A/N: We've got to install safes for our money

Custom fabric deliveries

We've got to move these new coffee makers

We've got to move these sewing machines...

Yeah, I like Dire Straits and "Money for Nothing". But my favorite song of theirs is actually "Industrial Disease".

The boutique and the coffee shop shared the same building in the jungle, with the front door to the boutique on the left and the one for the coffee shop on the right. At any other time, this building would be manned by the three family members; one would make clothes, another would keep track of the money, and the third would make and sell coffee drinks in the other building.

"But one day, a bunch of Chuumon came into our place," the mummy explained as he walked with Dati and Piddomon. "They started stealing whatever wasn't nailed down, and if something was nailed down, they tried to destroy it. Because of them, our sewing machine is on the fritz, and I'm not sure if our coffee maker still works. And did I mention that they stole a good portion of our clothes and all the money in the cash register?"

"They stole your money?" Piddomon couldn't believe his ears.

"You're darn right they did." The mummy leaned in especially close to the duo. "Fortunately, none of them found the secret safe where we store our emergency money. If they did, then we'd be in trouble."

"Sounds like it," Dati said.

Just then, the mummy saw the building he was looking for. "There it is! Come on!"

The trio ran for the building. Once they were at the boutique's employees' door, the mummy put his hand on a scan pad next to the door. After a few seconds, there was a chime and a green light, and the door unlocked. The three walked in, and Dati and Piddomon looked around at the storage boxes and other things that were stored here.

"Luckily, none of the Chuumon made it into this room," the mummy said. "And even if they did, these boxes that you see are big and heavy. It'd take several Chuumon just to carry one, and I doubt they'd get far before someone caught them."

"That's good," Dati said.

After the mummy put the shoes in a box, the realization hit him. "Oh, wait, I just realized I never got your names! How can I thank you properly if I don't know who you are?"

"My name's Dati."

"And I'm Piddomon!"

"Nice names," the mummy said. "I'm Groovy."

Piddomon shrugged. "Well, yeah, I'm sure you're a groovy guy, but what's your name?"

"No no no, my name is Groovy."

"Yeah. You have a groovy name. But what is it?" Piddomon asked, snickering.

"Uh, Piddomon?" Dati said. "I think he means-"

The still-smirking Piddomon put his hand over Dati's mouth, leaned in, and whispered in his ear. "I know what he means. That's the joke, squirt!"

Dati laughed nervously.

"Don't worry; I get that a lot," Groovy said. "Even if it does get old sometimes, it's still kinda funny."

They all walked out, and Groovy secured the door tightly.

"So, what do your cousins look like?" Piddomon asked.

"Well, they're Mummymon just like me," Groovy said. "One of them has blue bandages, and the other has pink ones."

"Wait a minute! Your cousin is a blue Mummymon?" Dati asked.

"Yes, why?"

"I think I might know her! When my friend Hovis and I were trying to help stop The Heartbreaker in File City, we met a blue Mummymon girl! She even talked about needing tailoring supplies! Is her name Isis?"

"Whoa..." Groovy's jaw dropped. "You do know my cousin!"

Dati nodded. "I don't know the other one, though."

"Her name's Minty," Groovy said.

"Minty? Sorry, but I've never met her."

Groovy shrugged. "It's all right."

Piddomon took to the skies and looked around. "So, where should we start looking?"

"That's the thing," Groovy said with a sigh. "I have no idea where they could be right now! They could be literally anywhere on this island, and I don't know where to start!"

Dati thought for a moment. "If they mysteriously disappeared after leaving to get help...you don't think maybe they're in the garbage dump, do you?"

"It's a distinct possibility," Groovy replied. "But assuming they are in the garbage dump, how will we get in there and be able to find them? The stench there is horrendous, and even if it weren't, Sukamon would still send out his Chuumon to deal with us!"

Piddomon scoffed. "Seriously? What's one Chuumon against all of us?"

"It's not one Chuumon, Piddomon," Groovy said. "It's a whole swarm of them."

Piddomon gaped at what he just heard as Groovy continued. "And he sends all of them out at once. We'd get whittled down faster than you can say 'necrophobia'! And that's assuming you'll even get to say it in the midst of their attacks."

"I stand corrected," Piddomon muttered under his breath.

Groovy looked at the building and sighed again. "Minty is so impulsive, and Isis is probably scared out of her wits...I hope they're okay..."

In the center of the island, where the stench was at its most overpowering, there lay a number of buildings. While the buildings looked run-down on the outside, they looked perfectly normal on the inside. In one such building, there lay a meeting room, where several pink mice were sitting in chairs as they listened to their leader, a yellow pile of sludge with two arms and crazy eyes.

