Chapter 6: Debt
AN: Fun fact, keep watch over the comedic stuff...never know when a secret plot point or character detail or just something important might be slipped in. Also, we are meeting some important people now... :)
"You...you tricked us!"
"This is not what we agreed on!"
"This is not fair!"
"What do you mean? It is exactly as I told you".
After paying off their tax, and making them in debt to Etemon, the trio soon learned just what Taomon meant when she said they could not trust Etemon. Of course, it was too late now, but still...
Etemon brought them to this one place, apparently it was a business he owned, where they could work off their debt. After that, he had a large amount of Floramon workers swarm the three of them. For what felt like a recurring joke that has happened far too much lately, they forced them out of their clothes, brought them into the back, and bathed them with a large variety of shampoos and soaps. And being forcibly bathed by a bunch of female Digimon was indeed still very embarrassing, especially since the soaps and shampoos had these aromatic smells to them.
But all of this was shown to be a part of the process since, after they were done and dried off, the Floramon dressed them...in maid outfits.
As for Dorumon, Gabumon, and Patamon, they were wearing tuxedos, tophats, and bowties. Or at least, Digimon versions of them. Since none of them were humanoid shaped, it was only the top part of the tuxedo.
Needless to say, no one was happy.
"Why are we dressed as maids though?!"
"Well, I heard about this one thing that is extremely popular in the human world called a 'Maid Cafe', so I figured that if it was popular there, it could be popular here! Besides, until your debt is paid off, I will be holding your clothes as collatoral. You dont have anything else to hold as collatoral, since it is against the law to hold Digivices as collatoral".
When they heard that, the three of them protested louder.
"So that was what this was all about?! At least give us our underwear back!"
"Nope, part of the collatoral. Now, do your best to make an effort into earning that money. Tomorrow is opening day, and if you do not provide a minimum level of effort and performance, it will be added to your debt! You will find there is a room prepared for you all upstairs!"
With those words, Etemon waved at them and ran off, leaving the six of them fuming.
"We got played, didn't we?"
"We did. We should have gone with Taomon".
"He was a virus type...I guess evil can take several different forms".
One of the Floramon came up to try and console them.
"Look at it this way, you human girls look adorable in these".
"...we are boys".
At those words, the Floramon made a look of shock.
"Eh?"
"Yeah".
The Floramon bent down to look under and...
"Hey!"
"Sorry. I heard if you did that though, you could check to see and..."
"That is personal! And where did you get these maid outfits?"
"They were recreated from a magazine that was left behind from someone from the human world. We re-created it from that...we didn't know there was something else to go with it though..."
"That damned Etemon...hey, how did he have these three all ready for us anyways?"
"Well, there are some other humans around, though he said there were three he had his eyes on for some time..."
"You see, Etemon operates entirely within legal bounds, but he is actually a very shrewd and almost malicously manipulative businessman. Most likely, he intends to trap you in some form of perpetual debt like we are, with a high but still legal interest".
"Technically, if you pay off your debt you can be free of him, but its not easy. You will be charged for food, water, living expenses, rent, and things like that".
"...we really did get played".
"...damnit, we don't have time for this".
Meanwhile, a certain mon watched all of this from the shadows.
"Oh no, oh no...she is going to kill me if she finds out this happened...this is absolutely far from the plan..."
He was panicked because in this current situation, none of his master's goals would ever come to fruition. He had to find something or another to get things back on track. He was supposed to make them feel fear, but who knows what that could result in given the current situation. After all, out of all the candidates they had chosen, these three held some of the highest promise for their plans.
It was a really serious issue, and he did not want to be blamed for them getting stuck because of a sneaky Etemon. So for now, he decided to observe the situation some more, and work out a plan that would prove he was not incompetent for letting this happen. Maybe find some dirt on Etemon?
"Well now...maybe we can help each other out..." a female voice spoke to him from behind, sending a shiver down his spine. "Since from what it sounds like, you don't really have a choice right?"
The next day, and the cafe was already open for business. Yuyan, Kobayashi, and Izumi were not very happy about the situation, but if they didn't work, they would litterally be stuck there forever. And what made it worse...
"These clothes feel really stuffy..."
"...how do humans wear these things..."
"And you wear this with more stuff too?"
The three beast Digimon were getting further confused about humans, although to be fair, the ones with fur probably had valid reasosn for complaining. After all, humans dont have fur, and those two did, so it only made sense they would be hot and stuff in clothes.
Although, the picture of Dorumon, Gabumon, and Patamon wearing Tuxes modified to fit them gave the three boys enough of a laugh to help them get through this. At the moment, the three of them were waiting tables, tending to the morning crowd that got curious and decided to attend.
And as Yuyan approached one table...he came across something he did not expect.
Two humans and two digimon were sitting at one of the tables, one was still looking over the menu, while the other was reading what appeared to be a newspaper and working on something, maybe a crosswords puzzle. The two looked younger then them, but more amazingly, they looked exactly identical. The only difference was that one had let her hair down, and the other had it in a short ponytail. Additionally, their attire was different also. The one with the ponytail was wearing glasses, while the one with their hair down was not. They were not those thick glasses either, but rather medium to thin glasses. Additionally, the one with the pony tail was wearing a white sleeveless jacket and red T shirt, along with white shorts, while the one with her hair down was wearing a long white skirt, an identical white sleeveless jacket, and a blue T shirt. They both had the same sporty looking black sneakers though, their hair was both green, and their eyes were both blue. They were also the same height, and the same build it seemed.
As for their Digimon, that was where it got interesting. According to Yuyan's Digivice, which alerted him every single time he encountered a new Digimon some data about it, one was Coronamon, a Rookie Level Beast Type of the Vaccine Attribute, and Lunamon, A Rookie Level Mammal Type Digimon of the Data Attribute. From what he understood, it appeared one had attributes of the sun, and the other had attributes of the moon.
