I don't own digimon.

Chapter 42
The scenic route

There's something serene about walking. As a wizard, it's a task that's supposed to give way to some eureka moment - a mount, a spell, some magic item. Something like that.

This is different though. Time stands still in this world. Yet, time marches onward for our heroes. Paradoxical or something. The whole grabbing of food supplies probably falls under that as well. You grab something, only to find yourself holding a copy. We've already gone over that with the purses, so it's just a repeat of things already seen. Though, everyone has managed to get everything into those purses. I'm not entirely sure how, exactly. Maybe they got lucky in duping what are essentially purses of holding.

"That's one possibility." Melody suggested, our heroes exiting the store. While not everyone is quite carrying the same weight (for obvious reasons), there's enough to go around and then some. Nice of that Numemon to at least let you grab the food. Eventually. Even if he does want something in return. The least he could've done was exchange some dollars for gold. But I digress.

But for our first stop, we need to pick up our mess of an artisan. Bag in hand, he had gone through the process of separating the true memories from the garbage. It ain't much, but it's something to remember this place. All you really need.

"Most of what I thought is real is not." Rantha muttered and slung the bag onto his back. "I've destroyed your city, I have no place to go. Even if I do that bird in, then what?"

We get it. You're a mess and not sure what to do about it. Maybe two days of walking will give you all the time and space you need.

Yet, Rantha looked up to the sky. I think that's a scowl on his face for the moment.

"Better than moping about." he muttered, Bubbles of all people holding out what looks to be rations. Accepting the gift, Rantha had his first proper meal since that mess at the cafe. So a couple days at least. "Hey. I ate back on the ship."

Melody nodded, gaze split between the rest of her teammates. While there was never doubt that this was a lie, having someone corroborate is helpful. Even if it isn't the most groundbreaking detail. Even less so as our heroes headed off towards their destination. Two days. This is going to be a challenge. I'm up for it though. Believe me.

The first hour or two aren't really that interesting. No one is really talking. Sure, there are buildings to look at. But nothing to really distinguish any of them from one another. If anything, the lack of a building was seen as something of a change of pace. There, we find a bunch of structures that look more at home for Gnomes and Halfling than humans. Or perhaps that they aren't meant for humans. That would be a strange design decision. Why build structures that no one would use? You would think there was someone else here.

"Play?" Bubbles announced, pointing to what looks to be a set of… swings. Wait. They have playgrounds here? That's a tiny step up from what I was expecting to find here in Malibu. Overthought that one. Oops.

"Hey…" Kollmon muttered, looking up towards the sky. For the record, you're not even close to where I am. "Sure, it was alright… at times. I can only assume that she like... wanted me to go out with her to get some exercise and I guess play with other digimon?"

Considering that we've seen at least two digimon so far in our travels. Even if that doesn't explain where the rest of them went.

"Wait. So people of this place had digimon partners of their own?" Rantha announced, taking a seat on the bench. Gazing out towards the sky, I can just make out Adarnamon doing laps around the tower. Cocky bastard. The least he could do is show his face to us once more.

To answer your question, yes. People from this world had digimon partners of their own. Though, I don't think they were like anything what this strange entity has treated both our heroes and your employers.

"You can say that again." the artisan muttered and gazed about his surroundings. Outside of the swings, There looked to be a slide and a strange bar that two people could ride. Metal bars have been suspended, as if someone is supposed to climb. Everyone we have is either too big, or would possibly hurt themselves majorly if they missed a bar and fell to the ground. Though, that doesn't explain the large weapon off to the side. Looks like something you would launch fireballs out of in the hopes of downing some large beast. Or perhaps some other magical spell. The sort of spell used doesn't matter right now. What does, is that Ella's focus was solely on it at the moment. Examining it for the moment, there doesn't look to be much in the way of piercing through the metal. "You shouldn't give them ideas. That's how you idiots end up in these situations."

Takes quite an effort to hold my laughter in at that moment. I get what you're saying, but the same could be applied to you. This situation is just as much a product of your actions, as ares.

Rantha's gaze looked up towards the sky. A brief moment, a smile formed on his face. Then it's right back to his regular neutral face.

"You don't need to remind me." the artisan muttered, watching Bubbles swing about. His legs aren't quite enough to get going. So Madame is providing the push to get him going. Not much, but our little dragon is having the time of his life. Don't really blame him, though. Nothing quite like this in Aldia. Or maybe no one got anywhere close to one there. Doesn't really matter. Though Rantha, maybe you would feel better if you did some swinging? "No. I have other ways to deal with my problems."

Like self-harm? Between all the hitting and cutting, I'm almost afraid you're going to do something that will get you quite close to getting yourself killed. Or worse, dig yourself even deeper into this hole.

