I don't own digimon.

Chapter 30

Burn it all down

As tasks goes, chasing after your opponents isn't the worst thing in the world. Though, I could see someone getting mad at coming all that way to Madame's and having to run some more. Fair enough.

Dust Kiss!

Swooping down towards our fleeing pair, Munbimon managed to plop her lips on Melody. The Wu Jen didn't take too kindly to that gesture. Though, she doesn't look that bad of a kiss. Though, I'm not an expert on that. So she went for a swing of her sickle. Clipping the ghost monkey digimon's wings, a slight tap was their reward for the moment. Not at all the best retaliatory move you can go for here. Maybe a headbutt instead? Those usually work a heck of a lot better. Maybe that's why people are currently headbutting skeletons. You're wizards for fuck sake! You should have spells and magic weapons. Use them! Okay, let me show you how it's done. Eldritch blast, strike down my foes! Still got it. Haven't had to use that for a long time. Prefer not to really. I'm a narrator. not a 'fighter'. But I digress.

"Uh… Get away from me!" Melody shouted, going for another swing as Yvonne closed the gap. Swinging her warhammer back, the barbarian took care to not hit her partner or cause any real damage to her opponent. Can't really get answers out of someone who's skull has been bashed in now, can you? Yes yes, I know about the resurrection magic. Considering the level of magic present here, it wouldn't surprise me if such a spell was beyond that of most mages. Maybe Marulyn could be able to cast such a magic. Whether or not it would actually work is a whole different story.

Nonetheless, the warhammer does make contact with the target, knocking them off to the side. The moth lantern thing doesn't notice, choosing instead to float along around and stick to Rantha for the moment.

"Don't need a running commentary of everything bad that happens to me!" Rantha announced, shaking his fist at the air. Not sure what to tell you here. You're going to have to put up with it. But you already knew that. Doesn't really stop you from complaining. Could you at least try to fill the space with something else. I don't know, maybe some fun moments that may have happened to you and Carinamon. Heck. Maybe something about Melody. "Not he-"

Blaze's scimitar reached our artisan, setting fire to his suit. Ow. That makes it four wounds now. Has to be. At this rate, you'll need to slow yourself down. Even more when the dancer managed to skip up into the air and grab hold. Gravity did the rest of the work, bringing our Artisan down. Right as Melody was finally managing to catch up. Though, Lumosmon did notice she had fallen behind and had waited patiently for the Wu Jen to catch up. How nice of them.

"Why are you even running?" Blaze inquired, Balamon biting down into Rantha's ankle. "You're in no state to fight either of us. Let alone everyone for the moment."
Rantha did his best attempt to point his middle finger towards Blaze. Feel kind of like a broken record in that regard. Especially as he bolted off and dumped his passenger to the group. All while Balamon hung on. Quite determined that snake is.

"I'm alright." Blaze muttered, standing back up as an ice spike came his way. Fiery blade makes quick work of that. Then it's over to Melody. "So you're the Artisan's friend?"

Melody doesn't respond, instead choosing to fire off another ice spike. This one is directed for Yvonne, but doesn't quite reach it's mark. Instead, it gets impaled in the street. Perfect for a nice hot day. Though, you probably be somewhere cool anyhow. Kind of like the mausoleum my students and I are in right now. With all these skeletons. That just keep coming. How many skeletons are in this freaking place.

"Uh… yeah! He let on this ship with a bunch of weird people." Melody answered, Yvonne's gaze already on her for the moment. Definitely not the best answer here. Not that one could really expect you to have a solid answer at this point. "Thanks strange voice in my head?"

Before either Yvonne, Blaze or even Munbimon could really ask for her to elaborate, bright flashes of light coursed across their vision. Ow. My eyes did not like that all, thank you very much.

"Crud." Yvonne muttered, feeling Munbimon take a seat on her shoulder for the moment. "You alright, Blaze?"

