Hedge exited out of his room into the theater room, barely hearing everyone in the kitchen eating lunch. He stretches his muscles and neck, some pops being heard.

Hedge: "Damn, Magnhild sure does pack a punch."

"Excuse me, Mr. Badnic."

Hedge turned his gaze to the direction of the voice and was greeted with Ironwood in front of him.

Hedge: "Ah, General. How can I help you?"

Ironwood seemed a little hesitant to ask him, but he steeled himself. "I was wondering...regarding the...emeralds..."

Hedge seemed to catch on what was on the General's mind. "Ah, you were wondering if I ever visited your timeline's world, would I be able to keep the emeralds safe from Salem and her lackeys, right?"

Ironwood's eyes widened at that. "How did you...?"

Hedge grinned. "...Know? Come on, after showing all that power they were capable of, and the benefits they give to the user, it's not surprising you of all people would come to me and ask about the safety of the emeralds."

Ironwood wanted to question why Hedge had come to that conclusion, but instead decided against it. "But, Salem has been working from the shadows for a long time, and no offense, but even someone like you might not even be able to take her down."

Hedge contemplated telling Ironwood right now the truth regarding Salem and Ozpin's war, but that was for Ozpin to tell (or for Hedge to tell if Ozpin was too cowardly to say). "None taken, James, but I can assure you that if she was to even try and pick a fight with me, it wouldn't end pretty for her. But, you also can't just ask someone outside of your world's limitations to handle your own problems, otherwise, how you would learn from it? Is that really something you want to teach the students?"

Ironwood started to open his mouth to retort, but then he started thinking about that. Hedge had a point. From what Ozpin has provided of the war, he has been fighting Salem for many lifetimes, and neither side has made significant strides to point the war in their favor. Which also was troubling as that meant that Salem might be planning something big.

Her lackeys had already targeted the Fall Maiden Amber, who is sitting on life support down in Beacon's vault after they somehow managed to steal half of her powers. He still blamed part of that on Qrow, considering he was supposed to keep an eye on her and keep her safe. No doubt probably drinking.

But now with being here in Hedge's dimension, and knowing his true strength along with the emeralds, he even thought about asking Hedge to join their group to take down Salem. However, it's true what he said about the students. They were training to best the Grimm, but now they know the Grimm have a leader, so they would have to train even harder. What good would that do if Hedge just appeared and took care of all of that in a matter of seconds?

He was taken out of his musings as everyone started to return to their seats.

Hedge placed a hand on Ironwood's shoulder. "I see you are already thinking about my words, and I ask you continue to do. You know I'm right."

Ironwood nodded and returned to his seat as well.

Yang: "So, I wonder where are our counterparts will end up."

Jaune: "Right, last time we got swept up by a giant wave."

Glynda looked over at her boss. "Would the cameras in the Emerald Forest be able to see that happening?"

Ozpin: "To be honest, I don't see why not, unless there are some blind spots. Though the aurora in the sky would be pretty hard to miss as well."

Qrow: "That's not to mention those pagers the kids ended up with before getting swept away."

Weiss: "No doubt those will be important."

Ruby: "Come on, Hedge! Start it up!"

Hedge: "Calm down, Ruby. I'm getting it set up. Though, I will say there is something else at the start of this next chapter."

Blake: "Oh? Well now you have our attention."

Hedge: "Most of you are familiar with theme songs and intro sequences for animes and TV shows, right?" The students nodded in affirmative, and a few of the adults did too.

Nora: gasp "Is there going to be one for us?!" She bounced happily in her seat.

Ren: "Nora, please stop bouncing," being right next to her caused him to bounce in the air too.

Hedge: "That's exactly what I mean."

The TV booted up again.

Stay shigachi na image darake no. Tayorinai tsubasa demo kitto toberusa Oh My Love!

The scene opens to show a field with several weapons embedded into the ground, before the scene changes to show several footsteps as one by one the weapons are plucked by several figures, ending with the group, 10 teenagers in total, standing on a mountain cliff overlooking what is revealed to be File Island, before the scene shifts out and the title appears.

Yang: "Our gear! No doubt that that is us."

Weiss: "But where is that island?"

Winter: "It doesn't look like any in Remnant."

Gokigen na chou ni natte kirameku kaze ni notte imasugu, kimi ni ai ni ikou

The scene changes to show the figures one by one, starting with Gyro holding his dual swords, Ascalon, as he slashes an X in the air; followed by Pyrrha with Miló and Akoúo̱ in their javelin and shield forms as she charges forward. Following her is Yang with Ember Celica winding up for a punch, with Weiss coming up behind her with Myrtenaster ready to summon a Glyph. Following her is Jaune with Crocea Mors in a defensive position, while Ruby comes up from behind with Crescent Rose at the ready. Following them is Blake with Gambol Shroud in Gun form aimed at an unseen enemy, while Nora comes up behind her with Magnhild in hammer mode ready to strike. Following closely behind is Ren with StormFlower ready to open fire, and bring up the rear is Pierce with Pandora in its default polearm mode.

Qrow: "Gotta say, excellent shots of you kids in your battle stances."

Ironwood: "Question being what exactly are they are going to be fighting."

Hedge: "Things that make the Grimm look like child's play," he said in his mind.

Yokeina koto nante, wasureta hou ga mashisa. Kore ijou, syareteru jikan wa nai. Nani ga wow wow wow wow wow, kono sora ni todoku no darou. Dakedo wow wow wow wow wow, ashita no yotei mo wakaranai...

The scene changes to show a quick shot of a field full of Digi-Eggs, before the scene changes to show Gyro training with Agumon in a rock field, before shifting to show Pyrrha sitting by a lake with Gabumon. The scene changes again to show Yang and Biyomon leaning against a tree, followed by Weiss reading a book with Tentomon by her side. Following that the scene changes to show Jaune sitting in a shallow pool of water as Gomamon laughs on the side, followed by Ruby lying alongside Palmon in a grassy field. The next scene shows Blake sitting under the shade of a tree with Patamon in her lap, followed by a scene of Nora running with Salamon on her shoulder. The scene then changes to show Ren walking down a path with Wormmon at his side, followed by a scene of Pierce in a foot race with Veemon. The scene then shows a quick shot of a Digivice before it shines brightly.

Glynda: "More creatures like Koromon's evolved state."

Ozpin: "Just what exactly are they?"

Ruby: "Who cares?! They look so awesome and cute!"

Mugendai na yume no ato no nanimo nai yononaka ja. Sousa itoshii omoi mo makesou ni narukedo. Stay shigachi na image darake no. Tayorinai tsubasa demo kitto toberusa Oh My Love!

The scene changes to show a rock face being blown apart as Greymon emerges, Gyro standing on his shoulder with his weapons at the ready, as overhead Birdramon flies with Yang hanging on to her leg, before she jumps off with her semblance activated, while down below Ruby jumps off of Togemon as both aim to strike at an unseen enemy. In another part of the sky Kabuterimon flies with Weiss on his head as they leave a trail of glyphs in their wake, ready for an unseen enemy, while in the forest below, Pyrrha is riding on top of Garurumon, her weapons in rifle mode ready and aimed ahead. The scene changes to show Jaune falling as he lands on Ikakumon's back, before quickly drawing Crocea Mors and standing at the ready, while overhead Stingmon is seen flying towards an unseen enemy with Ren, Nora, and Gatomon in his arms as they look on ahead. Not far behind is Pierce riding on Veedramon with his weapon drawn, in the middle of changing modes, while on a nearby rock, Blake watches apprehensively as behind her Angemon lands.

Ren: "Now they evolved again, and we get to see the same form Koromon took back when he was with Gyro and Pierce when they were younger."

Nora: "Ooh, I just want to hug the one that is with me so much!" Ren sweatdropped at that outburst. The last plushie he got her ended up with its head popped off after a lot of hugs from the hyper girl.

*Music*

The scene changes to show various characters from Ozpin and Glynda standing in front of the window of his office, to Tai Yang with Zwei, to Winter in the Atlas Military, to Qrow standing on a cliffside, to Azure assembling something, ending on a figure in white with a Renamon by their side and behind them are a Wizardmon, a Falcomon, and a young human boy. The final scene shows the 10 Chosen Children joining hands, before their Digimon partners join in, before they break apart and walk forward as a team.

Qrow/Ruby/Yang: "Wait, go back!!!"

Hedge rewound the TV to the part they were no doubt talking about it, and kept it paused.

Qrow: "It can't be..." he muttered.

Ruby/Yang: "Mom?"

Weiss looked over at her partner. "Wait, that's your mother?"

Ruby tried to fight back the tears in her eyes, and Yang did her best to comfort her. "We can't see their face, but we know she had a white cloak identical to Ruby's." She took a handful of it to reference. "So for now, I think it's safe to say that it might be her, but it's speculation for now."

Blake: "She also seems to have a creature partner as well. And if she was shown in the intro sequence, she will definitely play a part moving forward."

With the other adults

Ironwood: "Ozpin, is that really her?"

Ozpin: "Much like how Miss Xiao Long stated, we all only know one person who had a cloak like that. So as much as we wish it to be Summer Rose, until we hear their voice and/or see their face, we can just assume for now." They returned their attention to the screen. "Just what happened to you here, Summer?"

Enter! The Digital World!

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at that title. "Digital World?"

Jaune: "I guess that is the name of the area we're ending up at?"

Weiss: "That's preposterous. That would mean we ended up somewhere that is on a different plane of existence compared to Remnant."

Nora: "So, like Hedge's dimension?"

Hedge: "Much more different than this, Nora, I can assure you, but I'll save the explanation for the story to tell."

Darkness was all he knew as he felt like he was floating somewhere between conscious and unconscious. What had happened? How did he get here? His head still felt fuzzy when he tried to even think. However, as much as he felt almost content to remain in blissful unconsciousness...something was cutting through it.

"Gyro…! Gyro…!" a voice said, calling his name almost urgently. It was strange...kinda high pitched, not matching anyone he had been with...yet it sounded so...familiar. Either way, it wasn't stopping, and that was enough to start to rouse him.

Winter perked her head up at that voice. "Wait, doesn't that voice sound familiar?"

Blake's cat ears twitched behind her bow. "Is that...?"

