I don't own digimon.

Chapter 41

I'd buy that dollar

For the moment, we just let his words sink in. Not for any particular reason, outside of being dramatic. Even then, we have that mess going on within our artisan's head. Making heads or tails of that without being able to ask directly is going to be a challenge. Which is all the more reason to give Rantha here a chance to gather his thoughts and come to a resolution of sorts.

"Got it." Yvonne announced, picking up her warhammer for the moment. Munbimon glided over and took a seat on her back. Afterwards, the barbarian turned her attention to her teammates. "Okay, is there anything in particular we need to grab?"

The rest of our heroes and digimon looked among each other. I do hope you remember to get food. If you starve out, it's game over.

The focus is on Madame for the moment. What does this make it now? Three? Has to be at least. Probably not what you were expecting for today, right?

Madame shook their head. A thumbs-up followed.

"There's a food shop nearby." the thief announced and headed off. The rest of their teammates followed right behind, some of which taking the time to keep an eye on Rantha. While the artisan wasn't really doing anything for the moment, none of us could entirely be too su-

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing with my garbage?!" a voice announced, what looked to be a blob of green something approaching. It's unlike anything that I've ever seen before. Maybe it's one of those digimon? "It took quite a bit of work to get that all in there and now you've all gone and fucked it up!"

Uh… Can we help you at the moment? There was nothing telling us that 'you' were the owner of all that junk and garbage. If anything, you probably stole that stuff from Rantha.

Not even answering my question, this thing came to a stop. I'm going to assume that you least heard my question. Or at least acknowledge that you somehow heard it. That's not much to ask, right?

"I beg your pardon?" the green glob announced and began shaking its 'hands' about to threaten our heroes. It's cute. Kind of hard to take you seriously. Maybe try at least attacking us? That could offset the 'cute' with some level of scary. Or perhaps their personality offsets it.
"Uh… are you the one running the shops?" Blaze inquired, the green blob's gaze fixed on him. A chuckle followed. While the temptation to just slash him to pieces is there, they're bound to be well-connected on top of running the risk of this somehow being the only shopkeeper that DM could scrape out from wherever they get shopkeepers around here in Malibu.

Unless your former partner knew someone with an eye for buying and selling goods, Kollmon.

Kollmon shook her head, getting a look from Madame in return.

"While she probably had friends, I like... think they were more of the shopping kind." the mole digimon clarified, getting a nod from her partner.

"Maybe I am, Bunny." the green blob answered, receiving a glare from everyone at the moment. Yes, it was 'cute' when Rantha did it. But we've known him for what? At least a week. How long have we known you? "A couple seconds?"

Exactly. I do hope you can see the difference here. If not, then we're going to have some major problems. The last person who was dumb enough to cause problems got thunder bolted.

The green blob nodded. Good. Speaking of which, do you have a name? If you do, we can try this introduction again. I get that might sound crazy, but it makes both mine and their lives easier.

"Numemon." they announced and leaned back, letting one just make out some purple spots on the back. Poison, maybe? Or perhaps a warning for anyone dumb enough to lick that particular portion of their body.

"Really?" Madame announced, shaking her head at the moment. To be perfectly honest with you, I probably wouldn't believe it myself. Thankfully, the academy had a full required course on what the fuck not to do to magical creatures. One would think that would be a no-brainer. People die from shit like that. But no, I would've been able to graduate a full year earlier if I didn't have to bore my brains out on that.

Enabling Scanner…

Izumi Tech Scanner enabled.

A wall appeared right beside our strange digimon, displaying it's picture prominently. Has the same blue glow as the previous instance, but I don't think it's magic. Well, magic that I can do.

Loading information…

Numemon

Champion, Data/Virus

Special Moves: Poop, Nume Charge

.

Melody: M Numemon, are you the shopkeeper by any chance?

Yvonne: M?

