I don't own digimon. Warning! The following chapter does contain references to self-harm. You've been warned.

Chapter 25

Distant HARMony

Rantha looked through his wardrobe.

He had hoped to find a suit of some kind in there, on the off chance that he somehow misplaced such a garment. Sadly, he hadn't. Considering he went out of his way to freeze an entire garment shop yesterday, I don't think anything has changed. But the collection of labcoats and other miscellaneous clothes do look nice.

As for 'his' room, it looks more like something from my employer. Which feels odd to say since this weird floating base probably exists high above Aldia. Doesn't seem like the safest place. Good target for giants beams of energy. Or even something like a large rock to smash into. But what do I know?

"Just shut the fuck up."

Not entirely sure how I would go about doing that. Silence may sound nice to you guys, but it in no way can be the sole thing of the experience. Though, your partner said the same. Also called me a bag of dicks.

"Whatever." Rantha muttered, mask sitting comfortably on the floor. "Not that you would ever understand."

What is with you just assuming that I'm somehow a perfect human being. I'm not. Far from it in fact. Not everything I've done has come out the way I wanted it to. But that's the nature of life. For all the bad alway will come some wrinkle of good. And vice-versa. Did you get that, or do I need to continue this lecture?

"No." Rantha muttered, trying to find something, anything to focus on that wasn't me for the moment. Quite a challenge considering I need to keep an eye on you at all times. So, care to tell me what you're on for the moment? It doesn't even have to be true. Just something to give me a better idea. "It's a spaceship."

That's nice. Wait. What's a spaceship? Is that something like airship, but goes up even higher than those balloon-powered things? Or am I not thinking big enough in that particular regard?

Rantha just chuckled. He sat himself down on his bed, reaching across for the nightstand. Looks kind of like a floating shelf. There, he grabbed what looked to be what I can only describe as a metal ship of sorts. Except it was all enclosed.

"Imagine a large tube of metal that flies far higher than you could ever imagine." the Artisan muttered, holding it up for me to see. Thank you for explaining that. I'll make a note of it for some other day. "Yeah. This has been my home since we left. "

Taking a deep breath, he smashed a fast into his thigh. Please don't do that. Hurting yourself is not going to help what's a tactical move. The pain might feel nice in that moment, but there's always better alternatives to this destruction behavior. I know I shouldn't be saying this, but I've had these days in the past.

But he kept doing it. Again and again he would repeat the same routine - outcome remaining the same each time. It's almost… disheartening to an extent. But I o

Rantha just put his hands up to his ears. Guess that wasn't the answer that he wished to hear. No, I would be heard within his mind. This has to be something else at the moment. Especially as our artisan here got off of his bed and headed for the doorframe.

Poking his head out, he makes sure to look both ways.

"Ingo, that better not be you." Rantha muttered, what looked to be a stick coming out. Not entirely sure what that's about? Unless this is somehow a daily occurence. "Oh for fuck sake."

Right as he said that, a large wooden humanoid thing slinked its way down the glistening hall. Decked out in a red dress with a short hem, with a bunch of crimson ribbon decorating the garment. White gloves covered just beyond the wrist, with a pair of knee-high heeled boots snaking their way up the legs. No face though.

The gray with a white stripe looks nice on the wall though. Can't quite see the floor though, but it'll probably come up later in some sort of meaningful way. Maybe a metaphor. But right now, we have a strange lady dressed in what looks like an impractical outfit for day-to-day life.

"She's a magical girl, dummy." Rantha muttered, gaze fixated on the wall for the moment. "Well, this particular one used to be."

Used to be? Better yet, what exactly do you mean by that in the first place. Or are we not on a talking level for the moment. I'm aware that you people are going to boot me out at any moment. I'm just trying to get a clearer picture. What makes you all tick, more or less.

Before our artisan here could elaborate, a tall woman came running in on the scene. Decked out in a snow white dress with blue wing-shaped buckles over what I can only assume to be her bust, she's alright. I've seen prettier. Especially for a celestial. Not that I'm really interested or anything. Okay. Maybe I'm a little jealous. I can't remember the last time that I've been outside of this academy. And one of my favorite memories was seeing a beautiful angel at a fair. She (well, I think it was a she) commanded her troops to take on what I assume to be her partner-in-crime - a demon of some kind. Guess that's not strange. Not all creatures feel they must have their personalities dictated by the facets of 'alignment'. But I've gone completely off-topic here. My mistake.

