Welcome back to Digital Story everyone!
Yeah, we had a short hiatus, but, hey, me and Timeless had a few ideas we wanted to shove out so they stopped plaguing us so much.
Don't expect any of those to be posted quickly though, we were honestly just putting them to paper and then stashing them in a folder for now.
You'll see them someday though.
But for now, let's get back to this!
The Shining Wings! Pegasmon & Nefertimon!
The morning opened in Menagerie, though in one of the rooms in the Belladonna household, someone was already busy at work. "Pretty rare to see you up this early," Pierce said as he found Gyro having woken up earlier than usual for once and was already busy at work on his Scroll.
"Hard to sleep when you know what's been going on," Gyro sighed, the screen before him depicting what appeared to be a grid-like map of sorts, with a sizeable number of areas being black. This was a rough map of Server which he'd gotten from Mirei the night before. As of currently it seemed the Digimon King's power base was solely in Server, so that at least narrowed the ground they had to cover. The areas they'd gotten their Digimentals were also marked, as a sort of means to confirm where they'd already been. He planned to go over this with Weiss, possibly even examine the Digimentals further to see if they could find a clue as to where they should probably look for the rest of them.
"Well, don't work yourself too hard, we need everyone in top shape if we want to deal with the situation on both sides," Pierce said.
"Don't worry, I don't plan on pushing myself that hard," Gyro chuckled. "Speaking of hard, how are things on Ilia's side?"
"Last we saw her she said things were quiet for now, but she's getting impatient. Hopefully she doesn't do anything rash," Pierce sighed.
"Yeah… but chances are good the twins will say something that sets her off. When Ilia gets angry, she goes red with rage." Gyro winced "We should be ready for a worst case scenario."
"But for now, you should probably give that a rest. There's always time to work on that after breakfast," Pierce said.
"Fair enough," Gyro chuckled, closing his Scroll.
"You really don't have to accomodate all of us Mrs. Belladonna." Yang tried to say to the older woman as they all sat at a table that a rather sizeable breakfast spread.
"Nonsense! You're all Blake's friends and you're staying with us at the moment, the least I can do is make you all food you'll like! Plus this lets me dust up my skills." Kali waved it off with a smile.
"Well, it isn't said enough, but thanks a lot Mrs. Belladonna, this stuff is delicious!" Sun said with a thumbs up.
"We WILL have to find a way to pay you back though. This must be a serious dent in your finances." Weiss said, and she didn't plan on budging an inch on this.
Kali chuckled lightly at that, realizing the fact that they weren't planning on budging for that. If anything she thought it was a good trait for them to have.
"Wonder if anything new is going on in the world lately," Velvet mused as she switched on the news for everyone to see. So far it was nothing out of the ordinary, though it seemed Vale was rebuilding smoothly enough, once again the aid from the Digimon greatly helping to speed it up, and even talks of plans to reclaim Mt. Glenn.
"Glad to see Vale is well on track to being back to normal," Coco chuckled lightly.
"How are things going in the other Kingdoms though," Neptune mused, before changing the channel (after getting permission), and happened to end on a report from Atlas.
"In light of the recent cyber attack that hit the Atlesian Knights during what is now known as the Battle of Beacon, Atlesian technical specialists have been working on counter measures in the future. However, among the various programs proposed, the one that has been selected to use came not from one of the top scientists, but from a system that was put forward by the young prodigy, Oren Joyeaux, a young man from Vale," the reporter said, before the feed shifted to one of the scientists in Atlas.
"I honestly couldn't believe a teenager made this program, but the results are undeniable. This security system will greatly help in ensuring Atlas doesn't face such a problem in the future," the scientist confirmed.
"Huh, whoever this Oren guy is, he must be really smart," Ruby mused.
"Wonder how good that new security system actually is. Think it'll be good enough to keep Watts out?" Gyro mused.
"I hope it does. From what little we've seen he's the one Salem's group uses the most for technology based schemes," Weiss frowned.
