And here's the second one, as promised!
Not much to say here, so let's get to it!
Battle of Beacon!
"After an incredible series of matches, the time you've all been waiting for has finally arrived!" Port said into the microphone. "I present to you our finalists for the Vytal Festival's singles tournament!"
As he announced that, the participants for the finals were lined up, though the Chosen as a whole weren't really paying attention, having spread out a bit in such a way they were in somewhat close proximity to Cinder and Emerald without being too obvious. As such, they sort of tuned out the details of the finals, until the 'random' draw for the matches, and as expected, the first match was between Yang and Mercury.
"Be ready for anything people." Gyro whispered into an earpiece he was wearing, everyone giving a small sound of confirmation.
"Think everything will work out?" Agumon asked him.
"No way of knowing in advance buddy, but that's why we made sure to have so many backup plans in case the main one fails." Gyro said with a sigh.
Yang readied herself down in the arena, making sure to remind herself to stay calm through the whole thing so she could make it all look good and throw the match without suspicion.
"What, no jokes? No witty banter?" Mercury asked opposite of her with a smirk.
Yang shrugged "Hey, it's the finals, gotta take this seriously."
"Fair enough." Mercury said, just as the buzzer rang.
The moment the buzzer rang, both of them charged forward, Yang's punch meeting Mercury's kick. The impact caused both to recoil a bit, but that didn't stop them for long as they began clashing again, matching each other blow for blow. Yang quickly started using the shotguns in her gauntlets to try and gain an advantage, but Mercury countered them with the shots from his legs, before using one such shot to gain some air superiority and land a drop kick on her which she blocked, then countered with a kick of her own, pushing him back. The two smirked at each other before running forward and began a back and forth of close quarter combat, neither giving an inch. The arena was starting to get damaged as explosions and impacts sounded out from the exchange of powerful blows and gunfire. Eventually Yang found an opening in his attacks and landed a solid punch to the gut, followed by a few more shots, sending him skidding back till he almost fell out of the arena, if not for his quick use of his legs to propel himself back in.
Mercury grunted from the near loss, before he began to deliver a rapid series of kicks which she quickly blocked or evaded, one such kick pushing her back...before he began rapidly firing shots around him, the shots laced with wind dust as he continued firing and soon pulled into what could only be called a break dance, creating a veritable tornado of wind dust shots. Yang frowned, bracing herself knowing this was her chance, so to make it look good, she began countering with a few shots of her own, destroying a chunk of the wind dust shots, but eventually they broke through her defense and caused a sizeable explosion, one she could have tanked...but this time she relaxed, blocking the shots and letting the momentum push her right out of the arena. She'd made sure to use up all her shots in her gauntlets that way she had a believable excuse as to WHY she didn't just fire herself back up.
"Oooh! And with that, Miss Xiao Long loses the match to most of Beacon's disappointment. I honestly expected her to win this one with how effective she is in combat class." Port said, a bit of disappointment in his tone.
"Indeed Peter, but Mr. Black was a tough challenge and ended up coming out on top in the end, so let's give him a round of applause everybody." Leomon added.
And applause they did, congratulating Mercury for his victory, nobody save those in the know noting his confusion. After all...he was sure he hadn't made that combo THAT strong.
"This...wasn't supposed to happen," Cinder frowned under her breath. This was supposed to have ended with Mercury losing, followed by an illusion to make a little...accident. Something that was impossible if Mercury WON. "No matter...we can still salvage this," she said to herself, never noticing the small smirk on Gyro's face as he was near enough to hear that.
Where in canon the tournament was seemingly stalled for an entire day, but with the lack of a certain 'accident', there was no such reason and thus the tournament went accordingly. A couple more matches passed, before finally it was the moment the Chosen had been waiting for. Pyrrha vs Penny.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the next round is a matchup I think we're all looking forward to. A battle between the Invincible Girl, Pyrrha Nikos, against Atlas's rising star, Penny Polendina!" Port announced.
"I must admit I too am curious of how this match will go. So far both have exhibited impressive combat skills, and with this we shall be able to see who of the two will come out on top," Leomon nodded. "Whatever the case, I wish for an honorable match between them. May the best warrior win."
"Honorable, huh? That's ironic," Pyrrha couldn't help but chuckle.
"If it's all the same I wouldn't mind one of those another time," Penny said.
"It's a promise," Pyrrha nodded with a smile, before they put some distance between each other and the countdown began. Once it hit zero, the buzzer sounded and the match was on. Penny immediately pulled out and manipulated her swords in an almost dance like motion, but she purposely drew it out a bit, allowing Pyrrha to CLEARLY see how many swords she had, even lining them up before launching them forward. Pyrrha quickly went into action, blocking and evading the swords, but Penny quickly closed the distance, manipulating them like a pair of sharp wings which struck at Pyrrha in waves.
Pyrrha blocked and evaded and soon found an opening, landing a kick to Penny, pushing her back, but Penny rolled with the blow, manipulating her weapons to circle her and shifted them to gun mode, firing green lasers at Pyrrha who was forced to dodge again, using the movements to get closer, all the while deflecting swords, before finally she managed to ram into Penny, sending her flying back. Of course, that wasn't the end as Penny came flying back using her swords in gun mode like a jetpack, propelling her back towards Pyrrha, before landing a strong strike that cracked the arena, forcing Pyrrha to dodge, and at that moment, one of the swords came flying and knocked Milo out of her hand, to which she tried to call it back, but it was further deflected.
Penny was at the ready, controlling all her swords, raised and ready for a final strike...and at that moment Pyrrha suddenly saw them all multiply. It was time. Letting out a shout of distress and panic, she raised her shield defensively, and at that moment, Penny threw her swords forward with everything she had, the impact sending Pyrrha flying back, right out of the arena. And with that the match was over.
A stunned silence rolled through the arena as Pyrrha fell out of the ring, Penny standing and grinning silently, before she started cheering a bit, which seemed to trigger everyone who started to cheer and clap for her.
"My word! Penny Polendina has won! She's defeated Miss Nikos!" Port was pleasantly surprised at the turnout.
"I suppose that although Miss Nikos was touted as being Invincible, it just goes to show there's always someone better." Leomon added with a chuckle.
Pyrrha couldn't help herself from smiling a bit as she stood up while the ring floated down. Maybe now that she'd finally lost, the media would let her fade away, and she could finally become a normal girl again. "Congratulations Penny, that was a great match." she said with a smile, though she and Penny made sure not to make any sudden moves no matter WHAT they saw. The last thing they wanted was for Emerald to try and spring a last minute trick on them.
Cinder was glaring at the scene before her, internally wondering how and why nothing was going as planned. Why didn't that Xiao Long girl counter Mercury's attack? Why didn't Pyrrha Nikos use her semblance in a way that would have ended in Polendina's death. Still, while annoying, this was still recoverable. She still had 2 key cards to play and that would cause more impact than a few mishaps ever could, so she was still in control overall. Now the question was, should she give the signal now, or later?
She soon felt an answer come, when the camera panned around the stadium as the fat professor gave some commentary and analysis...before she noticed a figure among the crowds. A familiar image of a man in a unicorn mask and hood...with his mouth visible, a smirk appearing as he seemed to look right at her and turned to walk away.
