Disclaimer: Neither franchise belongs to me.
Reviews!
fangsofdeath: thank you.
Gravious: Precisely! ;)
Darkill Galaxy05: Perfect, you got it right.
Ben Bones: That's because I hurried it off because I wanted to get it out on my birthday as a present for myself XD.
Guest: File Island es muy prominente en varios medios de la franquicia. Desde los animes, hasta los juegos de Digimon Story o World.
Guest: Aww, tranquilo, no hare algo tan malo… creo.
ranjira1988: Hackmon and Ruby is something I'm really looking forward to explore.
Lipeghoul: OH MY GOD! THANK YOU! LITERALLY THIS REVIEW HAS HELPED ME IN WHAT I PLAN TO DO IN THIS STORY! THANK YOU!
Mr Navit: :0 MISTER NAVIT! PLEASE DON'T HACK ME! I-I mean… I will explore various factions of the Digimon Lore. And as for Shakamon, we'll have to see.
triscythe59: Dude! Long time no see! And… no, even if it is a good idea, I have to point out that Penny died in the roads as a human. Not as a robot… And yes, baby girl deserved better…
Guest: Sorry for the wait
foxchick1: Here it is!
Her eyes fluttered open and Ruby sighed softly as she realized she was still on the bed at the Sistermon's house. The memories of what Weiss told her was fresh in her mind and it gave her a harsh pang in her heart.
Penny was dead. And she couldn't be there to stop it. Just like with Pyrrha.
She laid there as she heard a conversation. It was her teammates, talking about the events prior to their fall and theorizing of what could have happened after it. "To top it all of we have no idea of what happened with the Relics, if everyone made it to Vacuo… Or Where Neo is…" It was Yang's voice.
"Maybe everyone else made it?" Being an optimist did not fit Blake. Even now Ruby could hear how she was forcing herself to try and be the positive one.
"I don't know… But I have a bad feeling," When Weiss said her part, Ruby knew that was her cue to get up.
"Neo's here too…" She added her two cents as she sat up. Her teammates heads whipped in her direction as they heard her voice.
Yang got off her chair and was at her side in a moment, with a hand on her shoulder and a kind smile. "Hey sis. Are you alright?"
Ruby didn't immediately answer. That didn't matter right now. "… She attacked me when we were falling."
She placed her hand on tops of Yang's so they could focus all in the most pressing issue.
Sighing, Blake stood up and approached her too, followed by Weiss, "Okay, your weapon is still missing and Yang's arm is still missing. At least we have a clue of where the first one is and will be our priority when we leave for the Server Continent."
"Its hostile territory," Weiss sighed, placing a hand on her forehead. "We are going to need supplies and these people's resources are scarce as it is. Not to mention I doubt they have Dust if we ran out of it, we'll just depend on the melee settings of our weapons and our Semblances."
Another thing to worry about. Ruby looked down at her wrist, where the strange device that has appeared in her wrist was still strapped. She frowned as the implications of what happened yesterday and what this thing did came back to her.
"Anything on that thing that can help us?" Yang asked, after noticing her staring at it.
Ruby shook her head. "No. I think it'll be useless once we leave…" She said. "I mean… aside from the capture thing I don't think it'll help us to defend ourselves in Server."
"Have you checked the other menus?" Blake asked, tilting her head. "Maybe there's something useful in them."
Shrugging knowing she had nothing to lose, Ruby pressed the buttons to select the 'Register' menu and selecting it.
The screen showed something akin to a selection menu for characters of a videogame, with a lot of the slots empty and with an interrogation symbol in them. However, there were a couple of them with the image of Digimon that Ruby recognized from the island.
"Is that an… encyclopedia?" Weiss questioned as she looked at the screen.
Ruby selected the image of one of the Digimon of the village: Alraumon. In front of her, like the page of a character, appeared a picture of the Digimon and a brief description of it.
"Alraumon:" A voice digital voice came from the watch, making them all jump back. "The aroma emitted from the flower on its head is intensely foul. Its Special Move is twining the opponent in the claws extended from its hands, then disorienting them: Nemesis Ivy."
The voice stopped and the team looked at the watch boggled eyed. Blinking in bewilderment at the sudden dump of information.
"Did it…" Blake started, pointing at the device. "Did it just give a description about that Digimon…? Isn't that a privacy breach?"
"Or a source of knowledge if facing other Digimon, which will be helpful when we go to Server," Weiss countered, looking at the device with a critical eye.
