I don't own digimon.

Chapter 17

In the shadow of night

We come upon a new day in Aldia, still under the cover of darkness. Not the prettiest sight to be treated too on these jobs. Always been more of a fan of the sunrises and sunsets, not sure why. Brings us nicely to the home of Yvonne and Marulyn.

"Ugh…" Yvonne muttered, sitting up and gazed about the room. After leaving the cafe, she had managed to avoid Marulyn seeing her in that pinafore and had switched back to her usual armor and warhammer. Though, why do I get the feeling that somehow, something got misplaced? Not for Yvonne, but someone else in this case. Probably nothing. "Are you up, Munbimon?"

Munbimon glided over to her bed. Judging by the angle, she had been hanging from the ceiling of all places. Guess that makes sense, being a bat and all,

"Yep!" Munbimon answered, watching her partner shift her attention over to the opposite bed. While the bed looked disturbed, it was quite hard to really tell in the dark, "Marulyn already up?"

Yvonne shook her head. Getting up, she made her way over to Marulyn's bed. Giving it a slight shake, one Madame von Strauss rolled on out. Dressed in her jumpsuit for the moment, she looked to have been waiting at least a couple hours. After getting

"Hello." Madame muttered, making a beeline for her armor. The quick hands of our barbarian grab hold and hoist her up to be at Yvonne's level. "You have my whip."

Yvonne let out a sigh. It was far too early to be dealing with Madame, though I'm not entirely sure when it would be an acceptable time to do so. Possibly never. Though, can I just say… Called it! Sorry. Just had to point that out in this particular moment.

"Okay…" the barbarian remarked, heading back over to her armor. Picking up the weapon, she handed it over to Munbimon. Then we're back over to Madame. She doesn't look too amused. Especially as she's now getting treated to Yvonne getting into her armor at the moment. Considering the fuss she made yesterday, kind of understandable. "How did you get in?"

Madame rolled her eyes. Pretty obvious how this all happened.

"Picked the lock." the thief muttered, picking up a pillow and flung it towards Munbimon. The result was sadly not the whip dropping to the ground. Instead, she missed Munbimon entirely and nearly beaned herself with the pillow on the way back down. "Did nearly get scared by your girlfriend on the way over."

Yvonne chuckled, slipping her hands into gauntlets. While she would like to know where her helmet had disappeared too, that was something to ask Marulyn when she inevitably found her. Probably did something to it in the hopes of making her life easier. Which it rarely did. If anything, it usually made her life that much harder in the process.

"Do tell." she remarked, getting a sigh from the thief. Madame mumbled something to herself, then cleared her throat.

"I headed through the entrance of these 'alleyways' and was spotted." she explained, trying her hardest to stay refined in this situation. "She asked me where my little dragon friend was."

Yvonne chuckled. Which in turn, got Munbimon another pillow thrown her way.

"That's what Bubbles is at times." the barbarian remarked, finding herself in the middle of a glare-down of all things. Okay. Not expecting that reaction of all things.

"He's a shining example of all the things I need to avoid." Madame announced and found herself on the receiving end of a head pat. "What? You think otherwise?"
Yvonne doesn't answer, having now finished her armor. Which is exactly Munbimon's cue to land on her back and hand back off the whip. Quite a smooth transfer. Especially considering what the consequences of failing are in this moment.

"He's like five, maybe six." Yvonne countered, getting down on Madame's level."I think you're giving him far more credit than what's on offer here."

The slap that our barbarian here gets is kind of uncalled for. Especially when you consider that one, this is her home. Two, Madame forgoes waiting and instead chose to break in. And three, she was trying to explain what is absolutely a simple concept to someone as boneheaded as Madame was being at the moment.

Of course, someone else had other ideas at the moment. They took the form of a vial of acid thrown right at the door.

"Really?" Yvonne muttered, throwing the whip down to her unwilling accomplice for the moment. "Can I at least ask for your help with this?"

Madame let out a sigh. Why did she always get thrown into these sorts of situations. 'They' were about to take control, which in turn made the situation all the more harder. Not that this was really saying much in the face of the mess they had already created.

