Here's the third chapter of the day people, though sorry if this one is a bit shorter than the others, but hey, it's at least a dozen pages of content.

Better than nothing, am I right?

Conclusions and Possibilities

The mood in the RV was...very mixed, leaning towards a mix of glum and pissed. Why? Because the group just finished watching RWBY volume 7 and well…

"...show of hands, who thinks canon Remnant is screwed?" Gyro deadpanned, raising his hand… followed by everyone else.

"Literally the only good things were my father getting arrested and Penny becoming the Winter Maiden." Weiss sighed.

"At least we know why Watts keeps being able to get into Atlas Security though," Ren sighed.

"Yeah, because canon Atlas is so focused on looking ahead, it keeps its rear wide open," Yang snorted.

"Hopefully that new system that Oren guy made will be able to keep Watts out," Agumon said.

"Considering they picked his program over what full fledged scientists came up with? I think it's gonna be very good," Tentomon said.

Meanwhile, one Arthur Watts was seriously considering chugging the liquor bottle he'd got to help calm his nerves after another series of unsuccessful attempts to crack this infernal security system that CHILD made.

Back with the Chosen…

"Okay, so let's recap all the important parts of this...cluster fuck we have to prevent at all costs, even if we've already probably changed things…" Pierce groaned.

"Well, there's the part with Robyn Hill. Thankfully borders aren't closed in our timeline, so that should fix itself, AND Jacques has already lost all his power with Willow now leading the SDC and fixing his mistakes. Last I heard she was trying to negotiate with the White Fang to get them to stop their attacks so they could resolve this peacefully." Ruby summed up.

"As for the Ace-Ops, we probably won't have to worry about them. We're a lot stronger than our canon selves already, and we have better equipment too." Nora said, holding up Magnhild X for emphasis.

"Well...TECHNICALLY the weapons they had after being upgraded have more gimmicks to them," Pyrrha mused. "But in terms of pure quality, I'm quite sure they wouldn't stand up to pure Chrome Digizoid weapons," she chuckled lightly.

"Okay….there's...okay...ironically there's a LOT we'd want to prevent...but we might have already prevented it directly or indirectly," Ren said.

"Yeah, thanks to us saving Vale and the CCT, there's no embargo, it's unlikely Ironwood's been stretched thin, and there's no reason for him to do the Amity Project," Gabumon said.

"We're not going to let Tyrian walk away from this, so he's already out," Salamon added.

"And...actually I just realized something," Weiss mused.

"What is it?" Gomamon asked.

"We already know who the Spring Maiden is...and we're fully planning to take those powers away...couldn't we just lock the Relic of Wisdom back in the Vault? Or even just leave it in the Digital World permanently?"

Everybody paused at that "Huh… she's right. We don't even need to take it out since we have our answers already. We know what we're going to do to take care of Salem, Raven won't be able to open the door because we're stealing the powers from her… we can just leave it there… our whole GOALS have changed and we only just realised!" Jaune said with a grand sigh.

"Guess we just got so hyper focused on preventing canon that we forgot to take into effect the butterflies we're spreading into the timeline already." Yang figured.

"For now though...we probably should still stay the course. There's a LOT of things we can still actively affect, and as for going to Atlas or even removing the Relic...we should probably wait till we're with Qrow and Oscar before we make plans. I'd think Ozpin would want to tell Ironwood the good news...provided one of the bad butterflies doesn't come up," Gyro sighed.

"Plus if Salem DOES decide to go for the giant whale Grimm...we'll want to be there to help destroy it," Blake added. "And maybe that'll be our chance to take out Salem too."

"I think the only other issue is… well… the redesigns you got in Volume 7." Rusty said with a chuckle "I mean, you wearing a white coat made sense in Menagerie Blake because it's warm in the south, but…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, it's weird in Atlas." Blake shrugged, before grabbing a coat that was resting on the back of her chair, similar to the one she was wearing recently but minus the coattails, as well as being a dark purple with grey edges "I'm already changing up though." she said as she pulled it on. "I also don't think I'm going to cut off my hair… especially after Pierce said I looked like the cartoon bisexual stereotype with it."