"Weiss has a point. Besides its not like it told us what kind of underwear they wear," Yang said with a shrug. Then she made to cross her arms only to just have her normal arm hanging awkwardly and making her huff in frustration. "I hate not having my arm."
Shaking her head and conceding the point that this function will be useful, Ruby turned went back to the main screen of the device and selected the option of 'Status.'
The screen showed something that surprised her. She blinked as her eyes widened in shock, "Hackmon?"
The screen showed an image of Hackmon and at its side a bar-meter similar to the one in Scrolls to keep tabs on Aura. Actually, it just looked exactly like the application in Scrolls to keep tabs on aura.
"Why is it showing us this?" She muttered as the doubts also clouded her friends' faces.
Weiss hummed and pressed a hand to her mouth, "Ruby? You mentioned that when this thing appeared you started giving orders to Hackmon? To beat that other Digimon?"
"Yes, I did," She nodded, taking her eyes off the watch. "It's like sudden thoughts came to me, orders and attacks to direct Hackmon to attack. It was kind weird…" She trailed off and frowned, getting to where Weiss was going. "You think this thing is connected with him?"
"Then why appear on Ruby's wrist?" Questioned Yang, whom huffed and groaned afterwards. "Gosh, why is it that we just get more and more questions!?"
"I doubt they know as much as we do…" Blake commented, referring to their hosts.
Ruby frowned, not liking the implications of this. Did that meant Hackmon and her were connected or something now? She hoped not. Not because she didn't want anything to do with the little reptile, but because she did not want to drag him on their journey. To take him away from his home just because she had to get to hers.
She looked out the window and noticed the sun was already coming up. It was the dawn of a new day, and Trailmon did say that he was going to take them to Server.
"I do not know what this means…" She declared, sitting up. "But for now I think we just need to carry on with the day and get to Server… Then we figure out what to do…"
She said, walking down the stairs. Ignoring the worried glances her friends were exchanging.
"Here. This is the best we could gather."
RWBY took the four bags from Noire, whom kept that amicable smile as usual. "Thank you," Ruby said with a small smile. "We know how much this might cost you…"
"One last show of friendliness, I doubt you'll get much over there in Server," Kudamon said, tipping his hat to the four girls
Ruby looked around, her sights looking for a certain Digimon. "Where's Hackmon?"
Noire sighed. "We haven't seen him since this morning. I think… he might not be good with goodbyes."
Ruby felt a mix of relief and disappointment. She didn't want to bring up what the watch showed with the Status option and how it showed Hackmon, but that didn't mean she didn't want to see the little reptile for the last time, possibly.
"It's been real guys." Yang's voice once again brought Ruby to reality. "We hope things get better around here. If we see those Imperial dummies, we'll kick them extra hard for you."
"Hmm… I might actually like that one…" Ciel muttered, looking at Yang with an approving look.
A loud whistle called their attention, accompanied by the loud voice of Trailmon. "AAAAAALL ABOARD!"
"That's our cue," said Blake, turning around along with the rest of her team.
Ruby turned around and as she climbed, gave a dubitative last wave to the town whom had gathered around to bid her and her team farewell. She saw that Blanc and Noire returned the gesture, and Kudamon tipped his hat, while Ciel did the same as her sisters after a nudge from Blanc.
The interior of Trailmon was not as impressive as the train they took in argus. Rusted and with green seats that were a bit tattered. Considering the condition the poor Digimon was when those people from the Empire came, she could only assume it was their fault.
Sighing, she sat next to her sister, whom was curiously peeking at the backpack. "Hungry already?" She asked her.
"We didn't had breakfast…" She shrugged, but closed the bag. "But… I get it. These things have to last."
"It is not the only thing they gave us, look." Weiss called their attention as she rummaged through her bag and pulled out a familiar book.
Blake took it from her and scanned carefully. "This is the book Noire showed us yesterday. She probably gave it to us to use as a guide." She flipped through the pages. "I… Wow, I can actually understand this!"
Yang and Ruby stood up and walked to them. But a sudden jolt caused them to stumble and fall to the floor, followed by a loud whistle and a distinct of constant chugging. Trailmon was in motion.
"A little warning would have been nice!" Yang grumbled, sitting up. Ruby just held her head, her world spinning.
"Well…" She said, shaking her head. "Next stop: Server."
As the crowd dispersed after watching the girls left, only the sisters were left looking at the distance as Trailmon grew smaller in their perspective.
Then, Ciel broke the silence with her ever-present scowl becoming more pronounced. "He left too, didn't he…?" She asked.