Cinder's grip on her seat tightened as she discreetly signalled to Neo to hide her as she left her seat.
She was NOT going to let those damned Foretellers ruin her plans!
Besides, she still had a way to get Grimm to come here in droves.
Soon standing at the top of the stands near the exit, Cinder first had to make a quick call, and the one who answered, was a woman with skin white as snow, black veins on her face, her pupils red and the sclera black, her hair as white as her skin.
"Cinder… why are you calling?" the woman asked seriously.
"Lady Salem… the plan has hit a bit of snag, but it's still salvageable. I just need to make a request of you." Cinder pleaded with the woman.
Salem hummed after listening to her words "Speak child."
"I need you to order some of the biggest Grimm on the continent to head towards Vale, it's all I need." Cinder explained.
Salem nodded "A simple request, it shall be done. Now… don't disappoint me Cinder."
"Of course not mistress." Cinder said with a bow as the call ended. As she straightened up, she pressed on her scroll, preparing the Castle Virus, while sending a signal to the White Fang. It was time to begin the operation. At the same time, the many Grimm outside of Vale suddenly shifted, turning their sights on the city walls, among them the Goliaths who'd roamed the wilds for so long, and they began to charge forward.
A tremor hit as the signals in the arena were jammed, making the arena unable to get any messages out or in save for those from nearby. "What in the world is going on here?!" Port said in alarm.
"I don't know, but I can tell we're not going to like it," Leomon frowned. He got his answer when a Nevermore landed on top of the Arena, and began pecking at the shield on top.
"Whelp, there's the signal. Time to get to work," Sun frowned, with everyone in the Chosen's inner circle getting out of their seats and moving to the exits. It was time to man the defenses.
Outside the city, the Grimm were rushing on towards it, aiming straight for the outer walls, either to break through them, or to climb over… and of course, the Goliath chose to break through the walls, being followed behind by Boarbatusk, Ursa, Creeps, Deathstalkers, Taijitus, Beringels and Hell Marches, while the Beowolves actually climbed over and attacked any guards stationed up, while Nevermores and Gryphons swarmed the skies.
"Warning: Threat Level 10" an automated voice sounded out over the speaker system of the arena, repeating those words on playback.
"Wait, 10? Well, shit, that's actually one higher than it should be." Gyro muttered into his earpiece.
"Oh boy, that's bad, that probably means Salem stepped up doesn't it?" Ruby said with a worried frown.
"So, big bad witch ordered the Grimm to strike herself huh? Let's hope we're able to handle that." Scarlet summed up what they were all thinking.
"Either way, time to go all out I think." Pierce said.
"Yeah, time to kick butt with nothing to hold us back" Veemon cheered, as everyone grabbed their Digivices which quickly started to shine, and when they reached the exit, all Digimon evolved to their highest level that was capable of flight, those that couldn't just got on top of the bigger ones, however, they made sure not to fly higher than the arena, at least not yet.
Meanwhile, over in one of the many Atlesian airships that HAD been preparing to attack the oncoming force of Grimm, everyone was… well, dead.
Everyone except for a lone, short figure with pink and brown hair that had white streaks in it, wearing an atlas uniform covered in blood while she wiped the blood off her umbrella, a cane attached to her hip and a bowler hat on her head. She then walked to one of the holding cells and opened it, revealing Roman Torchwick.
"Well…" he smirked, seeing Neo. "It's about time."
Back in the arena, Ironwood was futilely trying to maintain order, while also ordering his ships to get into defensive position...only one wasn't responding. To make matters worse, a few minutes later, that same ship began opening fire on the arena, and the city nearby, throwing the people into a further panic.
Atlesian Knights were quickly deployed as well, aiming to stop the Grimm, but they were having limited success due to the sheer number. The Grimm were clearly aiming to tear Vale apart judging by the sheer numbers of these things. It was at that moment that several Knights suddenly gained red visors...and turned on each other and the people, followed by the static on the feeds changed, to show a black rook chess piece, one that was visible throughout the city.
"This is not a tragedy nor is it an accident," came Cinder's voice from the feeds. "This...is something that had been long coming, what happens when you place your trust, your safety, your children, in men who claim to be your protectors, who claim to fight for peace," she said with a smirk as she spoke into her Scroll. "Have you not all wondered why this fleet had been here? It was to wait for this moment, for the peace we've all enjoyed is fra-" she didn't get to finish.
"Fragile peace, impending war, bla bla bla. Could you GET anymore cliche?" the feed was suddenly cut off and in its place was a new image one that showed a man wearing a unicorn mask in a hood with his mouth covered, his voice altered. "Oh I'm sorry, was I interrupting? Well let me say this much, pay no attention to the creepy psychopath who was aiming to rile up the Kingdoms and usher in an age of strife for all of Remnant. And yes Cinder Fall, we were well aware that you had this planned, well aware of your plans long before you put them into fruition. As I said before, don't underestimate the Foretellers."
Cinder glared at her scroll, and spoke into it, somewhat surprised to find she could still be heard. "Oh? And yet here is another who claims to be a guardian. You speak of knowing this would happen, yet you did nothing to stop it," she smirked.
"Who said we didn't have a counter set in place?" 'Ira' smirked, before he raised a hand, and snapped his fingers. Suddenly several explosions happened through the city, followed by the feed showing the Grimm in the city now being decimated by the dozens, as a group of Digimon easily tore through them, while carefully avoiding doing collateral damage...as much as they could anyway. "Oh and while we're at it, virus off," 'Ira' added, before the Atlesian Knights visors turned blue and fired on the Grimm. "And overdrive." Now the Knights were basically having more dakka in their guns and moving speed, and were soon mowing down Grimm...though they did sorta break down after a few minutes.
"You… you…!" Cinder seethed at her plan falling into ruins.
"You know… if I were you, I'd haul ass before someone spots you hiding out in that corridor up there." 'Ira' said tauntingly, and from where he was, saw everyone turning to the corridor in question, a small light above it starting to blink to indicate which one it was.
If looks could kill, Ira would have been a smouldering pile, but as it was, that was not reality, so Cinder had no choice but to make a run for it. Still she knew there was a chance, as even WITH the new changes, panic had already set in in the city as the destruction was still going on, and from what she could tell, the Foretellers were still unaware of her prize. She could still salvage this situation. Of course that was also when she noticed MORE Digimon pouring into the city, and helping with the defenses, meaning she REALLY had to get her goal or else she wouldn't be able to show her face around Salem anymore. A small glimmer of hope came to her though when among the confusion and panic, a large figure could be seen flying towards Vale in the distance.
"There it is." Gyro said with narrowed eyes as he stood in Beacon's courtyard, eyeing the form of the Wyvern, WarGreymon landing not far from him and looking up at the Grimm.
"Should I take care of him quickly?" he asked.
"Wait a bit, but don't be afraid to take a few pot shots at it from afar. You're the best one for this job with the Dramon Killers." Gyro told him, WarGreymon nodding as he took back to the skies.
"Gyro!" Ruby called as she and Penny came closer. "The two of us are going to try and regain control of the airship Torchwick took over," she said so he'd know where they were going.
"Alright, but be careful. Even with the two of you, Roman and Neo aren't gonna be easy opponents," Gyro cautioned.