"Everybody thinks we're weak," the sludge said as he paced across the floor (though it was more like hovering due to his lack of legs). "Nobody ever thinks we're a true threat. They just laugh us out of whatever establishment we go to! Even when we tried to run a respectable business, nobody trusted us, and we went bankrupt before a month even passed!"

A mouse wearing a green bandana tried to hide his rolling eyes. Well, boss, part of it's 'cause you mismanaged the funds! You spent more money than we had just to get some fancy doodads for yourself; no wonder we went bankrupt! Of course, he'd never say this out loud, especially to the boss' face, but he still couldn't believe the boss would overlook this simple fact.

"Well, now we're getting our revenge, and we're doing it in style!" the sludge continued. "Closing down establishments, putting other businesses in danger, turning everyone against each other...if we keep this up, we've got it in the bag! Mesozoic Isle will be ours!"

The mice all cheered (even the one with the bandana, albeit half-heartedly).

"And so, to help us run a more successful business, I had some of my employees bring a couple of successful business owners here!" the sludge said. He floated over to his desk and pressed the intercom button. "Bring 'em in, will ya?"

"On it!" came the reply.

Before long, the mice heard some voices coming from behind a nearby door.

"Now girls, if you'll just cooperate..." said a male voice.

"Why should we?" a bold female voice asked. "You captured us and won't let us leave!"

A gentler female voice spoke up. "Minty, maybe if we hear them out-"

"Look, sis, if they wanted me to hear them out, they should've just sent me a letter or something instead of wrecking our store and later kidnapping us! How hard is that? Why, if I had half a mind, I'd shoot all these guys so we could bail!"

The male voice came back in. "You sure you wanna do that? There are a whole lot of us, y'know..."

The sludge facepalmed. "Hey, guys! What's the hold-up?"

"Better get out there," the male voice said. "When Sukamon means business, he means business."

With a sigh and an "Oh, fine!", the door opened.

Sukamon smirked as he watched two mummies (one in pink bandages, and the other in blue ones) walk through the door with the mouse that was talking to them. The pink mummy was grumbling something under her breath as she stomped her way into the room, and the blue mummy followed behind her with a nervous look on her face.

"So, you finally decided to show up," Sukamon said, motioning towards a couple of empty chairs. Once the mummies took a seat in the chairs, Sukamon continued. "Everyone, these ladies are going to help us run a more successful business. Why don't you two introduce yourselves?"

The pink mummy sighed. "I'm Minty. She's Isis. And quite frankly, we're not sure if we should trust you guys. I mean, not only did you kidnap us, but I'm fairly certain you guys wrecked our store."

Sukamon snickered, as if Minty were his daughter who had just told him that she was scared of ice cream. "Now, why would you think my employees wrecked your store?"

"Cause recently, a whole bunch of Chuumon came into our store and started destroying and stealing everything."

"Oh, really?" Sukamon asked. "Well, are you sure those were my guys? What if they were just a bunch of random Chuumon?"

"I heard one of them saying, 'Wait 'til Sukamon hears about this!'"

The Chuumon in the room all froze. Sukamon, however, didn't even care.

"Well, lots of Sukamon hang out with Chuumon, and vice versa. How do you know those were my guys, talking about me?"

Isis raised her hand. "I read this recent newspaper article talking about a Sukamon who was a crime boss."

"And you're going to believe everything you read in the news?" Sukamon asked. "Don't you know that a lot of news outlets are so desperate to get a sale that they'll say anything, even if it's false or exaggerated? It's like, what if the news reported that a Mummymon was going on a rampage, without giving any more information? Nobody would know if that Mummymon was you, or Minty, or that one weird Mummymon who could turn human and drive a car! They'd all be too busy panicking, and purchasing the newspapers just to get more information! And the newspaper companies would just laugh and laugh, 'cause the so-called rampage was actually just 'a Mummymon yelled at someone, and they happened to see'. My point is, even if that article were true, how do you know it was me and not some other guy?"

"Um..." Isis began. However, Minty spoke up.

"I haven't seen any other Sukamon around these parts," she said. "So where are those alleged 'other guys'?"

"It's a big island. There are probably lots of Sukamon living here," Sukamon said. "But I'm getting off-topic. So, what do you think we should do to improve our business?"

Minty sighed and tapped her green-gloved fingers on the table. "Well, first things first, you should clean things up around here! The smell here is totally noxious, and I can't believe I haven't bolted already! This smell makes me wanna bathe forever!"

"My employees and I like the smell here," Sukamon said, and some Chuumon nodded. "You two should invest in some gas masks or something if it bothers you that much."

