're acting all high and mighty, but you don't know the first thing about what it means to hold onto something even when everything seems against it!" she glared, walking towards the mist, drawing Gambol Shroud. A flash of movement and a scythe went for her head...but she almost casually blocked it with her weapon, before wrapping the ribbon around the scythe, stopping it from being pulled away. "I won't act like I'm someone who held on to something through thick and thin, I've run away plenty of times...but at least I've had the wish to believe in that better world even now! You on the other hand...you hide in the mist, using people's memories against them, only attacking when they're at their weakest. Why? Is it because you're so fearful you can't even stand up for yourself?!" she glared.
"Watch your mouth, child!" the voice shot back.
"No! You watch your mouth!" Blake growled, aiming and firing at the source of the voice, drawing a grunt of pain as the scythe was freed and the owner of the voice retreated into the mist. "Everyone has something they wish for, something they're willing to struggle to reach! That hope to one day reach it is what keeps them going! Maybe my hope had become weak, but don't you dare spit on the ideals of my people, of my family! Maybe I did wonder if it was even possible…" she admitted, before smiling. "But I know it's possible now! Even when you tried to make the images of my friends turn on me, you never could! Because deep down, I knew that no matter what, they would never betray me! That's why...I won't let anyone say its wrong to hope for a better world, to hope for a future where everyone can be treated as equals! And there's nothing YOU can do about it!"
"Damn… really knows what to say." Pierce sniffed, looking a bit misty eyed.
"Are you crying?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No!" He denied, a bit too quickly though as the others laughed a bit.
"Nice to know she didn't lose hope in any of us." Gyro said with a smile, ignoring his brother being a big softie.
"That's not the only thing she did," Lillymon said, eyes widening.
"She's right. Look!" Birdramon added, as true enough, the Crest around Blake's neck was glowing with a bright light.
(Play Brave Heart)
Blake's D-Core vibrated before it turned yellow with green buttons, before the beam of light was shot out, going through the back of the Tag and out the front, releasing the Crest into the sky. Dispersing the clouds above, the Crest ascended higher and higher as it gathered energy, before releasing it in a burst of light that shot down a beam into Angemon below.
"Angemon, Super Evolution!" A flurry of feathers filled the air, as Angemon was soon enveloped in what appeared to be a cocoon of light, before the light unfurled to reveal to be 8 bright glowing wings, a golden ribbon wrapping around his body, starting at the neck, then around his torso, before simply hanging off the back as a white bodysuit covered his body with grey boots on his legs, his left arm in black armor before a translucent purple shield covered most of it. A golden ring wrapped itself on his right wrist, before a purple blade of energy came out of it as he raised his arm high, and finally, a new mask covered his upper face, purple in color, still keeping the cross design, but it didn't cover his full head this time and only the front, letting his long blonde hair flow freely, as four of his wings curled around his shoulders and waist, leaving the remaining four in a normal position "HolyAngemon!"
"No!" the voice in the mist gasped as everyone present had to shield their eyes slightly from the bright light that was radiating off of the newly evolved Digimon.
"Wow...this is really something…" AeroVeedramon couldn't help but say as he and the other Digimon looked in awe.
Digimon Analyzer: HolyAngemon
HolyAngemon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Archangel Digimon. Wielding the Beam Shield on his left arm, and the holy blade Excalibur on his right, HolyAngemon is a powerful angel Digimon, and is said in myths to appear when darkness covers the world. While he is a benevolent guardian in times of peace, he becomes strict in times of battle. His special attacks are Heaven's Gate, banishing enemies to another dimension from which they shall never return, and Soul Banish, building holy energy in the Excalibur, before throwing it as a blade beam at his opponent.
"Evil soul who manipulates the heart of others, you have tried to use my friend's memories against her and tried to confuse us with our own minds mixed with your deception," HolyAngemon said.
"And what of it?" the voice growled. "What can you do as long as this mist is at my command?"
