Digimon Story: Rainbow Traverse -- Chp 11

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Alemana would enjoy her presence, drifting off for a bit. When the roar of MachGaogamons boosters woke him up, he nearly jumped to his feet. “Wha, huh?!” He asked, bewildered for a moment before seeing the Kahuna. Was this how Malie felt, all the time?

“Aloha Mach! What’re you doing here..?” He asked, equally confused. Had Vivi called him?

"Kuku sent me," he said, propping his sunglasses against his forehead. Al then noticed the blue canine had something clenched in his mechanized fist when Mach offered it to him and Kyubimon. Opening up his grip, a wave of intense heat sent the air rushing past Al's face. What lay in the palm of MachGaogamon's hand was an effigy carved from polished, red stone. It had the features of a human warrior, yet had the head of a feathered serpent with two tails reaching down its back, its body wreathed in fire.

"A Ki'i!" exclaimed Kyubimon.

"That's right," said Mach, his golden eyes staring down at the relic. "The Ki'i of Kūmon, my patron 'Akua."

The heat continued to batter them, only fading as the Ki'i began to glow like lava from behind red volcanic glass. Crimson sparks flickered across the surface, and the thrum of its power was palpable, even from where Alemana stood.

“He did? So did-“ he then gasped as he saw the Ki’i.. and he looked up at MachGaogamon in awe. “Thank you.. this means so much to us.” He said with a smile before going to the Window. “Guys, guys!  Mach is here, and he brought us a surprise!”

Mach wrapped his fingers around the Ki'i, pulling it back. "Don't go celebrating just yet, my man," he said. "There's a catch-22 to this."

The trio looked up when they heard Gargoylemon knocking knuckles against the roof, moments later, Ike and Malie were poking their heads out the window.

"What's the hol--oh hey it's Mach!" said Ike.

"Yeah!" said Gargoylemon. "And he's got the third Ki'i, too, boss!"

"Kukui," said Malie, looking down at the floor. "Go get the others."

Kyubimon stepped forward. "What's the catch, Mach?" she asked.

"Kūmon is the warrior 'Akua. From him, all digimon know what it means to fight. His coding exists inside our bodies, and gives us strength when conflict's the only way forward. That said--" he let but a tiny sliver of the Ki'i aura slip through his fingers, eyes locked on the crimson glow even as everyone else shielded their eyes from the heat. "I've never seen such raw energy coming out of a Ki'i. It's like it's unstable, ready to burn anything it touches."

The boy would shield his face from the wave of heat, eyes screwed up for a moment before he tentatively opened them. “What does that mean?”

"It means if you're not favored by Kūmon's, you're going to get burned," said Kyubimon.

"Actually, you might get burned either way," reasoned Mach. "Overcoming obstacles is par for the course with Kūmon, but so is self-sacrifice. Can't take the pain? Then you have no right dishing it out on others."

Ike climbed out through the window, balling his fists as he walked up to the kahuna.

"It's just me and Malie left who gotta get a patron," he said. "Show me what you got, Mach. I'm ready."

"Don't be reckless," said Vivi. Turning, Al saw her walk out the front door with Malie and Kukuimon, only to shield her face as she got blasted by the heat wave. "If you touch that, and you're wrong, you'll get third-degree burns for sure!"

"We got Kukui if that happens," countered Ike, patting his bicep. "No pain? No gain."

"Idiot, what if it's the kind that he CAN'T heal, like a divine curse or something?"

Alemana would feel a pant of worry for Ike. What if Vivi was right? He couldn’t bear to see Ike try to claim it, only to get maimed by the artifact. But at the same time.. what could he even do? He already was chosen by Kanemon..

“Could we wait for Kukuimon  to get ready to heal us anyway? I agree with Vivi.. we shouldn’t be hasty-“

"Wait for me? I'm right here," said Kukuimon, the piglet hiding behind Vivi and Malie as his leaf-ears wilted.

"I'mma doin' it," said Ike, stomping over to the Ki'i. But the moment he began, MachGaogamon opened his mechanized palm out, unleashing the full strength of the relic's aura. The tamer cursed under his breath, screwing his eyes shut as he reached out to touch the Ki'i.