Noire only sighed and nodded, an odd smile on her face. "Our little knight thought he could sneak out without us noticing…" She said with a soft giggle before turning serious. She put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "This… might be for the best… It's his…"
"Destiny, yes, yes, I know…" Ciel blew her off, getting the hand off her shoulder. "I just… feel useless."
"Me too…" Blanc said, looking down and gripping her dress.
Noire brought the two into a hug. "Me three. The rest is on his hands. With the help of those humans… he will achieve his true purpose."
The sisters stayed like that for a long while, before returning to their chores around the island. They were their protectors from all the other Wild Ones that prowled outside of the settlement. In the end they just had to have faith in their little brother…
Ciel scoffed to herself as she wiped away her tears. 'Ain't that a bitch…?' She wondered to herself, with a lot of bitterness.
"Jeez, that took long!" Yang said, stretching her arms as they finally disembarked from Trailmon.
Ruby had to agree with her sister. The device on her wrist did tell time like a wristwatch. They stayed in the cabin for at the very least six hours! Most of them going back by sleeping to avoid thinking of hunger.
"I'm glad we made it in one piece this time, girls," Trailmon rumbled, his voice sounded tired. "This post seems to barely get any attention from the Empire. So, I doubt they'll notice the disappearance of their officers."
Ruby pet Trailmon's side as she heard the tiredness of his voice. "Thank you for everything, Trailmon."
"You defended my home. It is only fair!" Trailmon rumbled happily. A loud whistle came from him, accompanied by steam. "I gotta go back and lay low. I wish I could get you deeper to another stations, but when Sealsdramon learned of my smuggling he blocked the access to other lines…"
Ruby looked ahead from the station. At the side was a large building that she supposed was the base where those militia Digimon came from, and at the side was another railing. However, she noticed how this one was blocked.
"Can't we unlock it?" She asked him.
"You need a code. And since Sealsdramon is missing…"
Ruby looked down at her wrist and sighed, she doubted Sealsdramon would give her the code.
Trailmon started moving forward. "If I'm right, getting to the center of the Continent will take you a while. Weeks at most, but don't fret! If you find another Trailmon station, I'm sure you can get there sooner! Good luck my friends!"
RWBY all gave different parting words.
"Bye, big guy!"
"Thank you for the help!"
"Be safe on your way back!"
"Bye, Trailmon! Tell my sisters I said hi and I'm sorry for sneaking!"
Ruby stopped. Her team stopped. Trailmon sadly didn't stopped. The girls looked down to see a familiar white reptile waving at the departing train, a blissful smile on his face.
He stopped and turned to them. "So…? Where do we go next in our adventure!?"
"HACKMON!?"
Ruby worked around her hanging jaw to try and get the words out that were not simple babbling. "Wha- how- wha- why!?" That was the best she could get out.
"What are you doing here!?" Luckily, she had Weiss as a partner and that helped in having someone to express her distress.
Hackmon smiled happily, apparently oblivious to the distress and confusion his presence caused them. "I couldn't just let you go and face the Metal Empire alone. Ruby and I are a team now! And a knight does not leave their friends alone!"
"A-A team!?" Ruby asked, aghast.
Hackmon nodded again, looking up at her with sparkling eyes. "Of course! Remember when we faced the Wild On—I mean, Dobermon! You were like: 'Wokenapalm'! And I was like pew, pew!" As he talked, Hackmon bounced around, imitating for the best of his ability the fight that occurred the previous day. "We're a team! Partners, remember?" He asked, giving her a shining smile.
Ruby found herself sweating as the rest of her team gave her questioning looks. "It was a spur of the moment!" she said, waving her arms around. Then she turned to the Digimon. "Hackmon, what about your sisters!? Did you tell them!?"
"Err…"
"That's a no then," Yang said, narrowing her eyes at the little Digimon who fidgeted in place.
"So, they have no idea you're here!?" Blake asked, appalled. Considering how she used to run away from things, maybe she knew how bad it was to leave without a word…
"I left a note…" Hackmon said trying to play innocent and poking his fingers together.
"That makes it all better." Weiss threw her hands on the air. Not even the adoration she felt towards Hackmon's adorableness could take away the exasperation she was sharing with her team.
"Really?"
"NO!" The whole team exclaimed, making the small reptile shriek and flinch back.
Yang sighed and facepalmed. "Great now we have to wait for Trailmon to come back."
Weiss whipped around and gave her a flat look. "Did you not hear him? He's going to lay low and that means he probably won't be coming back here any time soon."