Yet, Rantha rolled his eyes. I get that you're probably not going to agree with me there, but at least listen to what I have to say.

"I don't need a reminder." he muttered and headed for the swings. Taking a seat on one, it became more of a matter of moving his legs forward and back. Much like our hour of walking, there's something serene about it. Sure, we've haven't made that much in the way of progress. "This shit takes time. Towers aren't built in a day."

Sorry. That was rude of me to say. Something, something, pretend to forgive me?

Rantha rolled his eyes and gave a thumbs-up. Good to see that we're on the same page on this particular issue. Maybe we can start to make progress here.

But as quickly as we found this place, it was time to leave and head onward towards our destination. Though, there's a bit more interesting going on this side of Malibu. We have statues of all varieties, with a mix of what I can assume to be a park and some other artistic expression. Though, I'm not sure about this whole 'hot dogs' thing. Dogs are really amazing. But 'hot dogs'? I'm having flashbacks to having to deal with Hellhounds. They aren't the nicest of creatures. Especially when the beastmaster thinks it's really funny to let his dogs have full reign of the place. One of the dogs was doing taxes. That's surely against the academy's rules.

"I can't even remember the last time I had to pay those." Madame announced, getting a look from both Yvonne and Ella. Within though, their other part was checking the truth of that statement. Generally, that stuff goes to helping out the town and all the problems that might be occurring. Like having half the town destroyed by one person. "Okay, I will next time around."

"I'll make sure of it." Ella explained and put a hand on her girlfriend's back. Not close to grabbing their gold bag, but enough to get close to the bag. That can wait for some other day. Especially as we break for lunch and eat more rations. Or would this be dinner? Either way, I'm going to have another goodberry.

Taking a seat on benches, silence was the main sound. Chewing too, but that goes without saying. I can only imagine what those rations might taste like. Probably better than the food at school on a bad day. Especially after that mess with one of the staff being a cannibal and all.

That's a lot of work for just something that could easily be solved with me saying two sentences.

"Please no." Melody announced, looking up towards the sky. Then it's right back to chowing down. To answer your question, we prefer to take the scenic route. Take in all the sites as we head towards our goal.

Fine. Don't come crawling back to me when things get boring for you or something. I'm just trying to he-

"You threatened to turn Yvonne's girlfriend into a kid." Blaze countered, scimitar already in hand. What sounded like a growl echoed out from our barbarian. Fair enough.

That was a uh… joke! Yeah. I totally don't have a way to keep anyone permanently as a child. Unless these Criasu blueprints are somehow false.

"It was a shitty joke." Yvonne muttered, not even looking up from her rations as Munbimon switched shoulders. Following that, came a deep breath. "What if someone that wasn't us heard that? They would probably think you were a monster or something. Unless that was something that 'Criasu' wanted."

Silence. You get on our ass for being evasive and then refuse to play ball with us. Then you go behind their back and divulge information. What about that? At least try

I have no comment for the moment. You're nothing but a bunch of big old meanies! I said it!

A car smashed into the 'Hot Dog' place, preventing anyone from really discovering the true purpose of such a building. DM, we just want to improve our relationship.

It doesn't seem that way. Everything you've seem so keen on doing has brought nothing but frustrations for me. Explain that, Americans. What use would I have for you that I can't accomplish elsewhere with people from other nations? They score a lot better, don't do nearly as stupid stuff and are obedient.

"Other countries?" Melody remarked, her response falling on deaf ears. If I had to take a stab in the dark, I'm going to assume other large places of some kind.

You've thrown cars at us. That's not someone willing to meet halfway to mend this bridge. You just seem ready to burn it down even further. It just seems like we're going in circles with this issue.

Silence, chewing piercing through on a couple occasions in that moment. While I doubt progress was really made here in that moment, maybe DM will at least take it as an opportunity to evaluate things. Again.

"Maybe." Yvonne muttered, taking a deep breath. Thoughts of Marulyn flooded back in. While she assumed that her girlfriend was alright. But what exactly would she be doing? "Probably working at the Cafe. Maybe tinkering."

Oh. I was asking that as a rhetorical question. I wasn't expecting you to give an actual answer. Thanks for that.

"Yeah." the barbarian continued and finished off her ration. Throwing it into a trash can, her teammates followed right behind in the disposal. Though, Yvonne was focusing on Blaze currently. "What do you think Dave is doing right now?"

Blaze's cheeks turned red, muttering of excuses echoing out from his lips. While it wasn't much 'eavesdropping' as it was overhearing the conversation. So no harm done here.

"Well… I would hope he was at least cleaning our house." the dancer explained, getting a chuckle from Rantha. To be fair, he is dressed up like a maid. That's the least you would expect out of someone dressed like that. Almost a waste of talent. "Hey.'