Melody: We don't quite know whether they are a Mister or a Miss. It's just standard greeting that I've gotten out of practice.

Madame: Would I be an M, then?

Melody: Correct.

Finished loading. Now closing Analyzer screen.

With that, the wall of something or other faded away and our gaze turns back to Numemon. We still need an answer for the other question though.

"Yes." Numemon muttered, gaze now on Madame of all people. All that got them was a stink eye. "Is there anything in particular that I can provide?"

Well for starters, we need food. And not a small amount, mind you. We're heading over to the large tower at the far end of this place. Could you hook up with some stuff? Or at the very least, lead us to whoever might be able to supply such a large order?

Numemon looked up towards the sky, rubbing his eyes a couple times for good measure.

"Uh… sure disembodied voice that I can hear in my brain." Numemon answered, Melody trying her hardest not to laugh. Okay, that's funny. Especially compared to everything else that's been seen as 'funny' here in this world.

Shut it, Americans! You wouldn't know humor if it bit your ass, tore it off and ran away with it.

"But Melody is like from space or something." Kollmon announced and focused back on our strange green blob of a digimon. "Can you fill such a large order for us?"

Numemon turned around, motioning for our heroes to follow. Didn't have to go far to reach our destination. A large metal and glass building reaching up towards the sky, what looks to be a sign had been placed right at the swiveling door that made the entrance.

Grossery Store

I'm no expert when it comes to stores and naming schemes, but I think that's not what is supposed to be called. At all. As for what the exact name that you should call it, beats me. Maybe 'Food Shop'. No, that just sounds awful. Grossery Store works for the moment.

"You should find all the food you would ever need for such a trip to that tower." Numemon explained and walked towards the door. Doing a near complete lap around his door (somehow), he's inside. A little dizzy, but none worse for the wear.

"I'll go first." Yvonne whispered and carefully headed for the door. Making sure to duck, she passes through with a heck of a lot less trouble than Numemon had. But that goes without saying. Munbimon is right behind and managed to cleanly get in. Though, that might be the result of her being a ghost and the rules for these things being different for them than they are for actual people and stuff. But I digress.

Bubbles was next in line to enter this strange contraption of a door. Like seriously, was a regular, normal door that much of an issue for a place whose sole function was to provide people to people ? Was it too plain for you to use the door like every other person does? No? Or perhaps you have something to flaunt to the pheasants and this was the only way you could think of going about doing that. But I digress.

Our little dragon's attempt at entering wasn't the smoothest, with him getting flung out just for pushing up against the door. Not sure what dragons did to you for Bubbles to deserve that sort of treatment, okay? Apologize to him at least.

"Did you just scold an inanimate object?" Cinemon remarked, gaze up towards the sky rather than the door and Bubbles second attempt at the moment. To answer your question, why yes I did. And yes, I am very much aware of how stupid that sounds. Believe me, I do that from time to time. Just part of me that sometimes shines through. "Understood."

Bubbles's second attempt was thankfully a lot smoother than his first. He even brought Phusitmon through on his back for the trip. Which is probably how we should be doing it from this point. Not that the rest of you need to do that. More of an idea than anything major.

Blaze is next up. Confidently making his way up to the door, he pushed on through. Or almost, had not for his purse getting caught in the door at the last possible moment and forced him to take a spin around the entire door for good measure. Today really hasn't been your day, Blaze.

"I know." the dancer muttered and took a deep breath. It would all work out. Sure, it might take another day for that to occur, the thought was nice and comforting. "I just feel… off."

Let me guess. That bunny suit and the name calling got to you?

The dancer nodded and took the time to let out a deep breath. Looking about, Blaze took a seat on the floor. Whatever works for you, I guess.

"You could say that." he continued, feeling Balamon shift his position on his body. For the moment, it would be his left leg that the fire snake digimon would ride upon. "Sure it fits me and all, but would Dave actually like it?"

