I don't own digimon.
Chapter 31
The Butterfly Effect
Melody wasn't sure how to feel in this moment. In between Rantha's betrayal on top of selling her out to the enemy, her emotions felt like a swirling storm with no sign of letting up. Add in the gazes aimed right for her, the Wu Jen wanted to curl up in a ball and just cry herself to sleep. Though, she doubted they would let her do such a thing.
"Hi!" the little red thing in front of her greeted, small paw waving about as her gaze focused on the garment they were wearing - a glacial blue dress. Just the right size for them, making this creature stand out quite a bit from the rest of the group. Especially when compared to the plain white dress on the short person. Even if the tufts of white hair were a nice touch. Though, they seemed to have a scary-looking face for the moment, making them not very approachable.
"Hello?" she greeted back, an attempt to make herself as small as possible. Doesn't really work. "I have no name nor am I of any purpose to Distant Harmony!"
I do hope you realize that's only going to make you more suspicious? Now they want to know even more about you and you've opened yourself up to even more questions.
For the moment at least, her 'interrogators' inched slightly closer. Weapons currently at the side, perhaps they wish to go with a peaceful solution. Even as Melody knelt herself down. A sickle strike might be able to get herself some distance, but they would inevitably catch up to her.
"Do you want a name then?" someone - possibly the person in the tunic and pants inquired, gaze right on her moment. Look athletic at least. "We could give you one."
Melody looked away, Lumosmon deciding to rest in her arms for the moment. Okay. Might not be the best time for that. Maybe you should be trying to rescue Melody at the moment. Wait. I don't think it understands me, which was the topic of a conversation last chapter. Sorry. I've had to marathon the last couple chapters. I had hoped to get some rest, but sleep seems to elude me and the other staff members right now. Skeletons have a way of doing that. Fuck them.
"How about your partner then?" a snake of all things adds and focused in on her partner. A bright flash is the greeting. She still wasn't sure what that meant right now. Possibly, 'hi'. Or perhaps, 'hello?' "Does he have a name?"
"Lumosmon." the Wu Jen croaked out, looking down towards her partner. She could already see the next question they had. "It came from a meteorite while I was floating about dimensional space, okay! I'm not sure why it chose me…"
The moment that 'Meteorite' came out of her mouth, a trenchcoat-clad person was right up in her face. Which just made Melody lean back in the hopes of gaining some bit of personal space for the moment. If any. Totally understand that feeling.
"Ella…" a woman remarked, putting a hand on trenchcoat's shoulder. A look follows, but there's a clear understanding right now. Some sort of couple? Maybe, but more of friends that aren't quite sure where life will take them at this particular moment. "You're freaking her out, which is going to make it harder to get anything conclusive out of her."
'Ella' nodded, taking a step back to join the rest of her teammates. Even with this increased space, Melody still raised her sickle towards them.
"Hey. We just want to understand what your deal is." an armor-clad humanoid announced, warhammer and helmet dropping to the ground. The strange ghost monkey thing grabbed hold, somehow managing to pull the weapon up and seat her head in the helmet for the moment. "We know that Distant Harmony is planning on destroying this place. Which is why some unknown force sent a meteorite down with these 'digimon' in order to help us for some reason. Anything that you can tell us on how you found your partner would be helpful."
Melody let out a sigh, eyes closing right after. She was currently these people's prisoner. All the cards were in their possession. Maybe it would be beneficial to swap notes. If nothing else, her own employers didn't seem keen on mounting a rescue mission for her.
"Okay… I'm not entirely sure what to start out with, but here goes." the Wu Jen explained and watched her captors take a seat.
.
We find ourselves in a land of intense rainbow colors. All of which look to be swirling about with little in the way of consistency or even pattern. Disorienting is the understatement of the year. I might need to find something to blind myself so that this stupid colors don't do it to me first. Okay, that's probably not the best idea in retrospect. Even more so now that some idiot has casted blindness on me. Not helpful. Give me a second… Okay, much better. Hopefully that didn't damage my eyes in some way that will bite me in the ass later down the road. Now, where were we? Right, flashback.
Our titular drow lays on what appears to be a floating mass of... something. Quite tiny, it appears to have fractured from what I can only assume a much larger landmass. No, this wouldn't have been a landmass. Maybe this is a piece of one of those 'spaceships' Rantha told me about the other day. Though, not entirely sure what they make them out of. That's the least of our worries though. Mostly because we seem to have movement for the moment.
