Word Count: 19,790/39,180||Chapters: 10/22

"Why would you think that we know where to find Mistymon?" Fladramon asked, not taking his eyes off of them. Takuya shrugged, looking down at Bokomon and Neemon. This was their part of the bargain.

Or at least it was Bokomon's. Takuya wasn't going to count on Neemon to bargain for anything, not even the air that he breathed.

Bokomon coughed and crossed his hands behind his back. Given the way he had Seraphimon's egg tucked in there, that presented a very strange picture, one that Takuya tried very hard not to think about.

"We require Mistymon's services to locate the Warrior of Wind. We have...misplaced her."

Junpei snorted at that. "You make it sound like she's a lost sock or something! Ranamon kidnapped her!"

Again Fladramon and Lighdramon exchanged glances, so quick that Takuya wondered if he'd imagined it. Then Lighdramon looked back at them.

"We have three rooms that need cleaning. Take care of that, along with what you've offered her," he said, indicating the small pile of money and chocolate, "and we'll let you stay here overnight, along with dinner and breakfast."

Bokomon started to say something else, probably asking about Mistymon again, and Takuya override him right away.

"Thanks! We'll get right on it!" They could hunt for Mistymon later. Rest and food and working for the rest and food first.

Lighdramon rose to his feet, while Fladramon gathered up their payment and tucked it somewhere out of sight.

"Follow me," the four footed Digimon said, coming out from behind his counter and heading for the stairs going upwards. The group followed, all of them far wearier than they wanted to let on.

Takuya wondered just how tired Izumi was and how she was going to get dinner and rest tonight. Ranamon probably wasn't going to be the most polite host in the Digital World. Which really just led to the whole point of this all over again: they needed to find her.

He could hear Bokomon grumbling as they headed down what looked like the only hallway in the building, and Neemon saying something that he probably intended to be comforting. He would have listened harder, if Lighdramon didn't start talking.

"These are the best rooms in the house. We had some special guests who left this morning and we haven't had time yet to give them a proper cleaning. That's what you're going to do."

Takuya nodded; it wouldn't be the first time they'd cleaned or cooked or whatever to get what they needed. He wondered if his parents would ever believe he'd clean someone else's room for a plate of food.

At the far end of the hallway, Lighdramon nosed a door open. "This is the first one. I'll take you to the other two once you're done here."

Kouji eyed the room without stepping into it. "Why don't we split up and work on them all at the same time?"

"Because you're going to want every hand you've got to deal with all of these," Lighdramon said. He indicated for them to enter with a jerk of his head. "Go on and see."

Kouji and Takuya exchanged a quick glance of their own, and Takuya carefully peeked into the room, eyes flicking everywhere. Then he looked back out at everyone else.

"We are definitely earning dinner tonight."

In point of fact, Takuya thought they would earn dinner, breakfast, and lunch, even if they didn't get it. He also would have been absolutely thrilled if Izumi had been there. An extra pair of hands could only help.

The room wasn't exactly trashed. It was really more of a 'demolished' kind of effect. Takuya wasn't sure if he even had the words to describe it, if someone had asked him to do so. There had been a bed. It was still there, but more of a bed-frame, with the mattress halfway to the window, and heaven only knew where the sheets were. Chairs pushed into configurations that no chairs would reasonably have been in and boxes that held traces of food of some kind in them. Takuya would have guessed that on Earth, these would have been takeout.

Junpei, Kouji, and Tomoki all peeked into the room, then stared at him in rising forms of shock.

"How are we going to clean this?" Junpei wanted to know. "We're not miracle workers!"

"I know, I know!" Takuya did his best to wave his hands when what he really wanted to do was agree with them and go see if they could find somewhere else to stay with less of an asking price.

If he'd had any idea of where they could find another hotel in this place, preferably one that did have a lower asking price, he would have at least asked the others if they were up for that. As it was, he stared at the room and tried to decide where they should get started.

"We can do it!" Tomoki chirped even through his evident tiredness. "There's enough of us!"

Junpei cast a glance at him at the same time that Kouji and Takuya did. Takuya considered for a moment, then turned to Lighdramon.

"We're going to need some trash bags. And clean sheets." And probably a miracle or two, but trash bags and sheets would be a good place to start.

"Of course. Once you're done, send someone to let me know." Lighdramon started back down the hallway while the small group stared at the room some more.

