Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue: Bringing Them In

A new dimension is created in the universe, and someone appears in this area. They start to rearrange seating in the area, multiple couches appear, along with a giant flatscreen TV. A book also materializes on a coffee table. In a corner of the room, the entity also materializes cushions, 6 in total and with 3 of them wide enough to handle up to 4 people.

?: "Hmm, I don't believe I'm missing anything else regarding the theater room." Their vision moves off to one of the walls. "But I should add a few extra amenities." Multiple doors appear up against the wall they were looking at. "That should handle the lodging part." Then they look at the opposite wall, where multiple doors appear again. "A gym with every known piece of equipment known to man, a battle arena, and locker rooms with multiple showers too." The last remaining wall gets a door as well, this one to a dining area with a full kitchen. "Alright, that should do it. Now, I think it's time to bring them in."

They raise their right hand, and 7 colored diamond-shaped gems appear floating just above their hand. (Yes, they are in the formation just like how Frieza held the Dragon Balls in DBS: Broly).

?: "Now my Chaos Emeralds." 6 of them started to glow. "Seek, and bring them here. Chaos Control!" The 6 gems in the circle around the middle one's glow gets brighter as they then disappear.

The World of Remnant, Vale, Beacon Academy (A few minutes after The Breach) (Going to say this real quickly, not going to go much into detail of the RWBY story here. I'm assuming you all know the main gist of the show.)

Team RWBY, a team of 4 young girls, along with a dog, a corgi by the name of Zwei, were walking back to their dorm at the fabled Huntsmen Academy, Beacon. These 4 girls were attending this academy to become a Huntress, a very important job that protects humanity from the creatures of darkness, known as the Grimm. No one knew of the true origins of the Grimm, but everyone agreed that their main purpose was to attack humanity, especially if they were harboring negative emotions. The girls had just saved the city of Vale from an invasion, one that was led by notorious criminal Roman Torchwick, along with the once peaceful, now terrorist group White Fang, a group of Remnant's third form of life, the Faunus. The Faunus, while not having many differences from humans, the main thing that is different from each of them is that they have one feature of an animal, which could range from cat ears, wings, and even a tail, though some Faunus have some of the things their respective animal may have that isn't visual unless actually shown by the Faunus in question. They crashed an armored train into the center of Vale, and Team RWBY were already trying to stop the train from crashing to begin with, but even with them failing to do that, that didn't deter them from fighting all of the Grimm Roman and the White Fang brought to the kingdom. Along with the help of their sister team JNPR, second year team CVFY, some of the Beacon staff, along with General Ironwood's army from the Kingdom of Atlas, they were able to defeat the Grimm, arrest Torchwick and any White Fang that weren't trapped in the tunnels, and the Breach spot was repaired thanks to Beacon's deputy headmistress, Professor Glynda Goodwitch.

They reached their dorm room, where one of the girls took out a rectangular device known as a scroll to open the door. At first, nothing seems different in their room, but once all of them and Zwei entered the room and the door was closed, they noticed something in the center of their room. There, laying on the floor in-between their bunkbeds, which the upper left bed was hanging from the ceiling by some ropes, and the upper right one was held above the lower bunk by some books, (how the two girls that had the lower bunks were able to wake up every day and not find themselves heavily injured, or worse, was beyond anyone, but the beds were stable...enough) was a red diamond-shape gem, and it had a faint glow to it. One of the girls decided to walk up to the mystery gem, and pick it up.

?: "Hey, what's this?" This girl was Ruby Rose, the leader and youngest member that made up the R of Team RWBY. "Weiss, did you get a shipment of some dust sent to our room?"

Weiss: "I can assure you, Ruby, I haven't made any requests for a shipment of dust to be sent to our room. With all the dust robberies that were happening thanks to Torchwick and the White Fang, it wouldn't have been wise to request any for the time being, otherwise, it could still be stolen from the White Fang members that didn't help Torchwick." This was Weiss Schnee, the resident Ice Queen, and heiress to the Schnee Dust Company in Atlas, and the W of Team RWBY. "No offense, Blake."

Blake: "None taken. But I do understand the reason for not ordering any dust to be sent here from Atlas. I'm pretty sure that wasn't the whole Vale branch that was helping Torchwick, so who knows if they may be waiting in the shadows to strike." This was Blake Belladona, the resident bookworm of their team, and a Faunus in disguise. Her Faunus trait is that of black cat ears on the top of her head. Her team had found out about that at the end of the previous semester, and she was scared of how they would react and treat her, so she ran away, especially Weiss considering the history her company/family and the Faunus had. Though, it seemed that her worries were a bit extreme, as Weiss had not harbored any hate towards her since Blake was originally a part of the White Fang, but due to recent...events, she left the group and wants to work toward Faunus equality as a Huntress. She makes up the B of RWBY.

?: "That's all fine and dandy, but is anyone else noticing that the mystery gem is glowing? And not the kind of glowing a normal dust crystal would?" This was Yang Xiao Long, the pun-maker and blonde bombshell, Ruby's older half-sister, and the Y of Team RWBY. The other girls blinked at that question, and they focused their attention to the red gem in Ruby's hands, and sure enough, it was glowing, and that glow was getting brighter. Without warning, the glow got so bright, that it encompassed all of Team RWBY, and after it subsided, the girls were nowhere to be found. Zwei barking and then whining when he couldn't see the girls anymore.

Around the campus in two other areas, in Ironwood's ship, a military base in Atlas, and a bar in Vale, 5 other colored diamond-shaped gems just like the red one had appeared, and just like the girls, the people whom the gems were assigned to gather disappeared. Shortly after, the World of Remnant was frozen still in time.

Entity's Dimension

6 bright lights appeared over the 6 cushions, not too high over them where the people would get hurt from landing mind you, but it's better to land on something soft than the hard floor. The girls were happy that the cushion they landed on was big enough to cover all 4 of them, rather than them landing on top of each other.

Ruby: "Girls, you ok?"

Yang: "Yeah Rubes. I'm good."

Weiss. "Good here."

Blake: "Same here."

?: "Where are we?"

The girls looked over to the side of them, and saw their sister team JNPR, consisting of Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren. In the leader's, Jaune Arc, hand was a yellow-colored gem, same shape as the red one that Ruby had.

Weiss: "So you guys got one too," referring to the gem in Jaune's hand.

Jaune: "Guess so."

Pyrrha: "But what is it?"

"I would also like to know what it is."

"I, too, share the same question, Oz."

"Heh, to think you and even Ice Queen would be called to wherever this place is, Jimmy."

"Quiet, you drunk. That's General, to you."

The students looked to the voices and noticed who else was in this mysterious area. Professor Goodwitch and Headmaster Ozpin, whom had a purple gem in his hand were on their own cushion, General James Ironwood was on his own with a blue gem, Ruby and Yang's uncle Qrow Branwen was holding a grey gem, and Weiss' older sister Winter Schnee had a light blue gem in her hand.

Nora: "Professor Ozpin? Goodwitch?"

Ren: "General Ironwood?"

Ruby: "Uncle Qrow!" She threw the gem in her hands up in the air, and while she ran over to her uncle, Weiss acted quickly to catch the gem, lest it fall on the ground and break. Ruby latched onto her uncle's free arm that wasn't holding the grey gem. "Oh, did you mis me?! DID YOU MISS ME?!" all with a huge grin on her face.

Qrow looked at her with a blank stare, then, "Nope," with a grin on his face too. He ruffles her hair after placing the gem next to him on the cushion he was on.

Weiss got up from the cushion her and her team landed on, while holding the red gem, and walked over to her sister. "It's great to see you, Winter." She knew to be proper, though internally she was very happy to see her older sibling.

Winter had a small smile on her face. "Likewise, sister. I don't suppose you know where we are?"

Weiss shakes her head. "No, I think we all arrived here at the same time."

Ironwood: "To me, this looks like a mini theater." He was looking around the room, and noticed the couches and the giant flatscreen TV.

Goodwitch: "I'd have to agree with you, James. But I wonder who brought us here."

Ozpin: "Perhaps it has to do with these gems," as he eyed the purple gem in his hand."

?: "You would be right, Professor Ozpin."

Everyone jolted their heads towards the direction of the voice, and the entity had a smile on their face, surprised they didn't give themselves whiplash. The first we see of this entity are their shoes: black and red sneakers with some white on the top part of them, and gold on the lower front of the crown of the shoes. Next, we see is that they are wearing black shorts. On their upper body, there is a black T-shirt with a gray V-neck spot with some fur on it on the chest. On their wrists and ankles above the shoes are 4 yellow metal bands. Though they can't see it, on the back of the shirt is an emblem of two swords angled towards 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock and a lightning symbol in-between them. Speaking of swords, they see that the entity has two swords in sheathes on their back, one with a blue handle, and the other with a black handle. As for their face, they see this entity is a male with black hair with red stripes (not exactly like Ruby's hair which had red tips at the end), green eyes, but the one thing they noticed is that he had hedgehog quills, almost like he was a hedgehog Faunus. Above his hand, was another diamond-shaped gem like the ones they all had, this one however was green.

?: "Welcome, residents of Remnant, to my dimension."

As the Faunus(?) finished speaking, the gems in their possession glowed, and flew out of their hands and returned to him, circling the green gem. Everyone became on guard at that. Each of them had their weapons on them, but really only Goodwitch, Qrow, Ironwood, and Winter were the ones that took a fighting stance.

Goodwitch: "Who are you?"

Ironwood: "And what exactly do you want with us?"

?: I understand you all have questions, and I'd be happy to answer them. What kind of host would I be to do something...questionable...with the 13 of you?"

Qrow: "Better start talking, pal, otherwise you'll get a face full of dust."

Winter: "As much as I hate to agree with him, he's right." Her rapier was pointed right at the Faunus-looking male, and she was ready to utilize her and Weiss' semblance on him.

? chuckles. "While you're not wrong, Qrow, I can assure you that all of you wouldn't be able to hold me down or do significant damage to me. And while I'm pretty sure you would like to prove me wrong; I would highly suggest you don't.” This didn't change the 4 adults' stance on the matter, which their male host saw that coming already. "In fact, to prove my point..." With a wave of his hand and what looked like electricity sparked off his arm, each of their weapons had disappeared from their possession, eliciting a gasp from them, and cases appeared on the opposite side of the room with their weapons in them. "...I could take the strongest members of you in a fight, except MAYBE Ozpin."

Everyone looked at Beacon's headmaster, which yeah, they were probably right, but the fact that he stated he could take on everyone else…well they were very skeptical, but considering he took their weapons away, they would listen to what he had to say.

Ozpin: "Well, I appreciate flattery regarding a potential fight between us, and it seems like you know all of our names. But what is your name sir?

Blake: "Not to mention you look like a hedgehog Faunus."

?: "Ah yes. Where are my manners? To answer your question, Headmaster, my name is Hedge Badnic. And to answer your question, Ms. Belladonna, yes, I am indeed a hedgehog Faunus. Backstory on that I'll explain a bit later, but I'm pretty sure you are wondering where you are, and why you are here?" The response was a nod from all of them, as yes, that was the two main questions they had on their minds. “The first question: as I stated earlier, this is my dimension that you all are in. If you wondering how this dimension came to be, it was actually thanks to these," referring to the 7 gems still floating above his hand. "As I am sure you were wondering what they are, these are called the Chaos Emeralds, 7 mythical gems that allow the wielder to have unimaginable power, but I already had a lot of power at my disposal before I acquired all 7 of them."

The Remnant-born Huntsmen and Huntresses were shocked that these "Chaos Emeralds" were able to grant the wielder power beyond their dreams. In the case of Ozpin's group, they hoped these emeralds didn't come to their world and end up in the possession of her.

Pyrrha: "Have they ever been in the hands of...less-than-savory people?"

Hedge: "As a matter of fact, yes. These emeralds have both positive and negative energy in them, and usually those people use the negative energy in them to power their superweapons. But they also have been used by the heroes, utilizing the positive energy they possess to defeat the ones looking to use them for their wrong doings." With a flick of his hand that was under the emeralds, they disappeared. They thought Hedge had just put them somewhere else where they couldn't be accessed. "There are other things the emeralds are capable of, but that's a story for another day. As for why you are here, as you probably could tell from how the arrangements of the room are, you guys are here to react to something. That something being that book right there."

They followed Hedge's finger to the book sitting on the coffee table in front of the couches. Some were skeptical on what the purpose of them reacting to what was effectively a story would do for them, and Weiss was going to voice it.

Weiss: "Not to be rude, Mr. Badnic, but what is the purpose of us reacting to a story?"

Ironwood: "I have to agree with Ms. Schnee. You pulled us from something important back in our world."

Hedge: "Ah yes. The Vytal Festival, am I right?" They were shocked that he knew what it was Ironwood was talking about. "No need to worry, right after I pulled you all from Remnant, another ability that the Chaos Emeralds have kicked in, scaled much higher than what they normally allow the user can do with them. They are capable of indicting what is known as a Chaos Control. Normally, you can use one emerald to use the ability and it can allow the person to teleport. But with all 7, it can allow the user to control time itself."

Qrow: "So what you're saying is, Remnant is frozen in time while we are here?" He takes a sip from his flask.

Hedge: "Yes, that is correct. When you guys are done here, you will all return back to the same place you left, no time would have passed. As for the purpose of reacting to the story, I believe you all will benefit from reading this story, the TV screen will help with visuals to the story as well. Now, keep in mind, you are welcome to deny. I'm not forcing you to stay here. In case you have any questions on commodities and amenities, the doors off to the right are for lodging, two rooms for Teams RWBY and JNPR, with the same layout as your dorm rooms at Beacon, and there is a room for the adults as well. Restrooms are off to the left, along with showers. There is also a gym with every known piece of equipment to keep in shape, a training room inside as well. Through the door behind me, is a full kitchen, but while you are reacting, you are welcome to ask for snacks. The way to do so being just think it and it will appear. Any questions?"

Everyone was a little skeptical of what the story Hedge had brought them here for could help them with back in their world, but considering that no time would pass back home, and they could keep up with their training here, the students were leaning towards staying.

Blake: "Well Ruby, you're the leader of the team. It's your call."

Ruby: "Thanks for giving me the decision, but in this type of situation, I would like your guys' decision too."

Blake smiled at that. "I'm cool with staying. I won't deny that I'm intrigued on what this story could help us with."

Yang: "Is that because you like reading," she teased with a grin.

Blake blushed at that, but, "Guilty as charged. Don't tell me you would want to return back to Remnant?"

Yang laughed, "Ha, nah. I want to stay too. I'm curious too."

Weiss sighed at her blonde teammate’s reason for staying, and while she really wanted to go back as she didn't think the story would give that much info, she didn't want to be the lone person that left. "As much as I want to head back, what kind of teammate would I be asking to be returned back home?"

Ruby smiled at her partner's decision, and she turned back to Hedge. "Team RWBY is staying," she stated firmly. Hedge nodded at that.

Jaune: "We're staying too."

Pyrrha: "I always did like a good story."

Nora: "As long as I get to be here with Ren, and get to eat a lot of pancakes, I'm happy."

Ren smiled and shook his head in amusement at his childhood friend’s antics.

Hedge chuckled at that. "Don't worry, you'll be able to eat all the pancakes you can, but I do suggest not upsetting your stomach."

Ren: "I'll be sure to watch over her."

Hedge: "And how about the adults?"

Goodwitch: "As long as the students are able to keep up their training, I don't see an issue with staying here."

Ozpin: "I share the same sentiment." But internally, he worried on what Hedge meant that the contents of the story would help them with.

Ironwood: "As do I. As long as nothing changes with Remnant while we are gone and Torchwick stays in his cell, I'm good with staying."

Qrow: "I get a chance to be with my nieces, so I'm happy."

Winter: "Same sentiment as him with Weiss. I get to spend some time with my sister." Weiss beamed with joy at that. It's true though, she hasn't spent a lot of time with Winter as of late ever since she joined the military, so being able to be in this place, for an indeterminate amount of time, she would enjoy it the best she could.

Hedge: "Excellent. I promise that you will not be disappointed. Please everyone, take a seat."

AN: For context, Hedge Badnic is my RWBY OC. He’s based off Shadow the Hedgehog appearance wise. More details on him later on.

Chapter Text

Team RWBY takes the front left couch, JNPR takes the front right couch, Goodwitch/Ozpin/Qrow take the back left couch, and Ironwood and Winter take the back right couch. Hedge sits in the lone couch in the far back in the middle.

Blake: "So Mr. Badnic, what story are we going to be reading?"

Hedge: "No need to be so formal, Blake. Hedge will suffice just fine." A bag of fruit snacks appears in his outstretched hand. "As for the title..." With his other hand, electricity sparks from it towards the book on the coffee table as it starts to float in the air for all of them to see.

Nora: "'THOR Alter: Digital Story?' Can't say I've heard of it, and Ren's read to me quite a few stories during our travels through Mistral.

Blake: "Me neither, and I've read books my entire life."

Yang: "You mean books that aren't your Ninjas of Love?" she teased. She receives an elbow in the gut from the cat Faunus.

Hedge: "It's a book from an...acquaintance...of mine by the name of Swift. We share the same hobby. He shared this with me and allowed me to pick a group to go through with looking it over. The 13 of you were the group I ended up choosing."

Ruby: "Is he also a Huntsman like you?" She was eyeing his swords in the sheathes on his back, plus she's a weapons nerd, so...

Hedge took on a thoughtful look with a hand under his chin. "Hmm, that is something even I'm unsure of. I'll have to ask him later. But I know what you are really wondering about, Ruby," he states with a smirk. Even her sister laughs at that, causing the red reaper to blush and hide in her cloak. "I'll show you my weapons tomorrow, along with giving a bit of my backstory, as I understand it was sunset when I pulled you all from Remnant right?" Everyone had nodded at that. As it was, Team RWBY were headed back to their dorm to sleep because they didn't have a lot of it during their mission with Doctor Oobleck. "Then for the sake of everyone getting a good night's rest, we'll do 2 chapters tonight. Sound fair?" Sounds of agreement were his answer. The book then teleported to him. "For tonight, I'll read the first two chapters. Don't focus on me, but rather the TV."

The TV turned on, ready to give visuals to the story. Everyone asks for their snacks in their mind, and they all appear in their lap. (AN: Take a guess on what each one of them would ask for.)

Hedge: "Actually, I'd like to bring up the option on how we go about this. We can either read it, and switch between readers, or we can watch it all, with the voices as well."

Everyone: "Voices,” was the quick response.

"Yeah, should've seen that coming," Hedge thought with a sweat drop. The book teleported in front of the TV and was absorbed into it, registering the contents.

"This is a story. About how my brother and I met a strange monster. It was a night that would change things, we just didn't know what at the time."

The TV screen was black, so nothing was shown, but they did hear the male voice.

Yang: "Who's that? That doesn't sound like anyone I know." She's been around a lot of people, even frequenting at Junior's bar, but she's never heard this person's voice. And if she had, she wasn't able to put a face to it.

Everyone else was wondering whose voice it was. Out of the males in the room, it wasn't Jaune or Ren, or even the General or Ozpin. And even though most of the students just met Qrow, and all of them just met Hedge, they knew it was neither of them. Was this someone new entirely? They decided to let the story continue. Hedge already knew who the voice belonged to, but he'd keep quiet for now unless someone asked him about certain things pertaining to the story. He didn't want to ruin the moment as it were.

It was the middle of the night, the darkness blanketing the city.

Every residence in the large apartment blocks was sound asleep.

Well...all except one.

Qrow: "Heh, that's how it always is."

Glynda: "Like you're one to talk Qrow. I remember you and Tai always staying up late back at Beacon." She chuckled at that.

Qrow: "Alright, you got me there." Then a smirk graced his lips. "Though, you can't talk either, Glyn. Cause I seem to recall you joined us a few times to hang out."

The deputy headmistress stopped with her chuckling and tried, keyword tried, to think of a counter to the drunk's statement, but she knew that if she tried to lie, Ozpin or even Ironwood would call her out on it. "Touché, Branwen. Touché."

The students didn't expect that of all things from their strict professor. Then again, she was young once too. Ruby and Yang now had two people they could ask on their free time to know more about Goodwitch.

Ozpin: "Jokes aside, I can't say I know about this town/city. The architecture looks nothing like anywhere on Remnant."

Ironwood: "It looks almost like somewhere in Atlas, but even then, I can't definitively say that it is."

In it, a young boy, about 4 or 5 years of age, with dirty blonde hair and green eyes was staring in confusion at a computer screen.

Weiss: "Ok, that's not normal. Even with Remnant's standards, assuming this is even our Remnant we're looking at."

Jaune: "And that computer looks so old compared to ours."

Nora: "Maybe it's the distant past?"

Everyone thought about what the ginger-haired girl said, and surprisingly, it was a good guess.

He was sure his older brother had closed it earlier, so why were there so many numbers and words moving across the screen?

Winter: "Perhaps someone is hacking into it? Multiple people have tried to hack into Atlas' systems, namely the White Fang to try and get back at us and the SDC."

Ironwood: "Thankfully, we'd been upgrading our anti-virus systems so that doesn't happen, and that probably is what is happening."

Hedge: "I don't think you've upgraded your systems enough, General. You might want to upgrade Mantle's too," he thought.

"Pierce?" the young boy heard a young voice say his name in confusion, making him turn around to see his twin brother, the only difference between the two being his twin's hair was lighter colored blonde and his eyes were blue.

Ruby took a good look at the boy in question. "Huh, anyone else see him as a younger Jaune?"

Everyone turned to look at the blonde knight in the room, causing said boy to look at everyone in embarrassment, which only gave them a better view of him. Sounds of agreement were met, causing Jaune to pout.

"Azure's computer is all weird." Pierce said, pointing at their older brother's computer, his twin rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and looking up at it, standing next to Pierce.

The blue-eyed twin tilted his head in confusion. "What's wrong with it?"

That caused the adults to chuckle at that response. Even in what seemed like potentially kids from another world, they still acted the same. Most of the students even remember acting the same way.

Yang: "I remember Ruby being like that when she was younger."

Ruby: "Yaaaang," she whined.

Qrow: "Admit it, pipsqueak. You were definitely like that."

Ruby just pouted and sank into the couch, Weiss looking at her with a smile.

"I don't know, Gyro." Pierce answered his brother, now revealed to be named Gyro.

As the two brothers continued to look at the screen in wonder, something started to push out from it.

It had a strange oblong shape to it, which was explained as it finished pushing itself out, the coding like skin on it disappearing to reveal a strange white egg with red stripes on it.

Everyone was gob smacked at what they just witnessed. No one knowing what to say.

Blake: "Did we just see a computer... shoot out an... egg from its screen?"

Weiss: "I'm just as confused as you are."

Ironwood: "That's not something you see every day, and I look at a screen pretty much every day."

Ozpin internally agreed with his fellow headmaster, as he was always doing paperwork, or at the very least, the paperwork he couldn't just give to Glynda to do. And he had to input into the academy's records of every paperwork that had been completed.

Pyrrha: "What caused the computer to do this though?"

Nora: "Not sure, but I wonder what type of bird would come out of it." Same ol' Nora.

The two boys looked at the egg in awe, before turning to the computer, which turned itself off.

After a moment, Pierce reached up and patted the monitor a few times. "Good job," he said simply.

The levity of how calm and smoothly Pierce had delivered that line got some laughter and chuckles out of everyone, but Blake actually caught on to the actual meaning behind Pierce's statement and blushed.

Hedge smirked. "You caught on, Blake?"

The cat Faunus spun around on the couch and looked at their host, still with a blush and now glaring at him. "Shut up," she muttered quickly. Hedge just chuckled and put his hands up in surrender. Not soon after though did Glynda and Winter also caught on to the hidden meaning of Pierce's statement. They too blushed at that, but luckily their host either didn't call them out on it, or just never noticed.

Gyro picked up the egg, looking at it in confusion. "What do we do with it?"

Pierce turned to his twin, thinking about his question for a bit, before nodding at a decision. "We'll tell Azure."

Winter: "Smart. Informing someone older is the best course of action. Though, I'm curious on why they aren't telling their parents."

Hedge: "That will be explained down the line. And that will probably be a sad topic for someone." He glanced at Ruby before looking back at the screen.

"Right now? But he has to get up for work tomorrow morning, right?" Gyro asked, while also remembering their older brother had work in the morning.

Yang: "Guess that's a no." She remembered how it was when her and Ruby were younger. Whenever something came up late at night, and she wanted to tell their dad about it, he always had to get up early to head to work, which was being a teacher over at Signal. This was of course after he got out of his funk after their mother died, or rather, after Ruby's mother died. Her actual mother had left not long after she was born, and even now the image of the woman on the train came back to her mind. Was that actually her, or just her mind playing tricks on her? She shook her head of that for now.

"Oh yeah... we'll tell him once he gets back then." Pierce corrected with a nod, sure of himself this time.

Gyro nodded in agreement with the idea, finding it made sense this time.

With that decided, the two brothers walked back to their room, Pierce climbing up to the top bunk of their bunkbeds.

Weiss: "Those bunkbeds look a lot sturdier than ours."

Yang: "Hey, nothing's happened with ours yet. Nothing to worry about."

Hedge: "Keyword being 'Yet,' Yang."

Winter: "Hold on, what's this about bunkbeds?"

Glynda: "Even I'm curious about this, cause I don't remember there being a request being put in for them. Do you know of this, Ozpin?"

Ozpin: "I'm in the dark about this just as you are, Glynda."

Hedge: "You all do know that the room for Team RWBY here is the same as their room back at Beacon, right? You could just look for yourselves."

The three adults looked at each other, even Qrow was curious of how they looked. They took a quick glance at Team RWBY, who really didn't want them to see, but before they could even get up and get in front of the adults (even with Ruby's semblance), the adults beat the girls to the door that was for them. Winter was the one to open it, and all 4 adults walked in. The girls peaked around the door frame (imagine the camera being inside Team RWBY's room and looking to outside of the room to the theater room), Ruby and Weiss looking in from the right side, and Yang and Blake looking from the left, the sisters being on the top half of the frame.

As for the adults, well... their expression was priceless. Glynda looked like a headache was about to come on, Qrow hoped his semblance wouldn't kick in anytime he visited the girls, Winter kept a straight face, but internally she was happy her sister was able to enjoy herself, but also wished the beds were actually structured correctly, and Ozpin just took a sip of his coffee, so a normal reaction from him.

Glynda: "You know? For now, I'm just going to forget I saw this and go back to the story. We'll deal with this when we return to Remnant."

Qrow looked at his nieces. "You know if your father looked at these, he'd ask me to fix these, or reach out to Ozpin and force these to be fixed." Ruby and Yang just nervously chuckled at that, but Yang decided to throw Ruby under the bus.

Yang: "It was Ruby's idea!" She said quickly and bolted.

Ruby: "Traitor!" She used her semblance to chase after her sister.

Winter: "Well, I'm glad you're having a good time, Weiss, but you know you could've just called me and asked for actual bunkbeds to be installed, right?"

Weiss just facepalmed at that, as yes, she could've called her sister to do just that. "I know, but I came to Beacon to try and live on my own, not have to really fall in the steps of father and the family name." Winter smiled at that response. Weiss really was really trying to not be burdened by their family name.

As the two sisters continued their chase, Hedge decided to step in by teleporting in front of Yang and stretching out his arm, grabbing her by her orange infinity scarf around her neck. He could've grabbed her by her hair (he could tank her semblance-imbued strike easily), but he decided against it. As for Ruby, even while in her semblance he was able to stop her in place too, grabbing her cloak and reverting her back to Ruby form.

Hedge: "As much as we would all love to see how this chase ends, I think we have a story to return to, yes?"

The sisters sheepishly nodded yes, but also were shocked at the ease Hedge was able to stop them. He teleported them back to their couch and deposited them next to their teammates, then teleported back to his couch.

"Who keeps the egg?" Gyro asked him suddenly, making Pierce stop and think about it.

He eventually shrugged. "I don't know."

Gyro thought about it as well. "Let's play rock-paper-scissors." he said simply, finding it to be the best solution.

Pierce nodded, and Gyro sat down the egg, the two brothers holding out their hands in a fist each. "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" the two called out while shaking their hands, and both chose paper, making them blink before trying again.

Pyrrha: "This is going to take a while, isn't it?" She said with a sweat drop.

Ruby and Yang looked at each other, already knowing how this game goes with them. "Most likely," they both said. Even Jaune had to agree with the sisters, as this also happened a few times with him and his sisters.

They actually ended up choosing the same thing for 5 more tries, until eventually Gyro chose rock while Pierce chose scissors.

With that decided, the two brothers went to bed, with Gyro placing the egg under the blankets with himself.

The next morning, the boys were woken up as their brother opened the door to their room.

He was in his late teens, with silvery blonde hair and blue eyes, currently wearing a simple blue shirt and a pair of jeans. "Time for breakfast munchkins," he said with a smirk as he saw them start to get up, going back to finishing up his own breakfast.

Ironwood: "That's a pretty big age gap between the twins and their older brother. I'm with you, Schnee. Where are these boys' parents?"

Ruby: "Maybe they have really early work shifts?" She really hoped their parents were around.

Jaune: "Or maybe, assuming there is maybe a military force where they are, one or even both their parents are a part of it?" If this wasn't Remnant where these boys were living, then it's possible they might not have Huntsmen/Huntresses, but even he knew that being a part of military can lead you to being away from your family for a long time, but like his fellow team leader, he hoped their parents were still around.

What he didn't expect, and made him spit out his glass of orange juice, was for Gyro to be rolling a large white egg with pinkish stripes out of their room. Azure stared at the egg for a moment before his brain finally rebooted.

"Wha... where did you get that?"

"It came out of your computer." Pierce answered innocently.

Qrow chuckled. "That's a Ruby answer if I've ever heard one."

Yang: "So true," she laughed.

Ruby: "Hey!" she whined.

That just confused Azure even more and was about to ask what his little brother was talking about, before noticing the time, turning back to his brothers who were sitting at the table for their breakfast which was waiting in front of them. "We'll talk more about this once I'm back this afternoon. As always, if anything happens, go ask the lady across the hall for help."

"Okay!" his brothers nodded.

Weiss: "Well, at least there's a system for them."

"In the meantime... ah... keep the egg warm. Maybe... put it in some blankets?" Azure suggested. This... was really NOT how he expected to start any morning like this."

Ren: "Who would?" he chuckled.

Nora: "It's like they say, Renny. 'Expect the unexpected.'" She takes a bite out of a pancake she ordered.

Hedge: "She gets it." He teleports behind her and puts his fist out towards her, and she reciprocates the fist bump.

His brothers nodded again, with big smiles on their faces, making him laugh in amusement, before getting up and grabbing his keys, waving goodbye to his brothers as he left for work.

With him gone, the twins simply continued to eat their own breakfast.

Though, they stopped when the egg started rolling around on its own, moving around the apartment, before rolling back into their room, making them look at each other, before they moved back towards their room, watching as the egg suddenly stood up straight.

Pyrrha: "Looks like it's about to hatch."

Yang: "Anyone want to take a guess at what's going to come out?"

Qrow: "Firecracker, I'm pretty sure whatever is inside that egg is not something that would normally be hatched from one."

Ozpin: "I agree with Qrow, but I won't deny that I'm intrigued on what would hatch from it." The others all shared that sentiment.

The two brothers looked in awe, before cracks suddenly formed on the egg, making them jump in surprise at the fact it was already hatching.

Just as suddenly, the top of the egg was thrown off and something small, black, and round zoomed out from within the shell, speeding around their room, darting between their legs, before eventually rushing underneath the bed.

Qrow and Yang shared a look at each other, and smirked. "Ruby," they both said, already knowing who that reminded them of.

Blake: "I don't follow?"

Yang: "That's exactly how Ruby was when she first unlocked her semblance, the only difference being that red rose petals were left behind in her wake, always leading up to whatever hiding spot she was in. Made hide and seek easy."

Ruby wished her cloak and/or the couch would swallow her whole.

The two brothers looked at each other, before getting on the floor, looking under the bottom bed to find two yellow eyes staring back at them.

Yang took a side glance over at her partner, wondering if the exact thing would happen if she ever went and hid under one of the beds in their room.

Blake: "Not happening, Yang."

Yang feigned ignorance. "You don't even know what I was thinking."

Blake: "I do, and there's nothing you can do to have me do it." The blonde brawler just pouted.

The creature that popped out of the egg looked like some kind of small black fuzzy thing, its yellow eyes staring back at them, blinking curiously.

Weiss: "It's kinda cute," she admitted. She already gushed over Zwei, so her team already knew she was a sucker for cute things, and everyone had to agree with the heiress.

Glynda: "But what exactly is it? It doesn't look like any known animal."

Ruby looked closely at it. "Could it be a Grimm?"

That caused everyone to take a second look at the thing.

Winter: "But it doesn't have red eyes like how the Grimm normally have."

Ironwood: "And we don't know how exactly Grimm come to be. I doubt they are actually born from eggs."

Nora: "You never know."

Ren: "Nora, I don't think that is actually true, and whatever that is, it probably is not a Grimm."

After a few moments of simply staring each other down, the small creature started blowing out... bubbles from its mouth, making the two boys blink at it strangely.

It also seemed to be blowing the bubbles in a rhythm, which gave Gyro an idea.

He moved away from the bed for a few moments, coming back with a small bell from a tricycle, which he started ringing along to the rhythm from the small creature's bubbles.

Weiss: "Too...much...cuteness," and the girl just fainted.

Ruby: "Weiss!" the girl's head had fallen in her lap, causing her to blush.

Winter: "Weiss!" She ran over to check on her sister. "What happened?!"

Hedge: "Judging from her last few words before she passed out, it seems the actions from the little thing was too much for her. Now, normally I'd say let's wait and have her wake up naturally, but considering the time, she probably wouldn't want to sleep if we waited." Something appeared in his hand, it looked like a medicine bottle. "Not to worry, I have just the thing to wake her." He opens the bottle and has Ruby turn the girl's face towards him, placing the bottle just under her nose. "Come on, Weiss. Time to wake up." Weiss' nose crinkles at the smell, but it is just enough to jolt the girl awake.

The first thing she sees is Hedge with the bottle in his hands, closing it up, but then she realizes the position she is in, sees Ruby's face, and then rights herself up quickly, both girls with blushes on their faces. Yang managed a few pics on her scroll of the two, teasing material for later.

Weiss: "S-Sorry about that."

Ruby: "It-It's ok, Weiss."

Hedge had a small grin on his face. "Well, WhiteRose may or may not happen in the show, but that doesn't mean it can't possibly come to fruition here." He clears his throat. "Well, now that's that cleared up, let's continue shall we?" Everyone returns to their seats.

Glynda turned around to Hedge. "How did you do that?"

Hedge: "Nothing too special." He showed her the bottle. "Smelling salts. Commonly used to bring someone back to being conscious. Now, they shouldn't always be used to do so, considering whatever had caused the person to lose consciousness may be something stronger than what the smelling salts can bring them back from."

Glynda: "You mean like a spell, or in our case, a semblance."

Hedge: "Precisely."

Pierce looked around the room as the bubbles kept being blown out, as they just floated around the air.

When he looked back, Gyro was holding the small creature, which was still blowing out bubbles, although Gyro opened the windows so they wouldn't be swarmed by them. After a few minutes of quite literally aiming and fanning the bubbles out of the room, finally the small creature seemed to calm down.

Ren: "Smart, otherwise their room would be filled with nothing but bubbles, and it would be very crowded."

Blake: "But what about people on the street? Surely they would find it strange for bubbles to come out of an apartment building."

Ozpin: "I don't think that would be entirely strange. Some children may end up using some of their toys that are meant for outdoor use in their homes. This could be considered as one of those times, especially if their apartment building doesn't have a common area outside."

The two boys sighed as they watched the bubbles float about in the air above the street, which were obviously noticed by several people, all of them staring at the cloud of bubbles in confusion. However, back in the apartment, the boys had to deal with a different problem...namely in the form of a grumbling stomach, one that was coming from the small creature.

Gyro lifted up the small creature, looking at it curiously "You're getting hungry huh?"

"What does it eat?" Pierce wondered outloud.

"I don't know… think it would like peanut butter?" Gyro asked his brother, receiving a shrug.

Qrow: "Wouldn't hurt to try different things."

Winter: "But what if there is something that isn't good for the little thing's stomach? That could make things worse."

Ironwood: "You're not wrong, Winter, but as much as I hate to admit it, I agree with Qrow. Giving it different food might be the best option. Yes, it may end up earing the boys of all of their food, but they have to give it something."

Qrow, Winter, Glynda, and Ozpin were shocked to hear the General say that he agreed with the drunk. That is a very rare thing to happen.

Qrow: "Heh, that's not something you hear everyday."

They decided to try that, making the small creature a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and watching it scarf it down… then it's stomach growled again, meaning it was still hungry.

The boys tried making it a bowl of cereal, although it ate everything before they even poured the milk into the bowl.

Jaune: "It has Nora's appetite," he said shocked.

Nora: "Hey, you know I have a bigger appetite than that thing."

Pyrrha: "And yet I wonder where all that food goes." She looked at her teammate and really wondered how she kept her figure.

Ren: "You actually already know; her training regiment."

Pyrrha thought about that, and then she remembered. Nora had managed to get her and Team RWBY to workout with her. It... didn't go as well as the girls would've liked, considering all of them were sore for the next few days. "...Fair point."

Gyro hummed in thought as he watched the creature start to eat a few slices of baloney they placed in front of it after the cereal "I think I know what it is."

Pierce looked to his brother curiously "Really? What is it?"

"A mini-black hole." Gyro said with a nod as he crossed his arms, as if his answer was the only right answer.

"...ok?" Pierce blinked.

"It just doesn't stop eating. And black holes keep sucking up stuff, right?" Gyro explained further, with Pierce nodding along, understanding what he meant.

Ironwood: "A bottomless pit would probably be a more astute description."

Yang: "Right on that, but what is a 'black hole?'"

Hedge: "Right, you guys haven't been able to experience the vastness of outer space."

Weiss: "Wait are you saying this world the twins are in have?! Dust can't last once it leaves the atmosphere."

Ozpin: "No offense, Ms. Schnee, but I haven't noticed anything in this world that seems to be powered by Dust. All the appliances seem to be powered by some form of electricity, and not from lightning dust, mind you."

Hedge: "You are right, Ozpin. As you all were starting to catch on, this isn't Remnant you are looking at. The planet the boys and their brother Azure are on is known as Earth, a peculiar name for a planet, yes, but that's not the point. Humanity was able to use it's natural resources to power their technology, and with it, able to traverse outer space. Well, as far as their moon mind you, which isn't broken by the way, but they have been able to send out man-controlled drones to try and take pictures of the nearby planets. And as I'm pretty sure to expect for some follow up questions: no, there are no Huntsmen/Huntresses, there are militaries, but they are for every country in the world, instead of kingdoms. There are no Faunus, now that doesn't mean there isn't any mistreatment of anyone, trust me, there are a lot of forms of that. As mentioned, no Dust, well none like the kind of Remnant. And, there is no Grimm. That also doesn't mean there isn't any wars that happen, and there has been a lot in that world's history. Some with very high death counts. As for what a black hole is, it is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light and other electromagnetic waves, is capable of possessing enough energy to escape it. Most black holes are created from when a star dies, and no one really knows what's on the other side. Some speculate death, others think a new dimension/universe."

Everyone was shocked to hear those points. Yang just let out a quick "Thanks" to the black hole description, but she and the others were more focused on how much different the twins' planet and daily life was compared to theirs. Their status quo wasn't a thing, there were more militaries around the world in these...countries, as they were called, compared to just only one military in a kingdom (Atlas), no Dust to power anything, and they were able to experience space travel. Oh, and how could they forget the biggest piece of information: no Grimm! It seemed like a paradise, minus the wars and mistreatment that tend to still happen, but still.

Hedge: "You guys want a moment to think about that huge info dump?" Honestly, he couldn't blame them.

Ozpin: "Please. A good 5 minutes, give or take?"

Everyone agreed on that, leading to Hedge nodding. A few went to relieve themselves, while some decided to look around the area. They were going to be there for a while, so might as well get a good idea of what was there. The students did decide to change into their pajamas, since it was getting late. Might as well be comfy.

After a bit, Hedge confirmed they were ready to proceed, and after everyone said yes, the story continued.

Then a thought hit Pierce. "...are we gonna keep feeding it?" he asked, noticing that it was still eating.

Gyro blinked at that, about to answer, before they heard the creature let out a loud burp and just sag down, letting out a content sigh "I guess not." he eventually answered after a few moments.

Jaune: "I think it's safe to say it's full."

Then they looked to the TV over in the living room as it started glitching out, the screen wavering and showing interference, and other electronics started glitching as well, neither of the two boys noticing the small creature standing stock still. However, when it started to glow, THEN they noticed it, and turned to see as it was engulfed in light.

Ruby: "What's happening to the little guy?!" She may not know what it was, but she didn't want anything bad to happen to it.

They covered their eyes as the light shone bright, before it finally cleared away after a few moments, letting them look upon the little creature to see it was… different, now.

It had become larger, for starters, and it's black body was now a pale pink color, it's small little ears now long and floppy like ribbons, and it's eyes, once small and yellow, now large and red, it's mouth was even visible now, with visible fangs poking out from it's bottom lip.

Weiss: "It's...different now."

Ironwood: "Almost like...a metamorphosis of some kind."

Hedge: "Not that far off, James," he thought. "Wait till he sees Greymon/MetalGreymon, then WarGreymon. Or even Salamon's evolution line," he chuckled in thought of that one.

The little creature shook itself once it came out of it's daze, before looking at that, smiling as it opened it's mouth… and spoke.

"Hey! Thanks for feeding me!" the little creature called in a child-like voice.

You thought everyone's mind broke with the earlier info? The scale went to 11 on how broken their minds were now.

Jaune: "Ok, is it just me, or did eveyone else also see and hear the little guy actually talk?"

Glynda: "I can assure you, Mr. Arc. I think we all heard it." Even she was trying to wrap her head around that.

The two boys were speechless for a few moments, before finally Pierce spoke up "You can talk now?"

"Yep!" it said happily as if it was the most normal thing ever.

"Um… do you have a name?" Gyro asked after a moment.

The little creature nodded, somehow "I'm Koromon! Nice to meet you!"

Ozpin: "Interesting. It already knows its name, but it wasn't given one by the twins. What are you, Koromon?"

Winter: "Well at least we have a name and we don't have to call it 'it' or 'thing.'"

"Uh...hi, Koromon?" Pierce blinked, not sure what else to say.

"Hi!... um, I can't remember your names but I'm pretty sure I heard them earlier." he said with a frown as he tried to remember "I… think they start with a G and a P?"

Gyro nodded with a smile "That's right! I'm Gyro, and this is Pierce!"

"Right! That was it! Gyro and Pierce!" Koromon said with a nod, his memory jogged.

"So...Koromon...what are you?" Gyro asked.

"Koromon is Koromon." the little creature answered as if that explained everything, and to him, it did.

Yang laughed. "That is also a Ruby-type answer."

Ruby glowered at her sister. "Is it 'make fun of Ruby' day or something?"

Yang stopped her laughing and looked back at her younger sibling. "Rubes, come on, you know I'm only joking."

Ruby: "I'll believe it when I see it." Yang just pouted at that.

Qrow: "You brought that on yourself, Firecracker."

"...okay?" Gyro and Pierce blinked, not sure what else to say.

"So...what do you want to do, Koromon?" Pierce asked, figuring he might as well.

Koromon actually hummed in thought "Uh… I only saw your room and this spot. What else is there?"

"Yay! We get to play tour guides!" Gyro called in glee, I mean, what child wouldn't want to pretend to have an important job?

"Not really," all the students responded. If it wasn't being a Huntsmen/Huntress, most likely it was a bland job.

"Not going to be a very long tour though." Pierce added as he looked around the rather spartan apartment.

The brothers didn't need much after all, just the essentials.

Ren: "Sometimes that really is all you need." He remembered his and Nora's travels through Mistral. They had to make due with what they could gather and buy, and until they were able to take on small jobs, all they really focused on having were the essentials.

Nora looked at him, as she had the same thing running in her mind. Ren caught on and the two looked at each other smiling, Nora doing a side hug on him.

They did have video games and toys though.

Minutes later, we find the boys sitting in the living room in front of a gamecube and teaching Koromon how to play Super Smash Brothers Melee.

Yang: "Alright, now I'm intrigued by that name." She turned around to Hedge. "I'm assuming you can give a bit of explanation to what I'm assuming is a fighting game?"

Hedge: "Correct, it is a fighting game from Earth, but it's much more different to your Soaring Ninja fighting game that you have on Remnant. Most of the fighting game community, better known as the FGC, refer to the series as Smash, as there are currently 5 games in it. Melee, the game referred on screen, is the second of the series that is played on the Nintendo, that's the developer of the series mind you, GameCube." A picture of said gaming system appears on the screen. "The series as a whole is Nintendo's greatest contribution to the gaming community, and the latest game in the series is one of the most played games competitively. The game has characters from multiple IP's, effectively that's the different franchises Nintendo has created, and they fight against each other in a platform based style. Later iterations of Smash you would see popular characters be added from franchises that Nintendo didn't make, with the latest game, Ultimate, having the most characters to choose from." He looks back at Yang. "As for your Soaring Ninja game, that game is more akin to another fighting game from Earth, however, it is much gorier than Soaring Ninja could ever be."

Funnily enough, his long floppy ears actually worked like hands, so he was able to handle the remote and press buttons correctly.

Gyro was playing as Samus, Pierce as Ganondorf, and Koromon as Pikachu. Understandably, Koromon was a bit shaky at first, but once he got the hang of it, he turned out to be a fast learner. They didn't even need to let him win by the third fight. He'd actually won on his own.

Everyone turned to Hedge, and he knew they were curious which franchise each character was from.

Hedge: "In order, Metroid, Legend of Zelda, and Pokemon." On screen, each specific game that they also came from appeared, specifically Ocarina of Time for Ganondorf, and Samus' first appearance for the Metroid series. For Pikachu, it was Pokemon Red and Blue. "On screen are either the first appearance, or the specific game that the character's model is from. Ganondorf has multiple iterations, but the one used in Melee is specifically from Ocarina of Time, a very popular game of the Legend of Zelda series."

