Both Team RWBY and JNPR woke up in their rooms and looked straight towards their remaining member's beds that still had their Digiegg to see if it had hatched, but alas, they hadn't yet.
They all got ready and headed off to eat breakfast, soon being joined by the adults.
Glynda: "Hmm," scanning the table for any new additions, "I don't see any new Digimon in our numbers, so either there aren't any evolutions this next chapter..."
Yang: "...or this chapter is focused on Pierce and Veemon." In truth, she was very interested in this chapter. Now, is it because Pierce has a thing for her? She'd probably take the answer to that to her grave.
Nora: "Which falls in line with my perdiction!" all while munching on a pancake.
Ruby: "And we're getting closer and closer to Infinity Mountain."
Weiss: "Which means we should be running into whomever is behind the Black Gears too."
They finished up breakfast and headed into the theater room where Hedge was waiting for them.
Hedge: "Morning everyone."
Ozpin: "Good morning, Mr. Badnic. We have a good assumption as to whom this chapter is focused on, so we had a question."
Hedge smiled. "Fire away."
Jaune: "Well, usually a Digiegg would hatch before a chapter involving an evolution would come up, so we were wondering what is Veemon's fresh form?"
Their D-Spirits (and Digivices for Jaune and Blake) beeped as if they got a notification and they all motioned to grab them. What they found was another Digimon's profile.
Blake decided to read the fresh form profile. "Chibomon, A small, blue-colored, Dragon Digimon child. Although it is small and powerless, it has the potential to evolve to every Dragon Digimon. For that reason, it is a Digimon that is considered exceedingly valuable by tamers and researchers of Dragon Digimon. It is cherished due to its personality of friendliness and overflowing curiosity, characteristic of Baby Digimon. Just like other Baby Digimon, it spits acidic bubbles to attack, but as usual, their power is nonexistent."
Pyrrha: "So then, would Veemon be the strongest Digimon out of all of ours?"
Ren: "Based off what was just stated, I'd have to probably say yes."
Winter: "Though we still have Mr. Arc's and Miss Belladonna's Digimon to evolve. So it's tough to come to that conclusion now."
Ironwood: "True, but given how popular Chibomon is with researchers, I wouldn't doubt it if he was a very rare Digimon, and Pierce was just lucky enough to have him chosen as his partner."
Hedge internally chuckled at the mention of Pierce being lucky.
They all sat down in their seats as the TV turned on.
Scarred Dragon! Veedramon!
Qrow chuckled. "Really driving in the Dragon theme, aren't we?"
The group continued to make their way towards Infinity Mountain, the Hive now no longer in sight as they went through a rocky pass. "The temperature is dropping, isn't it?" Tentomon said with a light shiver.
"Guess it really is cause we're getting close to the mountain," Weiss frowned slightly.
"Hopefully it doesn't get too bad though," Pyrrha frowned.
Jaune: "You know I'd offer up my hoodie in a heartbeat, Pyr."
Pyrrha blushed. "But then what would you wear to keep warm?
Jaune: "I'd fight the cold."
Ironwood chuckled. "You wouldn't be saying that if you tried that outside of Atlas, Mr. Arc."
"Let's be glad we have the pouch Azure gave us, so we're set for supplies even if we get to an area where we can't find food," Gyro sighed. "I've got a few heaters in here too, so camping shouldn't be too bad."
"Yeah, we should really thank your brother when we get back," Ruby nodded in agreement.
Blake: "Seriously, those pouches pretty much have everything."
Weiss: "Almost everything," referring to them not having any tents.
"Still, we should be careful. This pass seems like it'll be slippery to get through," Palmon said, noting some of the snow on the ledges.
"Maybe I could melt it off?" Agumon suggested, already prepping a flame in his mouth.
Ruby: "Agumon! That'd caused an avalanche!"
"Nope!" Gyro quickly said as he clamped Agumon's jaw shut, the flame going off inside his mouth, making smoke come out his nostrils a moment later "You might cause a landslide down below for all we know, let's not take any risks."
Agumon's eyes widened, and he quickly nodded, albeit with a few tears escaping his eyes cause even if Gyro had done it for a good reason...it still hurt. "Sorry buddy," Gyro said apologetically.
Despite the reasoning for doing so, it was still funny seeing Agumon crying because of the Baby Flame exploding in his mouth.
"But maybe we could still try and see what's ahead," Yang suggested.
"Leave that to us," Biyomon said, as she and Tentomon flew upward to act as scouts. They weren't gone long, as they frantically came back, looking VERY worried.
Ren: "I don't like that look."
No one else did.
"I don't like that look." Pierce said as he watched their faces, even Tentomon was able to have some expression on his face, surprising for an insect honestly.
"We just saw a huge amount of Black Gears, all coming from Mount Infinity, they seemed to be flying out of a temple at the top of the mountain." Tentomon quickly explained.
Ozpin: "Seems whomever is behind the Gears is starting to use drastic measures."
Qrow: "All the more reason to get to the top."
"That's… really, REALLY not a good sign." Jaune said, swallowing nervously.
"I'll say, hopefully those gears don't find any other Digimon to infect." Gomamon frowned in worry.
Jaune: "Wishful thinking, Gomamon, but I don't think that'll be in our favor."
"With our luck, they likely will." Blake said with a sigh, before looking back at everyone "Though this probably means that whoever is making these gears is on top of the mountain."
