I don't own digimon.
Chapter 67
Not a home
In his haste of deducing the location of the former Madame, it was at the entrance to this mystery place Bubbles realized where he had led everyone too - the sewers.
What had once served as the faithful home for him and his mother now looked like a tomb, defiled by trash and garbage that had flowed down there. If Phusitmon hadn't shown up all those months ago, would he still be in there - telling stories to Hilda and Blance, waiting for the inevitable sacrifice to a deity the name of which he didn't know? Or would starvation take hold and force him out of this 'cave' of sorts. I don't know. Those kinds of hypotheticals aren't really something you should fixate on. The last thing you need is dwelling on things that didn't happen over what's happening right in front of you. Is that clear?
The little dragon nodded, gaze back to the sewer entrance as the rain continued to fall. He wasn't alone anymore. Maddie and Ella would be there every step of the way. So would Phusitmon, especially when he needed a hug. Something he hadn't really done all day. Then there was everyone else - all playing their part. One big happy family. With a relative unable to come due to circumstances involving work. Sound right. Not sure what that makes me. The weird mentor/parent figure who's also unable to get down here due to work. Yeah. Close en- Yes, Salamon, you're a part of this family as well.
"I am home!" Bubbles announced, the echo carrying his voice further in. In return, all he got was silence. Smoothing out his dress one more time, he pulled Phusitmon in for a hug. Then it was time to step into the darkness of the sewers.
"Lumosmon, could you help us out?" Melody remarked, her partner shifting their body slightly. Flashing red a couple times, they took the time to shake about. I'm guessing they're annoyed at you for using Munbimon over them earlier? "Yeah. Probably that."
Speaking of which, did your infusion trade end or do you still have some time before it does?
"Yeah." Munbimon answered and took the time to switch shoulders on the knight. Once there, the ghost monkey digimon took a seat. "It happened right before we rendezvoused with everyone else. Hopefully, those spikes of earth Melody created disappear."
I would assume they would. Would be awfully odd if that was the one infusion thing that somehow didn't do that. Ember can leave behind burns and Mending can repair wounds, but those are things that usually don't massively destroy huge parts of the environment when used.
"At least in how we're using it." Blaze remarked, Lumosmon now making their way over to Bubbles. No longer shining red at Melody, they were instead a solid yellow. More than enough for us to traverse these sewers.
"Thank you!" Bubbles announced, reaching out with his free hand to touch the lantern moth digimon. Warm to the touch, kind of like how one would assume touch Blaze while he's infused with ember. Not as hot or running the risk of getting majorly burned, but let's not repeat that mistake with someone else.
Letting go of Lumosmon, Bubbles's attention turned to the tunnel ahead. While relatively clear of garbage, a lot of destroyed material from the alleyways awaits us ahead. Odd. I don't remember seeing any grates or anything that would result in bricks and wood shards ending up down here.
"Like, this stuff could've ended up here by way of the rebuilding effort." Kollmon suggested as she stepped into the sewers. The rest of our heroes were right behind the gale mole digimon, making sure to stay close to Lumosmon. While that's a possibility, one would assume there to be a need to reuse as much as possible. Or would it be possible to trade for anything that the inhabitants of the alleyways would need?
"When the alleyways were initially conceived, the actual town of Aldia was quite a ways away." Yvonne explained and looked to the debris in question - a pile of broken bricks. "Though as generations of Aldians and orcs did battle over the town, the former gradually grew closer to the latter until both were within touching range."
That's a bit gutsy on the account of the Aldians. Even with someone on their side like 'Madame von Strauss', I would assume that the orcs wouldn't be too happy about having to share land they would've wanted to use for their children and possible grandchildren. The same could be said about the people of Aldia and any future plans they might have once had before Yvonne's parents took control and brought an end to this war.
"The parades proclaiming a premature victory over them didn't help either." Ella added, her gaze back on Maddie as the debris passed by. The thief rolled their eyes and let out a sigh. Of all the reminders of a life they hadn't lived, this one didn't hurt as much as it used too. Probably had something to do with that girlfriend of theirs.
"Maybe it does." Maddie answered, gazing up to the ceiling for the briefest of moments. Then it's right back over to Bubbles and Lumosmon. That shrine can't be much further. If there's a place where we might find the former Madame von Strauss, that would be it.
"Wouldn't that be far too convenient to find both Bubbles and Maddie's mom in the same place?" Balamon remarked and Cinemon looked his way. Relatively wet from the rain, that wasn't going to stop Cinemon from nodding. Even if that did result in wetting Maddie.