A metal helmet hung tightly over a majority of her face, leaving ashen lips and blonde hair that looks more of a black color than the yellow you would expect here. A feathery court heel snuck it's way out from under the dress with the other shoe comfortable hidden by the skirt. Especially with that pair of angelic wings on her back. Yet, there's something off about her. While decked out as this woman is, she's giving off an aura of contradiction.

"Shut it, brat." the woman announced, pants just sneaking a peek out from underneath. Wonder what's that about. "So what if I'm wearing jeans under here? No one seems to be having an issue with it."

Good to know. Do you at least have a name that I can refer to you by? I feel kind of bad calling you 'woman/tall lady'. Even if those are my default greetings.

Our mystery person just shrugged. That wasn't very helpful.

"I'm uh… an Angewomon." she muttered, picking up this strange doll. "Though, I wouldn't be worried about me and my mistress's problem."

With that, she headed back the way she came. Which is just rude.

"She's always like that." Rantha muttered, continuing his way down the hall. "Claims to be a digimon, but her heart beats with something else."

I'll take your word for it. Even if I have sneaking suspicion that there's far more to this. Though, do other digimon have hearts like hers?

Rantha looked away, gaze on the ground. Thoughts of Carinamon entered his head once more, a reminder of his mistake from the day before. How could he have been so stupid? This was his partner of all things and he left him with some little dragon. If he hadn't been so frustrated in his pursuit for a suit of all things.

"Could you stop reading my thoughts, please?" he eventually announced, even more pissed now than he was before running into that creepy doll thin. "Maybe Ingo has a suit by chance."

Turning to the left, our artisan here came upon another hallway. Unlike the one we just left, there looks to be a door on both sides with the hallway coming to a complete stop right after. Though, I guess you could expand in the future with three or four more rooms at most. Even if I'm not entirely certain how you would go about adding additional rooms. If you just ignore the multitude of bangs and impacts of fists and feet.

Not that such an idea crossed Rantha's mind at the moment, already heading for the left side of the hall. Much like everything else in this corridor, the door looked like it's been sliced in half at least once - maybe twice even. As a result, the whole thing was being held together by a strange white paste and nails. Though, I don't think you're supposed to do it like that. One or the other might have been better with this block of wood. Maybe switch out for a steel one?

Rantha just rolled his eyes and tapped the door. A piece fell onto the floor. Are you sure it's a good idea to borrow a suit from this guy? Better yet, is there seriously not anyone else on this ship who has a suit you could borrow? This seems like a lot of work for what is obviously a trap by one of the heroes. If anything, they almost want you to go through the trouble of getting this garment and arriving all fancy.

Rantha's gaze turned to the ceiling, shaking his fist that way. Not entirely sure what that's supposed to accomplish. Outside of making me laugh of course.

"I thought you were on their side." he muttered, attention returning back to the door. To answer your question, yes. I'm just trying to understand why you're so intent on finding this one particular garment when the normal clothes you probably like to wear are more than good enough for any occasion. Just saying. "You're not helping."

Before this argument could really continue, the titular 'Ingo' opened his door. I don't think you're supposed to rip your side of the doorknob off in the process. I think, at least. That could be something that's part of your culture and I would be none the wiser in that regard. Or not.

As for Ingo himself, we find ourselves staring down a very pale humanoid. Gray eyes stare up towards the ceiling for the briefest of moments, then it's back to Rantha. Priest garments cover his body, even if I can just make out all the dirt and grime on the garment. Which was on top of all the patches applied to the garb in the first place. Though, I'm not sure what that strange

"INGO IS HERE!" Ingo announced, having somehow not learned how to use his indoor voice. Where's that dampening spell scroll when you need it. Crud. I used my last one the other day for a war mage council. I had been told to take notes for it. Just one small problem - war mages talk a mile a minute. By the time you have your first sentence down, they've already spoken a paragraph. Makes keeping track of all things said nearly impossible unless you have a war mage writing everything down. With all these battles on the horizon, guess that's why there supposedly excellent motivational speakers. Not that I can really prove it, even if I was in the room with around twelve of them. "HI TALKING MENTAL VOICE!"

Uh… Hi Ingo? It's nice to meet you. Could you kindly speak in a nor-

"NO! INGO SPEAK LIKE THIS! ALWAYS!"