"Wow, this is really fun!" Koromon laughed as on the screen the victory scene played with Pikachu doing its own little victory pose.

"Huh, didn't think you'd get good that fast." Gyro said, a bit surprised.

"Well, he's not better than Azure at least." Pierce mumbled as while Koromon had won they still KOed him a few times.

Yang: "Eh, I bet I could beat them."

Qrow: "Care to put your lien where your mouth is, Firecracker?"

Hedge: "I could summon forth a GameCube and have you guys play it in Team RWBY's room, if you'd want?"

Yang: "Please!"

Ruby: "Oh jeez." She already knew how both her sister and Uncle got when it came to fighting games.

"What else can we do?" Koromon asked, bouncing excitedly, to which the brothers decided not to wonder how something with no limbs could bounce so much.

Instead, they ended up playing different games with Koromon, as well as playing with some of their toys. Before long, time passed till it was the evening, and they heard the sound of the door being unlocked an opening.

"I'm home," Azure said as he walked into the house. "By the way, I heard the strangest story while I was on the way home," he started as he put away his shoes and bag. "The neighbors saw a cloud of pink bubbles coming out of the apartment earlier this morning. Care to explain?" he asked...right as he saw the pink puff ball that was in front of the tv, playing a game. "...the egg hatched into that?"

Blake: "Not exactly. Kind of?" She shrugged.

Gyro turned to his older brother, waving with a smile, before addressing the Koromon issue "Actually he was a little black and fuzzy thing with yellow eyes a few hours ago, then he kind of just turned into that."

"...I'm sorry, what?" Azure deadpanned. Somehow he had a feeling sanity just died. For the rest of his life. For the next few minutes, his little brothers explained to him what had happened through the day, and when they were done, Azure was sitting on a chair with a bewildered expression. "So… 'Koromon' could suddenly talk, and from the looks of it, even play video games...and he eats just about anything."

"More or less, yeah," Gyro nodded.

Azure took a few moments at that, thinking about everything, before he muttered "My life has become a cartoon show for the entertainment of the masses."

Jaune: "Wouldn't that be something?"

Weiss scoffs. "Please, the chances of that happening are very slim."

Hedge: "Identity crisis incoming..." he thinks with a sweat drop.

"Really? Cool," Pierce laughed.

"So...can we keep him?" Gyro asked, holding up Koromon...and doing the dreaded puppy dog eyes, which Koromon soon joined. The cuteness could have rotted teeth in minutes.

Weiss: "Darn it, now I'm reminded of Ruby." The red reaper would constantly use her puppy dog eyes to get what she wants multiple times, and Weiss would be the target of them from time to time. She casts a side glance at her partner. "Though she already is mad at Yang for her teasing. Best not to become a target of said anger too."

Azure felt his will waver already, and it was shattered when Pierce noticed and joined in, making him groan as he hanged his head "Fine, fine, we're keeping him, but you two will have to do chores for the neighbours so we can pay for his food more easily."

Pyrrha: "The sacrifices that need to be made."

Glynda: "But this does teach them about responsibility."

"Okay!" both boys said happily, bouncing excitedly, something Koromon joined in despite not fully understanding what was going on. They didn't mind having to work if it meant they could keep their new friend.

"Well, enough of that. For now, let's get dinner started," Azure chuckled, to which the brothers did just that, though Gyro and Pierce took turns keeping Koromon company while dinner was being prepared. Dinner itself was a lively affair, as Koromon showed his ravenous appetite again, something that had Azure a little worried seeing as that...could be a drain on their expenses too...not that he told his brothers that. Eventually dinner was over, and the dishes done, and everyone soon was ready to head in for bed.

Once they were in their room, Gyro and Pierce were about to try and decide who Koromon could sleep with...before Koromon jumped up into Gyro's bed. "...well, that was easy," Gyro blinked, while Pierce shrugged, and the two got into bed. Little did they know, that this night would be one that would change their lives forever.

Nora: "Well that's not foreboading or anything."

Blake: "But it is a common troupe that authors tend to do in their stories."

Jaune: "Movie directors too. Everything's calm for a indeterminate amount of time, then something drastic happens."

Hedge: "Video games too that have a story/campaign mode."

Ruby: "Yup, can definitely confirm that." Her and Yang have played their fair share of those type of games.

It was several hours later, a little bit past midnight, when Pierce was awoken by Gyro shaking him awake, his brother's face set in worry "What's wrong?" he asked as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"It's Koromon." Gyro said in worry, Pierce understanding as he quickly climbed down from his bed, and saw the same thing Gyro did.

Koromon pale, his eyes wide with his irises almost invisible little pinpricks, and his whole body shaking all over.

"Koromon?" Pierce called out to their new friend in worry.

They didn't notice every electronic in the apartment complex going haywire this time either.

Ruby: "Wait! Isn't that the same thing that happened earlier when Koromon transformed into the form he is now?"

Everyone remembered that is what had happened, though it was mostly just the TV at the time.

Ozpin: "It would appear that Koromon is about to undergo another metamorphosis."

Ren: "Question is what type of form would it be?"

It was at that moment that Koromon's form started to grow, getting taller and wider, scales covered him, a dull yellow in color, arms and legs grew in, both pairs with large claws, his floppy ears shrinking down into small little ears flattened against the side of his head's his rather flat face growing into a more reptilian snout, as his red eyes were now green in color, the whole thing finished off with a short and stubby tail.

Nora: "Looks like a lizard."

Pyrrha: "I think a dinosaur may be more appropriate of the form."

Quite obviously, the bed couldn't handle Koromon's new weight as it collapsed under him, Gyro pouting as he stared at the pieces of his bed scattered around the floor.

Ruby: "I feel your pain Gyro," as she was pouting at the destroyed bunk bed.

Weiss: "We really need to fix our bunkbeds, our actual bunkbeds. Hedge could you do that for us?"

Hedge: "The most I can fix is the ones here in this dimension. As for the ones back on Remnant, no can do on that. I'm already messing with the balance of the world by bringing them here." That last part was said in his mind.

Weiss nodded at that. "That'll work. Considering how long we may be here."

Koromon's new form looked around a bit, before moving towards the window, looking out of it curiously, the two boys following him in confusion.

Koromon's claws picked against the window, as if he was trying to open it, the two boys understanding and opening it for him as they stepped out onto the small veranda.

Sniffing the air, Koromon walked towards the open window, trying to squeeze past it, only to end up breaking some of the wall.

Blake: "Something has him spooked. He's just breaking everything."

Back in his room, Azure shot up as he heard all the breaking coming from his little brothers room, getting up and walking towards it, clad in a simple pair of sweatpants, a t-shirt, and slippers.

Everyone chuckled or laughed at Azure's attire.

Qrow: "Ah, the typical parental-figure sleepwear. I often would see Tai like that when ever i visited."

Yang: "It's still his main sleepwear. He hasn't really changed what he sleeps in."

When he opened the door, he looked into the room with a raised eyebrow, only for his face to morph into shock as he saw Koromon's new form, as it jumped off the veranda… with his brothers hanging onto his back, the two boys shouting in surprise as they fell down to street level.

Pyrrha: "Top 10 things you wouldn't expect to wake up to."

Winter: "Top 10? Try top one." She chuckled, and everyone else had to agree to that.

He stood there for a few more moments, stunned, before bolting out of the apartment with a coat in hand.

While Azure was heading down to try and catch up to them, the boys were wandering around the town while hanging onto Koromon's back.

Lucky for them, not many people were still up at this hour on this side of town.

Glynda: "Good, that would cause some problems."

Nora: "Let me guess, dissection being one of them on Koromon?"

No one wanted to think of that outcome and tried desperately to remove to that from their mind.

Eventually they reached a row of vending machines, with Koromon staring in curiosity at them.

"I'm thirsty." Pierce mumbled from Koromon's back, with Gyro hearing him and tapping the side of Koromon's head before pointing at one of the vending machines.

Koromon seemed to get the message, as he used his claws to break open the vending machine, causing several cans of soda and juice to fall out, with Pierce grabbing one of the cans of lemonade, before they walked off.

Weiss: "Vandalism and robbery!" She squawked.

Ozpin: "While I'll agree with you on that, Ms. Schnee, they are children who don't really know better. And I doubt Koromon really knows the consequences of what his actions are doing."

Azure ran around town, looking everywhere in the main area of where they lived "Gyro! Pierce!" he shouted out their names in worry, before adding a moment later "Koromon! Where are you?!"

Back with the boys, they were still hanging onto Koromon's back, the adult sized dinosaur walking in traffic.

"Koromon… why won't you talk to us?" Gyro said in worry as he looked up at his friend, before all three of them turned their heads as a truck was headed right for them.

Just before the truck would have hit them, Koromon jumped over it, surprising the boys, as well as one of people in the truck.

"Did you see that?" the one in the passenger seat asked.

"No, I was sleeping." the driver mumbled.

Ruby: "Isn't he the driver or something?"

"But you're the one driving!" the passenger shouted at him.

Ironwood: "If he was driving in Atlas, he'd have his license revoked in a heartbeat."

As Koromon landed back down, he growled at the truck, the boys looking at him in worry.

"Koromon?" Gyro called to him, before both him and Pierce were shocked as a ball of flame shot out from Koromon's mouth, seemingly heading straight for the truck, but thankfully being off course and hitting a payphone instead.

Ren: "First it was bubbles, now it's fireballs."

Yang: "That's hot, but I still wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of one." Everyone groaned at the pun, but they did notice how the payphone that was hit looked.

The two boys stared at the flaming wreck of the payphone, scared, the gravity of the situation now starting to dawn on them.

At the same time, Azure stared at the broken vending machine, panting, a thought crossing his mind 'If I don't acknowledge it, I don't have to pay for it.' he thought to himself before turning and starting to run again.

Winter: "A respectable response. He obviously knows it was Koromon and his brothers that did it, but unless anyone questions him, he can feign ignorance."

Weiss: "Though it sounds like something father would do."

Winter grimaced at that. "You're not wrong."

Meanwhile, the boys were trying to stop Koromon as he looked at a bus, his mouth slowly opening with a flame building up in his throat, before he snapped his head towards the sky, jostling the boys around as he stared up a plane that was flying up high.

Unsurprisingly, he tried to shoot his fireballs at it, but all that happened were that the flames extinguished themselves on the way down.

Blake wiped some sweat off her forehead at that, thankful the flames didn't reach the civilian aircraft. "Small victories."

They stayed lit long enough for Azure to notice them though.

As he ran in the general direction the flames had been shot from, the boys were still hanging onto Koromon's back, the dinosaur walking around town aimlessly.

They didn't realise every electronic in this area of town going haywire, except this time… it wasn't affecting Koromon.

Jaune: "That's not good."

Hundreds of people looked up in the sky in confusion, as a gigantic egg formed out of nowhere, Azure staring up at it while still trying to find his brothers "I don't want to meet the chicken that layed that egg." he muttered, before starting to run again.

Despite the severity of the situation, everyone did chuckle at Azure's statement.

Koromon was running towards the egg, the boys hanging on tight to him, until he slowed down while passing under a bridge, looking up at the egg with a growl.

"Is it something bad?" Gyro wondered.

And suddenly, the egg hatched.

Falling out of the egg was a HUGE green and yellow bird with arms, the top portion of it's beak covered in metal, and with two red antennae on top of it's head.

The bird flapped it's wings, slowing its descent as it started to slowly fly about, as if trying to figure out where it was.

Ruby: "Big bird 12 o'clock," she squeaked.

That's when Koromon reared back and roared, making the boys fall off his back, before he fired fireballs up at the feathered monster, getting its attention.

Nora: "I think the term for it now is 'Big AND angry bird.'"

The two boys got up, before running up to Koromon and trying to pull him back "Don't! It's too big! You'll get hurt!" Pierce said in worry over their friend.

"Gyro! Pierce!" the two boys heard, making then turn to see their older brother running toward them, his face a mixture of relief and worry at having found them.

He crouched near them, Koromon seemingly ignoring them as it kept looking at the huge bird, before pulling his brothers into his arms, just glad they were ok.

Before anything could be said however, it was then the bird decided to retaliate against Koromon's attack, as electricity charged between it's antennae, and it fired.

The shot didn't hit Koromon, no, it hit the bridge above him and the brothers, causing it to collapse on top of them.

Ruby: "No!" She really didn't want to see anyone get hurt, or worse.

Ironwood: "So the bird has an electric based attack, and it's very destructive."

Qrow: "That's an understatement, Jimmy. Look what it did to the bridge."

Winter: "I think the main focus should be on the brothers. If this truly isn't Remnant, then they wouldn't have aura."

Everyone refocused back on the screen.

As hundreds of kids watched on as the bridge collapsed, little did any of them know this anomaly wasn't isolated.

World of Remnant

Everyone (minus Hedge): "WAIT WHAT?!" Everyone then turned to their host, who was calmly drinking an orange soda.

Hedge: "Patience. Everything will be explained soon."

As much as they really wanted to question him, since he obviously knew more than he let on, they returned their attention to the screen.

At the same time, in the world known as Remnant, thousands of children, teenagers, and adults all watched in shock and awe at the sight before them, transmitted through various different electronic devices.

Some of the people watching did so with siblings present, some alone, others were even watching from the streets while looking at TV displays in a store, then there were those no one would ever know watched.

And finally there was a little 4 year old girl with black hair and red highlights, her eyes a surprising silver, wearing a pink footie pajama with a whistle hanging around her neck, staring at the TV in her living room in childish awe as she watched the large green bird land down.

Ruby: "Hey look, it's me."

Yang: "I miss seeing you as cute as that," and she grabbed her sister into a tight hug.

Ruby: "Bitch, I still am." She thought. She may hate hearing it, and always call someone out on it, but even she was capable of swearing. She'd rather not say it out loud right now, given her professors, the General, and her Uncle were all here. Instead, she decided to just struggle to get out of her sister's grip.

Then she jumped in surprise as the bird shot lightning at a bridge and broke it.

As soon as she saw that, she ran for her big sister's room, trying to shake her awake, only to get more snores in reply.

Blake: "Does nothing really wake you?" She asks her partner.

Qrow: "If you threaten her hair, you could probably get her to wake up."

Yang: "Do that and your Bellabooty will be redder than Ruby's cloak." She stated firmly.

Blake sweat dropped and blushed in embarassment at the nickname for her blessed asset. "...Noted."

Puffing up her cheeks in childish annoyance, the little silver eyed girl placed her whistle to her lips, before starting to blow it in her big sister's ear.

Yang: "Ruby! How dare you?!"

Ruby: "Hey, why you yelling at me?! That's a different me."

Yang: "But you know you would do the exact same thing to me me." She paused at that. "That felt a little weird to say."

Weiss: "Now I know she's been doing this for multiple years," she grumbled. She was still bitter from Ruby waking her up with the whistle on their first official day.

This caused her older sister, a girl with lavender eyes and blonde hair that went to her upper back, wearing a t-shirt and shorts to bed, to jolt up in shock and almost throw the younger of the two onto the floor "What was that for?" she asked her little sister in a bit of anger, her eyes flashing red for a few moments before turning back to lavender.

The younger sister simply pointed towards the living room, before running off, causing the older one to stare at her in deadpan before sighing as she got out of bed and followed after her.

Pyrrha: "And your father wasn't woken up by the whistle?"

Ruby: "Oh, he sleeps like Yang." A confirmation chuckle came from Qrow at that.

Weiss/Blake: "Makes sense."

Yang: "Hey!" She whined and pouted with her arms crossed.

When she arrived in the living room, she stared with her jaw dropped at the sight on the TV.

A large orange dinosaur with blue stripes on it's body and a brown, horned helmet covering its head, emerging from a pile of rubble, and she could see that crouched underneath him were an adult man and two boys her age.

Ozpin: "Seems Koromon changed again."

Glynda: "He seems to have taken a form equivalent to a Leviathan class Grimm."

Ironwood: "But will he be as tough skinned as one?" He knew how those could be, especially from the reports he heard from Special Operative Caroline Cordovin in Argus. It was one of the reasons he allowed them to have a giant mech robot to handle any.

She watched, along with her little sister, as the dinosaur charged at the large bird, the two clashing against each other before the dinosaur pushed the bird back and shot a white hot flame from it's mouth, burning off one of the wings of the bird and grounding it.

In retaliation, the bird charged it, grappling with it, before discharging electricity point blank into it's face, sending the dinosaur flying back and skidding on it's side.

Ren: "That bird isn't going down without a fight."

Nora: "I would take down that bird easily. Its electric attacks would help charge my semblance."

Ren: "Oh I don't doubt that." He smiled at her. "But you aren't the one fighting it."

She saw the two boys that had been under it run up to it and apparently try to wake it up as the bird slowly walked forward, unbalanced slightly thanks to the loss of its wing.

Her attention was drawn to her little sister as the little girl blew her whistle with a sad tone, walking up to the TV and blowing into it a few times.

Weiss: "What can wake up your father, cause I'm pretty sure multiple of those whistle blows would wake anyone else up."

Ruby: "Saying either of us are in danger." She answers immediately. Yang giving a quick "Yup" to confirm.

The older sister understood what she was doing "They can't hear you." she said simply, frowning as she looked back at the TV.

That caused the younger sister's shoulders to sag, before she perked up with an idea.

She took her whistle that was hanging around her neck, and tried to push it into the TV.

Her older sister opened her mouth to tell her that wasn't going to work, only for choked out words to come out as the whistle actually fell into the TV.

Jaune: "Ok, how is that even possible?"

Winter: "Could it be because of all the electrical issues that have been happening?"

Pyrrha: "That's probably the most logical answer."

Her little sister also nearly fell into it, before she pulled her back out.

Still… tonight was definitely strange.

Qrow: "That's an understatement."

Back on Earth

Gyro winced as something fell on his head while he stared up at Koromon, looking down as it fell to the ground, making him raise an eyebrow as he saw a whistle attached to a red string.

Ruby weakly chuckles. "Whoops...sorry."

He looked at it for a moment, before glacing at Koromon, then at the giant bird, and grabbed the whistle, before putting it to his lips, and whistling into it for as long as he could.

When he pulled it back, he panted for air, looking up at Koromon.

Nothing… until his eyes snapped open.

Nora grinned: "That bird is in for a big beatdown."

Yang pumps her fist into the air. "Beat its butt, Koromon!"

Gyro turned his head to the bird, uttering a single word "Fire."

Koromon's body shot up, facing the bird, before he opened his maw and a stream of white hot flames shot forth from it.

The intense flames wrapped around the feathered monster as it struggled to get away, before disappearing into them.

However Koromon seemed to have lost control of them, as his body disappearing into the flames as well, their heat reaching a point where everyone looking was blinded.

Even the audience had to cover their eyes from the blinding light.

It was minutes later when the bright glow faded, the sun slowly rising on the horizon as specks of light floated in the air before fading away, though, no one noticed as a small amount of orange lights fell into a portal of some kind as it closed itself up.

Ozpin: "Seems Koromon is still alive, but he returned back to wherever he came from."

Ruby: "That's good at least."

Gyro looked around, a frown on his face, before he called out "Koromon! Where are you?!"

"I didn't know it at the time, but, my friend had gone back home. My first ever Digital Monster encounter, it was something I, or my brothers, would never forget. It set so many things in motion, that we couldn't possibly understand at the time, not only for us, but for the friends we would make on Remnant years later. It was the start of our very own Digimon Adventure."

(Play Butterfly (the first movie credits version) by Wada Kouji)

Gyro stood, now grown into a young adult, wearing a short dark blue coat with a green flame design on the edge and a furred collar, a blue shirt with a green star on the chest underneath it, wearing long dark green pants and black running shoes, a pair of goggles around his forehead, and a whistle hanging around his neck.

Ruby blushed at the older Gyro. Thankfully Yang didn't notice.

He looked up with a smile, standing in front of him, crouched close to the ground was Koromon in his large orange dinosaur form, who moved closer to Gyro, making the young man smile wider as he hugged the large dinosaur's snout, the reptile closing it's eyes happily at the action.

The two stood in a large field of flowers of different kinds, while in the background stood a tall mountain with a castle like structure on the top.

Ironwood: "That doesn't look like anywhere on Remnant."

Weiss: "Maybe it's wherever Koromon came from."

Winter: "Most likely."

After a few moments, the two separated, and seemed to act as if they heard something, before turning to the screen and smiling, starting to walk towards it as the scene froze.

Digital code appeared on the screen, before translating itself into "The Adventure begins in 10 years."

And with that, the TV turned off.

Jaune: "So we'll be getting a time skip from the looks of it."

Pyrrha: "I wonder how things will go. I'm pretty sure Ruby and Yang weren't the only ones who saw that fight. No doubt the rest of us may have seen it.

Blake: "We wouldn't all be here if that wasn't the case."

Glynda: "But I think we all should address the main thing here." Her attention turned to Hedge, who was now standing and saw that everyone was looking at him. No doubt with multiple questions.

Hedge: "Yes, I'm aware you all have questions as to the real purpose you are all here. I'll be happy to give you a much more thorough description as to why...tomorrow. Everyone get a good night's rest first, then we continue tomorrow." He had started walking over to RWBY's room and his arms sparked, the Chaos Emeralds returning. He placed his hand on the door and it glowed. "Your bunkbeds have been upgraded to official bunkbeds. No possibility of falling on the lower bunk."

Everyone wanted their questions asked now, but Ozpin was the voice of reason.

Ozpin: "Hedge is right. We all had a pretty busy day today after all with the Breach and watching this."

With that statement from the Headmaster, everyone started to make their way to their rooms, Team RWBY especially ready to hit the hay.

After everyone had seemed to be in their rooms, all that was left was Hedge, cleaning the theater room.

Hedge: "Now I know how Gyro and Pierce feel later on in the story." He then noticed something. "I knew I forgot something earlier." He looked toward the wall where the TV was, and a new door was added, Hedge's symbol plastered on it. "There we go. Hope tomorrow morning will go smoothly." He dims the lights in the theater room, in case anyone needed to do a nightly run to the kitchen for a nightly snack, and he enters to his own room to end the night.

Chapter Text

Morning came around relatively quickly and for the girls of Team RWBY, they couldn't really tell it was morning, since although they had a window, there was no light showing in. The only thing they had to know of the time was the alarm clock that they had on the middle desk between their beds. At first, they thought the previous night was all a dream, but then they looked at their bunkbeds, and knew instantly it wasn't.

Yang: "Anyone else think last night was a dream too?" She said while stretching.

"Yup," was the immediate response from the girls.

Weiss: "I can't believe last night actually happened, though I'll admit the new bunkbed was comfy. I practically fell asleep right as soon as I hit the pillow."

Blake: "Same here. But that also might be because of how tired we all were after the Breach. We never did get enough sleep while in Mountain Glenn."

Ruby: "That's true, but now we have this place, Hedge, and the story to think about."

Yang: "Think he'll tell us everything?"

Weiss crosses her arms across her chest. "Unlikely. He'll probably tell us what we need to know to an extent. Anything after that will be left for us to decide if it's true or not."

Ruby: "Are you saying we shouldn't trust him?" She always looked for the good in anyone she recently met.

Weiss sighed. "That's tough to say."

Blake: "If he really wanted to do something to us, he probably would have done so already. He has those 'Chaos Emeralds' at his disposal, and probably could eliminate us with a snap of his fingers."

Yang: "So a loose trust then. He did say he could take all of us in a fight, except maybe Ozpin."

Ruby: "That was when we all had our weapons on hand. Now, they're locked in the weapon cases. I know Ozpin is known to be a strong Huntsman, but we don't really know what Hedge's full power is."

Weiss: "Assuming he has a limit. Those Emeralds give the user unimaginable power. Imagine those in the hands of Torchwick or the White Fang."

Blake: "I'd rather not, thank you very much." She'd REALLY not like to think what HE would do with them. Quickly she shook her head of those thoughts away.

Yang: "Let's just get ready and go have some breakfast. No doubt the others are probably already there." The girls nodded at that, but Yang sported a grin on her face. "I call first dibs on the bathroom!" Although Hedge had said there were the locker rooms with showers across the theater room, the lodging rooms still had their own bathroom, and it had every piece of toiletries they owned back at Beacon. The girls knew that Yang would take a while due to her hair.

Ruby: "Come on, girls. Across the way we go." They all started to grab their daily clothes and head out, but Yang called out to them.

Yang: "Hey, looks like we each have our own individual shower!"

The girls looked at each other wondering if they heard her correctly, and then ran into the bathroom, and sure enough, there were 4 shower stalls, one for each of them. Each one was color-coated, and the curtains had their emblems on them.

Weiss: "Wow, guess Hedge thought ahead with this."

Blake: "Saves us time getting ready."

Mentally thanking Hedge, they all went about their way to get ready.

After dressing themselves in more casual clothes, they made their way to the dining room, but not before Weiss notices the extra door on the TV's side of the room and taking a picture of the emblem on the door (this being Hedge's room) on her scroll.

The door to the dining room was slightly open, and the girls could hear chatter beyond it, and when they entered, they were shocked to see what was on the table: Eggs (scrambled, over easy, sunny side up), bacon, sausage, hash browns, pancakes, waffles, French toast.

RWBY: "Woah." This got the attention of everyone sitting at the table, which was the rest of their group that was brought here, minus Hedge, who was nowhere to be seen.

Qrow: "Hey, was wondering when you girls were going to join us. Did you sleep well?"

Yang: "Like a baby." She took a seat next to Nora, who was eating a bunch of pancakes. "Who made all of this? You, Ren?"

Ren chuckled. "Heh, I wish. No, this was all Hedge that made it. He was here a bit ago, and had some food himself, then he went off to work out in the training room."

Winter: "That was about an hour and a half ago or so," as she took a sip of her coffee.

Weiss: "About that..." as she grabbed some food onto her plate. "Do you all trust him?"

Glynda: "We were talking a little about that before you 4 entered."

Ironwood: "Which was that if he had any ulterior motives than what he has shown us thus far, he would've attacked us by now. As it is, we're all weaponless."

Ozpin: "And while both Schnee siblings can use their semblances without their weapons, and a few of us the same way, it is unsure if we'd all beat him in a fight."

Qrow: "Plus he's got those powerful gems in his possessions. Who knows how powerful he really is if he were to use those."

Jaune: "So we decided to trudge along and see what happens,” he shrugged.

Pyrrha: "What about you guys?"

Blake: "More or less the same thing we were thinking. The part about the emeralds, he could've wiped us out with them the moment we got here."

Ruby: "Can't you manipulate them with your semblance, Pyrrha?"

Qrow: "What makes you ask that, squirt?"

Ruby: "Well, her semblance is polarity. Maybe she can use it on the emeralds."

Ozpin: "While that isn't a bad idea, I don't think Ms. Nikos' semblance would affect them. Hedge did say they were mystical gems."

Weiss: "What are you saying, Headmaster? Are you implying that they are magical? Not to be rude or anything, but magic isn't real."

Nora: "Oh yeah, then how do you explain us being here in this dimension, which didn't exist before we came here, by the way."

Weiss raised her finger and started to open her mouth to retort, but then realized, she didn't have a counter to that, and resumed eating.

Pyrrha: "That doesn't mean we can't try if it comes to that, but they could also be bio-genetically linked to him. Meaning that even if we take them away from him, he could probably still utilize them."

Qrow: "We'll cross that bridge if it comes to that."

Yang: "Yeah, let's eat, return to the theater room, and he'll provide us with more info."

Unbeknownst to them, Hedge was outside the dining room door, listening in on their conversation, a towel strewn around his neck. He was wearing a tank top and basketball shorts.

Hedge: "Believe me, everyone. I have no ulterior intentions of bringing you all here. I hope you understand." He heads off to his room to freshen up for the next chapter of the story.

Later after everyone has eaten and Hedge has freshened up.

Everyone is now seated back on their couches, with Hedge in standing in front of them.

Hedge: "So, I assume you have a lot of questions."

Ozpin: "I think that's putting it lightly, Mr. Badnic. But we are willing to listen to what you can tell us."

Hedge: "You all understand that there are limitations in what I am able to tell all of you, right?"

Glynda: "We'll take what we can get. After that, we'll decide if we want to believe it or not."

Hedge: "I guess that's respectable. Very well." He crosses his arms across his chest. "Just know that the information I'm giving you isn't something that is easy to talk about. What you do with this info is up to you." Everyone looked at each other in case they had second thoughts of learning this information, but no one voiced it. They all turned back to Hedge and nodded in understanding. Might as well rip the big band-aid off. "Your world as a whole is visible to others as a web series." Of course, this shocked them. What Azure had stated was actually true for them. "Don't be too alarmed, you're not the only ones. There are thousands of other worlds that are viewed like that in a central universe that believe them as fanfiction."

Winter: "Wait, does that mean...?"

Hedge: "Yes, Swift and I are from that central universe. Though, not as 'Hedge.' As it is, Hedge is a persona I created for an alternate universe, or AU, of your world, one where Hedge has his own team. To Swift, I am known as Shadow Drivver, or Drivver. But you guys can still call me Hedge if you'd like."

Blake: "Wait does that mean you aren't really a Faunus?"

Weiss: "And would that be Hedge's emblem on the door there?" She pointed to the door behind him, and showed the picture she took on her scroll.

Hedge: "No, Blake. I'm full human. And to your question, Weiss, yes, it is." He turned around and showed the back of his shirt after taking his swords out of their sheathes. The same emblem that was on the door and in the picture Weiss had was visible on the back of his black shirt. "While I would like to give a backstory of Hedge, we'd be here longer and never get to the next part of the story. For all intents and purposes, the swords here are named Chaos," he referred to the blue sword in his right hand, "and Destruction," he referred to the black sword in his left hand. "And no Ruby, they are not mecha shift." Ruby pouted at that. "Hedge makes up for that with his semblance Electric Chaos, you already know of the teleportation ability, which he doesn't need the Chaos Emeralds to do. With his semblance, he is able to create lightning dust within his body. Every usage of his semblance drains his aura, however these bands," he refers to the yellow bands on his wrists and ankles, "allows him to have less usage of his aura."

Jaune: "That's kind of dangerous, don't you think? I'm assuming stronger abilities use up more aura?"

Hedge: "Correct. But over time, with enough training, he has been able to mitigate the strain of even the stronger abilities."

Ironwood: "So then what does this story have to do with us?"

Hedge: "I was getting to that. This story is an AU as well of your world, meaning events that have happened so far from your world would come up but even future events will too, but they will be altered, so be ready for obvious differences. I'd be happy to implement the actual events that would happen into your minds. Don't worry, at most it would feel like a headache you'd experience. Too much information loaded could end up killing someone."

Qrow: "Yeah, I don't think we'd want that to happen."

Hedge: "Are there any questions? As I stated yesterday, you all still have a choice if you'd want to stay here, or head back to Remnant."

Ruby: "Can we have a few minutes?"

Hedge: "Of course. If you need me, I'll be here in my room. Just yell out when ready." With that, he walks into his room.

Despite still thinking about what was mentioned to them, they were curious how Hedge's room looked, but they didn't get a good look before the door closed. But that didn't matter on the grand scale of things.

Weiss: "So in another world...we're apart of a webseries?"

Yang:"Does that mean, we aren't even real?"

Ruby: "Hey! Enough of that! Everything that has happened of our lives has without a doubt been real. So what if what Hedge said is true, if this story he's showing us will have the future in it, then we now have the power to change it for the better."

Everyone was shocked to hear that from the youngest of them all, but no one was prouder of her than Yang, Qrow, and even Ozpin.

Yang: "That's my little sis."

Qrow: "Heh, she's just like you, Sum. I know you would be proud of her."

Ozpin: "A smaller, more honest soul."

Glynda: "Ms. Rose is right. It is shocking and disturbing knowing that in another world we're viewed through a webseries, but if this story really is an AU of our world, it will probably go over the events that have already happened first, giving more clarity to things in the background."

Blake: "Maybe we'll learn more of what Torchwick and the White Fang were planning."

Jaune chuckled. "I guess that means we're all staying?" He looked at his team for confirmation.

Pyrrha smiled. "If you are, then I am too."

Nora: "You know I'm staying!"

Ren: "Someone has to watch over Nora."

Ironwood: "We've already started. Might as well see this through."

Winter: "I agree, General."

Qrow shrugged. "Eh, beats having to do a mission from Oz."

Ozpin: "You do know I can give you more missions once we return to Remnant because you said that, right?" he asked in amusement.

Qrow: "But you already know I would do them anyway," he shot back.

Ruby: "Looks like it's settled. We're ready, Hedge!"

Electricity sparkled in front of them, and with a boom of a lightning strike, Hedge reappeared.

Hedge: "I assume you all came to a conclusion?"

Ruby nodded. "We did. We all wish to stay and continue with the story."

Hedge smiled. "Excellent. Then without further ado, let's continue." Hedge walked over to his couch and the TV came to life once again.

Chapter Text

A door was slammed open into a dimly lit workshop, as a young blonde man with a goatee and green eyes stepped inside while still in his pajamas "Gooooooooood Morni-!" and his greeting was quickly cut off by a pair of slippers slamming into his face.

Yang whistles: "Okay. Puberty did wonders on Pierce."

Weiss: "Ugh, another person who yells or does something to wake someone up." She looked over at her partner, who nervously giggled.

"Shut the hell up it's 6 AM!" came two other voices from inside the dimly lit room.

Hedge: "By a show of hands, before you got your current sleep schedules, who wasn't a morning person? And then a follow up question, who still isn't a morning person even with the sleep schedules?"

Immediately, Weiss, Yang, Jaune, Blake, Ironwood, and Winter shot up their hands.

Ironwood: "I'm actually surprised at that, Winter."

Winter: "With all due respect, sir, I liked my beauty sleep, but I was willing to put up with the early mornings."

Ruby: "Yang's never been one for early mornings."

Yang: "Hey, I put up with them." She was met by deadpan stares from her teammates. "Mostly."

The young man, now flat on his back, groaned as he pried the slippers from his face "This is what you two get for working so late on that thing!"

"Well excuse us for wanting to get this done as soon as possible!" one of the voices, the younger of the two, shot back.

"Besides, we noticed a few bugs last night, well, more like I did." the older of the two voices said, before a light was turned on, not a bright one thankfully, finally illuminating the area.

Pyrrha: "Wonder what they were working on."

The 'thing' that they had all been talking about, was a large gate like structure in the middle of the room, the floor around it surrounded by warning tape. Seeing the structure, the young man smiled as he stepped in. "I almost can't believe we're finally breaking this thing out. To think that thing we thought of as kids to find a friend, ended up becoming something that could save a world," he said softly.

"I freaking miss Koromon." a young man with light blonde hair and blue eyes sighed out, lifting an old whistle that was hanging on his neck. Their sole memento of a friend they'd made all those years ago.

Ruby: "Well we already knew this was Gyro from the ending of the last portion, but my whistle pretty much sealed it."

"You guys really need to stop being depressed about this." the oldest of the boys said, leaning against a workbench.

"Not our fault. We lost a good friend, Azure." the only one who had green eyes said.

And if it isn't obvious by this point, these are Gyro, Pierce and Azure, now a little over 10 years after that fateful night.

Ironwood: "So that would put Azure in his late twenties, and the twins at Ms. Rose's age.

Hedge: "More or less."

Blake: "You know, I am curious. How old are you exactly?"

Hedge: "I'm assuming you mean the real me, and that would be 28." This earns a nod from the cat Faunus. (AN: This chapter was made when I was 28. Time has surely passed since then)

Azure sighed slightly. This was a topic that even after a decade, was rather somber for his little brothers, not that he could blame them. Even if he himself hadn't been too close to the little pink blob, he also missed the little guy who'd wormed his way into the family's hearts in a single day and night. Looking at the portal, he remembered how originally it had been conceived as a plan to find said friend, but when they realized they needed an actual destination...that plan quickly became a bust. Now however, it was a different story...even if finding Koromon was no longer the goal.

About 5 years ago, him and his brothers had found a new webseries that they quickly became fans of, though it did help that his little brothers had quickly admitted they had developed small crushes on some of the main characters. At first things were pretty normal, then came the shocking plot of the third volume of the series. Suffice to say the brothers agreed it was far too cruel and undeserved...though at first they sighed at the realization that there was nothing they could do about it...or was there?

Ozpin: "I assuming that's talking about our webseries?"

Hedge: "That's right."

Jaune: "Do things really get bad in this 3rd volume?"

Hedge: "As I mentioned, I would implement the events into your minds once they are discussed in the story. But to answer your question for now, I can neither confirm or deny."

It was shortly after the fifth volume of the show had concluded that the brothers had remembered the portal they had been trying to make all those years ago, and thus, their plan to go and save the characters of the show, no, of that world, was put into motion.

Glynda: "How many volumes are there?"

Hedge: "As of my and Swift's world, 9."

Pyrrha: "So they only know about half of the events that are to come."

Hedge: "Well, they learn about the 6th and 7th volume later, and who knows if they'll be shown the 8th, 9th and the Epilogue/Beyond episodes. Or even what'll happen after that. Only time will tell with Viz."

If they continued to think of it as a show, it wouldn't be fair to the people of that world. It took time, and sooo many all nighters, but they'd finally done it. They'd found the world they were looking for and synched the portal to it. Now all that was left, was to do the fine tuning, and finish up any remaining business they had, cause they knew, once they stepped through the portal there was no turning back.

The Remnant-born were glad that the boys were treating them as real people and not fictional characters. But they did wonder. If the boys knew up to the supposed 5th volume, at what point of their lives/the webshow did Hedge pull them from them?

"Right, I'm gonna handle the final tests, how about you boys start getting ready?" Azure told his little brothers as he cracked his neck, walking towards the portal.

"Whaddya want for breakfast?" Gyro asked his older brother as he got off the floor.

"Whatever you'll be having." Azure said as he started working on his computer.

"Big breakfast it is then," Gyro nodded. "I think we both need it after last night."

Weiss: "If they were up late into the night, then a big breakfast is needed. Which by the way, thank you Hedge for the breakfast." A multitude of "Thank you" came from the others.

Hedge: "It's my pleasure. Like I stated, you all are my guests."

A week soon passed, and the three brothers were now standing before the gate which was about to open. They had to do this quick, as to make sure nothing went wrong, they'd been ready to divert power from the city if needs be. They weren't too keen on that bit of the plan, but as it was, this was going to be a one time deal only, and they did NOT want to have an 'accident' cause the power failed mid-way...though just to be safe they made sure nobody would trace it to them.

Ironwood: "I'm not sure if the scientists in Atlas could even create something like this, but I would make sure they double and triple-checked to make sure nothing would go wrong."

Qrow: "Easy there, Jimmy. If these boys were able to come to our world, I don't think it would be easy to pick them up to work for you."

Gyro and Pierce had also decided on their 'Hunter looks' as they called it, while Azure had made their weapons for them, and made sure they practice with those types extensively before giving them the real ones.

Ren: "Smart, that way they won't seem to be amateurs."

Jaune winced at that, considering that is basically what he was before getting help from Pyrrha. Thankfully, only said redhead noticed and placed a hand on his shoulder, getting a smile from the blonde knight.

Gyro wore a dark blue jacket with a green flame pattern on the bottom edge and the sleeves, a rainbow colored, twister shaped flame printed on the right breast of the jacket. Underneath it he wore a lighter colored blue shirt, white gloves covering his hands, his legs were clothed in long, dark green cargo pants with simple black and green running shoes. Finally, the one thing to break his color scheme was an orange sweatband around his forehead, which had a pair of goggles resting on top of it, though they looked a bit high tech with some small lights on the side, and the usual whistle hanging around his neck on a new chain necklace.

Ruby: "Ooh, I don't think those goggles are just for show," she said excitedly.

As for Pierce, he wore a black tunic with a single square button, that had a high collar with a wine red trim. Over that he wore a dark red bomber jacket that had the silhouette of a roaring dragon's head as seen from the side printed on the back, a pair of aviator goggle hanging around his neck, while a black and red tiger patterned bandana was tied around his bicep. Finishing off the look was a pair of wine red pants and black combat boots.

Yang: "Nice outfit, and I love the dragon."

Qrow: "Of course you'd like that, Firecracker." Sunny little dragon, as Tai would call her.

Lastly, Azure was dressed in a blue shirt, with the sleeves folded over his elbows and a pair of black long pants, with a tie around his neck, albeit one with a flame ornament at the top of the tie, giving him an interesting look of a simple office worker mixed with something of someone ready to fight at a moment's notice.

Glynda: "A very professional look."

As for weapons, Gyro had a pair of curved swords hanging off his belt, with obvious ports at the pommel to attach them together. He had named the swords Ascalon.

Ruby: "What can they do?"

Hedge: "From my research, the name derives from a sword or spear that was used by someone by the name of Saint George, a an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition, he was a soldier in the Roman army. Said weapon was used to slay a dragon. The Romans are from Earth's very distant past and Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, professing that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and is the Son of God." He then talks to Ozpin in his mind. "That's the major difference of mine and Swift's world compared to Remnant. We have one true God, while yours has the Brothers."

Of course, this wasn't taking into consideration the Gods of other religions.

Ruby had stars in her eyes. While Ozpin contemplated that info regarding the gods.

Pierce had what looked like a simple naginata on his back, though several parts and pieces seemed to be able to come undone or open, almost like it had several secrets and modes hidden within, as such, he had dubbed it Pandora… though it didn't have 666 different forms like the weapon of the same name in Devil May Cry.

If Ruby's jaw could drop to the floor, it would.

Hedge: "Devil May Cry is a pretty popular hack-and-slash demon slaying game, and Pandora is a weapon acquired by one of the characters you play as, Dante. While the description of the weapon in the 4th game of the series denotes it has 666 different forms it could take, sadly you can't use all 666 forms."

Ruby: "I want it."

Yang looked back at her uncle. "Why do I get the feeling Crescent Rose will be getting multiple upgrades after our time here?"

Qrow snorted. "Because it probably will."

And finally, Azure wielded a pair of kukri knives that doubled as pistols, both of them in black with a white edge to the blades, called Umbrae.

Hedge: "To be honest, couldn't find much on the reference of Umbrae, however it did remind me of a buddy of mine who also has his own story, where his main character has pistols with blades on the hilts of them. Him and I each have our characters in each other's stories, but the premise of our stories are slightly different."

"Alright, did you two get everything you needed?" Azure asked. It never hurt to do a final check. He'd already packed clothes, food, and some valuables that they could possibly use to trade for money if needs be.

"Got everything right here." Gyro said, lifting up a rather large, and used, school bag, Pierce doing the same, both bags being simple grey and black with nothing much to them.

"Right, guess we're ready to go then." Azure said as he shouldered a large duffel bag that had everything he had picked up, from clothes, to stuff they could sell to get money of the world they were heading to.

Nora: "Yeah, I don't think whatever currency they use will get them far on Remnant."

Blake: "And the clothes will be from designers we've never heard of. They'll make a lot of lien off of just those."

"You know, I know its a bit late, but I gotta admit…" Pierce started, looking at the door. "I'm gonna miss the old place," he sighed, before turning his attention back to the gateway that was now active, the three of them having already checked and double checked to make sure everything was working. "So guys, you ready?"

"You know it! Time go and try to save the world!" Gyro said, pumping his fist up into the air.

"Just try to do it?" Azure asked in amusement.

"I'm being realistic, there's no way we can do it on our own." Gyro told him in deadpan.

Azure nodded his head at that "Very true, but, that's what we have the plan for."

"But first we gotta actually get there," Pierce chuckled. "On three?"

"On three," his brothers nodded, the three of them standing before the portal.

"One…" Gyro started.

"Two…" Azure continued, as the three of them took a deep breath.

"Three!" they shouted together before jumping through the gate, and once they went through, the program initialized, and before long the gate went dead, leaving an empty workshop. It was not long after that the Vermillion Brothers were reported missing, with their neighbors saying that the boys just up and disappeared that day.

Qrow: "Wonder if their apartment would get sold?"

Winter: "Well, if no rent was being paid on time, then normally they would get kicked out. Probably anything they didn't take with them would get sold too."

Moments later, a portal opened up in an alleyway, spitting out the three brothers who landed in a heap."Did we make it?" Azure groaned as they got up.

"Gimme a minute." Gyro said, shaking his head, before peeking his head out of the alleyway and looking out onto the street, turning back to his brothers a moment later with an OK sign "Bingo!"

Yang: "What do you think Gyro saw?"

Ruby: "From most to least likely? A dust shop, a Faunus, or a licensed huntsman/huntress," as she put up a finger to denote each likely option.

"Right! So, plan review time!" Pierce said with a nod.

"Well, landing in the middle of Vale is checked off of that, thankfully." Azure said as the brothers sat down in a circle.

"Next step is finding out where Jaune lives and give him some training so Pyrrha has more stuff to work with when helping him." Gyro said as he pulled out an actual list from his bag.

Jaune groaned at that, and Pyrrha patted him on the back.

Nora: "Don't worry, Fearless Leader. That you will definitely fit in to the title now. A body fit for a tactical mind!"

Jaune smiled at that. "Thanks Nora."

"Don't forget we need to also unlock our auras, and get some Dust," Pierce added.

"At least I was able to figure out how mechashift weapons work." Azure said, since that had been a difficult part that was thankfully already taken care of.

"Yeah, but, don't forget, for auras, that's all you Azure." Gyro said with a grin as he nudged his older brother.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, get into Beacon as a teacher, have my aura unlocked, then come back and do it for you two as soon as I can." Azure said, waving it off as he remembered what he had to do.

"Well then, let's get to it," Gyro grinned. "We got a world to save."

Glynda: "I wonder what exactly that the boys are trying to save our world from."

Ironwood: "Tough to say really. All we really know is that it has to do with something related to 'Volume 3.'"

In retrospect, all of Ozpin's group knew it had to probably do with something related to her. They just didn't know what exactly.

A week had passed since the brothers arrived in the world of Remnant.

In that time, they had sold off a few of their possessions to get plenty of Lien, the main currency of the world, and thus find a place to stay until it was time for Beacon to start.

Azure had also started the process of trying to get a job at Beacon, which, from the way things were going, was easier than they had expected.