I'm kidding. It's a good starter job till you both eventually move up in the world for bigger and better places. Like a castle.

"It's true, though." Ella explained, gaze right on Blaze. Hmm, wonder what that could be about. "I would be willing to let him clean my place. Once it's rebuilt of course."

Blaze took a deep breath. Quite an offer you've just been given there.

"I'll think about it." he announced, slinging his purse onto his shoulder and standing up. Sure, the idea of lending Dave out to other people. Would he actually be fine with such a job? It's one thing to be someone's personal maid. Quite another for your boyfriend to be lending you out to other people who might not have your best interests in mind. Maybe run this by him. After you've shown him the bunny girl outfit. It's only fair. "Don't remind me."
With that, we leave the ruined building and it's tables and head for the tower. Or at least, get closer to our destination. Even then, the time of day is nearly impossible to decipher with this strange sky overhead.

Sorry. Just trying to keep this going. The scenery is still the same as ever - Buildings on top of more buildings. I was thinking that we would have at least a little more variety. Nope. That's a bridge too far. Guess those statues were to lull us into the hope of more variety. Hopefully that will be the last time that we'll be let up to such fantasies and have reality brought back down upon us. Eh.

As we head on, our journey brings us by a clothing shop. Well, I think it's a shop. Looks quite a bit bigger than your average place to buy yourself some threads or something. Unless they have every sort of clothing imaginable, they must be compensating for something.

"Maybe they have sleeping bags or something." Ella suggested, heading towards the door. In retrospect, we probably should've grabbed something like that. But when you're dealing with the one shopkeeper in the entire town, some things fall to the wayside.

Madame followed right behind, with both of their partners following right behind. Then we have the rest of our heroes at the moment. One small problem though. The doors don't seem to work. Probably should be, but that would be too hard.

"I got this." Yvonne remarked and smashed her warhammer into the doors. At first, nothing seemed to happen. But a couple seconds after impact, the doors went flying. But then another set appeared. Except this second set was now open. "Uh… I don't think that's how doors work."

I'll agree with you there.

Heading through, we find ourselves in quite a well-lit area. Wide open spaces, the only real thing marking things out are what appear to be large shelves filled with all sorts of stuff and signs hanging about marking out their respective areas. If you don't mistake it for a corpse hanging from up there as well. Fuck. Kollmon's partner wasn't the only one to attempt ending her life. I guess I should say I'm not surprised. Maybe part of me was hoping that this wouldn't be the case. So much for that.

Of course, there's a ton of people here on the floor. They didn't end up any better than that of those hanging from the ceiling. Perhaps they were those who helped them up to such a high place. They don't have some sort of magical flight? Because we could really use that at the moment. No? Oh well.

"Ugh…" Kollmon whispered, eyes sliding shut. In her 'dreams', the mole digimon and 'her' are back here. If memory served her correctly, they were in here for some makeup. A simple in-and-out job. But that was not what 'she' had in mind. No, there was going to be talking. Lots of talking. Boy friends, Girl friends, people who were somehow neither. It didn't really matter. There was always something new to either discuss, gossip or chat about. Sure, some of these people were clients and even co-workers. Still quite an impressive feat. Even if it did take Kollmon pulling on 'her' hand to finally break this up. Looking back, she missed those sorts of conversations. Sure, a lot of it wasn't really that interesting. Just gossip human women spread about who's dating who and stuff. But beyond that, there was usually some good form of advice. Even if it didn't seem that way at first. Time passing by has a way of doing that to us.

The pair would then take a tour to the makeup area. Grabbing a variety of products that I don't quite recognize/comprehend, it's back over to the checkout area. Okay, they do take the time to grab some groceries. Maybe even get some ice cream. You know, the necessities for life. Not that the latter really counts.

"Like, what do you want to do when we get back?" 'she' would usually ask, Kollmon always taking a moment to think it over. Not because she needed to really give a different answer each time. No, the mole digimon just wanted to draw this particular moment just a little bit longer. As if somehow, time would slip away. Looking back, that was quite a good call. Even if one wouldn't quite call the future. You just don't. Not even the best divination wizards can do that. Sure, they can claim that they have. But who can really say that their predictions in particular much up with the things laid out for us?

Yet, Kollmon's eyes opened up. Looking towards Madame, she bolts off. While the thief made an attempt at following, Ella grabbed hold. While there was a bit of a struggle, eventually Madame gave in.

"She needs some space." the artificer remarked, getting a nod in return.

Notes:

This fic does not reflect the actual town of Malibu, CA. Even if it somehow did, I would be really concerned. I am the worst kind of person to mark out cities. Which is very much on full display. Even if the original plan was the whole two day trip to the tower.

Outside of that, I'm pretty impartial to hot dogs.

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Next Time: Oops. Definitely shouldn't have done that yesterday.