I don't own digimon.

Warning! This particular chapter of Digital Dungeons contains a character with opinions that don't reflect that of the author's. Please don't kill me.

Chapter 35

Ai, Ai, Ai

From the look of things, the last of the changes have been completed. Phew. Anything else of note, entity?

Let's see… We have one boy and five gi-

"For starters, Bubbles is a boy and I'm neither." Madame announced, whip already out as she stared up towards the sky. Her teammates gazes joined hers in solidarity. Normally I would rather you not piss off this unknown entity, but I'm going to agree with you here. If you're not going to respect that, we're going to have some major problems with that. This isn't the sort of situation where we're all joking about. We're not telling you that to anger you, just so we don't have any hiccups going forward.

So you're all straight then? If you're not, then…

You didn't even hear a single word of what I just said, did you? Because this is taking quite a lot of effort to not call thunder upon your location and just be done with you. Give me one good reason to not do so. I'm willing to listen.

Yet, our mysterious entity has no real answer to my question. For now at least, best to take things in once more. Especially as everyone's gazes returns to the area around them.

For the moment, we find ourselves standing on the edge of what I can only assume to be a village of sorts. Behind you is a large set of mountains. Tall and unnatural, someone really wants to keep you all in. For what reason I'm not entirely sure.

"Is it possible to climb said mountains?" Blaze inquired, Munbimon of all digimon making an attempt. Fluttering up to the face of it, the ghost monkey tried to grab hold. Only to get flung off said rock right after. Oh dear. Guess that isn't the case. Well, crud. That stupid entity trapped us in here.

"Speak for yourself." a voice announced and wouldn't you believe it, we have ourselves a Rantha. Wonderful. Definitely don't need that sort of negativity in my life. Though, Carinamon isn't on him. "He's eating a large metal thing."

I know we're not friends and all, but… why? He's a scorpion of all things. I'm fairly certain that his diet doesn't include those things. To answer the obvious question, I think it's something involving fruit. But don't quote me on that. Probably wrong in that regard.

"How the fuck should I know?" Rantha countered, shouting up at the sky for the moment. "He turned into a bird, threatened to 'cure' my memory and then started to eat that large metal thing."

Language! I have one robot trying to hump the glass of a glass tube and another drooling while staring at some girl. That's she trying to feed. She's frozen. In time! There's no flipping way that she'll ac- Why the fuck am I surrounded by morons!

"Uh language?" Ella remarked as we continued our look around the general area. Tucked away in a corner, there looks to be a tavern of all places. Pretty low-key place, I guess you could go in there. Heck, it even has a couple cute shops by it. All of which have some space between them. Maybe once we're done with the tavern, you all can get some supplies. You did remember to bring money, right?

Blaze looked away. I get that you were trying to be nice to your boyfriend and all, but you probably should've left a little gold for yourself. Especially after not getting around to showing him that job with those two orcs.

"I know." the dancer remarked, looking away for the moment. While he hadn't told his teammates of his lack of money for the moment, the cat was out of the bag now. "I have everything that I need. If something comes up, I'll just dance for money. That usually works most of the time."

Yvonne shot him a look. To be fair, none of you know if your money even has any equivalent value with whatever inhabitants that just poofed into existence for the moment. Let's all play it cool till we have some general idea on things. Good?

Judging by the nods I seem to be getting, we're all in agreement on this. Sorry about stealing your thunder, Yvonne. Wasn't my intention there. Just kind of came out that way.

"It's alright." the barbarian remarked, slipping her helmet into the purse. Fairly certain that shouldn't fit in such a small bag, but somehow does. Huh. Whatever works for you at the moment. "You have your job and I have mine."

Understood. Anything else you need to tell, mysterious entity?

No. Just go and be whatever the heck you're supposed to be. I really don't care right now.

With that confident statement, our heroes made their way over to the nearby tavern. No real signage, just a random unmarked place that resembles a drinking establishment. Think it would have a name, at least. That isn't just 'Tavern', of course. Unoriginal, not really memorable and absolutely generic.

"Maybe 'Tavern at the end of the world'?" Ella suggested, getting what looked to be a nod from her partner. Yes, that's a bit on the nose. But I can see it working. Any other suggestions?

"I was thinking Gathering Spot." Munbimon added and rubbed her chin. "Since people like to come together there and hang out?"

Yvonne looked to her digimon. While there wasn't really much in the way of actual bars in Aldia (just a couple well past the Shakey Walls Cafe), they hadn't gotten anywhere close to any of them. Sure, Munbimon could've gotten her idea from their visits to the cafe. But what if that somehow wasn't the case? What if this was just a small piece of the puzzle that could lead them to the ghost monkey digimon's former owner. Sure, there had been that one moment the other day, but Munbimon hadn't really made much of a fuss about it.

"Sort of like a cafe?" she remarked, testing her theory at the moment. Yet, Munbimon shook her head. Guess there's something there. Or is this just a false positive we'll need to get to the bottom in the hopes of the truth. Just food for thought.