Though they blamed this on the fact Ozpin had realized he had absolutely nothing on the Vermillion brothers and was curious.

Qrow: "Come on, Oz. I doubt it would be that easy, and I highly doubt Glynda would allow that."

Glynda: "You're damn right I wouldn't."

Ironwood: "I would at least do a background check of the boys before I allowed them in."

Ozpin: "James, it clearly stated that I did do a background on them, and nothing was found. Also, you can't tell me you wouldn't be curious either."

Ironwood relented at that, as yes he would be curious of them, but he would also be skeptical and suspicious of them. He wonders how his other truly would react to them.

Because of this, Azure was quickly accepted and had his aura unlocked, he was even planning on explaining things to Ozpin as soon as he could in a way that was believable… though it certainly helped the man was several centuries old and would be more open to believing that kind of story.

Students: "Huh?" They then all turned their heads to Ozpin, who internally was sweating. The rest of the Ozluminati were also worried that the students would learn of this from a story of all things. Winter, not being a part of the Ozluminati, was also curious what that meant.

Hedge: "Well, when you have a time-based semblance, slowing your own aging down is pretty much a sinch."

"Okay." Was the response from the two teams and they returned their focus to the TV.

The Ozluminati mentally sighed in heavy relief at that response from Hedge, and Oz made a note to remember that in his next life.

"That's not a secret that will stay a secret, by the way." Was Hedge's voice the Ozluminati heard in their heads. "You have a choice regarding that. Either the story tells it, I do myself, or Oz comes clean on that. Again though, I won't force you to make a decision."

Well that meant at least one secret was set to be told later on.

At this moment, Gyro was walking around Vale, messing around with his brand new scroll after Azure had come back to the temporary apartment to unlock both of the brother's auras. They'd manage to get a decent foothold in Remnant, so now he was looking into the next phase of the plan. Finding one Jaune Arc, or at least the Arc family.

While he was doing that, Pierce was gathering up as much of the relevant history of Remnant they would need to know, thankfully, it was all easily accessible on their equivalent of Wikipedia, at least according to his twin.

Weiss: "Ugh, couldn't they just go to the library or something?" She really didn't like those community-based websites. Always putting out fake news, and some of those articles were about her!

Hedge: "Sometimes even the books aren't a great source of information either." It was true, there could be books about any of the biggest wars that the Earth had gone through, and depending on the author and the side they were for, they could write about their side winning, when really it was the other.

And if they were right, they should have roughly a year or so before they hit the start of canon, which was plenty of time to figure out their semblances, shouldn't be too hard, since it had to do with who they were, Gyro even had a bit of an idea, considering he did love flying in planes when he was a kid and anything else that went into the sky, and that it had made him a bit adventurous.

As for what his twin's semblance was… honestly, it was hard to figure out, Pierce was all over the place in terms of his personality, but somehow, Gyro felt like it wasn't the deciding factor of his semblance.

Qrow: "Can't be worse than mine," he muttered.

Hedge: "Heh, guess the term 'luck of the draw' wouldn't be the best way to describe your bad luck semblance, huh Qrow?"

Yang: "Oh my god, that explains so many things when he always visited." Ruby had to agree as well.

Qrow: "No, no it wouldn't," he agreed.

He shook his head, for now, he had to focus on any leads regarding finding the Arc family so they could get started on giving Jaune a good foundation for his skills so Pyrrha would have something to work with when training him. That and also so Cardin wouldn't be able to push him around as easily if at all. Going through the information, he finally found something of note. It seemed the Arc family lived in a rather small town, nothing big, and honestly rather out of the way...probably why Jaune didn't even know about Pyrrha.

Weiss: "Except that she was on a cereal box of all things," she rolled her eyes.

Jaune: "For the record, my sisters and I love that cereal."

Pyrrha: "Explains how you got the hoodie then."

Ruby: "Wait what?"

Nora had a huge grin on her face. "His hoodie was a prize for sending in box tops!" Before Jaune could react, his chest plate was removed, and she turned him around so everyone could see the bunny rabbit face on it.

Ruby tried to hold in her laughter, Yang busted out in laughter, Blake and Ren chuckled, so too the adults, and Weiss rolled her eyes.

Ruby: "It's got a cute little bunny rabbit!" She couldn't hold it in any longer, and she too busted out into laughter (Yes the exact same laughing fit she did in V4).

Jaune just pouted and sat back down. Pyrrha patting him on the back.

At the very least, it wasn't too far from Vale, hell, it was on the same coastline just a few miles away, he could get there easily with a car or motorbike.

With that in mind, he decided he'd be handling the initial meeting right now, as he went to the nearest vehicle rental store he could find, glad that the process for getting a permit wasn't actually long on Remnant.

Minutes later, he was driving towards one of the many exits of Vale on a motorbike, humming the first Kamen Rider theme as he went along.

Yang grinned. "Awesome choice of vehicle."

Ruby: "Would like to see how it was modified though," she grumbled.

Yang: "No touchy Bumblebee," she stated firmly.

He did have to sigh as he waited for the gate to be open enough for him to go through.

In a sense, Remnant was similar to Attack on Titan, in that cities were enclosed behind walls to keep them safe, the difference was that the threat on Remnant was easier to manage as opposed to, well, Titans. Shaking his head from the thought, he focused on his destination, as the LAST thing he wanted was to be jumped by some random Grimm that might have gotten through.

Jaune: "Attack on Titan?"

Hedge: "It's a popular anime where I'm from, though I can't do it justice as I've never watched it, same with the other show that was mentioned, Kamen Rider. Different premises in either of them."

He followed the path, only having to take one turn that had him rolling over a wooden bridge at some point, till he reached a town that, just like everywhere else, was surrounded with relatively high walls, though one side was left open for ocean access, but he could see that they seemed to have harpoon turrets on the towers that lined the parts of the wall closest to the water.

He had to resist snorting as he saw the guards walking along the top of the wall, because of how much it reminded him of medieval stories.

Ruby: "What can you tell us of that time period, Hedge?"

Hedge: "Well, we're talking the way distant past of Earth's history that's for sure. There is so much to talk about it, but the one I really like is the story pertaining to King Arthur and the Knights of The Round Table. Those Knights being Sir Percival, Sir Gawain, and Sir Lancelot, which fun fact, there is a video game adaption of that story, and Chaos and Destruction are based off Sir Lancelot's sword, Arondight, from that game. There were other knights too, but those three I mentioned were the King's most trusted."

Eventually, one noticed him, and after making sure he was friendly, they let him inside, parking his rental bike in a small garage near the entrance.

"No address… but considering he has 7 sisters, I'm bound to run into a family member eventually." he muttered to himself as he looked at his scroll before putting it away.

All of Team RWBY slowly inched their heads to Jaune with shock in their eyes, and Qrow even spit out his drink. He had the decency to spit towards the floor and not towards anyone next to him, Hedge willing something into existence to clean the spill.

Ruby: "Seven sisters? I can barely handle one."

Yang grabs her and gives her a noogie. "I heard that."

Qrow: "At least she isn't like her mother," he muttered.

Jaune: "Lots of things are suppressed from my childhood."

Eventually, he found exactly what he was looking for on the beach.

He could see Jaune, wearing what he supposed was a workout outfit since it was a white t-shirt and blue cargo pants that reached his knees and some sandals, as he swung a wooden sword at an imaginary enemy… badly at that.

Everyone winced at how Jaune was swinging the sword.

Qrow: "You know kid, I could give you some tips too." It helped that Harbinger was part sword.

Jaune: "I actually wouldn't mind that."

'You'll thank us for this someday Pyrrha.' he thought with a mental sigh as he prepared himself to basically work Jaune's skills up straight from the bottom.

"Hey man! Yeah, blonde guy! You're doing it wrong!" Gyro called out, walking towards Jaune who looked around in surprise before turning to him.

"Um, I'm doing it wrong?" he repeated in confusion.

Gyro nodded "Yeah, your stance is pretty easy to trip up right now. One shove and you'd be flat on your ass, it might be better to spread your feet wider and get lower to the ground, as not only is it harder to move you, it makes you ready to get into motion faster."

Jaune blinked, before looking down at his feet, and deciding it couldn't hurt to try, did just as Gyro said.

Gyro nodded as he walked around him, before looking at Jaune's free arm "Any reason you're holding it up like that?"

Jaune looked to his free arm at that, blushing sheepishly "Well, I want to use a shield so…" he trailed off with a shrug.

Gyro nodded again, before walking towards the edge of the beach and lifting the lid of a barrel that had a handle on top of it 'Very convenient.' he thought with a smirk as he threw it to Jaune, who dropped the sword as he floundered to grab the lid.

Hedge: "Every kid's go to makeshift weapons for a future knight."

Weiss: "How did you get into Beacon if that was how you were?"

Jaune really was screaming internally, and even Pyrrha to an extent since only she knew the real reason. But Ozpin decided to step in.

Ozpin: "His tactical scores were the real selling point, and I'd say that has shown over the time he has been at Beacon."

Weiss: "Hmm, I suppose that makes sense."

Jaune gave Ozpin a quick look of thanks. But then he wondered if he truly knew his scores were all fake.

Slowly, Gyro's hand met his face, groaning audibly into it 'This is going to be a long day.'

Jaune groans. "Yeah, it will be."

Several hours later, Gyro was sitting on the same beach from earlier, with Jaune lying flat on his ass next to him, panting for breath.

"So, hey, Jaune, if you don't mind me asking, why are you training so much?" Gyro said, glancing at the blonde, the two had exchanged names over the many hours where Gyro did his best to instill the basics into the eventual leader of team JNPR.

Jaune took a few moments to catch his breath "I want to prove to my parents that I can handle myself, that I'm not as weak or stupid or, whatever they think I am."

Ruby and Yang shared a look. That was their dad to the T.

Ruby: "Jaune, we know how you feel."

Gyro actually looked directly at his fellow blonde at that, interested in learning what had driven the boy so much in the original story "Oh? What brought that on?"

Jaune sighed as he tried not to get angry at his parents for being overprotective of him and his sisters "My dad's a retired Huntsman, he did pretty well for himself honestly, until a mission that could have gone better where he lost the ability to run, his legs still work fine, but he can only walk. Then a couple of years later, my eldest sister became a Huntress, she was doing pretty well too, then she had her own bad mission, except hers went horrible, and she lost her whole left arm, all she's got now is a stump. Obviously, my parents ended up overreacting, and now are super overprotective of me and my sisters. But they never even fully listened to my eldest sister story's. She said it was her own fault for losing her arm and that she was just too reckless. Well, I'm not the reckless type, I'm not the strongest guy, but I'm good at tactics."

Glynda: "I don't remember hearing that from the Arcs."

Ironwood: "Neither do I."

Ozpin: "Did that really happen, Jaune?"

Jaune: "Different world, remember? Trust me, I'd remember if something that drastic happened."

Winter: "Still, losing an arm for being reckless. Depending on your fighting style, it might drastically effect it."

For some reason, Yang winced at that, and it almost felt like a jolt was shot through her right arm. "What...was that?"

Hedge had seen her reaction to it, and took note of it for later.

Gyro took it all in, committing the information to memory as best he could because of just how important it was to finally learn Jaune's reasons that had pushed him to run away from his family and forge his way into Beacon.

At the very least, he intended to only have one of those things happen this time around.

"Tell you what, I'll come back tomorrow with a few notes for you for stuff you should work on. I can see you need help man, but I'm not, well, the best teacher, that would be more my older brother. The best I can do is give you the tools to work with." Gyro explained with a shrug.

Jaune nodded after a moment "Thanks, hopefully it helps me out."

Pyrrha: "It most definitely will," she smiled.

"I'll probably come over from time to time to see how well you're doing… and maybe try to help you get to Beacon if you'd like that." Gyro added with a bit of a grin.

Jaune chuckled "Yeah, I think I would like that."

"Welp, guess I'm gonna get started on a plan and those notes." Gyro said, standing up and brushing the sand off his pants "If you're ever in Vale, don't be a stranger." he added, waving at the still resting Jaune as he walked away.

Jaune: "Knowing my sisters, they'll probably drag me off somewhere before I could even walk up to him or Pierce, since I'll probably mix them up."

Ren: "Will we ever meet the rest of your family?"

Nora: "Ooh, I can't wait till we do."

Jaune chuckled. "Who knows, my older sister Saphron lives in Argus with her wife and son. But for the rest of the family, they might make a trip over to Beacon to see the Vytal Festival."

Roughly an hour later, Gyro finally returned to the apartment the brothers were using at the moment "Hey Pierce! I found Jaune!" he called into it.

"I'm in the kitchen!" his twin shouted back, Gyro heading for that room as he saw his brother reading the screen of his scroll, expanded into tablet mode.

"So, what did you learn?" Gyro asked as he sat across from him.

"A lot… but mostly this." Pierce said, not looking away from the screen as he slid a sheet of paper over to Gyro.

He rose an eyebrow, grabbing the sheet before looking at what exactly was on it, his eyebrows shooting up at what he saw.

An information page on Summer Rose, most likely made a while ago, with a certain part of it being highlighted.

Ruby, Yang, and Qrow all winced at the page. They remember putting out those papers along with Tai after the estimated time length of the mission she took that would ultimately be her last.

Weiss and Blake looked on at their partners sympathetically. Even Winter, despite hating Qrow because of his constant drunk states and how he acts around those with power (the General as an example), looked at him sympathetically.

MIA.

Summer Rose was missing in action, yet, after a few years, she was assumed KIA.

Gyro stared at the sheet for a few more moments, before putting it down as he looked back at Pierce "Well… if I know my tropes as well as I do, we're going to find her eventually."

Ruby looked up with hope in her silver eyes. "Wha...what?"

Hedge: "It's not exactly confirmed that Summer is actually dead. A common thing in movies and TV shows, if there isn't a body shown of them officially dead, it's possible they are still alive. Now, the probability of it, the fandom nor I can tell you if she's still...around." He tried to keep things positive for the Rose/Xiao Long family. "But I'll admit that I wouldn't give a definitive yes or no if she was or not."

Yang: "Either way, you're saying that there is a chance, however so minuscule."

Qrow: "I'll take whatever we can get, in all honesty."

Ruby felt ecstatic. Her mother could potentially still be alive. But if that truly was the case, what was stopping her from coming home then?

"I wouldn't be surprised." Pierce muttered.

The twins sighed in unison after a moment.

They felt like things were only just starting to get complicated.

Ozpin: "Knowing that if she gets involved, it very well will."

A year had soon passed.

In that time, not only had the twins finally figured out what their semblances are, but they'd also done quite a few preparations and had learned everything they needed to.

They'd also managed to work Jaune's skills high enough that he was able to just barely get into Beacon without needing to falsify his papers.

Weiss: "What?!" She was about ready to use her semblance on Jaune, but Hedge steps between them. A dark aura surrounds him.

Hedge: "There will be no fighting here. Do. You. Understand?!"

Everyone was shocked at the force they could feel off Hedge. Not only that, but they could tell there was a change to Hedge too. His skin was darker than before, and his eyes were bloodshot red. They realized that he wasn't using the Chaos Emeralds as they weren't in any of their peripherals, so they debunked it to being his power. Weiss just sweat dropped and cancelled her glyphs.

Ozpin: "His academic scores were falsified, yes. If I hadn't done any background checks, it would've been missed by both me and Professor Goodwitch.

Jaune was shocked that Ozpin had known he cheated his way in, but he decided to stay quiet.

Ozpin: "However, I'm pretty sure he's not the only one here that doesn't have any academic training, am I right?" he says with a knowing smirk.

Weiss gulped at that, as she, along with her sister, were trained at the Schnee Manor by paid trainers. Neither of them had gone to an academy before going to Beacon or Atlas.

The same could be said about Ren, Nora, and even Blake. Ren and Nora had been mostly travelling their entire lives due to their past, so they asked for training from some of the towns they stopped at during their travels on Anima, and Blake got her experience from her time in the White Fang.

Ozpin: "However, despite that, I had decided to give the 5 of you a chance to prove yourselves, and all of you did so with flying colors during the initiation."

Hedge: "Because that was the true way to get in to Beacon, am I right Professor?" He had calmed down and reverted back to normal.

Ozpin: "Precisely. Past achievements may have molded each of you to who you were before coming to Beacon, but unless you were able to pass the initiation, then none of those achievements meant anything."

The 5 students decided to dwell on that, and for now returned their attention to the screen. If that truly was the case, then their Headmaster could revoke their acceptance at any time. Maybe after this chapter, they'll head into the training room and hone their skills.

Sadly, they still had to sneak him out of his home along with the family heirloom, Crocea Mors.

Jaune felt guilty, but he just couldn't let his chance pass him by without doing anything.

At the moment, the blonde trio currently stood on the airship to Beacon, though, Jaune had to stay close to the bathroom as he could regularly feel his breakfast trying to come back up.

Jaune groans. "Ugh. Motion sickness, why must you forsake me and my family?"

Ruby: "Is it that bad?"

Jaune: "Each member has some form of it that plagues us."

"We...really need to do something about that…" Gyro sighed. "I doubt this is going to be your last airship ride."

Jaune simply nodded, not trusting himself to speak as he held his hand over his mouth.

"Right, first chance we get, we'll go and see the nurse, see if maybe they have something to help with this." Pierce nodded to himself as he spoke.

"Definitely better than letting sir pukes-a-lot here spew everywhere." Gyro said as he looked at Jaune dryly, his fellow blonde groaning at the nickname behind his hand.

Jaune: "I'd rather be known as Vomit Boy, Gyro." He muttered.

Yang cackled. "Too late!"

"I'll get you back for that." Jaune managed to mumble out, before groaning as another wave of nausea hit him, having to run back into the bathroom again.

"Sure you will, just as soon as you're finished needing to puke," Pierce chuckled.

Once the bathroom door was closed, Gyro and Pierce looked at each other.

"Spotted anyone else yet?" the shorter of the two asked.

In response, Pierce simply pointed a little ways away, Gyro following his finger to see one Ruby Rose getting the life hugged out of her by her older half sister, Yang Xiao Long.

Yang grabs Ruby in a death grip hug. "Look Rubes, it's us!"

Ruby struggles to get out and flails her arms. "Yaaaaaaang! Let go!"

Gyro laughed awkwardly as he saw the silver eyed girl try to flail out of her sister's arms "Well, at least we found them."

"Are you going to try and stop the explosion?" Pierce asked his brother with a raised eyebrow.

"Probably yeah, would be good if Ruby and Weiss had a better start than canon." Gyro said with a nod.

Weiss groaned and facepalmed. "Can we please just forget that event ever happened, please? I'm very sorry for how I reacted, Ruby."

Ruby smiled at Weiss. "Apology accepted."

Winter: "What exactly happened?"

Before Weiss could say anything to drop it, Hedge used his powers to give the ones who didn't notice the event the memory into their minds.

Yang: "Wow, Ruby. You really did explode."

Ruby: "And I can't believe you didn't believe me when I told you!"

Winter: "Weiss, I'm pretty sure I taught you how to handle dust properly."

Weiss winced. "Sorry Winter. I know better now."

"So...should we introduce ourselves or…?" Pierce left the question hanging.

Gyro scratched his cheek as he thought about it "I don't know honestly, it might seem weird if we come up to them out of nowhere, plus I don't want to abandon Jaune you know?"

Pierce mulled over his brother's words "Well… when you put it like that, makes sense I guess."

Yang: "Yeah, I'd probably tell them to get lost. They may look handsome, but still."

With that agreement, the bothers let things play out as they did in 'canon'...save for the part where Jaune threw up and got puke on Yang's shoes. It wasn't long before they arrived at their destination, Beacon Castle coming into view. Despite themselves, the brothers couldn't help but marvel at the sight of the castle that would be their home for the next few years, and if things went as planned, would REMAIN standing for that long, the two of them scowling at the knowledge of their soon to be enemies. It would be difficult, but they would do what they could to prevent those events from becoming a reality.

Though, in the back of their minds, there was something that concerned them greatly. Over the last year, the weather had gotten more and more weird, all over Remnant at that.

The Ozlumunati knew that the soon to be enemies had to do with Salem's followers. They already were trying to figure out who the woman Ruby fought at the CCT was.

Nora: "How weird we talking on the weather?"

A heat wave in Atlas, a constant downpour in Vacuo, sandstorms in Mistral, and snowfall in Vale. It went without saying that these things never happened in canon, and that...made them understandably worried. At best they hoped it was just some freak weather that would eventually blow over, but at worst they were afraid this was one of those situations where the timeline was aware of their arrival, and was now going to try to toss in some curveballs to make sure things went as they did in canon, their efforts be damned.

Weiss: "Heat wave in Atlas?" She asked shocked.

Yang: "Oh come on Weiss-cream. At least your other won't be so cold."

Immediately, before Hedge could even intervene, Yang was encased in a block of ice.

Weiss: "Ah, that felt so good to do."

Blake: "That may be, but how are we going to break her out?"

Hedge: "As evident, you all can still use your semblances. Yang can just activate hers to break free.

On cue, cracks started to form, and Yang broke free from her icy prison.

Yang took a long, deep breath, then looked over to the Schnee heiress. "Firstly, I applaud you for reacting to that," surprisingly calm. "However." Weiss felt a chill around her, despite it being Yang of all people, as she had closed her eyes when she spoke again after her first sentence, but as she started to speak again and open her eyes, Weiss was met with red eyes instead of lilac. "Expect payback tenfold," she said as she tried to straighten her hair from the cold, failing spectacularly. "I take that back. Hundred-fold."

At the moment, the twins and their fellow blond friend were walking towards the main building of Beacon itself, each with different thoughts on their minds.

As for what brought them out of those thoughts, it was as they saw two sisters interacting with each other.

Gyro, out of the corner of his eye, saw a certain white haired heiress walking, with two butlers pushing her things along on a transport… tray… thing… he doesn't know the actual word for it, but those thing they have in hotels basically for the luggage.

Blake: "Isn't it just called a luggage cart?"

Hedge: "Yes, as a matter of fact, it is."

Glynda: "To think they were smart enough to build the teleporter, but he doesn't know the name of something simple as that."

Qrow: "Let's give them the benefit of doubt, Glyn."

Either way, he didn't break his stride, in fact, he started walking faster, catching up to the sisters just as Yang zipped past Ruby, making her spin in place as she wobbled around.

Just as she was about to fall over, Gyro got behind her and placed his hands on her back, catching her "You ok there?" he asked casually, but with some honest concern in his voice.

Ruby shook her head of her dizziness "Y-yeah, thanks." she said as she got her feet back flat on the ground, Gyro glancing to the side as he saw Weiss Schnee walk past them, glancing at them for a moment before continuing forward.

Weiss: "Well, at least we didn't get off on a bad start," she said with a smile to her partner.

Ruby smiled back. "True. Thanks for that Gyro."

He uttered a mental sigh of relief at the fact that the, hopefully, eventual partners, didn't have a rough start like in canon. The only issue was that with Weiss no longer meeting Ruby the way she did in 'canon', there would need to be another way for Blake to meet Ruby. Fortunately, it seemed things were on his side, as just as he thought that, a certain thinly disguised Faunus was walking by.

'Oh this is almost too easy.' Gyro thought with narrowed eyes, before mentally shrugging as his pinky finger twitched, and a gust of wind suddenly blew through the courtyard.

Ruby eeped as she held her skirt down, glad no one was looking down at least, and as for one raven haired feline girl, the sudden wind not only blew some of her hair in her face, but made her lose her grip on her book.

"Hey!" Ruby squeaked/blushed/Blake yelled.

Yang: "That'd better have been an accident," she growled as her eyes turned red.

Hedge: "Yang, you know for a fact that wasn't his intention."

Yang: "He could've at least warned her!"

Conveniently, it ended up smacking Pierce in the face while it was wide open.

Blake winced as she ran up to the group, seeing Pierce's hand twitching "Um… sorry." she said after a moment.

Slowly, Pierce pulled the book away from his face, blushing as he handed the book to Blake "Maybe you shouldn't read this kind of stuff in public." he muttered lowly, yet knew she heard him thanks to her ears hidden by her bow.

Blake blushed as she took the book back "Right." she muttered, thinking maybe she should stop reading that in public.

Glynda: "Really, Ms. Belladonna? Do we need to have a talk about your reading habits?"

Blake: "No need! I'll admit it wasn't one of my smartest moments."

"What is Ninjas of Love about anyway? You know, besides ninjas and… adult stuff." Gyro asked, stopping himself short and changing his last words when he remembered Ruby was standing right next to him.

Ruby: "Why won't anyone treat me like a grown up?!"

Qrow: "Cause you're too pure and innocent, and we'd like to keep you that way a bit longer."

Ruby crossed her arms, pouted and grumbled, not really helping her case.

"Well...at least it has SOME plot...not that I could really get to read any of it considering the page it opened on," Pierce admitted.

"What was on the page that was in your face?" Ruby asked innocently.

"We'll tell you when you're older." Gyro, Pierce and Blake all said in unison before looking at each other in surprise.

"Why does everyone say that?" Ruby said with a pout as she kicked at the ground.

Yang had a mischievous grin on her face. "What page was it, kitty kat?"

Blake: "Don't make me cut your hair."

Yang instantly shut up.

"So...uh...my name's Gyro, this is my brother, Pierce, and the guy in the hoodie is Jaune." Gyro started, quickly changing the subject. "And you two are?"

"I'm Ruby!" the young reaper bounced right back into happy as she grinned at everyone.

Blake was silent for a moment as she looked at everyone "... Blake." she said curtly.

"Nice to meet ya," Pierce grinned.

"So...you two excited about getting into Beacon?" Jaune asked politely. The twins had thankfully managed to curl away his attempts at flirting, because in all honesty, that had just been ridiculous.

Jaune: "Yeah, my mom probably wasn't the best source of information for that considering how long it took for her to get dad to notice."

Ozpin: "Arc men have been known to be oblivious."

Jaune groans. "That hurts, Headmaster. Wait, what do you mean by that?"

Nora cackles and Pyrrha just pats him on the back, but she also had a blush on her face.

"You know it! I mean, I was already excited before, but I still had two years to wait, but now I got in early because I met with Professor Ozpin himself, he was actuallyimpressedwithmethatwassocoolandallIdidwasgowooshandbamandthenboombecauseIwastryingtostoparobberyandthentherewereexplosionsandaplaneanditwassoawesome!" Ruby started before getting faster as she spoke.

Yang: "Rubes, you talk way too fast sometimes."

Weiss: "How did you even understand that?"

Yang: "Living with her," was her immediate response.

Weiss and Winter looked over at Qrow, who merely just nodded, agreeing with his older niece.

"Uhhh…." Jaune blinked, starting to feel like his brains were leaking out of his ears. On one hand he knew it would be impolite, but on the other hand he felt the urge to clamp the girl's mouth shut, if only so he could let his brain START to try and understand what she was saying.

The others looked at Ruby silently, before looking between each other and sighing, mutual understanding passing between them.

'What did we get ourselves into?'

Everyone: "Chaos."

Hedge: "Trust me, you all don't know Chaos."

Ren: "What do you mean?"

Ironwood: "Wait, do you mean the Chaos Emeralds?"

Hedge: "Yes and no." The Chaos Emeralds appear around him. "These aren't the only emeralds, they are actually powered by a much stronger emerald." With his powers, he summons said emerald. This emerald was the same color as the one he had with him when they had arrived to this dimension, but it was bigger than all 7 emeralds. "This here is the Master Emerald. Guarded by a race of warriors at first, but due to...let's just say events, there now is only one left in the universe they derive from, but because of those major events, there was a god of destruction named Chaos that had his soul trapped into the Master Emerald. The Guardian of this emerald," he places his hand on it, "can effectively control the Chaos Emeralds and block out the user of them from utilizing their power."

Everyone was amazed at this emerald, but they did wonder one thing.

Ozpin: "Out of curiosity, how much power does this Master Emerald have?"

Hedge chuckled, and this worried them a little. "Infinite."

If their jaws could drop to the floor, they would.

Winter: "That's...impossible."

Hedge: "Is it? This emerald was effectively created by the gods themselves of the universe it derives from. I'd say it's very possible, considering the universe is full of endless possibilities."

Weiss: "And how exactly do you have it if it's supposed to be in the possession of this so called guardian?" She asks with a raised eyebrow and her arms crossed.

Hedge: "Would you believe me if I said the guardian tends to end up letting the Master Emerald get stolen often by their and their friends' arch nemesis? And those same friends asked me to hold onto it?"

Jaune: "That honestly sounds like a good reason."

Hedge: "If you look past the downside being Angel Island isn't floating in the air anymore..." he thinks with a mental sweat drop.

A few minutes later found the group walking through the courtyard, their trek towards the auditorium resumed after getting Ruby to explain again slowly.

What had surprised the boys though, was Blake falling in step with them, and not making any effort to leave the group.

They didn't know what exactly had caused it, but apparently something had caused the Faunus girl to be more at ease around them. Not that they were complaining, as this would make things a whole lot easier down the line.

"So…" Ruby suddenly started, trailing off, before looking at everyone "What do you all have?"

Yang smirks. "Weapon Nut Ruby incoming."

Ruby pouts. "Yaaang."

"Uh… what are you talking about?" Jaune asked as he turned to look at her.

"You know, what kind of weapon." Ruby said with a shrug.

"Oh, that." Jaune mumbled, apparently being relieved.

To be honest, the wording WAS a bit suggestive.

Ruby tilted her head. "Huh?"

Yang/Qrow/Hedge: "Nothing!"

"Well, I got these, I call them Ascalon." Gyro said as he pulled out his twin curved blades from their sheaths, giving them a bit of a twirl, before attached them together to show off the alternative mode as well.

"Ooohh, what else can they do?" Ruby asked as she looked at the combined blades closely.

"That's a secret till I have to reveal my semblance." Gyro said with a cheeky grin as he stored them away.

Ruby pouted at that, before turning to the others, eyes shining hopefully.

Ruby: "No mention of them being dragon slaying swords," she pouted.

Pyrrha: "You forget Ruby that they aren't from Remnant. Him saying that would imply he took down a Grimm like that, and the only known one would be a Wyvern."

Ironwood: "And to our knowledge, those haven't been seen in a long time."

Hedge: "Tell that to the one hidden in Mountain Glenn..."

Seeing that, Blake shrugged and pulled out her weapon. "Gambol Shroud," she said simply, revealing her katana-machine gun combo, also showing how it's sheathe was a cleaver.

Yang: "Not much of a talker huh," she teased her partner.

Blake: "Hey, I've opened up a lot more lately."

"And well...I got this sword," Jaune said, pulling out Crocea Mors.

"Cool," Ruby said. "What does it do?"

Gyro and Pierce had to hold back snickers as Jaune clumsily tried to explain how Crocea Mors DIDN'T have any extra modes, except for the sheath acting as a shield.

Well, not yet anyway, they still had to figure out exactly how combining an arming sword with a shield/sheath made a bastard sword.

Jaune: "Wait what?"

Hedge: "Spoilers," he said with a cheeky grin.

"Well...the classics are great too," Ruby said at the end of Jaune's explanation, a rather poor attempt at being polite considering her previous excitement.

"Think of it this way Jaune, you don't have to worry about too much maintenance, and because most people would expect something extra from your weapon, they'd act a bit more cautious, which might cause them to overlook some things." Gyro added after seeing Jaune slump.

The blonde knight tilted his head at those words, considering them "I… guess that makes sense."

Qrow: "Underhanded tactics if you ask me, but then again I like using them myself."

Winter: "Combine that with your semblance, and I'd be surprised if you were ever beaten in a fight."

Qrow raises an eyebrow at that. "Was that a compliment?"

Winter sweat drops. "You're delusional, you drunk."

"So...uh…" Ruby started, not quite sure what to say next. On one hand, she wanted to ask about Pierce's weapon...but at the same time she had a feeling it wouldn't be so good after what just happened.

"Huh? Oh right, I haven't shown my weapon yet," Pierce chuckled. "Say hello to Pandora," he said, pulling out his weapon, still in its default naginata mode.

"And what does it do?" Ruby asked as she noticed what looked like several pieces that could move along the shaft of the weapon.

"Well… what would you like to see it do?" Pierce asked with a grin.

Yang: "Oh geez." Ruby looked on with waiting and excited eyes.

"Can it shoot fire?" Jaune asked jokingly.

In response, Pierce grinned as he twisted two pieces of the weapon, a nozzle coming out just above the blade and a trigger near the middle, which when pulled, made a stream of flames come out of the nozzle, it was thin, but nonetheless, it was fire.

"And there's more!" Gyro said with a grin as he nudged his brother to show off a few more of his weapon's many functions.

Pierce nodded as he started showcasing quite a few alternate forms, such as a trident, a grappling hook, a whip function, and plenty more.

"Uh...is she okay?" Jaune asked cautiously in the middle of the little exhibition, as true enough, Ruby was now drooling with stars in her eyes.

The Ruby with them also was in the same position. Yang decided there were two things to break her out of it, and she mentally ordered a plate that appeared in hands with chocolate chip cookies and strawberries. She placed it in Ruby's lap, and after two seconds of catching the smell of her two favorite snacks in front of her, she broke out of her position and started devouring them. All with a smile on her face.

"Eh...probably," Pierce sweat dropped. He couldn't say he was surprised at the reaction, but this was a bit stronger than he'd imagined.

Gyro looked at the little reaper in concern, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his scroll "Let's see, where is it again?" he muttered, before nodding as he flipped it around and put it in Ruby's face.

No reaction for a moment, before her eyes went to the screen and she snatched it away from him, muttering inaudibly as she looked at whatever was on it, then quickly looked back up at Gyro "You designed this?"

Ruby looks over at Hedge. "I need to see all of his schematics."

Hedge chuckles. "What if I told you you'll be able to work on something really awesome later on?"

Ruby ponders this for a little. "Fine, but I'll hold you to it."

Yang: "You know she'll hold it over you until you let her work on whatever it is you're promising right?"

Hedge: "Oh, I'm well aware. And you're going to help her later." That last sentence said in his head.

Gyro nodded simply, smiling a bit proudly.

Ruby looked at him, before smiling brightly "That's so awesome!" she said as she raised her hand up high and Gyro gave her a high five.

Everyone looked at the two of them in confusing, before Blake was the one to break the silence "What did you show her?"

"A blueprint for something that's a bit excessive but still awesome." Gyro said with a shrug as he accepted his scroll back from Ruby.

Weiss: "'Excessive?' A weapon built like that is excessive."

Ruby: "There's no such thing, Weiss."

Yang: "Yeah there is."

Blake/Qrow: "Hair."

Yang: "Hey, everyone knows that no one is allowed to touch this hair but me!"

"...so uh...aren't we supposed to be gathering somewhere for the initiation?" Jaune suddenly said, remembering that yes, they WERE supposed to gather.

"Where do you think we've been walking to?" Pierce said as he stopped in front of a large door and opened it, showing that the auditorium was inside, and people were still coming in from other doors or corridors.

"Huh...I kinda thought we got lost just talking…" Jaune admitted.

"Hey wait! I haven't shown off my weapon yet!" Ruby said before anyone went inside.

Ruby: "How could I forget to show off Crescent Rose?!" she panicked.

Ironwood: "Is she normally like this?" He asks with a sweat drop.

Glynda: "From what we have seen?"

Ozpin: "If it was allowed, I have no doubt she would legally have it be her baby."

Qrow: "She already calls it that."

Winter: "That's not healthy."

Yang: "You try telling that to her face and see what that gets you." There were even moments where Ruby would tuck it into bed with her at night.

"Well, go ahead, we probably still have like 10 minutes or something before we need to be inside." Pierce said as he looked inside the auditorium before turning back to the short girl.

Ruby nodded with a smile as she reached underneath her cape and pulled out a large red block like thing, before motioning the others to give her more space, and opening it with a flourish, revealing a very large scythe.

"I call her Crescent Rose, not only is she a scythe, but she's a high impact sniper rifle, and, I made her myself." Ruby said proudly as she compacted her weapon down into its sniper rifle mode, which honestly looked more like an AK-47 in appearance.

"So… it's a scyther rifle then?" Pierce said with a grin, causing a few groans.

Ruby groaned. "Oh no..."

Yang: "Oh him and I would get along just fine."

Qrow: "Greaaaat," he muttered. He already had to deal with all the puns from her and Tai. Now Pierce would be saying them too? A fate worst than death if you asked him.

"Stop the horrible puns please." Gyro said as he covered his face with his hands.

"Oh god he's just like Yang." Ruby muttered in horror alongside him, before she and Gyro looked at each other, and pat each other's backs in silent support for having siblings who loved bad puns.

After the moment of support had passed, the small group finally stepped inside the auditorium, and were greeted with… an argument.

Blake: "Great. It's Yang and Weiss, isn't it?"

Pyrrha: "What makes you say that?"

Blake: "Considering how the night ended when we first met, I'd say it's highly likely."

'Oh you have got to be kidding me.' Gyro thought in deadpan as he saw Yang and Weiss glaring at each other and very loudly arguing with one another.

Both he and Pierce thought they would have to try and break up the argument, before a pair of fists descended on top of the two girl's heads, making their eyes go blank at the sudden impact to their skulls.

Everyone gaped at the scene, none more so than Gyro and Pierce however, as the person who had hit the two girls on the head was Azure.

Yang: "A teacher not afraid to get physical. That's a scary combo." She and Weiss rubbed their scalps as if Azure had actually hit them.

"That's QUITE enough you two," Azure sighed. "Honestly, you're both part of the next generation of protectors. Please save arguments like this for outside or AFTER the opening speech."

"Dear Oum Azure has balls." Gyro muttered in a bit of awe.

While Yang simply winced as she rubbed her head, honestly as long as her hair wasn't damaged she wasn't going to go ballistic against someone, Weiss was fuming as she turned her glare onto Azure "And just who do you think you are to hit me?!"

Azure simply gave her a dull look "A teacher."

Nora: "And that one response is enough to break the Ice Queen's shell."

Weiss: "Hey! You try acting the same way to someone that apparently was a teacher. Dealing with a teacher with a grudge is a recipe for disaster."

Immediately, Weiss's face went pale, her mouth hanging open in shock at the fact she'd just talked like that to a teacher.

"Now then, when you're done putting your blown mind back together, the headmaster will be starting his speech soon. I think it'd be in your best interests to be paying attention," Azure chuckled. "And that goes for you too Gyro and Pierce. I'm not gonna be bailing you out if you get in trouble that's your own fault," he added with a smirk.

"Hey, we're in the room big bro, so we're safe." Pierce shot back with a wave of his hand.

Azure shrugged with a smile "Fair enough I guess." before walking off to where the other teachers were.

It took the gathered prospective students a full 10 seconds to process that last part.

Ruby: "Heh, I imagine that was the same reaction our friends at Signal had when they found out Dad and Uncle Qrow were our relatives."

Yang: "Oh most definitely. My friends knew not to mess with me in order to not incur the wrath of Dad."

Winter: "Did you also threaten the students, Branwen?"

Qrow: "You really think so low of me, don't you Ice Queen? No, I didn't, but most of the time Tai was with me, so he knew the same things I did if anything/anyone was doing something bad to the girls."

"Wait...he's your brother?" Yang asked as she turned to Pierce, having moved over to Ruby while Azure was basically scaring Weiss into turning white like a ghost, the snowy themed girl still frozen in place.

"Yeah, he got a job at Beacon and, well, he's the reason we were allowed to take a slightly harder entrance exam since we never went to a training school before, I mean, they had to doubly make sure we had what it takes." Pierce explained.

"God I almost puked like three times during that." Jaune said with a groan as he remembered he too had to pass the harder exam.

The students nearly sweat dropped at that info.

Weiss: "It can't be that bad...right?" She looked over at her professors.

Ozpin: "If you'd like Ms. Schnee I could have you and your team attempt it. Extra credit would be awarded if you pass, but no reward nor punishment would come if you fail."

Hedge: "If you'd like, Headmaster, I could rearrange the training room to accommodate it."

Glynda: "Ozpin, are you sure?"

Ozpin: "You saw how they completed the regular initiation. I'd say that they should do just fine."

Nora: "We'd like to do it!"

Ren: "Nora, at least get all of our thoughts about it first before giving the answer."

Both Team RWBY and JNPR had got into their own group huddles, thinking if they should attempt the harder initiation. For now, though, they decided to inform their headmaster at the next break.

"Huh." Yang said, choosing to ignore what Jaune had said "Well… I guess we were getting kind of loud." she admitted, before holding her hand out to the goatee toting blonde "Anyway, name's Yang."

"Pierce, nice to meet you." Pierce said with a smile as he shook her hand.

"Nice grip there." Yang said with a grin as she still held his hand.

"Not too bad yourself." Pierce shot back.

"What is this?" Ruby whispered as she watched the scene unfold in front of her.

Weiss/Winter: "Muscle-head bonding."

Hedge: "Ain't that the truth." On screen, it shows a very iconic scene of two admittedly buff gentlemen doing a handshake. (If you know the scene, good on ya. If you don't, here's a hint: "You sonova bitch.")

Yang: "Holy hell, those guys are jacked. Look at their muscles!"

"Something I don't think I want to be a part of." Blake said dully "See you guys later." she added, before walking away from the group.

"See ya later." the remaining three not in a conversation told her back, still watching Pierce and Yang interacting.

However, before the conversation could continue, everyone's attention was drawn to the sound of a microphone being switched on, as up on the stage, a middle aged man with gray hair and black glasses stepped up and began speaking.

Gyro and Pierce, for the most part, tuned out Ozpin's speech, as it was more of a downer than anything, so instead they thought about how they should go about doing things tomorrow, as they still hadn't fully decided on that. Ideally of course was that they make sure they partnered with each other, so that if nothing else, they could easily plan their steps in the future. It wasn't long before the speech was over, and everyone was ushered to the room where all prospective students would be spending the night...though why was something that still baffled them, especially when they noticed how there were some students who seemed to like sleeping in their underwear.

As for the boys, they just had simple t-shirts and pajama bottoms, something they had managed to get Jaune into instead of his onesie.

Weiss: "Thank Oum."

Yang: "Yeah Jaune, that was seriously embarrassing."

Jaune: "For both of your information, that was a gift from one of my sisters." He paused. "Then again, they most likely had blackmail on me if I didn't end up wearing it."

Speaking of Jaune though, they seemed to have lost… him… oh wow, even the author is surprised by this one.

By the luck of the gods and everything else, Jaune had ended up right next to Pyrrha Nikos, AKA, the girl that would eventually love him.

If there was a record player, there would be a record scratch sound played, but most likely it played in Jaune's head.

Jaune: "What?" Pyrrha blushed up a storm and her face nearly was the same shade as her hair and Ruby's cloak. "Is that true, Pyr?"

Pyrrha: "Very much so. It was a dream come true that you were the first person to notice me as just Pyrrha Nikos, not just the 'Invincible Girl.'"

Jaune: "I...holy shit I'm an idiot." he said with a face palm. The words she said to him during the dance coming back to him. "Well, if you wouldn't mind, how about the two of us go out to dinner when we get back?"

Pyrrha grabs his head and they lock lips together. "I'd love to."

Hedge: "Arkos has just set sailed."

"Huh, with any luck since he had no interactions with Weiss, he'll notice Pyrrha better." Gyro murmured thoughtfully as he and Pierce sat down in an empty space.

"If he doesn't, well, we can just find a closet and lock the two inside of it." Pierce said with a shrug, eliciting a snort of amusement from his brother.

Jaune: "Hey! I'd fight you before you'd even have the chance." Pyrrha and Nora giggled.

"Hey guys!" the two heard, making them turn to see Ruby walking towards them with a pillow and blanket in hand, Yang following behind her with a rolled up sleeping bag.

"Hey Ruby." the two greeted her with a wave as she sat next to them, Yang doing the same.

"So, I gotta thank you guys for making friends with my little sister, she really needed it." Yang said with a grin as she patted said little sister on the back, getting a pout from her.

Ruby: "Coming from the sister that rushed off and left me dizzy to then get yelled at by Weiss."

Yang: "Ruby, come on, I said I was sorry multiple times about that. How much more do I need to?"

Ruby didn't answer and focused back on the screen.

"Yeah, well if it wasn't for Gyro I would have fallen after you ditched me." Ruby told her, crossing her arms and blowing her older sister a raspberry.

"I said I was sorry ok?" Yang said placatingly as she held up her hands.

"Oh come on, ease up on her Ruby, think about it this way, if Yang hadn't ditched you, you wouldn't have met us." Gyro told the reaper as he patted her shoulder.

Ruby adopted a thoughtful look at that while Yang looked at him dryly "I don't know if I should thank you or punch you."

"Probably a bit of both," Pierce snickered. "That's usually how things go."

Yang snorts. "True."

"Geee, thanks a lot, bro," Gyro said dryly.

"Oh! That reminds me, I've been meaning ask, which one of you is older?" Ruby asked as she looked at the twins.

"Me, by like a few minutes, I took more after mom while Pierce took more after dad." Gyro said with a shrug. "And yeah, before you ask, I know Pierce looks older. We get that a lot, especially after he started sporting that goatee."

"Like Gyro said, I took more after dad, who was pretty damn tall, while he took after mom, who was rather short." Pierce explained a bit further.

"Yeah, but I also got mom's looks, which means I'm better looking than you." Gyro said jokingly, with Pierce laughing a bit.

Yang: "It's a sibling roasting session."

Ruby: "I'm so glad we stopped those years ago."

Jaune groaned. "Lucky you."

Weiss: "Thankfully we didn't have a ton of those."

Winter: "Knowing how Whitley is, he probably has talked about us behind our backs."

Hedge: "You don't know how right you are." He then laughed. "This actually reminds me of a scene from another Devil May Cry game of Dante and his brother Vergil. The thing is said game was not canon to the 5 games of the series. It wasn't my first introduction to the characters everyone knows and loves, but it was the first Devil May Cry game that I played." (This is true. DMC: Devil May Cry was my first DMC game I played. I was introduced to Dante and Vergil through UMvC3, and I saw the reboot at GameStop and bought it. Not long after I found out it wasn't part of the actual series, but I still played it nonetheless. As for the actual series, the only one I have really played in full is DMC3, but that's because I'm trying to 100% before I move on to DMC1.)