Gyro winced as he opened his eyes slightly, the light coming in, but once his vision cleared, what he saw left him stunned. There, sitting on his chest, was a small pink puffball with two long floppy ears, large red eyes, and a mouth full of teeth.

Ruby: "It is Koromon!" Her mood changed instantly from seeing what she hoped to be her mother in the intro sequence to now seeing the twins' puffball friend.

Jaune: "He looks the same as how he did a decade ago, though."

Pyrrha: "I'm sure there's a particular reason for that."

Weiss: "At least he recognizes Gyro."

His brain stopped at the sight, having to take quite a few seconds to properly reboot, before his eyes started to water.

"K… Koromon!" Gyro shouted in glee, sitting up and embracing his old friend in a tight hug, which was easily returned thanks to his floppy ears.

"I missed you Gyro." Koromon's muffled voice said from his shirt, Gyro laughing as he pulled his friend away from him a bit.

"I missed you too Koromon. Where have you been though? It's been years!" He couldn't help but ask, he was overjoyed yes, but oh so confused.

"I don't really know, I hatched… a month or so ago I think? I was Botamon for a little bit and then evolved into Koromon." the pink ball said, scratching his chin with one of his ears.

Everyone was confused on that timing difference.

Glynda: "How can you hatch only a month ago, but look the exact same as you did ten years ago?"

Ironwood: "And on top of that, still remember a person you saw that many years ago?"

Hedge: "All will be explained later." Everyone groaned at the held information, but also understood it was spoilers.

"Botamon?... Wait, is that what that black fuzzy form was called?" Gyro asked, remembering the form his friend had been when he had first hatched.

"Yeahp! That's the one!" Koromon confirmed with a grin.

"Huh… so does that mean each form you take has a new name?" Gyro asked with a hand on his chin as he sat his friend down in front of him.

"That's right… I kind of don't know what those other forms I took are called though, like someone left me everything, but took out the names." Koromon said, crossing his ears in front of himself like arms as he closed his eyes in thought.

Ren: "So he has selective memory, that...sucks."

Nora: "But we have a name to his previous form now, Botamon."

Qrow: "Curious what his other two forms we saw him take are called."

"Yeah well...that's not important," Gyro grinned hugging him again. "I'm just glad I finally found you again, buddy. Oh man, wait till Pierce sees you, he'll be over the moon as well!"

"He sure will! I'm sure DemiVeemon's gonna be even happier to finally meet him though after all I told him." Koromon's eyes lit up happily.

Yang: "I'm going to assume 'DemiVeemon' is another one like Koromon?"

Hedge: "You would be right."

Gyro tilted his head after a moment "DemiVeemon?" he repeated the name in confusion.

Koromon nodded "Yeah! See, when I hatched this time, I had, huh…" Koromon looked around on Gyro, before seeing his pockets and sending one of his ears in them, pulling out the strange device from earlier "This thing! It told me you were my partner! And the one DemiVeemon had told him his partner was Pierce."

"Huh, is that so?" he said, surprised as he took the device from Koromon's ear "What is it anyway?"

"I don't really know what it does if that's what you mean, but I do know it's called a Digivice." Koromon said with a shrug of his ears.

Yang: "I still say it looks like a pager."

Ruby: "Hey at least we have a name for it now."

Blake: "But what kind of name is 'Digivice?' And what exactly does it do?"

"Digivice huh?" Gyro repeated the word, looking the object over, before smiling as he clipped it to his pants "Well, if it brought us back together, it's alright in my book."

Koromon nodded happily, before remembering something "Oh! Right, hey, I have other friends like DemiVeemon, they had Digivices with them too before they all went flying into the sky a couple of hours ago, and they told them names as well, think you know them?"

Gyro had a feeling he knew what those names were "Were any of those names people like Ruby, Ren, Yang or Jaune?"

"All of the above! And four others too, Weiss, Nora, Blake and Pyrrha!" Koromon confirmed with a grin.

Jaune: "So they know our names already. Not sure how to feel about that."

Ironwood: "Suspicious would be one feeling."

"Had a feeling that was the case, the Digivices kind of came flying straight at us earlier, then a tidal wave kind of pulled, well, I guess everyone here… wherever here is." Gyro said as he finally started looking around, standing up with Koromon in his arms as he tried to identify the forest around him, though the trees looked rather weird for the most part. Overall though, they seemed to be in what appeared to be a lush, tropical looking forest. Honestly, this place seemed like a pretty nice place to be, if only he knew where this was.

"You're in the Digital World, and this place is File Island," Koromon supplied helpfully.

Weiss: "That shouldn't be something physically possible! And I'm pretty sure it's not something like the Chaos Emeralds that caused that giant wave to take us there!"

Hedge decides to pull a Nora and looks at the camera and speaks softly so not even Blake could hear him. "Should I tell her about the God of Destruction Chaos and what he did to Station Square?"

Goodwitch: "I know we got a bit of explanation that this 'Digital World' is on a different plane compared to Remnant, but I would like to know more about what it truly is."

Winter: "To think that eight first-year Huntsmen and Huntresses-in-training are the first Remnantians to be off world. Even though we could also be considered as such, but that's in our timeline."

Gyro blinked, once, twice, thrice, then looked down at his friend "Wait, File ISLAND? No wait, more important than that, Digital WORLD?"

Koromon simply nodded with a smile in his arms.

Gyro looked at him, before sighing "You know what, let's hold off on the questions because you might have to repeat everything for the others."

Koromon simply nodded in agreement "So, we're gonna look for them?"

"You know it, gotta make sure their all safe, kind of annoying that we just got done with that exam though and didn't have time to even get our results." Gyro said, frowning in slight annoyance. Quickly shaking his head though, he decided to table that for later. First things first, he needed to find his friends, and he had a feeling that Koromon might be able to help him. "Hey, Koromon...do you know where your friends are?"

"Their a bit around on the plateau I guess, I don't know where exactly, but they should be close you know?" Koromon said, shrugging his ears.

"A plateau huh? Well, guess that's helpful to know, we'll have to get down eventually then." Gyro said, before, patting his hip, stopping as he felt something was missing "Wait… where's Ascalon?!"

Ruby: "What?! How you could lose such a cool wea...CRESCENT ROSE!!" she exclaimed, catching everyone off guard.

Yang: "Uh, Rubes...you okay?"

Ruby: "My other isn't going to have Crescent Rose!!"

Weiss sighed and looked over at her Faunus teammate. "We really need to teach her how to fight without her weapon."

Blake: "Agreed," nodding.

Qrow: "Good luck with that. So many times Yang, Tai, and I have tried to teach her, but she always tends to decline and want to do something else."

Weiss: "Have you tried to use something she likes as a reward?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Qrow put his hand under his chin. "Hmm, now that you mention it, I don't believe we had, but I'll give you kudos if you manage to teach her."

Blake: "From what we've seen living with her for a semester already, I'd say it's easier said than done, so it's going to be a tough challenge."

Weiss: "But not one we'll give up easily on."

"Asca-what?" Koromon said in confusion.

"My weapon. I had them with me before getting here." Gyro said, before sighing "Guess whatever happened sent them flying off somewhere… are there any grimm in the… Digital World?" Gyro had to ask just to be on the safe side.

"What's a grimm?" Koromon said, still confused.

"Well, that answers that at least, and a grimm is a kind of monster that likes to destroy stuff." Gyro said, deciding to put it simply for his friend.

Before they could get moving, the two heard some bushes rustling, turning towards them, before seeing a small green creature that looked like it had a budding plant on top of it's head with four stubby feet and big, red, unicolor eyes.

The girls cooed at seeing the plant-like creature, though Winter had done so internally. No need to give the drunk any teasing material over her. The same could be said with the deputy headmistress.

"Hey Tanemon!" Koromon said with a wave of one of his ears, Gyro relaxing since that meant this was one of his friends.

"Hi Koromon!" Tanemon greeted him back with a smile, before turning towards the bush "Ruby! Over here!"

Gyro blinked, before a bit deeper into the forest, seeing Ruby walking out of some foliage, turning to them and waving with a smile as she walked towards them, stumbling a bit as she jumped over the bush and bent down to pat the little leafy being on the head "Thanks Tanemon."

Ruby: "Alright, I'm found!" she cheered.

Jaune: "Oh I only hope my other is going to be fine," he muttered to himsef, though Pyrrha did hear him.

Pyrrha: "Remember that the twins did give you some extra training before coming to Beacon."

Jaune smiled at her. "That may be true, but if my other is like Ruby and not having Crocea Mors, my other doesn't have a semblance to help in battle."

Pyrrha looked like she was processing that info, and she had to admit that he was right. She only hoped that whatever creature partner her boyfriend's other had gotten would be able to help him up to the point he was able to unlock it.

Idly, Gyro noticed that Ruby had clipped her digivice to her ammo belt, which at the least, still did have it's ammo… though there was a lack of Crescent Rose hanging onto her back… this wasn't going to be fun.

Ruby pouted. "No, no it most definitely won't."

"So, did Tanemon explain everything to you too yet?" Gyro asked Ruby as she picked up Tanemon.

"Kinda, she told me about the Digivice and where we are, but we didn't go into details yet." Ruby said with a shrug.

"Right, we should focus on finding the others first… speaking of which…" Gyro trailed off as he looked at the trees around them, before grinning as he spotted a rather tall one and put Koromon down and walked towards it, turning back to him with a grin "Hey Koromon, check out what I learned to do." Gyro said, before quickly propelling himself up with a burst of wind and grabbing onto the highest branch of the tree.

Jaune grumbled at seeing Gyro literally jump half a building's height up into the air. He really hoped whatever his semblance truly was would be able to make him helpful, otherwise, he would be heavily outdone by his friends.

Pyrrha just rubbed his back, which did its job in calming him down a bit.

"That's so cool!" he heard Koromon shout all the way from the bottom, making him grin, before pulling his goggles down over his eyes and pressing the buttons on the side, making them glow a bit to anyone who looked at him, but for him, that was because he had just activated the zoom function on them, looking around the area for any signs of the others, his eyes stopping on an impressive sight "Now THAT's what I call a tall mountain!" he said as he looked at what had to be the tallest mountain around. However, while he was surveying, he happened to see something. It was red, and judging by the distance, it was really big.

He turned back towards it, focusing on it, and saw that it looked like some kind of giant stag beetle… and it was heading RIGHT FOR HIM!