"Not like that." Munbimon countered, looking away from the place for a moment. What looked to be a tear fell on down. None seemed to follow it though. "There's a different energy to it. But I can't put my paw on it right now."

Yvonne nodded, getting ready to ask her next question. Which fair enough. Of course, someone had far different ideas in that regard. How rude.

"Hi!"

What looks to be a torso formed out from the middle of the door, decked out in a strange-looking black hat on their head. They have a set of arms, even if I'm not quite certain that it should for the moment.

Not sure I can trust those black beady eyes. They look like the sort that will feed you to skeletons without a second thought

"That sounds horrible!" this person? (yeah, let's go with that) announced, gesturing for us to come over. "Come on in! We're always looking for new people to party in me."

Uh… This is your call, guys. I'm not really one for bars. Especially ones that are somehow sentient. So you're going to have to guide me through th-

Before I even have a chance to finish my sentence, a large hunk of metal came flying towards the tavern. Quite rude.

Nazer Blade!

A large blade of acid appeared out what I can only assume to be a window. Colliding with this strange hunk of metal, it would appear that this wouldn't be our mysterious entity's day. Though that's not to say their behavior could use an adjustment. A major adjustment in fact. Especially if this relationship is to work. If at all.

I would need to kill you then.

Their words roll out of their nonexistent mouth and I can't believe what I'm hearing. There's no way that

You do realize that's not how relationships work, right? Or are we working with the logic of less than sane people here? Because if it's the latter, then we're going to have a problem.

The Criasu handbook says the best way to have a heterosexual relationship is to murder your partner in some brutal, graphic fashion on a romantic outing. Especially if they turn out to be a precure. Then I most definitely need to kill you. Then I can become one in your place.

For ick… 'homosexual' relationships, you just throw a car at them. That, or just genderbender one of the partners.

What. The. Fuck. Did you even listen to a single word you said to us? Because I'm fairly certain that you haven't. And that's worrying. What's happening right now isn't a game and I can't even trust you to not murder one of my characters. This is your last chance. I am more than ready to bring lightning down on you without any regard to your safety or wants. Is that clear?

The entity doesn't respond. Typical. A yes or no would've been more than enough in this situation. But no, that would be too hard for you. Sorry, this is just frustrating for me.

"For starters, what does heterosexual mean?" Cinemon remarked, our heroes and their digimon turning to this strange person still sticking out of the door.

"Uh…" the torso answered and disappeared inside for a moment. Guess they needed to talk to the person inside. Fair enough. Even if they don't know, we can probably ask one of the shopkeepers. If they don't know, we'll keep asking people until one of them gives us a satisfactory answer. "I asked Billie and she doesn't know. And she knows everything!"

Like I said. Wait. That's a person! Or something that might be someone capable of speaking. We're making progress. Maybe.

I kind of jumped the gun there. My bad.

Getting a nod from someone, our attention returns to this torso thing.

"Uh… Who's Billie?" Phusitmon remarked, a hand waving out the window of the 'tavern'. A set of wicked black spikes hang from each finger, with what looks like a vambrace of all things hanging from what little amount of the arm is visible for the moment. Guess that's Billie. Yet, the plush rabbit digimon's gaze turns back to the torso for the moment. For a brief moment, the world seems to twist about and gives way to a dark back room. Bars surround him at all sides, but that's not the only thing at work here. A baby laid right beside him. Dressed in what looked to be pajamas, they're quite cute and pretty. They're currently asleep.

Even if the shouting in the background isn't helping or cute. Not that I can think of a time when it would ever be 'cute' or 'pretty'.

"I don't want any part of this anymore!" a woman screams, the sound of glass following her statement. Then a punch. Can't tell where exactly. Probably for the best. "You had all the chances in the world and you just waste them, you dumb fuck!"

The sound of a door slamming echoes about, jutting Phusitmon back into reality for the moment. Good thing too, since Bubbles is already making his way over to this torso jutting out of the door. Up close, there's quite a height difference. Though, Rantha's laughter is quite uncalled for at the moment. But that can just be ignored for the moment.

"Bubbles!" the little dragon greeted, holding his claw out. "Name?"

Looking down towards Bubbles, the torso grabbed hold and gave it a slight shake. Looks kind of goopy. Probably feels quite good. Not that we have any frame of reference for that sort of thing.

"I'm Tavern!" the torso greeted, 'smile' hanging on his head as the door opened up and pulled him away. Guess we can finally head on inside. Though, it's kind of dark for the moment. "Sorry about that. We ran out of candles."

Rantha let out a snicker, what looked to be a candle coming out. Well that's handy. Even if I don't quite trust you after the last incident.

Still got me a look up towards the sky. Not sure what to tell you here. This is just as much your mess as it is ours right now. You're going to have to be a team player this time around.

"Take it." he muttered and made his way over to Tavern's door. Doesn't stop this strange person from appearing in front of Rantha. The cylinder trades hands, with Tavern heading over to Billie. "I can make more if you want."