"We have to stop him." Patamon said with a determined nod.
"Oh yeah! Time to go and kick some butt!" Veemon said, pumping his fists.
Yang: "What he said!"
"You won't see me disagree with that idea." Gabumon added, rolling his shoulders for emphasis.
"Let's go break their legs!" Nora almost shouted with a grin.
Nora: "Heck yeah!"
Ren had a smirk on his face. "Hm, I'll allow it."
"I like that plan!" Salamon grinned in agreement.
"Okay everyone, looks like we're in agreement. We need to get to the mountain as soon as possible, and put a stop to whoever is making these things," Gyro said, earning nods of agreement from them all. "But at the same time I think we can all agree that that doesn't mean we should rush through and possibly end up falling to our dooms in the hurry."
"Yeaaah, that'd definitely help," Blake deadpanned. "We can't really help anyone if we're a broken pile of bones at the bottom of a cliff."
"Dear Monty you're morbid." Pierce said dryly.
Weiss: "I mean have you met Blake?"
Blake: "But am I wrong," she retorted.
Ironwood: "Unfortunately, you're not."
"She's not wrong though." Ren agreed with Blake.
"Could have worded it better if you ask me." Wormmon muttered, trying to banish the mental image THAT gave him.
A few them also tried to banish that thought out of their heads.
Blake shrugged slightly at that, but ultimately they all agreed that they needed to keep going.
The trek through the pass was...slower than they'd like. The colder climate and higher altitude meant that snow was a problem, and on top of that, they had to carefully maneuver through some of the tighter passages. To make matters worse…
"An earthquake? Now?!" Pyrrha said incredulously as they all grabbed hold of something when the ground started to shake.
"It's not an Earthquake! It's…" Gabumon said, right as a large tortoise-like Digimon fell over a ledge overhead down to the ground below.
Ozpin: "What was that about an avalanche happening, Miss Rose?"
Ruby: "I didn't mean for one to actually happen!" her cheeks red like her cloak.
"Don't tell us. Territorial Digimon live on this pass, don't they?" Ren sighed.
"Yeah, Tortomon," Wormmon nodded.
"...so let me get this straight? We're on a pass that is narrow and treacherous as is...and on top of the fact that we're headed straight to whatever maniac has been making the Black Gears, we also have to worry about a group of overgrown tortoises fighting over territory that can cause the area to have small earthquakes?" Weiss said, her voice calm. Too calm.
Qrow: "Damn, almost felt like I was having a conversation with you, Ice Queen."
Winter smirked. "She is my sister after all."
"Uh….pretty much?" Tentomon gulped.
"...is anyone else in the mood for turtle soup?" Weiss asked, her voice frigid.
"Well… I hope none of you guys have a turtle like evolution down the road." Gyro said as he glanced at all the Digimon.
Pyrrha: "Uh...the only one that could possibly have that type of evolution..." as she and the others looked nervously at the blonde leader.
"She can't be mad for THAT long...right?" Gomamon said sounding a little nervous.
"And now you just jinxed us," Veemon deadpanned, earning a nervous chuckle from the aquatic Digimon.
Weiss may not hold a grudge for long, but maybe she might just do so to mess with Gomamon.
"Let's just keep moving and keep a lookout for any other of those Tortomon." Pyrrha said with a sigh. Something they all agreed on.
The path was...it was honestly a mix of more dangerous yet more boring, compared to what they'd been through so far. Dangerous was due to the less than stable terrain, boring due to how lacking in life this area was compared to the others before it.
Nora: "Quick question, is that how things may be when we do become official Huntsmen and Huntresses?"
Qrow: "Honestly, it depends on the mission itself."
Glynda: "And don't think that just because a mission looks interesting that it actually will be."
The students would keep that in mind.
"This is honestly a little tedious," Ruby sighed as they were once again pressed against the cliff walls, carefully inching across while every now and then a few rocks they bumped against fell down to the ravine below. "Though there's a lot of incentive to do it right…."
Yang: "Man, I'm glad Uncle Qrow isn't there with us."
Qrow: "Oh haha, Firecracker. Need I remind you Hedge changed my semblance around? I'd be careful on how you go about the jokes."
Yang paled at that. He did now have full control of his semblance and he could target someone to be affected by it.
"Yeah...even I wouldn't do anything crazy right now," Nora nodded with a light gulp.
"Let's be sure to pass this way quickly then," Pyrrha said quickly.
"Sometimes I hate having a long tail." Veemon said as he was pushing his stomach flat against the cliff while having to grab onto his tail so it didn't balance him backwards.
Nora: "Couldn't he just bring it in between his legs?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
Blake: "Not if it doesn't bend that way. There are a few Faunus with tail appendages that can't do that too."
"I think we're gonna be good for now though." Pierce said, looking towards the top of where they were walking.
"Why is that?" Blake asked.
"Its to do with my Semblance," Pierce said simply.
Ruby: "We don't actually know what his semblance is, do we?"
Everyone shook their head.
"That reminds me, what IS your semblance anyway?" Yang asked, turning her head to her fellow blonde, figuring now was as good a time as any.
Pierce looked at her "Well-" and before he could really start speaking, they all heard the sound of an angry screech, as they turned...and saw what looked like nothing short of a black demonic dragon in the air.
Pyrrha: "That's a very scary Digimon."