"Hey, I'm just saying, every bisexual/lesbian female character in cartoons somehow always ends up with THAT specific haircut, it's like that one anime trope where if a mom wears her hair in a loose bottom ponytail and it hangs off her shoulder, she's 100% gonna die." Pierce said.

"I think we can all agree we'll be doing some work on our Atlas outfits." Ren said in amusement.

"Most definitely." Weiss huffed "I do NOT have enough hair to pull that strange mega-braid RT designed for me."

"Not to mention I keep looking at the concept art for me and… WHY does the artist give me a tan? Heck, look at this little chibi figure of me!" she said, pulling up a picture of a Funko POP figure of herself… and it had a dark tan "I'm supposed to be as pale as Weiss, not as tanned as Sun!"

"I'm not even mad, she's right, I'm super pale, like a ghost." Weiss shrugged when a few of the others looked to her.

Pierce suddenly snorted "Ok, I just thought of something funny, but it's super tasteless, so I'm just gonna keep it in my head."

"Tell me later." Yang chuckled.

"Canon me's new haircut looks like Cardin and that annoys me." Jaune sighed.

"Again, we're gonna have work to do on your outfits for Atlas so they look less strange." Biyomon laughed.

"Honestly it's probably just a matter of opening a search engine from Earth and picking which fan made look we prefer." Aile shrugged.

"Or we can just go simple and keep our current outfits but wear heating pads underneath them, or something like that, considering Ren and Yang took all day yesterday to make all of these out of some pretty durable stuff." Patamon shrugged. "I mean, sure, the outfits are pretty much the same save for Blake's coat, but still."

"Basically, we'll think about it when it's time, for now, we have like a year of just hanging around in Anima to do." Gyro shrugged.

"I'll look up some outfit ideas when we have time though, since this HAS been pretty fun." Yang grinned.

"Also, I know how Rusty feels about having the same Semblance as somebody else now." Pierce sighed as he thought back to one of the Ace-Ops, Clover Ebi "His Good Luck is active 24/7 while mine turns on when we really need it… though, I guess that means his Good Luck can't make a Miracle like I can, so I have that advantage over him." he finished with a grin "I think I'll rename my Semblance in light of that. Gonna call it Miracle Luck from now on."

"Just remember preferably we'd like to avoid having to fight. Though if we DO have to...remember their key weaknesses and exploit the hell out of them," Gyro said.

"Already doing that," Ruby chuckled.

"Aside from that...I think we're more or less good, at least from the canon events perspective," Weiss said. "So all that's left now is to stay the course...and deal with whatever the King cooks up next."

"Speaking of him, anything happen in the Digital World?" Jaune asked.

"Not that we could find. He seems to have been occupied these last few days and things have been rather stable." Pyrrha said with a shrug.

"Guess we'll know if anything comes up, the rebels will probably contact us." Blake figured. "In the meantime we'll focus on what we can do on this side. For better or worse, I think we can all agree which side has the more...active...threat at the moment."

"No arguments there. At least the King seems to be genuinely well intentioned. Something Salem can't even pretend to claim," Jaune sighed.

Meanwhile…

Salem felt her ears heat up for a moment, causing some mild discomfort. "I wonder who is cursing my name THIS time," she said, before giving an amused chuckle. Let them curse her name as much as they want, it won't matter. She'd always come out on top either way.

Back with the Chosen…

"Speaking of stuff going on on our side, with how many butterflies we've no doubt caused, any news going on in Atlas and/or Mantle?" Tentomon idly asked.

As if in response to that, there was a knock from the RV door. "...huh? Wonder who that could be?" Ruby wondered as she went to the door to answer it. When she did...she was met with a few pounds of pure...metal, that tackled her to the ground.

"Sal-u-tations everybody!" came a familiar voice the group hadn't heard in months.

"Penny?!" Ruby gasped out as the form that had tackled her stood up, and she saw her friend for the first time in months… and she actually looked different. She sported a new dress for one, with the straps for it attaching into a corset around her waist, her white top had puffy sleeves, she had a ribbon around her neck, and her short hair was now long, reaching below her shoulder blades.

"Hello again Ruby! It's so great to see you again after half a year!" Penny exclaimed happily as she pulled Ruby up to her feet.

"Hello everyone." Monodramon said with a wave as he came in behind his partner.