"Ugh…" Melody muttered, looking about her surroundings. While I have no real clue on where she expected to find herself, but it's definitely not here. "Can anyone hear me?"
Her words get sucked up, never able to reach anyone with crucial message. Even if they could in that particular moment, the odds aren't in her favor. Yes, obviously Distant Harmony picks her up eventually. But that's a lucky chance. Something's bound to hap-
Out in the distance, a meteor heads on by. Though, it would seem that Melody's landmass was on a direct collision course with the rock. Oh dear. Two choices - maybe hitch a ride on the large rock or somehow shift it's course to somewhere else.
Our mystic focuses in on her target, eyes closing right after. Gathering her thoughts, the air around her cooling and condensing into an icy spike. Hanging in the air, it looks ready to meet whatever destiny it's creator has in store for it at the moment.
"Uh… sorry about this, big rock." she whispered and fired her icy projectile towards the rock. A direct hit, the trajectory changed. Along with the destinies of five other people in that one small moment. Crazy what can happen in an instant.
Thought that doesn't explain why part of the object flew off and landed right on Melody's platform. She did make sure to open her eyes. Which does make the double take that followed quite justified. "Thanks?"
The rock glowed for a brief moment, a series of long and short flashes coming right after. Wait. Is this how it communicates? If that turns out to be the case, I feel like an idiot for suggesting it to find a different method of communication. Sorry about that. Hopefully, you'll forgive me or something. This is a flashback. Not really much that I can do on that front. Maybe back in the present it'll matter. Sorry. I got off-topic again. My bad.
Yet, Melody gave the rock a slight rub. Nothing too hard. Don't want to break it any further than it already is for the moment. Not that it really mattered, with the egg shattering right before her eyes. A strange cross between a lantern and a large moth erupts forth, fluttering around their new owner for the moment. Even stranger, was the appearance of a choker around her neck. A choker that looked to be housing a D-Venture.
"Hi…" Melody greeted, deep breath exiting her lips. It hadn't been her intention to break the digi-egg. This was a happy little accident that the mystic was going to have to deal with for the moment. Especially with not having a real concrete idea on what's this creature's name was. They did look like a light. Maybe that's the best place to start here. "How about Lumos?"
The lantern moth thing flashed solid for a couple seconds, only to follow it up with a blinking flash. So right, but not quite? Or perhaps it's not long enough. So Melody took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Hopeful as she had been that would, the neutral reply had dampered her spirits.
"Lumosmon, maybe?" she continued, the response this time being a very long solid light. Guess they like it. Or, are willing to accept it for the moment. Either is an equally valid option right now in dimensional space. Especially with a 'spaceship' heading towards the pair for the moment. Slowing down for the moment, guess this will be our ticket out of here. "Hey! Someone's out here! Stop… please?"
Getting the general message of their partner, Lumosmon began flashing in all sorts of different patterns and colors. Which I can only assume that makes for quite a challenge on whoever is manning that thing. I can only hope their vision wasn't completely wrecked in the process of steering their way through. Nonetheless, the ship eventually comes to a stop a bit past the rock and what looks to be a side door comes on down. Rantha and six grunts file on out, taking in our pair.
"You alright?" the Artisan announced, getting a reluctant nod from the mystic at the moment. "Asking that because you're the only survivor we've found."
The words ring out and Melody's world justs stopped. Closing her eyes for the briefest of seconds, she can hear the last breaths of her companions. Her head hurts, the weight on her shoulders ever increasing.
"If it helps, we did find this." Rantha continued, handing Melody a mask. The same mask that currently sits on the Wu Jen face. "Welcome to Distant Harmony."
We find ourselves back in reality for the moment. Everyone except for Melody are standing up for the moment. For the moment, questions seem to swirl around them. Ignoring the obvious question about the whole 'spaceship' thing, this brought both questions and answers to the start of our journey.
"Wait. So does that mean the meteorite wasn't supposed to land down in Aldia then?" Blaze remarked, Balamon shaking his head.
"If anything, it's possible she cemented Aldia as the place where the meteorite would land on down."
The dancer nodded, gaze turning back to Melody for the moment. While it was clear that the story told was true, what was that voice he had heard. That hadn't happened with Dave. Who the heck was that other guy?