"And we need to start moving if we want to reach the tree or find another station of other Trailmon." Blake added and Yang slumped forward with a groan.
Ruby stalked forward, looking down at a nervous Hackmon who looked at her with the big eyes of a puppy. She raised a hand and open her mouth to say something to him, but in the end, she dropped it and turned around, walking forward. "Let's go. He's coming with us."
"What—? Ruby!" Yang jogged to her side and looked at her with an incredulous face. "Are you sure? I mean... if we go home we can't just take him with us."
"But we can't sit around and wait for Trailmon to come back for him. We need to continue. And this," she held up her wrist to show her device, "for some reason showed his status and did make me coordinate better with him yesterday. There must be a reason for that."
Yang sighed, clearly not thrilled by the idea, but accepting her reasoning. "Fine. You're the boss, sis." She said, giving her a smile and a slight bump on her shoulder.
Ruby gestured with a nod to Weiss and Blake, whom nodded back, accepting her choice in the manner. Then she looked down at Hackmon. "Listen, if we're going to make this work, you're going to listen to what we all have to say. Sneaking out to join us is does not look that good for a resume to join a team. Got it?"
"Got it," He nodded, a serious look in his face. Although the excitement could still be seen shining on his eyes.
"Let's get your arm back, sis." Ruby commented, turning to Yang.
The blonde pumped her fist and was the first to lead the way towards the base near the train station. The door seemed normal enough and at the side was a much larger, hangar door.
Blake grabbed the handle and twisted the knob a bit, to no avail. "Locked. Figures."
Placing her single hand on her shoulder, Yang walked past Blake. "I got this. I'm gonna open it."
"How are you—"
PEW!
"Oh, right, that way," Blake said, throwing a hand up and letting it fall, after Yang used Ember Celica to blast the door open. A small smile of amusement in her face.
"Use those sparingly! We have little Dust as it is." Weiss scolded, putting a hand to her hip, as the Team entered the base. Yang just nodded and waved her off.
The inside was very spacious. With tables and maps scattered all around along with weapons that most certainly belonged to the platoon that invaded the town on File Island. There was also a large door with bars that Ruby walked up to, to investigate.
"This must be where they held Dobermon…" She mumbled to herself, her hand brushing the door.
"Aha!" She turned to see Yang holding up her mechanical arm triumphantly.
"That was fast." Ruby couldn't help but comment.
Yang shrugged and put her arm back into her stump, he cybernetic curling and uncurling as if it was another limb as it was back in place. "They just left it laying there… which kind of piss me off. This thing is important!"
"Not for them. But these were," Blake commented, gesturing to some boxes laying around the base. "They might have things that can help us. Resources."
"So… looting?" Yang asked, not really sounding worried or appalled by the prospect.
"Looting." Weiss nodded, sharing the same tone.
Click. While they talked, Blake had already opened one of the crates. Making everyone looked at her with surprise. She just smiled and shrugged. "You really shouldn't look all that shocked by this point."
"Then I can call you—"
"A cat-burglar? No." Yang pouted when Blake cut her joke short.
The team, plus Hackmon, gathered around the crate and marveled at what was inside. "Neat! Food!" Yang cheered, grabbing a can of… whatever kind of food was inside. "We just arrived and we got jackpot."
This IS a military base. Supplies like these were to be expected, Ruby supposed. She picked a can and scanned it up and down. There were symbols around it, but for Ruby they were legible even if she knew it was no the language spoken in Remnant. Was this what Blake meant when she read the book?
Weird.
"Isn't this like… stealing?" Hackmon's innocent question made her look down. He was holding the can curiously. "Because… that's like a bad thing, isn't it?"
The four girls exchanged looks with a wince. The child-like innocence from the Digimon clearly tinged in black and white in the middle of a gray situation. It was stealing, but it was also a way for them to gather resources for their journey, and taking it from bad people.
"Hackmon…" Weiss crouched to his level and nodded. "Yes, it can be considered stealing. But this base belonged to Sealsdramon and his men whom are now… trapped in Ruby's watch, where they don't need it." If that isn't an expression, she ever expects to hear from Weiss' mouth… "So, this food will only go to waste. And that on itself is bad."
Hackmon's eyes squinted as he processed the information. Then he gave a small, hesitant nod. "Okay."
"Good boy!" Weiss was back to gushing over him, the early irritation for him following forgotten, as she cupped her cheeks and squeeled.
