I don't own digimon.
Date 45
Mount for a doll
Back outside, there were a couple of questions for Cho. Mostly in regards to her magic by Ryouma.
"So you're a magician?" the doll inquired, currently being held up by Airu at the moment.
"Where did you learn to do that stuff?"
Cho took a deep breath.
"Far too much time angsting over relationships in a library." the baker whispered, a nod from her wife following. "Not the greatest time of my life. Especially in regards to Sugar."
Airu chuckled.
"Yeah…" Ryouma muttered, her gaze focusing on the ground for the briefest of moments. Then it was back to the baker. "Do you know any other spells?"
"Not really." Cho answered and was handed some potato sticks. Her hands shaked about, with little sign of stopping. It made eating the potato sticks a bit of the challenge."Even then, just casting that took everything out of me."
Her steps slowed as the shaking traveled to her body, gravity doing the rest of the work. Airu was at least there to catch her.
"I'll be alright." Cho whispered, only to get a head shake in return. "Just help me have a snack or two, Sugar."
Picking up the potato sticks, Airu carefully fed her wife. It wasn't that hard. Just slow.
"Better now?" the trapper asked, a smile forming on Cho's face. Then they on over to their teammates.
All of that work, just to get around the corner.
"You going to be alright?" Astamon whispered and the baker nodded. Which was then followed by more potato straws. The door came into view right afterl
Compared to the one they used in order to enter the palace's outside area, this one was a lot less pretty and seemed to be more functional than anything else. Though, that was judging by the plain grey appearance and the metal finish on it. It didn't even have much in the way of actual electronics, just a large latch to pull it open.
"Please be careful." Lyra explained, switching to her wyvern form to just pull the door open. One by one, our heroes entered.
"Uh… are you coming with us?" Ren remarked, getting a head shake in return. "Why not?"
"You guys look like you handle yourselves." Lyra remarked.
That isn't reassuring at all. Especially when you consider that you just told that to the guy in a dress hauling around explosives in their 'bust'.
"And your point is?" she continued, with our narrator realizing right after who she was talking too. Only took a string of sign language from her wife.
Never mind. Forgot for a second there who we were dealing with.
Inside, the holding area looked like a cross between a lab and a prison. Laser bars seemed to keep occupants in, including what looked to be an angemon. If angemon were made entirely out of metal and not shaking about from what looked poison. Wait… that fucker is still alive? Was kind of hoping that he was done for. Oh well.
"If you won't let me out, I'll just break free and bang both of you virgins!" the creature announced and got a grenade in his cell. "Just you wait!"
But, everyone's focus had turned to not the weird angemon, but to the thrower of the grenade. A turkey stood at the far end of the room, dressed in a what looked like a jumpsuit more suited for a spy than someone like him. A tommy gun hung at his side, while a pair of night vision goggles hung to his head. He didn't look too happy. Not that we could really blame him.
"Consligmon at your service." the turkey whispered and did a little bow, forcing our heroes attention downwards. "How may I help you people?"
Ryouma stepped forwards and cleared her throat.
"I was curious if you had any mounts that could hold both me," she inquired and pointed towards Astamon. "And my partner?"
For some reason, that got her a chuckle from the turkey. While not the most annoying thing the doll had experienced so far, it sat in the middle of that list. Just above people calling her a 'puppet' but just below getting left behind by accident.
"Why do you even want something from here?" Consligmon continued as his partner shot a look on over. Then it was time to give Ryouma a quick once over. "Or is this one of those things where you don't want to leave it all up to chance?"
Astamon shot the doll a glance, getting a sigh in return. While they were possibly jumping the gun when it came to upgrades, it was still worth the shot. Though, bringing their teammate's mounts in as well was just unnecessary pressure.
"The second option." Ryouma answered as she let her focus shift away from the turkey and to the cells itself. Along with the angel, a variety of beasts seemed to be contained within. "Can I take a look before I make a decision?"
Consligmon nodded, watching the doll make the journey over. Which took a couple minutes because she had make sure on who exactly was up for grabs.
"Who wants to be let out?" Ryouma announced, the attention of everyone in the cells focusing in on her. "Who's fine with being my mount?"
Silence. Especially when she nearly stumbled and Hinoka's present poked its head out. So Ryouma mumbled something to herself and slowly made her way along the cells. Eventually, she stopped in front of one of the larger cells. Just barely, a triceratops could be seen.
"May I help you, pipsqueak?" the triceratops muttered, watching her audience focus on them.
"Come on, you get to run around free and wild while still being on a short leash." Ryouma countered and got a sigh in return."What more could you even want?"
Silence.
"I don't know, not having a pipsqueak for a master?" the creature joked and made some effort to look his audience over. "Go home, maybe your child will play with you?"