That's something that I can't provide you with a definite answer for. You're going to need to show him the outfit and see his reaction for yourself. Then you can make a decision on whether or not you'll keep the outfit. If he doesn't like it, you can just give it to someone. Like Marulyn.

"Hey. That only happened once." Yvonne remarked, giving the ceiling a look. I was making that suggestion as a joke. Unless… that was something that actually happened before. "It was for my sixteenth birthday. I'm not sure where she got it (probably had one of the seamstresses make it for her) and surprised me with a large cake. Except she didn't tell me that she was in the cake."

Oh… I can see where this is going. Let me guess, there was no sign telling you that she was in there?

Yvonne nodded.

"I was quite pissed at her for that." the barbarian explained, Blaze not even holding it in and just chuckling. Afterwards, the dancer took the time to make sure his purse was not damaged in that incident with the door. From the looksie, everything was still in there and the purse held strong.

Cinemon looked to be up next. Kind of surprised it isn't Ella who went. You know, the pattern and stuff. But this works just as well. Especially with how clean of a transition from doorway into the store itself.

"You alright, Blaze?" Cinemon inquired and got a nod from Blaze. We just went over this. He should hopefully be alright now. Unless something major comes up and causes more trouble.

What? I gave you the analyzer. What more could you want at this very moment?

I don't know? Maybe you try being an actual team player instead of throwing cars at us and threatening to turn our significant others into children.

No comment.

Nonetheless, Ella heads on through. Using her briefcase to keep pressure on the door, the artificer was able to keep the door from throwing her about. Clever. Even if that didn't stop the door from trying to come back around and slapping her.

Giving our dancer a quick look, Ella's gaze is back over to the door for the moment. Good thing too, since both Madame and Kollmon decided to go through at the same time. The result is far less messy than you would expect it to be. Neither thief or mole digimon was flung about, though there was a near miss with the door as Madame entered the shop. Not that Kollmon would have actually been hit in the process. Phew. That should be all of them.

Compared to the door everyone passed through, the actual 'Grossery Store' was pretty plain. Baskets of fruits and vegetables have been on strange-looking metal shelves. Light bulbs shine brightly above, making the glass doors in the back an odd design decision. Sure, I can make out boxes on the side. But why would you need a glass door for that?

"Let me guess." Numemon muttered, applying a false moustache to his mouth. Not entirely sure how exactly that's going to help you here. "You've never seen a freezer before?"

A freezer? I don't believe I've ever heard of such a device. Shot in the dark, there's something to do with chilling stuff?

Numemon nodded, turning away from the ceiling and towards our heroes for the moment. In my defense, I'm not from around here. This is quite literally the first time I've seen this stuff.

"Yeah. He's always like that." Madame announced and I give no comment in regards to that remark. Guilty as charged. Even if I am the narrator for this story. My comment fell on deaf ears, Madame already back on our shopkeeper for the moment. "By any chance, do you accept gold?"

Their words roll out, silence falling over the room. Our gazes look all about the store. If not gold, what do you take then? Silver, perhaps? No, that would be even rarer. Any other currencies that they could somehow use in glace of the standard gold coin?

"Copper, maybe?" Ella suggested and Numemon shook his head. Groan exiting her lips, a glare following. Fair enough. "Let me guess. Electrum by some coincidence?"

Never heard of that. I guess your folks probably use that stuff? Is that a replacement for gold, or does it serve some other purpose?
Madame let out a chuckle, Ella taking the time to sigh. That's your girlfriend for ya. The play hit that results is gleefully taken, flirty eyes on full display for our thief. They got a sigh for that. Except it turned into a smile.

"Dollars. American Dollars." Numemon finally announced, bringing an end to our speculation. Not entirely certain what a dollar is. Yes, I'm aware it's a kind of currency. But what do these dollars look like in the first place? "You must be from really far away if you don't even understand the concept of a dollar."

