Hello everyone and welcome to the FIRST of several new chapters for Digital Story. You're gonna get 4 new chapters all in one big burst, along with two chapters for Warrior's Frontier.
Yeah, this is what we've been doing for the last few weeks.
Hope you enjoy!
Fighting Along! Onward to Anima!
"Damn, ok, so Adam's moved his plans up a bit. In the long run this is good. It'll let us head to Anima as soon as we mop up the floor with them." Gyro said in thought.
"You still think he's gonna try and kill Sienna?" Pierce asked with a frown.
"He very well could." Blake admitted "As we all know, he's unhinged and willing to do anything to get what he wants. So, even after Seraphimon managed to hurt him so badly…"
"He could just get some cybernetics to get rid of the damage I did." Patamon finished with a frown, seeing where she was going with that.
"Cinder probably still sees him as a useful pawn if played right." Pyrrha added "Which means she might be able to convince Salem to send Watts to fix him up. He WAS one of the more brilliant minds in Atlas after all."
"Cybernetics would be child's play to him." Weiss nodded.
"The question is how should we counter this," Jaune frowned. "I think we can all agree we'd rather not risk Blake and her family losing their home," he said, earning a few nods of agreement.
"You know...why ARE we waiting for them to come to us? If the stakes are like this...why don't we go to them?" Sun spoke up, having had the nagging thought at the back of his mind.
The group was silent for a few moments at that, sharing surprised looks… because none of them had considered it.
"Ok… monkey boy is right on that one." Coco said after a moment "So, storm the local headquarters?"
"First of all let's make sure they CAN'T turn this around and frame it like an unprovoked attack...no matter how little they probably deserve to play that card, but people do bull shit when they're in a corner so...yeah," Pierce sighed.
"Hm...did Keenan and Ilia get any recordings while they were spying?" Ruby asked.
"We did yeah." Kotemon said as she grabbed Ilia's Scroll and held it up.
"Good, so we won't have to worry too much about a possible angry mob coming after us," Yang sighed. "So, since we more or less have everything we need...what's our game plan?" she asked.
"First of all, let's confirm WHERE the base is. It was never shown in the show so we don't know exactly where it is," Gyro said, rolling out a map of Menagerie.
"The base is right here," Blake said, placing a finger on a spot at the edge of the desert. "We placed it there to take advantage of the defenses the desert would give, and to make it close enough that we could go back and forth from town without issue."
"We'll also have to plan when to attack...and I'm pretty sure we all know WHEN is the best time to hit them, right?" Tentomon said, and they could almost see the smirk he'd have had if his face was more expressive.
"Looks like it's going to be an early night for all of us," Weiss said in amusement. "We need to be ready by the crack of dawn if we want to hit them effectively."
"They won't know what hit them." Agumon grinned as he pumped his fist.
The White Fang Menagerie base was already active, even in the early morning, especially as they were planning to bring down the Belladonna family soon, capturing their daughter and bringing her to their TRUE leader, Adam.
"Everything is proceeding smoothly brother." Corsac Albain said with a smile as they watched their operatives ready for themselves for their attack, which they had decided to execute at midnight tonight, and they would use the day to get ready.
"Indeed brother." Fennec Albain said with a nod "Once High Leader Taurus has the Belladonna girl as his… concubine, as per his wishes, it shall only be days before he assumes his rightful place at our leadership."
"And once he has taken his rightful place, we can begin the plan to-" Corsac was about to say...before an explosion shook the base. "What was that?!"
As if in response, one of their members burst into the room. "The base is under attack!" the member said urgently. "Several Digimon have appeared and are-" he didn't get to finish as the base shook violently.
They quickly moved to the entrance of the base, to find that thankfully the gates were sealed shut, with several Digimon that had joined the White Fang, having identified with the cause, holding the gate shut. Even with the explosions still happening, it would buy them time to regroup and counter-
It seemed Murphy was out to get them today, because right as they thought that...the gates were blown open. As in, so hard that the gates flew right off the hinges.
"Knock knock," came a rather amused voice as the dust settled.
It revealed the Chosen, or at least some of them, specifically Gyro, Pierce, Blake, Ilia, Rusty, Aile, Yang, Velvet and Yatsu, along with their partners.
"Sorry to drop in so rudely, but I'm afraid we're gonna have to shut you down," Pierce said.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but I'm gonna bet you'll pick hard," Yang said, cracking her knuckles.
"PLEASE go with hard. I need to let go of some stress." Velvet said with a calm smile… that managed to look menacing as she created hard light copies of Ember Celica on her arms.
"I recommend you don't get on my partner's bad side. She has issues with… bullies." Meicoomon said with a grin.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" one of the White Fang members couldn't help but ask.
"I'm referring to people who hurt those who've never done anything and/or can't or won't fight back," Velvet said. "That and you just give us all a bad name." she said as she activated the hard light gauntlets "So I'm gonna kick your butts now."
"What are you waiting for? Get them!" Fennec shouted.
"But capture the Belladonna girl alive!" Corsac added.
The White Fang members present...would have moved to do that...but the attacking group got the initiative and plowed into them like a wrecking ball.
