I don't own digimon.

Chapter 52

Swinging to the beat

Compared to all the other floors (that we've seen on our trip up), this one in particular stood out. Maybe it's the lights swirling about with whatever arcane technology or the loud music that whoever is running the place. But above all else, we have the people running around serving drinks and 'dancing'. By dancing, I mean making questionable gestures and swinging around a pole. All of which were dressed up in bunny girl outfits - much like the one Blaze had gotten from Rantha. Who in turn, had a friend who had gotten it from here. While none of them have really noticed our large group of people, that wasn't going to last for long. Especially with that flimsy piece of fabric serving as a barrier.

"State your business." a voice announced as a goblin made his way over. Decked out in a suit of all garments, what looks to be a watch hung around his wrist. Mechanical, the second hand rocks back and forth. Though, the hat more than makes up for it.

"We would like to pass to the next floor." Yvonne explained, the strange goblin looking behind himself. Nothing really going on for the moment, but the flap could easily betray that.

"Well, can anyone of you dance?" the goblin answered and Blaze stepped forward. His 'favorite outfit' proudly out and ready to be slipped into at a moment's notice. "Oh. You there. Care to give the pole a shot, pretty boy?"

Blaze nodded, even if the temptation was very much there to just roll his eyes and flip the goblin off. Sure, he would've preferred to be wearing either his regular clothes or his leotard, he could make this work. If not, there was always his scimitar. Though, I think we should maybe stick away from that for the moment. At least till we have some solid clue on what's going on.

"Is he always like that?" the goblin remarked, gaze staying on Blaze for the moment. What sounds like a chuckle followed. Go get them and make Dave proud of you!

"No. Just not my favorite outfit." Blaze countered, taking the time to focus in on the goblin for the moment. "Uh… where's the dressing?"

The goblin stared off into space, the sound of his broken watch serving as the only sound for the moment. You alright there?

"Dressing room?" he answered, finding himself getting stared by multiple people. Uh… that's not a good sign. Like, I would assume that all the other dancers would at least have an alternate outfit to wear when they are not on the job. My mistake.

"If there's no dressing room, then where do the dancers stay till it's there time to come on out?" Ella remarked, our strange goblin continuing to stare off into space. Wonderful. "So where do you expect Blaze to change?"

The goblin looked down the stairs, a hand joining in pointing towards the third floor. Okay, that isn't the most helpful thing in the world. Still, there's more than enough room to get dressed up and get back used to wearing those heels. Especially since you've only worn that pair once.

"I'll be back." Blaze announced and made his way down towards the third floor. Which just leaves everyone else to focus back on the goblin.

"I'm guessing the rest of you would like to head into the bar?" the goblin remarked, pulling the curtain away. With that 'barrier' out of the way, we can really see the inside of this 'bar'. What looks to be more carpet covers the floor, with some kind of dark fabric covering over the original walls. Tables and chairs are littered all about, with the titular 'dancers' serving a variety of goblin and orc patrons. Doesn't explain the dragon at the far end of the room pigging out on a full hog. Crap. That was a pun. Even worse, it's a pun that leads right into a second one (even if that wasn't my intention).

In all seriousness, why don't you like puns? Seems like kind of a strange pet peeve to have. And that's coming from me.

I guess it's the narration side of me. I don't really get a concrete idea of who all is going to see this. Suppose they do not speak the same language as you and me. A pun that works here, might not work out in their language. It's a fine balance at times.

Back with the description of the room, we of course have the poles. I'm not sure why the fuck there needs to be poles in here. Sure, the bar part of this place needs water and some place to dispose of fluids. Yes. But what the heck are you supposed to do with these ones? Ride up and down? Prop art against th-

People ride around them as a way to entice people into giving them money. It's quite simple. I would think you of all people would have a good idea on that sort of thing. Have you never been to a bar in the past?

Uh… no. This is the first time I've ever been in such an establishment. Even then, I don't think this counts as one. At all.

"Here's your table." the goblin explained and watched our heroes sit themselves down. Though, Yvonne chooses to stay standing up. In between all of that armor and the chairs looking to be more along the lines of something you would give a child rather than a bunch of adults and a kid who all decided that they wanted to bring their weird pets along with them. Except they're not pets. More, partners. Not in the romantic sense. Work-sense. "I'll take your word for it."

With that, our host headed back through the flap. That was… something. Yeah. Let's go with that to describe the weird situation we find ourselves in once more. Or would it be as usual?

A mix of both here. Though, I have no really clue of the adventures you had in Aldia.

Uh… does one of you want to quickly recap for our strange vo-

I'm a digital fiend. Well, that's what I'm planning to have as my avatar once I get things all the way stabilized out.

Good to know.

"I guess I can try." Yvonne explained and took a deep breath. Kind of crazy to think about how much has happened in such a short time. "This whole thing began with a meteor coming down on Aldia, the place nearly everyone at this table calls home. Said meteor was 'intentionally' diverted by Melody when it came very close to her, knocking a piece off and causing said rock to shatter further in five pieces."