Blaze nodded, attention back on the street ahead. While they were losing this race for the moment, we appear to be nearing the Black Cat Inn of all places. Wait. Why do I feel like I've already said that before? Eh. Probably some weird case of deja vu or a memory spell gone wrong. Which can happen if you're not careful! And no, those aren't allowed on tests! Stop asking about them. I'm serious. Sorry. I just needed to get that out of my system for the moment. Back with our pair, we seem to be in the process of closing the gap.

Carina Gale!

A large tornado of air and poison swirled about the surrounding area, making for quite a challenge to avoid. Let alone pass for the moment.

"Come and get up, you bag of di-" Carinamon announced, getting cut off by a tail smack from Balamon. Focusing on the snake for the moment, he clicked his claws about. Oh! How threatening! Not really. It's mildly annoying, more than anything.

Material Bite!

Before our feathered scorpion digimon had a chance to continue his attack, Balamon bit down into his tail.

"Tastes disgusting." Balamon remarked, jumping off from the Artisan. Making a beeline for Blaze, he charged head-on for the tornado. The tornado won out here, flinging the snake digimon up into the air. Further salt was poured when the tornado disappeared right after. Didn't do much to impede Blaze and Yvonne's progress.

"Balamon?" Blaze called out, bending down for the moment. But Balamon wasn't there for the moment. No, he found himself in the middle of a lake. A boy was right in front of him - flailing about in the water. He's not going to make it. Not that the snake digimon understood that concept. If he pushed enough, maybe they could reach shallower waters. A fool's errand, even more so as the boy flails even harder right now. His skin is turning blue and bubbles are coming

"Balamon, you alright?"

Flushed back into reality, Balamon shifted about. He was now hanging to Blaze's shoulder, the Shaky Walls Cafe coming into view at this point.

"Yeah." the snake digimon remarked, gaze joining that of his partner's and Yvonne's. Sooner or later, they would need to wrangle their opponents back around. Or at least disable them in such a way that they could be brought back to Madame's manor. Or something along those lines.

"Oh! Yvonne!"

Yvonne stopped, sliding forward a couple feet. Of course Marulyn had to show back up at this moment. This was the one time that the elven mage didn't need to stick her nose into this me-

A lightning bolt shot forward down the street, striking the sickle and leading right into Melody. The Wu Jen dropped to the ground, providing the perfect opportunity for Blaze and Yvonne to grab her. Thank god for that. Even if that did provide Rantha the perfect opportunity to turn around. Oh my. Guess he finally got the idea.

"Thanks Marulyn." Yvonne remarked, watching her girlfriend's face blush as red as the cherries she always smelled like. Taking a deep breath, she muttered something to the ground. Yet, Marulyn gave a nod. Then it's back into the cafe itself.

"What did you tell her?" Blaze inquired, possibly looking for some kind of dating advice. The chuckle from his teammate brings an end to that. Especially when she slipped his scimitar back onto him. How nice of her to do that. Don't want a repeat of those last two incidents.

"It's a secret to everyone." the barbarian remarked, Rantha passing on by. Kind of impressive for a guy with two broken hands.

"Mr Rantha, aren't you going to rescue m-" Melody started, purple outline appearing around her teammate for the moment. Oh dear. Looks like someone is about to do something they might regret. Typical. Nice things must seem disposable.

"Corruption!" Rantha announced, the outline's intensity growing for the moment. Carinamon is currently giving him a look. Definitely not the expectation here. Definitely don't want to know what the actual expectation of our scorpion was in that moment. Maybe he thought Rantha would wait until his opponents were closer in the hopes of grabbing Melody back. But who can really say at this moment?

"What the hell are you doing?" Carinamon screeched, Rantha not even looking to him. Instead, the Artisan fumbled his way about his pockets. Eventually, what looks to be a little doll came out as the Black Cat Inn came into view. Fuck. I know exactly what he's about to do. Crap. This is the worst possible situation we could find ourselves in. "You do remember what happened last time when you used that thing. Right?"

Rantha didn't acknowledge him. Instead, he pulls the doll back to the best of his impaired abilities. Pain courses through his body once more, a reminder to get that all checked out. Yet he flings the doll into the doorway and watches it enter the building. Fuck. Ella isn't going to like any of this.