"Don't worry, Monodramon is coming with us," Penny said.
"And Rosemon will keep control of things near the airship, so she'll help if we ever need it," Ruby added.
"Alright. Good luck both of you," Gyro nodded before Ruby called her locker, and latched on to it, Penny doing the same with her own locker, both soon taking off into the air. Not long after they left, Blake, Yang, and Pierce came over too.
"Things are getting more or less under control here," Pierce reported.
"So we're going to deal with the Grimm in other sections of Beacon," Yang said.
"And its time we also confronted Adam," Blake added.
"Right, be careful. Even with our new weapons, I don't think we should test how durable they are against Moonslice," Gyro nodded.
"Don't need to tell us twice," Pierce said dryly. "Don't worry, our partners will stick near us, so we'll have backup if things get...hairy."
"Just be careful, I'd rather all of us get out of this in one piece rather than us saving Yang's arm but someone else losing something," Gyro frowned.
"Yeah, we'll definitely keep that in mind," Yang shivered. She was NOT going to charge head first knowing what Adam could do.
The three were soon on their way, before again, more of his group found him. This time it was Pyrrha and Jaune. "We're going to the vault," was all Pyrrha said.
"As long as you're sure. It didn't work in the original scenario, so I don't know if anything will change now. Either way, be careful," Gyro said.
"Don't need to tell us twice," Jaune sighed.
"Besides, we're coming too," Gabumon said as he and Gomamon were by their sides, having reverted to avoid any suspicion. With that, the four of them went back into Beacon.
"Alright… who's left with me now?" Gyro asked, turning around to see Team SSSN, Weiss, Ren and Nora with him, more students slowly arriving.
"Time to kick some Grimm butt." Nora said with a grin.
Gyro chuckled "Well, you heard the lady men, let's do it!"
Blake, Yang, and Pierce made their way through the areas of Beacon, taking out any Grimm they could find. They soon reached the cafeteria which was on fire. "I know this is a bit inappropriate, but something smells good," Pierce couldn't help but say, as apparently someone left food in there...which the fire was cooking.
"We'll tell the Digimon after we deal with Adam." Yang said with a snort.
"We should be able to handle him with the three of us. It helps we have our upgraded weapons." Blake said, feeling a bit more confident with Yang and Pierce with her, and all of them sporting a Chrome Digizoid coating on their weapons.
"But like Gyro said, if he's about to launch Moonslice, get the hell out of the way," Pierce reminded, to which both nodded. NONE of them were feeling like testing their weapon durability on that. The group soon found their way into the building, just in time to see Adam cut down the last of the AKs that were inside.
Once upon a time Blake knew she would have been afraid...but after her life changing journey through the Digital World...she could confidently say that Adam didn't even come close to the worst things she'd faced. As such… "Of course YOU'D be here," she said, her tone more annoyed than anything else, as after everything she'd been through, and after peeling the layers back...she realized just how pathetic her former friend and mentor had become. A shell of his former self even if he'd claim otherwise.
"Well well, I was wondering when I'd run into you," Adam smirked, seeing Blake. "What's the matter, not happy to see me?"
"I'd be happier to see a Deathstalker than you," Blake said flatly. "So is this what the White Fang has been reduced to? A group so hell bent on revenge they'd work with the Grimm and attacking a school of students who may or may not be able to defend themselves? And here I thought you couldn't get any more petty."
Adam's posture shifted ever so slightly, showing his surprise at her words, before growling lowly "Petty? You may find it petty, but the White Fang will go any length necessary to FINALLY end the blight on the world that are humans!"
"Is that what you're telling yourself this time?" Blake shook her head in annoyance. "Look around you, the only thing this is going to accomplish is even more violence between the two races, and maybe humans will get wiped out, or maybe it'll be the other way around. Maybe Faunus will get wiped out, or heck, maybe even both species. Not that you care. You haven't cared for years," Blake snorted. "That's all this has ever been for a while hasn't it? It's not Faunus rights, it's just you and everyone like you wanting to hurt as many as they can just to make yourselves feel better," she glared. "You're just using our past to justify yourselves."
"Nice," Yang couldn't help but smirk at that burn.
Adam's growl of rage was more audible now, before he seemed to compose himself and laughed, as if to some joke only he knew "I see now. The only way to show you how wrong you are is by making you feel the same pain you've made ME feel Blake. So I'll destroy everything you love and hold dear, starting with your friends."
"...did you hit your head since I last saw you or were you always that crazy?" Blake deadpanned. Seriously, after the Digital World, threats on her life were basically the norm after how many evil and/or feral Digimon tried to kill them.
"Probably a bit of column A and column B," Pierce mused.
"If that's the kind of crazy the White Fang let in now, no wonder they went off the deep end," Yang sweat dropped. Somehow seeing this guy acting like a jealous ex-boyfriend killed some of the intimidation factor he had a few seconds ago.
Adam snarled before charging forward, aiming to cut them apart, but the three of them got out of the way, Blake even leaving a stone clone in her place, causing Wilt to get stuck in it, followed by all three of them shooting him in the back, causing him to stumble forward.
"Is that what you've become my love? A coward?" Adam snarled.
"Says the guy burning down a school using the creatures hell bent on destroying both humans AND faunus," Blake shot back. "And for the record, whatever MIGHT have been between us died the moment you killed that woman, and for what? Having a child with a human? A child that would have been a Faunus at that?!" she glared.
"We were going to change the world!" Adam countered. "We were going to light the fires of revolution!"
"I wanted peace. You just want to kill people so you can feel better about yourself," Blake said as the group continued to open fire, maintaining some distance knowing he was mainly a close range fighter. "I'll light a revolution alright, but I'll do it without you even remotely in the picture."
"What you want is impossible!" Adam snarled, managing to block a few shots, charging his semblance a little.
"Only because of people like YOU!" Blake roared. "Humans, Faunus, everyone like you regardless of species, you're all the reason we can never have peace! None of you want it! You just want to hurt each other and keep hurting till either one or both sides are gone!" she shouted. "THAT isn't a revolution, it's a stupid war that only a complete MORON could even remotely consider it a step forward!"
"And mind you, in case you didn't notice, we and everyone in Beacon can see Blake's ears, and we accept her just fine," Yang added.
"So yeah, that 'impossibility'? That's all just you," Pierce chuckled.
Adam was clearly too enraged for words, instead simply roaring in rage as he dashed towards them and tried to cut them to ribbons… keyword being TRIED.
Instead, his sword was caught between a pair of fingers, and he found himself staring up at Seraphimon, whom, while his face wasn't visible, seemed to be amused by his posture.
"We were handling this just fine you know," Blake said in mild amusement at seeing her partner, especially since he'd just made a hole in the roof to land.
Seraphimon chuckled at that, casually keeping the sword in place while Adam was struggling and fighting to get it free. "Of course you were. But then, why take chances?"
"That's true," Blake chuckled, before turning to Adam with a confident look. "Adam, meet my Digimon Partner, Seraphimon. Seraphimon, meet my crazy EX-friend, Adam Taurus. Do with him what you will," she said simply.