Ren: "Oh boy."

Nora: "HIT THE DECK!"

Quickly, he let his back go slack, falling backwards and hanging upside down on the branch he was sitting on as the beetle passed right over him, catching the top of the tree in his mandibles.

"In my line of work, that's a giant NOPE wrapped up in hellfire!" Gyro said as he let go of the branch with his legs and fell down, righting himself as he landed on his feet and scooped up Koromon, turning to Ruby quickly "Run!"

With that said, the two broke out into a sprint, unable to use their semblances at the moment due to how close knit the trees were.

"What is that thing?!" Ruby shouted in panic as the huge beetle continued to follow them.

"It's Kuwagamon! He's a big bully who likes to terrorize smaller digimon!" Koromon shouted, just as panicky as the others.

Jaune snorted at that explanation of the giant bug. "That's pretty much Cardin in a nutshell."

This got a chuckle out of the rest of the students, a bit more from Yang at the pun given the bug's perceived form of defense.

Digimon Analyzer: Kuwagamon

Kuwagamon. Virus Type. An Adult level Insectoid Digimon. It's hard shell protects it from most blunt attacks. Known for its vicious temperament, it has a rivalry with another beetle shaped digimon. It's special attack is Scissor Arms, clamping down on it's opponent with it's powerful mandibles, it cuts them to shreds.

Glynda: "Almost like a Deathstalker."

Ozpin: "It's an apt comparison, if only a Deathstalker was standing on its hindlegs and had more than just its pincers."

Qrow: "And minus its stinger tail."

"How the hell do we get away from it though?!" Gyro shouted as he looked around for any way to escape.

"The trees! Some of them are hollow!" Tanemon whisper shouted at them so Kuwagamon wouldn't hear on the off chance he actually had a working brain under that feral rage.

"That works! Run now!" Ruby nodded as they ran for their lives from a giant killer insect.

"Over there!" Koromon suddenly pointed at a seemingly random tree, Gyro and Ruby not hesitating to run into it, believing Tanemon's earlier words as they passed through the holographic wall, panting as they pushed their backs against the metallic walls on the inside, before quickly clamping up when they heard the loud buzzing of wings.

Yang wiped her brow. "Safe and sound."

Ruby: "Why are you sweating?! I was the one being chased!"

Ironwood: "Not out of the woods yet," he stated considering the sound of Kuwagamon's wings.

After a few moments...and the sound of several other trees falling, the sound of buzzing finally went away. Taking a few extra moments to make sure it was really gone, the group of four finally let out sighs of relief. "Are all giant monsters THAT violent here?" Gyro couldn't help but ask, remembering the giant bird-like monster from 11 years ago.

"I hope they aren't." they all heard a voice say from outside the tree, making them blink, before poking their heads out, seeing none other than Ren standing there, one arm in front of himself almost like a waiter, as hanging off from it was what looked like an overgrown, green, bagworm moth larva, using a stem on the top of it's head to idly swing from Ren's arm.

Nora: gasp "I want to hang off Ren's arm like that!"

Seeing that his longtime childhood friend, now girlfriend, was about ready to pounce on him again, he put his hands up inbetween them. "Nora, muscles are heavier than regular body fat. Unless I was someone like Yang, I wouldn't be able to hold you up."

Nora glared at him. "Ren..." saying in a sweet, but a hidden threat in her tone, "...lift."

Gyro and Ruby blinked, before stepping out of the tree "Good to see you Ren." Gyro said with a smile, happy they found someone else, and then noticing the creature on his arm. "So...I'm guessing he's another of your friends?" he asked Koromon.

"Yep! That's Minomon," Koromon and Tanemon nodded.

"H-Hi." Minomon waved shyly at them with one of his stubby arms, Ren smiling in amusement.

Cue more coos from the females.

"He's explained a few things to me already, I assume it's the same for you?" the most stoic of the group asked with a calm smile.

"Yeah, we're just waiting to find the others before getting into the exposition… I'm guessing he's more calm to be around than Nora?" Gyro asked in amusement.

Ren chuckled a bit "Minomon is certainly a breath of fresh air. I don't hate Nora, but it's nice to be around someone calmer once in a while." he said, and Minomon blushed a bit and covered his face.

Nora gaped at that. "I can be calm."

However a quick glance around and seeing all of her friends and even Professors Goodwitch and Ozpin told her otherwise.

Nora pouted. "Okay...maybe I can't." Her tone being a little sad. "But that's what Ren likes about me, right?" Instantly her tone changed as she looked back at Ren.

Ren smiled. "That I do," bringing her into a one-armed hug, getting a giggle out of her.

"By the way, considering she's not glued at your hip for once, and you're more likely to answer than she is… do you like Nora in THAT way?" Gyro asked bluntly.

Ren blushed a little bit as he looked away, before nodding "Yes, though I don't know if she's noticed… I can certainly tell she likes me at least, but she's too nervous to admit it."

Her whole "not together-together" spiel evidence to that.

Nora blushed at the admittance on-screen. "Is that true, Ren?"

Ren: "Very much so."

She started having some tears in her eyes. "And...how long had you been feeling that way?"

"How long have you been telling others we're not 'together-together?'"

As soon as he finished that question, she jumped toward him, but not like she normally would, but rather just to be able to kiss his beautiful face.

Everyone else in the room didn't say anything, as they wanted to give some time to them before they continued on.

Hedge: "Oh man, when I show them what happened in the future for Volumes 7 and 8, and later in the Volume 9 epilogue..."

Gyro smiled in amusement, before walking forward and patting Ren on the shoulder "Good luck with that."

"I don't really get romance personally, I've never really liked a boy in that way before." Ruby said idly.

Weiss snorted. "Yeah, I don't think that'll happen at all, you weapon-loving dolt."

Ruby pouted, but then decided to turn the tables. "Oh that's rich, coming from you Ice Queen. Need I remind you how you treated Vomit Boy all the way up to the dance? You'd freeze any boy that'd try to court you. I bet 50 lien my other would get with someone before yours."

Weiss glared at her partner. "100, and you got yourself a deal," placing her hand forward.

Ruby: "Deal!" The both of them shaking on it.

Yang blinked her eyes a bit. "Well that happened."

Blake: "You'd probably threaten any boy that would try to get with Ruby."

Yang: "Hey!"

Qrow: "Don't try to deny it, Firecracker. You know both you and your dad would do that."

Yang crossed her arms in front of her chest and grumbled.

"I guess it's just because you haven't found the right one yet." Gyro told her simply.

Ruby thought about that, nodding in agreement a moment later. "I guess so yeah."

"Well, we'd better start looking for the others. There's no telling when that Kuwagamon might return," Ren said, earning a nod from them. Fortunately, they didn't have to walk far, as they suddenly heard the sound of something hitting something, followed by a tree not far away vibrating visibly.

"...should we check on that?" Ruby blinked.

"Probably," Gyro and Ren nodded. As they walked towards the tree, the bushes shook and a number of small light blue round creatures with ear-like appendages, red crescent moon-shaped eyes with black irises and a mouth, all ran past them, looking like they had the hounds on their tail.

"Huh, wonder what has those jerks in such a hurry," Tanemon blinked.

"Jerks?" the three humans blinked.

"Those Pagumon like to bother anyone they find that they think they can pick on and get away with it. Especially when they have that bully, Gazimon, with them," Koromon explained with an annoyed look.

Jaune balked at that. "What, is something that will always allude to Team CRDL?"

Glynda: "If it's any consolation, Mr. Arc, it seems someone has already taken care of them. Though I will agree it is reminding me of Mr. Winchester's team."

"Guess they finally bit off more than they could chew," Minomon said with a small chuckle, earning chuckles from his fellow mon.

"I wonder who scared them?" Ruby asked, before they all stepped pass the bushes, to a sight that made them stare a bit dryly "Ah, well that answers that I guess."

Considering Ruby's facial expression and response, all of the students and Qrow knew exactly who it was. "Yang."

Said blonde couldn't even refute that. "Well, in any case, let's see who I'm partnered with."

Standing with her fist still extended, her eyes red, and a small frown on her face was Yang, while in front of her, knocked out cold against the tree was who the others assumed to be Gazimon, a grey, canine like creature with long ears and very long claws on it's forearms.

Digimon Analyzer: Gazimon

Gazimon. Virus Type. A Child Level Mammal Digimon. Despite it's small size, it has an extremely aggressive temperament, known for picking fights with other Digimon, even obviously stronger ones. The claws on its forelegs are perfectly suited for digging holes, something it does as it enjoys seeing other Digimon fall helplessly into them. It's special attack is Paralyze Breath, expelling a black gas from its mouth that stuns the opponent.

Ironwood: "Minus the claws and the special attack, that's Miss Xiao Long to a T from what I've seen and heard of her."

Winter: "I'd have to agree with you on that, sir."

Yang: "I'll take that as a compliment," though internally, she didn't. She wasn't a bully like this Gazimon.

And, standing behind Yang's leg, was a small pink ball with big green eyes and several small feet, while coming out the top of it's head was a blue flower.

"That'll teach you, freaking moron." Yang said as she pulled back her fist, her eyes bleeding back into lavender as she relaxed.

"Thanks for protecting me Yang." the little creature said as she rubbed herself against Yang's leg with a smile.

This got a smile out of Yang. It reminded her so much of how Ruby was with her when they were little. She would always protect her little sister, no matter what.

Yang smiled back as she bent down to pick her up "My pleasure Yokomon, idiots like that always get what they deserve."

However, before Yang could actually pick Yokomon up, she was promptly tackle-hugged by a red blur.

Yang: "Ha, nice tackle, Rubes."

Ruby: "Can you blame my other? She most definitely missed you!"

Winter watched the two siblings closely. Sure, she and her siblings never had moments like that, but that was mostly because of their...father's...influence on all of them. "Could that have been something Weiss, Whitley and myself could've had if it wasn't for Jacques?"

Yokomon blinked, looking left and right for her partner "What just happened?"

"That would be my partner." Tanemon said with a sigh as she walked up to her friend.

"Hi guys," Yokomon said with a smile as Koromon came up behind Tanemon, Minomon disconnecting from Ren's arm and hopped over to where his friends were.

At the same time, Yang had finally managed to get her overeager sister off of her. "Easy there Rubes. I missed you too," she chuckled as she finally got the reaper to calm down a little.