"Good to know." Rantha muttered, laughing at me. Just rude. Especially as our trio of Blaze, Yvonne and Melody approached. She doesn't look too happy.

"Rantha, what are you doing?" Melody remarked, the Artisan not even taking the time to really look her way. Though, the string of flashes coming from Lumosmon weren't helping at the moment. If you could figure out a better way to communicate, let us know.

"Going out." the Artisan muttered, purple gas flooding the Inn. "Go ahead and run in like you're all heroes. Make my job a lot fucking easier."

Yvonne took a deep breath, handing Melody off to Blaze. These were her people. If the Artisan so desperately wanted to gas all the orcs and succubi in the inn, she was going to make sure that at least some of them made it out alive.

"Sorry about this, Ella." she muttered and charged towards the Inn. but not before making sure her helmet was on. It was. Kind of forgot she had grabbed that back yesterday. No matter, especially with that swing of her warhammer. A clean hit, forcing the gas out. Which also means that the poison is now exiting the building. Oh dear. Might have wanted to keep that in place. You know, for later and stuff. As for the interior of the inn, everyone had definitely noticed Rantha's surprise. What a piece of shit. It's one thing to be destroying buildings like it's going out of style. It's another to poison people in the hopes of creating a disaster.

Inside, visibility is just awful. Everything is tinted green. Even more so with that helmet Yvonne has on right now. The shade is not even one of those good greens. If such a thing really existed.

"Is this everyone?" she called out, watching Orcs, succubi and a couple of elves file on out. All trying their best to prevent themselves from inhaling any of that gas. Though, that doesn't mean we're home free just yet. We have to make sure that there's no one in the adjacent rooms. Which was on top of finding that doll. Crazy how such a small object can do so much in the way of damages. Magic items are no joke in that regard.

"You idiot." a voice muttered, Ella of all people making her entrance. Oh right. I scryed on them back with those three. "If anyone should be in here, it should be me."

Yvonne's gaze shot over, a groan following it. Of course someone needed to show up at this exact moment. By the same token though, the barbarian was glad to have some backup in here. Especially someone who definitely knew the layout of the building.

"Anyone else in here?" she called out and watched turret fire erupt about. Hey! Be careful with that! You could hurt someone. Okay, that's probably pushing it for the moment.

"One more family at least." Ella remarked, looking about for this elusive doll. Before she had a chance to really look for it, laughter echoed on through from the outside. Fuck. Rantha's done something, hasn't he? "Now what?"

Bubbles was currently being held in the doorframe, mouth held open by Rantha's mouth. Asshole. Did you really need to go that far? There's already enough problems created with the doll and the poison gas. Complete and utter overkill.

Rantha just laughs. Really want to deck this guy right now. Don't think I'll get that chance. Would be in total violation of my duties as a narrator. Not something you want on your record. Believe me. If you have to leave a job, leave it on good terms. If you can't, have an exit strategy for when things do go wrong. You'll be a lot better for it. Well, that's what a co-worker told me at least. Not entirely sure if those sort of situations exist.

"Crap." Yvonne muttered and looked towards Bubbles. Even in this awful state, he still looked happy. Not that his face could manage much in the way of actual facial movements. No sign of Phusitmon though. Probably under Rantha's boot for the moment, knowing him. Can't quite let sleeping dogs lie, can he. Always having to push that boulder further towards that cliff edge. Nonetheless, our barbarian pulled her warhammer back. Only one real shot at this. Fail and you find yourselves with a dead teammate and a just enraged partner "Ella, you got this last family?"

Ella nodded, briefest of glances given to Yvonne as she charged towards Rantha. Then it's back to the door. A couple turret shots are all it takes, revealing what looks to be an orc couple engaging in what looks to be some pretty fun times. Pretty a-

Behind her, the sound of Yvonne's warhammer meets that of an object of some kind. Ow. That's what, five injuries now? Has to be. Though, it's possible one or two more injuries may have been inflicted while my focus was on these two. Yet, Bubbles dropped to the ground and our stray couple runs out. That should be all of them now. Which just leaves the dolly.