"Certainly," Seraphimon chuckled, before reaching out with his free hand, and casually flicking Adam in the forehead while letting go of Wilt, sending him flying into the opposing wall, his mask staying behind. When he got up, and revealed his face for all to see…
"Okay… wow… suddenly his anger has some justification," Pierce winced when he saw the SDC mark on Adam's face, over his left eye, one clearly made with a fire brand, and thus clearly rendering his eye useless.
"Damn...I'm glad Weiss isn't here to see this. As if she doesn't have ENOUGH reasons to tear her old man a new one," Yang winced in agreement. That was a VERY good reason to hold a grudge right there...even if he took it too far.
"Not that this changes anything," Blake frowned, though inwardly she remembered that Adam DID take up the odd trend...after they'd lost contact with him for a brief time.
"Never said it did," Pierce shrugged. "Just...surprised is all."
"Adam Taurus, my partner has told me a lot about you," Seraphimon said with a frown. "You now have two options. Walk away and never come back, or fight to your own peril."
"Consider this my LAST gesture to our old friendship," Blake said coldly.
"Then you can consider THIS my answer!" Adam roared in rage as he started charging towards them once more.
"In that case…" Seraphimon trailed off "Seven Heavens!" he exclaimed as he shot the seven orbs towards Adam, who raised Wilt to block the attack.
"Is he seriously going to-?!" Pierce gasped.
"He is," Blake said, just as surprised, as Adam grunted and blocked the attack, straining as the force was against his sword as he tried to absorb it with his Semblance.
"That...shouldn't be possible!" Seraphimon gasped, his eyes widening behind the helmet when the Seven Heavens actually DID start to get absorbed. "Excuse my language but...what the actual fuck?!"
"Oh yeah, we're right there with you," Yang said, just as stunned as the rest of them.
Adam smirked, as the Seven Heavens was absorbed, his body glowing as he readied to counter...before Wilt and Blush glowed brightly and promptly exploded in his arms.
"...anyone else feel like they nearly wet themselves for a moment there?" Pierce sighed in relief.
"To be honest, I think I almost did yes." Seraphimon admitted with his own sigh.
"Nobody's blaming you. How the heck did he even manage to absorb an Ultimate's best move?!" Yang couldn't help but say.
"Guess we shouldn't underestimate crazy people," Blake sighed, as the dust settled, and there was Adam, badly injured and his right arm horribly mangled. There was no way he'd ever be able to use it now. "Its over, Adam. Your revolution is over before it even begins," Blake said simply.
"No...it's NOT over! It will never be over!" Adam snarled. "You...how dare you betray me! I swear, as I set upon this world and deliver the justice humanity so richly deserves, I will make it my personal mission, to destroy everything you lo-!" Adam's curse was cut short when he felt something stab him in the back, before he was pulled away, and slammed into several tables, the perpetrator revealing to be Ilia.
"Will you shut up already?!" Ilia said in annoyance, having arrived shortly before Wilt and Blush exploded. "Aside from how pathetic you're making yourself look right now, that's MY girlfriend you're threatening!" she glared.
"What is this, stop Blake from dealing with her demons herself day?" Blake said in amusement.
Ilia shrugged "He was pissing me off." she said as she came up to them "Gladimon is with the reinforcements from Junk City, she's helping them clear out the streets of Vale."
"Glad to hear that," Pierce nodded, before readying Pandora and walking to where Adam had been thrown. "Now then, not to sound casual about it, cause the adrenaline is probably stopping me from realizing the full implications, but let's nip THIS problem in the bud before…" he trailed off when they found Adam gone. "...that happens…" he groaned.
"Well...my arm is still attached, and he lost his weapons, got verbally AND physically beat down, and is probably too mentally unstable to get any real respect anymore so...I think that's a win for us," Yang said, patting him on the shoulder.
"Besides, I doubt he'll be able to kill Sienna and take her spot as leader now." Ilia added, feeling pretty confident about that.
"Good point, now if you'll excuse me, I'll go give WarGreymon a hand in pissing off the Wyvern." Seraphimon said with a chuckle before flying back up through the hole he made.
"As for us, we'll be dealing with what's left of the Fang." Blake said with a smile after her partner left "Shouldn't be too hard at this point."
Meanwhile, up in the sky Grimm were dying by the droves as 6 swords danced in the air, cutting them apart, Penny and Ruby tearing through Grimm, while Monodramon was busy trying to get the access to the inside of the airship open. "Seriously, who was hacking this thing? It feels like whoever reworked the code just use dice to decide!" Monodramon said in annoyance. Right as he punched another code, and the door opened...and promptly hit him in the face, as Neo stepped out, having come out to check what was making all the ruckus...and was less than pleased to see who was there.
"Trust me, we hate you too." Ruby said in deadpan when she saw the mute, knowing what the girl was thinking as she raised up her scroll and snapped a picture.
"She just told Torchwick we're here, didn't she?" Penny asked.
"Pretty sure she did yeah." Monodramon said as he rubbed his snout in annoyance. "Now let's see how much damage we can do before he shows up!" he shouted, jumping right at Neo...and smashing through one of her illusions. "...I hate that girl."
"We're right there with you," Ruby deadpanned, before opening fire randomly to try and force her out of her illusions.
"Just to be on the safe side…" Penny trailed off as she brought up her Digivice which glowed, Monodramon quickly evolving into Strikedramon.
Neo just smirked when she reappeared, giving a rather demented look, before she started to fend off their attacks with a mix of her umbrella and her semblance. Namely blocking weapons and evading attacks from Strikedramon.
Ruby growled a bit and fired after a failed strike, but Neo just deflected the shot, before breaking away to reveal Torchwick behind her who opened fire at Ruby, only for Strikedramon to block the shot. "Honestly, we knew you'd be involved in this, but I still can't believe people like you would stoop to this, and for what? A chance to live another day?" Ruby frowned.
Roman smirked "What can I say Red? I like living, and I know which side is the winning one."
"Well congratulations, you're working with the Grimm. You literally can't go lower than this," Ruby shook her head. Once upon a time she'd have probably spouted something that sounded like a hero of some old fairy tale...but she'd matured during her time in the Digital World. She'd already accepted that there were always going to be people like Torchwick, so it was their job to stop them. "We'll see about who's the winning side when this is over," she said simply. "Let's get them."
"I'm with you all the way, Ruby!" Penny smiled, before the three of them charged forward. They had the advantage in numbers, but Roman and Neo had the edge in experience, making the ensuing fight a see saw. However, knowing they didn't actually NEED the airship to regain air superiority, the group was a bit more...liberal in how they attacked, not too worried about destroying the ship.
"You know, you claim that you're on the winning side, yet from what I'm seeing, those Digimon the Foretellers sent are decimating the Grimm," Penny said as she fought against Roman, the older man doing his best to defend against the flurry of blades and laser shots.
"Not to mention any Adult level can take out Grimm like these any day," Strikedramon added, having caught a random Gryphon and casually ripped off its head, tossing it at Neo who dodged it...and got shot by Ruby for her trouble, sending her skidding back.
"I don't really like how they used us, but the fact remains you're the ones dancing to their plan, not the other way around!" Ruby added with a confident smirk.
Roman groaned "You really know how to piss a guy off Red, has anybody ever told you that?"
"I think you did a few times before." Ruby said with a cheeky grin.
