Digimon Story: Rainbow Traverse -- Chp 21

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Dusk settled over Hilo as Alemana drove southwards. Where once the anxiety had been limited to only him and Renee, now, with Malie sitting in the backseats, it was ambient. The longhaired tamer had a smile plastered across her face, never once glancing over at Renee as the shapeshifter watched her, nor the many-eyed shadow underneath Vivi's seat.

"So," said Renee. "We were gone a long time. Is everything good at the clubhouse?"

"Yep," said Malie. "Totally. Ike and Gaz were real busy working on spider milf's data. Didn't wanna risk the distraction by having you guys come upstairs."

Al felt a pressure in the back of his head as Renee's attention fell on him through their psychic link.

“Oh yeah? It sounds like you guys were hard at work,” Al said conversationally as they drove .. though his eyes looked at Renamon in a sidelong glance.

(“What is it, Renamon—?”)

("Oh, nothing~") she thought, winking back to him. ("Just needed you to take the reins on this.")

"You know it," said Malie. "They're just all over it like fingerprints on a dead man."

"That's a weird way of phrasing that!" chuckled Eyesmon.

"It sure is!"

Vivi looked over her shoulder at the backseats. "You guys wanna go over the plan one more time?" she asked. "Once we get close enough, Eyes' gonna have to bail to get ahead of us. Otherwise, we're gonna risk getting caught on the zoo's cameras."

(“… Right.”)

That was a weird way to describe it, and his ears reddened as he thought of particularly weird scenarios. Looking at Vivi he would then shrug

“It isn’t particularly complicated. Let Eyes put the cameras on loop, sneak in to the INAS, and hopefully rescue Kukuimon. Everything else we can call by ear and handle as we go.”

Renee nodded. "If I'm remembering it right," she said. "The zoo's water garden has heavy foliage on the opposite end of a pond. Being right next to the fence, once we jump over, we stick to the greenery till we find the INAS."

"Exactly," said Vivi. "From there, it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to set up the program."

Through the rearview mirror, A glint of fading sunlight caught Al's eye. Malie was holding Kukuimon's lei in her hand, her thumb rubbing against its black and gold shells.

("We won't fail, Al,") thought Renee. ("No matter what, we'll bring him home.")

“Sounds like a plan then,”Al said as he looked at Malie through the mirror “Abd when we bring him home we can make all his favorite foods.. it’ll be a party!”

(“We already failed once, Renamon. All we’re doing is making up for our mistake..”)

Darkness fell as dusk gave way to night. Eyesmon made good on the plan by disappearing halfway to the zoo, while keeping in radio contact via digivice.

The parking lot was near empty when the group arrived. Orange light fighting against the blackness of a clouded night sky. Renee took a moment to remove her disguise, not wanting the illusory flames to draw attention once they got close enough to main gate. Judging from the handful of vehicles nearby, however, there wouldn't be too many guards hanging around.

"++Hebi-chan to HQ++" came Eyesmon through Vivi's digivice. "++Hebi-chan to HQ, I've got eyes on the system, and the system is looped, over!++"

"HQ to Hebi-chan," said Vivi. "Hearing you loud and clear. The eagle has landed, and we're moving on in, over."

"Aw, you guys got callsigns?" asked Malie. "I want one!"

"You already have Lord Bucketmon," reasoned Vivi.

"Nooo-! That'd be a dead giveaway! Lord Bucketmon must be the essence of stealth!"

"Pig Mama?" offered Renamon.

Steely-eyed, Malie folded her arms as she glared up at the ceiling. "Hmm... Lord Bucketmon accepts your proposal."

Al couldn’t help but snicker as he then said: “We can be Fire Boy and Foxwife,”

Renamon feigned a gasp. "Al," she said, paw to her chest. "Is this your idea of a wedding proposal?"

"Focus, people," said Vivi as she started leaving the car. "We got a job to do."

"Yeah!" said Malie, pumping her fists. "Let's go save a piggo!"

Al smiled and nudged her with a shoulder “Let’s not drop any bombs like that on mom and dad- after their talk with Mach last night I don’t know if they could handle the idea that we’d want to get married —“ he said as he then sheepishly saluted Vivi

“Aye aye Kapitan!”

Winking to her partner, Renamon faded from view to the sound of a distant flute as everyone stepped outside. The humid air was loud with the din of insects, growing ever noisome the closer the group drew towards the zoo's high fence. Keeping low to the ground, everyone made their way as far from the main entrance as they could while straddling the fence line perimeter. First they awaited the all-clear from Eyesmon, then Renamon as the vulpine reappeared behind Alemana. She made short work of carrying the tamers over on her back, one by one. From there, the group crouched within the tall grass.

"Okay," said Vivi. "It's darker than last time, but we should still be able to find the INAS we found when we cased the place. Eyes--er, Hebi-chan, how're we doing on your end?"

"++Hebi-chan to HQ, we're still green to go. Security's busy on the animal exhibits and a game of craps outside the lobby, over++"

"Sounds like we've got this in the bag," said Renamon. "Let's find that distortion."

"Just watch out for the pond," said Vivi. "Faceplanting into it's bound to get someone's attention."

[Roll Perception with a -3 penalty]

So far, so good. "Alright.. lets go girls!"

[Rolling: 5 2 5 +7 -3=16]

The tamers took advantage of their digivices' map feature to evade the would-be water trap. Renamon, meanwhile, took off without making a sound.

("Good thing we didn't bring Gaz along,") she thought to Al. ("His pollen allergies would have kicked into overtime by now.")

Alemana was pulled from his thoughts when Vivi tapping him on the arm, the girl pointing at Malie. Indeed, Malie was crawling along the ground like a commando, the light from her digivice's screen revealing a pair of black stripes painted under her eyes. Despite crawling, she was well ahead of either Al or Vivi, and almost just as quiet as Renamon to boot.

Speaking of vulpines. ("Foxwife to Kitmon,") chimed Renamon. ("Foxwife to Kitmon, come in Kitmon. I've found the INAS due north-by-north-west of your location, over~")

Now inside, Al mentally took stock of the situation. Things seemed to be going well enough, that was a relief.. now they just had to avoid, to avoid…

“When did she get eyeblack?” Al asked, utterly distracted when Vivi pointed out Ace Commando Pig Mama. His bewilderment was cut short by Renamon’s report. (“Roger. And it’s Fire Boy, over”) and he made a mental radio noise to go with it.

“Foxwife has found the INAS, everyone.”

The vulpine's signature chuckle echoed in Al's mind as the others changed course. With what little light they had, they navigated the brush of exotic plants, till at last they came upon their quarry. Within a small clearing, a small shed stood beside a water pump, surrounded by plastic barrels and wooden palettes. A lone camera sat perched atop a swivel, bolted into the wall above the door. At first, everybody froze, clenching their teeth as they waited for it to turn and spot them.

"++I seeeeee yoooou~++" said Eyesmon through Vivi's digivice. "++No sweat, you're still in the clear++"

Vivi sighed. "Thanks Hebi-chan," she said, clenching her fist. "Keep us posted."

"++Roger that!++"

Renamon appeared again from the cover of the water pump, gesturing the others over even as she surveyed her surroundings. Taking cover behind a nearby stack of wooden palettes, the group found their distortion. It bent the light that passed through, pressure mounting as one drew closer.

"Okay," said Vivi, pulling out her laptop. "Moment of truth. Al, help me get this set up. I wanna do one last check before we start this bad boy up."

[Roll me Computer]