"Hey you two." Gyro grinned "How'd you find us out here?"

Penny… actually blushed a bit and laughed awkwardly "Well… I MAY have snuck on board an Atlesian ship bound for Anima after father finished upgrading my body a bit."

"Not just any ship too." Monodramon muttered, before another pair of footsteps were heard climbing onto the RV.

"My word… I never thought I'd see something so… strange." came the voice of Winter Schnee as she looked around the RV "How did you make it bigger on the inside?"

"They likely had some help." Lunamon told her, and Winter nodded after a moment, figuring it was likely something about the Digital World.

"Sister? Why are you here?" Weiss asked in surprise, not expecting to see Winter here of all places.

"General Ironwood had sent me out to Anima to do a sweep of the western portion, check to see if there were any Digimon related incidents." Winter answered as she turned to them "And, when I arrived… I found Miss Polendina and Monodramon had snuck into my personal supplies." she finished with a sigh, while Penny tried to whistle innocently.

"Of course they did." Pierce chuckled "And before you ask, the only Digimon activity we've seen so far has been pretty harmless, outside of them killing Grimm of course."

Winter nodded in thanks to the answer "I also came hoping to find you all actually." she added.

"That...sounded kinda ominous," Nora couldn't help but say.

Winter sighed "It… might be. I honestly can't tell yet, but… Atlas has begun proper forays into the Digital World."

"So they finally got their gate working right?" Agumon asked, earning a nod.

"After they finished getting the bugs out, they've finally deemed it safe enough for actual people to use," Lunamon said. "They're probably in the middle of the first expedition, though I have no idea where exactly the gate opened. It could be in any of the Continents."

"Hopefully it's not in Server." Salamon said with a wince.

"Why? Is there a problem with that continent?" Winter asked in concern.

"Kind of." Gomamon grimaced "We're fighting a battle with some kid calling himself the Digimon King, and he's rallied a lot of Digimon under the flag of his Kingdom. He's trying to make the Digital World a safer place, but he's going about it the wrong way."

"He's preventing Digimon from evolving when they are in range of his control towers." Biyomon clarified.

Winter was quite surprised at that. "That doesn't sound like a very good way to make a world safer," she couldn't help but say. "Though...if there WAS an army taking over, we've never seen anything like that from the footage the Atlesian Knights sent through the prototype portal ever recorded."

"So most likely Atlas is foraying into one of the other Continents then," Tentomon nodded. "Probably for the best."

"I can imagine the news that a teenager was forming his own Kingdom inside another world wouldn't be taken too well," Winter sighed.

"Going to keep it to yourself then?" Rusty asked curiously.

"Yes, it's for the best that the General doesn't learn about this, he's already quite stressed as is. I also haven't told him about what you all did." she said, smiling at her sister "I made a promise to mother, and since she's keeping her own and turning the SDC around for the better, I shall do the same."

"I'm just glad Grandfather's legacy is finally being restored," Weiss smiled, before she gave Gyro a questioning look, the question behind it obvious.

"...we probably should," Gyro said.

"Hm?" Winter asked, having heard that.

"It's...a little something we got our hands on from someone we know in the Digital World. It's...a possible future, albeit one we're QUITE sure has been mostly if not completely averted," Gyro clarified.

"Can Digimon have visions of the future?" Winter asked in surprise.

"Some can, yes." Lunamon told her, though she felt the Chosen were omitting some details, but she'd let that pass.

"Basically, the future we saw… it was pretty bad. Atlas was in lockdown, Ironwood was VERY paranoid and trying to turn you into the next Winter Maiden, and one of your specialists, Clover Ebi, died because of an assassin called Tyrian Callows." Gyro summed up. "Oh, and we figured out how someone hacked into your systems so easily. Word of advice, make sure to update Atlas AND Mantle's security systems and build a new code from the ground up. The guy who originally wrote it is working for Salem. You know, in case that wiz kid Oren hasn't already done it with his own system."

Winter's eyes were wide "I… see… the General had already brought me into his circle rather recently, he told me that Salem was dangerous, and that the Maidens were real, and we were keeping the Winter Maiden, an elderly woman named Fria, safe."

"I've met Fria! She's very nice!" Penny exclaimed "I wonder if she's what a grandmother is like?"