"I'm going to enjoy wiping that look off permanently," Roman growled before he soon fought her with his cane, while Neo was now fending off Penny, using a mix of strikes and stabs to try to get her, but the swords were easily protecting her, while Strikedramon added a new layer of difficulty.
Suddenly, a roar broke through the fight, bringing everyone's attention to a Grimm that was descending from the sky, the Gryphons getting out of it's way as it landed on the ship.
"Oh my… that's a Sphinx." Penny said in surprise as she looked at Grimm, which sported a feline body with a four crested mask, feathered wings, and a snake for a tail.
"What are Sphinxes doing all the way here?!" Strikedramon said in alarm.
"My guess, a witch sent them," Ruby frowned.
"Sounds reasonable," Penny frowned.
"You two focus on the criminals, I'll deal with this thing," Strikedramon frowned.
"Careful, those are a stronger variant," Ruby cautioned.
"Wait, stronger? What's the weaker one then?" Strikedramon asked… and he then received.
A group of Manticores suddenly joined in on attacking the ship and anybody on it, similar in appearance to the Sphinx, but lacking the snake tail along with some other differences.
"I just had to open my big mouth." Strikedramon sighed, before refocusing on taking down these things.
"Looks like the tables have turned," Roman smirked at the sight.
"You DO realize they're likely to attack both of you just as much as they're likely to attack us, right?" Ruby deadpanned, a fact confirmed by the fact in one timeline Roman Torchwick dies of being eaten by a Grimm.
Roman opened his mouth to retort to that… before closing it "Huh… forgot about that." he admitted, before shrugging "Oh well, I'll just do my best to get rid of you before they focus on me."
"Not if we have anything to say about that," Ruby glared.
The fight soon resumed, the two huntresses battling as well as they could, while being mindful of the Grimm surrounding them. The same could be said for the two criminals even if they had a bit less to worry about, but they still had to keep an eye on the Grimm in case they decided to turn on them.
In the middle of that, Strikedramon was busy fending off any of the Grimm that landed on the ship, taking them out as they came, though the Sphinx proved to be a bit more resilient, which was only compounded by the Manticores that were attacking from various directions. They all tried to use fireballs on him, but that barely even phased him. "Don't you ever get tired of getting beaten up?!" he growled, taking out a pair of Manticores that had tried to dogpile him. However, right as he threw them aside, the Sphinx came charging forward. "Oh boy…" he gulped as he was sent flying back, and off the edge of the Airship, just barely managing to grab hold, albeit losing his grip quickly.
"Strikedramon!" Penny said in alarm, before Ruby blocked a strike from Neo meant for her.
"Go! I'll hold them off!" Ruby shouted, earning a nod from the carrot top who went straight for where her partner, and managed to grab hold when his grip was slipping...causing both to start falling off until she stabbed a few swords into the side of the ship, the cables barely holding them up.
Strikedramon looked down for a moment, before looking back up "Penny, let me go! You'll fall!"
"No! You can't fly! You'll get hurt!" She shot back.
"Neither can you!" he countered.
"That doesn't mean I'll just let go of you!" she said, trying to pull him up while her cables got closer to snapping. "We didn't plan all this just to lose one of us now!"
"Penny…" Strikedramon started, before he saw the Sphinx charge up a fireball. "Penny!" he shouted, before pulling her close, and in the last minute shielded her with his back, the force and movement ripping off the cable and sending them both falling to the ground. "I'm sorry…"
"You don't have to be. We're in this together no matter what!" Penny smiled...and at that moment her D-Ark began to glow brightly, before the light turned blue and a familiar card appeared before her.
(Play 'Slash!')
The Blue Card spun in the air for a moment, before it stopped as Penny grabbed hold of it, and brought it to her D-Ark, scanning the card. "Card Slash!" she called out, the data being released as the D-Ark went into overdrive. "Matrix Evolution!"
(Song change: 'EVO')
"Matrix Evolution," The drone-like voice said as Penny held her D-Ark to her chest, followed by a bright light as from it a dark green Matrix Crystal, which spun in the air as a reflection of Penny smiling enthusiastically could be seen, before it flew away and entered Strikedramon's chest. "Strikedramon, Matrix Evolution!" he called out as several rings appeared over him as they descended and encircled him, his armor removed, modified and reattached, turning it into black full body armor. His basic form remained the same, though his arms were now more humanoid with claws for fingers, he had two large claws on his feet, and a blade on each elbow. His helmet's single horn split into two, while he gained four leathery wings on his back "Cyberdramon!"
Digimon Analyzer: Cyberdramon
Cyberdramon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Cyborg Digimon. His unique rubber armor lets him endure many attacks before he starts to feel any sort of pain, making him perfect for long battles. Whenever viruses appear on a computer network, he is quick to chase them down and delete them. His special attacks are Erase Claw, sending out a super-oscillatory wave from his arm blades that completely destroy everything, and Cyber Nail, sending out a shockwave from his claws.
Back at the top of the airship, Ruby was seriously considering calling Rosemon for help, cause as much as she'd improved, fighting Roman AND Neo was a lot easier said than done. Not to mention the Grimm swarm.
"Well now Red, looks like your luck's just about ran out," Roman smirked. "Any last words?"
"Uh...duck?" Ruby blinked when she saw something fly and charged right at them.
"What the hell are yo-?!" Roman didn't get to finish as a veritable gust hit them, causing him and Neo to go tumbling forward right over Ruby who'd ducked.
"Oh what is it now?!" Roman groaned as he got up...just in time to see all the Grimm that had been flying around the ship dropping like flies, their bodies dissolving into red flakes rather than the normal black mist.
"Sorry we're late!" Penny called from where she was held in Cyberdramon's arm. "But looks like we managed to reach Perfect level."
"Awesome!" Ruby couldn't help but cheer at the sight "Way to go Penny!"
"This...is REALLY starting to get annoying," Roman growled.
"Yeah well, it's about to get worse," Cyberdramon smirked, right as he noticed another Sphinx coming. "Ruby, get on my shoulder quick!"
Ruby quickly obeyed as Cyberdramon took to the air as Penny also got on another shoulder, freeing both his arms. "Erase Claw!" he roared, as he brought his claws down, cutting through the incoming Grimm without issue, and struck the Airship...and soon went through that too, the cut remains dissolving into red flakes as he did.
(End song)
Roman and Neo were struggling to maintain balance...not that it mattered as they soon ran out of place to stand, and were soon falling to the ground...and were promptly caught by the back of their outfits by Cyberdramon.
A few minutes after that…
"You have GOT to be kidding me." Roman deadpanned as he and Neo were tied to a street lamp with some of Penny's cables.
Neo tried to struggle free a bit once she got over the fact she was tied up "I wouldn't recommend that. Those cables can cut through Aura… very easily at that." Penny spoke up.
Neo stopped after hearing that, and just resorted to pouting.
"Well… this happened." Summer said as she looked at the wreck of a small ship, Taomon nearby and dealing with some Grimm.
Then one of the pieces of the ship was lifted up, and out of the wreck came Ironwood, his clothes burned off partially, exposing the right side of his body, completely replaced with cybernetic pieces.
"What happened to you?" Summer asked with a raised eyebrow.
"My robots… they suddenly turned and attacked me." he said.