"Well, most digimon don't like this smell, and it's gonna make the goods you're selling smell totally rancid!" Minty said. "What are you even trying to sell, anyway?"

"Everything," Sukamon said, and Minty and Isis looked confused. "At least, in terms of household goods. Pillows, blankets, silverware, plates, bowls...maybe throw a few toys in there..."

"And where are you getting the money for all this?" Minty asked. "Are you making these goods, or are you just selling them? And if you're not making them, who's supplying you? Not all digimon use money, you know; some of them are really feral, and so you have to know which digimon to ask."

Sukamon growled. "Don't ask so many questions! Holy sludge, girl, I didn't ask you to cross-examine me!"

"But they're legitimate business questions!" Minty replied. "You should be able to answer them if you're running a business!"

Sukamon only replied with silence and a nervous "I've-been-found-out" look on his face.

"Well?" Minty asked.

"I...umm...I officially declare this meeting adjourned!" Sukamon said. "Everyone return to your posts, and we can try to figure something out later!"

As some of the Chuumon got out of their seats, Minty suddenly stood up. "Not so fast! You still didn't answer my questions!"

Sukamon folded his arms. "You know, you're a weird digimon. First you're angry at us because we dragged you here, and now, when we're letting you leave, you insist on staying!"

Isis took her sister's hand. "Come on, Minty, let's get out of here. Groovy's probably worried sick about us."

Minty shook her head. "No way, sis. Groovy's a strong digimon; he can wait a little bit longer. The point is, Sukamon was so desperate for us to give him advice that he kidnapped us! We gave him advice and asked him some simple questions about his business, and he's not cooperating! Until we find out what really makes this business tick, we're staying here!"

"Well, I'm the boss, and I say it's time to leave, so leave!" Sukamon said.

Minty smirked. "Well, we don't work for you, so we're not bound by your rules! Ha!"

Sukamon returned her smirk with one of his own. "Well, as long as you're in my building, you have to follow my rules! The rule right now is 'you have to leave', so do as I say!"

"Why don't you just drag us out of the building if you're so desperate for us to leave?" Minty asked.

"Fine, I will. But only because you asked!" Sukamon replied, taking each girl by the wrist and leading them through the building.

Isis glanced at her sister, wondering what the heck she was thinking. All she got in return was a smile and a wink.

Once the three were out of the building, standing in the rancid grounds of the garbage dump, Sukamon let go of them. "There. Now will you leave?"

"Nope!" Minty said, folding her arms and looking proud of herself. "We're not in your building anymore, so we don't have to follow your rules! Now answer my questions!"

Sukamon sighed. "You know, I asked nicely for you to leave. Several times, in fact. But if you won't leave when I ask nicely, maybe this will convince you."

He floated over to the tallest building in the garbage dump. This building had a switch, similar to a fire alarm, on one of its walls. When Sukamon threw the switch, a loud, harsh alarm began blaring throughout the garbage dump. Isis yelped and covered her ears.

Minty just laughed. "Whatcha doing? Releasing the mice?"

Sure enough, a large mass of Chuumon began pouring out of every building in the garbage dump, almost coloring the entire ground pink. They all looked at Minty and Isis with sadistic grins, and started advancing on them.

"Bring it on!" Minty pulled out a bow, and her hand glowed slightly as it generated a dark arrow. "Necrophobia!"

She launched the arrow dead-on at part of the Chuumon crowd, scoring a direct hit on some of them. She fired more and more arrows at the mass, but they just kept coming.

"Cheese Bomb!" a lot of Chuumon cried as they threw cheese-shaped bombs at Minty and Isis. Since the sisters were two levels above the mice, it didn't do any serious damage to either of them. It did, however, sting quite a bit.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Isis cried as the bombs hit her. "Let's get out of here right now, Minty!"

"Gotcha!" Minty replied, taking her sister's hand and running away with her. "I've had enough fun here for now!"

The sisters ran through the jungle, taking every single detour they could find to throw the Chuumon off their trail. The Chuumon were long-gone by the time Minty and Isis made it onto the beach.

"Finally! Fresh air!" Minty said, taking some deep breaths and collapsing onto the sand.

Isis gasped a little. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...just need to catch my breath..." Minty said. "Man, that was insane! Who does Sukamon think he is, anyway? He can't just ask for advice and then refuse to listen to us!"

"Well, at least we're not in there anymore," Isis said. "Now, we just need to get back to the store and let Groovy know what happened to us."

"Yeah, but..." Minty began. "...where are we?"

"I'm sure we can find the store before the sun goes down," Isis said. "We just have to walk around the perimeter of the island, and as soon as we see the dock, we're there!"

"I hope this works," Minty said.