Meanwhile…
A fist impacted on the table, rattling a Scroll that had a 'Access Denied' written on the screen. "I refuse to believe a system made by a CHILD could be even remotely this advanced!" Watts growled, having spent the last month since Atlas installed and tested the new system, and so far he wasn't even CLOSE to breaking through. Had this been made by some of the brightest minds in the Kingdom he might have thought it would be a fine challenge. Instead, learning that it was made by a teenager was nothing short of humiliating.
He looked up with narrowed eyes as he heard a rasping laugh, seeing Cinder looking at him gleefully, Emerald and Mercury behind her trying to contain their mirth as much as possible "Having… trouble…?" she wheezed out, the fun of seeing him angry making the pain in her throat worth it.
"A minor setback, nothing more," Watts growled.
"Setbacks… don't last a month…" Cinder said, and he could hear the smirk in her voice. "Careful, or you... might just lose… to a child."
Watts growled and went back to work, doubling his efforts.
"As some might know, this isn't the first time Mr. Joyeaux has contributed greatly. Despite being only 18, he has created several impressive systems that have benefited Remnant," the reporter continued, as they showed an image of Oren, revealing him to be a young man with silver hair and yellow eyes, dressed in a clean grey suit… and he had a silver wolf tail coming out his lower back.
"Wow, he's really something. I'm guessing he didn't exist in the Webshow?" Sun asked.
"Nope, he DEFINITELY didn't exist," Pierce nodded as they continued to watch. This was pretty interesting.
"Aside from skills as a programmer, Mr. Joyeaux is an accomplished mathematician, athlete, and even is training to be a Huntsmen," the reporter said.
"Oren Joyeaux…" Pyrrha mused. "Now I remember. I had a match with him several years ago. He was a pretty good challenge, and even made me have to think outside the box to win," she said.
"Wow, he must be really good to give you a challenge," Nora whistled.
"Heck, he seems almost perfect from what the news is saying," Jaune blinked, as the feed showed that he'd played chess with several professional players… at the same time… and he still won all his matches.
"I think Weiss has a rival in terms of big brain skills." Agumon chuckled.
"Har har," Weiss said in amusement. "Jokes aside, we should make preparations for our next expedition into the Digital World, and of course, clash with the Digimon King."
"Not to mention we should see if we can find out who he is. I highly doubt he came from nowhere, so he's likely from Remnant," Blake frowned.
"Actually, about that, I can confirm he IS from Remnant, he let it slip he had tutors from Atlas, so we know he's from one of the other kingdoms at least." Gyro said.
"Glad to know. For a second there I was worried he might be from Earth, and then we'd be REALLY in trouble," Pierce sighed, before noticing Gyro looking intently at the screen, namely of Oren talking to the camera.
"I'm glad Atlas found my system to meet their needs. Avoiding such an incident again will go a long way in ensuring a bright future for Remnant, which was my intention from the start," Oren said with a happy and sincere smile.
"...I swear, I feel like I've met him somewhere before," Gyro mused, but couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"Me too… that's weird." Agumon frowned, tapping his chin with a claw.
"Maybe you saw him town and you didn't notice?" Ruby offered with a shrug "Anyway, who should go check out the Digital World this time?"
"With how things are going so far, I think everyone with a Digimental should go in," Weiss frowned.
"So You, me, and Gyro," Yang nodded. "Who else wants to come along?"
"...draw straws?" Jaune suggested after a moment.
"...its kinda sad that that's the best we got," Coco snorted, but they did it anyway, and the results had Blake and Nora joining in.
"Okay then, we'll monitor things from out here...and keep an eye in case anything happens," Pyrrha said as she set up her Scroll. "Good luck everyone."
"Okay then, let's go," Gyro nodded as they stood before the prepared gate. "Digital Gate, Open!"
Once inside the Digital World, they did a quick survey of the area, before the group relaxed somewhat "Ok, entry point is clear." Gyro sighed in relief, before turning to the girls, noting Blake's long white coat was now pale yellow and sported the Crest of Hope on the back, while Nora's bomber jacket had gone from black with pink edges to fully pink with black edges with the Crest of Light on its back as well.
"Have to admit, I know you said it happens, but it's still a little strange," Blake mused.
"I dunno, I think it looks great," Nora chuckled, liking the new jacket.
"At least someone's happy," Yang snorted.