"Oh yeah, that." Summer said "It got fixed pretty quickly, they all turned BACK quickly and then overclocked themselves."
"That...wasn't in their programming," Ironwood blinked.
"If it helps, it was that 'Foreteller' in the unicorn mask," Taomon supplied.
"Yes and no," Ironwood sighed. "At least they're back on our side. I don't want to imagine the damage they'd have caused if they remained on whatever lunatic is behind all of this. At any rate, what's the situation?"
"The Wyvern in Mount Glenn woke up, and the White Fang let Grimm into the city...though I managed to call in a few old favors," Summer said, right as several Grimm overhead were destroyed by Digimon. "There are certain perks in being a former member of the Rebellion back when Evil Digimon had a tyrannical hold on some regions in the Digital World," she chuckled.
Ironwood looked up as he saw UlforceVeedramon blitz through a group of Nevermores, cutting them to ribbons "What level are they?"
"Ultimate. They evolved recently though." Summer said, and it wasn't exactly a lie.
"I see… well, then we certainly have a chance to turn things around." Ironwood said, some relief in his voice "Now, one of my ships turned on the rest earlier, I need to go deal with that somehow."
"I… think you'll be good." Summer said, pointing behind him and upwards, making him turn around to see said ship just… disappearing into pieces.
Ironwood just stared at that spot for a long moment before turning to her "Digimon are rather overpowered sometimes honestly." he said with a long sigh.
"Considering how hostile some parts of the Digital World are...they kind of needed to be that way," Summer said dryly, gaining a bit of a far off look...before Taomon quickly pulled her back to reality from any less than pleasant flashbacks.
"That aside, there are still Grimm in the city. Worse, I believe we saw some Goliaths-" she didn't get to finish as a building toppled over, revealing several Goliaths in another section of town. "And that's our cue to help."
"Then we'd better get going," came Qrow's voice as the group turned and saw him and Glynda running up to them.
"We were able to evacuate a good chunk of the city, but the Grimm are still scattered all over the city. Even with the Digimons' help, that's a lot of ground to cover," Glynda said.
"Good work, but for now, we have to stop those Goliaths before they cause even more casualties," Ironwood nodded.
"A tall order, but not like we have a choice," Qrow sighed as they were soon going in that direction. Along the way, several Beowolves and Beringals came there way, but Summer suddenly disappeared, reappearing near each of them, and with a quick and precise slash, cut through them like they were nothing.
"You've certainly been improving since you disappeared," Glynda noted. "In fact, you cut through them like they were nothing."
"Comes with surviving in the Digital World, and getting a few materials to strengthen Sleeping Rose. I can cut through most of the normal variety Grimm without much issue now," Summer chuckled. The group soon approached the area, and Taomon gasped.
"This is the area Keenan and Falcomon went to scout out. I hope they're alright," she frowned.
"They'll be alright. Those two know how to take care of themselves," Summer reassured.
The scene they found though was...still less than ideal. There wasn't just one Goliath. There was a herd of them and several other Grimm, many of which had been spawned by the Wyvern, and fighting them were MegaloGrowlmon and Yatagaramon. Both Perfect level mon looked somewhat battered, and the large number of fading Grimm around them was proof that they'd been fighting for quite some time. Likewise, Keenan was busy fighting off any smaller Grimm that got close, while not far away Takato was digging through some wreckage with his hands...and making very little progress.
"Come on." Takato growled a bit as he tried to use his claws to dig through the wreckage… not that it helped much outside of scratching the metal.
The Grimm continued their assault, to which the Huntsmen quickly intervened, taking out a few of the ones attacking. "Teacher!" Keenan sighed in relief, glad that help had arrived. True enough, both MegaloGrowlmon and Yatagaramon soon reverted to Guilmon and Falcomon.
"You couldn't have come at a better time," Falcomon said in relief. "These things keep coming."
"Yeah, that's basically how Grimm work," Qrow said with a small smirk.
"I'm so tired I could eat the whole bakery." Guilmon said with a groan.
"Shouldn't that be hungry?" Taomon asked him.
"Same thing." was Guilmon's quick answer.
"That's the least of our worries," Glynda sighed, before sending a barrage of rubble at the Goliaths, causing them to stagger a little before coming right back.
"Goliaths don't usually come into cities. Why are they doing this now?" Ironwood frowned as he fired several shots, the impact not really causing much damage to the gigantic Grimm.
"Bart always DID say they act like they're waiting for something," Summer frowned. "Either they were waiting for this, or their boss lady decided to make them come charging in."
"That's not comforting at all," Qrow said flatly, cutting a Gryphon in half.
"We need to take them out quickly!" Glynda growled.
"But you can't be reckless!" Takato shouted. "There are people in the rubble!"
THAT caused the Huntsmen to stop...before Glynda nodded. "You should have said that before." And she promptly used her semblance to control and lift the rubble, freeing the people trapped underneath. Among them was the familiar form of Tuckson, having thrown himself over a human woman with brown hair that reached down to her neck, wearing a simple sweater and long skirt.
"Mom! Dad!" Takato shouted, trying to wake them, but they and several other of the people were out cold from when the rubble fell, something the Grimm seemed intent on taking full advantage of.
"This just got more complicated," Summer frowned.
"Form a defensive line! We can't let the Grimm get to the civilians!" Ironwood ordered, earning nods from the rest of them...or that WOULD have been what they did, if the ground didn't suddenly crack and burst, as another large form emerged, throwing everyone aside, and separating the Huntsmen from the civilians.
"An Orochi? Dammit! Of all the times," Qrow growled.
At the same time, one of the Goliaths seemed to set its sights on the unconscious people, Guilmon getting between it and the people, while Takato did the same. "Leave them alone!" he shouted.
"Takato, what are you doing?!" Keenan shouted in alarm, and would have helped, but he and Falcomon were too busy fending off a small pack of Beowolves.
The Goliath didn't care obviously and continued on its way, fully intending to trample the boy and his Digimon.
"Takato, you have to run. I'll fight again!" Guilmon glared.
"I'm not leaving you! We're both gonna protect them! Just like we did last time!" Takato said, voice full of determination...before a red glow could be seen from his pocket, as the Blue Card (it had reverted to being blue when he wanted to use Matrix Evolution) floated out, and turned red once more. Takato grabbed it...and with a determined nod, brought it to his D-Ark.
Keenan had only heard what Takato had said, but that was enough to fill him with determination. "He's right. We're here to protect everyone, that's what we're supposed to do with our power," he said, memories going back to a time when he was helpless to protect anything he cared for, before his eyes narrowed with determination. "Let's go, Falcomon! We're gonna help save the day or die trying!"
"I'm with you all the way!" Falcomon said with equal determination. At that moment, a light shone as the Blue Card floated before him, its side seemingly glinting...and Keenan knew what it wanted. Reaching out, he winced a little as he felt it cut him, his blood soon covering it and turning it red.
"Let's fight. Together," Keenan nodded, as he brought it to his D-Ark as well, and at that moment, both boys scanned the Red Cards.
(Play 'One Vision')
"Biomerge Evolution," two drone like voices said as the words appeared on the D-Arks, before they glowed brightly as power seemed to overflow from them in the form of a radiant light. Both boys held their D-Arks close to them, the light filling them as the color of their bodies took the same tone as their D-Arks, a semi-transparent sphere of light covering both of them, before they floated towards their partners.