Ruby gave Yang a big happy smile, which resulted in her hair being ruffled up by her older sister.

"You're being pretty calm about this." Gyro said with a smile as he walked up to the sisters who stood up.

"Well, Yokomon told me her friends were probably out there looking for everyone, so I was able to relax a bit because someone would find Ruby eventually." Yang said with a shrug.

"But this is encouraging that everyone is alright," Ren nodded. "However, once we regroup, we'd better find a way to get our bearings on wherever this is."

"Actually, I managed to get a small bead on our location before Kuwagamon showed up," Gyro said. "The most notable landmark is this HUGE mountain that I think is in the center of the island."

Qrow: "Almost like how Mountain Glenn is considered a landmark itself."

Ironwood: "But I get the feeling it's something more than just a 'landmark.'"

Ozpin: I agree with you, James."

"Wait, island? We washed up on an island?" Yang blinked.

"Koromon told me this place is called File Island, and a few more things, but I think we should wait till everyone is here before we go into details," Gyro said.

"Fair enough," the others all nodded. This situation was weird enough as is.

With that they continued moving on (getting some directions from a few of the local mon who weren't hostile), to which they were soon headed for what they were told was a lake. As they got closer, they heard the sound of someone talking in a rather panicked tone.

"Okay okay...just calm down. You set out to prove what you can do. To prove you can be a Hunter...oh who am I kidding? I was planning to go to a warrior school, not end up on an island with strange...but admittedly cute, creatures...who thankfully aren't anything like Grimm," the voice was starting to ramble on.

Jaune groaned at hearing himself and placed his face in his hands. "That's me."

Pyrrha patted his back. "At least your other isn't currently dealing with something like Kuwagamon."

Jaune: "Fair point. Thanks Pyr."

The four of them shared deadpan expressions at that. "Jaune," they all nodded in agreement.

With that they kept walking forward, hearing someone confirm their thoughts "Jaune, trust me, this won't be so bad, look, Koromon told me this Gyro guy he knows is gonna be here, and you're friends with him right? So at least you're not in this alone."

"I guess." a pause, or probably a sigh, but they couldn't hear it "Thanks Bukamon, at least you're trying to help."

"It's what I do." Bukamon stated proudly.

Jaune smiled. "Good to know this Bukamon is helpful."

"Looks like he found his partner," Yokomon smiled. "Bukamon's always been a reliable mon."

"Well, hopefully he rubs off on Jaune then." Gyro said with a smile, knowing Jaune wanted to be someone like that as well. With that in mind, they got closer and… "Hey, Jaune!" he called out, making said blonde turn to them and...okay, the grin on his face was easily one of the happiest expressions he'd ever seen on him.

"Guys! Man, am I glad to see you're all alright!" he said as he walked over, the small grey and clearly aquatic creature with what looked like a tuft of orange hair on its head, Bukamon...floating...for lack of better words, right behind him. It was also then that Jaune noticed the creatures they had with them and blinked. "Huh...guess I'm not the only one."

Jaune: "Huh, an interesting little fella he is."

"Well, I DID tell ya my friends were waiting for their partners too," Bukamon chuckled as he hung off of Jaune's shoulder.

"Yeah, guess you did," Jaune said with a wry chuckle. However, that's when he noticed something else. "Guess not everyone is together yet, huh?" he frowned, realizing they were still missing half their numbers.

"Don't worry, with how things are going, I'm sure we'll find them all soon," Ruby said with a reassuring smile.

Ozpin: "This is true. Half of your group was already pretty close to each other. The rest should soon follow."

Qrow: "Unless the others went in opposite directions."

Winter: "Show some optimism, you drunk."

Qrow: "I say it how I see it, Ice Queen," before taking a sip from his flask.

"I just hope Weiss has cooled off enough when we find her." Gyro said, remembering how Weiss had been angry about the whole Nevermore thing and during the wait in the ruins entrance would give him and Ruby subtle looks of annoyance.

And then he realised his wording, making him groan "Ah great, it's like the universe wants me to do Pierce's pun quota." he said, making the others laugh a bit.

"What was that?" a voice said, and Gyro would forever deny he jumped in surprise from hearing it at that moment, nope, he totally didn't.

Yang laughed at the pun Gyro stated and then laughed harder at seeing him basically jumping out of his skin. "I saw him. He can deny it all he wants, won't change that fact."

Weiss: "You're going to hold that over him, aren't you?"

Yang: "I'd be surprised if my other doesn't!"

"Heart attack dammit!" he said loudly as he turned around to look at Weiss, who was looking at him dryly.

And in her arms was… well it was hard to describe, since it wasn't a ball, and it was so plain, but it was small, pink, and had two very short arms, longer than Minomon's stubby ones at least, and two big brown eyes.

Weiss: "Cute. A bit plain, but cute nonetheless."

Ruby: "Even cuter than Zwei?"

Weiss: "...Jury's still out on that."

"Hi Motimon!" The little ones all said.

"Hey everyone!" Motimon waved with a smile.

"So they're your friends?" Weiss asked him, a small smile on her face as Motimon jumped down and bounced over to his friends.

"Yep!" Motimon said happily as the others let the rest of the little ones bounce down to talk with him, with Gyro looking up at Weiss.

"Are you still mad though?" He asked honestly with a raised eyebrow.

"I've gotten over it if that's what you mean and don't hold it against you anymore." She said, sighing as she crossed her arms.

"I'll take it." Gyro said, sighing, glad she wasn't angry with him, because he knew she could hold a grudge.

Weiss: "Actually, I don't tend to hold a grudge that long."

Jaune: "And yet you still tend to hold a lot of Ruby's actions over her."

"Because she hasn't given me a reason not to!"

"So how much do you already know?" Weiss asked. "From what Motimon told me, it seems not only were these little ones waiting for us…" she started, before leveling Gyro a small glare. "He also said 'Koromon', who I assume is the little pink puffball with ears, seemed to know about you and your brother. Care to explain?"

"Yes actually." Gyro said, unfazed, it hadn't been relevant until now, but since it was, he would gladly explain that amazing day "But how about we wait until we find the others so I don't have to repeat myself?" he added with a raised eyebrow.

Weiss stumbled a bit, caught off guard by his willingness, looking at him in some surprise "Uh… yes, that's fine." she eventually said with a nod.

Blake: "I mean...it's reasonable."

Ren: "It would have to do for now."

Ozpin: "Hopefully we are able to get the full picture," while also giving a noticeable glance to their host.

Hedge: "Hey, I said I would provide you all with everything related to your future, and I intend to follow through on that promise."

However, before they could start discussing what to do next, a familiar buzzing was heard, causing Gyro, Ruby, and even Ren to pale. "Aaaand that's our cue to leave! Don't ask! Run before the giant killer bug comes back!" Gyro said urgently, to which Ruby nodded frantically, and they all started pushing their still clueless friends in a direction away from the buzzing.

"Wait, what?" Jaune asked.

"Don't ask! Let's go before Kuwagamon shows up!" Bukamon urged, all the little ones looking understandably afraid at the prospect of having to deal with the large monster.

Fortunately that seemed enough and all of them went into the direction, even if some didn't fully understand, and before long, the sound of buzzing wasn't as notable anymore. "I think it's gone now," Ren confirmed.

Qrow: "I think the keyword for that being 'for now,' kid."

Ren: "True, but every moment we're able to get away from Kuwagamon is a blessing in my book."

Nora: "Real talk though, when am I going to show up?! I want to see my little partner!"

"Thank Oum," Ruby sighed. She didn't want to have to deal with that thing again...at least not until she found Crescent Rose again. Speaking of which… "Hey guys, did any of you…" she started, before realizing that yes, everyone else present was missing their weapons. "Oh…"

Yang looked at her, and realized why she'd started, seeing something important missing. "You guys too?" she frowned. "Sorry Ruby, looks like all of us lost our weapons when we were brought here."

"Probably the same for all the others if the pattern goes on this much." Weiss added with a sigh.

"And we have that monster flying around to worry about too. We'd better hurry and find the others as fast as we…" Ren started...until he heard a sound that made him sigh. It was...there was really no way of properly describing WHAT that sound was. "Nora, we're over here. You can stop now," he sighed, though he still had a wry smile.

Hedge: "While I've personally never heard what a sloth sounds like, I can assure you that isn't a sloth."

Nora: "Oh yeah, mister, than what does one sound like?"

Hedge: "I think I'd let Gyro do the explanation for that."

"Ren!" Nora cheered...as she came out of a tree upside down...with a small yellow puff ball with a tail and noticeably cat-like features hanging on her shoulder, looking a little dizzy from having the blood rushing to its brain. "See Nyaromon, I told you that secret call would work."

"Can we get down now?" Nyaromon replied dizzily.

"Oh! Yeah, totally!" Nora replied, before… doing an honestly impressive backflip out of the tree, holding Nyaromon in her arms the whole time.

Ironwood: "Impressive."

The Rose/Xiao Long family each pulled out a sign with a 10 on them.

Nora: "Thank you," doing a bow towards them. "Also, my little partner is so cute. Though, she does look smaller than that other form she had in the intro."

Blake: "She'll probably go through the same type of change like Koromon did." Though she also was a bit suprised to see a cat-like creature, but also worried if there were also dog-like ones.

She probably wouldn't like Nyaromon's child form then.

The others couldn't help and had to clap at the rather impressive display while Nora took a bow.

"Are you okay, Nyaromon?" Motimon asked, as Nyaromon bounced on the ground a little, eyes still a little swirly.

"I'm okay," she said, before shaking her head. "You're really good at that, huh?" she said, turning to Nora.

Ren noticed the other adults' reaction. "It's part of her daily workout."

Winter: "You mean to tell me Miss Valkyrie tends to do that every day?"

Jaune: "Not just for her workout sessions."

Pyrrha: "She likes to do it at the randomess time."

Ironwood and Winter shared a look with each other then both glanced at the hyperactive girl of Team JNPR, who gave them a wide grin.

"Thanks, I do it plenty of times," Nora grinned, before turning to the others. "So...guess you all got one of these cute guys with you," she said, picking up and hugging Nyaromon.

Thankfully for the feline looking little creature, it was a gentle one.

"Yeah, they were pretty much the ones to wake us up." Yang said as they relaxed a little bit due to being under some forest canopy, and thus better hidden from whatever the others were spooked about.