Gyro, Pierce, Blake, and Yang along with their partners hit the White Fang hard, keeping them from regrouping, while Yatsu and Velvet were keeping the White Fang off balance with their own attacks making full use of his heavy attacks mixed with the variety of options Velvet had at her disposal.
At the same time, Rusty, Aile, and Ilia were running interference, their partners joining in as well.
Rusty opened fire with his revolvers, the chambers currently loaded with lightning dust to make for paralyzing shots on the White Fang members, and when any got close…
"Bad idea!" he said with a grin as he flipped one of the revolvers into a baton and shoved it into their gut, which started electrocuting them due to the dust running inside, and even as he did that he tilted his head out of the way of a bullet flying for him, before lifting his other revolver without looking and firing in the direction the bullet came from.
At the same time, a few White Fang members were trying to fight back...something hard to do when they were evading Chakrams that were flying around courtesy of Aile as she threw her weapons around...though when it came to them coming back, that was when they had a few openings to get close, seemingly surrounding her. "Careful for friendly fire," Aile said, right before she spun around and released what appeared to be a flurry of feathers which forced them to cover their eyes for a moment, before it subsided...and they saw she was still there, and opened fire...only to hit each other as the Aile they were aiming for vanished into feathers, the real one having moved out of the way when she released her feathers. "I warned you," she chuckled, before catching her weapons...though not before frowning at the lag. She'd have to fix that.
To a side, Ilia was busy fending off several more members, before some of the Digimon that were with the White Fang set their sites on her...only for Kotemon to get in the way, quickly Evolving into Gladimon. However, there was a slight problem, namely the Digimon in question: a Minotaurmon, Panjyamon, and a Gokuwmon.
They were all Perfect levels.
The others would help… but they hadn't actually noticed yet.
Gladimon did her best, but against three Perfects...she was soon knocked aside.
"Hah! What do you think you can do?" Minotaurmon laughed.
"Outnumbered AND outmatched. Must have a death wish going up against us," Panjyamon taunted.
"Well let's not take too long. We have others to deal with," Gokuwmon said.
However, before they could move to make good on their threat, something lashed out at them, specifically at Panjyamon, aimed rather...low. Panjyamon let out a rather high pitched squeal when Ilia's rapier in its stinger configuration struck his… jewels… while it was on fire to boot.
"She's not alone you idiots." Ilia said with a glare as she stood next to her partner.
"These guys are dangerous Ilia." Gladimon warned her, frown audible in her tone.
"So? They're not as scary as Myotismon was, and the others beat him just fine." Ilia shot back, smirking a bit "We can take these posers, we just have to work together like we always do."
Gladimon blinked, before chuckling. "Yeah, we're Partners after all. If we're together, we can take on anyone," she said, earning a nod from Ilia as both of them faced the Digimon, with Panjyamon looking at them with murder in his eyes. At that moment, Ilia's D-Ark lit up, before a Blue Card materialized from the screen, which she grabbed hold of. The two Partners looked at each other, before nodding.
(Play 'Slash!')
The Blue Card spun in the air before Ilia grasped it, before bringing it to her D-Ark and started scanning it. "Card Slash…!" she called out right as the card finished scanning. "Matrix Evolution!"
(Change to 'EVO')
"Matrix Evolution!" Ilia's D-Ark declared, before she held it to her chest, and from the screen, a brown Matrix crystal appeared, spinning in the air as reflected on its surface was an image of llia's smiling face, before it flew towards Gladimon, entering through her chest.
"Gladimon, Matrix Evolution!"
Gladimon's body was glowing as light escaped through the openings in her armor, growing brighter as the armor also began to glow, before parts of it disassembled, and burst off, and from the light a new form was revealed.
The best way to describe her new appearance would be a knight in full silver armor, a black skirt around her waist with a purple piece of cloth hanging off the front, a sword at her hip and another on her back, along with a large silver shield, which bore the emblem of the old White Fang, while her chest bore what could be best described as a chameleon making a circle, it's tongue stretching out and curving until it touch its tail. And finally, her face was hidden behind yet another visor, the only thing visible being her eyes as she drew her larger sword "Knightmon!"
Digimon Analyzer: Knightmon
Knightmon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Warrior Digimon. Wearing armor made from Chrome Digizoid, Knightmon are one of the best examples of chivalry in the Digital World, acting as soldiers to the righteous. They have enough power to easily wield their greatsword, swinging it around to defeat their opponents. Their special attacks are The Duel, sending a spinning blade of air at the enemy after slashing with the large weapon, and Grand Smash, putting all their power into their sword before smashing the flat of the blade against the enemy, blowing them away.
"You guys are in trouble now," Knightmon said, readying her sword.
"So you Evolved. Big deal, it's still three on one," Gokuwmon said.
"I'm still here!" Ilia said in annoyance, readying her rapier, something that made Panjyamon wince and back off a bit.
"And its three on three for that matter," came Blake's voice as the ribbon on Gambol Shroud suddenly caught Gokuwmon from behind, pulling him back.
"What?!" Minotaurmon gasped...to which Knightmon charged forward and rammed into him.
"Shouldn't have stood around talking, huh?" Ilia couldn't help but chuckle, before lashing out with her Fire Dust infused rapier, forcing Panjyamon to block, but the heat wasn't agreeing with him at all.