"Is she…?" Ruby started.

"She's...stable...but unfortunately it's only a matter of time before old age claims her," Winter sighed. "At the very least she's led a full life so she's content with spending her last days in Atlas."

"Yeah...no amount of changes we do on purpose or not can change death of old age," Veemon sighed.

"On a lighter note, so far from the reports we are getting from the expedition team, it seems things are going well," Winter said.

"As long as you don't piss off any of the Digimon they'll usually leave you alone. Though...there are also plenty who seem to not need a reason to be pissed so it's a mixed bag all around. Just be careful of any BIG ones that look relatively human enough, because half the time, those are Ultimates, and they can destroy an army easily since they outrank Maidens." Gyro warned her.

"I'll be sure to warn General Ironwood the next chance I get," Winter frowned. Yeah...she'd rather NOT hear that the expedition team was decimated because they picked a fight they couldn't win. "Other than that, it seems the Council and the military in general is quite interested in seeing if they can find any exotic materials that could be of use. Perhaps you know of some such materials?"

"Well if its materials you're looking for, you'll DEFINITELY want to look for these," Ruby said helpfully, pulling out some of the leftover Chrome Digizoid from after they'd built their new weapons.

Penny hummed as she peered at the material, her eyes glowing a bit as she did so, no doubt scanning it "Oh! I think my father found a tiny sample of this before I left. Not enough to do anything with it, but still, he was amazed at the durability of even that small shard."

"It's called Chrome Digizoid. One of the best metals in the Digital World." Weiss explained as she started typing on her scroll "The best Digimon ALWAYS have weapons and armor forged from it. Though I've found out there are stronger variants and some of our Digimon actually have them, such as Veemon at his full power, he dons a Blue Digizoid armor, which makes him faster than the wind."

"I think I remember reading through some entries and saw that some had Red Digizoid armor, which is even MORE durable than regular one." Ren mused.

"Fascinating." Winter said, looking at the cube in Ruby's hand "If Atlas could find some of those powerful alloys, we could equip our troops to exterminate any Grimm that attack."

"Good luck with that. Our mentor from the Digital World has been stockpiling Chrome Digizoid for centuries before he gave it to us so we could forge new, better weapons with it. The first time we got our hands on some, it was only enough to make a coating for our weapons and those only lasted so long," Pierce said.

"Even for us Digimon, getting naturally forming Chrome Digizoid isn't easy. Most Digimon who have it get it from evolving," Agumon added.

"In short, if you can get some, choose wisely what you use it for and who uses it. You're not likely to find too much," Jaune summed up.

"Also, the colored Digizoid… I don't think regular human forging methods would work with those. They all seem MUCH more resistant than the regular one after all. You'd need the help of an expert Digimon blacksmith." Gyro said with a frown.

"I see…" Winter frowned. "Would you happen to know anyone who could do that?"

"I know someone, though...then again, most people who know about smithing know him," Lunamon said.

"Oh? And you didn't say that before, because…?" Winter pressed good naturedly.

"You didn't ask, silly," Lunamon laughed. "Anyway, if there's anyone who could handle Colored Chrome Digizoid, it'd have to be Vulcanusmon of the Olympos 12."

"Olympos 12...aren't those the guys who rule the WWW Continent?" Yang asked.

"That's them yeah," Keenan spoke up. "They're pretty reasonable, so if you ask nicely Vulcanusmon should accept commissions."

"I see," Winter nodded.

"In that case, if we find the WWW Continent, maybe we can ask them for help," Penny said.

"I bet your dad would have fun talking to some of the smiths too," Monodramon said with a light chuckle.

Winter's scroll suddenly started to ring before any further conversation could go on, making her pull it out before tapping a button on the screen "A reminder. I still have places to be after all." she said with a sigh, before them all a smile "Anyway, thank you for the information you've given me everyone. I'll make sure it gets put to good use, and I leave Penny in your hands, since she was INSISTENT on spending time with her best friends." the elder Schnee said in amusement, making Penny laugh in embarrassment at the reminder.

"No problem Winter, we were happy to clear up some confusion for you. And hey, safe travels and all that stuff." Gyro chuckled.

Winter nodded, before her smile became a bit more sad "I hope our next meeting will be as good as this. Call it a hunch but… somehow, I think something bad will happen soon."