Glynda looked over at Ozpin and whispered, "That almost looks like a Grimm, doesn't it?"
Ozpin nodded, happy to know that Salem wasn't watching this as well. No doubt she'd have ideas on what to make her next Grimm species based off of.
"Ok, what the HELL is that?" Jaune asked, staring at the nightmarish creature with a twitching eyebrow.
"That's Devidramon, and it's a really angry Digimon." Agumon said in worry.
Digimon Analyzer: Devidramon.
Devidramon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Evil Dragon Digimon. Known as the Many-Eyed Demon, it was born in the depths of the Dark Area. Its body is perfect for battle, with its long clawed limbs and its tail that can split open into several more claws, it strikes down its opponents as they cower in fear in front of it. Its special attack is Crimson Nail, cutting the enemy to pieces with it's blood red claws.
"Ya know, that thing looks a LOT like a Grimm...only without the white bone armor," Gyro idly pointed out...looking surprisingly calm right now.
"Yeah, it does," Pierce nodded in agreement.
Weiss: "I'd have to agree on the Grimm part, but...HOW CAN THEY BOTH BE SO CALM RIGHT NOW?!"
"Why are you two so calm?!" Jaune all but demanded, as true enough, the Devidramon let out another angry roar, and came barreling towards them, and knocking them off the ledge to their doom...or that would have been the case if not for the sound of something cracking above them, causing them to look up and see a boulder detach from the cliff face, and actually hitting the Devidramon square on the head RIGHT as it was about to get them, causing it to stop in mid-air almost comically...before it soon fell to the darkness below along with the boulder.
Everyone blinked their eyes multiple times...before bursting out into laughter at how comically the Devidramon was defeated.
"And THAT Jaune, is why we were so calm." Gyro said simply, as everyone else minus Pierce were trying to understand what had just happened. Eventually…
"Wow...we really got lucky there, huh?" was all Veemon could say. At that point, the two brothers burst out laughing. "...was it something I said?"
Qrow stopped mid sip of his flask as he started to catch on. "Wait a minute..."
"Nah, nothing like that. You just summed up my Semblance is all." he gave everyone a few moments, seeing the dawning understanding on their faces. "Before anyone says anything, no, I DON'T have any real control over it, but the bottom line is the more dangerous the situation, the more likely it is to work, making me a living good luck charm," Pierce said.
Qrow nearly dropped his flask at that. He would always consider himself as a walking bad luck charm before Hedge changed his semblance, but to hear that someone was a walking good luck charm. That made his day.
Winter: "His semblance is almost like the leader of the Ace Ops' semblance."
Qrow whipped his head toward her. "Who?" Genuinely curious.
Ironwood: "His name is Clover Ebi. His semblance is Good Fortune, allowing him to manipulate probability positively. Similar to your Misfortune prior to Hedge changing it, Clover's semblance was passive and thereby constantly caused good fortune wherever he goes, which helps him gain the edge in combat."
Qrow really wanted to meet the man now. Hedge winced in the back knowing what was to come in the future.
"That's a rather unique semblance." Ren noted, used to seeing semblances that people could activate with a thought, or that would trigger in certain cases, like Nora's own boosting semblance that powered her up when hit with electricity.
"Yeah, well… there's a good reason I ended up having good luck as a semblance, but that's for another time." Pierce said with a shrug.
Ruby and Yang had a feeling it was to help with counteracting their Uncle's semblance, which was really thoughtful of him.
"Agreed, this isn't really the time to be swapping stories," Weiss nodded. "Though it IS comforting to know we literally have luck on our side."
Qrow: "Why do I feel like it's a double-edged sword?"
Nora: "Because it probably is?" she shrugged.
"Don't think my Semblance is a magic pill. It DOES run out, and when it does, I usually have crap happen. Nothing life threatening, but enough to make it really annoying for me," Pierce said, before suddenly having a pile of snow fall on top of him, covering his head "Like that." he said, his voice muffled.
Everyone chuckled at the comedic timing.
Ozpin: "So once it's used up, he's subject to bad luck happening."
Pyrrha: "At least it's not thrown back at him at the same strength he uses the good luck portion at."
"Still a pretty useful Semblance if you ask me," Yang said.
"Oh yeah, it saved our asses pretty often when we were training against actual Grimm." Gyro said as they finally reached a wider passage.
"Huh...I DID think it was really lucky that I accidentally made that Deathstalker cut its own claw off...guess this explains that," Jaune mused.
Jaune: "Could've left it as being our strength that allowed us to beat it, other me," he grumbled. Pyrrha just giggled.
"Pretty much, yeah," Pierce chuckled as he removed the snow from his head. "Unfortunately I don't think it can help us with our soon to be next problem," he added, pointing up at the sky which was growing darker.
"Guess we have to camp here…" Patamon said glumly. None of them were looking forward to needing to sleep in this place.
And then the wind picked up.
"Maybe not here specifically." Blake added, making sure her bow didn't get blown away.
Nora: "We'd be frozen popsicles if we tried sleeping there."
"Time to look for a cave!" Nora said as she pumped her fists.
"We're probably gonna get a snowstorm soon." Ruby said as they all started walking again.
Ironwood: "All the more important to find somewhere to hunker down."