To the side, Minotaurmon was having a hard time dealing with Knightmon who was using her sword to keep him on the defensive, even if his metal arm proved able to hold up against the sword. Eventually though he got annoyed and tried to press the offensive. "Demon Arm!" he growled, swinging his metal arm aiming to try and cave in Knightmon's armor...only to be met with a 'clang' as Knightmon pulled out her shield and blocked it. He didn't get to pull the arm back, as Knightmon quickly grabbed hold of the arm, and held it in a rather...awkward position, right above her knee, her free arm right above it… and he understood what she was planning.
"Please don't break my arm." he whimpered as he tried to free it from her grasp.
Knightmon hummed, seemingly considering it, before he could FEEL the grin from behind her helmet "Nope!" she said cheerfully and brought her knee up while bringing her arm down, breaking the bones in his arm, making him let out a scream of pain.
Oh sure, he would heal it quickly thanks to the natural healing factor of all Digimon, but it still hurt like hell and meant he couldn't use his arm for those few minutes.
A few minutes that Knightmon promptly put to good use by headbutting him square in the forehead and well...one of them had a metal helmet, the other didn't. Do the math.
"Stay down," Knightmon said simply at the now out cold Digimon, before she turned her sights towards where her Partner was fighting...and well…
(End song)
"Mercy…" Panjyamon groaned out as he was covered in burning cuts, Ilia standing triumphantly over him.
Perfect level or not, he was essentially just a slightly stronger Leomon variant… and one that was an ice elemental, so Ilia just needed a single advantage and for her to push it.
"Knew you could handle him," Knightmon chuckled.
"He wasn't so tough," Ilia agreed. "How's Blake doing?" Ilia asked. Right on cue, Gokuwmon fell to the ground, groaning in pain with more than a few slash marks. Blake simply lowered Gambol Shroud and nodded at her handiwork.
"It's fortunate the Perfects they have aren't all that strong," Blake sighed.
"To be fair, they were all human sized save for Minotaurmon, so they had very human weaknesses… and you have a Chrome Digizoid coated weapon." Knightmon pointed out.
"Yeah…" Blake said, looking at Gambol Shroud, frowning as she saw a small chip in the blade, barely noticeable "Gonna need an upgrade soon though… we all are."
"For now though, let's finally put a long overdue end to this piece of Adam's twisted vision," Ilia said, earning a nod from Blake.
By now, all the outside defenses had been...destroyed completely...and the White Fang who'd been fighting them were basically rounded up, something that wasn't hard to do when Chrome Digizoid coated weapons basically cut right through Aura with how strong they were.
"Once we're done here, we should sweep the base," Yatsu said as they were busy tying up any and all White Fang Members they'd beaten.
"Ok, we have the twins, bat boy, and spider girl." Gyro muttered, noting the four more prominent members from this White Fang chapter that had been seen in the show, turning to Ilia when she arrived "This everyone?"
Ilia looked over the assembled captives, several of them giving her hateful glares.
They would be speaking out… but Velvet had duct taped their mouths when they started spouting their usual hate speech.
"Yeah, seems to be everyone. We beat up the three strongest mon they'd managed to recruit as well." she said.
"Yeah, speaking of that, how did they manage that?" Pierce wondered.
"Well… they were only Beast Man Digimon, which is even stranger." Aile mused, tapping her chin, before everyone noticed Gyro and Pierce looking at each other slowly "What?"
"We… might know the cause… there was this dumb conflict between Beast Digimon and Humanoid Digimon on a flying island we landed on… this MIGHT be a byproduct of it if the conflict somehow spread to another place." Gyro said after a moment.
Rusty blinked a few times "That sounds SO stupid… though I suppose it's our only lead on why they joined."
"Anyway, let's make a sweep of the base, make sure they didn't leave any nasty surprises… and we can also swipe their Dust since they won't be needing it." Yang said, grinning at the end.
"Sounds like a plan," Rusty chuckled with a nod, and once they'd made VERY sure nobody was getting away from them, they proceeded to raid the base, which thankfully didn't have any traps inside the base. Any remaining members that hadn't been caught were dealt with easily enough, and before long they'd cleared out the base.
"Now that that's done, we can finally put these nut jobs where they belong. Behind bars," Aile said with a nod of finality.
"And after that, we'll have to deal with Adam himself and we'll put an end to this sham of a rights group...sorry Blake," Velvet sighed.
Blake shook her head. "No, it's alright. I've accepted that the White Fang has been dead for a long time now," she sighed.
That seemed to get a reaction from some of their prisoners, namely the Albain brothers, who were probably trying to shout about how they were the TRUE White Fang, or something to that effect.
"Should we…?" Gyro mused, thinking it might be fun to take apart whatever spiel those two might give...before he and Pierce looked at each other and went "Naaah!" and laughed as the group was soon hauling the White Fang members away, while also having taken any and all evidence for various crimes (be it already done or planned to do) that went far beyond what either of the true leaders of the White Fang would have accepted or allowed. This was gonna be FUN.
As expected...the people of Menagerie didn't take the revealed evidence well, even Ghira who despite knowing about this thanks to them...was still a little shocked at how far the organization he'd started to promote peace had fallen.
At the very least, there wasn't any complaints about some humans having been the one to stop this, apparently the people here knew when to ignore race.
