I don't own digimon.

Chapter 28

Rantha's no good, horrible, very bad day

Had the strangest dream last night. I was standing in the ruins of my academy and there was this pretty succubus. Married too, maybe a goddess of some kind? A bunch of strange people and all our heroes here with all sorts of wonderful places too. Which I can't remember. Fuck. Wait. why can I remember that I can't remember? Eh oh well. On with the story.

Rantha was used to nice places.

Whenever he had a little extra gold during his time as a 'shopkeeper' and the day had finally came to an end, he would go and see a show at the local inn. Comedy, dancing - even some variety acts. Never can say no to the sheperd's dancing goats. When they're not running around and causing trouble for the audience. But Madame's mansion was on a whole different level for the Artisan. Compared to that place, there was something… overdone about all of this. All flash, but little in the way of substance. Like someone was going through the motions of the mansion. Just the initial look though. He would need to go further in before really giving his full review. If any. Or would that be a full-on destruction. Probably both.

"Does it really matter right now?" the Artisan muttered, trying his best to not focus on me. He wasn't too successful on that. Yet, he slipped his coat onto a nearby coat rack. Which lets us see his suit for the moment. Still think it's a bit too nice for a place like this. I would've stuck with your regular clothes No comment. Which I guess is a nice change of pace. Or a false positive of sorts. Maybe both.

Heading up the stairs two at a time, Rantha's attention locked-on to the boarded-up section. While the sound of someone scampering had caught his attention, it was probably just a r-

Or not, since he just pulled out a clump of something and flung it towards the barricade. A little excessive. Especially considering that this is supposed to be a tea date of some kind. Not breaking and entering someone's home. That's a big difference. Which I think you should know. Yet, the scampering continued.

"Hi!" Bubbles announced, but thankfully not visible. With what I suspect is about to happen next, was probably for the best. Call it a gift, or just see it as how predictable some people can be.

"Where is my partner?" Rantha screeched, hands slamming their way through the hole and made it even bigger. Which just made our view of the little dragon even bigger at the moment. Also made where he was even clearer. Blank gray walls littered with cracks and holes held this part of the mansion in from the general public, with a tile floor that has definitely seen far better days in the past. Someone definitely died in this general area. The how and why elude us within this darkness. Shame that lantern moth thing isn't here. That would be quite handy to have in this moment. "Shut it."

Not even going to go through this song and dance. This is my job. Like me, hate me, I don't really care. I'm just the narrator here. Nothing more, nothing less. Sorry to disappoint you there.

Rantha still flipped the bird, focus shifting towards Bubbles. Phusitmon could just be made out, bubble already forming. Except, wouldn't it be more of a healing bubble at the moment? Has to be. There isn't much you can do unless Bubbles has somehow switched things around. Which is a possibility, but not absolute. What exactly is our plan here? If any at all.

"If I were you, I would leave those two to their business." a voice called out, Rantha swiveling around to meet it. Madame now stood before him in all their beauty, minus the hair. But that's just a formality. Kollmon was right behind, but there was no sign of Carinamon for the moment. "Now, I think it's time for t-"

A vial flew over the thief's head, coming quite close to a painting. Didn't make direct contact, but came surprisingly close to doing just that. The whip swung out in return, making direct contact with Rantha. Not enough to dissuade him from smashing even more through the barricade. Encouraged him was probably a better way of putting it right now. Like seriously, man. There are far better way of taking out your aggression than smashing your ha-

'Crack.'

Rantha bounced back, the color seeming to fade for the briefest of seconds. That can't be good. Though, the string of swears echoing out from our opponent's mouth were just the cherry on top of this mess for the moment.

"You dumb fuck!" Rantha screeched, pain and agony surging through his body for the moment. Why did his luck had to run out in this particular moment? He would easily take getting set on fire by Ingo's floor than this - both hands smashed against boards that were far harder than they appear at first glance. Definitely going to need have that repaired by a healer. If you're bosses actually employ one. They have to, right? That's a benefit I and the rest of faculty get. Or does Distant Harmony not really care for its employees? Actually, don't answer that. "This is your fault!"