Lighting the candle, the whole area is a heck of a lot easier to observe. From the looksie, we have a bunch of wooden tables with mismatched chairs galore. Black flags marked with skulls hang all over, somehow not catching fire from the torches that hang in between. What looks to be the titular bar is off to the side, with this Billie woman to boot. Decked out in blackish purple plate armor, the whole thing looked to be mostly an attempt to show as little skin as possible. Or would be, if not for the vambraces in place of actual metal gloves for the moment. A head of dark purple hair has been tied into a bun, going quite well with the set of violet eyes and purple lips on full display for the moment. Like an angel, except not somehow.

"That's alright, dear." Billie cooed and looked towards Bubbles and Phusitmon. Her expression changed, a sigh following it. "You're a little young to be drinking. I'll need you two to wait outside."

Not wishing to argue with the woman capable of bringing forth a blade of acid, the pair complied and exited Tavern. Even if that did get her a look from Madame. Oh boy. We just met these people. Let's not get on either of their bad side. Not before getting geared up.

"I'm just enforcing the rules here." the bartender remarked, attention turning to the rest of our heroes. "I trust you're wondering what the heck is going on here?"
Nods. That's the expectation at least. Would be odd if that somehow wasn't the case. Though, if you don't mind me asking, are you human by any chance?

Billie just laughed. Huh. Guess that's no then. One of those 'digimon' then? Or do you hail from a race not found in Aldia at least?

Loading… Screw it, you're going to take this digimon analyzer upgrade and you're going to like it you murderhobos.

"You're a rude AI." Tavern announced, confusing me even more. First we have 'heterosexual', then there's 'precure', 'murderhobo' and 'AI'. Though, the last one I think I might know the answer to that. Annoying Informer. Yeah. That's probably it.

Though, that is now someone's last chance. Oh deities of the storm, I wish to call upon your storms to strike down this annoying voice and it's talent for somehow wanting to kill us all.

While I'm unable to actually see the results of my spell, I get the feeling that the target was hit.

Fucker. You ruined the upgrade process! There was no need to do that.

"You didn't even ask if we wanted they wanted the upgrade in the first place." Balamon remarked and slithered down from Blaze's arm and onto the floor. Surprised he didn't take some time in the purse. "I prefer to hitch rides on things that give off heat."

Guess that would make sense. Even if that doesn't explain why Tavern is now in front of everyone. Guess it's his turn now to do the speaking. Still doesn't answer my question in regards to Billie. Not that I really need to know for the moment. Just food for thought.

"We're not entirely certain." he explained, looking towards Billie for the briefest of moments. "This place looks like the digital world, yet there's a different feeling to it."

Judging by the looks towards Rantha for the moment, seems blame is already being assigned. Jumping a bit ahead now, are we? Until we have concrete information, it's no one's fault. Got it?

"Oh shut it." Rantha muttered and looked down to the floor. Mumbling followed, not that I am able to catch any of it. Probably something negative. "It's most definitely me here. Why else would I be standing in a pub similar to the one that used to be here?"

His words roll out, silence taking hold of the room once more. While the odds aren't quite in your favor of this being the case, who's to say it somehow isn't. Weirder things have occurred so far. Yes, I'm aware that's not going to help your mental space. But maybe if you talk to us about it, we can get to the bot-

Rantha's fist slammed into a table. Not enough to break his hand, but came quite close to repeating his mistake from the 'previous' day. Thankfully, Yvonne grabbed hold of his other hand.

"Can you promise me to not do that with your other hand?" the barbarian remarked, our artisan looking away for the moment. "Could you at least tell us your story?"

More grumbling, Rantha choosing to take a seat instead of answering Yvonne's question. Kind of expected right now. In between the events back in Aldia and here, we've all been going a mile a minute. Especially with this

"I'm just a lowly shopkeeper." he muttered, gaze fixed on the floor. "I'm not sure why, but people seem to like me. Somehow, I got married so many times over. But none of that stuck. It's as if I was living the same loop without any sign of stopping."

Loop? As in a time loop? Because if that's the case, then why is this place here in the first place? Shouldn't it not exist for the moment?

Yet, Rantha shook his fist towards the ceiling. Didn't even look up from the floor. Before he had a chance to really continue, what sounded like a loud squawk echoed about.

Roll for Initiative

Notes:

Believe or not, I have DMeed an actual campaign for people. It was while working on Cho & Me. Which seems odd, considering my actual group skills can leave a lot to be desired. Yes, I'm very much aware of how weird that sounds. As much as I like to get back into that, trying to juggle that, running this and my fire emblem stuff and going to college, I don't think I would have any time for myself.

Oh yeah, we're getting an adventure reboot. Eh. The best part of that is were getting the director of Digimon Adventure for it. Who also did Mahoutsukai Precure. Which is one of my favorite anime.

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Next Time: Aligning with the winds in the grayscale.