"So… everybody ready?" Pierce asked the crowd with a grin as he stood in front of them with an empty basket in hand, receiving several grins in return "Good! Blake, you have the honors!" he said before quickly moving out of the way.
"This is gonna be good." Veemon chuckled as he was recording the scene using his partner's scroll.
Blake shook her head in amusement, before removing the gags from the Albain brothers, and before they could even start to spiel about something…
They were hit with rotten tomatoes in the face from the crowd.
"Thanks for not throwing out the rotten ones Mrs. Belladonna." Gyro whispered to the older woman as the majority of the group stood off to the side.
"Oh, it was my pleasure, especially when you mentioned this idea." the older woman said with a laugh.
"Too bad we're wasting food… though it WAS rotten." Agumon said with a sigh.
"At least with this it was put to good use," Veemon laughed, as they watched the White Fang members futilely try to justify their actions and ideals...and were met with more rotten tomatoes, completely hammering it in that now...not even their homeland accepted them anymore, and it was probably only a mix of fanaticism and delusion that kept them from seeing the reality. Oh well, their loss.
Once the...okay...there's no nice way to say it, the public humiliation was done, they had to deal with well...cleaning up. The now defunct faction of White Fang were locked up and the authorities were contacted to cart them off, the base was well...the people of Menagerie hadn't quite decided what to do with it just yet, but kept it open in case they ever needed it. And overall, events were going a LOT more smoothly.
"Well… I think it's safe to say that at this point, the White Fang has lost its way." Ghira said with a sigh as they were meeting in the abandoned base.
"Well, I doubt ALL hope is lost." Palmon said.
"Yeah, I mean, we can probably talk Sienna Khan into NOT doing something drastic. She seems… mildly, reasonable." Ruby said hesitantly.
"I'll admit her ways are more forceful than what I'd like, but even she wasn't looking to start a war," Ghira sighed.
"She isn't. Adam is. That's why we'll have to stop him too. He's one of if not the biggest advocates to this pointless war," Blake said.
"With what you've all been doing, I think you'll definitely be able to stop him," Kali said with a nod and smile. "Now that the issue with the White Fang in Menagerie has been...addressed...what do you all plan to do now?"
"I guess it's time we moved on," Gyro mused. "We've got a few things we'll need to take care of in Anima, so that's our next stop."
"A few." Pierce said with a snort "Try a metric fuck ton of shit we need to deal with before it hits the fan."
"Crude but accurate." Weiss said, pinching her brow at the words he used.
"Ignore how my friends can be please." Blake told her parents with a sigh, before she smiled and went up to them, hugging them "I'll miss you guys."
Her parents smiled before hugging her back "We'll miss you too Blake." her father said.
"Now get out there and do some world saving so you can do us proud!" her mother said with a grin and a small cheer.
"You can count on us," Blake smiled.
"This is way faster than a ship!" Ruby grinned.
As of now, the party of… many, was currently making their way to Anima by air, having evolved their partners to their biggest forms capable of flight to ferry them across the ocean… or in the case of some, outright going across the ocean below since they weren't flying too high, with MegaSeadramon and Zudomon in the water, while MetalGreymon, AtlurKabuterimon and Garudamon were in the air.
"It's gonna take a few hours of travel obviously, but yeah, this is still faster than using Weiss's boat. That would have taken days. Besides, we used it to enter Menagerie the normal way and NOT get arrested on sight." Gyro said from next to her as the two were sitting on one of MetalGreymon's horns.
"Yeah, and since Anima is so big, we can be awesome!" Ruby cheered, earning a chuckle from her boyfriend before he hummed in thought.
"You know… I just realised we were so occupied most of the time we barely had time for dates back in Vale." he told her thoughtfully.
Ruby blinked at that "Huh… yeah. We went on… 3 I think? There was the arcade, that Spruce Willis movie, and then the pizza place… we have NOT done a lot of couple stuff." she realised.
"To be fair, we're an odd couple." Gyro chuckled "I mean, I'm not the biggest romantic ever, and you're a weapons nerd… you know, that makes me think, what do you even see in me? I know I got a crush on you when saw how badass you were back when I was younger, but…" he said, gesturing towards her.
"Wait, how old were you when you got a crush on me?" Ruby asked with a grin.
Gyro chuckled, looking away "Uh… 12 I think? I started crushing on you in Volume 2."
"That's adorable." she said, poking his cheek, before she looked thoughtful "As for why I fell for you… Well, you're a pretty dependable guy and you're always looking out for everyone. I honestly kind of look up to you because I think you're a way better leader than me-"
"I'm really not." he said with a blush.
"You are, stop denying it." she told him with a smile "And we also share SOME interests too. You like to design cool weapons just as much as I do, we both like video games and comic books, and action flicks are awesome too and we like the ones with lots of explosions! And, you know, other small things, like we have the same favorite fruit and all that."
Gyro was blushing at the end of her explanation "So… you look up to me then?"
She shrugged with a smile "Pretty much yeah. You were one of my first friends once I got into Beacon, and even though you looked out for me you never coddled me because I was younger. I guess slowly I just realised that instead of just a friend I saw you as something more."
He smiled at that, before simply putting an arm around her and pulling her closer, the two simply watching the horizon in silence.