"Yeah." they answered, catching a look from the barbarian. Perhaps it was the sudden change of tone or really the dropping of the subject. Not that such things really were a big deal at the moment. If anything, this helped with focusing on the main problem at the moment. Which was the arrival of the Artisan at this hour. I guess he's making good on his promise. For some reason. Would've preferred he give it one more day to maybe think this through and all, but what can you really do? Not much.

"Was not expecting for you to have someone with you." the Artisan remarked, taking in Yvonne and Madame for the moment. "Run along, Granny. I want to have a battle with just the orc lady."

While the other personality might be in control for the moment, I don't think giving a singular finger Is a solid response in return. Especially with the way that Yvonne was currently holding her at the moment.

"Too bad?" Yvonne announced, reluctantly setting Madame down and grabbing her warhammer in response to that. "Though, I will need to ask you to not do that again."

The Artisan rolled his eyes. This time, he had made the effort of having breakfast on the ship base thing he and Carinamon were calling home. Judging by their timing, probably something warm. Maybe without eggs? Yeah, I can definitely see that after the whole mess yesterday,

"Nice place you got here." he announced, gazing about the alleyways. "Though, I'm a little disappointed."

Yvonne shot him a confused glance. While she had no way of really knowing this man's expectations for such a place, I'm going to assume that he was expecting something else entirely. Maybe a collection of buildings that look ramshackle and dirty? Or perhaps he was not expecting orcs to be the way they are? Maybe something large and brutish, with little time for things like cuteness and this 'whole same-sex' thing. If anything, I'm surprised we haven't been treated to an orcish-styled princess with a thing for frills and poofy skirts. Come on, there has to be one of th-

"Oh, am I interrupting something?"

Speak of the devil I guess. A wannabe orcish princess, decked to the brim with frills and lots of poofy ratty-looking skirts. Her hair is all brushed up into a large twisting tour of yellow and red hair. What appear to be her succubus bodyguard is decked out in the armor that may have once adorned this beautiful princess. Aww… they look like they're cuddling. Though, it would appear the succubus wants to be done with today. Fair enough.

"Yes you are, Princess Belladonna." Yvonne barked, watching the pair give a nod and turn around. Taking a deep breath, she turned her attention back to the Artisan. Though, his gaze was more focused on the strange pair. Which I guess makes sense.

"Yuck, a princess." her opponent announced, spitting on the ground. Which comes right as his partner begins swinging his claws about. I see where this is going. That bastard. We just can't have nice things, can we? "Let me guess, that's a guy?"

Yvonne took a deep breath. While the Artisan had been far more graceful when it came to the whole same sex thing. How exactly would this go. If anything, might be better to play this one safe. But this was just as good of a moment to see her opponent's true colors. Or at the very least, a tiny piece of it.

"Yes." Yvonne answered, warhammer at the ready. "His parents thought they were getting a girl, so you can imagine their surprise when they got a boy."

The Artisan rolled his eyes, the cyclone formed right beside him. Uh… maybe you don't want to stand so close to that? You're the bad guy and all, but that doesn't seem like a good move even for you. Don't let it stop you though.

"Shut it." the Artisan muttered, target now far away. So he focused back on the barbarian for the moment. "Let's dance."

Yvonne shot him a confused glance, but picked up her warhammer just in case. Which made the charge by way of her opponent even more apparent. So she aimed to the side.

"Hit me!"

Uh… I'm not sure what to tell you here. Especially since you're in the mood to charge head-on into this without much thought.

"You do realize I have no clue what this hammer would do to your body?" Yvonne explained, getting a shrug from Carinamon of all people. Okay, maybe their skeleton is stronger than one would think per say? Yeah.

"Just seems so odd." the Artisan remarked, looking over the orcs and succubi who have gathered to see what the heck was even going on. "Usually, these are two races are complete opposites. Orcs are usually dominated by bulky men and a need to pillage; Succubus are usually seductresses who steal men's souls and drain them of all their life. There's no way this should work at all."