Ironwood: "How was that scene compared to this?"

Hedge: "Much more vulgar."

Glynda: "Why does that not surprise me?"

"I dunno, I kinda think he looks more cute." Yang said as she grinned at Pierce and even grabbed his arm, squeezing it a bit "Definitely looks more muscular too."

Nora: "Yang, stay out of it. No outside interference!"

Yang: "Don't make me, make my other."

"Oh ah ah." Gyro laughed dryly while Pierce grinned back at the lilac eyed blonde.

"Would you all keep quiet! Some of us are trying to sleep here!" they all heard a voice say, making them turn to see…

"Oh not you again!" Yang and Weiss growled out as they saw each other.

"Ok, how about no argument this time, huh?" Gyro said, getting in between the two girls and pushing them away from each other, being smart enough to push them by their shoulders and not the chest like he would with guys.

All girls: "Smart."

The two girls continued to glare at each other for a moment, before huffing and turning away from each other.

Hesitantly, Ruby went up to Weiss "Um, sorry about my sister, I don't really know what she did to make you angry, but knowing her track record back home, it's probably her fault."

Yang pointed at her sister. "Traitor!"

Yang gasped "You dare!" she said, looking at Ruby.

"Dad's guitar." was all Ruby said, making Yang clam up and turn red in embarrassment.

Nora: "What's that about?"

Ruby was about to answer, but Yang slapped a hand over her mouth. "Not. A. Word. Or painful wedgies for life." Then she turned to her Uncle. "And I'll take all of your alcohol if you spill the beans too." Qrow did the zipper motion with his hand over his mouth.

Weiss looked at the shorter girl, before letting out a sigh "You have my condolences for living with someone like her." she said, making Ruby giggle in amusement, while Weiss let a small smile graced her lips "My name is Weiss Schnee."

"Like the company that's run by a hardass?" Pierce asked.

Everyone either chuckled or laughed at that, even Winter.

Weiss: "Is he really that bad?"

Ironwood: "Ms. Schnee, I have to put up with your father every time I try to make some changes that regard Dust, and that's pretty much every change I put through with the council. 9 times out of 10, he would decline them because they don't favor him and the SDC."

Blake snarls: "Let me guess, they don't make him a profit, or it'll cost him lien."

Ironwood sighs. "Yes."

Weiss blinked at the word used to describe her father "That's… a new one… I can't deny it though, father is a bit of a hardass."

Unseen by the others, Blake raised an eyebrow behind her book at the Schnee heiress admitting her father was a hardass, before shrugging, figuring that was a sort of step in the right direction to the girl not being like him.

Before the conversation could go on further, Ruby let out a yawn.

"Well, I guess it is getting late, let's just get to bed, if we want to talk again, there's always tomorrow." Gyro said, looking at everyone who all gave different signs of agreement before getting to their own sleeping arrangements.

"Night bro." the twins said to each other, bumping fists before getting in their respective sleeping bags.

They had one hell of a day tomorrow.

With that, the TV shut off for now.

Weiss: "Well if the timeline is following what we went through, then that means the next day and section of this story would be the initiation."

Ruby: "I wonder if our teams will still end up the same?"

Yang: "Most likely, Rubes."

Blake: "Can we really assume that though? With Gyro and Pierce added into the mix, assuming there aren't any other students joining in, wouldn't it be an uneven number of students?"

Ozpin: "It would be," he said, getting everyone's attention. "It was an even division of students to split into the teams that started this school year. Truth be told, I'm curious how my and Glynda's other would go about that."

Glynda: "Considering the lengths the boys went to get Azure to get a teaching position at Beacon, I wouldn't be surprised if he plays a factor in that."

Ironwood: "That seems more likely. Still if everything is going as how they originally, aside from the abnormal weather events, I wonder if any other butterfly effects would happen."

Winter: "Maybe it has to do with the other part of the story's title?"

Qrow: "Yeah, what was the title again? Something about a 'Digital Story' or something?"

Nora: "And the 'THOR' part. That sounds like an acronym to something."

Ren: "It could be a team name," he pointed out.

Pyrrha: "It's the same length as our teams short-hand names."

Jaune: "I don't think a team name is limited to 4 letters, Pyr."

Hedge: "You're right on that part, Jaune. And good analysis everyone. For now, let's all take a break, refill snacks, among other things, then return here. Sound good?"

Everyone acknowledged and headed off to do just that.

Chapter Text

Everyone had returned back from their breaks. Hedge decided to address the students regarding the alternate initiation.

Hedge: "So, did you eight decide on if you wanted to move forward with the challenge?"

The students looked back and forth between each other, then looked over towards Hedge and Ozpin. "Yes," was the definitive answer from them.

Ozpin looked over at Hedge with a smile, then back at his students. "Very well. We can set it up during the next break. Does that work, Hedge?"

Hedge: "It does. And it's a good segway into lunch as well."

Nora: "Alright, enough about that. Let's start the story back up!"

Hedge: "I'm working on it. It's almost like she knows she'll be starting off at the beginning of this next part or something."

Once the next morning rolled around…

"Good morning sleepyhead!"

Ren sighed, but still had a smile on his face. "Nora..."

Nora: "Hey, they were probably right next us."

Blake gave her a deadpanned look. "Nora, you woke everyone up." She remembers being miffed about that that morning, but she also blamed it on her cat ears. Even if Nora hadn't yelled that out, she'd probably still hear her at normal volume.

The brothers hadn't realized they had been sleeping close to one Lie Ren and his best friend because of tragedy, Nora Valkyrie.

"Is she always like this?" Gyro asked Ren once the two pairs of tired eyes met while Nora was switching out of her pajamas inside her sleeping bag.

"All the time." the magenta eyed boy said with a sigh, and the twins blinked a moment, before realising his voice was from Monty.

Ren: "Hmm?" Everyone then turned to Hedge.

Hedge sighed. "You all remember about the webseries, right?" Despite them still trying to wrap their minds around that, they nodded yes. "Well, one man by the name of Monty Oum had come up with the idea for it. Your map, by the way?" On screen, their world map appeared. "Well guess what, it was fashioned by a ketchup stain on a napkin." The screen is split in half, on the left is their world map, while on the right is said stain.

Weiss: "I...wha?"

Ruby, wanting to help her partner and everyone else think about something that wasn't mind breaking spoke up. "So, what happened to him? Did he...die?"

Hedge: "Sadly, yes. An unspecified severe allergic reaction during a 'simple medical procedure.' 10 days later, he passed as a result to anaphylaxis at the age of 33."

Everyone was sad to hear that the man that effectively created them all was no longer around, but Ren did have another question.

Ren: "Not to be rude, but what does that have to do with me?"

Hedge: "He was your voice actor for the first two volumes."

Ren: "I see. I'm honored to have been voiced by him."

Nora: "But you said that there were 9 volumes in total. Who voices Renny now?"

Hedge: "His brother, Neath Oum. He and Monty's friends at Rooster Teeth wanted to continue on with the vision created by Monty even after his passing. Though, the fandom has been very split on that, if I'm being honest, even though those on CRWBY, that's the main team that focused on the webseries, have stated that what the show has put out thus far is from Monty's vision."

'Rest in peace' the twins thought at the same time, while also realizing that Ren would have his original voice through it all, since this wasn't a web show anymore.

Everyone raised their drinks in the air as a toast to the man, sad to know he was gone, but happy to hear that his brother and friends have continued on with their loved one's dream. If it wasn't for that dream, they wouldn't even be here.

"So uh...think she's gonna lose steam anytime soon?" Pierce asked semi-rhetorically as Nora was still talking like a chipmunk on a sugar rush.

"No," Ren sighed.

"Oh…" Pierce said with a sigh.

"Betcha you're gonna be on team with these two." Gyro told his brother.

"Knowing my semblance, it won't bother to turn itself on for that." Pierce muttered.

Qrow: "Glad to know I'm not the only one with a semblance that has a mind of its own," he muttered. Though he did wonder what Pierce meant.

"If you do become one of my teammates, I apologize in advance for Nora aggravating you." Ren said with a bow.

"Eh, its cool. At least she seems nice," Pierce waved off, before extending his hand. "Pierce Vermillion, and this is my brother, Gyro."

"Lie Ren," Ren nodded, taking the hand...before Nora was suddenly leaning on his shoulder.

"And I'm Nora Valkyrie!" she grinned.

Ruby: "Where does she get all that energy?"

Yang: "Rubes, I don't think you have a say in that," she said with a grin.

Ruby: "Touché," she mumbled.

"Don't Valkyrie's usually have Pegasi?" Gyro muttered with a grin.

"That's what I always say!" Nora exclaimed with probably the brightest grin possible.

Nora: "Aha. He gets it!"

Ren shook his head in amusement at his friend's personality "So, what brings you to Beacon?"

"We mostly came here since our brother is a teacher here, but also killing monsters sounds like it could be a doable job, you know?" Pierce said with a shrug, using the believable reason the brothers had come up with.

Oh they planned on telling the teams someday, but only when they had their trusts, so they didn't get thrown into the loony bin.

Ironwood: "My other probably would, and myself too if I didn't know any better. Knowing Oz though, you'd probably listen in, wouldn't you?"

Ozpin: "Oh I'd be skeptical still, but yes, I would listen to them and then see if it's all true."

Ren nodded, accepting the reason for what it was "It's pretty much the same for the two of us."

"Yeahp! We're gonna kill monsters together!" Nora exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air.

Gyro blinked, before he figured he might try to start this early "So, are you two together-together?" he asked the orange haired girl.

Nora sweat dropped. "NOPE! Noooooooooo noooooooooooo. No. Not even close," she said rapidly.

"That's denial if I've ever seen it." Everyone but the two thought.

At that Nora's face turned red "W-what? No! Noooo, nonononono! W-We're just really good friends, you know?"

"Uh-huh." Gyro said dryly as he looked at her. "Well...anyway, we'd better get ready for whatever they got in store for us today. Wouldn't want to go this far and fail just cause we didn't get ready," he chuckled at the end.

"Oh my gosh, you're right!" Nora said in a rather exaggerated gasp. "Ren, we gotta get ready, we gotta make a plan!" she exclaimed before running off.

Ren managed to give the brothers a polite nod, before Nora came back and pulled him along.

The two brothers watched them leave, silent for a few moments, before "Shove em in a closet and threaten Nora with no pancakes till she confesses?" Gyro asked suddenly without looking at Pierce.

Nora: "What?! No!" Immediately, she pounces on top of Ren, both of them falling to the ground and interlocking lips.

Everyone rapidly blink at what they just witnessed, but inwardly, they were glad the two would maybe start their new life together, even if it was brought on by this story.

Hedge: "Well Renora is on its way, so that technically leaves one left." He looked over at the only two students left: the Bumblebee duo of RWBY. "Only thing is, the story doesn't go that route, so don't know how would be able to get that ball rolling, unless it already is. As it is, WhiteRose doesn’t happen either.”

"You read my mind." Pierce shot back.

"So...we'd better get to our lockers and actually get ready, or the plan is screwed," Gyro suddenly pointed out, to which they both made their way to the lockers.

When the brothers did get to the lockers, they blinked as they saw a surprising but not unwelcome sight.

That is, Jaune interacting with Pyrrha, albeit he was being a bit of a clumsy dork, but the fact that Pyrrha was smiling and helping him was good.

"Huh, and all we had to do was stop Weiss and Ruby from having a rough meeting, go figure." Pierce muttered lowly.

"Well, here's hoping the rest of the plan goes this smoothly," Gyro chuckled slightly. "Who knows, maybe if we stop the next disaster, some random guy will be able to stab Salem and end the whole thing," he whispered the last bit as a joke.

"Who?" Was the response from RWBY, JNPR, and Winter. The Ozluminati sweat dropped at that.

Hedge: "All you need to know for now is that is she is the Queen of the Grimm."

Weiss: "Wonderful, the Grimm have a leader,” raising her arms up into the air.

Ozpin tried to talk to Hedge telepathically like how their host did to them. Thankfully, Hedge could see the headmaster squirming.

Hedge: "Yes, Ozpin?"

Ozpin: "Is the story going to reveal...everything...about her?"

Hedge: "While I would say it's considered spoilers, cause truthfully it is, the story will reveal that, yes. You have the power to tell everyone about her and your lives now, or you can wait till it is revealed in all of its glory. I'll admit, it is a ways away before it is revealed, though. You let me know if you want to do so."

Ozpin: "I see. Thank you for that info." He wondered what everyone would think of him once that info is revealed.

"Well, that would be anticlimactic, but convenient as hell… hey wasn't there a story where a Gamer went and basically Kamikazed himself against her because he realized he had become a total dick?" Pierce asked.

"Yeah, and somehow that story inspired another one that was a bit better because the main character hasn't lost sight of himself, well, not yet at least, and I hope he never does, I mean, he has a crazy sister, but the guy is pretty cool… you know, I actually submitted some event ideas to that author a few years back." Gyro said conversationally.

Everyone was confused at that info.

Hedge: "The short answer: a story from one of Swift's friends. Said friend doesn't want to deal with the potential outcome of putting out ideas for a story that may tank and not get continued at all."

Ironwood: "That's a fair reason to be honest."

"Huh, neat. So, we good to go?" Pierce asked as he slipped on his jacket.

"Think so yeah, plus Jaune seems to be doing well, so everything should be good, come on, let's go." Gyro said with a nod as the two headed for the cliffs.

Shortly after, the two brothers found themselves standing on platforms alongside all the other students, to which they couldn't help but notice that Jaune still seemed VERY nervous...not that they could blame the poor guy. They may have helped with his fighting skills, but he still had a bit of a confidence issue.

Jaune: "And I greatly appreciate my other getting that treatment, but what sane person wouldn't be nervous about what's about to happen?"

Glynda: "Trust me, Mr. Arc, even I wonder why Ozpin does it,” giving her boss a stern look.

Ozpin just took a sip of the coffee he ordered, and he had to say, it was really good when Hedge told him the different types of coffee from Earth, and his current brew was even better than the one he normally had.

It didn't take long before Ozpin and Glynda arrived, and this time, the brothers decided to pay attention, having a feeling something would be different.

"Now that you're all gathered here, it's time for the test that will decide your team members for the next 4 years you'll be spending at Beacon. Know that everything you find in the forest will be trying to kill you. As for how team members are formed, the first person whose eyes you meet once you are within the forest will be your partner, as for the rest of your team… well, that's a surprise as to how we decide that, but know that your goal is to retrieve a relic hidden within ruin inside the forest. Finally, because we had a bit of an odd number of applicants this year, two students have been made special partners in a way, as if you find them, they will act as a fifth member of your team, as for who they are… I'll let you figure that out yourselves." Ozpin explained everything neatly, the brothers being sure Azure had a hand in that, just as they were sure the special students were the two of them… that or they were Jaune and Ruby. Either way, they didn't have any time to ponder that as the next phase was starting...seeing as Ozpin was talking about them 'flying' into the forest...and some students already being launched. True enough…

"Wait...are you uh...giving us parachutes or something?" Jaune asked cautiously.

"No, you will all be making use of your own landing strategies," Ozpin said, a small quirk on the side of his lip betrayed his amusement.

"Wait, did you say...landing strategy?" Jaune gulped, and at the nod he got, all he could do was slump a little. "Oh…" was all he could say, before he was promptly launched into the forest.

Yang laughed at the sound that left Jaune's lungs. "What was that?!" She asked through her laughter.

"Huh, was wondering when we'd hear the Wilhelm scream." Gyro said as he followed Jaune's flailing form with his eyes.

Winter: "And what pray tell is the 'Wilhelm scream?'"

Hedge: "It's a common sound effect used in movies and tv shows for whenever someone falls from a pretty high place. The outcome mostly either being really painful or resulting in their deaths."

It was at that point that Pierce happened to notice that...they were next. "...brace yourself," was all he could say, before he too was launched.

In response, Gyro quickly pulled down his goggles over his eyes and pulled out his swords, getting flung through the air a second later.

Yang pouted at Gyro's eye protection. "At least he doesn't have to worry about dried up eyes. My aviators didn't exactly help me."

Qrow: "Let me guess, you blasted yourself further than normally intended from the launch pads, didn't you?"

Yang: "Yup."

Jaune: "At least neither of you got stuck to a tree," he grumbled.

Pyrrha: "Jaune, I did say I was sorry," she tried to comfort her now boyfriend.

Jaune smiled. "Thanks Pyr."

Ozpin watched as the last few students were sent sailing through the air, sipping from his coffee "Glynda… you know how I said this year would be interesting this morning?"

"Yes?" the deputy headmistress repeated in confusion.

"I take it back, it's going to be extremely confusing, I just can't put my finger on why though." Ozpin said, before sipping more of his coffee.

Glynda looked at him for a moment, then to the students, before sighing "Where's Qrow so I can steal his flask?"

Qrow: "Over my dead body you wouldn't, Glyn."

Glynda: "Oh please, Qrow. I'd rather do it to get you to stop drinking so much, or even altogether. The brothers and Hedge know how much that would be a godsend for Tai and your nieces."

"It would," was the immediate response from said nieces.

Weiss: "Now if only we could do the same for mother," she grumbled, but Winter did hear her.

Winter: "On that we agree, sister."

Gyro took a deep breath as he was still riding on the momentum of him being flung, before letting it out with a smile "I love this." he said, before pointing the tips of his blades at his sides, and hitting a switch on the hilt, which, somehow, made blade extensions come out of it and basically cover the holes between his arms and body, almost looking like a pair of wings or a flying squirrel's membrane now.

And with a small application of his semblance to keep the wind riding under him, as well as making sure it was warm, Gyro was basically flying through the air, steering around by twisting his body this way and that.

Jaune: "He's...he's actually flying."

Weiss: "He's practically cheating."

Ozpin: "Well we are under the impression him and his brothers know pretty much everything up to a certain point, so they are more prepared than all of your others. Can't exactly fault him and Pierce for that."

Ironwood: "You wouldn’t even question them on how they knew?"

Ozpin: "I'm pretty sure they would have something planned for that if myself or Glynda had asked them."

They then heard something come from behind them, and they noticed that Hedge was hovering in midair, flames coming out of his shoes.

Weiss: "How the heck are you doing that?"

Hedge: "Well the shoes are powered by a different source than dust, even in the AU that Hedge comes from."

This shocked them, as they knew that if the shoes were being powered by dust, they'd run out of power after some time. But if what he said was true, then what were they powered by?

"So cool!" Ruby and Nora exclaimed.

Yang: "You're not going to tell us what exactly they are powered by, are you?"

Hedge: "Nope," he said with a grin, getting a tongue stuck out at him by the blonde brawler.

Elsewhere in the skies, a rotor was heard spinning, before Pierce was seen slowly descending while holding onto Pandora, about half if it's length having shifted into something akin to the blades of a helicopter, spinning fast enough to slow his descent from the skies.

As he kept going down, eventually it ended with him going down through the forest canopy, the blades spinning fast enough to cut through the branches around him.

Blake: "Seems Pandora is even more versatile than Gambol Shroud." She eyed her weapon in its case up against the wall, wondering what other upgrades she could add to it.

Ruby: "I want it," stars in her eyes.

Yang looked back to Hedge. "Is there a forge here?"

Hedge: "There is. It's connected to the training room, that way any upgrades or newly built weapons you make can be used there."

Yang: "I know where Ruby will be."

Nora: "I think that was pretty obvious, Yang."

When he came out the bottom of the surprisingly thick canopy, he looked down, and was surprised to see a giant black snake slithering towards Lie Ren.

He knew the martial artist was aware of its presence, but he figured he might as well make this faster, quickly shifting his weapon back into Naginata mode, aiming the blade downwards, and letting gravity do the rest of the work, as the blade went right through it's head, piercing the middle of the brain.

As for the second head of the King Taijitu… well, it was taken care of easily as Nora suddenly appeared hanging upside down within the canopy, using Magnhild to fire a grenade down it's gullet.

Silence for a moment, before Pierce scrambled away with Pandora in hand, as the white head blew up, leaving nothing but smoke behind.

Slowly, Pierce and Nora looked at each other, before giving out a silent thumbs up.

Winter: "Excellent take down."

Ironwood: "Indeed. Quick and efficient."

Ren looked dryly at the two of them 'I guess… there's no escaping this huh?' he thought with a sigh, before a wry smile graced his lips. 'I suppose there are definitely worse people I could have been partnered with.'

Weiss: "Ain't that the truth," she muttered. But Ruby still heard her.

Ruby: "Weiss!" She whined.

Back above the skies, Gyro was still flying around, looking for a good person to partner up with "This… is harder than I thought."

He continued to fly around, before spotting a clearing in the forest, seeing two familiar splotches of color, one sitting in the middle, and the other moving around the clearing.

"Huh… guess I found them after all." he said, before going into a dive.

Meanwhile, down on the ground, Weiss was walking around the clearing, trying to figure out in which direction the ruins were, Ruby watching her walk around.

Weiss groaned into her hands, knowing what was to come.

Ruby: "Weiss, you know I have already forgiven you, right?"

Weiss: "That doesn't excuse how I acted during initiation."

"It's this way!... No, that way!... wait, no, it's definitely over there!" Weiss said, moving around, having been doing this for several minutes now.

"So… when are you gonna admit we're lost?" Ruby asked in honest curiosity.

"We aren't lost! Just… misguided." Weiss answered after a moment to find another word.

"Ok, even I know that's just a synonym for lost." Ruby shot back dryly.

"We aren't!" Weiss restated, before marching directly in a specific direction "The ruins are that way!"

Ozpin: "Other way, Ms. Schnee." This caused another groan to come from Weiss, and a small chuckle from her sister.

Before she could take too many steps, Gyro landed right in front of her, feet first and crouched down, before rising up to his full height, actually scaring her a bit as the sun was right behind him and shadowed him well.

"Actually, the ruins are in the other direction," he said simply.

The white-haired girl, currently pale as a sheet, nodded mechanically and slowly turned before walking in the opposite direction she had been heading.

Yang: "Wow, wouldn't expect a Schnee of all people would get scared."

Weiss: "Don't give me that, you brute. You'd be scared if you were in my other's position too."

Yang: "While you are not wrong, I'd probably punch the person who scared me first."

Blake: "Why am I not surprised?"

Qrow: "Because it's Yang we're talking about?"

Ruby: "Sounds about right,” she chuckled.

Ruby looked at Weiss, before looking at Gyro with a raised eyebrow "Um… how did you get here from the sky?"

In response, Gyro grinned as he held up his swords, still in their fan like mode "By combining these with my semblance, I can basically fly." he spoke proudly.

What he didn't say was that the fan like mode had originally been intended as a sort of defensive mode, and only became a wing appendage once he discovered his semblance.

Pyrrha: "Ok, how in the world does that work?"

Jaune: "You'd be surprised how many different ways a weapon could be used."

Nora: "Heh, like Ruby trying to use Crescent Rose as a practical tool to open up a jar of dill pickles."

Ruby: "I thought no one knew about that?!" She squeaked.

Everyone busted out laughing at that, Yang and Qrow the most. The professors and Winter chuckled at that, as they could actually picture her doing that. Ruby just wrapped herself in her cloak, wishing for it to swallow her whole. It took a few minutes for everyone to calm down.

Ruby's eyes slowly widened, and Gyro saw as her pupils slowly took on a star shape as she grinned widely "That's so cool!"

He chuckled in response to that "Thanks, though, we should probably catch up with Weiss before she gets too far."

Ruby blinked at his words, before nodding in agreement as she got up and started following after her white-haired partner.

Gyro spared a moment to look behind him, seeing a large black feather falling down, making him grin before he followed after Ruby. Once they caught up to Weiss, the white-haired girl had a thought.

Ruby: "It's following us, still?"

Hedge: "Originally, you did kind of cut down its perch in anger."

Weiss: "Please tell me things aren't going to end up the same way..."

Both Qrow and Winter were confused on what their family members were talking about. Oh, were they in for a surprise.

"So...how far away are the ruins from here?" she asked.

"At our current pace...we'll be there in an hour or two, assuming we don't get jumped by Grimm," Gyro said simply.

"Of course…" Weiss sighed. She didn't have any issues with the long trek, but she HAD hoped they were closer than that. However, Ruby had heard her...and happened to see the shape of a large Nevermore flying overhead...and that got the gears turning in the young reaper's head.

"Hm...guys, I think I have an idea," she said with a clever smirk.

"You do? Well, lay it on us," Gyro shrugged, hiding a knowing grin. This was going to be interesting.

Weiss: "Why is this still happening?" She groaned in her hands.

Winter: "What are you two talking about?"

"THIS WAS A HORRIBLE IDEA!" Weiss shouted as they hung on for dear life.

"NO WAY! THIS IS AWESOME! THIS IS WAY FASTER THAN WHEN I FLY ON MY OWN!" Gyro shot back just as loudly as he too held on tightly, though he had a large grin on his face.

"I KNEW ONE OF YOU WOULD LIKE IT!" Ruby shouted over the howling winds as the trio was holding onto a Nevermore that had been passing overhead, making liberal use of their semblances to reach its height and latch onto it.

Qrow started laughing uncontrollably as it reminded him of the craziness him and Team STRQ got into, while Winter and Ironwood were shocked that someone would hitch a ride on a Grimm, and an old one at that given the size of the Nevermore.

"YOU TWO ARE INSANE!" Weiss accused.

"BUT IT'S WORKING, RIGHT? I CAN SEE THE RUINS ALREADY!" Gyro retorted. "WHAT NEXT RUBY?"

At that though, there was a sudden pause.

Gyro didn't even bother to look ahead, just sighing as he hung his head "She already jumped, just great." he said, before putting an arm around Weiss's waist and jumping off the Nevermore as well, though he added insult to injury by pointing his finger at it with a finger bang motion, and concentrated wind pressure slammed into its back.

Hedge: "I know there are multiple uses of that finger motion, but the one that tends to come to mind is the esports player SKT Bang or hell, even Frieza when he went into his final form for the first time, and now that I think about it, Vegeta too in the same arc. Missed opportunity to say 'Bang' there."

Weiss was practically screaming into his ear as she had her arms around his neck, making him roll his eyes as he shifted her to his back.

"Just relax, I have this covered." Gyro said as he went into a dive, using his semblance to push himself down faster, catching up next to Ruby, putting an arm around her shoulder as he once more used his semblance, this time to slow them down as much as he could without making it jarring and breaking their neck.

What surprised him though was a blur zooming past the air just below them after a certain point, seeing it crash into a tree right after.

Weiss: "Well, at least neither of us got sideswiped by Jaune," she told her partner.

Jaune: "Pain...,” he groaned at the memory.

'Huh, guess Jaune still got flung like a maniac.' he thought to himself, before slowing down their descent even further, thankfully Weiss had finally stopped screaming, so it wasn't murder on his ears.

With practiced ease, he touched down on the ground, Ruby doing so with a stumbled before getting scooped up into a hug by Yang, while Weiss fell down to the ground, hyperventilating.

"Well, that was a fun experience." Gyro said with a grin.

"You rode in on a Nevermore." Blake said dryly.

"You know it!" Gyro and Ruby said together, before high fiving each other.

Weiss: "Both of you are insane," throwing her arms up in the air.

Ozpin: "Though you can't deny the method they used got you all to the destination you all needed to get too."

Weiss: "Please don't indulge this type of craziness, Headmaster." She pleaded.

Weiss however was glaring at them with murder in her eyes as she shakily got on her feet. She looked ready to begin verbally tearing into them, but before she could start…

A loud crash was heard as a tree was knocked over, someone being heard screaming while it happened, before everyone noticed that three figures were riding in on an Ursa, two of them holding on for their lives, and the third treating it like a joy ride.

Gyro stared dryly at the fact the two hanging on where Pierce and Ren, while the one who was laughing like a maniac was Nora.

Before the Ursa could get any further in its movements, a bullet tore through its skull, everyone turning to Blake in surprise as the now headless beast slumped down.

Nora: "Blake, how dare you kill my mount!"

Ren: "Thank you," he muttered, but said cat Faunus was able to hear him, giving him a thumbs up.

"What? It was an easy target?" the hidden Faunus said with a shrug.

"...fair enough," the other shrugged.

"Aww, it's broken." Nora pouted as the Grimm slowly disappeared under her.

"What the hell is her malfunction?" Pierce asked Ren haggardly.

"I haven't figured it out yet." Ren shot back as the two of them pulled themselves off the ground.

Everyone tried to figure that out too, but the ginger head's friends and professors had already come to know that was just how Nora was, while Ironwood, Winter, and Qrow tried to wrap their heads around what it could be.

Hedge: "To save your brains any damage, I'd suggest just going along with what she does and says."

The three decide to do just that.

"Help." the two of them heard a voice beneath them rasp out, making them look down to see Jaune… though they both had their elbows in his face, squishing it up.

Immediately they got off of him and helped him up. "Whoops! Sorry Jaune," Pierce quickly said.

"It's...fine…" Jaune managed to say, albeit still looking a little dizzy.

Jaune: "Even with my other having some training going into the initiation, things aren't going to well for him, are they?" He groaned into his hands.

Pyrrha: "Probably not," she admitted, but still wrapped her arm around his and leaned against him to comfort him, which was greatly appreciated.

"Well… that just happened." Yang said as she took in the scene.

Back to Ren, he sighed, turning to Nora, about to scold her, only to see nothing but a blinking outline of her, making him look around wildly as leaving her alone was never a good idea.

Fortunately, it seemed she was only looking at the Chess Pieces left around the ruins, particularly the Rook. As such, Gyro and Pierce, despite knowing it was coming, couldn't hold back the wry smiles as they heard her break into song as she balanced the Rook on her head.

Meanwhile, Weiss was looking around, making sure nothing would interrupt her this time, as she stood up, opening her mouth, about to verbally tear into the two adrenaline junkies she was partnered with-

Ruby gasps and turns to her partner, pouting with puppy dog eyes activated.

Weiss fought against her will to succumb to them, but she stood firm against them. "You know that that is true, you dolt."

Ruby kept her pout, but the puppy dog eyes were gone, as she returned to viewing the screen.

And then a large and old Deathstalker ran into the clearing, chasing after Pyrrha.

Ironwood: "Now hold on, did this actually happen, or is this a case of the alternate universe/butterfly effect?" He figured the giant Nevermore actually happened because Ruby and Weiss were talking about it, but to also fight an old Deathstalker too?

Ren: "Yes, General. We did fight that Deathstalker too."

Winter: "Considering you're all here right now says that you beat both of them."

Qrow: "Now the question is how you beat them."

Teams RWBY and JNPR looked at each other between their teams with a knowing smirk, as did Ozpin and Goodwitch, given they lived through the events, or viewed in the case of the professors.

Though, that was when it was just the 8 of them. Here, they had the twins added into the mix, so how would they defeat the two giant Grimm?

Weiss's eyebrow twitched at the sight, while Gyro grabbed the remaining knight piece and tossed the remaining rook piece to Jaune, who fumbled for only a second this time before catching it and putting it in his pocket.

A beat passed, before several people had to back away from Weiss while the ground around her started freezing up.

'Huh, so apparently Yang isn't the only one who can do that.' Gyro thought with a sweat drop as he looked at the white-haired girl.

Qrow: "Geez Weiss, take it easy, or else you really will turn into a mini–Ice Queen like your sister."

Winter: "I'm going to ignore you said that, you drunk." She then turned to her sister. "Weiss, "I'm pretty sure I've told you not to use dust too much, or else things like that..." she pointed to the screen, "...will happen."

Weiss: "Believe me, I'm aware of that, but given our family company, let alone our family history, can you really blame me, or rather my other, for acting like that?"

Winter didn't dignify that with an answer, as deep down, if she was in her sister's other's position, she'd probably crack like that too.

"Is everything QUITE finished adding more Grimm to our plate?" the white-haired girl asked, her voice conveying the very image of tranquil fury.

Pierce WANTED to say yes, he really did. But one look upward told him otherwise. "Uh…." was all he could say, before pointing upward at the giant Nevermore now circling back for them.

Weiss's face was the definition of demonic as she pulled out Myrtenaster from her hip "We're eating chicken tonight!"

'Holy hell that's actually scary.' all the others thought in unison as they stepped away from her more. However, that was a sentiment the two large Grimm clearly didn't share as they continued to charge.

Blake: "Holy dust, she's livid." She remembers how her teammate got back when they argued about the White Fang the previous semester, and that outburst compared to what was being displayed was tame in comparison.

Ruby actually decided to voice that reminder. “Reminds me a bit about the argument last semester," making both girls clam up about it and look at each other.

Yang: "How about we ignore that and just continue watching, ok?"

Thankfully, that defused the tension in the air.

"Attack!" Ruby shouted, holding up Crescent Rose.

"Let's get to a bigger area so we have more space!" Gyro recommended as the ones that had means of attacking long range shot at the Grimm, not only to slow them down, but to keep the attention on them.

With the two Grimm coming after them, they quickly split up, Gyro running after Ruby, while Pierce went to assist Pyrrha who was still being chased by the Deathstalker. Shifting Pandora into its grappling hook function, he used it to first get himself up in a tree, and then fired it again, this time at the Grimm, wrapping around one of its legs, he didn't waste any time at all, hitting a switch on Pandora, sending an electrical shock down the cable, and into the Grimm, getting a screech of pain from it.

"Catch up with the others! I'll be right behind you!" Pierce shouted at the spartan, earning a nod from her as she ran towards the group that had been practically zig zagging around to keep the Nevermore occupied, quickly joining in on having its attention split between everyone.

At the same time, Gyro had used his wind Semblance to launch himself high in the air, and quickly used Ascalon to glide down so that he was grabbing onto the back of the Nevermore. "Thank you, Shadow of The Colossus," he couldn't help but chuckle as he began stabbing away at the Grimm's unprotected back, looking for any openings in the hard feathers. "We'll keep them busy!" He shouted to the others. "Get out of here and we'll catch up!" he said as he stabbed one of his swords into the right spot it seemed, as the Nevermore screeched and veered all over the place trying to get him off.

Glynda: "Both of them seem to be well versed in their weapons."

Ozpin: "Indeed, being able to fight two very old Grimm like these two isn’t easy, as normally it would take a full team, possibly even more, of Huntsmen and Huntresses to take them down."

Jaune: "What’s this about 'Shadow of The Colossus?' Sounds like another video game to me."

Hedge: "You would be correct, Jaune. While I've never played the game personally, I do know that it is a heavily acclaimed game on the PlayStation 2 system. In terms of critics, the game had very high ratings, with an average of 91%, whereas with reviews having high 80's to even high 90%'s. A brief summary of the game is that is an action-adventure game, taking place in a fantasy setting where it follows the protagonist named Wander, whom the player controls. He embarks on a mission to an isolated and abandoned region of a realm seeking power to revive a girl named Mono. I'm not sure of the connection between the two to be honest, but Wander has to locate and destroy the Colossi, which are 16 massive beings spread across the forbidden land...while on foot and horseback."

A picture of the game's European cover art is shown on screen, and everyone can see the comparison in terms of Wander on the horse they are riding, and one of the massive Colossi shown.

Hedge: "Now in terms of what some of the negative things about the game would revolve around the frame rate the game gets when it comes to high paced fighting, which mostly tends to happen when fighting the Colossi. Or that the game, despite it being so acclaimed, is only about 6 to 8 hours long in playtime. The PS2 hardware had been out for 5 years already when the game released in 2005 in the states and Japan, and the next Sony, that's the developer of the PS2, game console, the PS3, came out 13 months later."

Ironwood: "So the developers of the game missed out on potentially better graphics by a year. No doubt the game may have gotten a perfect review if that happened."

Qrow: "True, but you never know with that kind of thing. Unless you have a way to predict the future, of course."

Hedge: "Though, because the game was so highly praised, it actually got a remaster 6 years later on the PS3, and then a remake 7 years after that on the PS4."

Yang: "Better everything I'm assuming on the PS3?"

Hedge: "Graphics in high definition, 3D support, missing content added in that wasn't in the original North American release. And the remake version on the PS4 had all of its assets built up from scratch, but all of the main gameplay stayed the same, just added new controller aspects considering the model of the PS4 controller had compared to the previous two iterations."

Ruby was about to argue, but Jaune was the first to stop her. "We have to go. They know what they're doing. Trust me, they'll be fine!" he said urgently. He didn't like leaving the brothers alone, but he also knew that they were tough, and this wouldn't be enough to stop them.

After a moment's hesitation, Ruby nodded, as the group of 8 ran on towards a ravine and a larger set of ruins.

It was minutes later, after they arrived, that so too did Pierce, the Deathstalker right on his tail "Keep going! Get to the bridge!" he shouted, the others doing so as they all ran towards the stone bridge over the ravine.

At the same time, Gyro was doing his best to try and steer the Nevermore somewhere else, but it seemed dead set on crashing through the ruins in the ravine "LOOK OUT!" he shouted at the top of his lungs towards those crossing it, which at the moment just so happened to be Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, the eventual members of JNPR stopping short when they heard him.

Qrow: "That's not an easy thing to do. A Nevermore that big takes a lot more damage to effectively knock them a certain way."

Glynda: "Though no one is that crazy enough to ride a Grimm in the first place,” she felt the need to state.

As soon as it crashed through the bridge, Gyro jumped off, gliding to land next to Ruby "I don't think he's going to leave us alone."

"Then let's take him!" she shot back with a determined nod.

"Doesn't seem like we have a choice," Blake nodded, standing by her side.

"Well then, let's make it regret messing with us," Yang grinned as she stood by their side.

"I think I may end up enjoying this more than I should." Weiss added with a slight smirk.

"Well then, looks like we're in agreement. Time to roast this bird," Gyro chuckled. "Just a warning though, those feathers are HARD."

Blake: "He's not wrong," she grumbled as she looked over at Gambol Shroud. She tried doing damage to it after recovering from falling into the ravine, but all it did was probably tickle the Nevermore.

Hedge just had a smirk on his face, knowing what he, and by extension Swift, would be giving them later on. Not even Alphas or elder Grimm would be a hinderance to them.

"Then let's hit it with everything we got," Yang grinned, as the four girls started taking advantage of the ruins and soon got on to varying vantage points, all of which gave them clear shots of the Grimm. Thankfully Gyro could improvise something as well, making various points in the air around the grimm pop like small implosions. The Grimm screeched angrily, the various attacks, while not doing much damage, were VERY annoying, forcing it to veer off course, avoiding any of its attackers as it soon tried to circle around again.

It managed to get to the other side of the ruins, the group not getting around fast enough to stop it as it crashed through them and toppled them, making them seemingly fall down into the ravine, before they all used various ways to get back up, such as Ruby literally wall jumping off the various stones, Weiss using her glyphs, Gyro flying back up, Blake using her ribbon, and Yang shooting herself up with shotgun fire.

Jaune: "All of you girls are all about mobility in some shape or form. The only one we got is Nora."

Winter: "It's best to be as nimble as possible, Mr. Arc. Being too stationary against the Grimm could very well lead to your downfall."

Glynda: "And that could lead to injury, or worse."

"We need a plan if we're going to take this thing down." Weiss said with an aggravated sigh as she landed next to Ruby and Gyro.

Ruby looked around, trying to think of something, before seeing Blake swinging herself up, an idea sparking in her mind "I think I got one, Gyro, come with me, Weiss, cover us." she said, earning nods from her partners who did as requested.

Down below, while the future team RWBY and Gyro were dealing with the Nevermore, the future team JNPR along with Pierce were busy dealing with the Deathstalker. Strictly speaking it wasn't the HARDEST enemy, in that it was really kinda slow relatively speaking. The problem was that its shell was proving to be annoyingly hard to deal with. Not to mention they were running somewhat short on terrain as it charged at them with all the intent of a tank.

"Okay, hitting it isn't working! We need a new plan!" Pierce said as once again the Deathstalker shrugged off another volley of bullets.

"I know, gimme a bit to try and think of something." Jaune told him as he tried to find any weak points in the armor.

"It would certainly help if it had trouble finding us." Ren said idly as he kept shooting at it just to annoy it.

Jaune snapped his fingers at that "That's it! Pierce! Pyrrha! Stab it's eyes! We gotta impair it's sight!"

Ren: "That might be a bit difficult given its multiple eyes."

Jaune: "Better to get rid of most of it to hinder any retaliation. While I'll admit it will agitate it greatly, it will lead to hasty attacks from it, making it easier to kill."

The professors, General, Winter, and Qrow were shocked to hear a plan like that from a first year of all people, they were also praising him on a really good plan.

Ozpin: "An excellent idea, Mr. Arc."

"Will do!" Pyrrha said in agreement as she and Pierce ran in, Nora grabbing it's attention with a grenade to the face which also served to blind it for a moment.

Taking the chance, Pyrrha and Pierce stabbed it's larger eyes first, earning a screech from the creature before hurrying to stab the smaller ones managing to get most of them before it tried to snip them with it's pincers.

Pyrrha had her shield to protect herself, wedging it between the pincers, but Pierce seemed to be a prime target… at least that's what the Deathstalker thought before Jaune came in and uppercutted it's pincer with his shield, keeping it's momentum and actually clamping down on it's other arm.

Let's just say the result earned an even louder shriek, as the grimm actually cut off one of it's pincers.

Thankfully, the TV volume was low enough not to hurt anyone's ears, especially Blake's given her cat ears. But they still winced at the brutalness of having the Grimm cut off its own limb.

They all stared at it for a moment, confused at the turnout, Jaune looking down at his fist "Huh… that was lucky."

Qrow: "Heh, luck," he muttered, then took a sip of his flask."

"That was freaking awesome!" Nora hollered out with a grin.

"It's not dead yet though." Pyrrha cautioned as she retrieved her shield.

"We need to find a way to break through its shell." Ren said as they saw the grimm try to rear itself up to attack them again.

Hedge: "Any enemy with that much armor tend to have less on their underside, effectively making that one of their weaknesses."

Winter: "It's true. The Goliaths are a great example of that."

Ruby: "Even the Boarbatusks, too," she said looking at her partner, whom winced at how she acted towards her leader that day. Weiss went to apologize again, but Ruby held up a hand to her. "Weiss, no need to apologize. I've already forgiven you."

Weiss in turn had a greatful smile on her face and nodded.

"Our weapons aren't working though," Jaune said.

"Then what about we use another weapon?" Pierce pointed out, before pointing at the flailing stinger tail. "I hear scorpions can die from their own venom. Think that applies to Grimm too?"

"It's definitely worth a shot." Jaune said, before turning to Ren "Think you can get its stinger lose?"

Ren nodded wordlessly before running at the grimm, jumping over it's now lone pincer and quickly scaling up the stinger and unloading a whole clip from Stormflower into the point that connected the tail and the stinger.

The grimm seemed to be getting extremely aggravated, as it trashed around before managing to buck Ren off, though Pierce had gotten behind just in case and caught him, cushioning the impact. Fortunately, even if he hadn't cut off the stinger, it was already getting loose. Something Jaune noticed, and quickly looked around till he spotted Pyrrha's shield.

Ren: "Good catch, Pierce. Thanks." He still felt some phantom pains from whacking into the ruins.

"Pyrrha! Shield!" Jaune shouted as he pointed at the loose stinger.

Pyrrha followed his finger, before nodding in understanding "On it!" she said and flung her shield like a discus, striking the loosed point of the stinger and cutting through it, making it fall on top of the grimm and finally break through it's armor.

"Nora! Coup de grace!" Pierce shouted to the girl who gave a salute, before rocketing off the ground, and with a small summersault, came down with the full force of her hammer, slamming the stinger into the Grimm. If being impaled in the brain didn't kill it, then the poison should, evident by how the Grimm stumbled a bit forward...before falling off the cliff.

Qrow chuckled. "Pretty sure you kids got it."

"Well...if being stabbed and poisoned doesn't kill it, that drop sure will," Pierce couldn't help but chuckle, as this was starting to feel like overkill. However, any celebrations were put on hold, as the nearby sound of gunfire signaled that the others weren't done dealing with the Nevermore.

"Come on, we'd better see if they need help!" Jaune said, as Nora used her hammer on the remains of the bridge...and catapulted them all to the other side.

What they saw… well, it seemed they had a plan at least.

Yang was making sure to get it's attention on her, by firing her concussive blasts from Ember Celica, the grimm zeroing in on her standing atop a pillar, opening its beak to try and gobble her up, but instead, Yang grinned as she jumped a bit, getting caught in the beak, but kept it open with one hand and her feet, gaining a wicked smirk as she reared her free hand back.

"I! Hope! You're! Hun! Gry!" she said, punctuating each syllable with a blast from her weapon down the Nevermore's throat.

Yang leaned back on the couch, placing her hands behind her head. "Yup, I'm pretty happy about that move." Her teammates just rolled their eyes at that.

"That's gotta sting," Gyro commented wryly as the giant bird veered off course, Yang jumping out of the beak before it crashed into a nearby cliff. On cue, he and Weiss dashed forward, Weiss going low, while he went high, using his wind semblance to fire a blast of compressed air, knocking the Grimm back down again, to which Weiss took the opportunity to freeze its tail and legs to the ground, stopping it from going anywhere. "Slingshot now!" Gyro shouted, to which Blake tossed Gambol Shroud while holding on to part of the ribbon, Yang catching the tossed part and stabbing it into the pillar she was next to, making the ribbon go taut. At the same time, Ruby and Weiss jumped towards the ribbon, while Gyro went up the cliff over the struggling Grimm.

Ruby landed with Crescent Rose under her feet right on the ribbon, while Weiss got behind her, creating a glyph, which together, turned the ribbon into a giant slingshot, with Ruby as the ammo. "Of course YOU would come up with this idea," Weiss commented once Ruby was in a ready to fire position, though there was a notable hint of amusement in her voice, as while this plan was crazy...it was likely to work.

Qrow: "Your mom would be proud of a plan like that, Rubes."

Ruby: "I know," she said fondly.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked, ready to go.

"Can I?" Weiss smirked confidently, though Ruby was less than confident with that answer.

"CAN yo-?"