"What WAS that weird call earlier though?" Gyro, even though he knew, had to ask, because really, what the hell was that?

"A sloth cry silly! Duh." Nora said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Nora: "Well apparently, it's not, so what is it actually, Gyro?"

Gyro blinked "That's not what a sloth sounds like though."

Nora stopped moving completely as her eyes zeroed on him "What does it sound like?" she asked, as if it what she would hear the answer to what life was.

"Best way I can put it is like a human baby, just a bit more… from the throat I'd say." Gyro said, having to take a moment to word it properly.

Nora: "Oh?" She went ahead and tried to make the supposed call, and lo and behold, she was able to make the exact call.

Hedge: "There you go. Now that's a sloth call. A baby one, though."

Nora: "It'll do."

Nora nodded, closing her eyes, taking a deep breath, opening her mouth and… letting out exactly what Gyro had described, which, yes, was a sloth's call.

"Yeahp, that's it, well, a baby sloth, but that's all I could find, haven't seen any adult sloths do a call." Gyro said with a nod, and, somehow, Nora seemed complete, as if everything was right with the world.

Nyaromon looked up at her partner, then back to her friends "I don't know how to feel about this."

"Confused maybe?" Minomon said, shrugging his shoulders helplessly.

"Best I can do I guess." Nyaromon said with a sigh.

Ren: "Really that is the only option to go with," he said with a smile.

"Don't worry, you get used to her," Ren said, patting the little creature on the head in understanding.

"Well, at least the gang's almost all together now," Yang said, looking around. "We're just missing Blake, Pyrrha, and Pierce."

"Well, with how our luck's been we should find them soon enough," Gyro chuckled...and as if on cue, the bushes suddenly shook...and a small rabbit-like creature jumped out, saw the others and with a smile came closer.

Girls: "OH MY OUM, IT'S SO CUTE!!"

Jaune mutters, "What is up with girls and rabbits?"

Ren: "No clue, man."

Hedge: "Honestly, that's pretty much them with anything that's cute. It doesn't matter what it is."

"Everyone!" the small creature said with a happy smile.

"Tokomon!" the others smiled back.

"Another of your friends?" Yang couldn't help but smile and add, "He's pretty cute, though...why is he alone?"

As if to answer her question, the bushes shook again. "Tokomon, don't run off like that," came a worried voice...one that belonged to Blake of all people. True enough, the hidden faunus came into view, stopping short when she saw them. "Ah...I see everyone's gathered," she said.

Yang: "Ha, looks like Kit-cat's got emotions after all."

Blake: "Yang..." both at the pun and the fact of giving her hidden faunus status.

Qrow: "Your bow twitches every so often, and I know your parents pretty well, Blake."

Blake was caught off by that second point. "You...know my parents?"

Ozpin: "Qrow does quite a bit of jobs that I assign him, and a few have had him go to Menagerie a few times, Miss Belladonna."

Ironwood seemed to have caught on to something else. "Wait a second, does that mean...?"

Hedge: "I'm going to stop you right there, James. I know exactly what you are thinking, and I can assure you that Blake is no longer tied to the White Fang." Blake went pale at the mention of the group, and that her past is being revealed. Yang got in front of her partner to keep her safe from the Atlesian General.

Ironwood: "And how do I know that to be true? For all we know, she could be a spy."

Glynda: "James, back off. The rest of Team RWBY would no doubt fight you to protect their teammate, and I wouldn't doubt JNPR doing the same."

Qrow: "And even if they didn't, do you really think you could best Hedge? You saw what he could do."

Ozpin: "And besides Miss Belladonna's past, I gave her a second chance. And I'd say she has been doing exceptionally fine. That's not including her and her team's escapades in stopping the White Fang," referring to the docks, the stolen Paladin, and the mission at Mountain Glenn.

Ironwood really wanted to move in and arrest Blake, no doubt his semblance Mettle being active at the moment. Winter was awaiting any orders from the General.

Winter: "Orders, sir?"

Hedge: "Now hold on there, Winter. I know how much you follow James' orders, to the dot in most cases, am I right?" She looked a bit hesitant, but nodded shortly after that he was right. This got an amused snort out of Qrow. "While it's true that Blake was a part of the once peaceful Faunus group," he gave Blake an apologetic glance, "she never once resorted to killing, in fact, she despised it. She was even at most of their rallies in the front, but she never took up violence as a means to get what she wanted: peace between humans and Faunus."

Hedge raised his hand and implanted the parts of the show that backed that up: The Black Trailer, her putting so many hours in wanting to stop Roman and the White Fang from both Volumes 1 and 2, to the point where was she losing sleep, her V5 trailer regarding her best friend, Ilia's, reason for joining the Fang, and Adam's short from V6 when she confronted him on his kill during a mission that he had apparently saved her father.

Hedge: "Blake wanted to get away from all of that, doing it the only way she knew how: by becoming a Huntress. But, she still didn't feel comfortable having her cat ears on display, as she would no doubt be treated the same by bigots like Team CRDL have been treating other Faunus at Beacon, Miss Scarlentina being a prominent one."

He was right on that part. The students heavily remembered those four mistreating Velvet the most, pulling on her bunny ears a lot and calling her names.

Hedge looked back toward Ironwood. "Now you tell me, James. Do you really think that Blake should be arrested after she is working her butt off to make up for any past doings she may have done in the Fang? A group that she no longer wants any part of?"

Everyone's focus was on Ironwood, waiting for his verdict. It took a few minutes of him not saying anything, then looking towards Blake, who flinched at his gaze, Yang moving in front to block his gaze more, her eyes red in anger. Daring him to make a move against her partner.

After a bit, he sighed. "No. No she doesn't."

Winter looked a bit shocked. "Sir?"

Ironwood: "Stand down, Winter. After what was shown just now, I can excuse Miss Belladonna of her time in the Fang." He then glanced back at said Faunus. "All I ask, is assurance on working towards that peace."

Everyone then looked at Blake, whose instincts were telling her to just run away again, or have Hedge just transport her back to Remnant and wait out the time that the rest would be spending here. But a look at her partner, the rest of her team, and their sister team, who were giving her a reassurance smile, told her to banish those thoughts of running away to the back of her mind. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes, but they were cleared away from her blonde partner.

She smiled at Yang, then looked toward the General. "Of course. That's all I want."

Ironwood nodded. "Good. Hopefully we can achieve that goal."

Everyone calmed down and started to return their gaze back to the TV, but Yang wanted to make sure her partner was okay."

Yang: "Hey, you going to be okay?" Concern in her voice.

Blake nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Ruby: "If you need anything from us, just ask."

Weiss: "We'll always stick by your side."

Blake: "Thanks guys."

"Not quite everyone, but yes," Weiss nodded. "I assume you know the gist of what's going on?"

"More or less," Blake nodded. "Tokomon and his friends have been waiting for us, and we're on a place called File Island," Blake said...before looking uncertain. "He...also called this place the Digital...World…" she said, trailing off at the last bit.

"...I'm sorry, did you just say 'Digital World'?" Jaune blinked.

Nora: "Leave it to fearless leader to call out something like that," she chuckled.

Jaune: "Oh come on, if it wasn't me, it'd probably be someone like Weiss."

Weiss: "...He's not wrong."

"Yes, that's what Tokomon said," Blake nodded.

"Yeah, Koromon mentioned that too. I'm waiting till we find everyone before having that get explained." Gyro said, rubbing his face as he tried to ward off the headache. Suffice to say in his mind, the carefully laid out plan to save Remnant had, even if unintentionally, went out the window...while on fire...before being trampled.

Qrow: "Colorful description."

Glynda: "No plan goes accordingly."

Blake: "Ain't that the truth. Sun and I tried to gather as much information as we could while at the White Fang rally, and while Roman gave the general location of their hideout, we didn't account for them having the new recruits move forward. We were just supposed to get in, get out without causing any commotion."

Ozpin: "That commotion being the Paladin chase."

Ironwood: "I still don't know how he got his hands on an entire shipment."

"...agreed," everyone nodded. This was something they'd rather they all be together to hear rather than separate.

"Guess we might as well start looking then," Nora said. "But since we found each other so fast, I'm sure we'll find Pyrrha and Pierce in a snap!"

"That's what we're hoping, yeah," Gyro couldn't help but chuckle. Nodding in agreement, the now party of 16 continued walking, having decided to try to find an opening so as to get their bearings, though they were also carefully planning how to do so in a way that avoided drawing Kuwagamon's attention again. Finding a relatively dense, but still thinner section, Gyro used his semblance to get up on a tree again, and cautiously poked his head out of the greenery to scope the area. However, what he didn't expect was to look through the trees, and see a familiar redhead in a clearing not too far away judging by his goggles' zoom function. It seemed she had gotten a similar idea to him. "I found Pyrrha!" he reported, before pointing in the direction.

Pyrrha: "I always did like climbing. If it wasn't for the constant threat of the Grimm, I'd probably take up rock climbing as a hobby."

Hedge: "Why am I imagining Pyrrha picking up earthbending like how Toph did with metal bending? Toph started with earthbending and unlocked metal bending afterwards. Pyrrha's on the opposite side of the spectrum. Would be pretty cool."

"Great, let's meet up with her before she moves on," Weiss said, to which they all picked up the pace. It wasn't long before they found the clearing...and a small orange puffball with a horn growing out of its head.

Pyrrha: "So this is my little partner. Gotta be careful of that horn not to poke myself," a smile on her face.

"And this is…?" Jaune blinked at the sight of the odd creature, even if it wasn't THAT much different than the others.

"That's Tsunomon," Bukamon said, before he called out and waved at said mon.

Tsunomon heard his name being called and turned to see his friends and their partners. A wide smile appearing on his features, he turned up to the tree and said, "Pyrrha, my friends are here, and they have your friends with them!"

The moment he did, the tree rustled, and the spartan soon landed on the ground, though she landed a bit too close to Tsunomon, making him jump a little. "Sorry," she said, sounding a little sheepish, before picking him up. "I'm glad everyone is okay," she said as she walked over to the rest of them.

"Well, that's almost everyone, just have to find Pierce now." Yang said with a relieved sigh as everyone let their partners to the ground and they all grouped with each other and started chatting.

