Digimon Story: Rainbow Traverse -- Chp 24

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That made him smirk as well “Then I guess you should come along to keep us outta trouble.” Al quipped as he then nodded at Kahunimon “Devolve for now hon.” He said as he sighed “I’m sure Vivi can handle everything. But Lavo.. do you want to go back with us? Get your territory back?”

The dragon grumbled, laying his head back down.

"Think he needs more time to heal up?" asked Kei.

"Possibly," said Kahunimon. Her body then became incandescent, her shape returning to that of Kyubimon as the light faded. "Though I'll admit, it would be a lot faster if we could ride him and fly out of the node."

“Hm…” Al would sigh “If Kukuimon was here he could help.. but it is what it is.” He said as he climbed up on Kyubi’s back, holding out a hand for Keilani to join him.

“Ready to be a badass, Kei?”

"Me?" said Kei, grabbing his hand. "I've been waiting on you!" As she climbed aboard, the scientist glanced over her shoulder. "Gammy! Time to go!"

The white ceratops had been gathering a bouquet of what remained of the nearby flowers. On hearing his tamer's voice, he waved back at her before sprouting leathery wings from his back, flying on over.

"Keilani!" he said, landing in her lap as he swatted everything in range with the bouquet. "Look what I made! Look what I made!"

"That's nice, Gammy, but they're gonna lose all their petals if you keep doing that."

("Sometimes I forget he has wings,") thought Kyubimon. ("For some reason he prefers walking most of the time.")

“Yeah yeah, miss ‘We-blew-up-a-meteor’.” He teased as he chuckled in his mind as he provided one last command to the road.. having it raise up to the portal. (“Jealous?”) he asked, giving her neck a few soft pats.

Looking back at Lavo, he called back “We will be back, you just rest okay!”

("Mhmhm, why bother with wings when you've got jet engines?") thought the ninetails, projecting the image of Karamon in Al's mind.

Lavo huffed, turning to face away from the group. So sulking, he watched from the corner of his eye as Kyubimon raced towards the living road with friends in tow.

Keilani and Gammamon were not the only ones to gasp as the group made their ascent. Despite feeling Kyubimon's initial run on the road, Al was still human, the strangeness of not feeling the pull of gravity - no matter how steep Kyubimon's dash along the trek became - proved a trial in its own right.

("It's easier if you keep your eyes forward~") thought Kyubimon, smile growing across her face.

(“Jet thrusters are cool, but what if you could use your butt like a helicopter?”) Al teased back, showing her a mental image of a smol, 16-bit Renamon buzzing around with her tail.. much like a certain popular video game character from his father’s childhood.

But as they raced up the living road and Al felt his damn organs floating around in his own body, he would instead close his eyes and just plant a kiss atop Kyubimon’s head as he (“Or this.”)

The vulpine chuckled, accelerating to full speed as they passed the halfway point. With Gammamon cheering right into Al's ear, the teen glanced back at the ground to see the shrinking Lavogaritamon staring up at them. Just in time for Kyubimon to spring board off the edge of the road and through the pixelated hole in the sky. Once more, the familiar sense of weightlessness fell upon the group, the realm of cyberspace expanding before them.

"Kyubimon says 'link five's the way!" And in turn, gravity pulled the group towards the tubular passageway, the great fox gaining ever more speed.

"So I'm figuring the node'll be either astronomy-based or mountainous," said Kei. "How good are you guys with heights?"

Al would give a laugh as gravity again shifted.. and he would then start looking ahead as Kei offered her thoughts on what the Node could be.

“Well if it’s either of those I guess we’re lucky you’re here Sis! As for heights.. meh, nothing we haven’t dealt with before; right Kyubi?”

"We've dabbled," said the great fox, a montage of great leaps and aerial combat maneuvers playing out between her and Al.

Minutes later, the literal information highway opened up in a harmless flash of light. As it cleared, Kyubimon came to a complete stop, the groups' eyes made wide.

"Are those--"

"--All nodes?" finished Kei.

Suspended at the center of an immense, spherical chamber, whose wallpaper depicted an evermoving array of stars, everyone gazed at the largest node they had ever seen. Even from a distance, they could make out a landscape of towering volcanoes that pierced through what little cloud cover there was. That alone, however, was not what drew the group's attention. No, it was the plethora of much smaller spheres that orbited the giant like miniature moons, their designs a blend of asteroid and space station.

Al’s reverie was interrupted by the sheer scale of the  Node

“Holy hell.. it’s like a whole world. You could fit Hilo in here! I think..”

Halfway through the sentence, Al was faceplanted into the back of Kyubimon's skull as Keilani shoved him down for a better view. "OH MY GOD!!" she said, beaming. "This--these must be connected to the MKO! Not just my observatory, but every one single one of them! Caltech Submillimeter! Gemini North! Even NASA's Infrared!"

"MOOOOONS!!" cheered Gammamon, whacking his bouquet against Al's head.

("You alright, Al?") thought Kyubimon, her expression deadpan.

“I wonder why Lavo was kicked out of here, there seems to be enough space for a zillion digimon in here- so  whACK!” Al felt stars burst in his vision as Kei and Gammamon started spazzing out like hyperactive school kids.

(“I’m fine baby girl, just dizzy”) he said as he shoved his sister back with and elbow, spitting out yellow fur. “Jeez Kei! Warn a guy before you try to give him a concussion!” He said as he again looked out at the vista surrounding them. For a long moment that childlike sense of wonder came back to him that reminded him of a few of the places they saw in the Digital World, and unexpectedly he felt a pant of regret.

(“We’re some of the few who have ever seen things like this Kyubi.. there’s millions.. billions of people who’ll live their whole lives and never see anything half as amazing as the stuff we have in barely a fraction of ours. I wish more people could see what we’re seeing.. maybe it would help give them as much wonder..”)

He then felt another stab of guilt, and his expression grew more focused. “We can’t let all this smash together and disappear, Keilani… we gotta do what we can to save what we can sis..”

[Hmm... roll Perception for me]

[Rolling=2,6,3 + 9 = 20]