The crowd looked among each other and just shrugged. Some of the more immature members cracked jokes just as immature as them. But they were ignored for the obvious reasons. Even if that did make the Artisan even more frustrated. Perhaps he dealt with these sorts of customers on a daily basis. Unless they were adventurers and/or a member of a group. Though, I guess some of the latter could use it as an excuse to leave town by way of a failed 'goings-on'. What? There's children who probably view this work. Beyond that though, it would seem he was intrigued to an extent. Had he really gotten so used to his clientele of his store? That had to be it. Such a change normally wouldn't bother him as much as this do in this moment. But this needed to be explored, understood to an extent. Deciphered beyond the base differences that he could see.

"You got me interested." the Artisan announced, pulling out a seed packet. Flinging it towards Yvonne, the barbarian did her best to get out of the way. While she wasn't hit, the vines that were now sprouting out all around the area seemed intent on changing that. "Now, I can't seem to let go."

That pun was just awful. I really hope you're happy with it, since that was just painful for me to hear on my end.

The Artisan just shrugged. He doesn't really care in that regard. I guess expecting that much was beyond my abilities at the moment. Figures. Can't have nice things, even here.

"Need some help?" Madame remarked, whip swaying at her side. Yvonne shot her a glance, letting a sigh out in the process.

"Yes." she answered, slamming her warhammer into one of the currently sprouting vines. "If you see Marulyn, ask her nicely to come help."

Madame let out a groan, but nodded nonetheless. They were more than willing to help in that moment, even if the thief didn't know where exactly she should start looking in the first place. Sure, the idea of casing a place was nothing new to them. But that was usually 'her' speciality. Maybe they could burrow those abilities for just a moment? Judging by the switching from the gown to the jumpsuit (I guess they changed during the conversation?), they're looking to give it a shot.

"Let's see here." they thought, scanning the area. While finding an elven woman in an area populated with orcs was a bit of a breeze, not exactly knowing where to go didn't help. Mental map, anyone? "I did see her by the gate, maybe she's still the-"

Before the chance to head forward could appear, the vines decided to make a beeline over to her. In retrospect, maybe bringing Kollmon would've been a go-

"Hah!"

Yvonne's warhammer slammed into the vines, making a path through the foliage. Which the thief took in stride. Especially considering Marulyn was just out of earshot of all of this.

"Hey, your girlfriend needs you at the moment!" they announced, catching what looked to be multiple sets of glowing eyes. Suits of orcish armor sprung to life, succubus wings of all things flapping in the wind. Wait… those were just up on the rooftops? Guess that's what Marulyn was working on. To an extent. Though, that doesn't explain where she even got the armor in the first place. Or why wings have been fitted onto the armor in the first place. Maybe a way of fitting the armor to these new members of the tribe? Or perhaps this was done by Marulyn to make them more agile.

"Corruption!" the Artisan announced, the purple goop outline appearing once more. "Toxin."

The vines began to sprout even faster now, their targets seeming to be on the strange suits of armor. While maneuverable, they seem to be a bit on the mindless side. By that, I mean they all take their time in noticing that they are being attacked by the vines. Even when they do, it's still a challenge to get them actually attacking. In turn, brings Yvonne's warhammer dangerously close into the animated suits of armor.

"Marulyn!" Yvonne screeched, her girlfriend jumping down from the rooftop and over to the barbarian. The look that follows from both her and Munbimon is kind of justified in that moment. Especially since the occupants of the alleyways are now running around and screaming their heads off. All the more helpful in this situation.

"Sorry." Marulyn whimpered and let her gaze sit more on the floor, getting a deep breath in return from her girlfriend. Looking back up, Yvonne was still facing her down. But now, she at least looked a touch less frustrated. Even with Madame right beside her.

"I get that you want to help out in my duties." Yvonne explained and watched Marulyn look away. At the moment, one of the suits was buried in the ground. The other two suits in action were fighting a losing battle against the vines. Not the results the mage was looking for, that's for sure. Especially now that said vines had a chance to escape from this place and flood out into the surrounding areas of Aldia. But right now, she needed to be helping Yvonne. It was the least she could offer.

Notes:

Bit of a rougher chapter, but nothing a little editing couldn't fix. Though, it is weird to be on the third chapter and not be at the end of an arc. Kind of nice to an extent.

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Next Time: We have a fist-pounding good time.