"Of course I can!" Weiss snapped a little, before Ruby readied Crescent Rose, and Weiss turned the glyph red, launching Ruby straight at the Nevermore. Her flight path was true, and she landed on the cliffside, while catching the Nevermore by the neck on Crescent Rose's blade, before running upwards on a path of glyphs Weiss created, shooting her weapon the whole way to keep up momentum and drag the new helpless Grimm up the cliff. At the same time Gyro jumped off the cliff, using his semblance to speed up his fall while Ruby ran up. When the two were about to pass, Gyro struck, and in a flash of blades, the Grimm was promptly decapitated, its head flying into the air, before falling into the abyss below, Gyro landing on the ground, while Ruby landed on the top of the cliff, the now headless body falling to the ground.

Ironwood: "You wouldn't happen to have the recording of the original initiation, would you Oz?"

Ozpin: "I would."

Hedge: "I could just put the events in your minds." With a flick of his wrist, Ironwood, Winter, and Qrow got the events of the whole initiation planted into their minds, but also got a recording of it on their scrolls too, just in case they couldn't remember.

"Well… that was a thing." Yang said as she wiped the sweat off her forehead, as Ruby started to speed back down the cliff, Gyro having to use his semblance to keep her on the wall of the cliff by having a strong enough wind push against her.

Ruby: "Yeah, I'd rather not go splat on the ground."

"That, was, AMAZING!" Nora shouted as she ran towards them, the rest of the group not far behind.

"Honestly, not sure who made it more badass anymore, you guys or us." Pierce said with a wry grin.

"Well, we did a double decapitation and Yang shot down its throat, what do you have?" Gyro shot back as Ruby arrived back down and sped up next to everyone.

"We made it cut off one of its pincers and then impale itself with its own stinger." Jaune said, deciding to get in on the playful banter.

Gyro blinked a bit, before nodding "Yeah, that does make it hard to decide."

Pyrrha: "How about we don't get into an argument about that, ok?"

"Fair enough," was everyone's response, though Nora and Yang definitely wanted to.

Before anything else could be said, all of them shivered as a suddenly powerful, and COLD, gust of wind blew past them… followed by the cold staying as it started to snow, getting progressively faster.

"A snowstorm? NOW of all times?!" Pyrrha said incredulously, considering it had been sunny mere moments ago.

Pyrrha looked down at her combat outfit, then looked over at a few of the others. "I don't think we have the right outfits on if it was winter weather."

Blake: "Pretty much all of our clothes right now are suitable for summer/fall weather."

Ruby: "Guess a shopping trip is in order for the unexpected weather then."

"What is WITH the weather lately?!" Gyro couldn't help but ask.

"You tell us! Even Atlas' scientists can't seem to figure out how we're getting heat waves when we're practically on Remnant's north pole!" Weiss said, as while she was used to snow, the fact remained this was Vale.

"We need to get out of this storm! If we stay out dressed in summer clothes like this, we might get pneumonia!" Blake had to say a little louder as the wind got stronger.

"The ruins over there!" Jaune shouted as he pointed towards the entrance to the ruins embedded into the cliff wall.

The group of 10 quickly ran into the ruins, brushing off any snow that had gotten caught in their clothes once inside. While it wasn't particularly warm or anything, it was still a large improvement compared to standing outside.

Pyrrha: "Well, the snow could be pulled over to help keep the warmth in."

Weiss: "We'd freeze our hands in the process though."

"So...now what?" Ruby asked.

"Well, I think it would be best if we waited out the storm, if not for it to stop at least until it lessens a bit." Gyro said as he looked outside, pulling the stone door open a little.

"I guess we're in gonna be in here for a while then." Yang said with a sigh as she moved her hands through her hair to try and get it back in place.

"Well, good thing I have cards then." Pierce said as he pulled out a deck of cards, though Gyro chuckled as he recognized them.

Yang: "Aways good to have some form of entertainment on hand for long waits like this."

Hedge: "I tend to just check things out on my phone, watch videos, or just listen to music with headphones."

"Seriously, the promo cards from Agarest War 2? You still have those?" He asked with a small laugh.

"Hey, Azure's the perv who bought that game from that thrift store, I just wanted the playing cards because they have character art on them." Pierce said as he showed some of the cards which had artwork of some of the playable characters on them.

"Wait, I've never heard of that game before, why does it make your brother a perv?" Yang asked in confusion as a few of them brought out their scrolls and turned on the flashlights in them while Pierce started dealing out cards.

"Lots of fanservice." Pierce and Gyro said together dryly. "Part of the plot is literally choosing a bride since you later play as your future son...and of course what game like this DOESN'T have the harem aspect to it?" Gyro explained.

Everyone looked over at Hedge with a dry expression on their faces.

Hedge: "Hey don't look at me. Before I read this story, I had no idea of this type of game, so I don't even know the whole premise or goal of the game is."

Winter: "Does it really need that aspect a part of it, though?"

Hedge: "That depends on the developers apparently."

Ruby then innocently asks, "What's a harem?"

Everyone: "We'll tell you when you are older!"

Everyone gave them dry stares, and suddenly, they all thought a bit less about the elder Vermillion sibling. Whatever the case, they decided to start playing to pass the time.

It actually took a few hours to pass before they heard the storm started to slow down. Peeking out the doors to see it had reduced to a calm snowfall, with the Emerald Forest now looking more like the White Forest now. They all sighed in relief as they stepped outside, the crunch of snow sounded under their feet.

"You really have to wonder what's the cause of all this freak weather these last months, I mean, Vacuo has had so much rains it's gotten to flood levels." Gyro said as he stepped out from under the roof on the entrance altar.

"Mistral has even had to borron tips from Vacuo because of how severe some of the sandstorms would get when they came out of nowhere." Pyrrha added as she rubbed her bare shoulders to try and warm herself up.

Blake: "Sun has told me a bit about how bad those sandstorms get. They are not fun to deal with."

"Well, we'd better get back to Beacon. The last thing we want is to be caught in a blizzard or something," Gyro sighed, to which they all nodded in agreement. However…

"Whoa…!" Ruby suddenly said, before pointing at the sky when they looked at her questioningly.

"That...shouldn't be possible…" Weiss blinked. There in the sky...was an aurora, but not any aurora any of them had ever seen. Rather than a curtain like shape, it was swirling, almost like some kind of rainbow colored hole.

Ruby: "Beautiful..."

Yang: "That's a bucket list activity to see."

"Tell that to the aurora we're seeing right now," Ren couldn't help but say, as all of them were VERY bewildered by what they were seeing, especially the brothers, as they KNEW this...NONE of this...happened in RWBY canon. This was a divergence, and that could either be a very good thing or a very bad thing.

Nora: "Divergence?"

Hedge: "More or less, it's when events don't end up going the way they were intended to. Of course, right after Team RWBY defeated the Nevermore, you all just went back to Beacon, right?"

The students nodded, as they definitely don't recall seeing this, on top of the winter weather.

Ozpin: "This is most likely the Butterfly Effect."

Glynda: "No doubt about that."

"Wait… I think I see something in there." Jaune said as he squinted his eyes, trying to peer into the many lights of the aurora.

At that moment, 10 small lights became visible within the aurora… before flying out and heading straight towards the group of teens.

"Get to cover!" Gyro shouted urgently as everyone dived out of the way, the 10 meteors striking down into snow covering the small entrance area of the ruins.

Weiss: "Meteors? Aren't they supposed to burn up in the atmosphere?"

Ironwood: "That's the normal outcome for them, Miss Schnee, but some do tend to break through."

When the snow/smokescreen cleared, they poked their heads out of the cover. "Is it over?" Jaune asked shakily.

"Well...seems like the heavens have stopped trying to smite us so...probably?" Pierce said, looking around for anymore rains of death.

Everyone chuckled at Pierce's choice of words.

"Though...aren't meteors supposed to be...bigger?" Blake suddenly pointed out, as true enough, the craters in the snow were...very small. Heck, whatever was in them could probably fit into the palm of their hands judging by the size.

"Whatever it was, I want it as a souvenir!" Nora said, grinning widely as she ran up to one of the holes.

"You know, that's actually a good idea." Yang agreed as she copied the hyperactive carrot head.

"Yang, no! What if it's some kind of alien parasite that wants to take over the world!" Ruby shouted as she ran after her sister.

Hedge: "Hehe, common horror movie trope. And I do love me some horror films."

Yang: "Yeah, too many for Ruby."

Ruby: "You make me watch them with you! Uncle Qrow too!"

Qrow: "Only because you say you're big enough to watch them."

"Sometimes you have to wonder who's the older of the two." Blake said with a sigh as she followed.

"Well...nothing ventured, nothing gained I guess…" Gyro sighed as he and Pierce walked over to the craters. Whatever this was, he had a feeling they'd want to know what it is one way or another.

They were joined by the others who had still been hiding, figuring they might as well figure out what was going on as well. However, when they got there, things only became stranger. As if sensing them coming close, beams of light shot out of the craters, going straight up, and within those beams, something small slowly rose up, till they were at eye level of each of the gathered huntsmen in training. All of them looked stunned for a moment...except Nora who grinned and clapped whatever it was with both her hands. "Got it! Got it!" she said in a sing song tone, before opening her hands. "Ooooh, what's this?"

Everyone looked between each other, before following her example and grabbing whatever the objects were, looking into their hands to reveal…

"Are these… pagers?" Gyro said in confusion.

"What's a pager?" Ruby asked in confusion.

Hedge: "Something older than even me."

Qrow: "You'd use them to see who is paging you, but then you have to go find them. They don't tell you where exactly they are, something that scrolls do much better at. Or a phone in Hedge's case."

"Something older than all of us Rubes." Yang told her as she looked at the strange object with a raised eyebrow. "Still...since when do pagers fall from the sky? Heck, how'd they survive the trip?"

"Something I think we can find out after we're all back in Beacon," Weiss sighed. "We've wasted enough time as is."

"She's right, let's head back." Pyrrha said in agreement with the heiress, earning a grateful nod from her.

"Yeah, let's...go?" Gyro was about to nod...but the 'pagers' suddenly started glowing with a bright white light.

Ruby: "Oh great, what's happening now?"

Jaune: "Can we ever get a break?"

Weiss: "Don't think we're that lucky, Jaune."

"Uh...guys? Something's happening to the aurora," Pierce suddenly said, as a light was shining from the aurora too...and then something that made them all wonder if this was all just a crazy dream happened. The sound of rushing water was heard...and a giant tidal wave appeared...from the abyss where the Deathstalker had fallen...which should have been dry land.

"What… the… FUCK?!" Jaune, surprisingly, was the one to swear rather loudly.

Ruby: "Language!" From her cloak, she pulled out a jar with a few lien cards in them. A label was on it with the words 'Swear Jar' written on it. She walked up to Jaune and shook it in front of him.

Jaune: "Really Ruby?" She held firm and looked at him while shaking the jar again. "Ok, fine." He took out a lien card and placed it inside.

"Language!" Ruby found the time to shout, before things got even weirder, as the tidal wave seemed to open in the middle, yet instead of them seeing the forest behind it, it was like it went on into infinity… and then it rushed at them.

They didn't have time to react as the wave swallowed them all up, but instead of drowning, all they felt was like they were falling endlessly between the opening of the wave, shouting helplessly.

A moment passed, and the water receded, and not a single trace remained of the young hunters in training.

With that, the TV turned off, and the book popped out and floated back to the coffee table.

Pyrrha: "Wait, that's the end of the chapter?"

Hedge: "Yup."

Yang: "Oh come on! That was a major cliffhanger!"

Nora: "Yeah, we want to know what happened to us."

Hedge: "Hey don't blame me. That was all Swift that decided to end that off with one."

Blake: "Does he know that not a lot of people like something ending in a cliffhanger?" She had her fair share of cliffhangers from her books that she read. She hated waiting for the next edition of a story to come out to see what happens next.

Hedge: "Trust me, he knows. But now, let's take a break. I can set up anything you need, Headmaster." He looks over at Ozpin and Glynda.

Ozpin: "Just some test papers and some Atlesian Knights." He walks up and whispers into his ear the specific type of questions the papers would have. Hedge nods his head at that, and with a wave of his hands, the papers appear in front of the students with a pencil. While Hedge and the adults head over to the training room to place the Knights, they inform the students to work on the test papers. No cheating by asking the others for answers.

Though as they enter the training room, Hedge receives a ping, and a holographic screen appears in front of him. The sender though is what intrigued him and after reading the message, a grin appears on his face.

Qrow: "That doesn't look like a good smile on your face, Hedge."

Hedge: "What, am I that bad at hiding things?" He shrugs his arms.

Winter: "Should we be worried about what appeared on the screen?"

Hedge: "No, not at all. But I think Swift just suggested something alternatively to the students facing the Atlesian Knights." At that, the Chaos Emeralds appear above his outstretched hand.

Ironwood: "And it involves the Chaos Emeralds?" Deep down, he was a little afraid of their power.

Hedge: "Yes, but it also involves me as well. And I must say...I'm willing to go through with it." He then explains the suggestion that Swift had messaged him about.

Chapter Text

Teams RWBY and JNPR were working on the test papers in front of them. They were mostly about Remnant's history, general fighting questions to help assess their battle knowledge, and what they knew about the known Grimm types that plagued their world. It had been quite a while since the adults had left with Hedge to the training room and had left them there to work on the test.

To no one's surprise, Weiss was the first to finish the test, confident that she had got most if not all of them right. Pyrrha was the second to finish, Blake and Ren finished shortly after, Nora and Yang rounding out next, leaving Jaune and Ruby to be the last ones. Ruby was taking her time on the questions, silently thanking Weiss for helping her study back at Beacon, but she wouldn't lie that some of the questions weren't tough. As for Jaune, however, this was really putting him to the test, pun intended. He berated himself for going the route of forging his transcripts, but was also envy of his other from the story that he got help from the twins. He thought to himself he wouldn't get a lot of these right, but maybe he could make up for it in the training room.

Soon enough, the two leaders had finished the test. Since they were in casual clothes, and it sounded like they would be fighting, they went back into their rooms to change into combat clothes, since they were dressed casually from the morning. They grabbed duffle bags and placed a change of clothes to take into the training room showers once they finished, but they didn't think that they work up too much of a sweat fighting Atlesian Knights.

Boy, were they in for a much tougher fight.

Grabbing their weapons out of their cases in the viewing room and their test papers in hand, they enter through the door leading into the training room, where their professors, the General, Specialist Schnee, and Qrow were waiting. They soon came to notice that their host Hedge was nowhere to be seen, though.

Ruby: "Where's Hedge?"

Ozpin: "Mr. Badnic had to work on a few things, so he left us the Atlesian Knights here." He directed their attention to the currently deactivated bots in the middle of the arena.

The students believed that statement to be true, given that Hedge, or rather Drivver, had other things to deal with besides just to host them here in his dimension. What they didn't know, however, was that it was a little white lie that the adults and their host came to an agreement on.

The students handed in their test papers to Professor Goodwitch, whom would review them during their next break. Each of them walked to the arena with their weapons, after filling up on ammo and dust crystals (no doubt provided by Hedge), and once they all entered, a barrier appeared around the battleground, the adults just outside.

Weiss: "So what's the goal here, professors?" Myrtenaster's dust chamber spun and locked into place her selected choice.

Glynda: "Simple really. Defeat all of the Atlesian Knights before all of your auras are placed into the red."

Ironwood: "Keep in mind there will be waves of the Knights,” a tablet in his hand, possibly to control the bots.

Jaune: "Is there a specific amount we will fight?"

Winter: "An excellent question, but where's the fun in that, Mr. Arc?" If they really focused in, they could see a smirk grace her lips.

Qrow: "Mainly, this is to test how durable you all are with your aura, but at the same time, it will also be to see how well you work with each other. I've heard how often both of your teams are around each other."

Ozpin: "Now, you'll be able to prove it to us."

An automated voice brought the students' attention with a countdown shown up in the air, counting down to start combat. They all got into their respective battle stances, Jaune and Pyrrha getting in front to block the dust rifles the Knights wielded, while Ironwood prepped the Knights to go into battle mode once the countdown finished.

The difficultly of the waves was simple, not too hard to deal with on the first wave, but gradually would get tougher the further they progress. The amount of Knights they would deal with would also increase too.

For the first wave, there were 8 Knights, one for each of them. Simple enough, and they were taken down like, well in Qrow's eyes, the fodder they were.

Ironwood was quick to activate the next wave to appear, this time 16 Knights, but their targeting systems were tuned up, getting the students to actively move around a lot more than before to dodge the dust rounds fired upon them. Even with the additional hurdle, the second wave was taken down.

With the activation of the third round, there were now 32 Knights, however, half of them had blades in their hands, reminiscent of their predecessors, which didn't go unnoticed by Ruby, Weiss, and Blake.

Ruby, because she had seen the older models when Ironwood did his presentation with Penny. She may not had seen them change their arms to the blades in question, but she knew they had that capability.

Weiss because she had actually seen the older models before she came to Beacon, thanks to some pictures sent to her from Winter.

Blake, on the other hand, was having PTSD seeing the blades. The last time she had seen the older models was when she had her last mission with the White Fang. The mission she had left...Adam...behind and never looked back. She shook her head to get rid of those thoughts and rushed in to try and quickly get rid of those Knight Varients.

Yang, seeing her partner rush in blindly, ran after her to cover her, since the other half of the Knights still had dust rifles and were ready to fire upon the resident cat-ninja of their team.

Qrow took notice of how Yang had instantly jumped into action at Blake's movement. Sure it could be seen as her backing up her partner, but he had a small smirk on his face, coming to the assumption that there was more to it than just that.

Ruby and Weiss shared a look, with Ruby calling out one of their team combos. "Ice Flower!" Ruby stabbed Crescent Rose into the ground and Weiss placed glyphs in front of the barrel. Ruby fired off shots, her bullets turned into ice shots freezing the Knights in front of Blake, covering her blind spots.

Even Team JNPR were shocked at Blake's motion.

"Pyrrha!"

Said redhead was broken from her stupor as she turned to her peppy teammate. Knowing what she was wanting to do, Pyrrha got into position, shifting her weapon back into storage and on her back, then placing her shield in front of her.

Nora, with a wide grin on her face, jumped towards Pyrrha, and reminescent of their combo move on the Deathstalker from initiation, pushed Nora with all her might towards the Knights, taking down a few of them, and garnering the attention of the others that weren't focused on the Bumblebee duo.

Jaune glanced over at Ren. "Guess we should've expected her to do that," a sweat drop on his head.

Ren slightly chucked at that. "No kidding."

They ran in behind Nora to back up their tank, while Weiss ran in to help out Blake and Yang, the former using her elemental clones like she did against Roman on the train against the blade-wielding Knights, and the latter beating down the rifle-wielding ones. Pyrrha and Ruby stayed back, using their long range weaponry to pick off the stragglers.

The adults watched on, judging them on their performance throughout the waves. Ozpin and Goodwitch had tablets in their hands, jotting down the grading. The students were doing well, maybe a few points to be deducted on Miss Belladonna’s recklessness, but aside from that, everyone was covering each other's backs.

Soon enough, the last of the Knights were taken down. Ironwood had some ideas to upgrade the Knights thanks to Winter jotting down performance of them. Though, internally, the adults knew the real test was about to begin.

The students seemed to catch on that there was more, considering the hard-light barrier didn't go down.

Pyrrha: "Uh, professors? Why hasn't the barrier gone down yet?" still on guard.

"That's because there is still one more test."

The students looked above them to see Hedge hovering in midair. He now sported a red and black trench coat over his normal combat gear they had come to see him in normally. Chaos and Destruction, surprisingly, not strapped to his back.

Yang: "Wait, hold on. Are we going to fight you?!" she asked as Hedge touched down. While she was itching to fight him, before he revealed the power of the Chaos Emeralds, she was a little hesitant to do so now.

Qrow: "That's right, Firecracker. Our gracious host is your final challenge."

Hedge: "The rules are simple. All of you will fight against me, until either side has their aura broken. If any of you remain, all of you will win."

Blake: "Out of curiosity, how much is this fight weighted?"

Glynda: "Take a wild guess, Miss Belladonna." A knowing smirk was on her face, making the students think this was going to be the toughest fight of their lives, even if it was just a friendly spar.

Jaune: "How exactly is that fair that we're fighting you with full aura, compared to us that don't?" While it was true they didn't get damaged all that much by the Knights, they did exert themselves to spend a bit of their aura.

Hedge: "You are aware that I'm able to re-energize you, right?" a raised eyebrow on his face with his arms crossed. With a wave of one hand, they felt themselves be rejuvenated and checked their scrolls to see they were all topped off. Though they also checked their weapons, those that had used dust against the Knights, and found they had been topped off there too, since the dust ammunition they filled up on was outside the barrier.

Ren: "Rules of engagement?" he asked as he prepared Stormflower.

Hedge: "Anything goes, except killing of course." A smirk graced his lips. "Though I'll admit it would be pretty tough to kill someone like me."

The professors had to agree with him on that. He had actually told them about his abilities that he would keep hidden. And that was just his natural power, not taking into consideration the Chaos Emeralds, or even the Master Emerald.

Ruby: "Where's Chaos and Destruction?" Did Hedge intend to fight them without his swords?

Nora: "Bit of a handicap if you ask me," hefting Magnihild over her shoulder.

Hedge: "Makes it all the more interesting, does it not?" he asked with a smirk.

Pyrrha: "I'll admit. It actually does," a smile gracing her lips. She may have gained her title due to her utilizing her semblance during her tournaments, but that was because her opponents tended to use any form of metal on them, be it their weapon or armor. Hedge had very little in terms of metal on him, considering he wasn't using Chaos and Destruction; he did have the metal bands on his wrists and ankles, though.

Everyone had spread out around Hedge while he got into his fighting stance. He'd keep it simple for now; hand-to-hand in fighting and blocking melee attacks. As for dust fire, well, he'd improvise with that.

Ozpin moved his attention to his tablet, starting the countdown to begin the fight. Once the timer ended, Hedge disappeared from view and reappeared next to Weiss, swinging his leg in a high arc to hit her with a semblance-imbued kick.

Remembering that Hedge had explained his semblance a bit to them, Weiss knew that even if she blocked it with Myrtenaster, she'd still get the lingering effect of the lightning dust he generates inside his body, leaving her taking damage over time, so reacting quickly, she uses her knowledge of acrobatics and swiftly dodges to and fro the multiple kicks he threw her way.

After three kicks, Hedge had left an opening, something Weiss didn't hesitate to capitalize on, firing ice shards at him from a few glyphs she summoned to pelt him with.

Hedge noticing his blunder maneuvered around the shards, coating his arms in lightning dust to explode the shards that he didn't dodge into smoke clouds. Since Hedge was going hand-to-hand, Yang ran into the cloud to catch him off guard, preparing to throw a right hook.

Having sensed her approaching, Hedge brought up his arm to block the haymaker, though it wasn't coated in lighting dust. Having an understanding of everyone's semblances, he'd not give too much charge to the two heavy hitters he was fighting, especially Nora. The DoT from his semblance wouldn't charge Yang up that much, but any charge could still be detrimental in the long run.

The two traded blows back and forth, neither actually landing a hit on each other. They were blocking each other like a choreographed fight. While the others tried to find an opening to land a ranged attack on Hedge, they didn't want to accidentally hit Yang in the crossfire, even it meant powering up her semblance. Even Pyrrha wondered when to move his arms with his bands.

Ruby: "Blake!"

Having heard her leader call out her name, the cat Faunus ran in to help her partner, and now Hedge was in a 2v1 situation, not only having to dodge Yang's punches, but also deal with Blake's slashes from Gambol Shroud.

Hedge: "Not bad. Actually putting me on the backfoot here."

Though he tried to get them to become reckless, it seemed to not have a real effect on the two.

Jaune: "Pyrrha, let's go."

Pyrrha: "Right."

The Arkos duo started to rush in, and Hedge's vision was focused on Blake and Yang's assault, so he didn't notice them running in. Because of this, Blake used a fire clone to explode on Hedge, sending him skyward, Yang jumping up and sending him back down towards Jaune and Pyrrha, who met him on the way down and sliced at him with Miló and Crocea Mors, taking a good chunk of his aura. Ren and Nora fired at him, further taking down Hedge's aura.

Hedge made to recover himself, landing a bit away from them, his clothes a bit riled up from the barrage he just took. "Alright then." He summoned up Chaos and Destruction into his hands, then a red glyph appeared underneath him. "Time to get serious." Standing up straight, suddenly, three copies of Hedge appeared on either side, two on his right, one on his left.

This was his Doppelgänger ability, a pretty handy ability to have in an outnumbered situation. Plus as an added bonus, it didn't split his aura reserves throughout the copies. Each one had their own pool of aura to draw from. The only drawback, was that the maximum aura each copy had was the amount the original Hedge had before creating the Doppelgängers, which currently was 50%. He had taken more damage than he thought he would. They also weren't controlled by the original Hedge; they were effectively their own entity, conscious and all.

Each partner duo fought against a Hedge copy. The arena changed and broke off into 4 smaller arenas. A barrier splitting each part off, leaving no assistance from any of the other duos.

WhiteRose duo

Ruby and Weiss met their Hedge copy head-on, Crescent Rose clashing with Destruction, and Myrtenaster clashing with Chaos (a reminder that Chaos is in Hedge's right hand, and Destruction is in his left. Considering Weiss is left-handed, this is why).

Hedge(1): You know, I've seen myself a bit in you, Ruby. Very shy when it comes to talking to new people. I will say you have grown as a person over time in the show, though that is because of certain events that happen."

This causes Ruby to lose focus a bit, giving Hedge the opportune time to break Destruction free from their clash and slash her away.

Ruby: "Ahh!"

Weiss: "Ruby!" She recovers quickly enough to block a double strike from her opponent.

Hedge(1): I'd say your character arc had a really big growth over the course of the show, Weiss. Some fans even consider you the "best girl."

Weiss grunts in their clash. "If you think flattery will allow you to get a one up over me, you have another thing coming."

She swaps Myrtnaster's dust chamber to ice dust, which freezes Chaos and Destruction, causing the Hedge copy to back away. One usage of his semblance later, and the swords are free again. Ruby runs back up to her partner.

Hedge(1): "Whatever floats your boat...Ice Queen."

THAT threw Weiss over the edge and she rushes in in anger, changing her dust chamber to fire. Ruby begrudgingly following her partner.

Bumblebee Duo

The Hedge copy fighting Blake and Yang batted away a fire dust blast from Yang's Ember Celica.

Yang: "I'll admit. Didn't expect an ability like this, splitting yourself up. Seems like Blakey's semblance but better."

Blake: "Gee, thanks Yang," she deadpanned to her partner.

Hedge(2): "It has its uses, I just don't like the time that I had first used it."

The two girls looked at each other, silently agreeing not to push further on that.

Hedge(2): But that doesn't mean to drop your guard!"

He had appeared right in front of Blake and kicked her in the gut, knocking her back and the wind out of her.

Yang: "Blake!"

Hedge(2): "Same goes for you!"

He swings Chaos in a wide spread, Yang barely dodging the slash, but not all of her was lucky to dodge it.

As she backed away, she noticed that a pretty decent chunk of her hair had been cut, the patch of hair seen on the floor.

Hedge(2): "What will you do now, Yang?"

He knew how she would react, but he really did hope she could move pass these anger issues, especially regarding her hair.

Yang practically exploded in anger. "YOU ARE DEAD!" and blasted forwards towards Hedge.

Arkos Duo

Jaune and Pyrrha are currently trying to dodge from their Hedge copy's attacks...or rather, it's Jaune that is trying to dodge from his attacks, and Pyrrha trying to land damage AND protect Jaune to the best of her ability, even using her semblance to redirect Chaos and Destruction away.

Yes, she can use her semblance to move Hedge's sword slashes away from Jaune and/or move his shield to block the slashes like she did back during the first semester when he fought the Ursa Major and trying to protect Cardin, but Hedge could just use his semblance to create lightning spears that couldn't be effected by Pyrrha's semblance to compensate. He could even use those spears as elemental weapons too in case she managed to get Chaos and Destruction out of his hands.

Hedge(3): "You can tell him he's great all you want, but the truth always shows up in battle, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha: "Belittling him won't guarantee you a win, Hedge."

Hedge(3): "Neither will subtlely using your semblance to redirect your opponents' weapons, or even his weapons to help him," he shot back.

Pyrrha froze up at that. It was true, she would do that quite often during her time in the Mistral Tournaments. It was how she got her "title," despite not liking being placed on a pedestal. And that last part he mentioned, she never told Jaune that she helped him back then.

Jaune: "What do you mean 'redirect his weapons?'"

Hedge(3): "Ah, she never told you, did she?" Pyrrha was sweating now. "During the previous semester, when you were dealing with Cardin, the Ursa Major you were fighting would have heavily injured you, if not outright killed you, if Pyrrha hadn't moved your shield to block its swipe. You didn't kill it all by yourself."

Jaune was shocked at that. He practically stood up to Cardin because he put his own life on the line, all because he believed he had put down that Ursa Major all on his own. Cardin had stopped bullying him because of the display he put on in front of him, but if he learned about the truth that it wasn't just him that killed the Grimm, then he might just resume bullying him.

He looked to his partner that was practically screaming internally that her secret came to fruition, and was wondering just what Jaune would think about that.

Jaune: "Is...is that true, Pyr?"

Pyrrha sighed at that. "Yes, Jaune. It is. I didn't want to tell you because you have been getting so much better in your skills, and you were standing up to Cardin. If I had told you, you probably would've never gotten out of your funk." She paused and looked at her partner, now boyfriend, and wondered if he still even wanted anything to do with her. "Do you...hate me for that?"

Jaune: "Hate you? No way. If it wasn't for you, I'd probably not be standing here in front of you, and be your boyfriend. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I started to hate you over one small thing like that?"

Pyrrha eyes started to tear up at that statement. She quickly moved to clear them out. "Thank you, Jaune."

Jaune: "I think I should be the one thanking you." He looked over at their Hedge copy. "And I think it's time we take down this copy," as he pointed his sword at their opponent.

Pyrrha nodded at him. "Right."

Hedge(3) smiled at their determination. "You can try." Lightning sparked across his body as the Arkos duo sprinted towards him.

Renora duo

Well, you would think it would be going good for the Hedge copy here, since he just needs to use his semblance on Ren.

Yeah...

Not when Nora constantly jumps in front of him to tank the lightning spears every time and powers herself up.

Hedge(4): "Ok. Maybe not one of my smartest ideas," he said as he was getting up after getting smacked up against the barrier to the section of the arena he was set to.

Nora was currently sparking thanks to her semblance, while Ren was next to her, Stormflower in hand and watching Hedge closely in case he tried to do something.

Ren: "So do you give up?"

Nora: "Though I'd prefer it if you didn't. I'm still raring to go!"

Both Ren and the Hedge copy looked at her with a deadpanned face.

Hedge(4): "Yeah, I'd be pretty dumb to continue on in my current state. You two win this round."

The copy disappeared from their battle arena, though they did catch on to what he said.

Nora: "Call me crazy, Renny, but did he state 'in his current state?'"

Ren: "That he did. We better be on our toes for what's to come."

Nora nodded at him, not with her normal smile and cheeriness, but with a serious look.

It didn't take long for the others to beat their Hedge copies, and soon enough, the remaining barriers that had originally split the arena into four areas had disappeared. Everyone regrouped into the center of the arena, the 4 copies of Hedge had regrouped as well, now converging back together into a singular Hedge, but the signature tell of aura breaking showing over him, and he collapsed to one knee.

Ruby: "We did it!" She collapsed to her knees right after, exhausted from the battling her and Weiss had done against their copy. Or rather, keeping up with Weiss considering she got all riled up and released all of her anger against it.

Blake: "But why hasn't the overall barrier disappeared yet?"

Hedge chuckled. "Well well. I must congratulate you all on getting this far." He rose back up to his feet, but what caught everyone's attention, was that the Chaos Emeralds started to appear around him. He also pulled out multiple jars with symbols of what looked like golden rings with an "x100" on them, crushing them in his hands. "Behold...the power...OF THE CHAOS EMERALDS!"

(Begin playing Knight of The Wind - Sonic and The Black Knight OST)

The emeralds' glow shined even brighter as they were absorbed into Hedge.

Yang: "What's going on?!" as she and everyone else covered their eyes from the bright light that encapsulated Hedge.

Ozpin: "The final stage of this test! You have 5 minutes to survive against Hedge as he is powered up!

Weiss: "What do you mean powered up?!"

Qrow: "Best to let him explain, or rather, show you!"

The glow ended, and what everyone saw shocked them to their core. What they saw was Hedge, but he was changed now. The trench coat he had on had changed color from its red and black, to now mostly gold with the red stripes still seen. But his trench coat wasn't the only thing gold, as his skin was also golden, and his eyes had changed to red. Not like how they were back when he got angry where they were bloodshot, but just the irises were red.

Hedge: "Yes." His voice was much deeper than it was previously. "Same rules apply here. If even one of you is left standing by the end of the time limit, you all win."

On the screen above them, instead of Hedge's aura being tracked, it was his...ring count?

And it was already counting down from 500, meaning Hedge was already on them in an instant, forcing them to dodge out of the way from his sword slashes.

Pyrrha: "So that's what those capsules were about."

Hedge: "In the universe the emeralds originate from, the Super forms are ran off of the user's ring count. And these forms give the user invincibility."

Everyone is shocked at that information.

Jaune blocks a strike from Destruction. "There has to be some sort of other drawback besides just the ring count."

Hedge: "Oh there is. Enough damage to disrupt the connection of the emeralds to the user. So you're welcome to fight back."

Everyone's auras were rejuvenated back to full, as they knew they wouldn't be able to do much against him at the levels they were at from the copies.

Despite them being hesitant, they all jumped in to fight Super Hedge.

With the adults, however, they were still wrapping their minds around the revelation that the Chaos Emeralds gave nigh invincibility for a time limit in the form of a ring count.

Ironwood: "We're all in agreeance those Emeralds can't come to Remnant, right? If they get into the hands of Salem..."

Glynda: "I think it's safe to say that Hedge won't be sending them to Remnant when he sends us back."

Ironwood: "But what if he comes back with us? Who's to say he wouldn't lose them?"

Qrow: "Do you really think he's stupid enough to actually lose the Emeralds, Jimmy? Look inside that arena and tell me he is someone stupid enough to lose something that powerful to petty thieves, or her followers?"

Ironwood did just that, and winced in sympathy to the students, dodging to and fro from Hedge's attacks, but getting hit hard more often than dodging.

Winter: "General, as much as I would like to disagree, Qrow is right. And this is Hedge with not even using his full natural power, or even the Emeralds' full power."

Ozpin: "He also knows a lot more of our future than what the twins in the story know. So even if Hedge did come to Remnant with us once we finished here, I'm pretty sure he has contingency plans for everything that is to come."

Ironwood wanted to rebuttal that, he really did, but he kept himself calm. "That may be true, Oz, but need I remind all of you of the potential butterfly effects that may occur once we start to learn about the future as well?"

That made them rethink about that for a bit, as he did have a point there. But they would deal with all of that when the time came.

Ozpin: "You make a fair point, my friend." They all returned their gaze back to the fight, but Ozpin felt even guiltier on the inside. He was hiding a major piece of information regarding Salem from them, and he really did wonder when that information would come to the surface, either from the story or from Hedge himself. Thankfully, Hedge gave him the opportunity to tell everyone himself, which may save him some face, but he didn't know if he really should go down that route.

He should probably talk with Hedge about that soon face to face.

Back with the fight, things were not going well for the students, as currently Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Jaune, and Ren had all been eliminated due to their auras getting depleted, leaving Yang, Nora, and Pyrrha left in the arena against Hedge, who had about 200 rings left of his Super form.

(End Song)

(Begin I’m Here-Revisited - Sonic Frontiers)

Hedge: "I must commend you surviving till now. But I think it's about time we ended this. Eat your heart out, Sonic."With a loud yell, a new form was taken on. Not much had changed with Hedge's outer appearance, but he did have new lightning sparks shot around him, and his eyes took on a light blue color.

This was the controlled Corrupted Super form. While it may be a risk at losing the Super form quicker than the regular one, he really stepped up the difficulty in the fight.

Something Yang didn't seem to take notice on, as she rushed in with her semblance activated, still pissed off Hedge had cut her hair.

Before she could even get close to him, Hedge had turned into a blur, and blitzed through her, the two trading places with Hedge having his arms crossed, and Yang looking like she had thrown her punch.

In a matter of seconds, Yang's body was assaulted with quick strikes, depleting her aura and falling unconscious, her body being teleported out of the arena next to the others. Ruby quickly tended to her sister.

Hedge had forgone using Chaos and Destruction now and appeared in front of Pyrrha, catching the girl off-guard. She barely had enough time to bring up her shield to block a haymaker from him, but the force behind said punch was enough to wittle her aura down just enough that the collision with the barrier afterwards depleted her aura, leaving only Nora left.

Now, you would think Nora would understand the severity of the situation, but she wasn't one to give up so easily, and she was willing to take a gamble. So she ran forward to land a strike on Hedge, whom merely took the attack head-on like it was nothing.

This, however, was part of Nora's plan.

The lightning surrounding Hedge worked in Nora's favor, as being in close proximity to him allowed her to be struck by the multiple sparks that spewed off of him. This allowed her to power herself up with her semblance at an alarming rate, something that Hedge caught on quickly too, evident by his eyes bulging.

Quickly he jumped back away from Nora to not have a similar situation to her Volume 8 self. He didn't even know if he could heal her scars if that did happen; Jaune most certainly couldn't.

Feeling like she could really do some damage to Hedge, she smirked and, with her enhanced speed, blitzed towards Hedge, going for a feint, hoping he would fall for it.

To the shock of those watching, he did fall for it. Hedge had teleported from his spot to behind Nora, but he had already fallen for her trap. With a quick spin, she spun with full force behind her with Magnihild, catching Hedge in the gut, some rings spewing from his body, but that wasn't all, as when he collided with the barrier, more rings spewed out, which had left him on small reserves. It seemed to have done him in, because while he was trying to catch his breath, his ring count had depleted, evident by the meter on the screen blinking red and a "0" in front of it.

(End song)

Hedge fell to his knees as he dropped out of his Super form, while Nora too had dropped to a knee as well after her semblance had wore off, but her aura didn't break. Looking up at the aura reader, she was one tick away from it doing so.

But that didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. She had done it! She survived against Hedge in his Super form, heck, even his supped up Super form!

The barrier disappeared around the arena, signalling it was safe to enter, though everyone, minus Yang who was still unconscious, was flabbergasted at what had happened.

Jaune: "Did that just...?"

Weiss: "Happen? I think so."

Ruby: "Who cares?! That was awesome! Also, we won!"

Blake: "But what was the form Hedge took on? That didn't seem like it was the standard Super form."

Hedge: "It wasn't." Having heard them. "It was the Super form, but it was enhanced with cyber corruption, in its controlled state." He took note of all of their confused faces. "Trust me, it would take awhile to explain it all. The continuity it is from, while I haven't fully looked into detail of, I have viewed it."

Qrow: "You seemed pretty winded from using it though."

Hedge: "That's because I haven't fully gotten used to the drain of it, but I have used it more than the first person that had."

Ozpin: "And how did they fare using it?"

Hedge: "They were able to beat the entity they were facing with it, but they took the form even further, at the cost of not being able to use it anymore. They didn't die if that was your worry." A smile came across his face as he healed himself and everyone else, Yang waking up. "Though I'll admit that I could've gone an even different route that would've made the fight even more impossible."

The adults knew what he was talking about, but mere confusion was on the students' faces.

Ren: "I find that hard to believe, but then again, from what you just showed us, I'm inclined to agree."

Hedge: "It's something even higher than the last form I just took on." The Chaos Emeralds appeared around him again, but the Master Emerald appeared too.

Yang: "Wait, it involves the big Emerald too?"

Weiss: "Don't you need the rings too in order to sustain the form?"

Hedge chuckled. "Actually...no. I simply used the rings to fall in line with the universe these Emeralds are derived from. I'm able to sustain the forms granted from them without the need of rings, but I wanted to make the challenge as fair as possible."

While the students were shocked that he was able to sustain both the regular and corrupted super forms, they were glad that he followed the regular rules set for the Emeralds for the challenge, otherwise, they probably wouldn't have been able to beat him.

Hedge: "You might want to step back." As it is they had walked up to him to check on Nora, but they obliged. Hedge closed his eyes. "The Servers are the 7 Chaos. Chaos is Power. Power enriched by the Heart. The Controller is the One that Unifies the Chaos." The Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald started to glow, the smaller Emeralds' enclipsing the Master Emerald, and soon, they transformed, growing in size, nearly matching the size of the giant green emerald.

Invigorated by the power he was feeling from them, Hedge underwent a new transformation, a bright white light shining over him, different from the golden light that had done so when he went to the Super form. After the glow finished, this new form was breathtaking. Hedge hadn't changed much, but the color of his skin was mostly stark white, same with his trenchcoat, and the red stripes were still evident in his hair and on the coat. If the Remnant crew could sense the power coming off of him, it would be godly.

Hedge: "This is known as the Hyper form. Acquired by the Super Emeralds, having been imbued with the power of the Master Emerald. To put it lightly, this form effectively turns you into a God."

Jaune: "A...God?"

Blake: "That's insane."

Weiss: "I would say highly impossible, but like Ren, I'm more inclined to agree as well."

Winter: "Trust me, sister, I thought the same way."

Ironwood: "On that note, I think it's best for you all to freshen up and we have some lunch before we resume watching."

Glynda: "Indeed, you heard the General."

The eight students grabbed their duffle bags and rushed into the connecting locker rooms, while Hedge detransformed and teleported to his room, which had his own shower. The adults left to head off to the dining room, still coming to terms with Hedge's power.

Chapter Text

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 going on in 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 he was 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 so. 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." Sure, the students were swept up in the giant wave, but they could’ve just appeared somewhere else on 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 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,” determined to teach Ruby to not be reliant on her weapon.

"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 there 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,” she said with a blush.

"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 random.”

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 snorted. "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 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 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 your 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!"

Chapter Text

As Hedge moves to set the next chapter up, the students carefully move their digieggs to place them on their laps.

Ruby: "Oh I can't wait to see the partner we get!"

Pyrrha: "I wonder if they'll be the same ones we get in the story."

The TV starts up again.

Explosive Evolution! Greymon!

Yang: "Already we're getting to more evolutions? Awesome!"

Weiss: "And I think we can safely assume it's of one of ours and not a random monster that we might run into."

Blake: "Question being whose?"

"I've been cruising down the river, all the livelong day," Pierce idly sang as they were in the middle of doing just that on the raft made of fish that Gomamon had summoned.

Ruby groaned. "Why must he sing that song?"

Yang: "What? I think it's pretty good."

Ruby: "I won't deny it's good singing. It's just that's the most common song that people tend to sing when they want to pass time, and it's repetitive and annoying after so many times."

"Would you stop already?" Weiss sighed in annoyance. "We've BEEN basically doing that for the last few hours or so."

Weiss: "And NOW is the time I choose to speak up about it?"

Winter: "No offense, Weiss, but I would've thought you'd have broken way before then."

"None taken."

"Yeah well, I was getting bored. After the whole thing with Kuwagamon...this is honestly pretty boring," he shrugged.

"Pierce, I swear to Oum, don't taunt the universe." Gyro told his brother in a bit of annoyance.

Ren: "That's just asking for Murphy to screw with you."

Jaune: "And considering we're sitting on Gomamon's summon, Murphy could just decide to cause Gomamon to tire out, leading us into falling face first into the river."

Nora: "Just look the other way, Murphy. Nothing to see here."

Pierce raised his hands silently and returned to looking ahead.

"I liked the song." Yang said idly.

"It was pretty fun." Biyomon said with a nod of agreement.

"What they said." Veemon agreed with a sage nod.

"Thank you. At least SOME people have taste." Pierce said with a grin aimed at his brother.

Weiss: "Questionable tastes," she muttered. But Yang still heard her.

Yang: "Ouch. That hurts, Weiss."

Gyro rolled his eyes, before casting his eyes to Blake, who, not only was she sitting right in the middle of the raft of fish, but was looking ahead, standing stock still except for her hand lightly petting Patamon.

Not only was she avoiding the water as much as she could, but she was also trying to ignore all the fish they were sitting on… when they hadn't eaten anything for hours.

Definitely a major problem for a cat faunus who wanted to stay hidden.

Blake's stomach growled shortly after, causing her face to turn red from embarrassment. "Not a fun situation to be in as a cat faunus."

Qrow: "You do remember that we can just think up anything to our laps, right?"

Blake facepalmed as she remembered that detail and soon after, some cooked tuna and salmon appeared next to her.

Nothing they could do at the moment though, the water was pretty low compared to everything else, so they had to wait for the stone walls to get lower before they could remedy the food situation.

"So...I just realized, we never DID talk about this place," Gyro suddenly spoke up, remembering that detail and figured it would be a good a time as any to address the big question of where the hell they were...that and it could be a productive way to pass the time.

Glynda: "Please, I would definitely like to know more."

Ozpin chuckled. "I think we all would like to know more, Glynda."

"Oh yeah, we never got to that since Kuwagamon was trying to kill us," Ruby mused.

"I second that idea," Weiss nodded.

"I'm surprised by how casually dying is getting mentioned. I mean, Digimon don't die permanently, but we still don't really like to talk about it." Salamon said from atop Nora's head.

Ironwood: "I mean, if you take into consideration how our world operates, it's essentially part of our summarization of Remnant to anyone that is an outsider."

Hedge: "If I didn't know anything about your world, James, I don't know if I'd consider that a good or bad thing."

Nora: "Why not both?"

Hedge shrugged. "You know what, fair."

"Then that just means Remnant is a lot more vicious than this world...wow, that just sounded a whole lot more messed up outloud than in my head," Pierce said. "But seriously, in Remnant, dying...isn't anything weird. People die pretty much everyday, mostly at the claws of the Grimm."

"What IS a grimm? You mentioned that earlier Gyro." Agumon said as he turned to his partner.

"Yeah, I did. How about this, we do some information exchanging and explain the differences of our worlds?" Gyro suggested, earning nods from everyone.

"You never mentioned the grimm the first time we met though." Agumon muttered.

"Ah, well, for starters, I was still a kid back then, and second, we were in the middle of the city." Gyro said with a shrug.