The group soon landed on Anima, specifically the Western part of the continent, the brothers having made sure they were going to be able to save some towns from the Grimm, as well as…
"So… we're on a collision course with the Branwen Tribe with this path?" Keenan asked with a hard frown.
"Yeahp, just as long as we move fast enough. And since we dealt with the events of Menagerie in just a week instead of like… a few months, and we're here EARLIER than when Team RNJR got to this part of Anima. This way, not only do we intercept the Branwen bandits, but we can stop Adam from trying to kill Sienna." Gyro explained.
"And because Adam was heavily injured at Beacon, he's probably gonna be slower in his attack on the Headquarters, right?" Tentomon guessed.
"That's what we're hoping for at least." Ren sighed.
"For now, we'll have to deal with things as they come. I know it's probably asking a lot, but we can't in good conscience leave people we know will be in trouble to their fates if we can help it," Pierce sighed.
"Hey it's no problem," Biyomon chuckled.
"If any of us weren't okay with this, we wouldn't be here," Coco said.
"But then, what kind of Hunters would we be?" Sun added. "So point the way and let's save some lives."
"Right, so, we're following a path towards Mistral, which means… that way?" Jaune said, eventually pointing in a direction.
Pyrrha gently turned him to face the opposite direction at that.
"Oh, that way, ok." he said with a nod.
"But first…"Gomamon started, and on cue...several of the Digimon plopped to the ground. "We're beat!"
"Oh yeah...we DID just cross the ocean…" Neptune blinked. "Can't believe we didn't realize that'd be very tiring."
"Okay then, so first order of business...let's set up camp for a bit. We're already ahead of schedule, so unless we see smoke rising from somewhere, we should have time," Gyro chuckled lightly.
"Alright then, I'll get the fire wood and set a perimeter. Who else wants to help?" Sun said.
"I'll help set up the camp," Blake said.
"We'll see if we can find any extra food around here," Dobermon said as Ogremon, Waspmon, and Meicoomon were with him.
It wasn't long before the party separated into the three groups, and with them all working together, they'd set up a rather comfortable makeshift camp. They'd set up a few tents in a semicircle with the campfire in the center. The tents also had openings in the back to allow for anyone inside to see out through the back in case of any Grimm, adding to which they had several portable lights they set up so they could see into the darkness beyond their camp. Finally, a little something Azure had given them before they went on this trip, several small drones that had been spread through the trees nearby to act as an early warning system if Grimm were approaching the camp.
"You know, monster infested wilderness aside, this is actually a really nice setting," Tinkermon couldn't help but say as she was helping with the look out party.
"If we let the Grimm get to us all the time, Remnant would be even MORE depressing than it already is," Fox snarked.
"Fair point," Tinkermon admitted.
"Let's just be glad we have everyone here," Ogremon said. "I'd hate to be just four people in a place full of legions of monsters...and I'm an Adult level Digimon."
"Between all of us, I think we SHOULD be able to handle anything short of a city destroying legion of Grimm," Gomamon chuckled.
"Please don't tempt fate," Jaune sighed.
"Actually, even at city destroying legions… I'd just sick WarGreymon on them." Gyro said.
"One Gaia Force and goodbye Grimm." Agumon said, imitating an explosion with a motion of his arms.
"And that's why I sometimes wonder if we're the ones stuck out here with the Grimm, or if THEY'RE the ones stuck out here with us," Coco laughed, earning a few chuckles and laughs from the rest of the group at the idea of the Grimm being the ones in trouble and not them.
Any further conversations were put to a halt when Gyro did a quick taste test on the food he was making...and soon rang the dinner bell. "Food's ready!"
That was all the prompting needed for everyone to go and get their plates as the LARGE amount of food that was being prepared was dished out and the literal feast began. Despite everything...it was an enjoyable affair, and one could argue the high spirits they were all in were probably contributing to keeping the Grimm away.
However, even in enjoyable times like this, they were also making plans. "Okay, so we've got a route planned more or less," Weiss mused as she was going over a map of Anima.
"We're going to need to head for some certain villages quickly, but out ultimate destination before just booking it to Mistal is Kuroyuri." she said, looking to Ren "You'll finally get a chance to get rid of the Nuckelavee once we get there."
"And we're helping." Wormmon said from his shoulder, making Ren nod with a grateful smile.
"The only problem is, in the original story, this took probably weeks to months. With Digimon on our side...probably we could go the whole way in a few days," Gyro mused.
"Not that we're complaining, but you know how domino effects work," Pierce sighed.
"Yeah...we could either end up having to wait for the event to happen, or things will shift," Yang nodded.
"It's annoying how hard it is to keep a schedule when you have some convenience on hand." Pyrrha sighed.
"So basically, don't go too fast or we might be in trouble and miss out on some stuff." Nora summed up "You said there was some scorpion Faunus sent by Salem to hunt Ruby, right?"
"In canon at least… here he might be sent for all of us in general." Gyro said with a frown "Honestly, that makes him MORE dangerous, which is why I plan on just firebombing him when he gets close."
"The world will definitely be a better place with one less insane assassin in it." Neptune said, even as he winced at the thought of killing a man by firebombing him.
"That and we don't actually know the full extent of what he can do," Pierce sighed. "No way we want to find out by letting him test it on us…."