"Let's dig!" Yang's arm popped the can open and she tipped the can over, letting the contents fall into her mouth. She chewed… then she froze with a grimace on her face.
Blake gave her a flat stare. "Bland and tasteless?"
"Like cardboard…"
"How do you know how that tastes like?"
"Shut up."
"Guess we shouldn't have expected a gourmet dinner. But it shall do…" Ruby shrugged, taking her bag and packing as many of the cans as she could, while sorting it out the resources she already had and the others doing the same.
"Okay. We found more food. Is there anything else of use?" Weiss asked, looking around the base. "There's plenty more boxes scattered around."
Blake linked her fingers together and made them crack. "Guess it's time I get to it." Yang gave her a reassuring slap on the back and their resident cat-burglar sprung to action.
Just because Yang can't say it does not mean Ruby can't either.
So far in every box were more cans of tasteless food that would help them in their trek, as well as bottles of water that were more than welcomed.
While that happened, Weiss looked around the maps laying on the tables. "According to these… if we are here…" She tapped the map. "Then there's some settlement nearby." She tapped another part of the map.
"New town?" Asked Yang, crossing her arms and looking at the map. "Would they be friendly?"
"We're about to find out." Said Ruby, as she approached the table with Blake after she finished picking every lock. "It's out best next option. Let's hope its not to far."
"This map is too big for us to carry… how are your scrolls?" Weiss asked, as she fished hers out.
Ruby took out hers too and deployed the screen. "Weird… since we got here the batterie has not gone down…" Scrolls are meant to last, specially these models made by and for Huntsmen, on Atlas, but the gauge was the same as when she checked her Aura yesterday.
"Perks of being on a digital world, maybe?" Blake mumbled, also looking strangely at her Scroll.
"Whatever." Weiss huffed and shifted the function of the camera and snapped various pictures to the map. "I doubt this is the entire continent. But this map is better and more detailed of this area, compared to the one in the book, not to mention modern."
The three followed suit, snapping pictures of their own from different. Ruby hoped she could make heads or tails of the map and what was a settlement. When travelling Anima, Jaune was in charge of the map.
Tap, tap, tap. The sound of small paws scattering around called her attention. She turned to see Hackmon running towards a nearby window. "Hack? Everything alright?"
Hackmon's ears twitched and ignored her question. Worry growing, she approached the reptile and placed a hand on his back. "What's wrong?"
"Something… is coming…" He said with a tense tone.
Before she could ask what, she heard a distant sound.
"Skeee…"
It sounded like a shriek of some kind. She turned around to see her team and saw Blake standing straight as a ramrod, her animal ears twitching. "You guys heard that?" She asked.
"I did," Ruby nodded.
"Heard what?" Yang and Weiss however remained clueless.
"Skeeeee!"
Now that was clearer. Enough for Yang and Weiss to now be on guard and deploy their weapons.
Ruby looked out of the window, trying to find the source of the noise to no avail. Hackmon kept his eyes on the window, as if he knew exactly where the noise was coming from.
"It's getting closer!" He said, abandoning his spot by the window and running towards the door and exiting the base
"Wha—Hack!" Ruby dashed after him, hearing her teammates calling out for her in a similar matter.
She saw Hackmon standing outside, a few feet away from the base, looking around like a lost pup. Ruby trotted towards him with a confused look. "Hackmon! Do you know what is that—"
"Skreeeeeeeee!"
The screeching was accompanied this time by a large shadow flying over Ruby and a gust of wind that caused her cape to flutter. She flinched at the sudden chill and looked up to see what was the cause.
She gasped as she saw a large bird, that reminded her of the Nevermore of the initiation, circling around the base. Its form contrasting against the darkening sky.
The worst part was that it was not alone. Another two flew from the horizon and circled the sky along with the first.
"Oh man. Ruby, let's go back inside!" Hackmon said in a terrified tone.
One of the birds stopped and spread their wings wide before batting them down at them. The moment it did, black fire started to rain at them.
"SKREEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Welp. I know this chapter is not as long as the previous one. But if I want to start making this story something more frequent, like a Fallen Knight, then I have to go for quantity over content.
Because I really, really want to develop this story. Sad I can't do the same for Hunter X Zero X Two.
But AAAAAAANYWAYSSSSSSSS.
Thank you all for reading up to this point. If you want to support me go to this link eliminating the spaces:
P atreon user?u = 86905404
And you can also give me some tips in what to do in that page. I wanna give you guys all the entertainment I can for all the support you give me!
And so, I hope I see you again soon…