Qrow: "Well he's not necessarily lying. He's just not mentioning that he and Pierce are from a Grimm-free world."

Ozpin: "A world that, if it didn't have threats of wars and other specific world views, I don't think any of us would mind visiting."

Hedge: "Believe me, it may take decades or even centuries until we reach true peace."

Agumon took that in, before nodding, finding that made sense.

It made Gyro's nerves relax, even if other worlds were now completely believable, he didn't want to know how the Remnant born people would react to what their future history was at the moment, he wasn't ready to become a bearer of bad news.

That made them tense up.

Pyrrha: "It's really that bad, isn't it?"

Hedge: "I won't sugarcoat it, it's really bad."

They all dreaded when that information would be provided to them. Ozpin winced internally since he knew who was no doubt behind everything that would happen.

"I'll take care of info on Remnant." Blake said, everyone nodding and letting her start "Remnant is a place with two major sapient species, Humans, and Faunus, I'll explain about Faunus in a minute." she said as she saw some of the mons open their mouth to ask "They don't exactly live in peace with one another though."

"Well, the White Fang should put a stop to their actions then." Weiss said, and Gyro and Pierce twitched at the haughty tone.

Weiss winced at her other's tone as well. "I was really stuck up, wasn't I?"

"Yup," was Yang's instantaneous response.

"That's not something you were supposed to agree with so happily, you brute!"

Winter thought about her sister's other's tone and compared it to hers. It was almost the exact same. "She probably got that tone from me, or worse, from Jacques."

Weiss looked at her sister. "To be honest, it's a little bit of both."

"To be fair, Sienna Khan is a bit of an extremist and has different views from the previous leader from what I've heard. Honestly, if they had just followed the way he was doing things, they would have gotten results eventually, even if slowly." Gyro said, trying to stop any possible early clash between Blake and Weiss.

"Plus, your family is partially to blame for the White Fang getting violent Weiss." Pierce said, deciding to help by directing Weiss's ire towards him instead.

"What was that?" she said snappily.

"You heard me. Look, everyone knows your father is a... " Pierce trailed off, looking at Ruby and motioning she should cover her ears, which she did, figuring he was going to say something bad "A total heartless bastard who thinks of profit above everything else."

Winter and Weiss shared a look at that description of their father.

Winter: "He's not wrong."

Weiss sighed. "Unfortunately, no, he's not." She then eyed the pocket in her sister's uniform that housed the flash drive they received as a gift. "Though, we may have a way to be rid of him."

Yang: "That's a little...dark...don't you think, Weiss?"

Weiss: "You know what I meant."

Nora: "Anyone imagine if Weiss and/or Winter were born as a Faunus, how they'd be regarding the human/Faunus issues?"

Everyone looked at the ginger-girl confused where that question came from.

Winter: "Miss Valkyrie, my stance on Faunus is neutral. In fact, I work closely with a few Faunus in the Atlas Military, and I never let Jacques' influence take effect over my stance on them. The only thing I may hold over them is my rank. Now if either of us were born a Faunus, I'm not sure we could confidently say how we would feel about it."

Weiss: "Yeah, I don't even know where to start on how I'd act about it."

Hedge: "It'd probably also depend if either Jacques or Willow were also Faunus, assuming the Schnee blood line stayed the same."

Ironwood: "If Jacques was still a human, then I feel things would be worse than how they are now."

Everyone agreed on that notion.

"Look, before you say anything, we're NOT trying to make you think your family is wrong and the White Fang is right. Hell, under Sienna, they're as much a part of the problem. But just...think about the kind of person your father is, and what he's done and ask yourself, 'Is the animosity to your family REALLY that unwarranted?'" Gyro said, halting any tirade Weiss may have started.

She looked at him for a good long moment, before looking down as Tentomon nudged her, eventually sighing as she put a hand on his head "Alright… I'll give it some thought."

"That's all I ask for Weiss." Gyro said with a nod.

"One last thing, not an insult don't worry, Winter Schnee, your big sister from what I've heard, was the heiress before you were… try and think about what that means as well." Pierce added, keeping it short, and Weiss took that part with a slow nod.

Winter: "It wasn't easy. When the opportunity to join the military came up, I took it up instantly. Had to deal with him cutting off my allowance a number of times, but after a bit, I just didn't give a damn, even when he revoked my heiress title."

Ironwood chuckled. "I remember the numerous calls from him saying 'I took his daughter away from him.' I always told him you came to me for the opportunity. All I did was accept you in."

Despite herself, Blake couldn't help but smile a little. The fact Weiss was actually considering this was to her proof that Weiss wasn't like her father. But then she remembered they were still in a conversation. "Anyway, back on topic, yes, at the moment things aren't exactly peaceful between the two races. Humans are well...you can see a number of examples right here," she chuckled. "As for Faunus, they honestly look the same as humans, with the addition being a single animal trait on their bodies. For example, a tail, ears, scales, feathers, I've even heard of spider faunus with multiple eyes."

Yang: "I'll be honest, Blake. That type of Faunus sounds really scary and would be terrifying to see."

Blake: "I'm not offended. I'd probably react the same way if I ever saw one like that."

Hedge: "Wonder how they'd react to seeing Elise from League of Legends?" (AN: Bite Marks cinematic anyone? I believe her base skin she doesn't have eight eyes, but come on. That would be freaky either way.)

The partners all considered that for a moment, and wondered about the possibility of Faunus with body parts similar to their own, before nodding at her to continue.

Blake nodded a bit, internally happy to be teaching something like this to people who hadn't heard of it before and being able to give a non-biased account of it "As for what Gyro mentioned earlier, the Grimm… we still don't know exactly what they are, other than beings who wish to destroy anything and everything in their path. If you go near one, it's only if you're going to kill it, as they will want to do the same to you, for the sole reason that they can."

Ren: "I'm assuming you wouldn't be able to add anything on top of that explanation?"

Hedge: "I mean I could, but what Blake advised there is the rough rundown on how the Grimm act. Anything else would be spoilers."

He could inform them about who created the Grimm, but that would be explained later on.

While they didn't say it vocally, the partners felt a bit afraid at such a thought, a beast on the hunt for them, not for food or anything like that, but just to kill them for the sake of killing. It wasn't a pleasant thought.

Ozpin: "So they also can express human emotions. Interesting."

Glynda: "I wouldn't exactly say that's out of the ordinary. We saw how Agumon acted back when Gyro and Pierce were kids as Koromon."

"Let's move on to something a bit lighter." Blake said when she felt Patamon shaking in her lap, starting to rub his back softly to ease him.

"Right, I think that'd be good," Patamon said, looking a little afraid.

"I'll explain," Tentomon said. "Anyway, as some of us mentioned before, this is File Island in the Digital World. The Digital World is well...our world," he started. "Hm...for starters, there aren't any humans or faunus here as far as we know. Only Digimon."

Qrow: "As fas as they know. Given what we saw from the intro sequence, it seems that fact is a bit false."

Ironwood: "Considering they were only hatched a month ago, there is some truth to that. They might not have been able to travel around this 'Digital World' to see if that point is true or not. Especially if they were in the fresh or baby stages Hedge mentioned that whole time."

Weiss: "We at least have a name for what they actually are: Digimon."

"Digimon?" the humans (and one faunus) asked.

"Oh yeah, we never told you," Gabumon said. "We're…"

"Digital Monsters! Digimon for short!" the now named Digimon all said in unison.

"Hm...Digital Monsters? Digital World? FILE Island? You're talking as if we're in a computer," Ren couldn't help but say, having noticed the trend in naming.

Nora: "Yeah, come on. That's crazy talk!"

"Wait for it..." Hedge said in his mind.

The Digimon looked at each other at that, before looking back at the humans and one faunus "Well, that's because we are." Wormmon answered for everyone since his partner had been the one to say it.

The room was shocked to hear Wormmon say that so casually.

Yang: "... well shit."

Ruby/Glynda: "Language!"/"Miss Xiao Long!" Ruby pushed her swear jar into her sister's lap and begrudgingly, Yang put another lien card inside.

Weiss: "How is something like this even possible?" Baffled that someplace like that is even...real. Matters to enter it are definitely crazy, but unless they never saw the way their others got swept up and deposited in the Digital World...well, she'd quickly say they were prime people to be placed in the looney house.

Hedge: "You'd be surprised how many forms of media have utilized a computerized world. Movies, TV shows, manga/comics, video games, the list goes on." He's seen his fair share of them.

You could hear a pin drop at how silent the now slower ride became, everyone not native to the world looking at the Digimon in shock.

"So wait...you're saying we're LITERALLY inside of a computer?" Yang blinked.

"Well...we don't know about that, but we do know that our world was made from data that came from the human world," Biyomon supplied.

Blake: "Data from the real world? What does that mean?"

Ironwood: "Wait a minute. Could Biyomon be referring to all the raw data that is being transmitted through the CCT?"

Winter: "That would make sense, but considering how everyone on Remnant uses the CCT..."

Pyrrha: "News, calls, texts..."

Ruby: "Makes you wonder just how big the Digital World is."

"In a sense you could say all of us are data based lifeforms," Wormmon added.

"But you're all sentient right?" Pyrrha asked, looking at Gabumon.

"Of course, each Digimon makes its own decisions about each and everything around it and about itself." Gabumon explained as best he could.

Qrow: "Wonder how they'd be if they weren't sentient."

Jaune: "I'd assume they'd have preprogrammed dialogue or something along those lines. Or not talk at all."

Ozpin: "Reaction times would also probably be slower than a sentient reaction."

"Wait, if all of you are data, but you feel like flesh and blood… what about us?" Jaune asked, feeling a bit worried.

"Are we like a bunch of 0s and 1s now or something?" Nora said, tilting her head in confusion, surprising the brothers a bit she understood computers to a degree.

That made the students a bit worried. If it was true, could it be that their physical bodies weren't actually there and were more like an astral projection or something? Also, what would happen to them if they were to die inside the Digital World?

"That's… we're not sure about that one actually." Veemon said as he scratched his cheek.

"But if you ask me, it all depends on how you feel, and I don't mean emotionally, I mean physically." Tentomon said, clarifying his words without missing a beat.

"In my opinion, we're all real, and that's the only thing that matters." Gyro said after a moment of thought.

The students released a breath of relief at what Gyro said. As long as they thought like that, they would always believe they were real.

The others all halted their own thoughts at that, finding that while it was simple, Gyro was right, they were all real, they could all feel, and that's what mattered.

"At any rate, Digimon in this world vary. Some are big, some are small, and likewise some are peaceful while others, like the Kuwagamon, are violent or like to cause trouble," Tentomon continued.

Ozpin: "Very human and Faunus like to me."

"So you're just like us then," Ruby smiled.

"I guess we are," Palmon chuckled.

"I have a question though, speaking of Kuwagamon, what exactly happened back there? We heard you speak while in those lights, something about evolution?" Pierce asked curiously, and everyone realised they were indeed rather curious about that.

"Wait, what's evolution though?" Nora asked, confused.

"Evolution is the process wherein which a species slowly, over the course of centuries or even millenia, becomes better, each generation after the current one being better than the last, to optimize survival." Weiss replied as if she was reading straight from a dictionary.

Yang: "Neeeerd!"

Weiss: "Quiet you."

Ruby chuckled. "I don't think Nora was referring to that type of evolution, Weiss."

Hedge: "Though going based off that definition, Faunus could be considered an evolution of humanity."

Weiss: "I beg your pardon?"

Winter: "No, he's got a point, Weiss. Think about it, what do you get when a human and Faunus reprodruce?"

Blake answers immediately. "A Faunus child with a trait from that parent."

Hedge: "Exactly. If humans and Faunus can put aside their differences, then Remnant would end up with nothing but Faunus if the two end up reproducing together. Humans would fizzle out over a period of time, whether that be natural causes or in battle."

"That's basically it yes, but for us Digimon, Evolution doesn't take that long, it can take years for some yes, but it's very much always within our lifetime. Such as earlier, the power from your Digivices pushed us up to what I suppose you could say is our basic form, as the others are usually only for newborns, or for when a Digimon has a considerable amount of power." Tentomon explained like a school teacher.

"Huh, that's actually pretty cool," Jaune blinked, before taking out his Digivice. "Wonder what else these things can do."

"Sorry, we can't help ya there," Gomamon said. "We didn't know they could do that until just now."

"Maybe pressing the buttons can help us figure it out?" Ruby said as she took her own out.

Nora: "PUSH ALL THE BUTTONS!" About to do so with her own Digivice.

"One button at a time Nora." Ren said suddenly with a sigh, making Nora groan as her plan to push ALL the buttons at once was stopped in its tracks.

Ren was about to say the exact same thing, but his other beat him to it.

Nora: "Rats," she muttered.

"Actually I don't think you should do that...at least not until we reach dry land," Pyrrha suggested. "You don't want to accidentally drop those."

The ones who had taken out their digivices all put them away sheepishly at that.

Gomamon suddenly perked up "Well you won't have to wait long, the fishes are telling me the ground level is meeting the water level soon enough."

"Good, I think my butt is getting cramps from sitting on it so weirdly for so long." Yang said, reaching down to rub said part part of her body.

Ruby: "Yang, we didn't need to know that!"

Yang: "Sorry, but you have to admit that it's not that much of a comfortable sitting spot."

It wasn't long before the group made landfall, and soon got off the makeshift raft, the fish soon dispersing, and the huntsmen in training doing some stretches to get the kinks out of their bodies from the limited movement for so long.

"Now, let's see what the Digivices can." Gyro said, grabbing his own and looking it over, before pressing one of the buttons on it, the screen suddenly showing him a radar of some sorts… though there didn't seem to be anything on it, he then looked at the two buttons that were on top of each other and pressed the one on the top, the screen zooming in, pressing it again, and this time, on top of his blinking dot, he could see 9 other visible ones, all in the same spots as the others.

Qrow: "Huh, well what do you know. A radar function."

The students then each took hold of their own digivices and checked out they too had the two radars, or at least one of them was currently working.

Jaune: "So looks like the one currently working with the blinking dots is our own locations."

Weiss: "Wonder how we can track distance."

Hedge: "They have a zoom feature. The more zoomed in you are, the closer you can determine any reading that appears is relative to you. Vice-versa if you zoom out."

Ren: "And for the second radar?"

Hedge: "That will be explained later."

"Well, looks like there's a radar function, we can use it to find each other at least." He said, the others nodding, accepting that.

"I found a clock, it's close to 5 PM right now." Pyrrha said, making them all blink at how much time had passed.

Glynda: "Now is that relative to Remnant or the Digital World?"

Ironwood: "Good question."

"Seems there's another radar but...I'm not seeing anything," Ruby said. "Don't think its broken though."

"Probably whatever it's supposed to pick up isn't in range," Pierce said with a shrug.

However, before they could discuss more, another more pressing matter came up. In the form of 20 stomachs growling. "Right...we haven't eaten anything since breakfast…" Jaune groaned. With all the excitement, he'd honestly forgotten about that until now.

"Well, we're on an island, so obviously there has to be some way the Digimon sustain themselves." Ren reasoned.

Blake: "Unless they don't eat."

Ozpin: "I think that was disproven earlier with Gyro and Pierce feeding Koromon all those years ago."

Blake: "Oh yeah..."

Pyrrha: "Guess we'll find out what they eat for sustenance."

"And we did go downstream," Pyrrha added. "If we follow it, we should reach the ocean, and maybe we'll find something."

"Sounds like a plan. Okay, so we'll follow the stream, and while we're at it, keep an eye out for anything edible," Gyro nodded, before turning to the Digimon. "Can you guys help us look too?"

"Of course!" they all nodded enthusiastically.

With that decided, the group started following the stream, on the lookout for anything edible, and also for any beaches, only two of them weren't walking though, Gomamon swimming along next to them, and Tentomon flying, the two being the slowest walkers out of the Digimon.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask about evolution, you guys all changed names when you turned into these forms, right?" Jaune asked, looking at Gomamon.

"That's right, I went from being Bukamon to Gomamon." he said with a nod, putting it to the basics.

The other Digimon all decided to follow his example, introducing themselves one by one in case some of the hunters hadn't heard their names earlier.

Once everyone was properly reintroduced, they continued on their way, making small talk as they did. Along the way… "I found something!" Patamon said, flapping up to a tree...one that what appeared to be honest to god apples...only for some reason they were colored a silverish shade of green.

Students: "Food!"

Winter: "I'm not sure those are ripe to eat considering their silverish color."

Qrow: "They're not black, so I say they’re good enough to eat."

"Wow, we must be in luck to find these!" Biyomon agreed as she flapped up to take a closer look.

"What are they?" Blake asked.

"These are Meat Apples. They're really hard to find," Patamon said.

Yang: "Say wha?"

Ren: "Meat...apples? I...don't even know how to feel about that."

Ozpin: "If they're anything like regular meat foods, I'd suggest not eating them right away as they may be raw."

Nora: "Wait you can't eat meat raw?"

Everyone whipped their heads towards the gingerhaired girl, wondering why she even would ask that kind of question.

Ren facepalmed. "No, Nora, you can't eat meat raw. I've told you this before a few times."

Nora thought about for a bit before it clicked. "Oh yeah! Forgot!"

Everyone else was puzzled and then just returned their attention to the screen.

A pause went through the collective huntsmen. "Meat...apples…?" they all asked, looking more than a little clueless at the moment, while the fliers immediately went to work harvesting the apples, with the ones who couldn't fly catching them as they fell.

"So uh...are these some kind of fruit?" Jaune asked, idly picking one up.

"Wait, don't eat it like-!" Gomamon tried to stop him but...too late.

"Bleeh! Are these even edible?!" Jaune gagged after one bite.

"I tried to warn you. You can't eat them raw. You need to cook them first," Gomamon sighed.

Ozpin: "Seems my assumption was correct."

Jaune groaned. "And it had to be me that made that blunder."

"Ok, Jaune, that blunder was all on you, that was pretty obvious." Gyro told him dryly, the others nodding in agreement… except for Nora.

"You can't eat meat raw?" She said innocently.

Ren had to refrain from very audibly palming his face at those words "No Nora, we've been over this before."

She paused, trying to think before snapping her fingers in remembrance "Oh yeah!"

Ruby: "Oh look. An echo." Leading to a few of them chuckling.

"Oh dear angel digimon up above help me." Salamon muttered, shaking her head while Wormmon pat her back with one of his claws.

"There's a meat apple for every different kind of meat in the world." Tentomon said, deciding to move along while Jaune was dunking his head in the river water to wash out his tongue. "Though what kind of meat you get...there's no way of telling until you actually eat it."

"At least these aren't 'every flavor apples'," Pierce snickered.

"Oh dear god, I still gag at the thought of those things." Gyro muttered, trying to hold in his lunch at remembering the 'every flavor jelly beans' from Harry Potter. "I'll...go get some firewood so we can cook these when we get to the beach," he said, changing the subject.

Winter: "Every flavor jelly beans?"

Hedge chuckled. "You heard correctly." He raised his hand and a small box appeared in it. "Say hello to the Bean Boozled Challenge. A gag game that people can play in a group or one person could do so on themselves."

Glynda: "And why would anyone want to subject themselves to doing that?"

Hedge: "Comedic reasons. One of my friends does live streaming, and before you ask, yes that can be a career, and when he is playing games, he has a point redemption to take a bean. Now, each bean has the possibility of two different flavors: a 'good' flavor and a 'bad' flavor. The reason I put them in quotations is because some of them are the opposite, but that depends on the person eating the bean. For instance," he pulls out a bean from the box, "this here bean can either taste like birthday cake, the good flavor, or toothpaste, the bad flavor."

Ironwood: "I don't necessarily see toothpaste as a 'bad' flavor."

Hedge: "My buddy would say the same thing, which is why he prefers to get that bean over the others. Some examples could be barf, booger, canned dog food, or rotten egg to name a few."

Weiss: "Gross!" Her face turning green.

Winter: "And your friend does this willingly?"

Hedge: "Yes, again it's for comedic purposes, but as long as us, his chat, are having fun, he'll put up with it. Though he does increase the point redemption value every time we redeem it, that way we don't continuously spam it."

Yang walks over to him. "You wouldn't happen to have the one that might be canned dog food would you?"

Hedge looks at the box, then back at her. "I do. May I ask why?" with a raised eyebrow.

Yang gives a cheeky grin. "Oh, just want to test them out. I'll take two."

Hedge ultimately obliges and picks two of the specific bean Yang asked for and handed them to her.

Yang: "Ruby, catch." She tosses one of them to her sister, who does catch it.

Ruby looks at the bean in her hand. "Uh, why did you toss it to me?"

Yang: "Oh come on. You don't think I forgot the one time I caught you trying Zwei's dog food when we were younger, do you?"

Ruby's face turned bright red that it matched her hood. "Yang! You said you wouldn't tell anyone about that!" She cried out.

Her friends looked at her incredously.

Weiss: "You ate some of Zwei's food?"

"I WAS 5!"

Qrow chuckled. "I remember that. Came by for a visit and heard from Tai what had happened."

"NOT YOU TOO, UNCLE QROW!"

Blake: "Anyway, so what's the other flavor this particular bean could be?"

Hedge looks back down at the box. "Says here the good flavor is chocolate pudding."

Yang: "Come on Rubes. I know how much you love anything chocolate flavored."

Ruby was still a bit flustered, but her sister was right; she really did love anything chocolate. "Fine! But I'll get the pudding flavored one, and you'll be the one eating the dog food!"

Jaune: "Is there a better chance at getting the good flavor the more beans are eaten?"

Hedge: "To my knowledge, no. I don't believe there is an even split of good and bad flavors for each bean. I wouldn't put it past the makers to put more bad flavor ones than good. But it's always a 50/50 chance at getting either flavor."

The two sisters look at each other and the bean in their hands, and as much as Nora wanted to make a betting pool on who'd get what, Ren stopped her. They plopped the bean into their mouth and started chewing.

Hedge: "It takes a little for the taste to kick in."

Ruby's eyes widened at the taste she started to take note of, and a wide grin appeared on it. "Ha! I got a chocolate pudding one!"

Then the rest of them looked over to Yang and noticed that she was wincing at the taste her bean she had in her mouth.

Ruby takes notice and decides to seal the deal. "What's the matter, Yang? Dog got your tongue?"

Yang: "If you know what's good for you, Ruby, you'll stop talking." Ruby giggles and puts her hands up in surrender, Hedge gives Yang a mini trash can to spit the bean out, and then it disappears.

"Wait… where are we going to put all of these?" Weiss suddenly realised as she looked at the pile the Digimon were STILL filling up, apparently, they had decided to clean the area of it's meat apples.

"Oh, that's easy, Azure is so smart, he made a camper's best friend." Pierce said as Gyro disappeared into the trees to gather firewood, pulling out a small pouch from his pocket, opening it decently wide, dropping an apple in it… and the bag stayed the same.

Everyone, the Digimon included, stared at it speechless.

"Yeah, he was able to make pouches with more holding space than their supposed to have, and when you drop something in it, it gets scanned, and sent somewhere appropriate, so meat apples get stored…" he trailed off, putting his whole arm through the opening of the bag "Judging by how cold it is, I'm guessing the freezer to keep them fresh."

Ruby: "I need the schematics for that. The amount of weapon parts and cookies I could fit in there would be insurmountable."

Weiss facepalms. "Ruby..."

"Geez, and I thought dad liked to over prepare us." Yang said, shaking her head in bewilderment.

"What else do you have in there?" Blake asked.

"Pretty much everything, a freezer, a fridge, other places I can't pronounce the names of because they were weird, and plenty of survival gear and first aid kits, there's probably stuff to sterilise water too." he said, suddenly sticking his head inside "Yeahp, sterilizing kit right here."

"You have all that… but no food?" Ruby had to point out.

"Our brother may be smart, but he's also an idiot at the same time." Gyro said as he came back, stuffing some firewood into his pouch."And to be fair, we were supposed to only be in the Emerald Forest for a day. Not end up on an island inside some kind of cyber world."

Ozpin: "He makes a good point. There actually used to be an initiation that took multiple days to complete, which required partners to utilize supplies and the wilderness to survive over the course of the duration."

Qrow: "I remember you telling us about that type of initiation before. What made you stop?"

Glynda: "Groups stealing supplies from others instead of working together."

RWBY and JNPR looked at each other. They all came to the conclusion that if that type of initiation was still around, people like Team CRDL would no doubt do that.

Everyone looked at each other, then nodded in acceptance. If ANY of them had expected anything beyond a day trip, they'd also have packed food.

It wasn't long before all the meat apples and fire wood was securely stored in the pouch, and they were on their way. They were hungry, but they also agreed it'd be better if they made it to their destination first before eating.

"Ocean ahoy!" Gomamon reported from his spot in the water, having a clear view of the approaching ocean.

"Alright, let's go!" Ruby said enthusiastically and ran forward...with her semblance.

Weiss: "You dolt. Why not wait for us?!"

Ruby: "You know I could just run forward to scout and quickly get out and back, right?"

Weiss: "Well what if what ever you ran into you couldn't do that? she countered. "Need I remind you of the Nevermore feathers your cloak got stuck on during initiation?"

Ruby slumped in her seat. "Ok, fair point."

"...huh, guess she's really excited," Jaune blinked as they stared at the blur that was quickly leaving them behind.

"Ruby, wait for me!" Palmon said as she started chasing after the girl.

Yang chuckled. "Palmon, I'm not sure if that'd be a good idea for a first timer." If she was attached to Ruby while she used her semblance, the plant-like Digimon would no doubt be seeing stars.

"Well, she's got the right idea," Yang shrugged before they all chased after the girl. However, when they got close they heard the sound of ringing..which quickly stopped...then started again. Arriving at the scene, they were met with the sight of payphones, with Ruby going between them, picking up any that were ringing, but the confusion on her face made it clear she wasn't picking up and hanging up for fun.

Winter: "What on Remnant...?"

Hedge: "Fair warning, you're going to want to turn off your brains for a bit."

Everyone stared at the scene while Palmon ran up to her, before it clicked in their minds "Scrolls!" they all said at the same time, digging into their pockets to pull them out and opening them, all of them trying to contact people back home.

As for what they got…

"You have reached the imperial shaq, please hold while we connect you to our waste disposal."

"It is currently 49:73 AM, please have a good night."

"This number is out of service in your clothes, please try again never."

And other nonsensical things.

Ironwood: "What the heck even was that?"

Blake: "Something bizarre that's for sure."

As one, the hunters all ended their calls, annoyed in some form or another.

"Too bad. Would have been nice if you could have called Azure." Agumon said as he looked up at Gyro.

"Well, in retrospect it probably should have been obvious it wouldn't be THAT easy." Gyro sighed. "Still though...what the HELL was THAT?"

"Probably something we don't want to know," Blake deadpanned.

"I guess I can't deny that." Gyro said with a sigh, before looking back at the beach, seeing Ruby zipping past every phone… "Hey Yang? Can you call Ruby with your scroll? See if that works?"

Yang blinked, before figuring she could give it a try and went to her contacts before calling her little sister, who suddenly stopped moving and went to one of her ammo pouches, her scroll apparently in there and pulling it out, before they all heard Ruby's voice from Yang's scroll "Hey Yang, what's up?"

Jaune: "You keep your scroll amongst your ammo?"

Ruby: "Take a good look at my or Weiss' combat skirt and you tell me where else we can place it, besides clipped to our waist like Weiss does hers."

Jaune did a quick glance and nodded. "Touché."

"We were seeing if our scrolls worked, we can't call home, but apparently we can call each other." Yang said, sagging in some relief that should they ever get separated, they could keep in contact, on top of finding each other thanks to the Digivices.

"Oh! That kinda sucks. Dad and Uncle Qrow probably know we're missing by now and are worried sick." Ruby said, the frown audible in her voice.

Qrow: "I don't see myself going too crazy over wondering where you two are. Tai on the other hand..."

Ozpin: "I'd expect him to be banging on my office door, yelling and asking just where his daughters are," a smile on his face as he can picture it in his mind.

"Tell her to hang on so we can catch up. We might as well set up camp or something here since it'll be dark soon," Gyro said.

Yang nodded, telling her sister just that as she finally stopped moving, Palmon finally dropping down on the sand after following her so much.

It wasn't long before the group was sitting on the beach, a fire burning merrily in front of them, while a portion of the meat apples they'd gathered earlier now skewered on sticks, and roasting over the open fire. "You know, if someone had told me I'd be eating an apple that tastes like hamburger, I'd have called them nuts before today," Pierce said as he took another bite off the apple he had roasted.

Weiss: "Curious what type of nutritional value those can have."

Ruby: "Weiss...please don't..."

Ironwood: "Even if we were to have scientists take a sample of them before they were eaten, Miss Schnee, I don't think they'd be able to determine said value unless they were to actually take a bite."

Pyrrha: "They probably would have the same nutritional value as the meat item they taste like, but that's just an assumption on my part."

"Somehow I think sanity went out the window a while ago," Blake said, taking a bite out of her meat apple, which was, much to her delight, tuna flavor.

Blake envied her other.

Hedge: "If you are wondering, you can think up a specific type of meat apple."

Blake's head whipped back towards their host with shock. "Wait, we can think up food and drinks that are from the Digital World too?"

Hedge nodded, and Blake thought up a dozen meat apples, all tuna flavored. Soon they appeared in a basket in her lap. She was about to bite into one until...

Yang: "Wait, wouldn't you need to cook them first?"

Hedge: "Any and all food that is summoned here is already cooked at the temperature you request. You want a hamburger or steak at medium rare? You'll get a hamburger or steak at medium rare (AN: I prefer medium for both, but that's just me). For the sake here in my dimension, the meat apple will be what you specifically ask for.”

Blake: "And besides, fish can actually be eaten raw, but only as Sashimi."

Hedge: "Hmm, now I'm wanting some Sashimi, Blake." A plate appears in Hedge's lap with slices of fish: salmon, tuna, and shrimp, along with some wasabi and soy sauce.

As for the others, they were curious on just how a meat apple tasted, so they went ahead and summoned up one of their choosing. Needless to say, they were wowed.

"Eh, sanity's overrated," Nora said with a big grin as she took a bite out of her bacon flavored apple. "These are really good. You sure there aren't any pancake flavored ones?"

Everyone gave her a deadpan stare at her words "Nora… pancake isn't made from meat, even I know that, and I was basically born a month ago." Salamon said dryly.

Nora stopped, placing her finger to her chin "Oh yeah." she then grinned "Oops! Looks like I forgot again."

Everyone except Hedge, Ren and Nora had paused in their eating and looked at the hyperactive girl in question.

Glynda: "How...?"

Ren cut her off. "Don't ask. It'll save you a headache."

"I'll...take your word for it."

A few groans were heard at that. "At any rate, what are we going to do?" Weiss asked. "We need to at least have some kind of plan before we can proceed."

"Well, we know there's a big mountain in the center of the island. I was thinking we could head for it, if nothing else so we can see the whole island, and possibly find some clues along the way," Gyro shrugged. "Not the best plan I know, but anyone got any better ideas?"

They all looked at each other silently at that, before eventually shaking their heads at him.

Ironwood: "Well, it's better than having no plan at all."

"Well, guess that's our plan for now, hopefully we'll figure out how to get back home along the way?" he said with a sigh.

"You're going to leave?" Agumon said with a frown, something the digimon all mimicked at the thought of their partners leaving already.

Ruby: "What?! No way we would leave them behind. If they are to be our partners, we're sticking together to the end!"

Rest of the students: "Yeah!"

"Why are you worried? We'll bring you with us when we do." Gyro said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"We didn't spend a decade looking for ya just to leave you again," Pierce grinned as well. "And no way are we leaving ANY of our friends if we can help it." he added, turning to Veemon as well and presenting him with his fist.

Veemon grinned as he looked at it and bumped fists with him.

"Gotta admit, it would feel pretty weird to leave you guys behind." Jaune admitted to Gomamon, earning a thankful smile.

"Would definitely be pretty awesome to bring you guys with us." Yang said to Biyomon, the bird digimon smiling as she leaned on her.

Weiss: "Only real problem would be blending in."

Winter: "Actually, I think some could actually pass as pets if they stayed in this form, while a few others could pass a child Faunus."

Ozpin: "Only downside would be for the ones passing as pets wouldn't be able to talk to you in public."

Yang: "I think that's something we can work with," thinking it would be cool to have Biyomon on her shoulder while she walked around.

"So it's decided!" Ruby suddenly said. "Our next objective is to find a way back to Remnant AND bring our partners with us no matter what!" she said. "Any objections?"

Students: "Nope!"

No objections were raised at all.

However, the cheerful mood was cut short, when the Digimon all suddenly tensed. "Is something wrong?" Ren asked, not liking how they were behaving.

Ruby pouted. "Aww...why can't these good moods stay forever?"

Hedge sighed: "Fate can be a jerk sometimes." He really hoped his and Swift's intervention and assistance could help them with future events.

"Something's coming!" Wormmon said, and as if on cue, a massive spout of water suddenly erupted from the sand, before moving and soon launched the telephone boxes into the air, to which they soon crashed back to the ground.

"The hell is that?!" Gyro shouted as everyone quickly got up and ready to move in case things got too dangerous.

"Language!" A few chuckled at how quickly Ruby's mood changed.

"I don't know, but it can't be anything good." Pyrrha said, regretting the fact they'd all lost their weapons now.

They soon got their answer when a large amount of sand was kicked up, and from the ground, at first glance what looked like a giant drill emerged, before that something was revealed to be a MASSIVE cone shaped shell.

"What IS that?" Weiss said in confusion.

"It's Shellmon! We must have gotten on his territory without realising it!" Tentomon said in a slightly panicked tone, as in front of them, something emerged from the shell. It was a pink saurian-like head with what looked like a weird light green mass of tentacles that almost looked like hair on its head, before a pair of large oddly shaped arms emerged from the shell as well, fully revealing the full creature as some kind of bizarre mollusk with how those large limbs somehow fit.

Yang: "Come on! We can't even eat in peace?!" Her eyes red.

Qrow: "Digital World says no."

Digimon Analyzer: Shellmon

Shellmon. Data Type. An Adult Level Mollusk Digimon. Although it has a turtle like appearance when settled into its shell, for all intents and purposes, it has a soft mollusk like body. It is known for being a rather dimwitted Digimon, though approach it with caution nonetheless. It's special attack is Hydro Pressure, shooting high pressure beam of water from the top of it's head.

"Well, I think that's our cue to run." Gyro said as he started taking a step back.

And then Shellmon shot a high pressure beam of water at the cliff behind them, and they all turned and saw how it gouged a trench in it, before turning back to Shellmon.

Jaune gulped. "All in favor of not turning your back to him?"

Everyone: "Aye."

"Nevermind, looks like if we try he's going to hit us in the back with that." he said with a scowl. "Why do I feel like this is going to be a habit? Having to fight big guys like this, I mean."

"Probably cause just about every large Digimon so far has tried to kill us?" Jaune offered.

Ruby: "If I had a lien for every time a big Digimon attacked us, I'd have two lien. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird it happened twice."

Hedge snorted. "Of course they have that meme phrase in Remnant. Why am I not surprised?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right. Guys, if you'd please?" Gyro said with a sigh.

"Right, we'll handle him." Agumon said with a nod as he and the other Digimon got in front of the hunters.

Much like with Kuwagamon, the Digimon began their assault, working together, timing their attacks well in a way that would make many hunter teams proud. Unlike Kuwagamon though, Shellmon proved to be a more...difficult opponent due to his namesake.

Yang: "I don't even think I could do damage to that shell even if I was powered up. Those spikes would also be annoying to get around."

"None of our attacks are working!" Wormmon reported as Shellmon easily broke free from his Sticky Net, before retreating into the shell to hide from a barrage of Magical Fire, Petit Fire, and Petit Thunder.

"Tell me about it…" Veemon groaned, holding his head. Suffice to say, he learned that headbutting something with a hard shell...not very smart.

Ironwood: "I mean he can go for a headbutt, but it would be preferable if he went for the part of Shellmon that wasn't his namesake."

Winter: "Unfortunately, he can could just retreat into his shell to negate any damage."

Glynda: "He may look like a snail, but he acts more like a turtle. I can't exactly fault him for a strategy like that."

"Puppy Howling!" Salamon called out as the attack hit, but Shellmon soon emerged not looking the least bit affected. "We need a new plan!" she said urgently.

Gyro looked around as the Digimon were starting to get in trouble, trying to find something that could give them an advantage, before seeing the wreckage of the payphones.

He waited until he wasn't in Shellmon's line of sight, and then used his semblance to dash along the sand towards the pile of broken frames, grabbing a broken off pole and then splitting it in half on his knee, grinning as he spun the two pieces in his hands.

Ruby got excited. "Well, it's not a real weapon like Ascalon, but he could sure use those poles just like it."

When the others saw him grab the pole and breaking it in half, they understood his idea, with Pyrrha deciding to make liberal use of her semblance for once as her arms gained a bright black glow to them, the same happening to the wreckage as Gyro dashed out of the way of what was about to happen, before she swung her arms, sending it all flying straight at Shellmon and impacting his shell, at the very least, it seemed to have done something, as he turned towards where the attack had come from.

"Woah! What was that?" Ruby said in awe.

"My semblance, it's Polarity, meaning I can control metals." Pyrrha supplied with a smile, before turning to the Digimon. "We're not going to be sitting on the sidelines this time. You helped us, so we help you," she said, before grabbing a large chunk of metal, and managing to catch Shellmon on the side of the head, though all that seemed to do was enrage it.

Pyrrha sweatdropped. "Maybe not one of my best ideas."

Ozpin: "But you did manage to damage him, Miss Nikos." he praised. "And any damage done at this moment is a great start."

"But Pyrrha…"Gabumon started, though whatever he was about to say was cut off when a red blur shot past them, Ruby using her semblance to start zipping around Shellmon, disorienting him.

At the same time, Yang turned to Nora. "Nora, give me your best shot," Yang said.

"Uh, sorry?" Nora blinked.

"Let's just say the harder you hit me, the better for my semblance," she explained.

Ruby: "Ooh ooh, what if someone electrocuted Nora, then she struck Yang?!"

Jaune: "Then we'd have two amped up fighters to take down any opponent."

The two team leaders shared a knowing look, and then nodded. They planned on constructing team attacks that worked both of their teams together.

"Ooooh. Got it," Nora grinned, before winding up, and punching Yang with enough force to send her flying a little into the fight...before she made use of the momentum and rolled under the now dizzy Shellmon, her hair seemingly on fire and her eyes glowing red. "Hungry? Well here's a knuckle sandwich!" Yang said, before delivering a savage uppercut to Shellmon's chin, causing it to stumble back, though its squishy body cushioned the blow a little.

"Let's keep at it guys! But don't be afraid to fall back if you're not sure!" Gyro called as he jumped up and striked the highest points of Shellmon's shell, trying to see if it had any weaknesses up high.

Apparently, the tip WAS weak, as when he hit it on this one trip upwards, Shellmon let out a roar, surprising everyone, before… launching one of his tentacles at Gyro, grabbing him while he was in the air.

Ruby gasped. "Let him go!"

Yang wanted to tease her sister, as she did remember that the Vermillion twins had crushes on two of them, and it was obvious that Pierce had a crush on her. She put two and two together that Gyro had a crush on Ruby. But with him being in danger now, she decided to hold back.

"What the? Let me go dammit!" He growled as he tried to struggle free.

"Gyro!" Agumon shouted in worry as he started opening fire on Shellmon's head "Baby Flame!"

"Dammit! Come on work this time." Pierce muttered as he tried to help his brother, picking up some of the wreckage Pyrrha kept swinging around and threw it at the tentacle grabbing his brother… and it missed by just an inch "Oh come on!"

Qrow: "Tch, I know that feeling. Glad I don't have to deal with that anymore."

Winter: "Now it'll just be your incompetence that causes you to miss," she jabbed.

The rest of the Ozluminati chuckled at that.

Meanwhile, Shellmon was starting to get annoyed by all the fire in his face, and slammed his hand down on Agumon, pinning him down.

"Agumon!" Gyro shouted in worry for his friend… and that's when Shellmon decided to squeeze, bringing a scream of pain from his mouth. His aura was keeping the worst of it at bay, but at the rate things were going, it would only be a matter of time before his aura broke...and likely more too.

Ruby: "No need for that mental image!"

"Gyro!" Agumon just couldn't take it anymore, his friend was in grave danger, and if he didn't do anything…!

(Play Brave Heart)

Everyone perked up at the music that came through the screen.

Jaune: "Woah, what's this?"

Nora: "Something awesome's about to happen!"

Yang: "Awesome guitar rift too!"

At that moment, Gyro's Digivice began to shine, as it seemingly sent what could best be described as some kind of signal into the sky, summoning forth a light which soon released a burst of data like a waterfall.

"Agumon, Evolution!" Agumon started as the data entered his body, before it changed. "Greymon!" His form was now that of a massive dinosaur, the same one that he'd taken when fighting the Parrotmon from a decade ago.

Glynda: "He's the same form as he was all those years ago."

Ozpin: "And his name is Greymon in this form."

Blake: "A strong name for a form like that."

Back in the fight, Shellmon was subjected to the simple physics of something suddenly growing big while they were under him, as he was thrown off of the Digimon he had been pinning, while letting go of Gyro in surprise, the young man hitting the ground with a groan as his aura broke from the strain, but he was okay. Looking up, his eyes widened when he recognized the form Agumon had taken.

Ironwood: "It would be wise for Gyro to stay out of the fight now. He won't be able to do much now that his aura is broken."

Ren: "I don't think he's worried or upset about that."

Digimon Analyzer: Greymon

Greymon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Dinosaur Digimon. It's cranial skin has hardened to the point of rivalling the toughest of shells, and it excells as a Combat Species Digimon. His special attack is Mega Flame, it fires the strongest possible fire ball from it's mouth.

Weiss took note of the stage name of the form. "'Adult Level,' huh? So that's the actual name of this form of evolution."

Pyrrha: "Wonder just how many forms they have access to."

He couldn't help but grin as he saw him, replaying the name he heard him announce in his head "Hope you have more control on that fire this time Greymon." he said as he stood up.

In response, Greymon smirked "A LOT more control."

Yang: "Put it to good use then, Greymon!" She also enjoyed the song that was playing.

"Then kick his ass!" Gyro said with a wide smirk.

Ruby: "I'll allow the swear this time."

Greymon didn't need anymore prompting, as he charged forward, Shellmon just barely recovering before he found a trio of sharp horns shoved into his face as Greymon's head armor impacted against his softer body, knocking him back. Glaring angrily, he fired his Hydro Pressure at Greymon, pushing him back a little, before Greymon managed to regain his footing and started to push back. Once he was close enough, Greymon grabbed hold of Shellmon and in an impressive display of power, proceeded to lift the large mon up, and slam him into the ground, before doing it again, then throwing him aside, causing him to fall near the water.

Glynda: "He's on equal footing as Shellmon now."

Nora: "Equal footing? I'd say he's stomping all over Shellmon now!"

Struggling to his 'feet', Shellmon tried to counter with another Hydro Pressure, but this time Greymon countered with a stream of fire from his mouth, causing the water to evaporate while he stepped closer little by little. Shellmon tried as best as he could, but eventually he just couldn't keep up the pressure, and when his attack ended, he soon found Greymon's horns under him, before the dinosaur lifted his head quickly, flinging Shellmon into the air.

"Mega Flame!" Greymon declared as he charged up and fired a massive ball of fire from his mouth, the attack flying true and hitting Shellmon dead in the underbelly, causing the mon to roar in pain as he was soon launched FAR into the ocean, and was well out of sight.

(End Song)

Yang and Nora raised a fist in the air. "And he's outta here!" they exclaimed.

With the battle, and thus the danger, subsided, Greymon reverted back to Agumon, the yellow dinosaur being confused a bit, before hearing his stomach grumble, making him laugh sheepishly and turn to Gyro "Is the fire still going? I'm kind of hungry again."

Weiss: "So everytime they evolve, it takes a lot of energy."

Ren: "Hopefully we don't get into a lot of back to back fights."

Hedge: "It's not just that, Agumon is a well known glutton. Even if he just recently ate, he'll be hungry not much longer after."

Jaune: "Huh, doesn't that remind me of someone," as he and the rest of his friends glance over at Nora.

Gyro looked at him for a moment, before smiling in amusement as the two walked back towards the others.

When they returned to the group, those born on Remnant all had faces of shock as they stared at Agumon, but Gyro was also sure he saw recognition.

Winter: "Right, all of you saw Greymon fight Parrotmon before. No doubt you all recognize him."

"Um… guys? Everything ok?" he asked, a bit worried since they kept staring at Agumon with jaws hanging, the yellow dinosaur just being confused.

"Did I scare them?" he asked Gyro in worry.

"I don't think that's it." Gyro told him, though he was also starting to get confused.

Finally, someone, namely Ruby, decided to speak "That… that was the thing we saw… back when we were kids."

Gyro looked at her, even more confused "Hold on, what?"

"I know what she's talking about, because it happened at my home as well." Weiss said, getting both his and Pierce's attention "About 11 years ago, in the early hours of the morning, TV screens, scrolls, computers, anything that showed images, started showing a battle between a large orange dinosaur and a huge green bird. The news never addressed it the following day, and no one was ever able to find out where exactly it had taken place, because all people had to go on was a bridge being broken."

Ironwood: "A bridge that wasn't even on Remnant. And a village or town would have reported there being a fight between a big dinosaur and a big parrot."

Qrow: "No doubt a response from you and the military jumping on the scene to see what had happened."

Ironwood winced. "I won't deny that," knowing just how impactful his old semblance was.

The two brothers were speechless at all that, to hear that people from Remnant had witnessed a battle from Earth was… shocking "All of you guys saw it?" Pierce asked for clarification, receiving 8 nods.

"Why didn't you see it though?" Blake asked, looking between them.

"Because we were right in the middle of it." Gyro said, drawing all eyes to him "Agumon had evolved into Greymon back then to protect us, he had been getting kicked around after that, and then a whistle literally fell on my head, and I was able to wake up Greymon with it, after that, he opened fire and just… disappeared."