"So, I guess now we just have to hurry along. After we get some rest of course." Salamon said, letting out a small yawn. "It's getting late and all."
"Probably a good idea yeah," Nora agreed. "Who takes first watch?"
"Technically we don't need to, thanks to the drones, but I'll do it," Gyro said.
"I'll join too," Agumon added. "Feels just like that night at the lake," he chuckled.
"Thankfully without a sea serpent hiding under us this time," Weiss couldn't help but snort.
"You laugh, but it could very well happen again." Gabumon said in deadpan.
"I want to say something, I REALLY do…" Veemon started before sighing. "But I fear Murphy too much to say anything."
"A lesson that's going to help keep us alive in the long run," Ren nodded sagely, before the group turned in for the night after determining who else would be on look out after Gyro and Agumon's turn was over.
They'd travelled for most of the next day after that, not encountering much besides the random Grimm or two.
"Hmm… feel like we're getting this kind of… deja vu." Pierce muttered.
"This speck of road does seem familiar." Gyro admitted, humming in thought, before they broke through the trees for a moment and he blinked "Oh THAT'S why."
They could see smoke starting to rise from a town downhill, the setting sun illuminating the scene rather well.
"What? Do you know what's happening here?" Ruby asked.
"This is the town from the Volume 4 trailer. There's Grimm attacking it. In canon this is where you fought your first Beringel, and you cleared the whole town out on your own. Guess this time we got here early enough we can be sure the people are safe." Gyro told her.
"Wait, how did she do it on her own?" Jaune asked in surprise.
"Because of her little tricks she's been practicing in secret." Palmon spoke up, nudging her partner, who laughed a bit as all eyes were on her.
"Just… you know… been pushing my semblance further." Ruby admitted.
"Want to give us a demonstration?" Yang grinned a bit. "Just save some for us."
"Will do," Ruby chuckled, before Palmon grabbed on to her...and the two of them were soon gone in a blur of red rose petals.
"And while she takes a head start…" Pyrrha started, as everyone pulled out their Digivices which soon started glowing.
"We'll get there as soon as we can too," Pierce finished with a chuckle as their Digimon soon Evolved...or rather, the ones who were actually fast on land.
The village was in chaos as the Grimm were attacking, aiming to tear the village apart like many others they'd done before. However, right as they were in the middle of their rampage...several shrieks of pain were heard as the Nevermores flying above the town fell from the sky, having lost their wings. Right as the Beowolves below looked up, a bright light forcing them to cover their eyes...as they were soon met with a bombardment of green energy blasts, throwing THEM into disarray, a red blur coming from the source of the blasts, as any surviving Grimm were soon being torn apart as limbs and body parts flew right off of them.
The other Grimm that saw what happened moved to try and get the blur, which revealed to be Ruby...only for several vines to lash out and stab right through them with thorns as Lillymon landed next to Ruby. "Didn't the others say to save some for them?" Lillymon asked with a chuckle.
"Does one count?" Ruby said cheekily before she and her partner moved forward and started tearing apart the Grimm that came after them, even the Beringel that she would have fought in 'canon'...was destroyed in one hit via torso with a view, courtesy of a Flower Cannon.
Well the others arrived… there was barely enough Grimm to split between then.
"You are really cheeky sometimes." Yang grinned as she got her sister in a headlock and started giving her a noogie.
"Well, at least the whole town is safe. How was it in canon?" Sun asked, his staff resting on his shoulders.
"No clue honestly. The town was never addressed after the trailer, and when Volume 4 started, we jumped right to a different town where Jaune finally got his upgrades that we've already given him." Pierce explained.
"Either way the fact the town is okay is all that matters," Blake sighed. "Let's do our best to keep it that way for as many as we can."
"I think that's a given considering what we've been doing," Scarlet said in amusement.
"Once we make sure the village is secure, where to next?" Keenan asked. Clearly he was more than a little impatient to finally settle the score.
"Well…" Weiss mused, pulling out her scroll, before raising an eyebrow "Hold that thought. There's some emergency news. Let's see… oh dear."
"What is it?" Tentomon asked, flying up to look over her shoulder before he winced "Oh boy, that's not good."
"Don't keep us in suspense snowflake." Coco said, tapping her finger against her arm.
"Apparently there's been more and more Grimm attacks on the walls in Vale recently. Not only that but Hunters in Mistral have started going missing more often." Weiss said with a frown.
"Ok, that's… very bad." Velvet said with a worried frown "My family is still in Vale right now."
"Mine too." Coco said, biting her lip in worry.
"And if Hunters are disappearing in Mistral, then Lionheart is probably hurrying up on sending them to their deaths." Sun said with a frown.
"That's...a problem…" Pierce frowned. "We can't just leave this be, but we can't just ignore what we know SHOULD happen either…"
"Should...should we split up then?" Meicoomon asked. "I know it's not the best idea but…"
"No...that might be our only option at this rate…" Patamon sighed. "The problem is, once we split up, meeting up again won't be so easy…"
"It doesn't have to be difficult." came a familiar voice from Weiss's scroll, before it lit and and projected an image in front of the group, one of…
"Gennai! What are you doing here?" Biyomon asked in surprise.