Which I'm guessing brought those 'D-ventures' and the digimon to each of you. Okay. That doesn't explain how said digimon got into said rock. Better yet, how exactly did they get the digimon in the first place? What few digimon that are still around here are quite a high level.

Their words echo about our heads, the answer to that question still beyond our known knowledge. Kind of frustrating if you ask me.

"As Yvonne was saying…" Ella remarked, gaze split between those at the table and the ceiling above. "We found our piece of the meteorite, brought forth our digimon partners and got to dispatching the grunts who were sent down to claim said meteorite. They weren't too successful on that front. Well, one did find Madame's secret base of operations."

Madame shot their girlfriend a look. Of course they brought that particular event back up. Yet, they chuckle. Yes, that day was by no means their greatest moment - but it did start the process of breaking away from the 'Madame' image. Sooner or later, the truth needed to get out to the public. For nothing else than to end this charade and possibly have some semblance of a life that actually was theirs and not the product of something no longer needed.

"Once we had gotten the grunts dispatched, then came 'The Artisan'." Madame continued, gaze already focusing on Rantha. "Which I must say, not a very threatening alias."

Rantha rolled his eyes, taking a couple seconds to realize it was now his turn to continue this long-winded story.
"It was my boss's call." he muttered, a deep breath following that. "As they were saying, I showed up and decided that an eating contest was the best way to start my reign of terror out. Though, I probably should've chosen something other than eggs."

Why an eating contest? There had to be better ways of going about starting one's destruction than eating a bunch of eggs. If you must do that, at least go with something that professionals do - like hot dogs. Uh… You guys do know what a hot dog is, right?

Silence. To be fair, none of us have really gotten a chance to actually try the various foods that exist in this world. Though, setting a dog on fire sounds kind of barbaric.

"That better not involve eating me." Cinemon muttered and got a nod from both Ella and Rantha at that moment. Then we're right back to staring at Rantha for the moment.

"After the eating contest, I took a day to get my bearings and work off the stomachache gained from eating all those eggs." Rantha continued and let his gaze shift down towards the table. "Then I jumped back into work, destroying a good chunk of Aldia with massive vines."

Yvonne focused on our artisan, giving what looked to be a reluctant nod. Not in agreement, more in confirmation of the deed done.

"Yeah. That was probably the worst of the damage done." she added, shifting her standing position for the moment. Did make the rings of her khakkhara jingle about slightly. "After, Rantha iced a clothing store and proceeded to break his hands on some boards in Madame's manor."

That's one heck of a way to hurt yourself. Did you at least get some kind of comp for that act of stupidity or were you out of luck?

"Out of luck." Rantha muttered as he held his hand up. While the damage done by the boards has been fixed, there looks to be a couple marks from cutting himself the other day. Yeah. That's something else Rantha is fond of doing. "I know. Once this is all said and done, I'll probably find myself a better hobby."

You better. I'm going to hold you to that promise, even if I don't really have a way to do that. Outside of Bubbles. Yeah, Bubbles is definitely going to keep you to that.

"Personally, I would think it would be better to have his grunts hold him accountable." a voice called out as Blaze stepped through the flap. Decked out in his bunny girl costume, he's definitely not happy. Though, you are getting to dance at the moment. So there's a bright side to this. Not much of one, but still something to look forward too. "So where do you want me, boss?"

The goblin from earlier made his way back over to the table, cutting off our story time for the moment. Though, he does at least bring over some menus. Which, about time you did that. Kind of surprised it took you this long. This place's service is absolutely awful.

"Now BunBun, I just need you to dance about the pole." the goblin explained, taking the time to lick his lips. Wonderful. Guess we're hitting all the branches of this mess. Though, I'm kind of tempted to refer to you as 'BunBun'. No, that would be too childish and demeaning. Even if I do have to say you look absolutely nice right now. I know that your goal is to be a dancer in a traveling troupe and all, but maybe see this as an opportunity to try something in that same field.

For a brief moment, Blaze's cheeks went bright pink. Oops. Didn't mean to embarrass you like that. No hard feelings, of course?

"Of course." he muttered, making a beeline for the pole. If you didn't know any better, you probably think this was what he was a natural. I think that's more the result of the steps up.

Though, I can make out his scimitar for the moment. No sign of Balamon though. What does our dancer have in mind here?

Nonetheless, Blaze got to strutting his way around the pole. Both the audience and the other dancers. The latter seems only to exist to serve the pig of a dragon guarding the exit. Maybe that's why no one has asked us what we want to drink or if we want a snack. No wonder the captains booked it out of here the first chance they got. Don't really blame them for doing th-

Before I had a chance to finish that sentence, what looked like a tomato was thrown towards Blaze. While the projectile missed, this is definitely not the sort of confidence booster you want. Quite the opposite. Yet, the dancer picked up what remained of this fruit and chowed on down. Then got right back to dancing. Swinging about the pole, his form is actually pretty good. If anything, his scimitar looks to be the one thing holding him back. Sure, it's handy to have in a fight. But when it comes to actual dancing, it's heavy and not the easiest thing to conceal under a costume. If at all, in the case of both the bunny girl outfit and the leotard. Though, that is something for our dancer to figure out some other time.

