DC#1 [Part 2] - A city high above the sky [Boru/Titania]

It was a bit dumb to think Titania would have backed away now. If she had fought a giant parrot and gone all the way up to El Doradimon for this, she wouldn’t be afraid of going into a bar in the middle of the night. However, the bravery of this Tinkermon never ceased to impress Boru.

“Y-Yes!” The Psychemon nodded at Titania, his voice as firm as it could get. After purring and giving a smile to the fairy, Goya waved his goodbyes at the duo.

“Please take care, okay?” The Wanyamon had gotten a certain liking for the pair. “Now, if you excuse me, I must make a call. I’ve got a sister going into some dangerous land plagued with dinosaurs! Could you believe it? For a family of archeologists, some of my siblings seem to have a craving for danger.” That piece of information didn’t help the duo at all for their incoming task but… who knew? Maybe that would be someone else’s adventure.

Said and done, Titania and Boru took Goya to the bottom floor of the inn he apparently owned and moved towards the eastern side of the city looking for this bar.

The innkeeper was not wrong about this place being very easy to spot. The eastern side of this city was definitely murkier and creepier than downtown. Lonely allies and not a lot of digimon walking the streets. It seemed to be some sort of residential zone, with small huts and buildings to the sides, where digimon seemed to live. At the end of the main street they had taken there, they could see a red electrical sign with the words ‘The Drunken Ranamon’, with the D and the last A not lightened up.

“This is it.” Boru muttered, before pushing the door and going in.

What would they find in here?

The Drunken Ranamon didn’t look like a family place. Not at all. Even the music was unwelcoming. A human could identify it as a very poorly played jazz theme with little to no rhythm. A bit abstracted by the whole place’s environment, Boru even flinched upon hearing the BlackGatomon’s voice. It definitely caught him off guard.

“H-Hi!” The Psychemon bowed to greet the digimon over the counter, looking more scared than respectful.

“You’re actually right, Viza.“ A much deeper and less educated voice spoke. “These are new faces. And they don’t look like they belong in here.”

A Hyougamon standing right by the door they had just entered through took a good look at both Titania and Boru, looking rather amused and obviously mocking their presence.

Terrified would probably fall short at Boru’s current status. They were at a completely unknown place at a completely unknown land. Such place happened to be filled with dangerous digimon who didn’t look like they were keen to visits at all.

However, he did try to answer the BlackGatomon’s question. “W-We- We—Weee…” As expected, he was failing terribly at delivering. Maybe it would be a good idea for Titania to jump in and help him answer the question. You know, the usual. 

The ice ogre let go a chuckle at Boru’s stuttering, looking at the Psychemon and pointing with his long finger at the horned digimon. “This little wuss can’t even speak properly."

“Who could blame him, really? Did you see how ugly you are?” A digimon with a young and fresh voice sitting around one of the tables whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.

The Hyougamon decided to ignore him and kept laughing at Boru.

It was obvious the Hyogamon had not appreciated Titania’s glare. The only one who was too busy to notice this was Boru, who seemed a lot more nervous about the ogre’s presence. Still, the bigger digimon did not change his mocking attitude. Viza, on her side, seemed to be on the same tone. They were definitely not taking this pair seriously.

“What about your friend, huh?” The Hyogamon’s gaze drifted towards Boru, who was still shaking a bit, trying to breathe. Something about this big guy was scaring him even more than that Parrotmon back at the Bayou.

Titania’s second question seemed to throw the ogre a bit off. His initial reaction was to stare at her a bit perplexed. Viza, on her side, seemed to handle the situation a lot better. It was obvious she was the brain in this pair. The ogre’s eyes shifted for a second towards a window at his right. It might have been hard to spot but, if Titania was actually looking closely, she would notice he had quickly and unwillingly glared at something.

“W-Well…” He tried to gain a hold of the situation again, before answering. “I believe that’s none of your business, cutie. Besides, I don’t think I even know what you’re talking about.” He answered, extending his long hand towards the fairy to caress her hair. Before his hand could actually make contact with the Tinkermon, his movement was interrupted by the sound of that young voice again.

“Too stupid to pay attention then, huh?”

Hyogamon did not take this too kindly. His eyes widened up and he turned back to locate whoever had said this. The section of the bar he was now looking at was dark and the poor illumination didn’t seem to reach it all too well, so Boru and Titania couldn’t actually identify who had uttered this word. It was likely the ogre was not able to identify the source either.

