Digimon Story: Rainbow Traverse -- Chp 23

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Past the doors, a hallway stretched into the gloom. Reminiscent of the shrine in Oboromon's domain echoed in its design, shoji screens on either side of a wooden floor. A faint glow came from the opposite end, while another pair of sliding doors awaited at the halfway point to the right. Of BlackRenamon, there was no sign, just the stillness of a place Al knew nothing of.

Looking one way down the hall, then the other before sighing and deciding to make a break for it. He had to find Renamon.. he had a horrible feeling Brena was boing to try something extreme to convince him to abandon her.

One step into the hallway, and Alemana found the floorboard beneath him creak. On instinct he froze, knowing how well Renamon's sense of hearing was, and now, by extension, Brena's.

Feeling his heart leap into his throat, Al would stop moving and listen.. straining his ears to catch any hint that BlackRenamon had heard him. He wasn't sure what would happen if she caught him trying to escape, but if she had Magatsurimon's data- and it seemed that she did- he shuddered at the possibilities.

*Rollz*

Adrenaline in his veins, Alemana caught a quiet tune in the distance. It was the same tune Brena had been humming when she had lit the incense. His time with Renamon no doubt had helped, and if Brena was busy humming, that meant her attention was divided. Al could do this, but he would have to time his movements. The tune itself sounded like one of Kukuimon's. Based on that, Al took a step forward, the floor chirping under him again.

[Roll Stealth]

[Rolling: 5,4,6 + 7 = 22]

*Rollz*

Without signs of a pause in the music or being grabbed from behind, Al motioned into a rhythm; passing the second sent of double doors on his way to the far end of the hall. The humming grew softer, fading out of earshot. Passing through an archway, the athlete-turned-ninja stepping onto more tatami mats. Not a peep, which was just as well, for in the room Al had wandered into, paper lanterns flickered to life, each a dim light that revealed scrolls mounted on the walls. There was no mistaking the brushwork depicted, how it flowed and guided the viewer's gaze, only to blot as though stabbing the paper in inks of red and black. They showed stylized images of Brena in a kimono at various stages of undress; kneading her breasts; fondling her loins; even as she clawed bloody canals across her flesh, the vibrant reds blooming into crimson spider lilies as the pink petals of Hawaiian hibiscus flowers gathered at her feet. With every new scroll, the images became more graphic, more violent, and salacious. Some where of Magatsurimon, in all her glory, depicting her battles against Mymaromon, Varamon, and the creature Gorgemon had digivolved into. And then there was one with Brena as she held Alemana in her arms, kissing him, as her body bled rivers of blood and binary.

The sudden light caused him to flinch and nearly step in a wrong way.. but thanks to the training that Renamon had done with him for so many hours he was able to keep his balance. Curiosity then got the better of him and he would observe the scrolls.. and each one filled him with a strange, sick combination of revulsion, pride, and.. longing. Did he truly.. feel something for BlackRenamon? Or even more worrying- did he care for Brena in the same manner as he did Rena? Stopping before the last scroll.. he would tentatively touch it.

"Brena.. I'm sorry.." he whispered.

Reaching out, Al felt a cool breeze touch his finger tips. At first, the flicking light had made the illusion of movement -- even making the paintings seem to breathe--but up close, he saw the truth. Behind the scroll of him and Brena was a hidden alcove, elevated above the floor. Exposed to the light, it didn't take long to reveal a sliding door handle, a secret passage!

For a terrifying moment he froze, but when it was clear that he was not in any danger(yet) he would push the scroll to the side.. and with only a moment of hesitation he would enter the secret passage

The passage interior was walled with lacquered wooden panels, the path splitting to the left and right. The smell of incense filled the crawlspace, though thanks to the breeze it wasn't enough to become suffocating. Holographic glyphs glowed in silence along the outer wall, giving a candle's worth of light to guide Al's way. The teen wet his finger against his tongue, raising it above his head as he remembered something Ike and Gazimon said. Feeling the direction of the breeze.

"Hey Gaz, you know how in movies people check the airflow to get out of caves?"

"Yep, classic splunkin' trick, boss. Not that need it 'er nothin', but if you get lost somewheres, it's good to know that a breeze flows inward when it's hot, and outies when it's cold. Knowin' that'll help you find a ways out."

Taking it to heart, Al turned to face the breeze, making his way through the gloom.

...

From the shadows atop the shrine's central pagoda, Renamon gazed down at the compound. Invisible though she was to the naked eye, it did little to ease her nerves.

("The entire shrine's surrounded by black fog,") she thought. ("Are we even in the same node as the others, or a separate layer? No telling how long it'll take for everyone to find us. And now there's two of me. I can't sense where either Al or that copy of me is.") She rested a paw over her nose. ("Everything stinks of rust and incense. Maybe if I tried--no, telepathy won't help. There's no telling if Brena could eavesdrop on us if I tried... but that's fine by me,") she thought, punching her palm. ("I already know how this bitch thinks. And even with reverse psychology, there are some things about yourself you just can't deny.")

...

Al cracked open the sliding hatch, peeking inside. The room beyond was lit by crimson moonlight pouring down from an open balcony to the right-hand side. Tatami mats covered all but one section of the floor, in which a sunken hearth held up a tea pot in the shape of a nine-tailed fox.

“What?”

Alemana would look around at the balcony as he stepped out of the passage.. looking around incredulously. “This place is nice.. for being the house of a madwoman..” he murmured as he approached the teapot

Stepping onto the matted floor, Al noticed the archway leading onto the balcony was covered by silk curtains, swaying in the breeze. They were kind that kept out insects during high summer, and as their shadows moved across the floor, it drew Al's attention to another silhouette.

"Alemaaanaaaa~" whispered Brena's voice in his ear. Instinct pulled at the teen's neck to turn around, yet he found no sign of the black vulpine waiting behind him. Rather, through the screen wall opposite the balcony, he saw the outline of someone as it past into the light. "Are we playing hide and seek, now? You should know better than to tease me..."

He was looking curtains when her voice tickled the back of his neck and he spun around, moving so quickly he actually tripped and fell onto the tatami mats with a audible thud (“Oh fuck oh fuck..”)

Brena's chuckle echoed in the teen's mind. He watched as the black vulpine's silhouette turned her head towards him. That she didn't reappear right on top of him was a miracle, the dark digimon turning back to face the way she had been going, receding from the light... then Al saw it, the door at the far end of the room. It slid out of the way, but the glare of the moon's light kept Al from seeing what stepped through. He heard something being dragged. Not the grating of metal, rock, or even wood, it was too light for that. Only as the figure stepped into the light, did he see the truth. Garbed in a many-layered, white, black and red kimono--whose folds concealed her legs such that she seemed to glide, a Hawaiian woman smiled down at Al behind long black and unkempt hair. Her bosom barely contained, her right shoulder was left exposed, revealing tribal tattoos that stretched and wrapped around her right breast and arm. And as she smiled, Al recognized her face. It was Renee's but with ruby-colored eyes, a lei of purple flowers hanging low around her neck whilst a spider lily pinned the hair bun behind her.

"Mhmhmhm, did I startle you?" she asked, throwing back what hair cascaded onto the front of her.