I don't own digimon.

Chapter 51

Stairway Planning

Morning comes far quicker than expected. Maybe that's more the result of the tower than anything else. Everyone seemed to wake up around the same time. I'll take that win for the moment. Even if you could argue that it isn't much of one at the moment.

"Bubbles, do you think you could tell us what happened?" Yvonne inquired and got a nod from the little dragon in return. For the moment, our current camp spot is in the main room of the third floor. Of course, our knight has taken the time to keep her weapon at her side. Just in case Sakuyamon decides to just show up to try and take it back. Not that I think she would. Maybe when we're making our way back down the tower. Even then, shouldn't be that big of a deal.

"Weding." Bubbles answered and found himself getting stared down with confused looks. To be fair, that's probably not the first thing you would expect to be doing in a dungeon. Let alone an actual church of all places. When life gives you lemons, you make something out of them. Maybe some kind of drink. Preferably sweetened, of course.

It's lemonade, you idiot!

Oh. So that's what the name of that stuff is supposed to be called. Thanks for clarifying that for me, DM. Always thought it was called sweetened lemon juice. Silly me.

Uh… yeah. No probl- Well, there is one problem at the moment. Your little dragon friend sort of created a 'problem' on my end.

Everyone's gazes shifted to the ceiling. While I have a pretty good idea what they were probably talking about, it couldn't be that bad. Right?

I'm going to assume that Bubbles was going to at least elude to this, but don't pull on any dead bodies you find. I'm still not completely sure what those blobs were supposed to be or why that was the result. Is that too much to ask of you people?

"No." Yvonne remarked, gaze returning to Bubbles. While she doubted the little dragon had malicious intentions yesterday, they still needed to know why he had tried it in the first place. Nonetheless, the knight carefully knelt down to be at Bubbles' level. "Bubbles, could you tell us what happened?"

Bubbles nodded, gaze shifting away from the ceiling and over to his teammates. What sounds like a deep breath followed.

"Embrace." the little dragon answered, looking to the spot of yesterday's ceremony. Not a single sign of these strange - almost eldritch blobs of flesh and body parts. Heck, the pair that he accidentally spawned them from stood still. So he made his way back over. Maybe there was something else here that they all missed. Well, he missed in the initial investigation. But as his little feet closed in on this particular frozen pair, both bodies shattered - their remains reduced to a fine dust. Doubt it's really usable for anything magical or potions. "They gone…"

His teammates shifted their focus over, already heading to join the little dragon in that moment. To be fair, I would be concerned as well if I saw two bodies just disintegrate in front of me.

"So this is what happens to someone…" Kollmon whispered, shuffling the dust about with her claws. Thoughts of 'her' echoed about in the mole digimon's mind. While the door had prevented everyone from really hearing any part of Bubbles' adventure yesterday, they were in some kind of church. Sure, no memories of ever going into a place like this reson-

Of course, this is the one moment that the memories come back to her. Can't be any other time - like maybe when she was sleeping. That would always be preferable to when they normally show up. Out of nowhere with little regards to the person. Though, it would be digimon in this case rather than something human.

This time, they were out on the streets. Well, outside of the plastic surgery place to be exact. Sure, Kollmon wasn't entirely sure why someone had the bright idea of putting a church of all places here. Was there not somewhere better to put it? Especially when the pastor went on about how he was so holy because he had a Seraphimon of all digimon. Even if said 'Seraphimon' was just an Angemon dressed up in cheap foam and other cosplay materials. Usually it's an Angewomon… whose eyes are more on the hottest person in the room or whatever dark force of a digimon that was forced to come to this place of worship to be 'cleansed'.

"In all seriousness, what exactly is the point of this church place?" Kollmon inquires, getting a chuckle in return. As answers went, this was not quite the one she had expected. Sure, it was possible her partner had no clue why people went into a place like this.

"That depends on what you're trying to get out of it, I guess." 'she' answers back and gets a look from the mole digimon. "Some people might want to be the company of others - united in the belief that some almighty person exists. Others might want to hear the words of the preacher for guidance in uncertain times."

The words roll out, colliding right with the words echoing out from the open door of the church for the moment. While Kollmon was able to hear it, that didn't change the feeling of an incomplete answer. Not that I believe one could ever possibly exist. So the mole digimon turned around and headed back towards the plastic surgery place. If nothing else, maybe the clients in the waiting room would serve better to stave off her boredom. Which was also the point that Kollmon found herself flushed back into reality. Still staring down towards the piles of dust, just one more reminder of her fuckup.