Identical twins with Digimon that were opposites. He wondered if there was something to that.
BUt more importantly, now humans were going to see Yuyan like this, which made him cry internally.
"Umm...hello?"
Yuyan tried to get their attention, but it looked like the two had deeply focused in on what they were currently looking at.
"Can you girls hear me?"
Once Yuyan said that, the one with a ponytail finally looked over at him.
"One, I am a boy. Two, I would think you of all people right now would be able to tell the difference. And three..." he listed out, and then took out a camera and took a photo, much to Yuyan's surprise and and embarrassment. "...that will be for later. Though, I really don't get why clothing is divided by gender. Seems silly to me".
"A lot of your human customs seem silly to me" the Coronamon mentioned.
"Well brother, human culture was raised in a world seperate to ours. Of course there will be differences".
"And admittedly, my brother was a bit more progressive with his ideas. Oh, wait, we are getting off topic. We should probably order some food".
"Yeah. Cant be helped though. Everything is new and interesting!" the boy said with a smile, and then looked at Yuyan. "Huh...well, anyways. Two double omelet scrambled, extra cheese and bacon. And some hash browns on the side of both..." he ordered, and then he and his sister looked at the Digimon.
"Same order for us too! Oh, and mixed fruit juice for everyone!"
"Ah, right! But also a coffee for me!"
At first Yuyan was shocked, but then he noticed their Digivices. They looked like different models from the ones they had, so they were probably under different circumstances. At the very least, unlike Yuyan's group, they clearly had money. Not only that, but they had their own bags and various other things. Also...it looked like the boy even had a sword?
And so Yuyan just nodded and decided to follow the order, not knowing what else to do, and also remembering they needed to earn money themselves.
"...huh. Sixteen letter word for a special twin partner technique...I should have this easy..."
Also, Yuyan temporarily wondered if that kid was even younger then him when he ordered coffee and was doing a crosswords puzzle.
After work was finally over for the day, Etemon himself had appeared to see how things went and determine the potential profit.
Surely enough, things had gone exactly as he hoped. He had heard that these "maid cafe" businesses were meant to have females running them, but that was the human world and this was the digital one, so he figured it would be fine. Especially since they didn't look that different as children anyways, from what he had learned.
And as expected from the first day, while they were not that stereotypical first day clutz, they couldn't do everything perfectly. A number of dishes got broken, not too many, but enough that he figured he could keep them in his employment for years at least. Even if they outgrew the cafe, there were other businesses to make them work in. Running papers and errands for his legal departments, scrubbing the bathrooms, maybe he could rent them out to scientists...or maybe even Taomon. That last one could be very fluid, but also a bit dangerous.
Either way, he had plenty of tricks up his sleeve to make sure they stayed in his debt.
"Well then, I guess that was it. Seems like we had a good customer base".
"Yeah" one of the Floramon that was in charge of overseeing everything said. "We had all sorts come in! Knightmon, Terriermon, Lopmon, Gazimon, we even had some other human children!"
At those words, the gears in Etemon's brain moved as he heard that. If there were even more human children he could get into neverending debt with him, he could get the maid cafe and anything else he used them in to be even more productive.
"Really now? Did you get their names? Did they pay, or did they not have enough?"
"They paid, and they paid full despite the amount they ordered. I guess they have plenty of money. As for their names, we never heard them mention it, but the two humans seemed like siblings. We didn't see any sign of that one other human though, the one Taomon was after".
"...well, Taomon will go after any human to satisfy her intellectual desire about humans. Still, maybe there is a way. I suppose I will have to come and see tomorrow. Well, see you then".
Etemon said that, as he began plotting in his mind.
Meanwhile, after Etemon left, the Floramon went into the back alley behind the maid cafe.
"I...I did what you asked...he wont find out though right? There is a fine in our contracts where if we do stuff like..."
"Don't worry" the mysterious mon voice brom before said, as he walked into the light this time. He was a Ninjamon, and he handed her some DigiDollars. "He won't. We are not that oblivious...right?"
And from behind him, two more Digimon stepped into the light. One was Hackmon, a Digimon known for hacking and infiltration. And the other...was a human girl, around twelve years old, wearing a black long sleeve shirt, long black pants, black sneakers, and a black knit cap with a backpack on her back. And furthermore, she had the same type of Digivice and Yuyan, Kobayashi, and Izumi.
"Yeah. You can count on us. After all, when it comes to beating the system, we are the best at it. Thats why I am known as Rula Sharp, Hacker Extraordinaire".
AN: Started off comedic, but well...now its getting really juicy. Gotta love that drama and sneakiness. Hope you guys are as eager as I am!
DigiData: Hackmon
Originally believed to have been created from Smartphone data that was used to hack into other devices, Hackmon shows a level of sneakiness and danger not found in most basic rookies. Although his original code allowed for different Digivolution, he has since adapted to use Digivolutions that other Digimon are capable of. His ability to hack and infiltrate are considered to be extremely problematic to all Digimon, although his ability to influence things can only go so far. However, despite the data he was created from, he is not always certain to be malicous or evil, and has been known to be on the side of good and appear as a Vaccine Attribute even, despite the fact he has virus like abilities.
DigiData: DigiDollars
DigiDollars, or DD, is the currency of the Digital World. It can be materialized as physical money, or digitized into easy to carry currency, although its more reliable to recieve it in physical form. In truth, DD was actually created from the idea of online currency, coins, and before that, the Digital World mainly relied on a barter system to get by.
It should be noted that it is extremely unusual for humans to have DD during their first few days or even weeks in the Digital World.