"Then we'd better hurry even more," Pyrrha said, forcing them to keep moving, and fortunately, they found what they were looking for. "This will do well," she said, referring to the small cave they found. It wasn't too big, but it was still big enough to fit all of them inside and still have decent room. It also didn't seem to be connected to any other caves, meaning they wouldn't have to worry about any unpleasant surprises from inside the caves, and as an added bonus, the entrance was covered by a rock shelf above, meaning that even if it did snow, they'd be less likely to get some snow coming into the cave. The group immediately went to work, taking out some firewood they still had stored and quickly started a fire in the middle of the cave to avoid exposing it to the elements, while still giving room for the smoke to waft out, as well as avoid having to 'fight' with the fire for oxygen, and to allow the heat to permeate the cave, keeping them all warm. Once everything was set, they took out some of the supplies they'd gathered along the way, including the last of the Meat Apples they had packed, and a few of the mushrooms they'd hung on to from when they were at the lake with the tram. While it was no 5 star hotel, dinner was a rather enjoyable affair, mainly due to the good company they had.
Yang: "No offense to Doctor Oobleck, but this is already much better than what we had back in Mountain Glenn." The rest of Team RWBY agreeing.
After dinner was done, the group was entertaining themselves with a number of ways. Inevitably, it also lead to scary stories...something the twins had PLENTY of that would scare even those from Remnant. The internet was truly a terrifying place.
They didn't know how to feel about that.
"He ran, never once looking back, too terrified of what he saw, kept seeing at the edge of his vision. He just had to find that last page, it had to be his ticket to freedom. Then, as if the heavens were laughing at him, he tripped, falling onto the dirt below. Quickly, he scrambled to his feet, only to freeze in fear at what he saw. A simple pair of shoes, but as his eyes kept trailing up, he knew it was the end, as his eyes finally reached the face of the tall figure… except he had no face. It was the last thing he would ever see." Pierce finished the tale, a smirk on his face as he saw that everyone was huddled up together, although he had to try and not to laugh as Gyro was in the middle of the group huddle, his cheeks red as Ruby was basically in his lap.
Ruby was red in the face too, while Yang added that to her pile of teasing material. Though she was also a bit scared of the description of the man Pierce described.
"S-so...if we ran into this guy...we're already dead?" Agumon asked, shaking like a leaf.
"Your only chance at survival is finding the 8 pages, if you can't… you stand no chance." Pierce said with a very convincing evil grin.
The group shook again as they were huddled up, Gyro freezing as Ruby suddenly hugged him, and Pierce's grin almost wavered at his brother's situation.
Almost.
"C-Come on guys, you're all being silly," Veemon said with a nervous chuckle. "I mean, Slenderman isn't real…right?"
Ozpin: "Slenderman?"
Yang chuckled, albeit nervously. "Oh come on. That has to be a joke name, right?"
Hedge smirked. "Oh, that's actually his name. In fact, here's a picture of him." He seemed to be fiddling with another book while he said that and snapped his fingers. The TV screen changed to that of a forest at night.
But what started to freak everyone out, was that they saw what Pierce had described off to the left side of the screen, only his blank, white face visible above the bushes.
Winter: "There he is," pointing at where the Slenderman was located.
Glynda: "He really does have a blank, white face."
Suddenly, the book Hedge was fiddling with exploded. Coincidentally though, eight pages flew out of the book and spread across the room.
Hedge: "Oh come on," getting up from his seat and moving to the back of the room to retrieve the pages that flew there.
However, once he picked up the first page, the Remnantians felt the room get darker than it was before. Nora had turned her head away from the screen and decided to look back at it, and noticed it starting to go all staticy. When it fixed itself, she looked back at the spot where the Slenderman was.
But he wasn't there anymore.
Nora tugged on Ren's shirt frantically. "Uh, Ren?"
Ren turned his head back to her. "Yes, Nora?"
"W-where's the Slenderman?"
"What are you talking about? He should still be in the same..." he returned his gaze to the TV too, but he stopped mid-sentence as after the TV flickered again, both of them looked around the screen and noticed that Slenderman was on the right side of the screen now.
Only this time, he seemed closer to the camera than before.
Jaune seemed to catch on that something wasn't right and how frozen his two teammates were. "Hey, you guys alright?"
"Jaune?"
He turned his gaze to his girlfriend as she called out his name, but he noticed the fear in her voice and her facial expression. "Yeah, Pyr?"
All she did was point her finger to the screen shakily.
The others seemed to catch on to what was being discussed and noticed that more and more of Slenderman's features were being shown and getting closer to the camera, all while Hedge continued to collect the pages.
Yang: "Uh, Hedge?" Ruby clinging onto her arm as more and more of Slenderman was shown, including writhing tentacles behind his back.
Hedge continued to collect more of the pages, now up to 6. "Give me a sec, guys."
Everyone: "Hedge!"
He picked up the 7th page. "Yes?"
They all pointed towards the TV, though Hedge noticed the final page next to it, not even noticing that Slenderman's face was practically engulfing the entire screen.
Hedge walked up to it and grabbed the final page, placing it into the book along with the others with his back to the TV. "Thanks for pointing out the final page."
But everyone was frozen in fear at what was happening behind him, as the screen was completely filled with static...
...and arms started to come through the screen. The Slenderman came through the screen, and completely towered over Hedge, standing nearly two Hedge's tall at 9 feet behind him.
Hedge took note of their expressions. "What?"
They all pointed their fingers above and behind him. He turned around and looked up to see Slenderman looking down at him.