"Before that…" Weiss started, getting everyone's attention as she turned to Gyro "I'm going to assume Pierce already knows about Koromon, so can you explain now?"

"Gotta admit, I'm kinda curious about that." Ruby said as she looked at him.

Ren: "I think he's only going to speak about how he and Pierce met Koromon. Anything about our webseries would be explained at a later time."

Yang: "Not to mention Pierce could probably give more info on that front when we all regroup."

Gyro shrugged "Sure, and yeah, Pierce does know about him already. Well, it's not really a long story though, basically, me and Pierce found an egg coming out of our brother's computer when we were kids, it ended up hatching in the morning and out came Koromon in his first form before he became the pink guy he is now. He got bigger a few times after that, and then by the next morning, he was gone. We didn't know where… but now, this explains it." Gyro said, turning his head to behind the group to look at the partners "Guess he's been… like in a limbo or something since then, considering how he just hatched again a month ago."

Ozpin: "Hmm..."

Glynda: "Professor Ozpin?"

Ozpin: "I'm curious on something. Considering it's only been a month since Koromon hatched this time, but the first time he hatched was 10 years ago."

Ruby: "You think there's some time convergence or something?"

Ozpin: "Perhaps. It seems that Earth and Remnant share the same time flow, considering that Gyro and Pierce are around the same age as the rest of you, but we don't exactly know the time flow of this 'Digital World.'"

"Yeah, to me it feels just like yesterday I met Gyro and Pierce and we played games and stuff together!" Koromon added helpfully.

"So yeah, even if this is all a bit strange, I'm not complaining. I got to find an old friend again," Gyro grinned.

"Well… I guess that explains why you seem a bit more at ease than the rest of us, you're familiar with him." Weiss said with a sigh, finding she was suspicious for no reason, as Gyro had no ulterior motive.

Weiss: "It'll have to suffice for now."

Blake: "Just how are our others going to react to the webseries information?"

Jaune: "Existential crisis?" he supplied.

Yang: "That's an understatement."

Well, no evil ones at least, but she wouldn't learn about that till there was enough trust.

"That's so sweet though, getting to see a friend after a lot of years." Ruby said with a bright smile.

"It's nice to meet up with someone after a long time." Pyrrha agreed with the reaper with her usual smile.

"Yeah well, that's also why I wanna find Pierce soon. He'll be over the moon when he sees Koromon again, though I'm sure his partner is just as cool," Gyro chuckled. However, the lighthearted mood was shattered when a familiar buzzing could be heard again. "...oh come on, does that thing make it its life's work to torment us?!"

The students groaned at hearing Kuwagamon's buzzing.

Yang: "Ok, I feel like we're going to have to take down this giant bug."

Jaune: "We don't have our weapons, though," he reminded her.

Glynda: "True, but majority of you probably still have dust ammo in their possession, not to mention useful semblances to keep yourselves in battle."

However, before they could make any plans to escape… "Outta the way! Outta the way!" came Pierce's voice...before said teen ran out of the bushes, a small blue creature that was easily the most humanoid they'd seen so far hanging on to his neck for dear life. Unfortunately they all didn't have time to even properly register this, as Kuwagamon soon came bursting out of the trees, scaring the shit out of any of the huntsmen in training who HADN'T seen it yet.

Blake turned around to Hedge. "Let me guess, DemiVeemon?" Their host nodded back.

Ironwood: "He looks the most different out of all of the others."

"RUN!" Ruby shouted, and nobody argued as they grabbed their partners and started running for their lives.

"Hey bro, glad to see you found a partner too," Gyro said as he caught up with Pierce. "Look who I found!"

Winter: "Are they seriously having a reunion now of all times?!"

Qrow: "Gives some levity to the situation," he shrugged.

"Is that Koromon? So this is where you've been! We were looking for you for ages!" Pierce said, still running for his life.

"Yeah, I missed you guys too!" Koromon nodded while still in Gyro's arms. "So what do you think, DemiVeemon? Told ya he was cool!"

"Yep, you sure did!" the blue creature that was DemiVeemon said happily despite the fact they were being chased by a killer giant bug.

"As touching as this little reunion is…" Weiss started, before everyone roared: "BUT NOW IS NOT THE TIME!"

Weiss: "Thank you!"

"Force of habit!" the twins said together before focusing on running.

"Come to think of it, is it just me or is the vegetation getting less...dense?" Gyro suddenly said as they ran.

Pyrrha: "That...can't be good."

THAT caught everyone's attention, and considering they knew they were on a plateau, a thinning in the vegetation could only mean…

'A dead end!' everyone realized as they exited the vegetation...to find a cliff in front of them.

"...well shit," Pierce swore.

"Language!" Ruby couldn't help but say.

"Ruby, not now ok?" Yang chided her little sister, earning a wince and a nod from her.

Jaune: "Oh come on, why did I have to give her a lien card when my other swore, but here, Pierce doesn't have to?"

Ruby: "Don't worry, my other will have him put a lien card into the jar AFTER dealing with Kowagamon," pulling out her swear jar at the same time.

Blake: "Do you always carry that on you?"

Ruby: "Duh. How else would I get Yang to stop swearing all the time?"

Yang grumbled at that reminder and remembered just how much of that jar was her own lien.

"We're gonna die!" Jaune was starting to panic at this point...not that any of them could blame him. As if to punctuate how bad the situation was, Kuwagamon emerged, standing on its hind legs making it tower over all of them at a size that rivaled the Nevermore from the Emerald Forest. Opening its wings, it soon took to the air, and came at them with all the intent of a homing missile.

"Duck!" Blake managed to shout, to which they all did, just BARELY managing to avoid getting a haircut...from the neck down.

Blake: "Too close," she squeaked out.

"Its coming back!" Pyrrha shouted as Kuwagamon soon did a mid-air U-turn and came back for another shot. However, before he could, suddenly all the little ones began to struggle and suddenly jumped out of their partners' arms, and started pelting Kuwagamon's head with a barrage of bubbles...not that it did much, as Kuwagamon soon knocked them all out of the way, though the bubbles did disorient it enough that it crashed into the foliage.

Weiss: "What are they doing?! They're going to get hurt! Or worse!"

Ozpin: "It did give some form of respite though."

Despite the fact that this gave them a momentary chance to escape, none of them took it, far more interested in running to their partners' sides to make sure the little ones were okay.

"Koromon! You okay, buddy?!" Gyro asked frantically as he picked up the injured puffball.

"Don't be reckless DemiVeemon." Pierce chided as he picked up his little imp shaped friend.

"Are you hurt Tsunomon?" Pyrrha said in worry as she looked over her horned partner.

Everyone made sure their partners were ok, but before they could think of trying to leave before Kuwagamon got up… he did just that.

"Dammit, leave us alone you overgrown roach!" Pierce shouted in frustration and anger at this...thing...that just didn't want to leave them be for no apparent reason. That probably wasn't the smartest thing to say, but as it was, none of them were thinking any kinder thoughts of the creature.

Yang: "I could name a few choice words."

Ruby: "Yang..." shaking her jar.

Yang: "Nice try, Rubes, but I'm not going to yell them out."

Whether Kuwagamon heard him or cared was unclear, as he soon stepped forward, mandibles clicking menacingly, and if he had any visible eyes, they could have guessed it would be the kind of eyes a serial killer would have as he approached his soon to be victims.

"If we only we had our weapons." Nora said through grit teeth, able to see how serious the situation was the moment.

"...everyone still got their Dust ammo?" Gyro asked.

"I still have some," Ruby said.

"Same here," Weiss nodded.

"I think all of us do," Ren said.

"Good. Cause on my signal, I want you guys to toss EVERYTHING you have at that overgrown bug, then I'll trigger it with my Semblance. We're getting out of this alive even if we have to improvise an Oum damned bomb on this thing's ass," Gyro growled.

Ren: "Nora's ammo would probably be the best to do so. Hers is homemade."

Ruby: "Wait, really?"

Nora: "Of course! Do you really think any dust shop would sell ammo that explodes into pink hearts?" She then looked at the Schnee sisters. "Though I could use some help perfecting them. Would either of you be willing to help?"

Weiss and Winter shared a complexed look with each other.

Winter: "Miss Valkyrie, I'm not sure how we'd be able to help perfecting them."

Weiss: "Not to mention we'd have to look at the formula you had used to make them."

Nora: "Oh that's easy. I have it saved on my scroll."

"You won't have to." Koromon said with a groan as he shook himself.

"We've waited so long, we're not going to let him hurt you like this." Nyaromon added.

"That's right, we need to teach him a lesson he won't forget." Tsunomon agreed as well.

"We just need one lucky hit, that's all." Motimon said with a wince.

With that said, the little ones started to struggle out of their partners arms, before jumping out and rushing at Kuwagamon one more time.

Students: "No!!"

Qrow: "A miracle needs to happen."

Ozpin: "I think one should be."

The young hunters called out to their partners in worry, trying to get to them in time, none more louder than Gyro.

"KOROMON!"

In that moment, several things happened.

The first, and most obvious, were the little ones suddenly slowing down their movements… while most of them were bouncing up in the air.

The second, the sky darkened as clouds swirled out from a single point.

And finally, but most importantly, the digivices the hunters had on them started glowing.

Hedge: "It's time."

10 rainbow colored lights suddenly shot down from the heavens, surrounding the little ones, the hunters looking on in surprise "What the…?" Gyro muttered in confusion.

(Play Brave Heart)

In the lights covering the little ones, they felt their power peak, and knew it was time, as all of them began to spin in place.

"Koromon, Evolution! Agumon!" Koromon's form changed, now once more in the larger reptilian form that he assumed that night 11 years ago.

"Tanemon, Evolution! Palmon!" Tanemon's form changed, shifting into a small somewhat humanoid plant with a pink flower on top of her head and purple claw like appendages at the tips of her arms.

"Minomon, Evolution! Wormmon!" Minomon's form changed, turning into a big green caterpillar with long antennae, his legs tipped with purple claws while the last section of his body had two small purple stingers, a small purple Y shape on his forehead.

"Yokomon, Evolution! Biyomon!" Yokomon's form changed, becoming a child sized pink bird with blue tips to her feathers, her wings tipped with three claws as red as her beak, a grey anklet on her left ankle.