During this brief space of time, Hyogamon was not looking at them. Boru took the chance and pulled from one of Titania’s wings with one of his hands. Once she looked at him, he pointed with his claw towards the window 'butterface' had previously looked at. The most noticeable thing on the landscape was a tower. A tower they both recognized. It was the tower Sonia had mentioned earlier, the one that she could swear had seen Parrotmon fly towards. A coincidence? Unlikely.

Hyogamon decided to forget about what he had heard and turned to face the duo again. It was clear, however, that he was a bit angry about those comments that had been randomly thrown at him. Least to say, until he couldn't identify the source, there wasn't much that he could do about it.

Still a bit shaky, Boru just let himself be dragged away from Hyogamon by Titania. They went into the murkier part of the establishment.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop right there, cutie.” The ogre stood between Titania and the table where the digimon she was addressing was sitting. Even if now that they were up close, it was easier to see his figure, the creature wore a dark brown coat and a hat, which made it impossible to identify its species. “I was talking to you and your friend, where are you going?”

“Imagine being such a lousy goon you’re even ignored while doing your job.” The voice spoke again. Hyogamon’s eyes widened and some more laughter was heard from the rest of the clients.

This was it. He was not getting away this time. After all, he was right behind him, so now the ogre knew who was the one mocking him.

“So it was you…” Hyogamon declared, turning towards the coated digimon and turning his back at Boru and Titania again. “… do you think I’m a joke!?” He sounded angered and ready to attack.

“No.” The creature answered, nonchalantly. “I think you’re the goon of a bar that works as part of an underground digimon trafficking system and you're trying to scare people off, failing miserably at it.” His tone of voice was cold and fearless.
“W-What did you say!?” Hyogamon’s eyes widened up. They showed incredulity.
“In any case, the distraction provided by this lady and that Psychemon was more than enough for him to search any evidence.” The digimon added.



“There are analgesics, water, and low-quality food for an army upstairs, bo. I think they’re using this bar as a stash to provide supplies for the slaves, bo.” A definitely way more mature voice spoke. Seriousness was characteristic too. It came from the stairs going to the second floor, a Pandamon was slowly walking down.

“H-How did you get in there!?” Hyagomon’s voice had shattered. He sounded terrified. He sounded… exposed. “Get out of here NOW!” Desperately, he swung his club against the coated digimon.

The target stopped it with one hand, wrapping his fingers around the entirety of the garrote.

“Weak.” Electricity started surrounding the coated digimon’s arm. Not even two seconds later, the club was shattered into pieces.

Like in slow motion, Hyogamon tried to step back as pieces of his weapon just flew everywhere. In a swift movement, the coated digimon floated and landed a punch right on the ogre’s stomach. A burst of electricity came out of his fist, sending the goon flying through the air, breaking the wooden wall and landing on the lonely, gloomy street outside.

Boru just watched the scene unfold open-mouthed as every client inside the bar.

“Stop” The digimon yelled to Viza who immediately got behind the bar and into a trapdoor on the floor, escaping. Pandamon chased her immediately.

Due to the attack, the digimon’s coat and hat had fallen off, revealing his appearance. He jumped behind the counter too. Before getting into the trapdoor, he turned to see Boru and Titania.

Even if the faces of the majority of the clients around the Drunken Ranamon couldn’t be actually seen due to the poor illumination of the establishment, the few faces that Bor was able to catch a glance of weren’t too different from his own. So many things had occurred so fast that it was even hard to assimilate the recent turn of events.

“M-Mrs. Titania…” Boru’s eyes went to the fairy as she, of course, declared she would not turn back. “… that guy said something about digimon trafficking, right? Slaves and that kind of stuff! That’s the same thing Goyo told us about. So it isn’t a rumor, right? It is possible they have taken my brothers into this place, right? W-We have to follow them!”

Of course, the queen of the fairies was already on it.

The trap door seemed to lead to a long, underground tunnel, illuminated by a series of toches, affixed to the walls, placed throughout the whole tunnel. Boru turned his head to Titania, giving her a nod. Even if scary, this was what needed to be done in order to save his brothers, right?

Once they jumped inside the tunnel and they were standing on the wooden floor of the passage, they would actually hear a set of steps in the distance, echoing throughout the pathway. Could it be Viza, that Aegiomon or that Pandamon? Or maybe… all three of them?

In any case, it was time to get moving.