"Guilmon, Biomerge Evolution…!" Guilmon called out as he and Takato made contact, their forms overlapping before a flash of light occured. Guilmon's body seemed to break away, revealing a new form underneath, the white armored form of Dukemon revealing from his arms, legs, and torso, ending with a shot of Guilmon's head as he flashes through his forms, going from Guilmon to Growlmon to MegaloGrowlmon, followed by a quick shot of Takato opening his eyes with a determined look as a final flash occured, revealing Dukemon in a cloudy backdrop, the Aegis and Gram appearing in his arms as his cape flew behind him in the wind. "Dukemon!"
"Falcomon, Biomerge Evolution…!" Falcomon called out as he and Keenan also made contact, forms overlapping as a flash of light occured. Falcomon's arms, legs, and body seemed to become shrouded in shadows, before the scene changed to show a humanoid figure covered in shadows, standing up in what appeared to be a dojo with various weapons hanging on the wall, before focusing on what appeared to be armor parts with a notable bird theme which soon were covered in black feathers as they seemingly flew towards the figure, donning it in the armor as the black feathers dispersed to reveal a midnight blue bodysuit with dark gray armor pieces on the knees, chest, shoulders and elbows, his right hand being normal while his left was a three clawed talon, each claw being as red as blood, a silver wing attached to his left arm while a black wing came out his right shoulder blade. Suddenly, a sword came flying off the wall, the figure catching it and giving a few reverse handed swings before sheathing it at the back of his hip. Falcomon's face appeared in the shadows for a moment, quickly followed by Peckmon and Yatagaramon, before Keenan's face appeared with a determined look as the figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing a black helmet with a red piece at the front that covered the top of his face, revealing only his glowing eyes, as he jumped up and made a hole through the dojo, landing on the roof and exposing himself to the moonlight, one hand on his sword "Ravemon!"
Digimon Analyzer: Ravemon
Ravemon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Cyborg Digimon. Originally known as the Silver Crow, his left wing is made out of Chrome Digizoid, but due to a cruel event, he lost his right wing and stead grew a new one of feathers as dark as the night. He hides in the cover of the night with aid from his dark wing, before striking his enemies down with his blade, Chouou-maru. His special attacks are Ame-no-Ohabari, planting his blade into the ground, causing a bolt of purple lightning to strike his foe, and Spiral Raven Claw, spinning like a drill and striking his enemies with his clawed hand.
The Grimm didn't know what hit them. Literally. The Goliath was literally sent flying with a hole going through it, landing on top of another of its brethren, killing both, while the pack of Grimm that had been harassing Keenan and Falcomon were cut to ribbons faster than they could react.
The remaining Grimm stopped for a moment, unsure what to make of this new development, the Goliaths also stopping, unsure what to do, or even what to make of this new development. A younger Goliath stepped forward, but Dukemon glared at it, his lance igniting. "Royal Saber!" he called out, skewering the approaching Grimm, killing it instantly, while one Goliath tried to back away...only to be stopped by Ravemon.
"You're not going anywhere," he glared. "Spiral Raven Claw!" he called out as he raised his left arm and rotated as he charged at the group, killing any who were trying to escape. The smaller Grimm soon joined in...and were cut down for their trouble, the two Ultimates not even needing to use their special moves.
By now it had finally dawned on the Grimm...how utterly fucked they were. Of course, that was also when the Orochi that was keeping the Huntsmen busy smashed another building.
"I'll deal with these guys. You help the Huntsmen," Dukemon said.
"Right, but try not to stay in that form for too long. We don't know what drawbacks these evolutions might have," Ravemon cautioned. "Neither will it be good if some people found out we literally merged with Digimon."
"Noted," Dukemon gulped a bit, his mind already playing out stuff from conspiracy movies. With that, Ravemon went for the Orochi, while Dukemon looked to the Grimm. "That is enough chaos and destruction you have caused. I, Dukemon, will not stand for anymore!" he declared, aiming the Aegis which started to glow brightly. "Final Elysion!" he declared, firing off a beam of light, which caught the retreating Grimm in its blast, vaporizing all of them without so much as a resistance, even the once mighty Goliaths were decimated in seconds, while any remaining Grimm finally used their brains and turned tail and ran.
With them gone, Dukemon made sure the people who were unconscious were okay and with a small sigh of relief, soon reverted to Takato and Guilmon...or rather Gigimon, as was Guilmon's Baby Form, which had his basic coloration, but was now a small puffball with four stubby legs, a short tail, and his signature batwing ears. "This is kinda weird," Gigimon blinked, not really used to reverting to Baby form.
"Hopefully you'll get used to it real soon," Takato chuckled, just glad despite everything, things turned out well enough all things considered.
At the same time, the Huntsmen were having a hard time with the Orochi, as whenever they went for a head, another would go and double team them, making the progress slow at best.
"Oum dammit these things are annoying." Qrow growled as he held his weapon in it's scythe form, trying to lob off one of the Orochi's heads before another one just made him back off.
"It's certainly a problem when progress is slow." Ironwood said as he tried to shoot one of the many eyes of the Grimm.
"My tags also aren't hurting it's hide much, it must have stronger scales than most other snake Grimm." Taomon informed.
"Well, if we make it out of this, I'm sure Peter will LOVE to know that." Glynda said with an aggravated sigh.
"Hopefully we get SOMETHING to even the odds." Summer groaned as she shot at an open mouth lunging for her before she warped away.
Ask and ye shall receive, as a sudden flash happened...before four of the heads flew off, a new Digimon appearing, having cut off the heads like they were nothing, causing the Orochi to screech in pain.
"What the hell?" Qrow asked as he looked up at Ravemon, flying above them with a hand on his sword.
"Another member of the Rebellion?" Ironwood wondered.
"Not one I recognize," Summer frowned, before noting the design...and chuckled lightly. "You really never fail to impress me even after all these years," she said. "So you've finally done it, you've finally reached Ultimate, haven't you...Falcomon?"
"It took a bit of...extra incentive, but yes, I did," Ravemon chuckled. "And its Ravemon now. Don't worry about the Goliaths, they've been taken care of and the civilians are safe. Takato and Guilmon are with them."
"Glad to hear that, and thanks for making our job a lot easier," Summer nodded.
"One head for each of us. Definitely more manageable," Glynda nodded.
"Then let's not prolong this," Ironwood said.
"For once we agree, Jimmy," Qrow chuckled as the four of them went for the remaining heads, which thrashed in an attempt to counter them, but without its extra heads for help, there was little it could do as it was cut or blasted apart, the Orochi soon falling dead as its last head was destroyed.
Back at the main grounds of Beacon, things were...going very well.
"Don't let up! We've got them on the run, but don't get reckless!" Gyro ordered as Grimm fell by the dozens, as with the help of the Atlesian Knights, the fight was going MUCH better than it would have in the original timeline. Not to mention they also had a few additional players, some of which were...overpowered as fuck, judging by the Alpha Beowolf that had apparently learned to fly courtesy of Marcus punching it in the gut. "Weiss! Nora! Fastball special!" he added just for good measure, as Weiss summoned a Boarbatusk which got into its spin dash, before Nora hammered it forward for more speed, making it tear through quite a few other Grimm.