Madame shot him a look. Whip now hanging to her dress, it bobbed from side-to-side. As for her partner, she was already heading to intercept this would-be attacker. Looked kind of angry for the moment. I would probably be too if my master just showed up acting all different. Though, it could just be that she wanted to sleep in a bit longer.

"You like, better treat me better for this." the mole digimon muttered, claws at the ready for this.

Scratch!

That's not very threatening of an attack. But when you break your hands, that could be the touch of cold or whatever the fuck that spell is supposed to actually called. Doesn't really matter right now. Especially with Madame swinging her whip that way once more.

"Didn't even feel it." Rantha muttered, handing flopping about. Kind of like sausages. Except with actual flesh and broken bones. So not tasty. Unless you were a cannibal. Had to kick out a chef for that. Personal favorite of both the faculty staff and the student body. Really hope it doesn't come to this. This is pretty much my first big job and it feels like I've just blown it. I hope not at least. Don't really have a way of judging my performance to what I can only assume to be my predecessor's. If they exist in the same space that I do. Sorry. Had to get that out of my system. I'm doing the best that I can do in this current moment.

"Now, let's see who's sits under there. Infuse." Madame remarked, stepping back as she knelt down. Shooting off into a full-on dash, seafoam green outline already forming around her small body. "Gale!"

Swinging her whip forward, the gust of wind that followed was a direct hit in Rantha's direction. Knocking her opponent down, Madame jumped on. So our current injury list is two broken hands and some bruising to the chest. Probably have one more injury before this ends. Just jinxed it, didn't I. Sorry about that?

The middle finger that I'm getting currently is sort of justified. Especially as our thief here made her way up to the head.

"Sorry about this." she remarked, grabbing hold of the strange bronze face covering the Artisan's head nearly the entire time we've known him. Okay, for our heroes at least. I've gotten to see the face under there. Sometimes, I wish there was something that I could do beyond give reassurement that things would work out. Enough angst from me though. Not helping this situation one bit. Pulling the mask away, the thief took a tumble back to the ground. Her whip wasn't doing any favors either. Bad whip. Bad! "You would think they would at least label these things."

Dropping the face guard to the ground, her attention shifted back to Rantha. While there was a chance of the Artisan of actually going for a counterattack, there really wasn't much that he could do. His feet were unlikely to be on the same

"Do you have a name at least?" Madame continued, getting the bird flipped her way. Is that the default option for when things go wrong for you. A one finger salute that doesn't have real meaning here. "If it helps, I'll tell you where your partner is if you tell me your name."

A groan, followed by Rantha sitting himself up for the moment. Everything in his head was telling him to stay strong, to ignore the request for the moment. But he was on the losing end of this bout. Carinamon could possibly be his only chance at turning this around. Especially with that little pipsqueak of a dragon and his rabbit nowhere in sight for the moment.

"Fine." he muttered, taking this particular moment to catch his breath. Then his focus is back on Madame. "Rantha. No fancy last name or anything. Now, where is my partner?"

A nod. Was kind of expecting some kind of dirty trick. But I guess this is not the case at the moment.

"Right above you." the thief answered and watched their opponent look up. There Carinamon hung, maid dress no longer on. Looked better with it on. But that's just me. Probably in the minority on that one here. Yet, the scorpion digimon dropped on down into his master's lap.

"Rantha, are you alright?"

Rantha shook his head, a groan leaving his mouth right after. The answer to that one is pretty obvious here. Makes asking it kind of redundant. Unless he didn't get to see all that had been done to his master here.

"Maybe once we get out of here." the artisan continued, pulling himself back up to his feet. The world seemed all shaky. While there was a chance that they could get out, it was quickly disappearing on the pair. "It was nice to meet you. But I ha-"

Gust of wind met his knees, knocking Rantha down for the moment. Guess someone isn't done with you.

"I can't have someone like you running around all willy-nilly, destroying property without a second thought." Madame announced, the Artisan stuck his tongue out. "If nothing else, you could tell me why you and your cronies are so insistent on destroying the town my descendents helped build up?"