"Infuse!" he announced, a red outline forming around his body as he did a full twirl around the pole. Quite pretty up against the red fabric of his bunny girl outfit. Still no sign of Balamon. Where the heck could that fire snake digimon be? "Ember!"

Blaze's scimitar fell down to the floor and pierced through the carpet. Yet, the dancer let his feet carefully balance on top of the hilt. Uh.. are you trying to break your weapon right now? Kind of what it looks like from here.

The dancer remained silent, heat from the blade traveling up his body and into the pole. Swinging around the pole, flames dance about the pole and scimitar in intricate patterns. Though, I don't think that the other dancers are quite as appreciative of said show. Especially with the way that dragon is looking towards him rather than them. Quite an accomplishment.

"Mr Blaze is quite a natural." Melody remarked, gaze shifting away from Blaze and over to the rest of our heroes. "I wonder how well he would do on a teaship?"

Teaship? As in a ship that flies through the sky that's involved in some way or another or something else entirely? I'm still getting used to the idea of spaceships as a whole. Let alone a ship with a defined purpose. Well, beyond moving people about to a destination.

The mystic nodded, only to follow it up with a head shake. Uh… I'm getting mixed signals and I don't think that was your intention.

"Think of a tea house, but it's a ship." Melody continued, looking up towards the ceiling. "There, the drow dress up all fancy in their kimonos with elaborate hairstyles and serve patrons tea. Silent bunch, but they do a more traditional dance passed down through generations."

Huh… Do you think someone like Blaze would be welcomed in a place like that? Sure, it's one thing to be a dancer, but to be working on a ship flying through space far away from home? That's quite a change of occupation. I get that you were throwing that out as a suggestion, but maybe run that by Blaze first?

The mystic nodded, our attention returning to Blaze at the moment. Currently, he was just showing off - juggling little flames from his hands while twirling about the pole. Guess there is some level of control to the infusion elements. Though, that's overlooking that flirty bottom shake he does every couple twirls, drawing a couple orcs and goblins in on top of providing quite a number of 'dollars' on the floor. Screw that Numemon from the other day. We can use that to pay him back for all this stuff. Then stash whatever is left somewhere safe to be picked back up when we're back in the digital world. Not sure where exactly.

That dragon doesn't look too happy about this free show. I would probably be as well if my dancers were getting beaten by some random person who showed up out of nowhere. Fair enough. I probably would be mad as well.

"Spotlight stealer!" the dragon announced, getting up for the moment. A couple dancers got out of the way, but a few were sadly crushed. Of course, it was all the people who looked to be actually serving the customers. Isn't saying much about the state of this place. Definitely aren't making a profit. Let alone staying in business any longer after this fiasco. "I get that you wish to make a good first impression, but you're showing off and stealing the spotlight from the other dancers."

Blaze slowed his spin around the pole, eventually coming to a gentle stop. Pulling his scimitar out from the floor with a slight twinge of pain, Balamon scurried off of the blade and onto his partner's arm. So that's where he was hiding. Good to know.

"All I was told to do was dance around the pole." Blaze remarked, trying his best to keep his attention on the dragon - don't want to make them any more angry than they already are at the moment. "You should've been more specific. If you want to keep a low profile, tell us to keep it to a low profile. If we don't have a clue what you want, then we can't give you what you want. Is that clear to you?"

The dragon looked away, only to find the rest of our heroes already at the exit. Man, that worked out in our favor. Except for the part where we accidentally leave Blaze behind. Oops?

"It's alright." Blaze remarked and focused back on the dragon. Taking a deep breath, he picked up his purse. Then it was a matter of making sure that his scimitar was securely fashioned to his side - at least till he could get somewhere to change.

"Aren't you going to continue dancing?" the goblin remarked, one of his cronies already making their way over to the poles. About time someone else gave it a shot. At least maybe not on the same pole that Blaze used. Looks to be steaming slightly.

"Dance. Yes." Blaze answered, already heading for the staircase. Which in turn, brought the dragon's focus over to the rest of the party and in turn - Bubbles. Fuck. So much for passing through effortlessly without trouble. "But not for you. Sorry about"

With that, the dancer booked it towards the exit. Guess changing back to regular clothes can wait till we're at least a floor up or part of the way.

"Get back here, this instant!" the dragon screeched, slamming their tail against the floor. Uh… please don't break the floor. This tower is already dangerous enough without you tearing a massive hole through your club and into the church down below.

"We'll come back once we're done with our business." Blaze added as he joined his teammates at the stairway up. Staring back towards the dragon, he found himself on the receiving end of a glare. Eh. I guess there's worse things to be treated too as you head up the stairs.

[Tower at the edge of the world F5]

Notes:

So this is going to be the last chapter for a bit. That way, I can work on something special for Digital Adventures Online. Don't worry. The next chapter has already been written up.

Outside of that, this was a pretty fun chapter to write. Mostly because I got to make use of the bunny girl costume again.

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Next Time: We do some cleaning. It makes sense, I promise.