"Not really." the feline dog digimon answered, letting his gaze shift away from the fire snake digimon and over to the sewer walls. Curved to an extent, there was more than enough room to get a dragon in. Getting said dragon out though, that's a whole different story. Any miniscule change in weight or height of the massive beast could spell the difference between having to carve out massive parts of your own infrastructure or having to resort to magic. "That's on top of the other factors that one might face when trying to move a dragon."
Correct. Who knows what else might await us when we get to h-
"Princess?" Bubbles announced and came to a stop. In the light of Lumosmon, the tail of a red dragon can be made out. Piles of rusty weapons, scraps of materials and who knows what else sat around the large drake, threatening to tumble over and consume her. Within all of that, you can just make out a
Opposite of the body is the shrine. Dedicated to an unknown dragon deity, it was here many Aldians lives were sealed away without their permission - their souls serving to fuel a war with no end. There's no trash around this, of course. That would be too on the nose. Can't have any of that.
Closing his eyes, the little dragon slowly approached the shrine. While he didn't have a clear picture of why his mother did what she did before her death, there was more than enough to see the danger of letting this structure continue to stand. Would that make him no longer this deity's cleric? Most likely. Hopefully, the offer of this 'Crimson' person was still good.
Free claw pulled back, he let it slam into the top of the shrine.
"Bubbles!" Maddie screeched and ran over to their child. Bubbles's eyes opened back up, the damage done so minimal that you can hardly tell the difference. Looking back to his mother, he found himself in the thief's arms. "If you're going to destroy something, you're going to need more than your claws."
Reaching down with their free hand, the whip came up. A swing followed, knocking away a huge chunk and coming quite close to hitting the mural that's sort of... there. I'm guessing it's supposed to imply you guys meeting me or something, but it could also have a million other different things. All of which may or may not have something to do with you people. I guess keep it in the back of your minds on the off chance that it comes up in the future.
Back with the destruction of the shrine, Maddie was already getting ready to swing their whip. Not before Ella got her turret out. Should be everything we need to break this shrine and hopefully stave off this particular issue.
"Are we sure nothing will pop out when we break this?" Ella remarked and looked to Bubbles. The little dragon gave a shrug. Even if you do get something, it's likely to just be whatever deity throwing a tantrum. Though, I'm not completely sure if this would really break the hold this entity has on the town.
"Probably make it really mad and take away Bubbles's cleric abilities." Blaze suggested, getting a look from Ella. Let's not push our luck in the hypotheticals. Already have enough problems without going into that. "Fair enough?"
The turret started up, shredding away what remained of the shrine. Yet, that wasn't what Bubbles's focus was on. No, he was in the process of climbing over a pile of bricks and sand. Smaller than most of the other piles, he made quick work passing over with Phusitmon. On the other side, our pair found themselves in one of the few clearings of this area. By clearing, I mean there was far less stuff than the area surrounding it and you can see the ground. A blanket sat at one corner, providing just enough warmth for the times of the year that got cold. Across from that we have a makeshift castle. Well-used even before it had ended up down here, it had served its newest owner well.
"I'm home." Bubbles whispered and dug his dolls out with his free claw. Sitting down, he gazed about the mountains of junk. This had once been his home. Each day, he would wake up and play with his dolls. Sometimes mommy would tell a story. How did it go? How did it go? It was always the same story. Whenever he asked for a different one, she would shake her head and sigh. Was she trying to prep him for his coming duties? Or perhaps she didn't know how to take care of him and just winged it. No easy way to say in this situation. If at all.
Bubbles made a beeline for the little castle. Setting Hilda and Blance back inside, he stared into the makeshift dollhouse. Nice as they looked in their barren home, this was no place for princesses - dolls or otherwise. Instead, it was perhaps best to find a new place and make it theirs.
Hard to believe that someone went through the trouble of putting all this junk down here. What purpose would a red dragon even have to spend what remained of their life in the sewers of all places? To go through all the trouble of not just piling everything up here, but also getting the dragon down here. I can't see a poi- Wait. We know that Bubbles's mom sold off the town to this draconic entity before her death. Who's to say that all this trash was part of them powering up in anticipation of that day. Which means… Fuck. It's likely that Madame von Strauss's coffin is in her belly. Unless there som-
Bubbles's gaze swiveled up to the ceiling. Shaking his head, he composed himself. Even in the face of his deceased mother, he believed he had the answer to this question.
"Fountain." Bubbles whispered and found himself faced with his teammate's gazes. But if Madame's body is under one of the fountains, that brings us right back to all the trash down here. If this place was to be used for moving water, having all this junk would prevent a proper water flow. Wait. I think that's it. Blaze, do you remember the place where you first met Dave and Balamon?
"Yeah." the dancer answered and gazed up to the ceiling. Even in the light given off by Lumosmon, the burns from the recent battle stick out. Not a bad thing, but definitely not the best way to heal a wound. "It was over by that fountain that hasn't worked for who knows how long."