"Wait! That was my whistle!" Ruby suddenly said, Gyro looking at her with wide eyes, before reaching into his shirt and pulling out the whistle hanging from a chain.

"Wait, so somehow Ruby's whistle travelled across the globe or something?" Jaune said, confused, while the brothers were hoping they would be able to work their way out of this sudden predicament without looking suspicious.

Jaune: "Actually, more like across two different worlds, you dunce." Of course, he could act like this towards his alternate self since he saw it happen on screen.

Pyrrha: "How did something like that even happen?"

Hedge: "My best assumption? Interference from the Digital World."

"What I want to know is where this took place." Weiss asked, looking at Gyro, and he was quickly trying to figure out what to say, which was difficult, his pause couldn't be too long and he had to figure out an answer and FAST.

Blake: "I wonder how our others will react."

Yang: "Hopefully not too bad. We're already in a different world to begin with. Finding out there is another world besides the Digital World shouldn't be too brain wracking."

He was pausing for too long, the others were starting to get worried, even Pierce didn't know what to say, before Gyro sighed "Dammit. I guess at the very least you're going to be open to believing me considering where we are."

They looked at him confused before he motioned for everyone to sit down, Pierce sighing as he saw where this was going, and understood there was nothing they could do to avoid it.

Qrow: "Here we go."

"First, we're all very acceptant at this point that other worlds are possible considering where we are, yes?" Gyro asked around, earning a few slow nods, but he also saw some eyes widening in understanding of why he was asking that, most notably Weiss, Blake and Ren.

Weiss: "At least a few of us are able to determine where this conversation is going."

Yang: "Not sure what that says about those of us that didn't figure it out yet."

Weiss: "You're smart in your own right, Yang," giving her teammate a comforting smile.

"The simplest way to put it, is that me, Pierce, and Azure, are also from another world, one different from Remnant. We have higher tech than you do, so we were able to find a way to jump into your world. Honestly we wanted to blend in, and we were able to do that because, hey, we're also human, just from another world. But then this happens and, well, yeah." Gyro said, trying to avoid mentioning the really sensitive subjects.

Everyone was surprised, that much was obvious, as they all took time to digest his words, at the very least though, Agumon and Veemon were still sitting with him and his brother, giving them their silent support.

It took a few minutes before someone finally spoke up, Ren "Why did you come to Remnant though?"

"We found the world 6 years ago, and saw how bad things were, and eventually came up with a way to travel worlds, because we wanted to see if we could do anything to help, we thought maybe some advanced tech or something along those lines would do the trick." Gyro explained, being able to say the truth, while also not revealing everything, because that was an entire matter in and off itself.

Ren: "Understatement of the century. They know how our future will turn out."

Glynda: "And according to Hedge, that's only half of our future."

Needless to say, everyone from Remnant was speechless at that revelation.

"That's…" Weiss started. She WANTED to say 'impossible'...but after today, her world view was already shattered beyond repair. This really wasn't THAT unbelievable.

Weiss: "I've already come to terms with it, but I do wonder just how long it will take our others to fully come to terms."

"Crazy? Yeah, we know how crazy it sounds, but it's the truth," Pierce shrugged. "We came here to see if we could try and make Remnant a better place, though we sure weren't expecting to get swept up in this either."

"Still, I hope nothing crazy happens while we're gone." Gyro couldn't help but sigh out, Pierce understanding he meant that they had better get back as soon as possible.

Ozpin: "That goes back to my theory if the Digital World and Remnant are on the same time flow. If Remnant's flow is faster, then future events will play out without you ten there."

"So… basically, you came to Remnant to try and help the people there?" Jaune asked after some moments.

"Pretty much, yeah," Gyro nodded.

"Then, to me at least, it's fine, it doesn't matter that you're from another world, because in a sense, you're like all of us here, you want to help Remnant be a better place." Jaune said, smiling at the two brothers. The others soon joined in as well, though Weiss still seemed a little uncertain.

Ruby: "Yeah, all they want to do is help us and change how future events had turned out. They're A-okay in my book."

"I'll admit, I'm still a little...unsure about this," she sighed. "But you two haven't done anything hostile or anything, so I guess you're both okay."

The two of them blinked, before they smiled. "Thanks guys...it means a lot," Pierce grinned.

Gyro just sagged in relief, and everyone could almost swear it was like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders "You don't know how good it is to hear that." he said, smiling.

Qrow: "They should have some confidence in you guys in terms of trustworthiness."

Pyrrha: "I think it's more so they were worried that we wouldn't trust them."

Nora: "They were worried that we would think they were crazy and have them thrown into the crazy house."

The others shared a smile before… "Well, enough with the heavy stuff," Yang said. "Come on guys, we still got a campfire and the Digimon are probably hungry after that, so let's celebrate another win," she said.

With that said, everyone agreed with a cheer, none more so than the Digimon who needed to replenish their energy after.

Their first day was finished in the Digital World.

Only time will tell what the rest would bring.

With that, the TV shut off.

Hedge: "I think that's good enough for tonight. Let's all have dinner and head off to bed."

Blake: "That was a good chapter. Our others learned part of the truth regarding the Vermilion brothers' origins."

Yang: "And we got to see Greymon again! Along with him beating the shell out of Shellmon."

Everyone groaned at the small pun.

Weiss: "Pun aside, it seems that until we find a way back to Remnant, we'll be there for quite some time in the Digital World."

Ruby: "Hopefully major events from the future don't happen while we're there."

Jaune: "Well, we were at the start of everything when we got sucked in, which was the start of the school year."

Pyrrha: "And we're basically at the middle of the second semester when we came here."

Nora: "Yeah, we still have a long period of time to reach current times."

Ren: "Assuming time flow is the same."

Ozpin: "For now, we'll keep watching. But right now..."

Glynda: "Dinner and bed."

Everyone started to head off to the dining area to eat dinner, the students leaving their Digieggs on there seats.

Hedge is the last one to head off to the dining area as he cleans the theater room. Once everything is tidied up, he catches something at the corner of his eye, and looks towards the Digieggs. Nothing is moving at the moment, but he gives a knowing smile toward them.

He walks off and dims the lights for now, leaving all 8 Digieggs in view, before one shakes a bit.

Chapter Text

The next day opens in JNPR's room. Even though Jaune and Pyrrha had started dating, they didn't want to start sleeping in the same bed, lest they be teased by Nora.

Speaking of the girl, she didn't care what the others thought, as currently, she was cuddled up with Ren in his bed.

Pyrrha's alarm had gone off and she quickly went to turn it off. She did some stretching to limber herself up, as she wanted to do some working out in the training room before they started up the next chapter. She looked over the side of her bed to check on her Digiegg, which she and the rest of her friends had picked them up last night and took them back to their rooms. Team JNPR had placed theirs next to their beds on the floor, little pillows underneath them so they wouldn't tip over.

Her eyes were still sleepy and she didn't notice that the Digiegg had actually opened up. She got up and went to the dresser to grab her workout clothes, then stepped into the bathroom to change. When she came back out, she looked at her Digiegg again, and that was when she finally noticed that it had opened up.

Pyrrha was scared. Her Digiegg had hatched and now there was a fresh Digimon hidden somewhere in their room. Or worse, scampering around Hedge's dimension. She didn't know if she should wake up Jaune, Ren, and Nora to help her find the Digimon or look around herself. So for now, she went and checked every nook and cranny of their room to try and find it. She checked under each of their beds to see if it was hiding underneath, but when she finished checking under her bed, she came face to face with a little red gelatinous blob on her bedsheets with three protrusions on its head.

Pyrrha: "Ah!" she exclaimed as she fell back onto her butt.

Her scream woke up her teammates.

Jaune: "Pyr! You ok?!"

Ren: "What's going on?"

Nora: "Alright, who's in here when they shouldn't be? Let me at them!"

The three of them then looked over at what Pyrrha was looking at on her bed, and they soon noticed the little red blob as well. It cooed and released out bubbles from its mouth.

Nora gasped. "OMG, it's so cute!" She was about to rush and grab it to hug it, but Ren was quick to grab onto her shirt's collar to hold her back.

Jaune walked up to Pyrrha and helped her up, and after breaking out of her shock, she walked up to it.

Pyrrha: "Hey there, little fella," picking it up carefully. "And who might you be?"

Ren looked over at where Pyrrha's Digiegg was, and took notice that it had broken open, while the rest of theirs were still whole. "I think that's your Digimon, Pyrrha."

Jaune: "Hedge did say they were going to hatch soon. So, I guess this little guy is your Digimon partner, Pyr."

Nora had seemed to calm down and Ren let go of her shirt, but then she noticed something on their nightstand. "Hey Pyrrha, something's happening with your Digivice."

They all looked toward the device in question, and it was true. It appeared to be glowing. Pyrrha walked over to it, her Digimon partner in hand, placing them into a one-handed hold under her chest, and reached out to grab her Digivice. The glow grew bigger and they moved to block the bright glow from their eyes.

After it died down, her Digivice had changed. Beforehand, hers, and by extension the others, had been the same design as their counterparts in the story, but now it had harbored a different design. It still retained her color scheme, but that was now reflected on the buttons that were on the right side of the now oval-shaped device too, being half red and half bronze. The screen was now bigger than the previous design, and it had a velcro strap underneath it.

Pyrrha grabbed it and saw something on the screen, with it also speaking out.

Digivice: "New Digimon registered, Miss Nikos. Punimon. A freshborn Digimon."

Pyrrha: "Punimon?" The newly dubbed Punimon seemed to react to that name as it jumped up and down in her grasp. She giggled. "So that's your name, huh? Alright Punimon, my name is Pyrrha Nikos, and I am your partner now. You and I will work together to the best of our ability." She then turns to her teammates to introduce them. "These people are my teammates: Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, and my team leader and boyfriend, Jaune Arc."

The three waved at the freshborn Digimon and Punimon made a sound as like saying hello.

Ren: "So your Digivice changed its design when Punimon hatched," as he looked at the design of hers. "I wonder if all of ours will upgrade when our Digieggs hatch as well."

Nora: "They probably will. Though I wonder when each of ours will hatch. Doesn't it seem a little convenient that Pyrrha's was the first to hatch?"

Jaune: "Come on Nora. That seems a bit of a stretch." He moves towards Pyrrha. "May I?" referring to her Digivice. She nods and he opens up the velcro strap to attach it to her left wrist, that way whenever she wielded her shield, it would be protected from any attack. "There we go. That way you can use Akouo to protect it from any ranged attack. I'll probably do the same if and when mine upgrades."

Pyrrha smiled. "Good idea. I was about to go and get some time done in the training room. If our future is as bad as both the story and Hedge make it out to be, then I don't think we can just be idle while we are here."

Nora: "Not a bad idea, plus you saw how powerful he was when we all fought him. I'm surprised we even managed to be beat him."

Ren: "That may be in part be because of your semblance, Nora. When you got up close and personal to him in that Corrupted Super Form, his lightning sparks were able to supercharge you. If he wanted to, he probably could've focused you so you wouldn't be able to get stronger."

Jaune: "Plus, he decided to utilize that form rather than going Hyper. If we even want to defeat him in that form, then I do agree with Pyrrha with getting some training done." He looked towards Pyrrha. "I think we'll join you. Give us a bit to get dressed and we can all work on some team attacks."

Nora: "What about Punimon? We can't just leave him here in the room."

Pyrrha: "I'm sure we'll be fine with bringing him into the training room. Hedge should have something implemented so he doesn't wander off."

Ren: "He and Swift did give them to us as a gift. I wouldn't be surprised."

Nora: "Then let's go!" as she was already dressed in her workout clothes.

Team JNPR walked into the dining area to eat breakfast and they noticed they were the last ones to come in.

Hedge was mid bite of his french toast as he took notice of the little red blob in Pyrrha's hands. "Ah, I see a Digiegg hatched during the night."

Everyone's heads instantly turned toward the redhead and saw the little Digimon. Ruby, Weiss and Yang were right in front of Pyrrha in an instant.

Ruby: "Oh my gosh! He's super cute! Wait, it's a he, right?"

Pyrrha: "According to my Digivice, yes, it is a he."

They then took notice of her Digivice that was strapped to her arm now, seeing that it now sported a new design.

Ironwood: "Wait a minute, that's a different design than what we have seen thus far."

Jaune: "It changed to that after we found Punimon on Pyrrha's bed."

Weiss was trying to tickle the small Digimon with her finger, who had cooed at the contact. "Punimon, huh? So that's this Digimon's name."

Hedge: "Correct. And as for the name of that specific Digivice, it is known as the D-Spirit. All of you start with the standard Digivice, which was the design that the protagonists of the very first Digimon Adventure anime series had with them. The D-Spirit, while its main purpose is to be a database for the Digimon Frontier anime, is actually an original design created by Bandi Asia. The first Digimon Adventure was released by Toei Animation, in partnership with a few other production companies."

Ozpin: "So then that is the 'Digital Story' part of the title of the story."

Hedge: "That's right. It's a crossover story of your webseries with that of Digimon. Fun fact, this is actually the second story that Swift has made where there was a crossover of your webseries and another form of media. The first was a crossover with the video game The Legend of Zelda."

Yang: "That's actually really cool. Any chance you'd have us watch that?"

Hedge shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. Though someone else did have another version of you guys doing so, so that's out of my control there. Though after you guys are done here, and I let you guys handle things back on Remnant, I may have you guys come back and react to some other forms of media of my world."

Blake: "And let me guess, you won't tell us what those are, will you?" Already knowing the answer.

Hedge gave her a smirk. "It'd ruin the surprise."

Everyone finished up their breakfast and returned to the theater room. Weiss was holding Punimon in her arms after asking Pyrrha numerous times to allow her to hold him, and was a little sad she had to return him back to his partner, before taking her seat and placing her own Digiegg in her lap, wondering who hers would be.

When everyone gave the A-okay that they were ready, the TV booted up once more.

The Blue Wolf! Garurumon!

Ren: "Looks like we're getting another evolution."

Yang: "Who's it going to be this time?"

Ruby: "Well, let's think about it. The title is clearly stating that the form is that of a blue wolf."

Weiss: "And out of our partners, the only ones that possibly could be, are Pierce, Nora, or Pyrrha. Veemon since he's blue, Salamon because she's a dog Digimon at the moment, and Gabumon cause he does currently have some wolf like features."

Winter: "I think you just solved which of you this evolution pertains to, Weiss."

Ironwood: "It's probably no coincidence that Miss Nikos had her Digiegg hatch before this specific chapter."

They all turned around to their host.

Hedge: "I have no idea what you all are talking about," he said innocently.

The next day saw the party of 20 up at dawn and were now on their way to the mountain in the center of the island, apparently aptly named 'Infinity Mountain' according to the Digimon. Currently though, due to abnormally dense vegetation, they were sticking to the cliffside path that would take a bit longer, but wouldn't be as tiring compared to if they'd tried to force their way through the dense vegetation. Along the way, Gyro had also returned Ruby her old whistle, which she accepted with a grateful smile as it hanged around her neck.

Weiss: "I'd have hoped that he didn't return it," she mumbled. She wasn't still salty of Ruby blasting it in her ear, nope.

As they were walking, Gyro was looking at his Digivice, thinking of the previous evening's events.

"Is something wrong, Gyro?" Agumon asked, walking up next to his partner.

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing. Just thinking about when you evolved into Greymon," he said. "I guess I was just thinking about why you did while the others didn't."

Qrow: "Good point. You all were fighting Shellmon together and only Agumon was the one to evolve."

Jaune took on a thoughtful look with a hand under his chin. "What if, the evolution occurs...when we are in mortal danger?"

Everyone looked toward Jaune and then thought on that assumption. It did sound reasonable...but then they added that thought with the fact this chapter would probably focus on Pyrrha and Gabumon.

Pyrrha: "Well this is going to suck," she muttered. Jaune grabbed her free hand and gave it a squeeze. She looked toward him and gave him a thankful smile.

"Yeah, that was pretty weird actually, I thought everyone was gonna get bigger personally." Nora said, putting a finger to her chin.

"It wouldn't have been fair to Shellmon." Ren said with a bit of amusement, which spread as they all imagined their partners being bigger and all wailing on Shellmon.

Yang laughed. "That's actually kind of funny thinking about it."

Glynda: "It'd be like a MegaGoliath fighting an Alpha Beowulf. Two heavily different sized creatures." She could actually picture something like that happening.

After the mirth died down, Gyro spoke up again. "About that, I've got a theory."

"Oh? And what would that be?" Weiss asked, honestly curious.

"Evolution normally comes from necessity. A better way to achieve a goal. The Digimon all want to protect us," he started. "So...think back. The FIRST time they evolved, ALL of us were in danger from Kuwagamon. On the other hand, yesterday the only one in real danger was me…" he winced at the memory.

Jaune: "More or less the same as my theory."

Ozpin: "It's a solid one, that's for sure. Humans and Faunus evolved our own souls to be used as a shield against the Grimm. Here, the Digimon are our shield."

"So… they evolve to protect us then." Yang said in realization, looking down at Biyomon, who smiled back up at her.

"I guess it makes sense, we don't really understand the Digivices ourselves, but we do want to keep you safe." the pink bird said happily.

"Unfortunately it goes without saying that I can't prove or disprove this theory...not without at least one of us being in enough danger that our partners would HAVE to evolve to save us." Gyro sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Winter: "Does it really have to be like that, Mr. Badnic?" She was worried about her sister. If this chapter was focused on Nikos, then what type of trial would Weiss have to go through to have Tentomon evolve?

Hedge: "For the most part. That is a common way, and more so the most used, but there are other methods."

Winter decided to go along with that. Contrary to popular belief, she does care about others, her siblings especially, even if Whitley can be a bit of a pain at times. She just hoped Weiss wouldn't get hurt as much. Her aura would be able to nullify the damage a bit, but mentally, she hoped her sister would come back to Remnant in a suffice way.

"Good point. I mean, you'd have to be pretty nutty or stupid to purposely put yourself in mortal danger just to get a power boost, right?" Jaune chuckled, something all of them, even Nora did as well.

Nora: "Why do I feel like that's a jab at Yang and I?"

Yang: "I feel the same way," giving Jaune a bit of a glare.

Weiss: "He is right, you know," surprising everyone. "You can't just go into a fight, get yourself damaged to the point you could possibly fall over, and go for a big strike. What if they dodge the attack? Then what? You'd be leaving yourself open to be heavily injured or worse, leaving just us behind to pick up the slack."

Hedge smiled in the back."Not word for word what Tai had said to Yang in V4, but it's roughly the same message."

Yang: "Alright. I get it, I'll work on it."

Ruby: "We're just looking out for you, Yang."

"Thanks, Rubes."

"Yeah, danger is bad. Let's avoid having to confirm or deny your theory as much as we can," Pierce said, to which they all nodded.

Unfortunately, it seemed Murphy was in a trolling mood that day, as just as they said that, a rustling was heard, as a large quadrupedal Rhino/Triceratops-like creature emerged from the bushes and seemed to be walking towards them.

"Oh screw you Murphy." Pierce muttered angrily as they prepared to run.

"Hey, don't worry guys, that's just Monochromon, he's a friendly guy… well, as long as no other Monochromon are around." Veemon said, waving off their concerns.

Qrow: "Any bets there's one behind them?"

Ironwood facepalmed. "Qrow, that's a sucker bet, and you know it."

Hedge: "Yet people still would bet on them."

Digimon Analyzer: Monochromon

Monochromon. Data Type. An Adult Level Dinosaur Digimon. Monochromon are general regarded as peaceful Digimon that are easy to befriend, however, should another of their species be in the area, an intense rivalry with no regards for bystanders will commence. It's special attack is Volcano Strike, firing a ball of magma from his mouth that explodes on contact.

"Yeah? Don't turn around then." Gyro said with a twitching eyebrow, as Veemon did just that, and gaped at the second Monochromon behind them.

Qrow chuckled. "Called it."

What soon followed was what all of them could tell would soon devolve into a mexican standoff...and considering what both opposing mon were packing, they sure as heck did NOT want to be in between when those horns started clashing. "Into the forest quick!" Ruby shouted, to which they all complied and jumped off the path and into the thick greenery, right as the two Monochromon charged and were soon ramming into each other in a territorial dispute.

"I vote we get away from here in case more show up and turn that dispute into a battle royale," Blake deadpanned.

"Seconded!" everyone agreed before they were running deeper into the forest.

Glynda: "Something I think we can all agree on."

Yang: "Oh come on, Professor G. You can't tell me you wouldn't want to watch them fight from a distance."

Glynda: "While you are not wrong, Miss Xiao Long, I'd like to be able to do so from a VERY FAR AND SAFE distance!"

Once they couldn't hear the sound of clashing Digimon anymore, they soon slowed their pace. "Geez, just our luck the one path we take, we just had to end up in a territory dispute. Hope this doesn't become a habit," Yang sighed. She may not be one to run from a fight, but she wasn't about to pick a fight with a random Digimon.

After that little incident, the rest of the day went by a lot more peacefully, as day soon gave way to dusk. "Hm...we'd better look for a place to set up camp soon," Gyro frowned, looking at the sunset coloring the sky.

"I agree," Weiss nodded, before turning to Tentomon. "Can you fly up and see if you can spot anywhere we might want to set up for the night?"

"Leave it to me," Tentomon nodded, before flying up. As he did, he got a whiff of something. "Hm...I smell water!" he reported, flying higher till he was over the trees and looked around. It was at that point he spotted something nice. "Hey! I see a lake!"

Weiss: "You know I was curious on that. Besides Gyro with his semblance, how many fliers do we have?"

Blake: "3: Biyomon, Tentomon, and Patamon."

Weiss hummed in acknowledgment. "Then that can be good to be able to scout from above wherever we go, giving us a literal bird's eye view."

"Well, looks like we know where we'll be staying for the night," Ren nodded. A lake meant water and food, so they could restock on supplies and avoid having to dip into their current supplies unnecessarily...even if they still had a sizeable amount of Meat Apples left from yesterday.

Pyrrha: "Speaking of..." she thought up a few Meat Apples and gave them to Punimon so it could eat something. Considering how much food Botamon ate before he became Koromon, maybe Punimon would be the same.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Gomamon said enthusiastically as he made a beeline for where Tentomon was pointing.

"Hey, Gomamon! Don't run off on your own!" Jaune said, managing to grab him by the tail, stopping him from running off.

"Wohoo! Let's go!" Nora cheered, running past them.

"Not you too, Nora!" Salamon groaned as she ran after her partner.

Qrow: "How on Remnant do you three keep up with her?"

Pyrrha: "You get used to it."

Jaune: "Slowly."

Ren sighed, before looking at his partner who prefered to cling onto his back and peek from over his shoulder "Wormmon, if you could?"

"Of course." he said, before shooting a thread at Nora, giving his head a jerk and twirling it around her a few times, cocooning her up, her face being the only thing still visible once he was done.

Ren: "That'll have to work, I guess."

"Alright everyone, let's NOT get separated as much as we can," Blake sighed. "The last thing we need is one of us to get jumped by a random Digimon."

"Hey, don't look at us. We weren't the ones who tried to run away," Pierce waved off while Salamon was dragging Nora back to the group.

"Traitor," Gomamon said, though there was no real heat behind it.

Eventually the group made it to the lake, and their eyes widened at what they saw. "Hey, is that an electric tram?" Gyro blinked at the sight of what was sitting on the small island in the middle of the lake.

"Seems like it," Pyrrha nodded, recognizing the shape and design from back in Mistral.

Pyrrha: "Yup, we have quite a few of those in Argus. The city's so big we have the tram cars go throughout it. You can get off at any time you want."

Jaune: "My older sister Saphron would tell me about the city too. Been meaning to visit her sometimes."

Hedge: "Those tram cars remind me of a city in my home state on Earth." He shows them a picture of a tram car from said city on screen.

Ironwood: "Interesting, almost looks identical to the tram cars in Argus."

Hedge: "I would hope so, Argus was pretty much inspired by that city to my knowledge."

"Is this another thing that's from your world?" Gabumon asked.

"Yes, and much like the phone boxes before, its out of place. A tram can't be used without tracks," Pyrrha nodded.

"Doesn't help that the lake looks weird with those huge electrical towers in it." Pierce added with a raised eyebrow.

"I get the feeling we're gonna be seeing a LOT of things that are out of place from now on," Blake said, coming up from behind them.

Weiss: "Should probably write down what would be."

Hedge: "Weiss, I'll save you the trouble and say there will be a lot of out of place things. You'd probably fill up this whole theater room with notebook pages."

"But...maybe we can use that somehow," Patamon said, landing on her shoulder.

"Well...maybe. First things first though, we might as well check it out. The sun's still out, so we got some time before we need to set up camp," Gyro said.

"Okay, I'll be right back!" Ruby said cheerfully, having heard the whole conversation...and promptly zipped straight to the tram using her semblance, before coming back a few minutes later.

Weiss: "You dolt! What did we just say?!"

Yang: "Seriously Rubes. I know you are capable of getting in and out with your semblance, but you and I both know how you are with hand-to-hand combat. Here in the Digital World, all it would take is one good hit from a strong Digimon and your aura is gone. You should have either me and Biyomon or Palmon with you just in case."

Ruby pouted, knowing what her other is trying to do is help and gather information for them. "Alright, I understand."

Ironwood: "If anything, Miss Rose, it is an admirable thing to go ahead and scout for your group. Better to know what to expect rather than be ambushed by prepared Digimon," taking to heart Ozpin's talk to him and Glynda before the whole Mountain Glenn/Breach situation.

"And why did no one stop her?" Gomamon muttered dryly.

"Because she was still in sight and she's not you?" Palmon shot back at him.

"It's all clear, it even looks brand new." Ruby informed as she returned.

"That's good, guess we can use it as a place to sleep for the night." Yang said, before stretching her arms up high "God, sleeping on the sand made me all sore. It sucks your brother didn't pack tents along with everything else." Yang said the last part while looking at the twins.

Jaune raised his arms up into the air. "Oh come on, that's like the most important item to have." He's gone camping multiple times with his family, so he's had to put up the tent a number of times with his father.

Blake: "At least we have sleeping bags. That way we won't have to sleep on the cold metal floor or deal with the cold nighttime weather."

"Tell me about it, he packs everything we need for a camping trip, except for the ONE thing we'd need the most." Pierce said, shaking his head with a sigh.

Jaune huffed and nodded his head at that.

"Well, no point in complaining. At least we don't have to worry about carrying supplies thanks to him," Ren said, his voice lowering a little, while Nora for a second looked a little glum as she nodded in agreement.

Their friends caught that. Ren and Nora have been quite tight lipped of their past, usually deviating from that topic to talk about something else. While they respected their privacy, they still did wonder what had happened before they came to Beacon.

"Fair enough," Yang conceded. "Well, since we've picked our camping spot for the night, let's get started on the campfire. I'll go get firewood!"

"I'll go gather some fruits!" Biyomon said enthusiastically as she flew towards the woods.

"I'll help," Patamon said as he flew after her.

"Hey, wait for me!" Tentomon joined in as well.

"I'll see if I can catch any fish," Jaune volunteered.

Weiss: "Are there even regular fish in the Digital World?"

Pyrrha: "...Maybe?" She didn't really know herself.

"I'll try and round the fish up for ya partner." Gomamon said as he followed after Jaune.

"Hey Ruby, can you help me look for edible plants?" Palmon asked, looking up at her partner.

"Sure," Ruby nodded. "Though...I've never done this kind of thing before," she admitted.

"No problem, I'll be sure to tell you which can be eaten and which can't," Palmon smiled.

Ruby: "First time for anything, I guess," she smiled.

"Well, in that case, I'll go help Yang with the firewood. Veemon, can you come too?" Pierce said.

"No problem! Let's gather plenty for tonight!" Veemon grinned as he and his partner walked after the blonde brawler.

Yang smiled, but also blushed at knowing what Pierce was trying to do. "Smooth, but cheeky, Vermillion."

"I'll go and see if the tram car can be made in any way more comfortable to sleep in." Ren said as he walked towards it.

"Maybe my nets can help?" Wormmon suggested, earning a nod from Ren.

"I'm coming too Ren! Come on Salamon!" Nora said with a grin as she picked up her partner and ran after the magenta eyed boy.

"I'll get the place set for the campfire," Gyro said. "Agumon, mind being our 'lighter' for tonight?" he joked.

"No problem," Agumon nodded.

"I'll go and lend Jaune a hand," Pyrrha decided.

"I'll help too," Gabumon said, following her.

"In that case, I'll see about getting some cooking utensils for the fish," Blake said, before turning to Weiss. "Mind helping me?"

"I don't mind...though I've never done anything like this before," the heiress admitted.

Ruby: "Seems we have to work on wilderness survival skills too."

Jaune: "Same here. I may have camped a lot with my family, but my parents and older sisters would handle those. I mostly just watched."

Ren: "I'd be happy to teach you guys some skills."

Qrow: "Same here. Helps that I'm mostly on missions out in the wild, so I've had to perfect them over the years." He left out his years in the Branwen tribe, but that had also helped him a bit.

"Not a problem. We just need some skewers for when we're roasting the fish, and there are plenty of trees for us to use," Blake reassured, before a thought crossed her mind. "Gyro, do you happen to have a pocket knife in that pouch?" she asked...to which Gyro tossed her two in response. "Thanks."

With everyone working together, it wasn't long before they had managed to gather up plenty of supplies for the night in the form of fruit, mushrooms, herbs, with one VERY impressive haul of fish.

Yang thought up some fish to share with her partner, as she had noticed the cat Faunus start to drool. Said girl blushed after rubbing her hand to clear her mouth after Yang had subtly called it out.

"You know, this is the first time I've eaten fish like this." Jaune said as he bit into his second fish of the evening.

"You might want to get used to it then. I don't think we're going to find a restaurant anytime soon." Gyro told him as he cleaned off the bones.

Everyone fell into silence as they continued to eat after that, until "I just noticed something." Blake cut through that silence while looking up at the sky.

"What is it?" Pyrrha asked, just as curious as everyone.

"None of the constellations are the same as the ones on Remnant." she said, making everyone look up into the sky, to see that she was indeed right.

Ruby: "That's a bit of an odd thing to point out, Blake."

Glynda: "On the contrary, Miss Rose. You can utilize the constellations to tell which direction is which. Them being different in the Digital World would make figuring out directions a bit more difficult."

"Huh, weird, it's not even the sky from our world, or else considering the climate we'd probably see something like the Southern Cross in the sky." Pierce noticed as they couldn't see any of Earth's constellations either.

Ironwood: "And apparently it's different to Earth's atmosphere too."

"Speaking of that, what's your world like?" Yang asked, curious.

"Well, for starters, the year is different than on Remnant. Where as Remnant is in the year 2013 at the moment, our world, Earth, stupid name I know, is in the year 2068, though if that's because of a different calendar or something, I don't know. We have some pretty advanced technology back home, enough that we were able to leave our planet's atmosphere, and so far, we can travel up to the edge of our solar system, and have colonised some of the other celestial bodies there. Well, the solid ones anyway, can't set foot on the gaseous ones obviously, but we have a few colonies on Earth's moon, and the rest are mostly on a planet called Mars." Gyro explained as he picked his teeth with one of the bones.

Weiss: "I still can't believe your world has been able to leave the planet. You guys are way ahead of us in terms of technology."

Ozpin: "And 58 years ahead of ours."

Hedge: "Well, not mine and Swift's Earth. It's 2025 at the moment, and 2013 is the year your world is because that is when the first Volume of your webseries came out. Just recently the 9th Volume just had it's 2 year anniversary. Well, actually, it's 2014 in your world becuase that's the 2nd Volume."

That at least gave them a timeline on where their world was in terms of the timeline of the webseries.

Hedge: "As for any colonizations of our other planets or even the moon, we haven't necessarily done that yet. We have space stations orbiting around Earth, where people do volunteer to go up into space to experience that, but space travel isn't necessarily safe. There have been quite a few accidents that revolve around launch or even atmospheric re-entry."

That made some worried if they were able to perfect space travel for themselves. They also mourned any and all people that had lost their lives to those accidents.

"Wait, you were able to leave the planet's atmosphere? How? Dust loses it's properties each time we try and the shuttle just falls back down." Weiss asked, honestly curious.

"Well, sadly we had to use fossil fuels to power them, so our planet's atmosphere was kind of shot to hell till a few years ago when the use of a clean renewable energy source made cleaning up the atmosphere feasible. See, Earth doesn't have Dust, nor does it have Grimm… though I may have mentioned that last part last night, can't remember though. Anyway, the important part is, Earth is vastly different from Remnant, we don't even have the issue of race to deal with since we don't have Faunus, just people of different color. Thankfully in recent years that problem was fixed, especially when we were finally able to topple the last dictatorship on the planet." Pierce explained this time. "So yeah, it took a long time, but Earth is FINALLY well on its way to achieving a planet wide golden age."

Winter: "Goes to show how over reliant we are of Dust."

Weiss: "It's been our main power supply, but also the only one we've ever used."

Ironwood: "These fossil fuels may be able to help us experience space travel, but I fear for the after effects they would have on the planet."

Qrow: "Not to mention those accidents that had happened Hedge referred to." If Hedge didn't upgrade his semblance, he wouldn't even try to get on a shuttle for fear his misfortune would do something to mess things up. Now, and if they were able to utilize those fossil fuels, he wouldn't mind trying it...so long as everything was handled perfectly.

"Wait, there was a dictatorship on your home?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah, bunch of crazies who thought they were gods, oppressing their people, took a while before the rest of the world decided to just straight up deal with them." Gyro said with a shrug.

"And by deal with them you mean…?" Pyrrha said, trailing off.

Pierce simply mimed putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger.

Jaune: "I know they're talking about 50 years worth of events in the possible future for your world, but did you guys have to deal with anything like that?"

Hedge: "We had a few prominent issues to deal with during our two World Wars, one more so in our second one. But we did personally deal with a situation around the year 2001. A day every American remembers with a heavy heart: 9/11. To keep things short, terrorists had decided to hijack a few of our passenger airliners...and crash them into prominent landmarks of our country: The World Trade Center, the Pentagon, which is where our top military officals gather when it comes to major war battles, and our country's capital, where it houses the White House, the location where our nation's leader, the President of the United States, is located."

On screen, all three landmarks appeared, but then more pictures appeared and showed the damage the terrorists had bestowed. Out of all three, it was the World Trade Center that had the most, as it was the one that both towers had collapsed. What they noticed is the White House and the area around it wasn't damaged at all.

Glynda: "How despicable," she spat.

Weiss: "I would've never thought there were people worse than the White Fang, but I guess I was wrong." Something even Blake agreed with her on.

Ozpin: "How many aircraft were hijacked?" He gripped his cane tightly.

Hedge: "4, two for the Trade Center, and one each for the Pentagon and Capital."

Winter: "But it seems like the Capital wasn't hit. What happened to the 4th aircraft?"

Hedge sighed. "That aircraft was diverted and crashed into an open field, preventing it from hitting the Capital."

Ironwood: "But I thought you said it was hijacked?" That seemed like the terrorists were the ones that crashed it.

Hedge: "I did."

Ironwood: "So then how...?" His eyes widened in realization. Two things could've happened to prevent the attack: either the aircraft was shot down by the American military...or the civilians on board fought back and forced the crash.

Hedge: "That specific aircraft the passengers on board came to terms with their fate: they knew they were going to die. So they rebelled against their hijackers and would die trying to save the target they were going after. I'm not entirely sure if they knew exactly where the plane was going, but they rushed the cockpit of the plane and seized the controls, causing it to crash into the open field instead." He remembered watching a documentary of some of the passengers' final messages to their loved ones. Knowing you were moments from death with no way around it, unless of course they were able to get rid of all the terrorists on board and regain control of the plane, it's no wonder they decided to fight back and divert away.

The residents of Remnant's hearts went out to those on board that plane, as well as those who had lost their lives from the other three planes used in the attack, and any who lost their lives on the ground. They may not have known those people, but they would be remembered in 12 people's hearts from another world.

Hedge: "After that day, our military went and eliminated the leader of the group who committed the attacks. Every year since then we have a day of rememberence." He showed them the memorial, right next to the location where the original World Trade Center used to stand. It would always stand as a reminder.

Everyone didn't know what to think of that event. No doubt Hedge's country was more united after that attack. They really hoped something like that would never happen on their world.

Hedge: "I'll give you guys a moment to reacclimate yourselves." He disappeared from the room.

Yang was comforting Ruby, hugging her sister while said red reaper was crying heavily. To think there were people who would willingly want to cause chaos, at the cost of innocent life.

Ren did the same in comforting Nora, and Jaune with Pyrrha. Weiss and Winter were comforting each other, happy they were together at the very least, but scared thinking about if either of them were in that same position.

Blake couldn't help but imagine Adam in the group leader's position. While the White Fang has had its protests over the years, and may have escalted things recently, they never resorted to something like that! Though, sadly, she was putting it as something Adam would do if given the chance. Which gave her a scary thought: what if she had to put him down for good as well?

With the Ozluminati, they instantly put the connection to that of Salem. It was pretty much in line with what she was sowing from a far. Wanting to cause chaos on Remnant, with no care for that of innocent lives. At least in Hedge's world, that leader was taken care of, but they then wondered how exactly they'd be able to handle Salem.

After awhile, Hedge reappeared and asked them if they were ready to continue, which they all gave him nonverbal head nods.

Everyone decided not to ask anymore on that subject, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

After what they just heard, that was a MAJOR understatement.

"So… uh… you said there wasn't any grimm right?" Nora asked, even she wanted to change the subject after that strange atmosphere.

Hedge: "We just go about our daily lives without a care in the world mostly." He left out "unless a war breaks out," but that was pretty much a given.

"Yeah, none at all, we also don't have Dust, and for the longest time our main source of fuel was gasoline and stuff like that, but in recent years we've been able to switch to a cleaner energy source." Gyro said with a nod.

The group continued to chat a bit more, asking a few more questions about the world the brothers had come from, before the long day started to make itself known. With that in mind, they cleaned up the campfire and moved to the tram.

"Hey, this place is actually pretty comfy," Pierce mused as he sat down on one of the cushions. "And we got a good amount of room too," he added, looking to the section they'd covered in leaves and a few makeshift hammocks thanks to Wormmon for the Digimon to use.

Ren: "You'd be surprised at what comfort you can find in some places."

Nora: "True. But on the flip side, there are places that are uncomfortable too." She was really trying to stay as peppy as could be, but everyone could tell she was stricken by the info they all just learned.

"Yeah, its almost a shame we can't bring this with us," Jaune commented, idly fiddling with the control in the front, but unsurprisingly, the tram didn't move at all.

"Hopefully it doesn't get too cold." Blake said idly as she leaned into one of the seats, smiling as Patamon went into her lap and snuggled against her.

Ruby: "At least we have some snuggle buddies," wiping her eyes of stray tears.

"Some of the Digimon are going to be plenty warm at least." Yang said as she looked at the ones that had fur or feathers.

"Hey, Gabumon, think I can borrow your pelt?" Gyro asked jokingly as he made grabby hands.

"Please don't." Gabumon said as he moved away from Gyro.

"Note to self: Gabumon is very self conscious of his pelt," everyone thought.

"Relax, just joking." Gyro told him with an apologetic smile, not expecting that to be a sensitive subject apparently.

"Please don't do it again Gyro." Pyrrha asked him, with a stern look.

"Right, right, sorry." he said with a simple nod.

"At any rate, we should decide who goes on first watch, then decide on the rotation," Ren said.

"Yo," Gyro simply said, volunteering for the first watch.

Ruby giggled. "Funny, that's exactly how I volunteered to watch first in Mountain Glenn."

Yang: "Oh yeah. It is the exact same way."

"I'll take second watch then," Yang volunteered.

"I'll take third," Jaune said with a small smile.

"Then it's settled," Pierce nodded.

"I'll go settle up closer to the water." Gyro said, stretching his arms, before turning to Agumon "Think you can help me make a small fire?"

"Sure thing." his partner said with a smile as the two walked back outside, while the rest of the group turned off the lights of the tram and settled in for sleep.

Once outside, Gyro and Agumon soon got a merry little fire going, Gyro making sure to have enough firewood ready for the ones who'd be taking a shift after him. Exhaling a little, he was mildly annoyed to see vapor coming out of his mouth. Seems it was going to be a cold night. "Looks like it's just you and me for the next few hours, buddy," he chuckled lightly.

Nora: "Greaaat," she muttered, remembering all the cold nights she and Ren had to go through during their travels. They at least had each other to cuddle up next to, but they would've been better being in an inn instead.

"Yeah, might as well get comfortable," Agumon nodded.

The next couple of hours passed relatively uneventfully, the fire thankfully helping to keep them warm in the chilly night, while a light mist had settled in around the lake. Never let it be said that Gyro wasn't brave, but even he had to admit this whole setting was giving him the creeps. One too many horror movies he'd seen on Earth coming to mind.

Hedge: "Some are really gory, for those wondering. There are quite a few even I haven't watched. Not because of the goriness they have, but just mainly I never got around to watching them."(AN: my mother is not into gory movies, but she would watch the less gory ones. Though she did try to watch the Terrifier movies, which I personally have not seen, but I do know it's very gory. The moment I told her that, she instantly clicked off it.)

Some wanted to know how gory they were compared to their own world's movies, while others didn't want to know at all.

Nearing the two hour mark, he got up, starting to walk away from the fire.

"Gyro?" Agumon said his name in confusion.

"Bathroom." was all Gyro said, Agumon nodding in understanding as he let his partner walk away to relieve himself.

Weiss: "Yeah, I don't think we need the intricacies of that."

"Nope," was the immediate response from everyone.

Though, Gyro didn't notice that as he stepped off a large red leaf imbedded into the stone, that it twitched a bit before settling back down.

Jaune: "Oh crud. Wonder what Digimon that no doubt pissed off."

A minute later, the goggle head sighed in relief as he zipped his pants back up and used the water from the lake to wash his hands, moving away from the spot where he had relieved himself obviously.

He twitched after a moment, hearing something behind him, before quickly turning around, about to attack… and almost falling on his face when he saw it was only Pyrrha, looking out at the shore.

Yang: "Geez, P-Money. Make a little bit more noise. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you hung out with Blake and learn a few things from her regarding stealth."

Blake: "I'll...take that as a compliment."

"Dammit, what is it with people trying to give me heart attacks?" he muttered as he regained his footing.

Weiss: "Maybe we just want to mess with you," she said with a teasing smirk.

"Sorry." Pyrrha told him softly, looking a bit morose at the moment.

Gyro frowned at the look. "Something the matter?"

Pyrrha seemed to be having a bit of a debate at his question, probably asking herself if she should tell him.

"Look, if this is about what happened with Gabumon earlier, I'm sorry about that. I didn't think he was sensitive about that pelt." he said, raising his hands apologetically.

Pyrrha shook her head after a moment "It's not that… it's just, I was having a nightmare earlier, about the day before I left for Beacon."

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at that. "The day before I left for Beacon? Nothing really happened at that time. All I remember is talking with my mother. So what could it be about?"

"Unless...?"

Gyro winced a bit "I'm guessing it didn't go so well?"

She sighed "It really didn't. Most people don't know this, but I have an older sister. She and I got along rather well when I was young, but as my fame grew, our relationship became strained, and just before I left, we...got into a fight and I...said something horrible to her. I never got to apologize before all this happened..."

The JNR of Team JNPR were surprised at this.

Jaune: "Huh, that's interesting. You never talked about your family before, Pyr..." he turned to look at his girlfriend, but then quickly noticed she had her head down and could hear her sniffling. Quickly, he brought her into a hug. The others taking notice. "Hey, Pyr, what's wrong?"

Pyrrha tried to stiffle her sniffling and hold back tears. "There's a reason...why I don't."

Nora: "Hey, if you're not up to talk about it, we'll respect your decision." Ren kept quiet and nodded, but in the back of his mind, he could hazard a guess as to what had happened.

Pyrrha: "No," she clutched onto Punimon, "you guys should know." She steeled herself. "I said I lived in Argus, but I've lived there for most of my life with my mother. The reason...is because I wasn't born in Argus. My family and I originally lived in a village not far from Argus itself. It was me, my mother..., my older sister, and my father."

Ruby and Yang looked at each other when they noticed Pyrrha's pause to talk about her father and older sister. They had a pretty good feeling what had happened. That same feeling was felt by Qrow. The three immediately tied it to when Summer disappeared.

Jaune seemed to have picked up on the hidden meaning too. "...I see. I'm sorry for your loss. I take it you and your mother had moved towards Argus for shelter?"

Pyrrha nodded. "Us and some surviving members of the village traversed through the woods, hoping we would reach it safely. We had a few licensed Huntsmen and Huntresses with us, but there were still some casualties, both civilian and Huntsmen. Eventually, we did manage to reach Argus, and we were given shelter, but eventually, things turned to where us refugees had to pull our weight."

Ironwood and Winter shared a look. That had Cordovin written all over it.

Pyrrha continued on. "My mother had to get multiple jobs just to help keep us stabilized. When I became of age, I told her I would start training to become a Huntress. She was against it, at first, as she didn't want to lose her little girl, but I put my foot down that my dad and sister wouldn't want me sitting on my butt all the time while she worked hers off. And I may not like the attention I get being known as the Invincible Girl, but secretly, I knew I had to do something to help rake in cash. The tournaments helped with that."

Jaune: "Hey," he placed his hand under her chin and brought it up to look him in the eye. "I know we can't change the past, and apparently, our future seems to be pretty shitty too," that got a few chuckles out of everyone, "but I know that you are not just the Invincible Girl, you are Pyrrha Nikos. And I'll stand by your side and help you all the way. We'll all work together and defeat Salem. Your father and sister are no doubt proud of the young woman you have become. I can guarantee that," he smiled at her.

Pyrrha's eyes welded up and she lurched forward to fully cry and hug him, which he returned swiftly. They were soon joined by each of their friends, giving her small acknowledgements that they would be there for her always.

Hedge gave them a bit to calm down before resuming the story, but he did have a smile on his face.

Gyro was definitely thrown for a loop at that information, not expecting for Pyrrha to be the youngest sibling in a family, but figured that it could make sense. At the moment though, that wasn't what mattered.