"So you do not repent nor feel remorse for your actions?" HolyAngemon frowned.
"What was your first clue?" the voice sneered, before a flash of light and the scythe swung towards HolyAngemon, only for his Beam Shield to intercept, stopping it dead and even knocking it back.
"Very well then, if that is your decision, then prepare for the consequences," HolyAngemon said solemnly, before Excalibur extended from his right arm, to which he raised it upward. "Heaven's Gate!" he declared, before tracing a massive circle in the air with his sword, the circle solidifying before it formed a golden gate covered in inscriptions. The gate spun for a moment, before opening, revealing a white void, and suddenly the feeling of something being sucked was felt, as true enough, the mist was being drawn into the gate.
"Wh-what are you doing?! Stop!" the voice called out desperately, but before long the mist was gone, revealing him for all to see.
He looked like a ghost, his body floating off the ground, lacking legs, and covered in a grey cloth, a red hood and cape obscuring his face, revealing only blue eyes within, a red eye attached to a golden chain hanging off his neck as he held a golden scythe in one hand, a chain coming from underneath it and ending in a round weight.
"That's Phantomon, no wonder we had so much trouble." MetalGreymon said in realisation.
Digimon Analyzer: Phantomon
Phantomon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Ghost Digimon. A high class of ghost Digimon, capable of possessing others in their final moments to take their souls and data for himself. He is capable of casting illusions thanks to a fog released from within his body, using it to attack his opponent's mind. His special attacks are Soul Chopper, using his scythe to cut the opponent's soul to pieces, and Diabolic Star, gathering dark energy in the weight on his scythe before throwing it at the enemy.
"Tch! So you've found me, but this changes nothing! I WILL stop you all right here!" Phantomon growled as he flew towards HolyAngemon, intending to cut him in half, only for his scythe to be blocked by excalibur, stopping it dead. Phantomon grunted, trying to free his weapon...only for Blake to come up from behind HolyAngemon, and throw Gambol Shroud at him, causing him to cry out in pain as the sword embedded into his chest, causing him to recoil, breaking the lock.
Blake landed on the ground, glaring at the manipulative Digimon, before turning to HolyAngemon, and saying in a flat and simple tone. "Finish this."
"It will be done," HolyAngemon nodded, energy gathering in Excalibur.
"Damn damn DAMN!" Phantomon roared. "Soul Chopper!" he shouted, flying towards HolyAngemon again. However, that proved to be a mistake.
HolyAngemon raised Excalibur up, now glowing with energy. "Soul Banish!" he declared, swinging his sword down, and sending a shockwave out, the energy flying true, right as Phantomon tried to counter, but his weapon was promptly cut in half, and shortly after, so was he.
"L-Lord Myotismon, forgive me!" Phantomon roared in pain, before he was soon deleted.
(Song End)
With the battle over, all the Digimon present soon reverted back, everyone save Biyomon reverting to their Baby forms. "Okay...that's going to need some getting used to," Tokomon blinked as the Digimon soon ran back to their partners.
"Trust me, I'm still not used to it, it's annoying." Koromon grumbled as Gyro picked him up.
"So… nice speech you gave him by the way." Gyro said as Blake came up to them with Tokomon in her arms.
Blake blushed a bit at being reminded "Thanks." but she didn't deny her words, even though she'd said them in the heat of things.
"By the way, we kind of found this earlier." Pierce said as he held up her bow.
Blake blinked, before one hand reached up to her head, and she touched her exposed cat ears, and honestly, she didn't know how she should react right now.
"Their pretty cute." Ruby said after a few silent moments.
"Um… thank you." Blake said, looking away.
"Guess you're the only black cat that brings good luck." Yang quipped, before wincing as she felt someone pinch her, turning to Gyro who was giving her a dry stare.
"Control yourself, this isn't the time." he said, before turning to Blake, who had been giving Yang an even drier stare "If you're worried about a bad reaction from us, don't be, I think me and Piece have made it pretty clear we supported the original leader's ideals anyway."