Bubbles gaze shot over to him. I think we know where we need to go. Even if that does mean having to plow through the trash to get there in the first place. That's not even getting to the fountain in question. But that's something to consider once we're over all of this garbage.
The next couple minutes consisted of people climbing their way over the various piles that seeked to keep Bubbles's deceased mother in. Pulling her out is definitely out at the moment, the question of what one could even do with all this junk taking hold instead. Even if we do move it, where the heck will it all go? Can we salvage some of it into useful stuff? Or would we need to destroy all of it. Fuck. I went on quite a tangent there.
"It's alright." Melody remarked, helping Maddie and Ella over the pile. Then it was their partner's turn to be helped up. Which just left Blaze and Balamon as the last ones to climb over. Okay, not really climb over. More like, getting themselves pulled up and over this pile of pillows by Melody. All while wearing no shirt. I guess there are worse situations you can find yourself in.
"I'm getting used to it." Blaze remarked and turned his attention back to Bubbles. The little dragon had grabbed his dolls and headed off, leaving our pair to follow right behind in partial darkness. Well, for maybe a minute or two. Then it's back to walking in the light. Does bring me to a thought. Ignoring the fountains and the red dragon, this is a lot of space that isn't really being used for anything. Kind of surprised that we haven't found any dead bodies.
"Why… exactly?" Yvonne remarked and made a glance behind her. Everyone is still with us, thankfully. Let's keep it that way. As for why, it's generally a bad idea to leave your dead in the ground. While good necromancers put on puppet shows to appease their souls, there have been tales of some going rogue and harming those they had sworn to help. There's also the chance of creatures capable of imbuing life digging the bodies up and using them for all sorts of nefarious schemes or omens for their respective gods. "Is that why your employers had the deceased in their own little compound?"
Correct. While more secure than your typical graveyard setup, there are some massive drawbacks. Depending on where you have the bodies being stored, you could have all sorts of problems with the temperature, moisture and heat. Especially in more rainy areas. Though, I've also heard stories of bodies getting swept up and carried away out of a compound and into nearby villages. Thankfully, there was a friendly necromancer there to listen to the dead's stories and direct them back to the facility. A crisis thankfully averted.
"What happens if someone raises the dead back to kill people?" Melody remarked and looked up to the ceiling. You would have to kill them again. Truly raising a body from the dead is a lot different from what most necromancers do. They raise part of the body (usually the head or spirit themselves) and learn their story. A lot of that is putting your life into them. The amount of life needed to bring back such a large amount of dead is only possible through sacrifice… or a deity. Both in some cases. A case such as what happened at my workplace. Even once this all settles down, I still need to clear out all the skeletons, catalogue all that have died, find a place to put the dead, make sure that I've collected their belongings and then and only then can I alert the families of the fallen by way of a letter. Possibly a package containing their belongings. If I can actually find someone to take all this junk. I'm the only person here on this ro- Yes, I'm not counting you. You're a digimon. You didn't even come here till a couple of days ago. Even if you were here before this moment, what do you know about the mailing process? Wait. What's an email?
"Probably a variant of mail." Cinemon suggested and looked up to the ceiling. Okay. I walked straight into that one. Even as the hallway takes on a bit of a slant and we face down standing water. Kind of expecting it to be closer to the garbage pile. Not to start over here. That doesn't explain how the water actually gets up to the fountain itself. The tunnel hasn't gained any height, nor have we seen a mechanism that brings the water up to the device. Ignoring the fact that someone has blocked off a fountain with the body of a dead person. "Though, why didn't they just block it off with trash? That would've been easier and more effective than a dead body."
If I had to take a guess, maybe they wanted to send a message. But to who exactly, I'm not entirely certain of. Mari Gold and her wife are the only people to really have a grasp on the extent that the Madame project goes. There's also those maids we killed a while back, but they were more the kind of people to follow a routine. None of them seemed like people who really thought out anything resembling a long-term plan.
"Sounds about right." Maddie muttered and turned to Ella, muttering something under her breath. The artificer got the message, reaching out to their girlfriend's hand. A squeeze followed, even as the water began to rise up at each step. Do be careful as we reach the end of this tunnel. Last thing we need is someone drowning on my watch. Not that there's anyone who can really vouch for me at this point.
"Scout's honor then?" Melody remarked as Bubbles came to a stop. Turning to Maddie, he motioned for them to come over. A single word exiting out of his mouth, a pile of open coffins and bodies in front of us.
Notes:
I enjoyed writing this chapter. Even if only one person might actually look at this.
Though, we are getting to end of this this and a new fic. Think of it as an end of this current arc.
.
Next Time: What a shame, what a shame.