"That's…" Weiss sighed. She wanted to say it wouldn't happen, but… she didn't want to lie to herself. "I hope it doesn't come to that, but thank you for the warning. Take care, Winter."

"You too, Weiss," Winter said with a small smile and nod, before she and Lunamon left the RV.

Once she was gone… "...you know, since we're on topic, mind looking up those Olympos 12? The naming seems to come from a mythology back on Earth and let's just say if I'm right, it's kinda...jarring to hear them being 'reasonable'," Gyro said.

Weiss looked at him strangely before complying, bringing up the list of the members of the Olympos 12. "Here we go," she said, starting to list them off "Jupitermon, the God of Weather and Thunder, he's their leader. Junomon, his… huh, it literally says his wife, and she's the Goddess of Marriage and Childbirth. Bacchusmon is the God of Wine, Ceresmon is the Goddess of Fertility, Marsmon is the God of War, Mercurymon is the God of Diplomacy and Messengers, Mervamon is the Goddess of Strategic Warfare, Neptunemon is the God of the Sea… and one of Jupitermon's brothers apparently. Next is Venusmon, the Goddess of Love and Beauty, Vulcanusmon the God of Smithery, Apollomon is the God of the Sun, and Dianamon is the Goddess of the Moon. As well, Jupitermon's other brother is not one of their members, but he is Plutomon, Lord of the Dark Area."

"And these guys are generally reasonable?" Pierce double checked.

"About as reasonable as a firm but fair ruler can be," Keenan nodded.

"You'll find me sceptical considering their namesakes back home are considered the BIGGEST jerkass gods in the history of mankind. Jupitermon is named after Zeus, who literally could NOT keep it in his pants and kept impregnating mortal women. And Venusmon is named after Aphrodite, who was so vain she cursed a woman who was raped by Neptunemon's namesake, Poseidon, when it happened in Aphrodite's temple, and turned her into the mythical Gorgon, a woman with snake for hair who turns anyone that looks into her eyes to stone." Gyro explained with a frown.

Keenan stared at him with wide eyes "I… wow… that is… really cruel for no reason." he summed up, figuring the rest of the namesake gods were probably just as bad.

"But, we can confirm the Olympos 12 are nothing like that, at all." Falcomon reassured them.

"We lived on WWW for most of our lives, so yeah, we know what living there was like," Keenan said with a nod.

"Which region did you two live?" Monodramon asked curiously.

"We lived on the northern side, in Mercurymon's territory," Falcomon. "Actually...we lived very close to his fortress, since Frigimon is one of his vassals."

Pierce looked at them for a long moment "... Mercurymon is your dad isn't he?"

"Yes." Keenan sighed at being figured out so quickly.

"Huh… so, technically, you're the Son of Hermes… that would make you… hmm… your mom is Frigimon, and she's one hell of a fighter… oh, that makes you Myrtilus, he was a Greek Hero… be careful if you ever get into a race by the way, that's how he died." Gyro said after thinking for a few moments.

"...glad I never cared much for racing," Keenan sweat dropped. He wasn't sure how accurate that would apply to him, but he wasn't intent on taking any chances.

"Also… Apollomon and Dianamon… I just checked, and they evolve from Coronamon and Lunamon respectively… that can't be a coincidence." Weiss asked.

"You guys really are perceptive huh?" Keenan asked in deadpan, before sighing "No, it's not a coincidence. Some years ago, Apollomon and Dianamon fought against a powerful enemy, they had to Jogress together into GraceNovamon to defeat him. Though the battle left them degenerated back into their Child forms and with amnesia. The rest of the Olympos 12 decided to simply patiently wait for their memories to return."

"That's nice of them," Ruby said with a small smile.

"They fought that hard till they degenerated down to Child level. It was literally the least everyone could do for them," Falcomon sighed.

"So!" Penny started, bringing the attention back to her and Monodramon "What have we missed?"

Gyro frowned "There's… actually quite a good amount." he said before pulling out a USB key "This has everything from Volume 4 all the way to the end of Volume 7. Do you have a USB port anywhere on your body?"

"Oh, yes." she said, turning around and moving her hair out of the way, a small slot opening up on the back of her neck "Just plug that in and I'll download the files."

