Way of the Mantis(Armor Hunt)(COMPLETE)

    Going back was never an easy task, even though Amelie herself felt kinda numb towards the whole deal. She could only guess it was because of the process of getting acclimated to this world once again, but could it really be called that when she seldom felt… anything? It was honestly hard to tell.

    Tenebrous was one of those places she had a weird fondness towards. “Doctor Cross’ doing, ain’t it?” She muttered to herself as soon as she took the first step into the city. That fruitless negotiation about a possible truce had turned sour and inconsequential real fast, which made the girl wonder if she was truly safe in case somebody recognized her? Yet… that seemed to be next to no issue as she advanced forward. Maybe she was that desperate to wake up from this numbness? It was hard to tell, considering her step didn’t seem anything out of the ordinary.

    What was doing here, anyway? The truth was that the brunette had never in her life visited this place, and was honestly curious in regards to what was the deal with her late peer’s work. At first, she wandered somewhat aimlessly, just admiring the city’s architecture and how of a polar opposite it was when compared to Deeplane. All in all, she was glad that this place was everything her own wasn’t.

    As far as she could see, there wasn’t a lot of interest to see, and she considered turning around and going back home at least three times before finally stumbling into a quaint café. Oh well; maybe she could find some quality tea here. That’d definitely salvage her visit.

    She didn’t count on spotting quite the quaint creature before entering, however. A Calumon, alone on their own, carrying a digivice and with a look of utter exhaustion in their face. Not something she had hoped to see here, not by a long shot. In all honesty, it was kind of a miracle that the guy hadn’t been mugged by now… well, unless they were a mugger themselves. But how likely could that be? Probs not that much; nevermind the fact he didn’t appear to be a local.

    “Hey there, little one.” She called out, referring to the small digimon. “I’m gonna be honest and say you look positively awful. Anything troubling you?”

    The Calumon’s plight was definitely something Amelie could empathize with, and it totally justified the small digimon’s regrettable state. The brunette’s expression was swift to turn into an indignant scowl. “Didn’t know that slavers hanged out in this hellhole of all places; guess it makes sense in hindsight though.” She proceeded to shake her head at the question. “I haven’t seen your tamer, but there’s probably not a lot of places where he’s being kept. We could probably fish there pretty quickly, unless you’ve got a better idea.”

    As things were, conducting a search was probably what they had to do unless the Calumon was privy to information he hadn’t disclosed thus far. In any case… “I know a bit about this city’s layout. Hung out some time ago with one of its founders. There’s about three underground dens where some pretty shady activities are held. If we can pinpoint where your tamer is, we can intrude there and free him. Should be easy enough. I think.”

    Despite everything, the young woman’s tone was even and confident. Even though it had somewhat lost its luster, there was this aura of authority about her that was quite palpable if one heard her speak for a bit. After patting her shoulder a bit, she gestured at the Calumon. “You can hop here for the time being. We probs have quite the trip ahead of us.”

    Was that a hint of excitement in her voice? It was hard to tell amid the monotone, but it was hard to deny the notion of something definitely being there.

    From what Amelie could see, the Calumon was undoubtedly not in his best shape. He was trying his best to not succumb to hopelessness and… failing, apparently. Amelie, on the other hand, could only comfort the little digimon the best way she could.

    “If he has, then we force Buraimon to talk about the buyer and divulge everything he knows about them or we convince him gently. I’ve been in my fair share of negotiations with shady folks, y’know? You could say I’m rather skilled at that.”

    It was then when a Togemon decided he had no better idea than to interrupt the conversation, even though he ultimately empathized with the Calumon’s frayed looks and understood his plight. That was a good thing, in the end! It seemed like the Buraimon’s location was known now, and that meant that the pursuit could begin.

    Amelie had pretty much been waiting for the Calumon’s words before a cocky grin made her way to her face, she cracked her knuckles before gesturing underground. “I was wondering when you’d say that. Let’s get your tamer back, little dude.”

