Digimon Story: Rainbow Traverse -- Chp 20

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("I'm not sure of any loopholes, either,") thought Renee.

"I'll do it," said Keilani.

"No," said Malie. "We're here because of Kukui. I should be the one to sign the deal."

“Wait.. are you guys sure?! I don’t want you guys to put yourselves in danger..”

Keilani shook her head. "I'm not letting you guys get hurt because you wanted to make a deal with a some sketchy digimon in a limo. No offense," she added.

"None taken," said Theridia.

"But Kukuimon's MY responsibility!" said Malie.

"I know that, Mal." said Kei. "That's why you need to be the one to find him. You can't do that if you're distracted by stuff like this hanging over your head."

Malie clenched her fists, her gaze falling to the floor.

Nodding, Keilani turned her attention to Theridia. "We'll go with the agony clause," she said. "I'm guessing it's not permanent, right?"

"Roughly half an hour," said the broker. "Though I've seen grown men break under the strain."

Al also felt a pit form in his stomach, and he would gently nudge Malie as he looked at his sister. “I can’t stop you.. but I don’t think this is a good idea.” He said, his tone reserved and slightly defeated.

(“I don’t like this Rena.. not one goddamn it..”)

("Neither do I,") thought the vulpine. ("I just hope Keilani knows what she's doing.")

"Keilani?" said Gammamon. Everyone's attention fell on the ceratops. Surrounded by the remains of several pretzel bags and water bottles, he frowned as he stared up at his partner.

The astronomer smiled. "Everything's fine, Gammy." she said. "I've got this." Seeing Theridia beckon her over, Keilani climbed across the side of the room till she sat beside the broker.

"Hold out your hand," said Theridia, to which she then clasped the tamer's with her own. Spirit thread angled above them, the white-haired woman would then repeat the terms of the contract, lowering the needle-like thread till it pierced the back of her hand. Keilani winced, the thread reappearing out the back of her's, only to bend and wrap around the hands and glow a pallid olivine. "By your words and mine," said the broker. "We are bound. Woe to whomsoever breaks the spirit and letter of our pact, till death or by mutually agreed release from service." A warbling sound echoed outward, the spirit thread fading from view. Keilani's grip was vice-like as Theridia let go, much to the astronomer's surprise.

"How do you feel?" asked Gammamon. "Did... did it hurt?"

"Just a pinch," she said, leaning forward to hold the ceratop's claws. "I've had booster shots that hurt more than that."

Watching this transpire, Al felt his chest tighten again as he closed his fists tightly enough to cause his knuckles to start aching. When the contract was seemingly completed, he sighed.

“So that’s that, huh?” He asked, gently patting Eyesmon with the toe of his shoe. “Could you share your findings with Eyesmon regarding the places where this data was stolen?”

"Of course," said the broker, reclining back in her seat. "I had data compiled while we were discussing the NDA."

Gammamon gave a start as a section of the nearby seating popped open. Renee shot her arm in front of Al, her eyes narrowing as something scuttled out of the dark.

"Aloha awakea!" said KoDokugumon.

Renee's arm lowered. "Spinny?" she said.

"Three-of-Eight will act as liaison between your group and myself," said Theridia, watching as the spiderling spat something small into a gloved hand. Raising it up to Renee, Spinny revealed it to be a chartreuse-colored thumb drive, dropping it into the shapeshifter's hand. "Now then," said Theridia. "Tell me what you know."

Al would tense.. and then relax as it turned out to be Spinny.”Well that isn’t so bad.” He said as he then sighed at Arukenimon’s question.

“Well first thing you gotta know: we’re going to make sure the server that houses Waihona doesn’t collapse.”

"Really now? And how do you plan on managing that?"

“Well, its both really simple and incredibly complicated. We have to find Lonomon.”

"Difficult to find a deific digimon outside of the Digital World."

"He's not in the Digital World," said Malie.

Theridia paused, her attention squared on the longhaired tamer. "Interesting," said the broker. "And what's led you to that conclusion, my dear?"

"We've got our sources. Top mons."

"Top... mons?"

"Yeah. Ever heard of Menehunemon?"

"To a point," said Theridia. "Not many of them around these days. If you found one that was willing to talk, then you're a very special group indeed."

And that made Al smile a bit. “Oh you don’t know the half of it. But we have a reliable source inform us that Lonomon disappeared from the Digital World, and is somewhere here in our world.”

"And you believe CODE knows something about it," reasoned Theridia.

"Wouldn't they?" asked Renee, the shapeshifter cleaning the spit off the thumb drive with Al's shirt. "It stands to reason that they would. At least more so than most."

"True. They have the resources to detect such a power manifesting this side of the Network... but travel through a distortion can have adverse effects on a digimon. The more powerful, the more phenomenal. This may not apply to a Guardian 'Akua per se. I certainly don't know of any examples of them coming over to Earth. But even so, it's worth keeping in mind."

“It’s probably even more than that. We suspect that they either have him.. or have an idea where Lonomon is and are trying to capture him. But.. it’s likely the former. We have too much evidence that he’s in captivity.” He said as he glanced at Renee

(“Do we tell her about the Ki’is?”)

("She did say she wanted anything related to the 'Akua,") thought Renee. ("Now that Keilani's bound to the pact, I'm not sure if it'd be safe to keep it from her.")

The mental conversation was cut short by the familiar sound of a phone vibrating. Theridia pulled its source from her pocket. "Excuse me for a minute," she said, looking down at the screen. "Talk amongst yourselves, this shouldn't take long..."