Silence fell as soon as Lighdramon vanished from sight, paws clicking down the stairs. Takuya broke it first.

"Let's get started. The sooner we get it done, the better. Tomoki, you can start with the trash, but be careful with it. Bokomon, Neemon, give him a hand? Junpei, think you can work on those chairs?"

There were nods all around, the named people heading off to their assigned tasks. Kouji tilted his head towards Takuya.

"So what did you want us to do? And don't tell me you didn't have us in mind."

Takuya rubbed the back of his head. He would have been lying if he'd said otherwise, after all.

"I was thinking we could get the bed set up again once there's room enough. It would take two of us." He hoped it would only take two.

Kouji gave him a steady look before he stepped closer, voice pitched low. "You want to make sure they don't stress themselves worrying, don't you?" He jerked his eyes briefly toward Junpei and Tomoki, busily setting the chairs into more or less order and picking up trash.

Takuya followed his gaze for a moment, then looked back, the sweetest and most confused of smiles slipping over his lips.

"What are you talking about? Would I do something like that?"

Kouji glared at him harder than ever and opened his mouth, clearly with the intent of telling Takuya what an idiot he was being. Takuya had heard it before, all of it from Kouji, and grinned even harder. He didn't have a chance to say anything else since a small blue Digimon appeared at the door, half-buried under the pile of clean sheets.

"Lighdramon sent these!" He chirped. "Thanks for your help!"

Takuya quickly went to gather them up, so glad for the interruption. He could almost feel Kouji rolling his eyes behind him. At least getting started on their part of the work would stop the questions.

At least that was what he hoped. He really didn't want to talk about that where Tomoki or Junpei could hear them.

The problem with that was that Kouji could be the master of finding ways to drag Takuya off to talk about things Takuya would rather not talk about. Better to clean while they could, and maybe Kouji would figure out some things didn't need to be talked about.

Maybe.

"Are you sure this is such a good idea?" Fladramon murmured as the door closed behind V-mon and the pile of sheets.

Lighdramon shrugged, heading back to his usual resting place behind the counter.

"We needed the rooms cleaned anyway. Just as well that we get someone else to do it. It will save time and we get some work done."

Fladramon puffed out a small breath of smoke. "That's not what I meant."

"I know." Lighdramon looked over his shoulder at him. "But what else are we going to do?"

That got a shrug from Fladramon. "We could have sent to the fortuneteller's fair and let them deal with this."

"More of them are frauds than aren't and I suspect they know that."

"But trusting Mistymon to humans?" Fladramon's fingers clenched and unclenched. "I don't care if they're supposed to be Legendary Warriors. We've never had humans here before."

Lighdramon settled into his place. "Our other option is to deal with Cherubimon and his warriors. Would they leave anything of this place if we did?"

Fladramon winced at the words alone. He didn't quite admit that his partner had a point, but Lighdramon did and Fladramon knew it very well.

"Then when should I?"

"Wait until they've finished. Just because we're doing this doesn't mean we need to do it fast." Lighdramon's jaw dropped in a canine smile. "And I might find a few other odd jobs for them to handle before they're ready to leave."

Fladramon eyed him for another few moments, then snorted. "You're going to wear them down to nothing, aren't you?"

Lighdramon smiled even more, tongue hanging happily over his teeth. "Why shouldn't I? They're going to have at least two meals each on us. That's twelve meals we could have been fully paid for. We aren't running this in for free, cousin."

Fladramon laughed, lounging himself in his own cushioned chair across from Lighdramon. "I suppose you're right on that. This time." He leaned forward, grinning widely. "And I don't have to wait until they're done to have the chocolate, do I?"

Lighdramon tossed his head, paws crossed over one another. "I suppose not. Go ahead." Chocolate was rare enough around here. Travelers said that it grew on trees in some parts of the Digital World, or even flowed from fountains and springs. How these humans came by it he didn't know, but he thought he might ask before they left. Feeding Fladramon's sweet tooth would be worth a few extra hours of work.

But that could come later. Right now, he had to make certain that they did everything he asked before he had them served dinner. It would be a good dinner, of course. He paid even temporary help well.

Even when doing so risked the disapproval of Cherubimon and his warriors.

To Be Continued

Notes: Next time we check on Izumi and Ranamon!