"Oh."
The Remnantians didn't know what to do now that Slenderman was on the same plane as them.
Hedge smirked and held up the book he placed the pages in. "Sorry, but I collected all eight pages. You have no control."
That's right. If you managed to collect all eight pages before Slenderman got you, you won.
Slenderman turned his head towards the book, seemingly acknowledging it...
...before one of his many tentacles sprung out from behind him and grabbed Hedge around the neck.
Everyone: "Hedge!"
Some of them sprung to the weapon cases to grab their weapons...only to find the cases seemingly locked.
Yang: "I can't get my case open!"
Qrow: "Same here!"
Pyrrha: "What are we supposed to do?!" Not even her semblance could get the cases to budge open.
Slenderman kept Hedge in his grip, seemingly enjoying the fear everyone seemed to be expressing, while those with offense semblances got ready to fight against him if it came down to it. Even the fresh Digimon thought to test their luck against him.
Ruby had decided to scrounge up enough courage and walked up towards Slenderman. "Let. Him. Go."
Yang: "Ruby! Get back!"
Qrow: "We don't know how powerful he is!"
Slenderman just looked down at her, even tilting his head as if confused or intrigued someone like her would even try to fight against him.
Though, that all stopped once they started to hear a small chortle, that soon turned into a full, hearty laugh...coming from Hedge of all people.
Hedge: "Haha, I think that's good enough, Slendy." Almost...nonchalantly too.
Ironwood: "I'm sorry, but what the heck is going on here?!" He practically demanded.
Slenderman loosened his grip and brought Hedge back down.
Hedge: "Come on, James. Don't tell me you didn't pull any pranks back when you in the Academy?"
Realization started to dawn on everyone.
Glynda: "This was all...a prank?"
Hedge: "Yup, April Fools!" Slenderman also pulling out a sign with one of his tentacles with "APRIL FOOLS!" written in big letters on it.
They couldn't believe they were all literally fooled by a prank.
Weiss: "So then...Slenderman wasn't...?"
Hedge smirked. "...trying to kill me? I'll be honest, he could probably do that. But he and I have a mutual understanding, don't we, big guy?"
Slenderman just nodded his head.
Winter: "So this was all planned?"
Hedge: "Yup. In fact, just because I had collected the eight pages, doesn't necessarily mean you are safe from Slenderman. In fact, in the video game, 'Slender: The Arrival,' there is a section of the game where you have to collect the eight pages to progress on. Even after you collect them, he'll still appear next to you and chase you."
Pyrrha: "To lower your guard."
Slenderman shook a tendril in her direction as if telling her she was right. The action was a little off putting, to say the least.
Hedge: "Anywho, I think that's all for now, Slenderman," turning to the tall entity. "I'll let you know when I'm ready for another go around."
Slenderman nodded at that and turned around to enter back into the TV, returning to his original spot he started out at when the picture first appeared on the screen. But not before the TV let out his telltale screech whenever he successfully got someone and his blank face showing on screen a few times before the screen went back to Swift's story.
Hedge shook his head. "He just had to leave with that, didn't he?"
Blake: "What was the meaning of that?"
Hedge: "Well, that is normally what he does when he has successfully caught the player character in his games."
Qrow: "And by 'caught,' I assume you mean 'killed?'"
"Bingo. Only this time, seems he did it because he successfully 'got you' in the prank."
Jaune: "Joy. Can we get back to the story, please?" Having nearly wet his pants when Slenderman came through the screen.
Hedge: "Don't worry, Jaune. He wouldn't get to any of you guys."
Jaune: "Why am I not convinced?"
Pierce shrugged "You never know." apparently the world decided to help him as the wind started howling, the group shaking even more.
"Okay, I think that's enough scary stories for tonight," Gyro said with a slight sigh. "You all look like you won't be able to sleep for a week if we continue."
Considering what happened, that might actually happen to them.
Everyone nodded in agreement, lying down to sleep in blankets made of leaves and Wormmon's webbing.
Gyro gave Pierce a look as he sat next to Agumon on his blanket "You're a freaking jackass sometimes, you know that?" he said dryly, to which Pierce simply grinned before lying down next to Veemon.
"But ya love me anyways, bro," Pierce said unrepentantly, chuckling at the light glare he got. It would be a cold night, but ultimately one they all made through just fine...even if every now and then someone woke up thanks to a random noise.
Ozpin: "I don't blame them." No one else could.
The following day soon came, the snowstorm finally gone, and as the sun rose over the horizon…
"Gooooood mooooooooooorniiiiiiiiiing!"
And then a loud crashing sound was heard.
Even with the volume lowered, Pierce's yell was still loud for them.
Weiss: "Please tell me it was either Yang or Gyro that made that crashing sound."
Nora: "After that story he told, and us meeting Slenderman, he pretty much deserved that."
Back in the cave, Gyro was dusting his hands off after embedding his brother in the cave's wall, everyone waking up and being very clearly tired.
"You know you were asking for that one, right?" Veemon yawned.
"Seriously, after THAT story, we could barely sleep…" Salamon nodded in agreement.
"I kept seeing Slenderman instead of Grimm like I normally do," Nora added.
"And I probably will now thanks to Hedge."
Ren: "We all probably will, Nora."
"Yeah, I think it's safe to say we aren't telling scary stories anymore." Gyro said with a sigh as he started walking out of the cave, the others following him while Yang dragged Pierce by the back of his jacket.