"Let's not stick around too long. No telling if or when the King's lackeys might come around," Gyro said, earning a few nods of agreement.
"What are we looking for?" Salamon asked.
"Honestly? Not TOO sure," Weiss sighed. "For one, hopefully we can find more Digimentals, but other than that, it'd be best if we scoped the area for any clues on what the King is doing, or maybe even areas under his control to liberate."
"In short, keep your eyes peeled," Biyomon chuckled lightly.
Back in the real world…
Keenan's eyes narrowed as he observed one of the White Fang members walking the halls of their base, a man with bat wings on his back, his body completely hidden in the shadows with Falcomon.
Part of him was sure the group was preparing for a strike of some kind, something that Ilia seemed to be confirming with her signals, making him worry that they planned to attack the Belladonna household ahead of schedule so to speak. Whatever the case, he knew the role he had to play and for now he'd gather information, and they would act accordingly.
"What? Are... you sure? You want us to burn down the Belladonna family home?" the man gasped, wanting to make sure. "Right...they WOULD get in the way…" he frowned. "What's that? You want us to capture Blake alive?"
That last line made Keenan gain a dry stare...and Falcomon to make an X with his arms aimed at Ilia who looked like she wanted to go postal, seeing as it was painfully obvious to all of them that Adam was giving orders still...and clearly his loss at Beacon hadn't done his mental state any wonders.
"Okay, so we'll get it done in 2 days. We'll make sure that the Belladonna family are all present. Corsac and Fennec will be able to ensure that," the man nodded before the call ended.
By now Keenan and Falcomon were physically holding Ilia back and soon pulled her back into the shadows. They'd gotten some important information, and now it was time to report what they found.
"So, searching around and we find a prison," Tentomon frowned. "At least it looks like a decently nice prison."
True enough the group had been searching for clues and the first thing they found was what appeared to be a somewhat coliseum-esque building, with the most notable thing being the large number of windows they could see with bars. Taking a closer look, it turned out to be a prison with various Digimon in the cells.
"Seems like a more humane form of the panopticon style Prison," Gyro mused, noting how when sneaking around, they could see only a single warden, said warden being a Tyranomon, in the center of all the cells, but with the use of bars and windows, the prisoners didn't feel as isolated as the original design intended. "Gonna take a guess and say these guys are all rebels or generally people who don't agree with the King."
"Guess the next move is obvious," Patamon chuckled.
"Yep, let's bust them out," Agumon agreed.
"Freeing the captured rebels is always the first step to taking down an unwanted ruler." Yang smirked as they decided to do this the quiet way at first, sneaking around the back quietly until they reached one of the barred windows, Biyomon flying up to peer inside, seeing a Gotsumon, an Elecmon and a Gizamon in this cage, idly rolling a rock between themselves in a bored manner.
"Hey, up here." she whispered, making them perk up before they turned to the window, their eyes lighting up as they saw her "We're going to try to bust you all our, but it probably won't be easy. Does the warden ever fall asleep?"
"Not this one. He's the head warden, and unlike the others, he's actually good at his job." the Gizamon said in a hushed tone.
"There should be a guard shift in about an hour though, and the next guy is SUPER lazy." the Gotsumon added, with Biyomon nodding.
"Alright, it'll be slow, but we'll get you all out." she assured them before flying back down and relaying the information to the others.
"Looks like we're playing the waiting game." Blake sighed.
"At least that king guy isn't here." Nora said with a shrug.
"He's probably off handling something else, if he wants to be a ruler, he has to look after everything after all." Salamon pointed out.
"Sir, there's been petitions for a few shifts in Sector V regarding-" a random Gotsumon started, but was cut off.
"We know, we know, an improvement in the farming system. Didn't we already sign that one?" came a tired voice from behind what appeared to be a mountain of papers.
"Well...yes, but this is the tertiary document to make sure there's no mistake on the plan," the Gotsumon sweat dropped, earning a set of tired groans, followed by something bumping against the table...and the stacks of papers fell inward.
"Note to self, figure out how to run a Kingdom WITHOUT the need for excess paperwork," came the groan of the Digimon King...who was still literally buried in paperwork.
The group waited for the guard to change so that they could prepare to free the slaves. Eventually the shift happened, and the one who came next was...a Bakemon.