This was almost… overwhelming. Boru just stared as Titania talked about how much she hated what was happening here. There were many questions in the air so far: Who were these people? And who was this Dark Army that had appeared out of nowhere? Were they allies? Enemies? The only way to find the answers was pushing forward.

However, there was something he had no doubt about. Titania was burning with fire. As she evolved into Kazemon, the amount of power Boru could feel coming out of her intensified. It was even greater than back at the swamp! How strong was the queen of the fairies? Did she have a limit? Right now, it didn’t seem like. Boru let himself be picked by the Kazemon as they flew down the tunnel.

The whole trip would actually take a while. The steps in the distance were actually fast-paced. This two digimon seemed to be fast, too.

“I-I had never seen any of those digimon, Mrs. Titania.” Boru confessed. But that was ultimately fine, it was likely the fairy actually knew their species. “Do you know what they are? Can you guess what’s their power level? The one who smashed that ‘Butterface’ actually seemed tough." Saying that he was not worried would be a blatant lie coming from Boru right now. Could he really help Titania when the time came?

His train of thought stopped as they reached… the end of the road. A simple wall announced the end of the barely-illuminated tunnel. The duo’s first reaction would be to look up. And they would actually find another trapdoor. Nothing left to do but going through it, right?

Once they did, they’d find themselves back at the surface, this time on a small yard, no more than 20 meters away from the entrance of… the tower they had previously seen in the distance. The same Sonia said the Parrotmon flew towards! However, there was something else that would raise the duo’s attention.

“What… happened?” Boru’s eyes widened. Laying over the ground, many digimon could be found. They seemed seriously hurt and unable to keep fighting, as if they were in pain. “What are... these?”



Shonitamons.

Did… Titania hate these too? In any case, someone seemed to have hurt them. At this point, it was pretty obvious who it was. The tower stood in front of the Kazemon and the Psychemon. And whoever had done this to the soldiers had entered already. What would their next move be? 

The moonlight shone high above while Boru and Titania tried to come up with a plan before pushing forward. What the fairy had said earlier was… a bit frightening for the furriest member of the pair, in all honesty. They were walking into a free for all plagued with digimon whose power level was unknown. Viza, the Aegiomon, and the Pandamon were all probably inside of that tower, along another whole bunch of enemies they didn’t know. They had taken all of these Shonitamons out very quickly, so they definitely were a problem for a Rookie like Boru.

“I think they’re raiding the tower and dismantling the whole organization.” Boru’s eyes shifted from the defeated soldiers and to the giant structure. “They must be pretty strong, for them to get rid of so many enemies by themselves.”

Maybe Boru was being stupidly optimistic. Or maybe, just maybe, he just had a great idea. “They are fighting against each other inside this tower, right? So… maybe we can take advantage of that and save my brothers and everyone else while they’re at it!” Boru's strategy seemed to be a lot less confrontational. Which wasn't a bad thing, ultimately. After all, they were quickly outnumbered.

Even if they assumed this could work, there was a bit of a conflict between that plan and Titania’s. “But… if we go back and look for Sonia, it’s possible everything is over for when we come back! Considering how fast this Dark Army seems to be working.” However, it was undeniable that the Aquilamon was an important asset that they should have on their side.

So… what to do?

Well, they didn’t seem to have a lot of time to dwell about that, a series of steps could be heard heading their way. Out of the woods surrounding the tower, more Shonitamons appeared! This was not good. They didn’t have the time to fight these. Not if they wanted to execute any of their plans. They needed to make a decision.

“M-Mrs Titania…!” Boru’s eyes went to the fairy. For a second, he sounded hesitant in giving his opinion. In the end, he just went for it. “I feel maybe we can find a way of calling Sonia from inside the tower! We just need to make a sign that she can see from afar, right?” Then again, why in the world would Titania trust his hunch? “I-I mean…” Yes, not very likely, right? “… I know I’m not strong or very smart but… I just… feel this is the best thing to do.”

What would Titania do? Would she trust Boru or decide to make the calls herself?

If they decided to get inside the tower, they probably should do it soon, before those gag evolutions blocked their way in. And, if they did, they would find themselves inside a room. A huge spiral staircase could be spotted up front. It was wide and the end of it couldn't even be seen right now.

Even if there were doors that seemed to lead to many different rooms, the best course of action seemed to be just going up. After all, there were more semi-unconscious Shonitamons spread across the stairs. Like bread crumbs, they seemed to indicate the path to follow.