"Kollmon?" a voice called out and Kollmon looked up. There she found Munbimon of all digimon gliding down to meet her. "Something wrong?"

Her words roll out, the mole digimon looking away. Kind of a dumb question now that you've said it out loud.

"No!" Kollmon muttered, gaze returning back to the piles of dust. Smashing her claws down, the dust scatters. Not very satisfying, even if one wanted it to be. All it really does is bring back the past memories of 'her'. If the mole digimon had to relive some from before, could it at least be from before 'he' became 'she'. That would be a nice change of past. But no, it has to be her for the moment. Probably when they actually find that journal of her is the moment it'll occur. She just knew it. "I keep having these memories return to me! Why does this world feel so insistent on reminding that the old Kollmon was not a good person! Can't whatever force that governs this world see that I've changed to some extent? At least a tiny bit?!"

Silence, everyone's attention shifting from their consumption of morning rations and over to her. While I doubt this was your intention, Kollmon, this is what you got. A question without a fulfilling answer. Much is the nature of life.

"Maybe this entity doesn't want you to make the same mistakes you did the last time?" Munbimon suggested and got a look from Kollmon. One possibility, we find ourselves right back at the same problem - we have no way of really knowing if there is truly a finite number of answers or even if the question being asked is the one that the answer goes with. Sure, you're all supposed to have lost your memories after everything ended. But this along with all the other flashbacks seems to prove otherwise. So did something go wrong or was this done on purpose?

"Probably the latter." Melody remarked, both Munbimon and Kollmon slowly making their way back on over. Tossing a ration out, Kollmon managed to catch it. Of course, there's the matter of actually opening it. "If they truly wanted you all to forget, then they would've just made you all blank slates."

Lumosmon flashed a single time - probably in agreement. I think at least. Could be the opposite for the moment, but that's beyond the point. We need to head onward up this tower and see what else awaits us.

"Understood." Blaze remarked, slipping his empty ration into his purse for the moment. The rest do something similar, letting it join the tins from the previous two meals. Maybe the next floor will have some kind of trash can or receptacle. Probably asking for too much at the moment.

Nonetheless, we make our way over to the barricade preventing us from going up. It was a bunch of chairs of course. In retrospect, Bubbles probably could've easily pushed it out of the way. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. Onward then.

With that now out of the way, we begin our ascent up the stairs and towards the next floor.

[Tower at the edge of the world F4]

Coming up on the halfway mark, kinda. Hopefully the weirder parts of this place are just contained to the lower floors and the rest of this place is a bit more consistent. Probably jinxed it by saying that, didn't I?

Judging by the looks towards the ceiling at the moment, I'll take that as a yes. Sorry about that.

"DM, may I ask you a question?" Melody inquired, everyone receiving a sigh in return. That's a good question though.

That way you know what floor you're on, along with teaching your little dragon guy how to count. Hopefully. Wait. He does know how to count… right?

Once more, our attention is upon Bubbles. Sure, it's not very likely that he's gotten any kind of education (outside of being around you guys). Perhaps he knows?

"Bubbles, could you count to 10 for us?" Yvonne asked, Bubbles looking down towards his gloved claws.

"One, too, thee, for, five…" Bubbles called out, gaze already on his other hand. Taking a second to concentrate, his gaze shifted. "Six, seven, ate, nine, ten!"

For a brief moment, you could hear a pin drop onto the stairs. Okay, this isn't the most shocking thing to happen for us. I'm kind of impressed he actually knew. Good job, Bubbles.

Bubbles nodded and got up onto his tippy toes. While still being on the stairs. Uh… maybe wait till we're on the next floor though? Don't want you to go tum-

Which is exactly what our little dragon did at the moment, falling backwards and heading right for a collision with the next step. If not for Rantha grabbing him. Good work.

"We really need to stop meeting like this." the artisan muttered, getting a hug from Bubbles in return as he set him back down on the step. "I do hope you understand that I'm only helping because I want to kick Adarnamon in the tail feathers. Once that's done, all bets are off."