"...wow, I wonder how long the King's been at this to do a common villain mistake around here?" Salamon snorted.
"Don't complain, let them keep making mistakes," Gyro snorted.
True enough, they didn't need to wait too long as the Bakemon guard soon grew bored...and was soon dozing off, complete with a snot bubble.
"...wow, that didn't take long at all," Nora laughed.
"They must have been scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one," Blake snorted in amusement.
"Now let's take advantage of that," Yang grinned.
They avoided going out to the front, just in case the prison had cameras for surveillance and instead started the slow process of silently breaking the windows open large enough for the Digimon to get out.
The process was slow, but effective, and before long they'd gotten a good majority of the Digimon out. However, right as they were breaking out the last one, the guard picked NOW to wake up, just as the last Digimon was getting out of their cell.
"Ack! Jailbreak!" he shouted in alarm, before pulling on the desk he'd been sleeping on, and revealing a panic button which he hit.
"And there, that's all the files neatly arranged," the Digimon King nodded with a satisfied smile. It took him a while but the paperwork was finally in order, and all that was left was for the files to be taken away and…
Then the alarm started blaring, which somehow caused enough of a vibration that the files fell over. The Digimon King looked at the now messy stack of files, before grabbing a pillow and muttering obscenities into it. "What's going on?" he asked in annoyance.
"Sir, the Rebels contained in point C7 are escaping from their cells, security feeds show no visible intruders and it seems they are escaping via the windows. Possibly outside help," a Hagurumon reported.
"Three guesses who it probably is and the first two don't count," the King sighed. "Alert all nearby units. Apprehend the Rebels immediately! And issue everyone with a Crystal Ring, because if this is the work of who I think it is, then they're going to need them."
"Is that everyone?" Gyro asked after they'd broken open all the cells and tied up the Bakemon once he rang the alarm, Blake having silently snuck up on him and gagged him before tying him up. It didn't stop the alarm, but it meant there would be a nice present for the Digimon King once he got there.
"Everyone present and accounted for sir! The Rebellion's Delta Team would like to thank you for freeing everyone." A Commandramon with a red beret replacing the usual helmet said with a salute "We're honored to have been saved by the Chosen Children."
"No problem," Yang grinned. "For now you should get out of here before reinforcements come."
"And maybe we can talk about that Rebellion at a later date. Is there a way we can communicate?" Weiss asked.
"Actually yes," the Commandramon said. "People from your world have those Scroll things, right?"
"Uh...yes?" Nora blinked, taking out her Scroll, before Commandramon took it, fiddling with it for a moment before giving it back.
"Here, I've put in a communication program keyed in to our communications. Make sure not to lose it, or worse, the King gets it. For now though, we'll inform whenever we plan to change the comm frequencies and set up a meet up point to give you the new frequency. Thanks again and good luck. We look forward to working with you all again," he said before he joined the rest of his team and exited the area.
Good timing too, as the sound of something big hitting the ground was heard and it was coming closer. "Here comes the fun part," Yang smirked a little, pounding her fists.
"Let's not give him a time advantage. Armor up guys." Gyro said as he, Weiss and Yang held up their Digivices, which glowed along with their scrolls.
"Agumon, Armor Evolution! KajiGreymon!"
"Biyomon, Armor Evolution! Robinmon!"
"Tentomon, Armor Evolution! ForceBeemon!"
"Too bad we can't do much." Patamon sighed as the hunters drew their weapons.
"We can give them some cover fire at least." Salamon assured him.
The thumping got closer revealing a small army of Tyrannomon and a few Airdramon. "You lot again?" the lead Tyrannomon said in annoyance. "Should have known you'd be freeing the rebels too. Men, equip rings!" he ordered, as every Digimon in the small army took out and equipped Crystal Rings to themselves.
"So he's giving all the Digimon that fight us those Rings? Makes sense," ForceBeemon frowned.
"Not that its gonna change anything," KajiGreymon smirked.