"We're definitely beating them back," Sun said as he came up next to Gyro. "But the big one keeps making more," he added, pointing at the form of the Wyvern which was for some reason flying almost erratically as the shifts in emotions all over the city seemed to be...confusing it somehow.
"At least some of the Digimon are destroying the goop before it falls." Ren added as he dropped down next to them after getting a boost from GrandisKuwagamon who had passed over to decapitate a large Gryphon.
"Most of the grounds are clear!" Velvet called, slamming down on a nearby Berringel with a hardlight copy of Nora's hammer, while Coco and Waspmon rained down shots on any Grimm they could see, further driving the Grimm away.
"The White Fang have retreated too," came Blake's voice as she, Yang, Pierce, and Ilia rejoined the group.
"We saw less and less Grimm as we fought. I think they're starting to taper off," Pierce added.
"And the bull?" Gyro asked.
"Still around, but he's not hurting ANYONE anytime soon," Ilia said simply.
"Good, all that's left now is Cinder." Gyro said with narrowed eyes as he turned to look at the tower.
"And hoping that trying to get the Fall Maiden powers doesn't screw Pyrrha over." Pierce added with a sigh.
"Here's hoping. But for now...we've established something of a perimeter, so if anyone wants to take a quick breather, they're welcome to," Gyro said, before adding, "Also gotta make sure you know who gets out of here without anyone seeing the outfit," he said with a whisper, before going away from the rest of the group.
When he was well away and in a hidden spot, complete with no Grimm… "So far so good," he said.
"Considering the inter-kingdom relationships AREN'T likely to be fucked up so far...yeah, I'd agree," came 'Ira's' voice as he stepped out of the shadows, and pulled off the hood, mask and voice changer, to reveal Azure under the outfit. "Yeesh, that was a bit touch and go for a bit. Glad I was able to reroute things so nobody would be likely to find me," he sighed.
"Don't forget, I had to make those physical illusions so we could have 'Ira' walk around Beacon while keeping you out of harm's way," Wizardmon added, having been helping earlier as Mystimon.
"For now, we'll focus on clearing out Beacon. Sooner or later the others should arrive and they'll establish an evacuation point. Even with us beating back the Grimm, Vale is in no condition to take another assault which could come at any time," Azure sighed. "Until then, just maintain damage control."
"Right. Here's hoping the last leg of this crazy plan goes off without any major hitches," Gyro said with a small sigh.
"You know, this place is actually pretty ominous," Jaune couldn't help but say as the five of them ran down the hallways to the vault.
"That would be due to us being deep underground. A lack of natural lighting, and the fact these halls aren't regularly used, we decided to...lower the costs," Ozpin admitted. He'd met them outside the tower earlier, Ms. Nikos already realizing that now as the time they needed to do the transfer, and thus he brought them down here.
"Do we really have to do this?" Gabumon asked, still uncertain of this decision.
"I'm sorry, Gabumon. We can't just let Amber's assailant get what they want," Pyrrha apologized...though she still kept up the ruse of them not knowing about Cinder.
"Here's hoping nothing goes wrong." Gomamon muttered into Jaune's ear from where he was hanging off his back.
The group soon came upon the pods, with Ozpin quickly preparing the pod for Pyrrha to use.
"What the heck…?" Jaune said, continuing the ruse they had. He knew full well what was going on, and as much as he didn't like it, if this was still Pyrrha's decision, then he'd support it.
"Pyrrha, get to the pod!" Ozpin ordered, before turning to Jaune. "Mister Arc, Gomamon, Gabumon, if you'd all like to assist, please stand guard here."
"Uh...right!" Jaune gulped, as the three soon stood guard, Gabumon looking at Pyrrha for a moment before going into position.
"What happens now?" Pyrrha asked.
"You have a decision to make. If you're sure this is what you choose, then enter the pod. I will take care of the rest," Ozpin sighed.
Pyrrha frowned, looking down for a moment, before steeling herself and boarding the pod, the casing soon covering her.
Tremors shook as the fighting continued up over ground, which only served to make Ozpin work faster. "Its ready. Are you alright with this?" he asked Pyrrha who just nodded, to which he sighed. "I...I need to hear this from you," he amended.
"Yes," Pyrrha sighed.
"Thank you Miss Nikos," Ozpin said, before beginning the process. "And I'm sorry…"
The machine started humming to life as Amber's pod raised up slightly, before an orange glow travelled up the tubes behind her, going into the pod that Pyrrha was in.
She braced herself, remembering Gyro telling her that she had been in pain when it happened in the show…
But the pain was even worse than she expected.
And then there was the fact that her scream of pain was shared with Gabumon who collapsed.
Jaune was quick to react "Turn it off!"
Ozpin didn't need to be told twice, already trying to halt the machine, not intending to let Gabumon be hurt, before smashing a fist against it "Dammit! It won't reverse!" then, to his surprise, Pyrrha and Gabumon slowly calmed down, a soft blue glow coming from them, as a symbol appeared over Pyrrha's chest, stopping Amber's aura from flowing into her. The machine continued to try to push the aura into Pyrrha, but the light continued to resist, causing sparks to start to fly from the machine as strange data and information started to fly across the monitors, much to the worry of everyone present. At the same time, Amber seemed almost awake as her eyes opened, albeit unfocused, the girl seemingly reaching out to something as a soft glow started to appear over her as well...before an arrow flew through the air, right through the glass and into her chest, causing her eyes to widen for a moment, before they closed once more, the flow of aura fading away as its owner's life was extinguished.
"...this can't be good," was all Gomamon could say to what just happened, even if he knew it was 'part of the script', the group turning to see Cinder who had a small smirk on her face, bow still raised. The effect happened quickly as the last of Amber's vitals hit 0, and Cinder was practically aglow with power, both eyes glowing brightly as she floated in the air, orange-red energy flying around her.
"Well this just went to hell in a handbasket." Jaune groaned, raising his shield just in case she decided to attack him, while Pyrrha used her semblance to blow the lid off her pod and brought her weapons to her. Both of them didn't get far, as Ozpin stopped them.
"All of you, get out of here!" he ordered.
"But we can help!" Pyrrha said.
"You'll all just get in the way!" Ozpin countered. "Find Glynda! Ironwood! Qrow! Summer! Find any and all of them and tell them to come here!"
The two chosen frowned, but decided to… somewhat listen to his idea, planning on heading up and then warp evolving their partners and sending them back down, making them act like they were asked to help. With that, the four ran past Cinder who let them past, so confident in her new power that she didn't even see them as worth her effort. Little did she know, that this would be one of the biggest mistakes in her life...
And that's it for today!
We finished up the tournament, we started the Battle of Beacon, and, the best parts, Strikedramon has now reached Cyberdramon, Takato and Guilmon now have control over Dukemon, and Keenan and Falcomon have reached Ravemon.
We've also kicked Adam's ass and utterly humiliated him, just like he deserves for being the fucking worthless piece of shit he was.
Other than that, Roman is alive, because I kind of like his character, and felt disappointed he had such a sudden death.
Also, I'm sure you're wondering why the Crest of Friendship intervened?
Don't worry, the characters will theorise about that next time, because...
The Adventure Evolves.