"Good news. The weather is much clearer today than it was yesterday," Pyrrha said as she shielded her eyes a little from the glare of the light.
"That's good to know," Gabumon nodded.
Pyrrha: "At least the weather blew over during the night."
"How far are we anyway?" Ruby asked.
"Judging by the map...we're a little over half way through. As long as nothing big happens, we should be able to make it through by midday," Weiss answered.
Winter: "Probably won't go that way, Weiss."
Weiss: "Trust me, I'm probably well aware of that."
"So basically plan to get out of here later than that, right?" Jaune sighed. They'd already heard this song and dance enough times.
"That's a safe assumption, yes," Weiss nodded with a sigh.
"I really hope we manage to get an actual schedule one of these days." Ruby said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"We'll have to take care of whoever's making the Black Gears first." Palmon said.
Ironwood: "I don't think even that will give you guys a normal schedule."
Qrow: "At least they won't have to deal with the Black Gears afterwards."
"Still though...can't help but wonder what kind of sicko is making these things," Gyro frowned, his mind already entertaining all kinds of scenarios with whoever was responsible for all this.
"Whoever they are, we'll just have to beat them when we find them," Salamon said.
"I'll roast them for sure, I've been trying to figure out how to evolve without you having to be in danger, and I think I'm getting there." Agumon assured his partner.
Ruby: "That's good actually. That just means we won't have to get into dangerous situations just to get them to evolve."
"You're not the only one." Biyomon added with a smile.
"We're all trying to figure it out." Wormmon said with a nod.
"Even us ones that haven't evolved yet." Gomamon said.
"Don't be afraid to share what you figure out though." Tentomon said with a chuckle.
"Definitely," Agumon nodded. They would need all the help they could get for what would no doubt be a big fight. Anyone who could create, or at least control, something like the black gears would no doubt have some serious power.
"And when we do fight them. We'll do it. Together," Gabumon grinned.
Team RWBY and JNPR looked at each other and nodded. They would do the same when they returned to Remnant along with their Digimon.
"Damn straight," Pierce said with a grin after he got up, one they all shared. Even if they'd been taken to this world against their wills, they weren't about to leave it to the hands of whatever maniac was behind the gears.
"Well, let's get going then. We've still got a good deal of ground to cover," Gyro grinned as they continued on their way.
The path through the pass was just as treacherous as the previous day, the trail needing them to climb a few sections here and there aside from navigating the tighter paths, and avoiding the steep drops dotted through it. However, at the same time, they were met with more life as they got closer to their destination. Making their homes in a number of spots and ledges were several Digimon here and there, of as many varieties as they'd expect. Some Digimon appeared to be literally made of rocks, some of them were avians, and even a few reptiles, all having adapted to live in the environment.
Winter: "So many different Digimon."
Ozpin: "Bart certainly would be in heaven if he was there to research all of them."
"Is that a blue Greymon?" Gyro idly noticed as he saw a more slim and battle oriented version of Greymon with a more armored helmet and a bayonet on the tip of it's tail, it's stripes being orange in color.
"Oh yeah, that's BattleGreymon, their more of a warrior than the other Greymon variations are." Agumon explained simply.
"Wait, there are other versions of Greymon?" Gyro asked in surprise.
"That's right, what Agumon said the other day wasn't that far off, as his evolution line has the most variations in existence, for example, there exists a virus version of the normal Greymon simply called BlackGreymon, and a more robust version called GeoGreymon." Tentomon explained.
Glynda: "I still do wonder what the Perfect level would be for all of them."
Ren: "We still have Jaune and Blake to hit the Adult level though. I think we should focus on that first after Pierce and Veemon."
"There sure are a lot of variants of the same Digimon," Ruby couldn't help but say.
"You get used to it," Palmon shrugged.
"There's even a black version of Birdramon called Saberdramon." Biyomon added idly.
"Any other variants of your evolutions out there?" Yang asked while also trying to picture Birdramon with black fire on her body.
Yang's D-Spirit beeped as she had access to that profile. "A Digimon shrouded in black flames. Due to the roughness of its temperament, for which it continues counterattacks against enemies to a ferocious degree, it's difficult to even approach it. Its Special Move is striking from the air with the talons on its feet (Black Saber). It really does look like Birdramon, but black colored."
"Well, there's a BlackGarurumon out there, self explanatory really, and there's a Digimon called Gururumon, which looks a lot like Garurumon, but it's fur is darker." Gabumon said with a shrug.
Pyrrha had access to both of those profiles. "BlackGarurumon: A Virus attribute Garurumon. The blades extending from its shoulders are so sharp that they slice apart anything they touch. It loves collecting bones and burying them in the ground, though there appear to have been cases of these bones being quietly stolen away by prank-loving Drimogemon. Its Special Move is breathing blue, high-temperature flames from its mouth (Foxfire). Gururumon: A Beast Digimon that is very similar to Garurumon. As a fiendish Digimon that lives in the dark, it is a nuisance who causes trouble everywhere. Its Special Move is high-temperature flames spewed from its mouth (Chaos Fire)."
Jaune: "That BlackGarurumon looks pretty dangerous."
Pyrrha: "I have to agree."
"And then there's a BlackGatomon, and a Digimon called Mikemon, but it has orange, black and white fur." Salamon said with a paw on her chin from atop Nora's head.