Ryouma shook her fist at the cell. As tempting as giving the bird was, that wouldn't accomplish anything. At all. If anything, that was a last resort in this set of negotiations.
"I am not a pipsqueak!" Ryouma shouted back, puffing her chest out to the . "I'm a lady! A noble, beautiful lady. Dressed for the part of course."
All that got her was laughter. So the doll walked over to her partner and climbed up. Whispering followed, a plan of sorts formulated.
Then a quick costume change to what appeared to be her 'Shinku' costume. Or in other words, the red dress from the party.
"How's that?" the doll remarked, making sure to curtsy in front of the cell. "My name is Ryouma, what's yours?"
"Triceramon." the dinosaur muttered and carefully pushed their head towards the cell door. Strangely, pink bows had been attached to it horns with quite a bit of care and attention, along with a bit of blush and eyeshadow.
"You're pretty. It's a shame that you have to be locked up in such a small enclosure." Ryouma continued and motioned for Triceramon to come over. While at first, Triceramon seemed to refuse her gesture, the dino eventually relented and slowly pushed her way towards her. "See, that wasn't too hard."
Now that the dino was a lot closer, Ryouma took her fully in. At first glance, there wasn't much going for Triceramon past the ribbons and light makeup. But just barely, the doll could make out the outline of a pair of butterfly wings. You know, like the ones that fairies supposedly have. Well, that was what Ryouma liked to believe at least. She had never met any real fairies in her life, but had seen some in books. Pictures books, mostly.
"That's better." she whispered. "I know someone who could help you with that fairy look of yours."
Triceramon perked up after hearing that.
"Really?" the dino digimon inquired, her face now even closer to the bars then ever before. If she wasn't careful, face could meet lasers. I really doubt anyone here would want that. "There has to be some sort of catch to this, isn't there?"
Ryouma nodded, watching Triceramon take a step back. So she grabbed hold of one of the dino's horns. I guess the lasers aren't as dangerous as they were chalked up to be. Hopefully, none of the prisoners noticed that and got any ideas.
"Why should I go with you? I have everything I might possibly need." Triceramon muttered, watching her passenger try and take a position to be at eye level
"Except freedom to make your dream possible." Ryouma countered. "But my friend and I can give you that. Just let me and Astamon ride you."
A deep breath. Then a step forward with a smile.
"You win." the dino whispered and turned her attention to Consligmon. "Could you kindly let me out?"
Consligmon got a nod, only for a large yak to walk over with the keys.
"You better be good." the yak muttered, watching his former prisoner just nod.
"I will." Triceramon answered as the bars disappeared, letting her take her first steps of freedom in quite some time. It felt quite good. She had expected it to be bitter, but no. It was actually quite sweet to be out of here. "So, can you tell me about this friend?"
Ryouma jumped off the dino and pulled her doll-sized digivice out. After a bit of dialing and a little waiting, Hinoka finally appeared on screen.
"Hey honey~" the mage greeted, only to notice the large triceratops beside her 'girlfriend'. "I'm guessing that's our next project?"
Ryouma nodded, only for Airu's gaze to turn to the phone. Just behind her sister, one could just barely make out a pair of cure dolls running some sort of sewing machine. And by 'running', I mean stomping on a pedal so that an entirely different doll could do the actual 'sewing'.
"Yep!" Ryouma answered and moved the phone to show off Triceramon's wings. "She wants to be a fairy."
For a few seconds, Hinoka stared at the screen. While that probably seemed like an impossible task, the mage was up for it.
"While I won't able to do much until you guys get back, I can make up some possible prototypes." Hinoka answered and got a nod from both dino and dolly. "Understood."
"Sis, what are you doing with my cure dolls?" Airu inquired, watching her sister give an awkward chuckle and focus in on her.
"You don't mind at all, do you?"
Airu took a deep breath, followed by a sigh. As much as the trapper wanted to get angry at her younger sister, it wouldn't do any good right now.
"Just ask for permission next time, okay?"
Hinoka nodded and the call came to an end.
"Thank you."
After, the group let their attention to each other.
"So now what?" Ren inquired, only for the rumbling of multiple tummies to answer her question. "I guess that answers it."
Their attention turned to Alisa.
"There should be a couple places to get food in the village." she explained and gave a curtsy of her own. "Your free to come back to the palace later, if you want."
Ryouma nodded and turned her attention to Consligmon.
"Thank you." she whispered, getting a nod in return. Then it was time to leave the holding area.
Notes:
Compared to say someone like Ren who has possibly far too many options, Ryouma has just one option -Triceramon. A perfect fit if you ask me. Outside of that, the schedule might be changing soon. Maybe for the better, maybe for the worst. I'm not entirely certain yet.
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On our next date: We see something that shouldn't be possible. But they did it anyway.