"Boss, wait!" said Gargoylemon, leaping from the roof towards the blond. All the while, Mach watched in silence, his jaw clenched beneath a furrowed brow. "STOP!!"

An blood-curdling scream came out of Ike as he grabbed hold of the relic, the oppressive heatwave vanishing in an instant. The Ki'i throbbed a baleful red, its aura burning as light bended around it, all the while Ike continued to scream. His knees buckled as he hunched over, red lightning climbing up his arm while the skin of his hand blackened and blistered. Only after Gar was at his side, only after the living statue backhanded the relic out of his tamer's grip, and shielded them both behind his wings, did Ike cease screaming.

"I gotcha boss!" said the winged digimon, wrapping his arms around the boy. To Ike's credit, he was still standing, teeth clenching as he grabbed at his wrist, staring at his burnt hand.

But the moment he had released his hold on the Ki'i, the relic began blasting everyone with another wave of sweltering heat.

Al tried to tell him to wait, but when the boy grabbed it.. for a moment he dared to hope that He was Kumon’s chosen. But as he saw His arm blacken .. and burn.. his dread came rushing back “Ike!!!”

There was no time to try to comfort him though, the Ki’s energy would threaten to burn the others if something wasn’t done. Taking a breath, he ran towards the red stone, biting back his own curses as the heat intensified with every step forward as he then scooped it up, bracing for the inevitable agony that was sure to follow. He had to get it to Malie… he couldn’t let it be exposed for too long-!

But he also didn’t want to see her get as scorched as Ike did.. and he stopped- just clutching the relic in both hands. “I.. I don’t want anyone else to hurt themselves that this..!”

[Roll Bravery]

rolling: 2 6 4 + 3 = 15]

Agony wracked Al as he felt his hands burn with the Ki'i's power. He could let go, even if he wanted to, his hands refusing to let go of the relic as it coruscated and thrummed in his grip. His vision blurred, sweat pouring down his face. He could see Kyubimon and the others, he could hear them, but the words lost all definition, muffled as if beneath water, their pitch lowering as everything slowed. He could hear his heart pounding in his chest. He could feel the Ki'i pulsing in his grasp. He felt feverish, his blood boiling even as his skin burned. At some point, he couldn't tell which was which, the beating of his heart, or that of the relic.

Amama ua noa...

He heard a voice. He knew he did. But it was deeper than others he had heard, guttural and fierce. It burned in his chest, shaking him to the bone.

The next thing Alemana knew, he was standing still, the heatwave gone, the Ki'i no longer threatening to consume him whole.

[Take 1 DMG, no armor protection.]

And at first he had thought to let go. He had experienced great pain during his time here, he had broken bones, been stabbed..  but this pain was more primal.. purer than anything he had felt before… it brought him a strange sense of- exhilaration? A part of him then started to make a connection- one that was reinforced when he felt that voice in his very core. Could he have been .. not chosen before? He received visions and he had experienced Kanemon’s powers.. but he never felt anything this powerfully.. visceral.

And when everything stilled, and the pain began subsiding- though there was a consistent throbbing discomfort- he could only utter a single word:

“What..?”

Of all the group, it was Kyubimon that stood closest to the tamer, mere inches from him, her eyes wide and trembling. "Al," she said. "What... what's going on?"

"He has been found worthy," said MachGaogamon, his voice hushed as he stared at the human.

"Look!" said Malie, pointing at Alemana's digivice.

Looking down, the boy saw a light glowing from the screen. The digivice rumbled and shook as sparks flew from it. Golden light poured out from it, and in turn so too did Kumon's Ki'i glow red. Suddenly, floating before them all was Kanemon's Ki'i! Yet, instead of remaining with the boy, the object sailed through the air towards Gargoylemon and Ike.

"Wha... wh-what?" he stammered, still clutching his ruined hand. The Ki'i, however, remained floating in front of him, shining like a second sun, yet somehow the tamer remained able to look at it without protection of any kind.

Seeing this only filled him with even more questions.. but he just clutched the Ki’i in his hands as he struggled to keep tears from falling from his face from the stress of the situation.. and he slumped against her. “I.. I don’t get what’s going on..” he whispered.. looking down at Kumon’s relic, and back at the other that he had been holding onto for so long, squinting  from the bright light.

“Was.. why was I allowed to carry it if Ike is the one -?”