"It's been a bit Chosen Children." Gennai greeted with a smile "I just thought I'd let you know that you CAN make use of the Digital Gate to get around quickly between locations. I can reroute you to drop you wherever you need to be if you just ask."
"So you could drop my team off in Mistral so we can try and save the Hunters?" Sun asked hopefully.
"Indeed. Just as I can drop Team CFVY off in Vale to help with the defenses." Gennai confirmed.
Ilia looked thoughtful for a moment, before she stepped up "I want to go with Team CFVY." she said, much to everyone's surprise, before she turned to Blake with a smile "Staying with you all this time has been great, but… since I completed my own objective, I figure I should be as productive as I can."
Blake smiled with a nod, hugging her girlfriend for a few moments "Just be safe."
"I will. Promise. You take care too," Ilia said before they let go of each other, with everyone quickly getting ready, standing in front of Weiss' scroll, before Ilia held out her Digivice "Digital Gate, Open!" and with that, Team CFVY, Team SSSN, Ilia and Kotemon were gone.
"Transfer complete," Gennai said. "Also, this system can be used to call them back, so reinforcements are literally just a phone call away," he added.
"Thanks again Gennai. Glad to know you always have our backs," Gyro said with a grin.
"It's no trouble at all. Just as we can always count on you to save the day, you can count on me to provide support where you need it," Gennai said with a nod.
"Speaking of support…" Jaune mused, before he looked at Rusty and Aile. "Think you can explain to us about Rusty and Aile, or rather, why they have Crests too?"
Gennai blinked, before his hologram turned to the two in question, Aile waving awkwardly, before she and Rusty held up their crests "Hmm… well I'll be… two of the auxiliary Crests. They disappeared years ago, and we did wonder what had happened to them."
Everyone was silent a bit "Ok… you said 'two of'... how many are there?" Ruby asked with a worried look.
"Three in total. They are the Crest of Determination," he pointed at Rusty "the Crest of Compassion," he then pointed to Aile "and finally, the Crest of Fate. They were meant to be back-ups in case anything happened to some of the main 10 Crest bearers. They went missing… by your world's time, it would have been 10 years ago."
Blake blinked at that, before peering at Rusty and Aile curiously "How long have you had the Crests?"
"Uh… we got them 10 years ago yeah." Rusty admitted "Bemmon and Hawkmon kind of came with them… we've been hiding them ever since then until Digimon became public knowledge. It helped me and Aile had a house to ourselves on Menagerie with no need to hide them from parents."
"We've kind of just been friends since that time, and even though we couldn't go out much, it was still nice." Bemmon said with a shrug "I think the first time me and Hawkmon evolved was… 8 years ago? We were fighting off a Ravager swarm when we went to explore out at night, and it kind of just happened when the bats swooped in towards Rusty and Aile."
"Huh… technically speaking then, they've been at this longer than us." Nora said in surprise, before she grinned "But we've got loads more experience. I mean, Gyro and Pyrrha formed Omegamon just a little over a month ago."
"And somehow we can't do it again. Even after trying to pool the power of all our Crests together." Pyrrha muttered, still wondering what exactly had triggered Omegamon.
"Anyway, we know what you two need to work on showing more of. Rusty needs to become super determined, and Aile needs to practically become a saint." Yang said jokingly.
"Shouldn't be too hard. She kept giving away most of the fishes she pulled up back home." Rusty said, with Aile laughing awkwardly.
"Yes, it's fortunate the Crests that seem to have chosen you are these two. Had it been the Crest of Fate… even I admit I do not know how exactly that one could be activated. In exchange though… it is arguably one of the more powerful of the Crests," Gennai said with a light chuckle, though he got serious at the end.
"Any clue where it ended up?" Keenan asked. "I'm sure its holder would be partnered to a powerful Digimon, which would be good to give us more backup."
"I can't say I do. Though, one thing I can say is that Crests are drawn to each other. It was not luck that brought you to meet Rusty and Aile, but the link the Crests share with each other. The bonds that you Chosen Children are meant to have as the saviors of the Digital World." Gennai explained.
"Good to know I suppose." Gyro smiled "Now, I guess we should get on our way. We have a lot of ground to cover. Gotta reach the Episode 1 town, and then get to Shion Village on the double."
"Why so fast?" Jaune asked in confusion.
"Let me guess… that's where Raven is going to be soon?" Agumon asked, noticing Keenan's grip on his clothes tightening.
"Yeah. We strike fast, strike hard, take down the Branwen Tribe… and find a way to take the Spring Maiden powers from her… killing her… I know she's a bitch, but that makes me a bit sick to think about since Digimon at least came back, but humans don't." Gyro said with a grimace.
"You were fine with killing Cinder though. And with doing the same to Tyrian." Veemon pointed out.
"Yeah, but that's different, those two are psychopaths, Raven's not at THAT level." Gyro explained.
"I think I may be able to help with BOTH of those problems actually." Gennai spoke up "I MIGHT be able to extract the Maiden powers and crystallize them so we can keep them away from anyone that might misuse them."
"That ought to be helpful." Pierce said in relief "And what about us getting there fast?"