Gyro nodded and did just that, plugging the key into the back of her neck, with Penny humming as she downloaded them, before letting him remove the key as she started reviewing them all at a speed only her super computer brain can allow her to, and when she finished…

"Well… pardon my language… but that fucking sucks." she said with a hard frown "It's nice to know my soul counts as real by the Maiden rules, but it's still all quite bad."

"You're telling us. At least WE have ideas on how to deal with this, not to mention we've probably averted a number of things," Yang sighed.

"I don't even want to think about what our others have to deal with in the future. I want to say I believe Ozpin has some plan that could at least save Atlas, but honestly...I'm not seeing how the Kingdom can be saved anymore," Weiss sighed tiredly.

"I...have to agree…" Penny sighed. She wanted to say she saw a way out too, but from what she'd seen the only conclusion she could see happening was Atlas and Mantle's destruction.

"Let's not dwell on a version of our world that is...going horribly...and focus on what we can do to make sure our world doesn't go down that path," Blake sighed.

"Let's do that, yeah," Several of the Digimon agreed.

"Alright then! So, you said your dad found a shard of Chrome Digizoid?" Ruby asked "Want me to give you an upgrade then?"

"You would?" Penny asked with a growing grin.

"You know I would… though I just don't know how I'll do it since… you know, synthetic skin over your metal body." Ruby admitted with a hum.

"Oh, I can pull off SOME parts of it." Penny said, removing her gloves from her hand… before removing the skin like a glove, and showing a metal hand underneath.

Everybody stared at it with wide eyes for a long moment "That… that is actually going into the weird territory of our standards." Yang admitted.

Gyro hummed, before he got an idea "Hey, Penny, ever wanted to punch someone from far away?"

"Never really thought about that, but interested now," Penny said.

"You want to give her a Rocket Punch ability?" Pierce snorted in amusement.

"Basically yeah," Gyro chuckled.

"I think that'd sound awesome," Agumon laughed.

"Ok, I am SO in for making her that." Ruby grinned as she pictured Penny firing her arm off at someone.

"Well then Ruby, I leave my arms and Sharp Conscience in your care." Penny grinned.

"What's Sharp Conscience?" Palmon tilted her head.

"What she calls her weapons." Monodramon told her, Palmon making a noise of understanding.

A few days later…

"So… is this every Grimm hunt for you guys?" Monodramon asked while munching on some popcorn, him and all the other Digimon sitting on a log.

"Roughly yes." Falcomon nodded as they stared at the sight before them.

What was said sight you might ask?

The Chosen utterly annihilating a Petra Gigas of course.

"Is it weird I ALMOST miss the days when this was actually a challenge?" Yang asked as she punched the Petra Gigas in its new arm, the Petra Gigas doing the same...and said arm was obliterated from the impact.

"Nah, I'm with you there! This is almost too easy now!" Nora laughed as she swung Magnhild X, reducing a leg to pebbles and causing the Petra Gigas to stumble on its suddenly only one leg.

"These weapons are made to let us damage Ultimates. Against normal Grimm it's overkill," Blake said in amusement as she sliced through another of the Petra Gigas's replacement wood arms with the same ease of cutting through melting butter.

"I've never had this much ease with Grimm before." Penny laughed as her weapons cut the Grimm's replacement earth leg to pieces, cutting through the minerals that made it up with ease.

"As fun as this is, let's put this Grimm out of its misery," Gyro chuckled as he cut off the other replacement leg, causing the Petra Gigas to fall to the ground, face up.

"I got this!" Ruby said, appearing in the air before pulling into a spin...and cutting the Petra Gigas's man body clean in half, including the Geist's mask, killing it then and there, while landing on the ground perfectly.

"Well, it's official. The average Grimm just isn't a challenge anymore," Jaune couldn't help but say.

"Let's just be glad this should mean the problems on this side will be a LOT more manageable," Pierce sighed.

"Considering what might be ahead of us? That's definitely going to be a big help," Pyrrha agreed.

And that's that chapter, like I said, a bit short, but this one was more of a wrap up to the pre-Volume 4 stuff and them watching the volumes they hadn't seen.

Anyway, next one is coming soon, and as always...

The Adventure Evolves