"Let's go everyone!" Robinmon said, as the group charged forward. The first wave of Tyrannomon fired their attacks, only for Robinmon to counter with her Tempest Beat, snuffing out the flames and catching several of them, lifting them into the air before they started falling...but the Airdramon swooped in and caught the falling Digimon, but leaving them open to shots from the Huntsmen, damaging their Rings, but still usable.
Back on the ground, several Tyrannomon hit the ground as KajiGreymon and ForceBeemon were hitting them with attack after attack, breaking their Rings, but each time some fell, more would take their place, allowing the ones who'd had their Rings broken to recover and soon rejoin the fight.
"For once I'm starting to wish those Rings actually controlled the mon," Gyro said in mild annoyance. "At least then after breaking them they'd stop attacking."
"Unfortunately that's not how it is right now," Blake frowned, rebounding off of a Tyrannomon right after she destroyed one of the Rings with Gambol Shroud.
"So we just gotta keep breaking the Rings and busting heads!" Nora said, slamming her hammer into an Airdramon that came too close, the mon flying like a drunkard and soon crashing a short distance away. Right as she landed though, there was a beeping from her Digivice and Blake's.
"Is it a Digimental Signal?" Patamon asked, having used Air Shot to break a weakened Ring.
"Looks like it," Blake nodded.
"What's the plan then?" Salamon asked, right as she and Nora avoided another wave of attacks, the same for the rest of the group who had to back off a little.
"You two go and find the Digimentals. We'll hold these guys off!" Gyro ordered… right as KajiGreymon was sent skidding back from a barrage of fireballs from the Tyrannomon.
"Though try to make it quick, fighting an army this big and NOT being able to go Perfect or Ultimate is harder than we thought!" KajiGreymon added.
"Don't worry though, we can last as long as it needs be," Yang said, smashing another Ring before rebounding off of the Airdramon she did that to.
"Right, be careful everyone," Blake nodded, before she, Patamon, Nora, and Salamon broke off and started following the radar. They trusted their teammates enough to know they'd be fine.
The signal wasn't TOO far away from their location, but as it was, it was still a decent running distance. Fortunately, with their teammates keeping the Digimon focused on them, the four of them didn't have to worry about pursuers for now, and before long reached the source of the signal, a cave like so many others they'd seen. "Looks like this is the place," Nora mused, before they went in. The inside of the cave was...a cave… with really the only notable thing being the rough altar/pedestal they found which had the two Digimentals on them.
"If it weren't for the fact only the intended user can pick these up, I'd think Mirei had lost it just leaving them like this," Blake mused, examining the Digimentals more closely. The first of the two was golden in color, and had small orange wings on the top along with a small amount of fur coming out the back, the Crest of Hope visible on the front, though it was upside down. The other was white, looking like a pair of wings wrapped around something, small pink claws poking out from beneath the wings as the Crest of Light was printed on it.
"Good thing they put that security then," Patamon chuckled, as Blake and Nora grabbed their respective Digimentals and pulled them off, before nodding to each other as they turned to their partners and held them up high.
(Play Break Up)
"Digimental Up!"
The Crests of Hope and Light floated and spun in a void, before Patamon and Salamon along with their respective Digimentals entered the void, spinning as well.
"Patamon…"
"Salamon…"
"Armor Evolution!"
At those words the Digimon and Digimentals made contact along with the Crests, before two bright lights occurred.
Patamon was covered in golden sparkles, which soon began to form an equine silhouette. Behind him a faded image of Angemon appeared, before being replaced by HolyAngemon, and then Seraphimon, before the silhouette gained clear definition, revealing golden wings that expanded outward, attached to an equine body, golden boots in the shape of hooves attached to the legs, a golden piece of armor on his torso that bore the Crest of Hope, and an armored helmet with the eyes visible through a pair of holes, Patamon's old small wings coming out the back along with a mane of golden hair, a long tail at his backside "Soaring Hope! Pegasmon!"
Salamon was covered in pink light as sparkles erupted, creating a winged silhouette, as behind her a faded image of Gatomon appeared, before being replaced by an image of Angewomon, and finally Mastemon, before the silhouette gained definition, revealing white wings, attached to a body that appeared to use Gatomon as a basis, with white fur and a long tail stripped in purple, bearing armor that seemed to have an egyptian inspiration on her chest, armored boots on her front paws that gave her larger claws, and a helmet that completely hid her head, reminiscent of the masks worn by mummies, as there was even a snake on her forehead, and what looked like an armored bob cut around the head "Light of Smiles! Nefertimon!"