That doesn't answer our question though. I know that DM has been throwing down 'American' as some kind of insult. Unless… Remove the 'an' and what do we have? Armeric. That must be the place that Malibu is part of.

Sadly, my revelation has seemed to fall on deaf ears for now.

"Could you maybe show us what one of these dollars look like at least?" Madame inquired, giving Numemon a look. All they get in return is confusion. To be fair, you just gave Ella something similar. Maybe tr-

What? Americans that don't understand the concept of their own currency? Impossible. You must be part of the special education crowd. Bless their idiotic souls in believing that they could somehow 'help' these people. They should've taken a page out of the Japanese handbook for dealing with such delinquents.

"And what would that be?" Yvonne countered, warhammer already brought up to her waist. Uh… that isn't going to be that helpful. I do appreciate your solidarity though.

We just shove them in their own special class and just forget about them. None of them were going to contribute to society anyhow. It's a win-win to all involved.

"So you just leave those people to die?" Melody remarked, laughter echoing about. It's so unfunny at the moment that it's just… sad. "It makes much more sense to at least support those who are falling behind in the hopes that they can rise above their circumstances and play their part in life."

Why yes we do. Any other way is just wrong. I don't see any problems with this here. Of course you object, you're all americans.

"Except we're not, though." Phusitmon answered and let out a huff. Believe me, I've tried to get that through her head. But no, a differing opinion is just too much in this situation.

For the moment, our heroes return their attention to Numemon. False moustache now applied to his face, he looked… interesting. I'm not sure if it quite works here. Maybe one of us perhaps? I think Balamon would look fancy with such facial feature on.

"Nah." Numemon answered and walked over to the side of the room. Jumping up onto a stool, the strange digimon dug into a metal container. What looked to be a couple green pieces of paper came out.

"Dollar?" Bubbles inquired, getting a look from Numemon for the moment. Nod following that, they make their way back over to our heroes. Even if it looked like the other way around at the moment - our heroes swarming this poor shopkeeper

"Kind of expecting it to be more of a coin." Blaze remarked, taking in this strange piece of paper. While the shade of green (well, I hope it's green at least) is not something I've seen before, there's quite a lot of detail to it.

"Can I have one then?" Madame inquired, a glare from their girlfriend serving as an adequate response back. Even if the look back to the artificer was less so. Focusing back on the shopkeeper, a plan formed in their head. Not that they were actually going to act on it. An idea of how to get it.

"Unless you have something other than gold coins to trade, then no." Numemon answered and began making his way back towards the container. "No food either. I'm not going to sell to troublemakers. Heroes or not."

Dagger-filled glares honed right in, ready to fire off and do this digimon in. Even then, their was still that infusi-

Returning infusion elements to their respective users…

"Uh… thanks?" Yvonne remarked, gaze back to glaring right at Numemon. "I get that we caused 'trouble' for you in emptying out Rantha's shop, but that was to help him possibly remember things that might have happened before this mess. If we bring you back something from the large tower, would that make us even?"

Numemon looked away, imaginary daggers dissipating at the moment. Not quite gone, room to breathe regained at the moment.

"What are the chances of my stuff getting put back where you found it?" the digimon countered and looked through the door. While you couldn't see that far, his target was most definitely Rantha. Except that stuff Rantha's to begin with. You can't claim ownership when the person in question is standing with his stuff. He's armed too. "Fine. You can get your food and stuff, but you need to head straight to the tower. It's at least two days to get there."

Our heroes nodded, going about grabbing everything that they would need. Remember, you're going to need food for the way back. Which begs the question on what I'm going to eat. Do I still have that mistletoe? Good, I do. Goodberry for the win.

Notes:

A bit of a weird chapter. While the topic of supplies have been referenced the last couple chapters, putting that into practice was an interesting challenge. Especially as I get into the biggest challenge of all - writing proper 'traveling' scenes.

.

Next Time: We head off to the tower and make a couple stops along the way.