Nora: "So like a calico cat." Her D-Spirit beeped with the BlackGatomon's profile. "A Virus attribute Gatomon who sports vivid, pitch-black fur. A child completely born of evil, it lives its life treading through the ominous darkness. BlackGatomon is a variety of Gatomon that is born very rarely, and as such is said to have a low population size. It has a mean and prideful personality, and is a problematic Digimon that loves picking on the weak. It's special move is Neko Punch, same as Gatomon's."
"Oh, like a calico cat then." Nora said with a blink.
Salamon thought about it for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah, that sounds about right."
"Huh...that's pretty interesting actually," Weiss mused. "Could be an interesting idea to try and understand what causes the variants."
"After we get back to Remnant, right?" Pyrrha chuckled.
"Naturally," Weiss nodded.
Weiss: "I mean we could still try to do so while in the Digital World, but then go more in depth once we return to Remnant."
However, before any of them could get any further in their conversation, the pass was wracked with a massive tremor. "Great...3 guesses what that is," Yang sighed, and on cue, a section of the pathway ahead exploded, revealing a Tortomon.
Digimon Analyzer: Tortomon
Tortomon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Reptile Digimon. A territorial Digimon who is usually rather calm, similar to Monochromon. It's shell is made from the toughest stones, and it eats minerals to make it even harder. Its special attack is Shell Phalanx, the spikes on it's shell glowing before being launched at its opponent while new ones quickly grow in place.
"It gets even better. Look at what's just under its shell," Ren sighed, pointing at the Black Gear embedded into it.
They weren't even surprised at that.
"Of course…" Everyone else sighed, not even surprised anymore.
"Well, you guys know the drill. Beat him up till the gear comes out. Let's move people," Pierce shrugged.
"Should I be worried that we've gotten to the point this is a regular occurrence for us...and we haven't even been here for more than a week at most?" Jaune sighed.
Ozpin: "I'm assuming the original children who went through these events didn't have that way of thinking?"
Hedge shook his head. "Nope. They never got used to the convenience of the Black Gears always popping up."
Pyrrha: "Must be our Huntsmen/Huntress training then."
"Probably," Nora chuckled.
"Let's try to find a way to flip it onto its back first, then we can have that dawning moment that we're already jaded to this world." Blake told them dryly.
"Right," everyone nodded.
"I think the ones out of us who don't have long range moves should wait until we manage to flip it before jumping into the fray." Gabumon said as he turned to half of the Digimon present.
"Yeah, I think a headbutt would hurt my head more than his." Veemon said as he rubbed his forehead.
Yang: "Yeah, I don't think a head-on strike will do the trick," causing everyone to groan.
"First things first, we need to distract him," Agumon said.
"Leave that to us," Biyomon said as she and Patamon flew over him, before peppering him with their attacks, aiming to try and hit the Black Gear, but the gear was better defended than they thought. However, they did gain Tortomon's attention, allowing them to lead him away a little.
"My turn!" Tentomon said as he buzzed upwards and started trying to shock the gear, though trying to curve his attack in the right way was proving rather difficult.
"Okay, so its not THAT easy," Weiss frowned.
Winter: "Should never expect it to be," speaking in her usual tone that Weiss remembered her always speaking to her whenever she would get trained by her. Weiss just whimpered at that.
"Then try to maneuver around it," Ren said, as Wormmon used his Sticky Nets to try and ensnare Tortomon's limbs, slowing it down a little, but not by much as Tortomon quickly started to move again, retracting into his shell.
"Go for the gear!" Gabumon shouted as he and Agumon tried to shoot the gear, but sadly their attempts fell flat when Tortomon suddenly started spinning in his shell, tearing off any remaining bits of sticky net, while blowing any nearby Digimon away.
"Oh just great, of course he can do THAT move." Gyro said with a groan as he helped Agumon get back up.
Yang: "Yeah, that move can be very annoying." Hedge told her and Ruby that despite Bowser being the worst character competitively in Melee, his Up special out of shield was devasting when it came to damage.
Right then, Tortomon came out of his shell, the back of it glowing, before the spikes on it were launched towards them.
"Hit the deck!" Jaune shouted as everyone dived down onto the ground, though some were surprised at the sudden attack.
"Oh crap!" Yang shouted with wide eyes as she was caught off guard, having been helping Biyomon get back up.
Ruby, Qrow, and Blake gasped. "Yang!"
Yang was scared. This couldn't be how she died. Sure, her aura could probably tank the hits, and empower her semblance. But that was too many spikes headed her way, and they were huge!
"Get down!" Pierce said as he pushed her and Biyomon down to the ground, leaving him completely open to being hit as he didn't have enough time to move.
Now Yang gasped. "Thanks for the save...but now you're the one in danger!"
"No!" Veemon shouted with wide eyes as he tried to make it in time, he wasn't going to let his partner get hurt!
(Play Brave Heart)
Pierce's Digivice glowed bright as the signal was sent, calling forth the light that released the stream of data once more. "Veemon, Evolution!" Veemon called out as the data flowed into him, before he transformed. "Veedramon!" His body had grown larger, now standing at the same height as Greymon's shoulders, his head taking on a more natural dragonic shape as his long ears turned into a pair of horns on the back of his head, his pointy nose turning into a horn on the tip of his snout, as his frame now looked more muscular, a blue V appearing on his white chest, while scars adorned his body, while the claws on his feet and his now white hands were longer and sharper than before.