Winter: "Is it not mentioned at all about Miss Nikos' family in the webseries?"

Hedge: "No, it's not mentioned at all about Pyrrha's family." He kept it hidden for now about Pyrrha's fate, and the assumed redheaded person in V6 that might have been her mother.

"Well… I'm sure once we're back, you can apologize. Siblings get into fights all the time, but at the end of the day, they don't hate each other, so if you tell her how much you regret it, I'm sure she'll forgive you." He said, trying to comfort her as best he can, without overstepping boundaries either.

He didn't want to be seen in a higher light than Jaune after all, because there was no way he was getting into explaining how he thought that Jaune and Pyrrha made a cute couple.

Pyrrha smiled after a moment "Right." she said, letting out a bit of a sigh "Thank you Gyro, I think I needed to hear that."

Gyro nodded, before grinning a moment later "Well, if you ever want to repay me, how about we have a spar once we finally get back? I want to see if that title everyone gives you is really all that."

Despite herself, Pyrrha couldn't help but smirk at that. "I'll take you on anytime." With that, she got up and started walking away.

"Where ya going?" Gyro asked.

"I need to clear my head. Don't worry, I won't be far away," she reassured.

Pyrrha: "That's going to bite me," she muttered.

Glynda: "That's Murphy for you."

Gyro nodded, before walking back towards the fire and sitting next to Agumon, smiling as his friend was starting to doze off.

He did jump a bit when he heard a voice start to softly sing into the mist.

Plus he recognized that song.

"Wait… that's the third ending of Fairy Tail… huh, didn't think I'd hear that here." he muttered, before shrugging, not noticing the short figure walking out of the tram behind him.

Qrow: "'Fairy Tail?' Sounds like one of those animes Ruby and Yang would always watch."

Hedge: "It is, a very popular one at that to my knowledge. Personally, I never watched it. The one I did watch was Dragon Ball Z, more specifically its Kai version, all the way up to its most recent iteration Dragon Ball Super. Sadly, the creator of that anime, Akira Toriyama, passed away recently, and a lot of fans of the series paid their respects online. As for Fairy Tail, it had a total of 9 seasons, 328 episodes. The first episode aired October 12, 2009 in Japanese, its English counterpart November 22 2 years later, while the final episode aired September 29, 2019, almost ending on its 10 year anniversary. According to my research it doesn't specify whether that final date was the Japanese release or the English one."

As for the short figure, who was actually Gabumon, he'd woken up a few moments ago, quickly noticing his partner was nowhere to be found and then started to step out of the tram when he heard a voice sing within the mist.

Pyrrha smiled. "Glad to hear that Gabumon is worried about me."

"I hope this isn't a trick by some kind of Digimon we don't know about." he muttered as he walked towards the source of the voice, being relieved when he saw it was only Pyrrha, who was walking slowly while singing.

Jaune whispered. "You have a nice singing voice."

Pyrrha blushed and whispered back. "Thanks."

"Pyrrha." he called out her name as he walked up to her, halting her singing as she turned to him questioningly "What are you doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep. I had a nightmare about something that happened a few weeks ago." she said with a sad smile.

Yang: "I don't think anyone would want to repeat something like that, in dream or nightmare form."

Weiss: "Ditto."

"Was it scary?" he asked, worried for her.

She shook her head "No, just something I regret happened." her smile then turned more genuine "But as soon as we get back, I'll work on undoing it."

Gabumon returned the smile "I'll help you if I can."

Pyrrha couldn't help herself, laughing a bit at how sincere he was "Thank you Gabumon."

Back with Gyro, he was idly poking at the sticks in the fire with a branch to keep it going, when one of them popped, jumping out of the flame as Gyro had to lean out of the way of the burning piece of wood "Shit!" he swore when it came close to burning his nose.

He was about to simply pay it no mind after that, idly noticing the piece falling on a large red leaf, before EVERYTHING shook.

"Oh what now?!" he shouted as he had to scoot away from the edge of the water while Agumon woke back up completely.

Ironwood: "And here we go," he cryptically said.

Winter: "As much as the action is good, it's not a good thing to see them get hurt just to unlock their next evolutions."

The students then looked at Punimon, and then the remaining unhatched Digieggs. "Are we going to have to go through something similar?"

"I'm up!" he said, before having to get on his hands and knees when he felt the effects of the shaking "What's going on?!"

"I don't know!" Gyro replied back.

Quite obviously, the constant shaking woke up everyone in the tram, some of them falling out of the seats due to being disoriented. "Is this an earthquake?!" Ruby blinked.

"I dunno, but something feels weird," Palmon responded.

After a moment of righting themselves, a few of them, notably Weiss, Tentomon, Jaune and Gomamon where able to get outside.

"Gyro what did you do?!" was the first thing Weiss said.

"Nothing! An ember in the fire popped and this started." He shot back, a little incensed at being accused.

Ruby: "You are the only one awake, Gyro."

Blake: "To our others' knowledge. Most likely they haven't noticed Pyrrha and Gabumon being up too."

"Then why is the island shaking?!"

They soon got their answer, when a large shape suddenly emerged from the water.

It was a long serpentine beast with teal colored scales and red stripes covering its body, its head covered in a yellow helmet.

"Oh no! Seadramon!" Tentomon gasped in a bit of fear.

Digimon Analyzer: Seadramon

Seadramon. Data Type. An Adult Level Aquan Digimon. It uses its long serpentine body to wrap around its foes, and constrict them to death. It is, for the most part, simple minded, swimming away in the Net Ocean. It's special attack is Ice Arrow, firing an absolute zero breath from its mouth.

"Oh come on! Not another angry Digimon!" Jaune said, already starting to get annoyed.

"What has him angry though?" Gomamon questioned as he looked around, before noticing something "Ah! That's his tail!"

Everyone looked at where he was pointing with one of his flippers, before Gyro groaned as he saw the large red leaf "Ah dammit, the ember landed on that."

"So it really was your fault after all!" Tentomon said in a panicked voice.

"Hey, I didn't know our camp for the night was literally on top of a giant sea monster! So sue me!" Gyro shot back...right before the sound of rock breaking, before the island was literally being pulled along by Seadramon.

Qrow: "He's not wrong."

Weiss/Winter: "That doesn't help the current situation!"

"Somebody stop the island!" Jaune shouted.

"We need to get Seadramon to either stop or get his tail loose!" Gomamon shot back.

"Easier said than done." Gyro said as he had to catch himself against the tram.

Ren: "He could end up breaking up the entire island if we don't get him detached."

At the same time, back on the shore, Pyrrha and Gabumon had been caught off guard by the sea serpent rising out of the lake, trying to make it back to the small island quickly, before staring in shock at the remains of the pathway to it.

"No choice, we'll have to swim." Pyrrha said, before diving into the water, quickly starting to swim after the island being moved around by Seadramon.

Jaune: "How good are you at swimming?"

Pyrrha: "Pretty good if I say so myself."

Jaune: "I think I recall seeing a swimming pool attached to the training room. Down for a race?"

Pyrrha: "You're on,” she said with a grin.

"Oh dear, no choice I suppose." Gabumon said after a moment before jumping into the water and swimming after her.

Back at the island…

"I WANT OFF THIS RODEO!" Pierce shouted over the sound of rushing water, as Seadramon was now basically pulling them all over the lake in an almost demented water rodeo.

"I'm gonna be sick…" Jaune groaned, turning green.

"DON'T YOU DARE THROW UP WHERE YOU MIGHT HIT ONE OF US!" several voices shouted at his words.

Weiss: "That's...disgusting," she groaned, almost turning green.

Thankfully, it seemed someone up there was listening, as with one last sharp turn, Seadramon's tail came loose, allowing him to dive into the water, and the island to finally stop moving.

"Okay, we need to plan a counter attack," Gyro started. "But first…" he promptly ran to the edge, ignoring the fact that there was a sea monster in the water...and started emptying his stomach.

Everyone looked at each other...before promptly running to separate sides and doing the same.

Everyone shuddered at the sounds of them throwing up, glad they didn't have to see it.

Jaune: "Now you know how I feel every time we fly on a bullhead or aerial transport."

"Everyone, are you-?!" Pyrrha started as she got close...then she realized what everyone was doing, and despite the danger, swam back a little in disgust. She'd rather NOT be swimming in their sick if she could help it.

Pyrrha: "Yeah, I'd rather not do that," she flinched in disgust.

Unfortunately, that ended up putting her in more danger, as she was suddenly yanked under the water.

"Pyrrha!" was the scream from the students.

Yang: "He's going to drown her!"

Nora: "Oh if only I was there to break his legs."

"He's a Aquan Digimon, Nora. You wouldn't be able..."

"My point still stands, Renny!"

"Pyrrha!" Gabumon shouted in alarm, grabbing everyone's attention as they turned to the water, seeing Gabumon swimming around trying to find his partner. He got his answer when Seadramon suddenly emerged from the water, Gabumon right under his head, resulting in the mon being launched all the way to the island. Once Seadramon was out of the water, they could also see what he had wrapped in his tail.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune shouted at the sight of the redhead tightly wrapped in the sea serpent's coils, and though she was struggling to break free, it was clear she neither had the leverage nor raw power to get free.

Pyrrha shuddered at the sight.

Winter: "Not drowning. Squeezing the life out of her."

Qrow: "Like being in the coils of a King Taijitu. Not a good way to go."

Jaune: "Don't say that you two! Pyrrha's going to get out of that, I know it!"

"This is bad! Agumon, can you evolve into Greymon again?" Gyro asked, hoping that first time would at least give his partner some kind of knowledge of how to do it at will.

Agumon responded by concentrating, looking like he was willing something to happen, but after a moment, he opened his eyes and shook his head. "I'm sorry Gyro, but I don't know how to do it again."

"Gomamon, can your Marching Fishes distract him enough for Pyrrha to get out?" Jaune quickly asked.

Jaune: "Yes, that can do something for now! Do it Gomamon!"

Gomamon shook his head at that. "Sorry Jaune, but Marching Fishes isn't really much of an attack. Sure they'd distract him, but Seadramon don't let go of something they have in their coils so easily."

"Curses!"

"Palmon, can you maybe get Pyrrha out of there with your Poison Ivy?" Ruby turned to her partner.

Ruby: "Even though I wish they did, I don't think her vines could reach that far."

Weiss: "What about our flyers? They could fly up to distract Seadramon."

Glynda: "While he may be focused on Miss Nikos in his coils, he could just react fast enough and blast them out of the sky."

"I can't, they're too far away!" Palmon said.

"Isn't there ANYTHING we can do?!" Pierce asked through gritted teeth, cursing the fact that they were in Seadramon's element where most of their partners and them for that matter, wouldn't be able to fight properly.

And that was when Seadramon finally decided to squeeze, HARD.

Pyrrha's scream of pain was like a knife cutting through the air.

Nora: "Her aura's not going to last through the pressure!"

Ozpin: "As much I hate to say it, this is the catalyst needed."

And Gabumon couldn't bare to hear it.

"PYRRHA!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, he wanted to save his partner!

(Play Brave Heart)

At that moment Pyrrha's Digivice shone brightly, and much like with Gyro's, it shot out a 'signal' into the sky, calling forth a light that released a stream of data.

"Gabumon, Evolution!" Gabumon called out as the data flowed into his body, and he soon transformed. "Garurumon!" Gabumon's form changed from a bipedal reptile to a large quadrupedal mammal that resembled a wolf. His fur was a mix of white, silver and blue, with sharp blades of fur on his back, his claws a magenta color.

Ruby: "He's looks so awesome!" For some reason, she seems to have a kinship with Garurumon, but she doesn't fully understand why. She shakes that thought away and returns to gushing over the blue wolf Digimon.

Digimon Analyzer: Garurumon

Garurumon. Data Type. An Adult Level Beast Digimon. His fur is said to be coated with the rare and legendary metal Mithril, making it sharp and turning his whole body into a powerful weapon. It serves as a great hunter no matter the environment, and remains loyal to those it calls friends. His special attack is Fox Fire, spewing a powerful blue flame from his mouth.

Garurumon dashed forward and did a might leap as he went straight for Seadramon's tail, his claws hitting the serpent fast and hard enough that it forced him to release Pyrrha with a pained screech, the girl immediately diving into the water and managing to swim to the shore of the island (the vomit in the water thankfully dispersed by now). When she got there, her friends immediately rushed to her side and helped her up, where she finally sagged in exhaustion from having the life nearly crushed out of her. When she could focus on the fight again, her eyes widened. "Gabumon evolved…!"

Pyrrha sighed in relief. "Thank Oum he did, and not a moment too soon."

Jaune: "Still have Seadramon to handle," he reminded, but was glad Pyrrha was safe now.

"Yeah, he did. Guess this is more proof for my theory, huh?" Gyro nodded.

Back at the fight, Seadramon tried to wrap his coils around Garurumon, but soon regretted it as he was met with the sharp mythril laced fur, causing him to recoil in pain, and giving Garurumon a chance to latch his jaws onto Seadramon's lower belly, bringing another screech of pain from the serpent who soon dove into the water and thrashed around in it in an effort to get the wolf off of him.

Ironwood: "So that's what the Analyzer meant with his fur. An excellent form of defense against melee attacks."

Garurumon held fast, and even started clawing at Seadramon's belly, earning another pained screech, before finally letting go after leaving the serpent with several new cuts and bite marks. Seadramon swam to get some distance and glared at the wolf, before opening his mouth and firing his Ice Arrow move.

Garurumon acted quickly and started to evade the attack, to which Seadramon followed. Garurumon managed some impressive dodges and maneuvers, but eventually Seadramon proved that this was STILL his element, and managed to catch Garurumon mid movement, causing ice to start coating him. After a few moments, he stopped attacking, thinking he'd managed to immobilize his opponent...only for the ice to shatter shortly after, Garurumon breaking free with little difficulty. Not giving Seadramon a chance to attack again, he opened his mouth, blue flames much like when he was Gabumon appeared, before being fired in a massive torrent. "Fox Fire!" he called out as the flames flew straight for Seadramon who countered with another Ice Arrow, the two moves clashing, kicking up a massive amount of steam, before slowly Garurumon's Fox Fire won out, and Seadramon was met with a torrent of blue flame to the face, the serpent pushed back, and soon fell back into the water, his face singed from the heat as he sank to the bottom, out cold.

Nora: "He did it!"

Jaune: "Oh thank Oum," he sagged in relief.

Ren: "It'd probably be best to move camp though. All he did was knock out Seadramon. Who's to say he won't attack again if we stayed?"

"Fair point/Agreed," were the responses.

(End Song)

As soon as Garurumon jumped out of the water, landing in front of Pyrrha, he glowed as he reverted back to being Gabumon.

While everyone certainly wanted to return to sleep, they knew that it would be stupid of them to just go back into the tram, so thanking their luck that when Seadramon had knocked them away they had been pushed against the shore, all of them got off the island quickly, before moving into the trees to resume their sleep, Gyro tagging out his watch turn with Jaune early.

Jaune: "I don't blame him, I'd be the exact same way after what just happened."

As they slept, Pyrrha was leaning against a tree with Gabumon by her side. "Gabumon?" she whispered, wanting to see if her partner was still awake.

"Yeah?" Gabumon asked, a little tired, but still awake.

"Thanks for before," she said with a soft smile.

"Anytime, Pyrrha," Gabumon said warmly.

Pyrrha smiled as the TV shut off for now. "Thanks Gabumon." She looked down at Punimon in her lap, who had actually fallen asleep despite all the action happening on screen and their yelling.

Jaune: "Looks like he tuckered out."

Glynda: "Well he is a freshborn. It's only natural."

Ironwood: "I think natural went out the window a while ago, Glynda."

Weiss: "Still, we're not going to like it when the rest of us unlock our evolutions are we?"

Ruby: "I think it's safe to say we won't."

Yang: "Unless we manage to find another way to unlock it that doesn't involve us being in danger."

Blake: "Which may take a bit for us to discover, but for now, we must persevere."

Hedge: "Exactly. Don't worry, those methods will be discovered. Let's take a break, use the restroom if need be, and refill snacks. Also, I'm sorry about killing the mood a bit earlier with the whole Earth history lesson. Just wanted to give you guys some history of my world compared to that the twins on screen have gone through."

Ozpin: "No need to apologize, Mr. Badnic. If anything, it gives us an idea on the type of...conflicts...your world has gone through compared to ours. While we've only had one Great War, your world has had what could be considered as two of them, along with smaller wars here and there. Is that about right?"

Hedge: "That about sums it up. If you want more details on those, I do have an archive section here in the dimension that goes heavily into detail for each one. Don't say I didn't warn you on how my world tends to operate."

A trapdoor comes into existence off to the side. When it opens, they can see a set of stairs leading down.

Ozpin: "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

Qrow: "I'll join you Oz. I'm actually curious as well on what's been going on over there. Not every day you get to learn another planet's history. Barty's going to flip when we tell him."

Ironwood and Glynda share the same sentiment and the Ozluminati move down to the archives.

As for the students and Winter, some do head off to use the restroom, while others head off to grab snacks. Some do just stay in their seats to chat...

...but then one of the Digieggs starts to crack.

Chapter Text

Archives

The Ozluminati had entered into the downstairs room, and they were shocked to see so many pillars throughout the gigantic room, each one depiciting major events throughout Earth's history.

?: "Welcome to the Archives."

They jumped at the voice and turned to see it was Hedge.

Ironwood: "Mr. Badnic? But I thought you were upstairs?"

Qrow: "He is capable of teleporting, Jimmy."

"Hedge" chuckled. "True, but I'm not the Hedge you all know. I'm merely one of his Doppelgängers, assigned over this room. I'm simply here to answer any questions any of you may have of Earth's history."

Ozpin: "I'm sure we'll have questions, but quite frankly..."

Glynda: "We didn't expect there to be so much. There's like thousands of these pillars!"

Hedge(2): "Well you have the 2,025 years of the standard calendar, but then you technically have all the years before that came about too."

Ironwood: "I don't even know where to begin to look."

Ozpin: "How about we focus more on their Great Wars? Or rather, their World Wars as they are referred to?"

The Doppelgänger nodded and led them over to those specific pillars.

One pillar caught Glynda's attention along the way, this one denoted as Women's Rights Revolution.

The Doppelgänger noticed her pause. "Ah, yes this was a troubling time for females."

Qrow: "What happened?"

"The short answer? Women couldn't vote, known as the suffrage movement, personal freedom, equal rights and opportunities for women, housing and credit discrimination, even one where there was a court case ruling that it was illegal to force a pregnant woman to take maternity leave."

Ironwood snorted. "Sexist much?"

"You have no idea. Though, this was before my time, so I only have snippets of the whole thing. And that pretty much goes for everything else in here. As for the movement, things have gotten better for women, but there are still some moments where sexism does poke its head out. I'm not much for politics, but there have been some questionable ideas thrown around."

Glynda: "Well at least our world is different in regards to that."

Ozpin: "Agreed."

They came up to the first World War pillar, instantly they noticed that the war lasted only 4 years, but it was the death toll, both military AND civilian, that caught them off guard.

Ironwood: "How...how many deaths occurred?" Utterly shocked at the numbers.

"Estimates are about 15 to 22 million deaths and about 23 million wounded, ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history."

Qrow: "And all of this stemmed off a single assassination?"

Ozpin: "An heir to a throne according to these scriptures," overlooking the data he downloaded to his scroll.

Glynda: "And out of all those countries involved, Germany paid the most."

"Yes, the Treaty of Versailles. Had to give up a lot of their territories, was forced to disarm anything military/war related, and had to pay heavy war reparations to the Allied forces."

Ironwood: "I'm almost worried how the 2nd World War began."

"Funny you should say that considering who was the one most prominent in causing duress."

They then moved over to the 2nd World War's pillar, noticing it started almost 21 years after the first ended. Immediately, they saw what the Doppelgänger meant.

Ironwood: "You're joking. How in the world did they even manage to become battle ready?!"

Glynda: "No doubt due to Adolf," reviewing everything he and his Nazi Germany had "accomplished" during the war, disgust in her tone and shown in her facial expression.

Ozpin: "These...concentration camps. How could he do that to his own citizens?"

"The sad part? Anyone from Remnant who had their aura unlocked at the very least would be sent to them, just for being different. Add on those other reasons people were sent to them, and you'd probably hope your death was swift and not dragged out. There is also a story that was created during those times, a documentary of one of the prisoners you can say."

Their scrolls ping and they notice a file labeled "Diary of Anne Frank." But they notice the picture attached, no doubt being of Anne Frank.

Qrow: "Hold up, she's just a child!" Her age was really shocking once he looked more into her info, and it really scared him when he saw how old she was when she pas...no, was killed. She was the same age as Ruby!

Glynda: "Were they just trying to wipe out most of their citizens or something?!"

Ironwood: "It looks that way," he solemnly said.

Ozpin: "Did America get involved in the war?"

"We did, but after we were surprised attacked by Japan at our Naval Base Pearl Harbor in the state of Hawaii. We lost many sailors and ships to those attacks, as they either bombed them...or used suicidal strikes. And our retaliation used one of the most deadly things any human could create."

Ironwood scrolled to that specific retaliation, and nearly dropped his scroll. "Nuclear...bombs?"

Glynda: "In what way, shape or form is that a good idea?!"

Qrow: "I can see the reasoning behind it." Glynda whipped her head towards the drunk.

"HOW CAN THERE BE A GOOD..?!"

Ozpin: "Glynda, think about it. If retaliating with something as deadly as these nukes, it would deter a further attack, especially as America had joined the Allied forces against Japan and the rest of the Axis Powers."

Ironwood: "But if they also resorted into using nukes themselves?"

"I will say this, even after this war concluded, there were a few countries outside the US, Japan included, that had nukes in their arsenal, but a treaty was signed for all countries to dismantle them."

Qrow let out a chuckle at that. "And how many actually went through with that? I find that very hard to believe."

"And you have every right to believe that. As far as I'm aware, that was followed through, but it's been 80 years since World War 2 ended, and while may not focus on the news as much, I believe there have been reports of some countries housing some nukes."

Ironwood: "And nothing has been done about them?" he asked incredulously.

"Let me ask you, James. Would you risk bringing that up and possibly antagonizing that/those countries into doing so? What do think would happen?"

Ozpin: "World War 3,” he answered without hesitation.

Glynda: "But with nothing but nukes being fired off."

"Exactly."

Realization came across Ironwood's face and he decided to keep quiet. The Doppelgänger then received a ping, and a smile appeared on its face.

"Something just came up in the theater room. You all should head back upstairs. If any of you want to look into other events, you're welcome to do so."

Ozpin: "Thank you."

Ironwood was contemplating how things had turned out on Earth. If he still had his old semblance, he probably would use the nukes.

The Ozluminati came back up the stairs that led into the theater room, noticed everyone was crowded around JNPR's couch, specifically now around Nora. When they see the bubbly girl, they notice she isn't as bubbly as normal, as she is caressing a small, fluffy white baby Digimon in her lap with two small puffs on its head, likely its ears.

Ozpin: "So another Digiegg hatched."

Ironwood: "What's the name of this one?"

Nora brought up her Digivice, which was now also a D-Spirit strapped to her wrist. "Well according to my Digivice, her name's YukimiBotamon."

Glynda: "Well, we can probably guess who this next chapter will be focused on," starting to notice the trend.

Yang: "How'd it go down in the archives?"

Qrow: "Lots of pillars of historical events tied to Earth's history from what we could see." He kept out the info about the Holocaust and what he learned about Anne Frank. The less his nieces knew about that, the better.

Everyone got prepared for the next chapter as the TV turned back on.

"Flashing Claws! Gatomon!"

Ironwood blanced at that name. "Please don't tell me Salamon's going to evolve into a cat like Digimon again from a dog one."

Hedge: "Ok, I won't."

Ironwood: "That doesn't make me feel better about it."

Ren just looked over at his childhood friend, now girlfriend. He knew she could handle herself, but that was when they ever faced Grimm. So far, thankfully, there hasn't been any sightings of their natural enemy here in the Digital World, but he was afraid of what dangers she would be in to have Salamon evolve.

Nora caught onto his stare. "Come on, Ren, you know I can handle myself in tough times. I'll make it out of whatever they throw at my other," taking hold of his hand.

Ren squeezed her hand. "That's what I'm afraid of: seeing your other in danger."

After the rather stressful night when they'd been attacked by Seadramon, the group was once more on their way to Infinity Mountain. Though it was clear the previous night's sleep wasn't as well rested as they'd like.

Blake: "Considering we slept up against a few trees, I wouldn't blame them if their necks were a little cramped up."

Qrow shrugged. "Eh, you get used to it."

Ruby: "We don't constantly go off on missions like you, Uncle Qrow."

Qrow: "Touché."

Salamon yawned loudly from her spot on Nora's head. "I didn't sleep so well last night…"

"Tell me about it," Patamon yawned as well. "Hopefully nights like that don't become a habit."

Weiss snorted. "That's just asking Murphy to put it into reality."

Yang: "It's going to be just like our time at Mountain Glenn, only scaled much higher."

Ozpin: "For what it's worth, Doctor Oobleck did give you girls exemplary reports for the mission. Yes, the breach still happened, but you did what you could to protect everyone."

Team RWBY beamed with praise, but they still wished they had stopped Roman's train from crashing into Vale.

"Please don't tempt the universe you two," Blake sighed.

"Well...look on the bright side. Now we got two Digimon who can evolve to...uh…" Ruby started, then paused as she realized she had no idea what those stages were called.

"They're called the Adult Level," Tentomon supplied helpfully.

Pyrrha: "Seems we have a name for that form now."

Yang: "Fresh, Baby, Child, and Adult. What, no Teenager form?" She joked.

Glynda: "Hopefully not," she muttered. She already had to deal with Teenager humans and Faunus, she'd rather not deal with Teenager level Digimon.

"Right, now we got two Adult Digimon on our team!" she said, giving him a grateful nod.

"Does it go above Adult Level?" Weiss asked, rather curious about it.

"It does, beyond Adult is the Perfect Level, and there are rumors that there's a level even above that." Tentomon added.

Winter: "So, we have a Perfect form and a speculated form higher than that."

Jaune: "Strange...you would think a form named 'Perfect' would be the highest one achievable."

Pyrrha: "This is the Digital World we're talking about."

Nora: "Why do I get the feeling we'll be using that phrase a lot when trying to make comparisons to our world?"

Ironwood: "Because that's probably the most likely thing that will happen."

"Let's...hope we don't run into any of those soon," Jaune gulped. Adult Digimon were scary enough. He wasn't in a hurry to run into, and with their luck, fight, a Digimon that was at a level titled 'Perfect' of all names.

"And now we're almost definitely going to run into one of those," Ren deadpanned, causing the blonde to blanche when he realized what he did.

"Ooohh! This is new!" Nora said, getting everyone's attention as she looked at her digivice with raised eyebrows.

"What is it?" Gyro asked, it had to be either extremely mundane it went around to awesome, or just straight up awesome if Nora reacted like that.

Nora pouted. "Hey!"

Ren just patted her head as she moped.

"That radar that didn't have anything anymore has a black dot on it now." she said, before the others all pulled out their own digivices and went to the same screen, showing that there was indeed a black dot on it now, moving quickly.

Weiss: "So that radar now is picking something up. Something that is a black dot and fast."

Ruby looked back to Hedge. "Does whatever that second tracker track the same as ours do?"

Hedge: "They're not 1:1 to the same as the ones on screen, and I'm not going to say what it is used for yet. That'll come later."

The students pouted at not knowing yet what it would track, but at least they know their Digivices won't track the same thing.

"So… judging by this thing, that black dot should be… over there." Pierce said as he looked west, just in time to see something small, and black, move quickly across the sky.

Blake: "That can't be good."

Glynda: "I don't think anything can be good unless your others know about it."

Pyrrha: "Unless we can confirm it's good."

Glynda: "True."

"What the heck was that?" Veemon wondered, tilting his head in confusion.

"Dunno, but I get the feeling we'll find out," Gyro frowned.

"Why am I not surprised?" Weiss sighed. "With our luck, it'll lead us straight into another life or death situation at the hands of a violent Digimon...no offense to all Digimon in present company," she said, adding the last part quickly.

Qrow grunted at that. He already had to deal with Raven and the rest of the Branwen tribe. As much as he hated thinking about it, he really hoped the kids' others didn't have any issues with their Digimon partners turning on them.

"None taken," all the Digimon waved off.

"Well, no use worrying too much. We might as well keep going while it's still bright," Yang said.

"Then let's go!" Biyomon said enthusiastically.

"She's got a point," Blake nodded. "We've still got a long way to go."

"Hopefully we at least manage to find ONE group of civil Digimon willing to hold a conversation instead of outright attacking us." Pyrrha said with a sigh.

"I'm sure we will. There are lots of friendly Digimon on the island," Gabumon reassured.

Yang: "And how many are big, powerful, AND friendly at the current time he's saying that?"

Ruby: "Yang, being moody is not your thing. Leave that to Blake."

"Hey!"

"Make that hope we run into them when they AREN'T pissed off at something," Pierce commented.

"This is about the Monochromon isn't it?" Veemon said with a sweatdrop.

Winter: "What ever gave you that idea, Veemon?" she deadpanned.

"What do you think?" Pierce told him dryly, earning a nervous chuckle from his partner.

Despite that, they continued on. However, after a while of walking, Yang felt the urge to address a growing elephant in the room. "So...anyone else wondering about all the road signs in this forest?"

"Yes," was the unanimous response.

"Yes," Everyone said. "But we've been trying VERY hard not to think about it," Blake said with a sigh.

"...I'm guessing it goes without saying we all agree they don't actually mean or lead anywhere, right?" the blonde brawler couldn't help but ask.

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Yeah, their kind of all over the place on the island and are just… there." Biyomon said, gesturing with her arms all around her.

Pyrrha: "So being there just because..."

Glynda: "How much of the Digital World is influenced from the real world?"

Hedge: "A hefty amount."

"Stuff like this does show up a lot, huh?" Tentomon mused.

"Though I wonder why we never had any of that in the plateau we lived in," Agumon couldn't help but say, causing all the gathered Digimon to frown in thought...but ultimately shook their heads unable to answer that.

"Let's just… focus on moving ahead." Gyro said, rubbing his temples. He never considered himself someone who overly adhered to rules of logic, but the Digital World was just plain confusing some days.

Ren: "The sooner we throw logic out the window the better, otherwise we'll be dealing with nonstop headaches."

"As much as I don't want to, I agree," were the muttered responses from both Weiss and Glynda.

"Hm?" Palmon blinked as they continued walking.

"Something wrong, Palmon?" Ruby asked.

"The soil seems more worn here. I think we're getting close to an actual trail," she reported.

Ruby: "Awesome, that means we should be coming up to a village or something."

Yang: "Which also means we should be running into more Digimon."

"Ok, that's good. A trail means people walk here regularly, so that means we're close to a lived in area, meaning a place with civilized Digimon. I think we're catching a break today." Weiss said with a relieved sigh.

Winter: "I don't think you want to celebrate too soon, Weiss. You still have that black dot to worry about."

Weiss: "Let me have some sort of a good moment, Winter. I'll take anything at this point."

"Aw man, I was hoping I'd get to do something fun today." Nora said with a pout, while Salamon looked down at her dryly from her spot on top of her head.

Ultimately deciding to ignore the overly energetic girl, the group continued down the path, Palmon guiding them till they found it. What they soon found was a small village...literally.

Everyone blinked at the size of the huts and the...well, literal small village.

Ozpin: "Well, you all did find a village."

Ironwood: "But even I didn't expect to find one so small."

Qrow: "It's something, right?" he shrugged.

Glynda: "I guess so."

"Huh...its a village, but the huts are all so small," Jaune blinked at the sight.

"That probably means whoever lives here isn't very big," Gyro pointed out. "I mean, we HAVE seen some pretty small Digimon so...I guess it makes sense."

They remembered how small the baby forms of their partners were. He had a point there.

"And I know what the villagers are." Wormmon said as he pointed at a hut where one villager was poking his head out his entrance to look at them.

It was roughly the same size as Wormmon, and in the same shape of a caterpillar, but it had a yellow carapace with a red belly, blue claws as legs with a blue beak like mouth and a long dark blue stinger on its rear end, it had a pair of long antennae, and covering its body were lightning bolt shaped black marks.

Nora: "It's actually kind of cute," as she eyed the little fella.

"Oh, it's Kunemon." Salamon noted in a slight tone of surprise.

Digimon Analyzer: Kunemon

Kunemon. Virus Type. A Child Level Larva Digimon. Kunemon are among the more docile Virus Digimon, and serve as a reminder to never judge a book by it's cover, or in this case, type. While unclear, it's believed the lighting patterns on its face act as it's ocular organs. Its special attack is Electric Thread, spitting a thread of silk charged with electricity, which can knock out most large digimon when wrapped up for long enough.

Ruby nodded at the mention of "never judge a book by its cover." There were many times that people would pick on her back at Signal, but after she got some training from Qrow, she taught them a lesson with Crescent Rose.

"Why are you surprised to see it?" Ren asked her.

"Because usually Kunemon make their homes in trees." Gomamon answered for her.

Ozpin frowned at that. "Hopefully these Kunemon just wanted to branch out from the rest."

Qrow facepalmed. "Oz, you did not just make a pun." Yang laughed at that.

Ozpin realized shortly after. "I suppose I did. My apologies. It seems Miss Xiao Long is rubbing off on me."

Ruby: "That's not a good thing, Headmaster."

"I'll see if I can convince them we're friendly." Wormmon said as he jumped off of Ren's shoulder.

"Let me help. I'm a bug too after all." Tentomon added as he followed after Wormmon.

With that said the group watched as the two Insectoid Digimon went into the village proper and started talking with the Kunemon who had been brave enough to peek outside.

And, after a minute or so of them talking, the Kunemon took a deep breath "Friendly people!" it shouted into the village.

Everyone but Hedge had jumped up and winced at the volume of the small Digimon's voice, even with Hedge lowering the volume of the TV.

"Always the quiet ones," Pierce blinked, the group wincing at the small creature's surprisingly loud voice.

It's shout though had the actual intended effect, as more and more Kunemon started coming out of their homes while Wormmon and Tentomon went back to the group.

"They won't be having any issues with us resting here for the day, mostly because this is the first time their meeting humans." Wormmon explained as he reclaimed his spot on Ren's shoulder.

Jaune: "Well that's good at least. We have somewhere to hunker down for a bit."

Blake: "Now we just have to deal with whatever the black dot was," while cleaning out her Faunus ears, which were still ringing from the Kunemon's yell.

"Glad to hear that," Jaune sighed in relief.

"Guess we finally got a good experience outside of our partners, huh?" Ruby chuckled, something they all shared, glad to finally have an actually good encounter with other Digimon other than their partners.

Everyone was relieved when they were able to relax in the village, even if the many Kunemon stared at them curiously, and some brave ones came up and poked them curiously.

Ironwood: "That's right. They would not have any experience with a human, or a Faunus in Miss Belladonna's case."

After lunch had passed though, it seemed that their luck had finally caught up to them…

Everyone groaned at that statement.

Yang: "Why can't things just go our way?"

Qrow gave a deadpan response. "Because it'd be too easy."

"Hm?" Gyro looked up, looking around confused.

"Something the matter?" Pierce asked him.

"You don't hear that?" Gyro shot back.

"Blake?" Everyone but Hedge questioned.

Thankfully, the ringing had stopped in her ears and Blake started to focus on the sound. "It...sounds like...buzzing? Maybe even static."

Weiss: "Maybe it's one of the nearby Kunemon?"

At that, Pierce rose an eyebrow, before simply trying to listen to what his brother had seemingly heard.

He could sort of hear… something, but he had no idea what it was supposed to be.

"What the heck is that?" Yang said, starting to hear it too.

"It sounds like… static electricity, or something along those lines." Blake said, obviously making use of her hidden advantage.

Blake frowned. "I'm not going to be beating the Faunus allegations, aren't I?"

Glynda: "Probably not, but you are valuable in being able to hear incoming danger before it arrives."

Blake: "I guess that's one good thing about being a Faunus."

"It must be just some of the Kunemon. They do have electric energy charged into their nets," Tentomon said.

"The only problem with that is that none of them are using their threads near us at the moment." Weiss pointed out, stumping Tentomon.

Weiss: "Well that throws my theory out the window."

"So uh...should we be worried about that?" Jaune asked.

"Considering our track record so far...yeah, I think so," Gyro deadpanned.

"Oh don't worry, it's just Thundermon," a random Kunemon said. "He's kinda like our next door neighbour. He doesn't bother anyone." if the Kunemon could, he would be waving their concerns off by now.

"Wait… isn't that like that the second time we've been told something like that?" Nora noticed, blinking in realization.

Yang: "She does have a point."

Blake: "Nora having a point...Ren has that happened before?"

Ren: "She has her moments."

It took a moment for everyone to first process that 1) Nora was right and 2) that electric sound was getting louder and louder.

In fact…

"Hit the deck!" Gyro shouted as everyone dived down as something incredibly fast whizzed past their heads. The blur crashed into and through a few huts before going through a few trees, causing several of them to topple over, leaving a small trail of destruction in its wake. And as if to further hit in the point…

"Big trouble!" came a shout from the direction the blur had come, as several other Kunemon came 'running'. "Thundermon...Thundermon's gone crazy!"

"A little late on that alert, don't you think?" Nora deadpanned.

Ruby shrugged. "I mean Thundermon was going even faster than I do in my semblance, so I can't really blame them."

At that, the humans all just shared deadpan stares at each other, while the gathered Digimon had HUGE sweat drops on their heads. "Uh…" they were honestly at a loss for words.

"Right, no point in trying to explain Murphy being a jerk I guess, but this is weird though if he's supposed to be friendly." Gyro said as the humans (and one hidden faunus) all had to stay low.

"It gets worse," one of the Kunemon said. "He's suddenly started rampaging through our game trails. Our village depends on those for our food supply."

Jaune: "Game trails are really important for a village. Those go out, you can expect the village to not last long unless they go out to hunt."

Qrow: "And in our world, that's tough to do given the Grimm."

"That's not good," Ren's eyes widened at the news.

"We gotta help them," Nora said suddenly, her voice losing the silliness it usually had.

"In that case, we need to find a way to stop Thundermon." Salamon said, a little part of her glad her partner was taking this seriously.

"But how do we find him?" Pyrrha pointed out. "He was moving almost as fast as Ruby with her semblance."

Qrow: "Oh boy, I'm remembering all the times Ruby had a sugar rush after she unlocked her semblance."

Weiss: "I can imagine it was a lot of running around for you and their father."

Yang: "I was in the mix too, but at least when she crashed, it was easier to grab her."

Ruby just put her hood over her head.

"Well, finding him is easy, seems like he wants to wreck the place. What we need to do is find a way to stop him." Ruby pointed out.

Everyone started looking around, hoping to get any sort of clue as to what might stop Thundermon, before Nora suddenly grinned as she darted towards the edge of the forest.

Glynda rubbed her temple. "What is Miss Valkyrie up to now?"

Ozpin: "I wish I knew Glynda. I wish I knew."

"Ok what the… hell?" Pierce started, before his voice turned into a whisper as Nora actually lifted up one of the tree trunks that had fallen down, hefting it over her shoulder.

Yang: "Ok, what the heck is your workout regime?!"

Nora: "I can show you.~"

Pyrrha: "Yang, I wish you the best of luck."

Jaune: "And I'll pray for you."

"Suddenly, the randomness has become worth it." Salamon said with a grin.

Nora gave the tree a few test swings, almost like a baseball bat, pursing her lips in thought "Hey, can someone electrocute me a bit?"

That gave everyone pause as they looked at her, completely thrown for a loop.

Winter: "Why would someone want to be electrocuted...willingly?!"

Ren merely sighed, before turning to Tentomon "Just zap her a bit, her semblance will absorb it and make her stronger."

Ren: "That's why, Winter."

Ironwood: "How did you unlock that?" genuinely curious.

Nora: "Struck by lighting, didn't die. It was a crazy day," she supplied nonchalantly.

"Um… alright then." Tentomon said, still confused, but complying as his wings started buzzing and he gathered a charge between the two halves of his shell "Petit Thunder!"

Nora grinned as the attack hit her, her semblance activating as the electricity arced off her body and she started swinging the tree trunk much faster.

"I'm gonna knock you out of the park." Nora called into the area with a wild grin. "So come on Thundermon, show me what ya got!"

Against all odds….that actually worked, as the sound of static could be heard, and a familiar blur soon came back. Thundermon came at her with all the intent of a seeker missile...only to be met with a whole lot of wood in his face, before he was sent flying back, hitting a rock, finally revealing to them what he looked like.

Nora/Yang: "Home run!" Even YukimiBotamon and Punimon cheered.

Hedge: "Eh, it was a line drive. I'd give it a double at best."

Nora: "Wow, tough crowd."

Yang: "He's probably still butt hurt he lost to us."

Hedge: "For the record, I was unaware the sparks from the Corrupted Super Form could be used to power her semblance."

Glynda: "That sounds like a skill issue to me."

Hedge: "Whose side are you on?"

In all honesty, the group expected something more intimidating, for all he was, was just a black ball with a yellow thunderbolt sticking out the top of his head, a pair of short arms and legs.

Qrow: "Well that's underwhelming," he muttered.

Winter: "Well, considering how small the blurs were, it makes sense."

Digimon Analyzer: Thundermon

Thundermon. Data Type. An Adult Level Mutant Digimon. Known as the Digimon Dynamo, it's a part of the Mamemon family of Digimon. His body is like a small magnet, constantly clad in electricity generated by his high speed. His special attack is Thunder Ball, discharging several spheres of electricity at it's targets.

Thundermon groaned as he pried himself from the stone, letting out a roar that was probably supposed to be intimidating. However, considering his size…

The humans (and one hidden faunus) couldn't take it anymore...and promptly started laughing. They knew they shouldn't, they knew that they should have been taking this more seriously, but after all the life and death situations they'd been through at the hands of massive Digimon, seeing such a TINY Digimon being their opponent...the novelty was too much.

Apparently, Thundermon took offense to that as he started rushing again…

Only for Nora to just bat him away with the tree again.

Ruby snickered. "This is both hilarious and embarrassing."

Yang: "It's like hitting a ball back and forth off a wall."

Hedge: "In my world, we have two games like that. One called handball, self explanatory, you use your hands/arms to whack a dodgeball against the wall. The other is racquetball, where you use a tennis racket to whack a racquetball against the wall."

"This is almost embarrassing," Yang snickered as they saw the Digimon go flying like a baseball again.

"But it IS pretty funny," Biyomon chuckled.

"Shouldn't we figure out why Thundermon is going crazy?" Ruby asked.

"Sure we will," Gyro said...right as Nora knocked Thundermon back again. "Right after this stops being funny."

Weiss: "Best to do it after he's knocked out."

Ozpin: "That may take awhile if he keeps coming back to attack. He could just be very durable."

Ironwood: "Matter of fact, how durable can a Digimon be?"

Hedge: "Depends on the Digimon, their Level can also play a huge factor."

"Is it wrong that this is actually pretty fun to watch?" Patamon couldn't help but ask as he snickered at the sight of Thundermon being launched away.

"...maybe a little," Agumon chuckled.

"And here's one for the road!" Nora shouted as she gave one last mighty swing, and Thundermon was sent soaring beyond the trees.

Nora: "Now that is a Home Run! Out of the park even!"

They all waited for a moment for Thundermon to rush back again, that moment stretching on into seconds, and then a full minute.

Blake: "I think you hit him a bit too hard, Nora."

Nora: "Whaaaaat? Nonsense."

It was at that minute that Ren deadpanned "We lost him."

"Ah...we...probably shouldn't have been enjoying that ball game too much, huh?" Pierce sweatdropped.

Yang laughed at the unintentional pun there. "Is that supposed to be a pun toward baseball?"

Hedge: "More or less."

Gyro gave him a look at that "Now really isn't the time for your stupid puns."

"Wasn't even trying to this time," Pierce shot back.

"Okay you two, enough of that," Pyrrha said, breaking up the argument. "We need to find Thundermon first."

"She's right, we'd better hurry and find him before he causes more trouble," Veemon nodded, to which the two brothers did the same and the group immediately set their sights on the direction Nora had launched Thundermon.

Ruby: "How banged up do you think he'll be?"

Jaune: "Considering it's Nora we're talking about?"

Winter: "I'd be surprised if he's still raring to go."

Unfortunately for the group, this unsurprisingly, proved a bit harder than expected. "How far DID you launch him?" Weiss couldn't help but ask in annoyance as they trudged through what they assumed to be one of the Village's game trails considering the number of berry bushes and and various other fruit they noticed along the way.

After asking Hedge what type of fruits those were, Pyrrha and Nora gave some to their Digimon.

Pyrrha: "Probably further than what we would find preferable."

Jaune: "Ain't that the truth."

Ren: "You two have come to understand her, haven't you?"

Jaune: "Very much so."

Pyrrha: "It's easier to do that instead of just question everything she does."

"Uh….whoops?" Nora said sheepishly.

Weiss shook her head in annoyance, before turning to the Digimon who were helping with the search. "Any luck with finding him?"

"Not really. He's pretty small, and he was sent flying, so there's really not much to track," Tentomon shook his head.

"Hey, hold on… I think I got something." Pierce said, looking at his digivice.

Ruby: "Yeah, but is it a good something?"

Glynda: "Most likely? Both."

"What is it?" Jaune asked, grabbing for his own just in case.

"Remember that weird black thing in the sky earlier? It's in range of the Digivices again." Pierce pointed out.

The others checked and, sure enough, the black dot was on their radar again, coincidentally, it seemed to line up with the area that Thundermon was knocked into.

Winter: "I don't think that's a coincidence."

Ironwood: "I agree."

"Whatever it is, looks like it may have latched onto Thundermon." Gyro noted.

"Do you think maybe it's the reason he's acting different from how the Kunemon describe him?" Ruby wondered.

"It makes sense, according to them last night he was perfectly fine, and we saw that black thing heading roughly towards the area he makes his home." Palmon agreed with the theory.

"So...what? Did we see some kind of parasite or maybe even a virus that causes Digimon to go berserk or something?" Yang frowned.