"Bukamon, Evolution! Gomamon!" Bukamon's form changed, shifting into a land based sea creature, the exact kind hard to pinpoint, his fur white in color with purple markings adorning it, a pair of wavy ears sprouting on top of his head while the points of his four feet were covered in claws, a red mohawk starting at the top of his head.

"Motimon, Evolution! Tentomon!" Motimon's form changed, turning into a creature more akin to a ladybug, with the black spots on his shell actually being small spikes, two long orange antennae on top of his head, his large compound eyes staring ahead as his main arms were now tipped with a large black claw each, while a second pair of smaller, but more normal arms rested beneath them, his feet having three rounded claws on them.

"Nyaromon, Evolution! Salamon!" Nyaromon's form changed, becoming a small cream colored puppy with a golden ring around her neck, the form seemed harmless, but one never knew.

Ironwood blinked multiple times, even rubbing his eyes to make sure he saw what he saw correctly. "I'm sorry, did a cat-like creature...just turn...into a dog?"

Winter: "Yes sir, I believe it did."

Ironwood just wordlessly reached into his coat and took out his flask to drink from it.

Hedge laughed at Ironwood's reaction. "Hahaha! That's the type of reaction I expected out of you, James!

"Tokomon, Evolution! Patamon!" Tokomon's form changed, shifting into a guinea pig like creature that was brown on top with a cream underbelly, brown bat wings actually sprouting from the top of his head.

"Tsunomon, Evolution! Gabumon!" Tsunomon's form changed, turning into a yellow, almost reptile like creature with purple claws and a tail, a horn sprouting from the top of his head while his belly had a blue egg shape on it with a purple pattern on it, though covering most of his body was an icy white and dark blue wolf pelt.

"DemiVeemon, Evolution! Veemon!" DemiVeemon's form changed, becoming a larger, saurian like creature with a pointed nose, his scales seemingly becoming harder, but still blue, while his belly and mouth stayed white, small claws sprouted on the tips of his fingers of the now much larger hands he sported, a long tail at his backside and long claws on his feet while a yellow V was on his forehead.

Ruby: "That...Was...AWESOME!!!"

Yang: "Yeah! Now they have actual appendages to fight against Kuwagamon."

Jaune: "And it's 10 versus 1. They have a fighting chance."

Glynda: "Don't underestimate Kuwagamon, Mr. Arc. Just because you have numbers, doesn't mean you have the fight."

Ozpin: "True Glynda, but they'll all be coordinated against Kuwagamon. And they look nimble enough to dodge any attacks thrown their way."

When the light cleared, the huntsmen in training were left stunned at the sight. The little ones weren't so little anymore, all of them having seemingly transformed from generally cute but harmless looking forms to more defined, and seemingly built for combat, forms.

"This is…!" Gyro and Pierce gasped, remembering this same form that Koromon had taken that night.

"Let's get him!" Agumon said, as the 10 of them jumped forward and latched onto Kuwagamon, trying to bring him down. The larger creature seemed to struggle for a moment, before managing to knock them off, but they all quickly got back on their feet.

Nora: "Take him down!"

Kuwagamon opened his wings, about to try and gain the aerial advantage, but Palmon and Wormmon were faster, and soon got under him.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon called out as her 'nails' extended to reveal vines that grabbed hold of Kuwagamon's legs, stopping him from taking off properly, while the toxins worked their way through him to slow him down...and actually reminding them of a similar plan they'd used not long ago.

Ruby: "Go Tane...er, wait..Palmon! That's going to take some getting used to."

"Air Shot!" Patamon declared as his body seemed to inflate before he shot a ball of compressed air from his mouth, knocking Kuwagamon off balance when it hit him on the side of his head.

Blake: "How compressed air can do damage still baffles me, but keep it up Patamon!"

"Sticky Net!" Wormmon called out as a net of webbing was released from his mouth, wrapping around Kuwagamon's wings, forcing him to descend back to the ground, but just as he was about to land, Gomamon rolled on the ground, and tripped him, causing him to fall to his knee.

Ren wasn't vocal like the rest of his friends, but he was still cheering on Wormmon.

Jaune: "Alright Gomamon!"

...or he would have, if Salamon hadn't jumped in front of him and… "Puppy Howling!" she called out as the sound based attack hit Kuwagamon dead on, disorienting and paralyzing him further, causing him to fall flat on his face.

Nora: "Keep it up, Salamon!"

… Or, again, he would have, if Veemon had not been standing under him, and just as Kuwagamon started coming down, the little blue saurian braced his legs and jumped up, head first "V Headbutt!" he shouted as his superior cranium slammed into Kuwagamon's chin, sending him standing upright again, unmoving as he was still stunned.

Yang: "Talk about being hardheaded," causing everyone to groan at the pun.

Tentomon and Biyomon soon flew up towards the stunned monster and took advantage of this chance. "Petit Thunder!" Tentomon called out as electricity gathered from his wings and was fired at Kuwagamon.

Weiss: "Keep up the attack, Tentomon!" Though, she noticed her friends giving her some looks. "What, I can cheer on my partner too!" looking away with crossing her arms and a blush on her face. Her sister with a smile on her face.

"Magical Fire!" Biyomon called out as a spiral of green ethereal fire flew from her beak, both attacks hitting and causing parts of Kuwagamon's head to catch fire.

Yang: "Turn up the heat, Biyomon!"

"Don't let up!" Agumon ordered as he and Gabumon stood before Kuwagamon. "Baby Flame!" he called out, shooting a fireball from his mouth.

"Petit Fire!" Gabumon called out, shooting a stream of blue fire from his mouth, both impacting and causing Kuwagamon's head to catch on more fire. However, it wasn't enough, as the monster angrily roared, the fires going out from the fast movements, but by then, all of them had regrouped.

Pyrrha: "Good job, Gabumon!"

Ironwood: "He looks to be on the ropes."

"Let's finish this. Together!" Agumon said, as all of them with long ranged moves charged up.

Students: "Finish him!!"

Wormmon used Sticky Net again, to cover Kuwagamon's head in webbing to disorient the monster again, and giving his friends the opening they needed.

"Baby Flame!"

"Magical Fire!"

"Petit Fire!"

"Petit Thunder!"

"Air Shot!"

"Puppy Howling!"

The attacks all hit dead on, causing Kuwagamon's upper body to be engulfed in flames, the monster screeching in pain, as it thrashed around, managing to put out bits of the fire.

"One more time!" Veemon shouted, before he jumped over Agumon, the dino using his claws to give Veemon a springboard. "V Headbutt!" the strong strike hit Kuwagamon square in the head, causing the large insect to let out a choked gasp, before falling over into the foliage. A few moments later, the woods shook, as Kuwagamon flew out...and turned tail before flying away.

Yang: "Looks like he bugged out," cue more groans from everyone.

(End Song)

Everyone stared at him for a moment, some confusion spreading at seeing him run away, before it lead to relief and cheer at the fact they'd won.

"Holy Oum! That was awesome Agumon!" Gyro said with a grin as he ran to meet up with the yellow dinosaur, having overheard the name upon him… evolving as it were.

Weiss: "So Agumon is the name of the that...form as it is."

Blake: "And Veemon for Pierce's partner."

Pyrrha: "But aside from just their new names, is there a name specifically to what that form is?"

Hedge: "There is, and it's explained a few chapters down the line, but the very first form they take coming out of the egg is the fresh form. The form they had previously was known as the baby form."

"Thanks! Honestly we kinda surprised ourselves a little with how well that went." Agumon said with a sheepish laugh before Gyro high fived him, while everyone was starting to get reacquainted with their now changed partners.

"Damn, that was epic Veemon." Pierce said as he fist bumped the blue saurian.

"You know it was!" Veemon shot back with a grin.

Before anything else could be said… a small cracking sound was heard, making everyone stop and look around, before they heard it again, louder this time… and visible, as they saw the part of the cliff they were standing on start to crack all over.

Jaune: "Not good," he muttered.

Pyrrha: "The cliff must've taken too much damage from the battle."

Yang whispered to Ruby. "Why do I feel like we just had a case of Uncle Qrow's bad luck?" Ruby snickered at that.

"Maybe a little too epic." Weiss said worriedly as Tentomon was grabbing onto her.

"Sorry, we didn't want to do things halfway and have him just attack us back." Tentomon said apologetically.

And with that, the cliff finally shattered, leaving the hunters and their partners to fall down into the river below.

"Well, at least this means I can finally do my impressive thing." Gomamon said from Jaune's back.

"Do it now then please!" the blonde hunter said in a panicked tone.

"You got it! Marching Fishes!" Gomamon called out, nothing seemingly happening out at first, before the water bubbled up beneath them, and a moment later, a VERY large school of fishes breached the surface, practically being a rainbow of color as everyone landed on them, the rocks falling into the water around them or into holes through the school of fishes.

Jaune sighed in relief. "Well, at least we have a boat. A boat made out of fishes, but a boat nonetheless," he chuckled.

Ren: "Be glad you don't get seasick."

Jaune: "Yeah, that'd be bad."

Yang: "We'd kick you off the boat in a nanosecond, Vomit Boy."

They all had to take a moment to catch their breaths as they were all either face first or down on their butts after landing on the fishes, looking around after the disorienting experience.

"So… you can summon a super large group of fishes?" Jaune asked his partner who let go of his back and layed down next to him, just as mentally exhausted as the others after that shocking experience.

"Yeah, but I can only do it near water, so that's a bit of a problem." Gomamon said with a sigh before smiling as Jaune pat his back.

"Hey, it just saved our lives, so it's definitely a really useful power." Jaune reassured him, earning a grateful nod from Gomamon.

Ironwood: "It did save them from a big fall."

"Uh, not to get in the middle of this...but we've got a BIG rock incoming!" Yang said frantically.

"Right, full speed ahead!" Gomamon said, as the Marching Fishes did just that, allowing them to avoid the worst of it all.

They all let out relieved sighs as they finally had a chance to relax.

"Oh man, that was really tiring." Ruby said while Palmon snuggled up to her, nodding.

"I'm so tired after all that." the plant based creature agreed with her partner completely.

Weiss: "Well, that's to be expected since they did all the fighting."

Ruby: "But we did all the running too."

Weiss: "True, guess all the adrenaline wore off."

"Even though we didn't do anything, just watching it and then falling down was certainly…" Blake started, stopping as she tried to look for the right word.