    Taking some steps back to not collapse the buildings front, Amelie brought her D-Tector, a complex series of fractal code rings enveloping her hand as she spirit evolved. After the short transformation, a creature that no doubt would look at home in this city gestured at the Calumon, as if inviting it to ride on its back. If one could say such a thing had a back. If the Calumon boarded that unlikely horse, he’d feel a heavily distorted version of Amelie’s voice speaking directly into his mind.

    We’ll get there in a sec! Hold on tight for the time being though!

    Without saying any other words, the digimon rushed forward at a speed that was nothing short of amazing.

    Eventually, the group reached some kind of action stage. Something that’d had made Amelie sick to her stomach… if she had one at the moment, that is. She could sense some energy emanating from the object at the center of the stage, and that was her mind concocted a plan. This would be pretty fun, wasn’t it? Been a while since she had gone relatively wild.

    Alright, I think I had an idea. I’ll snatch that Digimental there and then smash the stage down. If your boy’s here, then the commotion will be enough for at least show a glimpse of him. That’s when you sneak out and free him. How does that sound?

    Sure, it wasn’t a plan possessing the most finesse, but the brute force approach was probably the quickest and most effective way to get the digimon’s tamer back. Nonetheless, if the Calumon had a better plan or thought that was a bad idea, Amelie would remain still, at least momentarily! Hard to say if she’d do so for a prolonged period of time, considering how much she seemed like she was itching to act. Could she be blamed, though?

    Breathe deeply. Have empathy for the distressed Calumon. Here we go!

    Didn’t mean to claim the thingy as mine, y’know? Just making sure it’s safe for the time being. Protecting valuables and stuff; don’t think that chosen Calumons transported the thing to the center of that stage anyway, right?

    Apparently most of her plan hadn’t been commented on, which could only mean one thing; there was no strong opposition for it, of course! Since the small white digimon had flown into a very definite direction, then it meant that Amelie herself had a wide range of targets to work with and generate an adequate distraction.

    With that in mind, the simplest of outcomes was reached. From one moment to the next, a fire column descended upon one of the nearby tents, where the Calumon had definitely not gone. The flames were seldom harmful, but they sure were showy enough to divert a good deal of the attention to that place. It was hard to guess, but that’d probably give the Calumon and the human partner he had potentially found enough time to engineer an exit.

    And if it didn’t? All the better.

    Well, hadn’t that been effective? Amelie could pretty much feel that the ruckus that she had caused was enough to divert the attention of one too many curious digimons and humans alike. All in all, the diversion had been a success! With any luck, the Calumon would be able to sneak in and secure his human while everyone was too confused by the chaotic nature of this event.

    So, what’d Amelie do, then? For one, another fiery eruption would erupt from a nearby-yet-far point, further compounding into the bedlam underway. At the same time, the aberration would remain hidden, at a far enough point to be decently-hard to track. Basically, everything was set up in such a way it’d waste the time of whoever was pursuing as much as possible.

    What were the odds of them reuniting, anyway? It wasn’t like she had formed a particularly close bond with the Calumon, and it was probably in his best interest to get away as quickly as possible when everything was said than done. Maybe it was smart to just scram after ten minutes or so? That’d be good enough of a headstart for them.

    That had gone better than expected. Amid the chaos, nobody even suspected a digimon that was more-than-well hidden and that, in fact… didn’t need to remain a digimon anymore. From one second to another, Amelie returned back to her human form and gazed around, her intent being to check firsthand if the Calumon and his partner were alright.

    It took one look at the stage to recognize a boy running towards it and that, some distance away, the Calumon and a Buraimon were fighting. Well, it seemed like the resolution of this situation would be pretty straightforward. Was it even opportune for her to intervene? Probably not, but where was the fun there?

    She ran towards where the confrontation was taking place, and, taking a nearby pebble from the ground, threw it straight into the Buraimon’s head.

    “Hey, Birdbrain!” The brunette shouted, her intent to distract her from the Calumon. “Why don’t you mess with somebody of your size? Afraid of getting turned into KFC? Cos I’m sure feeling up to some over here!”

    Would that be enough for a distraction? Maybe enough for the male to reach the Digimental? Maybe enough for peeps to get a laugh at it. In any case, it’d be a victory.