Once they were ready, Minty got up and they started walking around the island. It was easy at first, but as time went on with no sign of the dock, they got more and more irritated.

"I'll give Sukamon one thing - he was right when he said this was a big island," Isis said.

"Tell me about it," Minty said, and then an idea came to her. "Hey, I have an idea! Why don't we sing a song? It'll help time go by faster!"

"Um, okay," Isis replied, shrugging but still uncertain.

"That's the spirit!" Minty started singing. "Ninety-nine coffee-filled mugs on the wall, ninety-nine coffee-filled mugs! Take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight coffee-filled mugs on the wall!"

Isis laughed nervously as she sang along.

Meanwhile, Groovy was walking down the beach with Dati and Piddomon.

"If we look at the beach first, we can see if they're hanging out there," Groovy said. "Maybe they sent out a message in a bottle, and that's why we haven't heard from them!"

"Yeah, what are the odds of them just hanging out on the beach?" Piddomon asked. "I'm telling you, we should look in the forest first!"

"What if they've made it back by now?" Dati asked.

"Then we'll check back once we're done looking around the beach," Groovy said. "If they come back, I left a note for them to stay there and wait for us."

"I hope they're okay," Dati said.

Groovy nodded. "Me too."

They kept walking for a little while, and they saw no sign of the girls.

"See, I told you we should've looked in the forest!" Piddomon said.

Groovy was about to say something, but then he heard a noise coming from the distance ahead. He held his hand next to his ear as he listened.

"What is it, Groovy?" Dati asked.

"Do you guys hear...singing?" Groovy asked.

Dati and Piddomon started listening carefully, and the noise became clearer.

"I do hear singing!" Dati whispered.

The words being sung soon became clear enough to understand.

"Fifty-one coffee-filled mugs on the wall, fifty-one coffee-filled mugs!"

Groovy gasped. "That's Minty! She always sings that song on long walks! And it sounds like Isis is singing with her!"

The three started running forward.

"...forty-nine coffee-filled mugs!" Minty and Isis sang, but Isis suddenly stopped singing. Minty didn't notice at first. "Take one down, pass it around..."

Isis put her hand over Minty's mouth. "Minty! Look!"

While Minty was at first annoyed about her song being interrupted, her attitude changed the second she saw what Isis was looking at: it was Groovy, and he was running their way, with two other digimon in tow.

"Groovy! Hey!" Minty started waving at him.

"Minty! Isis!" Groovy ran up to them.

"Groovy!" Isis gave Groovy a hug, and Minty soon joined.

"Piddomon!" Piddomon pointed at himself, then pointed at Dati. "Dati!"

"Piddomon..." Dati suppressed a laugh.

As Groovy hugged his cousins, he suddenly caught whiff of something, and he sniffed the air. "Uh, girls?"

Minty chuckled. "Sorry about that. Sukamon and his goons captured us."

"Oh...that explains everything!" Groovy said. "Why don't you tell me all about it while we go back to the store?"

And so, Minty and Isis told the three about everything that had happened to them while they were away.

"You wouldn't believe how quickly Sukamon changed his tune!" Minty said. "At first, he was insisting that we stay and help them, but as soon as we asked where he got his money and materials, he suddenly ended the meeting and told us to leave! He wouldn't answer our questions no matter how hard we tried!"

"It's better to say, 'no matter how hard you tried'," Isis said. "Seriously, Minty, what were you thinking, provoking him like that? We could've left without a fight, but we got swarmed by his Chuumon instead because you kept provoking him!"

"Yeah, well, at least we know that this Sukamon is the one we're after," Minty said. "And since he dragged us to his garbage dump, we now know where he's hiding out!"

"Cool!" Piddomon said. "Maybe we can bring him down one day!"

"Hopefully soon," Groovy said. "And you and Dati can ask us for help anytime."

"Thank you!" Dati said.

"Wait...Dati?" Isis asked, looking at him. "Do I know you from File City?"

"Yep! My friend Hovis and I were delivering the flyers. He left with Vladimir the detective, and they're chasing The Heartbreaker."

"Weren't you a Tanemon, though? Or did you digivolve?"

"Yep, I digivolved."

Isis smiled. "Neat."

The five of them walked back to the store to make sure it was still in good condition; Dati decided that he'd had enough stress for one day and spent the rest of the day inside, hanging out with the others.

Piddomon didn't ask me who Yukio was when BlackGuilmon brought it up... he thought. Should I tell him, or is this too much information for him to handle? I'll figure something out...

Deep down, though, Dati knew that he'd have to tell him one day.

A/N: Since my friend celebrates her birthday in two days, you might say this is an early present for her. Well, anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, even though it wasn't as full of action as some of the others.