Bubbles gave him a look. Sure, Rantha was claiming one thing. But he really doubted that the artisan would actually go through it. Especially after he went through the trouble of doing a whole wedding - twice. Had to amount to something, right? If not, they were escorting him up this tower. That's leverage if I've ever seen it.

For the moment at least, Bubbles let Rantha's remark slip out of his mind. Especially as there were other things to be focusing on at the moment. Things like what the next floor would challenge them with. Though, I think that's on everyone's mind right now. Maybe it'll be some kind of weird dancing competition. Or perhaps something in regards to space. Heck, there's a possibility that it could be none of those things and instead be another building. Actually, no. The church is probably the last building we'll see for a bit. Unless for some reason they were secretly running something in the upper parts of the building. Which I don't see any reason

"Yeah. That would be absurd." Phusitmon responded, looking towards his partner for the moment. "Though, I guess it wouldn't be that surprising."

What do you mean? If this is anything like a regular place of worship, they would just ask for donations. Unless they were a deity of trickery - then you just get robbed on the way in and robbed on the way out. And if you're really lucky, you'll listen to a three hour seminar on some land that you'll believe that you're the only one to live on it. Only for it to turn out you're sharing it with a bunch of other people who were suckered in. One of the instructors back at the academy constantly falls for this scam. Which means on the weekends, someone needs to lock him in his room and guard it.

"That sounds kind of awful." Yvonne remarked, of which I'm going to have to agree with you there. Especially when you find out that you have that duty twice in a row.

"Have you tried not giving him money?" Madame suggested, getting a look from their girlfriend. To answer your question, that would be unlawful and grounds for said professor packing up shop and leaving.

"But locking him or her up in their room, isn't?" Ella added, the difference being that said 'room' is actually a set of dorms and he is able to go about with his teaching duties. It's just the 'door' that we're guarding is one of the few doors in the Academy that leads to the outside world. Of which this guy has the single key too. Because of course he do- Oh. I've gotten into quite a tangent for the moment. Sorry about that. "It's all right. Gives us a good opportunity to get to know you at least."

Fair enough. Though, I would think that we would actually be on the fourth floor at this point. Unless it counts stairways as part of the floor for some reason.

"Yeah, that is a strange design decision." Balamon remarked, loud music echoing down to assault us. Not sure what we did to deserve that. Multi-colored lights shine down, spinning about in what I can only assume to be some kind of ritual pattern.

"Rantha, do you know where that friend of yours got that bunny costume?" Blaze called out, our artisan looking away for the moment. To be fair, he probably hadn't asked where she got it. On the plus side, that does mean that this part of your memory is actually real and not made up by Adarnamon.

"Yeah. Really helpful for the moment." Rantha muttered as the fourth floor finally came into view. But that's judging by the crudely done-up sign that's just floating at the top of the stairs. Off to the side on the landing, I'm kind of impressed that it's all spelled correctly. Though, that doesn't explain the use of a curtain for a door. There's a perfectly good door a floor down. You could at least use that in place of the flimsy red fabric that I highly doubt provides much protection.

Dungeon Bunny Bar

Now Hiring - Dancer

Wonderful. I take back what I said earlier about there being something in the upper parts of the church. Should've kept my big mouth shut.

"Eh. It's more of a lucky guess." Madame remarked and let their gaze away from the sign and over to the group. Not counting themself and the digimon for the moment, it was likely that most of them wouldn't quite pass for regular patrons. Okay, maybe Bubbles. But since he's a child and all, that definitely was not the best place to bring a child into. Yet, the thief let their attention to their leader. "Yvonne, what's our plan?"

The knight nodded and took a deep breath. On one hand, they could just send Blaze in first and then follow right behind. Sure, that would at least let the dancer scout the place out and then relay that information back to the group.

The other option was for them to all go in (even Bubbles) and play this by ear. Of course, both plans hinged on Blaze getting dressed up in that bunny girl costume. Sure, the ballet leotard might work in this situation. But it's unlikely that would quite fit the image of the club.

"Blaze?" Yvonne called out, Blaze already digging into his purse. Out comes that silly outfit, even if the dancer's expression was less than enthusiastic about all of this. Personally, I wouldn't be either. Just do your best.

Notes:

Bit of a shorter chapter after a string of longer ones - an intermission. Especially with the mess that is my life going on all around me.

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Next Time: We dance about with a pole. Not as dirty as it sounds.