Rantha began to laugh. Which got a claw shoved by way of Kollmon. In between the mess that was her partner and now this, she had it up to here. Which was quite an impressive feat to accomplish today. That, or someone needs to work on their tolerance. Possibly a case of both.

"Like, what's so funny?" Koilmon countered, pulling her claw out for the moment. "Madame is not in the mood for your totally stupid games."

That just made Carinamon laugh for some reason. Kind of an awful sort of laugh, I might add. You're not really cut out for this. Are you? Maybe I can suggest an alternate job path of sorts. Maybe one of those traveling circuses is hiring.

"Shut it, you bag of dicks." the scorpion digimon announced, turning his focus to his partner right now. "Get up and grab that friend of yours."

Once more, Rantha pulled himself up. Before Madame had any real chance to knock him down for the moment, the Artisan bolted down the stairs and towards the door. His opponents followed right behind for the moment, trying their best to close the gap and prevent this escape attempt. Or at least stall him so their teammates could box the pair in. Yet, Rantha decided to just kick the door open. Well, he made an attempt at doing that. It was more pathetic than actually that impressive. Especially with those broken hands he's sporting for the moment. Yet, he managed to open what was the last obstacle in his way and push on through to the outside world.

Outside, the area surrounding the front door had turned into a battlefield. Ice spikes and fire littered the area, with electricity seeming to course through just about everything right now. For as much as our heroes had the advantage when it came to group size, Melody and 'Lumosmon' managed to hold their ground. Unless she had used some kind of trick in order to flip the odds in her favor. Considering who's side she is currently on, that wouldn't surprise me. Even then, it can't be more than a half hour at most that this fight has been going on. Kind of impressive the amount of destruction caused. Thankfully, none of it was directly on the Mansion. That would've probably sucked. Maybe. Kind of got the feeling the whole thing is going to be burned down in the future. Could be wrong here as well.

"Wu Jen, change of plans." Rantha announced, Melody's gaze shifting over to him for the moment. A nod, followed by the digging out of an oval-shaped device. So that's how they're able to get about so easily. Cheaters. The least you could do is pl-

Both Rantha and Melody found themselves knocked to the ground, the door blown wide open in the process. Quite impressive.

"Not so fast, dears." Madame announced, another gust of bringing the device over to her. Scooping it up off the ground, deep breath following as the thief slipped the device into her garment for the moment. That's uh… one way to do it. "Guess you'll have to play by our rules for the moment."

Rantha stood back up, fury filling his eyes as rage engulfed his mouth. How dare this 'whore' get the upper hand on him and Melody? This so unfair that he absolutely should start complaining about the fairness or spew other things. Yet, he grabbed hold of Melody's hand.

"Let's go." he muttered, Melody nodding. With that, they made their escape. Which looked more like the pair running off to the closest inn. Which meant that we're going to split up again.

"Ella, you're coming with me." Madame barked, a glare coming from the artificer. So much for playing well with others. Okay. It's probably too early to judge that particular avenue. "Sorry about this Yvonne."

Yvonne took a deep breath, attention shifting over to Ella for the moment. While she didn't like her thunder being taken like this, there really wasn't much in the way of time to really argue. Whatever Madame did, it was done now.

"Understood." Ella muttered, heading for the front door. Cinemon, Madame and Kollmon followed right behind, leaving our other two pairs to head after Rantha and Melody for the moment. Hopefully, they'll be able to catch up to them. "So what exactly are we doing?"

She got a sigh for that. Sure, it's expected that Madame probably wouldn't know what awaits inside the less used parts of her mansion. But it can't be all bad. Right? There has to be some good within those halls. But considering at least one person has possibly died in this place and that's within feet of the exit, it's unlikely this was a happy place. Let's get to work then.

Notes:

Bit of a shorter chapter this time around, getting the plot rolling even faster as we near the end of this arc. Believe it or not.

Also, the title of this chapter fits into the forty character limit for chapter titles. Yes. The bar does in fact go longer. I'm not sure why either.

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Next Time: Can you hear me now?