"Nerve-wracking?" Patamon supplied from her lap, earning a grateful nod from her and making him beam up happily.

"Thankfully, the probability of an event specifically like that happening again are so astronomically low, we should be safe as long as we proceed with caution." Tentomon said from next to Weiss.

"The wording thankfully bypasses Murphy's Law." Weiss said with a sigh of relief, while the brothers were glad they could curse Murphy here without being looked at weirdly.

Hedge: "Murphy always like to pop up at the worst opportune moments."

"For now, let's just worry about getting back on dry land, we probably still have a lot ahead of us." Gyro said seriously, everyone nodding in agreement, but still decided to relax just a bit longer on the school of fishes.

There was no telling what else would happen after all.

With that, the chapter ended, and the TV turned off.

Ruby: "That was a great chapter! We all got new partners to fight with."

Weiss: "And no doubt they have a higher form like Agumon took back then."

Yang: "Let's move on to the next chapter, Hedge!"

Hedge: "We will, but first, I have a few things for you all. In my world, a few certain events came up while you all were here, that being some holidays and even...some birthdays."

He raised his hand and, with a glow, gifts appeared in front of everyone.

Everyone received one gift wrapped present, but Ruby, Blake, and Yang received another. Something everyone took notice of was that the student's gifts were egg-shaped.

Weiss: "Wait a second...are these...?"

Ruby/Nora: "ARE WE GETTING OUR OWN PARTNERS?!"

Hedge: "That's right. It's a gift from both myself and Swift." They carefully unwrapped the Digieggs and inside the wrapping they found their own digivices too, each one with their prominent colors. "They should hatch soon."

Students: "Thank you, Hedge!"

Ruby then started to try and open her second gift, but noticed that anything she tried to open it, nothing happened. "Hey Hedge, I can't seem to open this present."

Hedge: "That, Ruby, is because that present is a time-based one. When we reach a certain part of the story, you'll be able to open it."

Ruby pouted that she couldn't open it now, but she'd accept it for now. Then all of a sudden, two boxes of chocolate chip cookies and strawberries landed in her lap.

Hedge: "A consolation present. Happy belated birthday, Ruby." She blurred toward him and gave him a hug.

Yang wondered if her other present was also time-based like her sister's, but when she made the attempt to open it, it actually tore open. What she found was bike parts. "Are these parts for Bumblebee?!"

Hedge: "Yup, some extra additions you can add to your bike. Also, take a look at your scroll."

She pulled out her scroll, and noticed a new app installed. "What's this app for?"

Hedge: "Well, I decided to take a page out of a video game I used to play a lot and thought of implementing it as an app. One of those parts is a transmat part, allowing you to use the app after the part is installed to call your bike to your location no matter where you are, and if your bike was to be destroyed, you could also use the app to transmit it back like it never was destroyed. That is due to the app scanning every installed part on Bumblebee, and having the bike reappear with all the same parts. Happy belated birthday, Yang."

Yang: "Awesome! Thanks!"

Blake started to open her second gift and she didn't have to open it all the way as she noticed the telltale title of her favorite book, her face instantly starting to turn red.

Hedge's voice came through her mind. "That there is the newest issue that hasn't come out in Remnant yet. I'd suggest opening that completely later on in the privacy of your team room. I'll do you a favor and transport it there. Happy belated birthday, Blake."

Blake: "Yes...that would be...great...thanks." The gifted book disappeared from her hands, a blush still on her face.

Ozpin opened up his present and found a coffee mug in the wrapping. "Oh, what have we here?"

Hedge: "An indestructible coffee mug, not to mention, you can think any type of coffee or even hot chocolate and it will fill up instantly with that drink."

Ozpin tested that and it filled up with some coffee. "Well I'll be. Thank you, Mr. Badnic."

Glynda opened up her present. What she found were some candle sticks. "An...incense set?"

Hedge: "I imagine it's not easy trying to keep every student in line at Beacon, not to mention the countless migranes it may cause you. This is to help with those stressful days in your quarters."

Glynda: "Why that's very thoughtful. Thank you," a smile on her face.

Winter opened up her present, and found a small box inside along with a note addressed to both her and Weiss. "Weiss, it seems this gift is to the both of us."

Weiss: "Really?" She moved over behind her sister to see what was given to the both of them.

Winter opened up the box and found a flash drive. "A flash drive?"

Hedge: "I'll only say this: that tiny drive has all the necessary files to take Jacques down, leaving him to have no other choice but to hand the SDC to you, Weiss. You can live out your dream of remaking the company back into your grandfather's image."

Blake's faunus ears perked up at that. "Wait, what?"

Ironwood: "You're kidding. That little drive can put Jacques away?" He kept his expression neutral, but internally, he was happy that he might not have to deal with Jacques ever again when it came to dust.

Hedge nodded and the Schnee siblings were shocked to hear that all they needed to be rid of Jacques was just to look into the files on the drive in Winter's hands.

Weiss: "I...I don't even know what to think or say."

Ruby: "You don't need to say anything Weiss. You can work towards the one goal you have been wanting to fulfill ever since we became a team, and Hedge has given you a direct path to it in my opinion."

Yang: "Ruby's right. I say take this opportunity to start thinking up ways to change what your father has set for the SDC, and I'm sure Blake would be happy to work them out with you."

Weiss turned to look at her Faunus teammate. "You up to help brainstorm some ideas?" a smirk on her face.

Blake returned the smirk. "Is that a rhetorical question? Of course I am."

Winter looked towards Hedge. "Thank you, Hedge."

Hedge smiled at that. He then turned to the last two that had to open up their gifts. "Now for the last two, Qrow and James. Qrow, you have two gifts." A silver flask dropped into his hands. "That flask there is a gift from Swift. It can infinitely refill with any drink that TASTES alcoholic, but is not an ACTUAL alcoholic drink."

Qrow looked down at the new flask, already putting its power to the test and taking a sip. "Ooh, my complinents to the man. But what's the other gift?"

Hedge: "If I could have both you and James stand up next to each other, please." Both men do so, and not soon after, the Chaos Emeralds appeared circling around them, surprising everyone. "Don't worry, they'll be fine, and no, they aren't getting their own Super or Hyper form." He then starts a chant, the emeralds start to glow as well as both men's auras, and after Hedge completes the chant, the Chaos Emeralds disappear, but both Qrow and Ironwood are still glowing.

Winter: "What did you do to them?"

Hedge: "Well, I'm sure majority of you know what both of their semblances are?" Everyone knows Qrow's since that was mentioned awhile back, but only the adults knew of the General's. "Well, I used the emeralds to give some updates to them, or outright change them."

All: "What?!"

Ozpin: "They can do that?"

Hedge: "They've been used to bring someone back to life in their original continuity, even the fandom wants to forget that event from happening."

Yang: "What, why?! I'd say that's a great thing to remember!"

Hedge: "It's more so the method they were used to bring that person back that the fandom hates, and the media is the most hated of the franchise. I'll leave it at that."

Everyone wanted to question more on that, but it seemed like Hedge wouldn't go more into detail about that tidbit.

Glynda: "So then what changed of their semblances?"

Hedge: "For Qrow, your semblance is still Misfortune..." said drunk slumped his shoulders at that, "...but, you can actually direct it towards anyone of choosing, and you are no longer affected by your semblance, meaning it is no longer passive."

Qrow's eyes widened and started to water. "Wait, so then, does mean...?"

Hedge: "You can be around your loved ones without being a potential risk to them."

Ruby and Yang jumped toward their uncle and hugged him. It took him a little bit, but he then returned the hug, tears falling from his eyes. No longer would he be considered a 'bad luck charm.'

Qrow: "Thank you, Hedge."

Hedge: "Now for James, I know Mettle could be seen as detrimental in some cases," keeping things hidden for now regarding future events, "so I went ahead and decided to change your semblance entirely. Go ahead and step a bit in front of Qrow and his nieces, and raise your left arm out while thinking of shielding them."

Ironwood does so, and suddenly, an aura wall appears from the side of his body, going just a little longer than the three.

Ruby: "Woah!"

Ironwood: "I agree, but wouldn't this leave me potentially open to ranged attacks?"

Hedge: "Well you are correct, but you are able to control how far and big you want the shield to be, plus the shield appears in front of your body, so your aura will still take the damage rather than leave you vulnerable. You always wanted to protect everyone, and be their shield. Now, you can."

Ironwood deactivated the aura wall and looked down to his arms. It would take some getting used to, but he'll make it work. "Thank you Hedge."

Hedge: "No problem. This was a late thing on my part, but you guys know this specific holiday as Non-Descript Winter Holiday, am I right? Well for my world, it's known as Christmas. So, Merry Christmas everybody, and once again, happy belated birthday to you three," referring to Ruby, Blake, and Yang.

All: "Merry Christmas, Hedge!"

AN: And done! Finally getting this chapter out to you all. Apologies for the long wait.

As I stated in the minor announcement post, I was focused on Hedge's story for quite some time while also dealing with irl stuff (work, the holidays, etc) and I got stuck on a chapter trying to work it out for my other story, that more time kept passing by, and I really wanted to get back to this.

So I decided to put Hedge's story back on the back burner and return to here. I'll probably chip away at Hedge's story from time to time, but my main focus will be on this. Just please be patient with me if time in between chapters gets too long, and I'll try to put up announcement chapters if something comes up to where I can't put out chapters.

Now onto the presents I gave everyone (the more notable ones): Team RWBY and JNPR - self explanatory, they'll be getting their own digimon, who they'll be getting will be known down the road. Ruby's other present will also be revealed later on as well.

Winter (and Weiss): yes, it is a flash drive with a lot of files that incriminate Jacques, to where even the board members wouldn't be able to put anything under the rug, and since the timeline is at the ending of Volume 2, Weiss is still the heiress, and unless Jacques wants to ruin his publicity more, he wouldn't think twice of revoking her title.

Qrow and James: Let's be real, both of their semblances, while good in some cases, tend to be detrimental at the worst times. So went ahead and updated Qrow's semblance so it no longer impacts him and he can now target anyone of choosing to have bad luck instead. For James, do I even need to go into detail about Mettle and how he was in the later volumes? He can now generate an aura shield or wall either around his body or in a direction outward from his body to project in front of someone to shield them from any ranged attack. Name of new semblance pending.

That's all for now. See you all in the next chapter. Peace out.