"Where is it, Artisan?" Blaze called out, voice reaching through to the inside. Doesn't tell me where he went. Guess the force of Yvonne's blow was far stronger than that of the other person's.

"I'll tell you if you hand me back my digivice." Rantha countered, a smile probably forming on his stupid, smug face. Because of course he did. What's more telling is the want for that stupid device over his own teammate. No honor among thieves. Kind of expected at this point with Distant Harmony. Does any part of that organization promote teamwork? You guys all look to implode. "Please shut up, you shitty voice and a half. I hope someone shanks you to death. There I fucking said it."
I've got nothing in regards to answering that. Outside of the obvious question of 'what's a digivice?'. Is that the device Madame grabbed off of you earlier? Kind of a generic name to give it. Unless you're not the ones to name it in the first place. "If not, I'll just kick you all to death."

Yawn… Keep going. I'm sure you'll come up with something actually threatening for the moment. Doesn't help that the pair in the Inn has finally made their exit. None of them look too happy.

"What's in it for us?" Munbimon remarked, Rantha's gaze shifting over to Melody. Mask still on for the moment, she can already see where this is going. No honor among thieves. If any ever existed, such honor has left the building to be replaced with distrust. Or would it be destruction?

"You can have her." Rantha answered, finding his mystical device smashed into his groin. In response to that, our Artisan 'clapped' his hands together. A click echoes about the area. Fuck. That's not good. What is he going to do?

Fire erupts forth from the Black Cat Inn. Fuck. Guess that was bound to happen. Wait. I remember something. It was faint, but in my dream Ella mentioned something about Rantha destroying her Inn. Or maybe that's a false positive. Time will have the answer to that. Of course, to add further salt to this wound, he used this as his moment to teleport.

Yet, Madame's gaze shot over to Ella. Inside, 'her' had agreed to this. How the heck were they supposed to know that he would set the whole place on fire? A calculated risk, for better or worse.

"I'm sorry, Ella." they muttered and got a look. Then a slap. Doesn't look too hard of an attack. Did catch the rest of their teammates by surprise. Which is absolutely fair in that regard. You didn't see the mess of earlier. Though, I doubt you would believe it to be the case. Seems almost surreal for that matter. Coming from a guy who's seen some shit, that's probably saying something.

"They're like an 'item' now." Kollmon remarked, death glare from Madame blissfully ignored. After this mess, I don't really blame her. "I'm guessing you want to tell them the other thing?"

Ella's gaze joined that of Kollmon. Kind of put Madame on the spot there. Especially without much in the way of a notice.

"Enough, you two." Madame muttered, taking a seat on the path for the moment. One more deep breath followed. "While I look 'female', I'm not quite… female. Nor am I quite male either I think. Which is on top of my second personality in my head."

Silence fell over the area. Most of the occupants of the Inn had chosen to keep their distance from the still smouldering building at the moment. Which left just our heroes for the moment. All the better

"Sounds good by me." Blaze remarked, giving a nod right after. A similar story with Yvonne and somehow, Bubbles of all people. Guess he's far smarter than I give him credit. Maybe. Or he just followed the crowd. "Anything else?"

Ella cleared her throat. This was the big one. Guess I should get myself ready for more chatting. Actually, I should wait to see how things go. It might be another day. Possibly.

"We talked with a being through a door." the artificer explained, looking towards Melody and Lumosmon. At the moment, the Wu Jen was just standing there. Blaze probably set her down when Rantha was gassing the place. "We need six D-Ventures. Hopefully, Ms Wu Jen here can help us."

The rest of the group focus in on her.

Notes:

Last chapter of the year. And it's a bit of a long one. Not as long as our previous chapter.

Though, Melody will eventually get Munbimon back. It won't be next chapter, probably the one after that. And yes, Madame just came out as Agender on top of the whole second personality. Just another day in Aldia.

Also, Merry Christmas. If it's not Christmas when you read this, Merry Not-Christmas.

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Next time: Melody's backstory. Oh yeah!