"Wait. I might have accidentally connected all of you to me while I was telling you what happened." Melody remarked, closing her eyes for what seems to be the third or fourth time in the past couple of minutes. Like a switch almost, my voice faded from their heads. Boo. Maybe I wanted to talk to all of them for the moment. But I can wait for the moment. "Though, I was heading home with everyone."
Getting a nod, the Wu Jen pulled her mask away. Golden eyes stare clearly out on our heroes, while faded blonde locks reached just to her waist for the moment. Could use a bit of styling.
Judging by the look I'm getting at the moment, you already knew that. Sorry about that. That sort of information is kind of hard to
"Could you tell us your name now?" Yvonne remarked, grabbing back hold of her warhammer for the moment.
"Melody." the mystic whispered, feeling Lumosmon exit her hands and float beside her for the moment. "While I'm not sure how much of a help that I can be for you guys (I guess I'm supposed to be your enemy), but I'll do the best I can."
A stomach rumble followed. To be fair, I don't think any of you had an actual breakfast. But that would be calling the kettle black. Fending off skeletons is hard work.
"Is there any place that I can get a meal?" Melody continued, getting a nod from Yvonne for the moment. Even if that did get the barbarian a look from Madame around the same time as our group headed off. "Since you now know my name, could you at least tell me your names?"
"Yvonne." Yvonne remarked, feeling Munbimon climb up her back. Though, you got to think she felt the handful of times that her helmet collided with her back. Didn't stop her pointing to her partner. "And this is Munbimon."
Munbimon gave a wave, getting a wave back from Melody in return. Then it's over to our thief and their mess.
"Madame." they announced, pulling Kollmon back over. Even if the mole does give them a stink eye of sorts "Kollmon."
"Like, I could've introduced myself!" Kollmon announced, letting out a sigh right after. "Uh… could you kneel down?"
Melody complied, getting down on her knees. Dang. That's a very pretty spiderweb pattern on your kimono. Do you have other kimonos, by any chance?
Head shake. Oh well. Guess I got my hopes up a little too high in that regard. Especially with the clothing shop iced over. Uh… I'll shut up for the moment.
Giving a nod and getting back up, our mystic's focus shifts over to Ella. The artificer's gaze was currently split between the burning wreckage of her business and their destination.
"Uh… Sorry about what happened with Rantha." Melody muttered, only for Ella to shake her head. A deep breath followed. Okay… Definitely not what I was expecting to happen here. Considering the emotions probably running through her head for the moment, that's the least of her problems right now.
"That fucker made his choice." Ella muttered, gaze snapping on over to our mystic for the moment. "If anything, you had nothing to do with the actions he took. Also, sorry about getting up in your space earlier. Not my intentions."
Melody nodded, taking the time to give the burning building one last glance. Then it's over to Cinemon.
"Cinemon." the feline dog digimon remarked, shooting his partner a glance. "Yes, she's always like that."
He got a stink eye for that remark, but paid it little mind. Especially as Melody's gaze turned to the last person she needed to greet for the moment. Which ironically, had been the first person to speak with her - Bubbles. Phusitmon too, but that kind of goes without saying. Carefully, she bent down and gave our little dragon a tap. While this did bring him to a stop, Bubbles didn't quite connect the dots on what was needed out of him. To be fair, most people approach him from the front.
"Wait. That's a he?" the mystic thought, quite confused in this particular moment. The dress must have thrown you off. Just as an FYI, Bubbles is a 'he' and Madame is a 'they'. Yes, I'm aware that this is technically cheating. Oh well. I'll take whatever punishment awaits. Understood."
It took a second poke from Phusitmon for Bubbles to turn around. Though, he did use this opportunity to jump up into Melody's arms. While the mystic accepted the gesture, she hadn't expected to be getting a hug now of all times. Get used to that. Though, that doesn't stop Melody from giving a hug of her own. Aww...
"Bubbles!" he announced, finding himself getting put down. "Phussiemon."
Not going to lie, you could have really phased that far better. But still an introduction of our pair, nonetheless. Especially as The Shaky Walls Cafe came into view. Time to make plans and get to the bottom of some of these mysteries dogging us today.
Notes:
Bit of a shorter chapter from the last two. The next one is over 5K, kind of works out. Yes, we're having digitalverse/neo digia style dimensional space. I'm allowed to have that carry through. Especially when the 'conspiracy' this time is technically 'canon'. Yeah. Who would of thought that.
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Next Time: Making plans and getting to the bottom of things. Also, heading through the door...