"I… yeah, yeah I guess you have." Blake sighed, but still looked somewhat worried "I'm more worried about how Weiss will react."
"My guess, a bit angry you kept it from us, but once someone calms her down, she'll understand why you kept it hidden." Pierce said with a shrug.
Blake looked away "I… I do have another secret though."
"Something bad?" Ruby asked.
"It depends on your point of view." Blake answered, before taking a deep breath, she had meant her words earlier, and as such, she wanted to trust them "I used to be a part of the White Fang, my father was actually the founder, and I stayed with the group when it went violent before deserting last year."
Silence for a few moments "Oh… well… you never hurt anyone though, right?" Yang asked hopefully.
"Never, I'd sooner hurt myself than harm an innocent." Blake said seriously.
"Then it's fine, you're not part of it anymore, so it doesn't matter now." Yang said.
"Gotta agree there, if you left, it means you're trying to change, and that's good enough for me." Pierce added.
At that, Blake breathed a sigh, before smiling slightly, nodding in thanks at them.
"There's something else we gotta talk about now though." Yang said suddenly, before looking at the brothers "The mist showed me your memories, from before you came to Remnant… I know about the webshow."
Gyro and Pierce froze at that, completely thrown for a loop.
"She ain't mad at you though, but she said we should definitely talk about this." DemiVeemon added.
"You saw it too?" Gyro asked after recovering.
"Yeah, he was with me in that memory, and like he said, I'm not mad, I can kind of understand why you kept that a secret, I mean, if you suddenly came up to me and told me everything I managed to see? I would have punched your lights out and called you a fantasising stalker." Yang said, grimacing a bit at the mental image she conjured up herself.
"Yeaaah, that's among the reasons. Aside from us being tossed in the looney bin, we were also worried about the whole… existential crisis that might cause," Gyro added, scratching the back of his head.
"You think you could explain for the rest of us that aren't following?" Ruby asked with a raised hand.
"Basically there's a webshow on our world about you girls called RWBY, spelled with a W, not a U like your name." Pierce clarified.
"And to put it simply, shit hits the fan by the time of the Vytal Festival, and a lot of good people die." Gyro said with a frown.
Ruby blinked at that, before gasping in realisation "Like Pyrrha." she whispered.
"Ok, what?" Pierce said, looking at the youngest of the hunters in confusion.
"I saw it, in the mist, I saw visions from the show itself, our future I guess, and I saw Pyrrha die, and some other people too." Ruby whispered, shaking as she remembered it.
Gyro looked at her in worry, before Yang put her hand on his back and pushed him up to Ruby, and, surprising him a bit, Ruby leaned against him.
"Um… nobody's mad? Or going to have an existential crisis?" He voiced his concerns.
"We're good, trust me." Blake said, before grabbing both Koromon and Tanemon, having her arms full before Gyro finally hugged Ruby and started consoling her.
"I saw something too Yang, I think it was from your memories, but you were tiny in it." Biyomon said, looking up at her partner.
"Whatever it is, I think we should meet up with the others first, I'm sure it's important, but… this? This is even more so." Yang said with a shrug, with Biyomon nodding in acceptance.
"Right, let's get moving then. We're not that far away from the rendezvous point," Pierce nodded.
With that said, the group set off, ready to reunite, and ready for new revelations.
Yeah, that happened.
Not only did we deal with Phantomon a bit earlier, but the chosen obtained HolyAngemon roughly 20 episodes earlier than the canon crew did.
Don't worry, he won't be TOO overpowered, Heaven's Gate can be stopped, so the fights won't just be HolyAngemon opening the gate and sucking enemies into it now.
And also, yeah, secrets coming to light finally.
Figured now would be the best time, because going forward, the chosen will all need to have the highest trust in each other, so there can't be anymore big secrets like that.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed, because...
The Adventure Evolves.