"Looking good you two!" Nora grinned.
"Think you're ready for a live test run?" Blake couldn't help but smirk a little.
"We were BORN ready," Pegasmon chuckled as Nefertimon nodded, their partners soon getting on their backs as they took off and back towards the battle.
Back with the battle, Gyro, Yang, and Weiss were in the frontline, holding off the approaching Tyranomon, while their partners were in the back, back in Child form, and trying to recover as fast as possible. Fighting the army had worn them out, but they'd at least managed to take out all the Airdramon, leaving just the Tyrannomon, with a good chunk of them KO'd or retreated, but still leaving a sizeable number, with about 5 more Crystal Rings. "Next time we see Mirei, ask her if she can increase the number of people using the Gate. We're in trouble if we have to fight an army like this again," Weiss frowned, sending a Tyrannomon back with one of her Glyphs.
"We're mainly holding the line, so in most other situations we'd have withdrawn by now!" Gyro shot back.
"Less talking, more hitting! Gotta hang on till the others get back!" Yang said.
"Which is now, look!" Agumon spoke up, right as they saw the two figures flying towards them.
"They look great!" Biyomon added while Weiss checked the Analyzer.
Digimon Analyzer: Pegasmon
Pegasmon. Vaccine Type. An Armor Level Holy Beast Digimon. A Patamon that evolved through the power of the Digimental of Hope, he has gained holy powers thanks to it. Digimon that don this Digimental will gain the power of the very stars that shine down upon the world, bathing their enemies in their light. His special attacks are Shooting Star, firing down the very stars themselves from within his wings, and Needle Rain, turning the hairs of his mane to steel before firing them off.
Digimon Analyzer: Nefertimon
Nefertimon. Vaccine Type. An Armor Level Holy Beast Digimon. A Salamon that evolved through the power of the Digimental of Light, her power over light has been enhanced thanks to it. Digimon that don the power of this Digimental will gain the power of pure light to banish darkness. Her special attacks are Rosetta Stone, firing a stone tablet she summons from her body upon the enemy, and Nile Jewelry, firing explosive projectiles from her leg armor.
"Do your thing guys!" Yang cheered, as Pegasmon and Nefertimon nodded at each other before the armor on their front legs glowed.
"Sanctuary Bind!" the two called out as they crossed paths in the air, their front legs suddenly creating a rope of energy that connected the two together as they flew around the Tyranomon, closing the rope around them and binding them together.
"Needle Rain!"
"Nile Jewelry!"
The two fired their attacks, aiming mostly at where the rings where on their bodies, shattering them while damaging the Tyranomon at the same time.
"D-damn it! Retreat!" one of the Digimon shouted before the group started awkwardly running away while still tied up together.
"There's something for the scrapbook," Gyro laughed, seeing the comical escape, taking a photo with his scroll. "Thanks for showing up when you did."
"Sorry we took so long," Blake said, as she and Nora jumped down, Pegasmon and Nefertimon reverting to Patamon and Salamon, both landing in their respective partner's arms.
"Mission accomplished though, that's two more Digimentals in our hands," Nora said.
"And with that, I think we can call it a day," Weiss sighed.
"I think we'd like that too," Biyomon said, Agumon and Tentomon nodding in agreement.
"Okay then, time to head home everyone," Gyro chuckled.
The Scroll glowed brightly as the group returned to Remnant. "We're back!" Nora said cheerfully, but rather than the usual 'welcome back' they were met with a rather tense attitude.
"...did we miss something?" Yang blinked.
"Something like that," Pierce sighed.
"You might want to sit down," Ren sighed as well, before Keenan and Ilia stepped up.
"Oh boy…" Gyro groaned. One thing after another it seems.
And there's the chapter!
A couple of things were shown off here as you all saw, and we're now set up to move on from Menagerie.
Other than that, of course, the next two Digimentals, which means they now have the same five starting ones as the canon group.
As for when the next ones will be gained, time will tell, because...
The Adventure Evolves.