"Hold out your Scrolls...away from yourselves and to an open space," Gennai instructed, to which they did, before light shot out of them, and joined together, making a large Digital Gate with something emerging from the portal, which soon revealed to the the RV they'd left in the Digital World...with quite a few adjustments. "I had a feeling you would have need for this again, so I took the liberty of modifying it in my free time," Gennai said as his hologram vanished. Now that they could clearly see the RV, they noticed that first of all it had been much more heavily armored than before, before the door opened, revealing Gennai who no longer had his cane.
"Big boss finally fixed your limp huh?" Gyro grinned as he and Gennai shook hands. It HAD been a while since they met physically after all.
"Yeah. It was one of the first things he did while fixing up the Digital World. Though right now most of his attention is on the Great Darkness. He's trying to weaken it since we found out he's been syphoning power from Remnant… specifically from the Grimm. He's been doing it for centuries and it made him far more powerful." Gennai started with a frown.
"Grimm...why do they even exist?" Ren said with a slight growl.
"Wish we could say, but yeah...I agree," Pierce frowned. "We've seen how those things spawn, and it's just not natural. There's no way in hell those things are natural life forms here. Maybe they're aliens or something that crash landed on the planet…"
Gennai frowned a bit at that. "...do you want to know their origin?" he asked.
He had their full attention now "Gennai… do you know?" Weiss asked in surprise.
He nodded "We uncovered something that… might be interesting to you… we caught a connection back to Earth and, well… you'll probably want to see for yourselves."
"Wait… did the show reveal it?!" Gyro asked in surprise "Do we have access to the show back?"
Gennai waved them to follow him inside first, and they understood he would answer once inside… though they didn't expect what the inside would look like.
"It's… bigger on the inside." Hawkmon said in shock.
"Yeah, that's… new, even by our standards." Gomamon blinked at how spacious the inside of the RV was… and there even seemed to be multiple floors.
The door to the RV actually opened to a mezzanine that connected directly to 2 floors via 4 sets of stairs, 2 connecting to the upper floor and the remaining 2 for the lower floor, with a path to two other mezzanines that seemed to be the front and back of the RV from what they could see. "How big is this place?" Tentomon couldn't help but ask.
"In total there are 4 floors. The main two floors and Mezzanines are the areas for main activities, while the attic can be used for storage and as a way to open the roof entrance, though it can only be opened from inside be it manually or via controls. It also comes with a rec room too," Gennai started. "The basement is for storage and a few other activities such as a workshop and laundry room. The lower living space is for your dining area and living room complete with a library with a decent selection. The upper living space is your bedrooms and bathrooms, which you can customize at your leisure later. The Mezzanines are the main entrance and exit of the vehicle as well as the locations of the main controls and the computer room where you can connect to the network from Earth and Remnant. The main controls are in the front, and the computer room is in the back."
Everyone was staring at him in wide eyed silence "Uh…" eventually, Pierce managed to speak up "Thanks a lot? You're sure as heck spoiling us though, kind of like an uncle trying to be the favorite." he said with a chuckle.
Gennai laughed in embarrassment at that "Yes, well, truth be told, I may have gotten carried away a bit while redesigning this thing… I was at it for several years before Lord Yggdrasil reminded me I had other projects on the back burner."
"Oh god you're as bad as me and Azure when we made our gate." Gyro laughed at the irony of that.
"Still...we REALLY appreciate this. This will make going around Anima a LOT easier," Pyrrha said.
"Though there ARE the Grimm to worry about," Blake frowned.
"Not to worry, when I was redesigning this, the outer layer and weapons came first," Gennai said as he ushered them to the front, which was now designed to not only have the cockpit for driving, but even a few seats with terminals, looking less like the front of an RV, and more like a bridge. For a battleship. A sci-fi battleship. "The wheel works the same as it did before, but there are a few additions. You can more or less run the entire RV from the driver's seat, but for more...controlled...actions, there's a manual mode that can be accessed from the other consoles," Gennai explained. "Aside from the thicker armor that was made to be able to survive a Goliath stepping on it, the tires have been made from a special material that automatically repairs the wear and tear on it while at rest, so you won't have to worry about road hazards being a potential death trap. Furthermore, when battle mode is triggered, the additional armor will unfold to give the entire RV more protection. The tires also become armored, and can gain spikes both for better traction and to run over anything that gets under the vehicle. Furthermore, there are a number of weapons built into the outer structure, though they are all hidden at the moment. As I said before, they can either be operated automatically or manually depending on the setting up front. Furthermore, battle mode can be auto triggered if any Grimm enter a certain range of the vehicle, which while not TOO far away, is still close enough that you should be able to get the needed protection whenever necessary."
"Holy cow this is all so awesome!" Ruby said in awe at all the equipment they had now.
This just made them an even BIGGER Grimm slaughtering machine.
"We can't thank you enough for all this Gennai." Yang smiled gratefully, the others agreeing with her.
"Just as long as you use it to do the right thing, that's all the thanks I need." he said, before he became serious "Now, let's move to the computer room. It's time I showed you what I talked about earlier."
"That makes me worried, but yeah, we need to know," Agumon gulped a bit.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure we can overcome it if we work together, just like always," Nora said, earning nods from everyone as they reached the computer room, and Gennai soon set up what appeared to be a playlist for RWBY: Volume 6.
And here's the first chapter... yeah a lot of stuff is about to happen.
Stay tuned, because as always...
The Adventure Evolves.