Rantha let out a chuckle. I guess someone is having fun here at my expense. Thankfully, his attention was still on this strange person. Rather than me. Which I guess is a blessing? Maybe.

"Ingo, by any chance do you have a suit?" he inquired, getting a confused look. Then a nod. Oh dear. He's confused.

"INGO DEFINITELY HAVE SUIT!" Ingo answered, taking a step back to allow for his guest to enter. Inside, the whole place looked like someone had dumped a bazillion scrolls on the floor, jumped all over them, tore them up, spat on them and then did questionable things that I'm not going to get into. All of which is just burning right now. Which begs the question of how the heck this is seen as one, safe and secondly, how the fuck is this ship not on fire? That has to be a major hazard, especially if this thing requires oxygen and stuff. "LIKE IT? INGO GOT NICE FIERY EGG WITH GOD'S SYMBOL ON IT!"

Shifting the camera to the left, we come upon a wardrobe and the titular 'fiery egg'. It's like the big guy said pretty much. Outside of forgetting the fact that there's a giant horn jutting out of the thing. Like seriously, that thing could kill a person! You have it set up in such a way that it could easily fall and pierce right through someone's body. At least there isn't any glass in the vicinity. That's not saying much, now that I think about.

"INGO DOES NOT SEE PROBLEM HERE!"

I'm going to assume that you're always like this. I guess there's worse ways to deal with your particular brand of mess. Though, standing in flames isn't going to make things better for you. No matter what you think in that regard.

Ingo makes his way over, pulling open the wardrobe. Inside was the suit our artisan was looking for. Quest complete or something. Not really a quest, but I think you get the idea.

"Thank you, Ingo." Rantha remarked, scooping up the suit and making his way back towards the exit. "I'll make sure to have it back by tomorrow."

Ingo nodded and watched his friend head back into the hallway. There, Rantha took a deep breath. Followed by mumbling something less than nice. No honor among you guys, I guess.

"Just come out and say it." he muttered, feet already heading for the opposite door. Still not going to say it. "Whatever, asshole."

I'm not an asshole. If anything, you're more of an asshole than me. Still think you would look better without the suit.

Rantha rolled his eyes, giving the door one more tap. The tapping of feet followed, with the door opening up right after. Out popped Melody's head, a light scent of what might possibly be cinnamon coming with her.

"Oh! Mr Rantha. What can I uh… do for you?" the drow inquired, getting a deep breath from the artisan in return. "Is something wrong, by any chance?"

Rantha looked away.

"I need to help back down to Aldia. Want to come wi-" Rantha started, watching his companion poke their head back in and scrounge about. So he poked his head in.

Compared to the fiery mess Ingo had on full force, Melody's room was far more tame. Incense burned in the background, with a bunch of mats placed on the floor. All of her kimonos hung on strange metal holders, of which they were hanging from a metal bar. The most prominent thing in the room had to be the purple banner with a large spider on it. Looks kind of intimidating. Would help if there was an actual gust of wind.

"Do you need some help?" Rantha called out, watching Melody's gaze swivel back on over to him. Then it's onto the ground.

"Not really?" the drow croaked, flapping of wings just audible in the background. Which seemed to grow louder as Rantha approached. "Just ignore them. They sort of… showed up."

That got her a look, which also brought the creature in question into focus. At first glance, we seem to have a lantern of all things. Except it has the wings of a moth with no real discernible face.

"Any name or anything?" Rantha inquired, Melody picking up what appears to be a sickle and slipped it into her kimono.

"Not really." Melody answered, her partner landing on her shoulder for the moment. That can't be too comfortable. "Though, I've been calling it Lumosmon."

Rantha nodded, already heading out of the room. Glad as he probably was to not be asked about Carinamon, he didn't want to risk any further talk about it. Melody got that message loud and clear, following right behind.

Notes:

Our first look at the Distant Harmony base. Totally not because I was in a rut on where to go after Madame's confession. Not one bit...

For those wondering why Ingo has the Digi-Egg of Courage and where he got it, you're going to have to wait a bit longer. Something that should've happened didn't. The right man wasn't in the right place. Made all the difference in the world. ;)

Yes, Melody has D-Venture. Where it is and what form it took is a topic for another day.

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Next Time: Madame tries to makes things better for themselves.