Glynda: "Well I definitely see why this chapter is called 'Scarred Dragon.'"
Ironwood: "No kidding. It's shocking that someone like Veemon can evolve into something like this."
The stone spikes flew towards Pierce, but were promptly shattered by a strong tail smashing them into the ground. When he looked up, he saw his now evolved partner standing protectively in front of him. "Veedramon, huh? That's badass, Veemon," he couldn't help but grin.
Digimon Analyzer: Veedramon
Veedramon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Mythical Dragon Digimon. A powerful Digimon who's roots can be traced back to the ancient Digital World. Even amongst Adult Levels, Veedramon is powerful, his power honed in years of combat, the scars on his body proof of each victory. His special attack is V-Breath Arrow, shooting a powerful arrow shaped heat ray from his mouth.
Hedge chuckled. "Wanna know how I got these scars?" in an iconic tone.
"Time to get that gear removed," Veedramon growled, and remembering that so far tactics weren't working so well against Tortomon's defenses, decided to go for his favorite trick. Up close and personal. With that in mind, he ran forward, and began grappling with the heavy tortoise using his claws. However, Tortomon wasn't about to just let him do that without a fight, and soon started to push back.
Nora: "Is it just me, or does this look almost like a sumo match?"
Qrow: "No, I can see it too." This got a few of them chuckling as they started to get the mental image of the two Adult levels in a sumo ring with the appropriate attire.
What soon followed could best be described as a large sumo wrestling fight, as Veedramon and Tortomon fought to push each other back. After a few moments of the stalemate, Tortomon in a surprising show of intelligence reared back, causing Veedramon to move forward a little, before slamming his head forward, pushing the dragon back, and then ramming into him, forcing him back further. However, Veedramon immediately regained his balance, and soon countered, going lower, and managing to grab Tortomon by the bottom of his shell, using it as leverage to start to push him upwards onto his hind legs. Tortomon however wasn't about to just let that happen and tried to fight back, even wildly firing his Shell Phalanx in an attempt to push himself back down. Veedramon growled as he felt the pressure, and decided if Tortomon was going to do it that way, then he'd do the same, as flames began to escape from his mouth.
"V-Breath Arrow!" Veedramon called out as he opened his mouth, sending a high temperature heat ray right into Tortomon, the Digimon crying out in pain as he was pushed back from the force of the blast, and soon landed on his back, leaving him helpless. Taking advantage of the attack that was still happening, Veedramon soon moved his head so that his beam hit the Black Gear, causing the gear to spark and finally shatter.
Ruby: "Another gear down!" she cheered.
Ren: "And a bunch more to go," referring to the multitude of gears that were shot out of the top of Infinity Mountain.
(Song end)
With the gear destroyed, Veedramon moved over and pushed Tortomon back on his feet, though the large mon was still out cold, before he soon reverted back into Veemon.
"Way to go Veemon!" Pierce grinned as he ran up and clapped his partner on the back.
"Thanks." Veemon said, his voice a bit scratchy, before coughing into his fist "Thanks, woah, using that move makes my throat dry." he said with a sheepish laugh as his voice was back to normal.
Winter: "Must've been a powerful move to even affect him in a lower form."
Jaune: "Surprised that doesn't happen to Agumon when he reverts back from Greymon."
Minutes later, the group was nearing the end of the mountain trail.
"You sure it was ok to just leave him there." Ruby wondered, referring to Tortomon.
"He'll be fine, he'll probably just think he was napping and ended up sleep walking." Palmon waved off her concerns.
"If he actually does, he must be SOME sleep walker," Patamon laughed.
"Somehow, I wouldn't be surprised if he really was." Salamon said with an amused grin.
Yang: "That'd be a bit funny if he did end up thinking that."
"Well, Tortomon aside, we've reached the end of the pass," Pyrrha said with a smile as true enough, they could see woodlands again, and not far away was Infinity Mountain.
"I know it's a little early, but is anyone else feeling pretty proud that we made it this far?" Jaune couldn't help but ask as they soon entered the woodlands.
"Honestly? I kind of get what you mean, we've already been through a lot in just a few days." Gomamon answered him.
"Chances are we'll end up going through a lot more by the time we get back home." Gyro added.
Their future. They were still wary of what was to come. Sure, they'd have to go through all the events up to the Breach first, maybe even prevent certain ones from happening. But the events after that, no one but the twins and Hedge knew what was coming, and Hedge knew more than the twins.
"First things first, let's deal with the creep on this mountain." Pierce grinned as he punched his open palm.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Veemon grinned, pumping his fist into the air.
And with that, the TV shut off. They waited to make sure no funny business with Slenderman would happen, but after a few moments of no static from the TV, they relaxed.
Only for one of the last two Digieggs to start hatching.
AN: Another chapter done!
I had a lot of fun with the Slenderman segment in this chapter. Yes, I'm aware I'm posting this chapter after the fact, but I really did do that whole segment on April Fool's Day. Surely none of them will have nightmares of him.
Right?
Anywho, we're almost done with the first arc of the story. About 3-4 chapters left, and I know a lot of you are excited to see how they would react to a certain Adult Level evolution. It's coming, don't worry.
Until next time, this is Shadow Drivver, signing out. Peace.