The Path of Reforging Begins (Alicia/Kai)

    The desert. Kai... Had last been here, for a different Spirit hunt.With Rei... And it hadn't ended well. Perhaps it was his imagination... But he almost felt like he could see the town that had been destroyed when Scout became Skullgreymon. Another pang of guilt and anxiety. If something like that happened again... Could he really stop Alicia without hurting her? Certainly, he couldn't if she was on SkullGreymon's level... No. This way of thinking was bad. Surely the first, and in Kai's experience, weakest, spirit wouldn't be so disastrous... Right?

    "How much farther is it?" Kai asked, shielding his eyes against the occasionally wind spurts blasting sand into his face. A shame that the Trailmon had only taken them this far... But, then, he couldn't really ask for too much. "Pah! I hate sand!" Shiro yelped. Kuro just dug deeper into Kai's bag, to keep the sand from getting into her fur... But it wasn't very useful. Kai was going to have to dump the bag before going back, or else explain how all that sand got into his room.

    Kai was, understandably, rather concerned when the person he had tagged along in order to protect, suddenly vanished into the sands.He scrambled over to the edge of the pit, which had not been there a second ago. "Alicia!? Are you okay!?" He called down... And it wasn't long before he got a response. Phew. She was okay. And her spirit was down there, that was good. Next order of business- Getting down. After all... Crap! In a panic, he called down, "Don't move until I get there! In my experience... Spirit totems are guarded by Digimon! Usually tough ones, and ones who don't like their treasures being taken!" It was such a stupid thing to have forgotten! He needed to get down there, stat! But how? He... Probably could have jumped... But with a broken arm and ribs... He wasn't sure he should risk it.

    "Get a move on, already!" called the impatient Shiro, as he casually headbutted Kai into the pit. "Wai-Whauuuugh!" Kai called as he fell. Fortunately, Alicia was right, the sand was soft. And he managed to land on his back... Which was a plus, until Shiro fell solidly on one of his broken ribs. Ouch. He wince in pain, and brushed the white Digimon off with his good hand. Safe from the sandy wind, Kuro also took the opportunity to get out of the bag, and shake some sand from her fur. "I'm.. Guh. Fine." He forced out, not sounding at all fine as he rose to his feet. "Let's go find that spirit."

    "The sooner we leave this desert, the better." Kuro declared, in one of her rare moments of talkative-ness.

    Kai waited for something to attack. And waited. And waited. Even when Alicia announced that she'd found it, he waited for something to come. He... Hadn't been much help with the digging. All things considered, mostly his arm and the fact that she had the spirit talking to her and he didn't. meant that he was much more use on guard duty. Or so he'd thought. But nothing had come. "Right. Yes. Back to the surface is better. Shiro, you ready?" What, it wasn't like he could easily climb out! Not with that arm! ALicia was probably confused about what he was planning, though. "Always!"

    The boy raised his Digivice. Kuro! Shiro! Digivolve!"

    Light bathed over the two Digimon, their forms morphing and growing. Why digivolve Kuro as well, you might wonder? Well, Kai had quickly learned that neither of his partners would digivolve, unless he digivolved both. Slightly inconvenient, at times. Kai pulled himself onto Shiro's back- The white Digimon was much more willing to take riders. At least, so long as they did not make fun of the tiny wings sprouting from his shoulder blade. "Hop aboard, unless you'd rather climb out yourself."

    Seriously, why wasn't anything attackjing! Kai... Was happy to not have to fight, but terrified at the thought that something was surely coming, and he didn't know when or where.

    Shiro, in an uncharacteristic display of patience, waited for Alicia to clear the pit before trotting forward to leap out. But from the sounds he heard... The thing he'd been keeping on guard for was already here!"Shiro!" "I know!" The white Digimon ran forward, easily leaping out of the pit. And they promptly found themselves surrounded by a group of... Flarizamon! A digimon he recognized, the armor evolved form of Tomomi's partner, Kami! But... There were a lot of them here. And they didn't look friendly.

    Kuro swiftly climbed out of the pit after them. Still... It was three against five... And Alicia had only just received her first spirit. He glanced at his arm- So quickly that it may not have been noticed. At that time... There had only been two opponents, and Tomomi was far more experienced than Alicia. This... Did not look good. "Press buttons! One should do it! A ring of light will appear around your hand! I'll say this now though- Unless that spirit of yours is ridiculously strong- Run once you've transformed! I'll hold them off! Outnumbered like this, is no place for your first fight!" Would he be able to stall them...? He didn't know. But he knew that, for Alicia's sake... He had to try.

    He just hoped Alicia would listen. They didn't exactly have the luxury of arguing about it.

    "You..." Kai clamped his hand over his face and ground his teeth. "Look. We aren't going to win. The fact is, there's too many of them. I wasn't just telling you to get out to act cool- I can handle myself. For at least a moment. I told you to run so that when I hightail it, I wouldn't have to watch out to be sure you'd gotten away!" Kai groaned. "Pssh. Who'd run!?" Shiro said excitedly. Kai groaned again. Seriously? Five versus three, and of the three, two were all for fighting. "Whatever. Too late now."

    Too late by far. The Digimon were attacking. A smart move by Alicia stopped most of them... But one was barreling in, and another was cutting off their ability to dodge. They were out of time to run. And by the sounds of it, he and Kuro were the only ones interested in running. And Kuro wouldn't leave her brother, if it came down to it. They had to fight. Crap. "Hah! Leave this to me!" Shiro declared, throwing himself at the oncoming ball of flame. Kai knew Shiro was tough enough to take that level of beating... But it didn't stop him from cringing when the two collided.

    "Heavy Blast!" Kuro called, firing a supporting blast at one of the Flarizamon that had been stalled by the spikes. It wasn't a powerful attack, but it was better than nothing. Still... Neither Kuro nor Alicia would last long if the Flarizamon reached them. But Shiro wouldn't last long, not if he was targetted down by five enemies. And if he fell, so would Kuro. And vice versa, so even if he let them through it wouldn't help. The fact was, it was two champions and a rookie, against five champions. There was no way this ended well.

    No... There was no way they could hold up. Even if Alicia's attacks were effective... And Shiro could definitely hold his own against one, even two of their foes... But Kuro couldn't. The black Digimon was not a fighter on her best day, and at the moment... Kai could sense that she was restrained, unwilling to leave his side. Keeping him safe, the worthless human who could do nothing but watch and fear the worst. In Kuro's mind, last time she had left his side- He had been injured, severely. She was not about to let that happen again. But Kai wasn't worried for himself, no. Alicia was... Roughly the same power as Flamon, or BigAgumon. The weakest spirits in their respective user's arsenal. No match for the power of Flarizamon.

    And this was painfully obvious when three of the wild Digimon struck her with their attacks- Kai couldn't see how much she had dodged through the turbulence of the battle, and had no choice but to assume the worst. Shiro managed to throw back the Flarizamon he had been fighting with brute force, and ran over to her. He would fight all five until she recovered, if he had to. But Kai knew he could not lastThis was his fault! Why... Why had he not called Scout? Rei? Tomomi? Anyone!? Why had he been so headstrong as to think he could protect anyone! He clenched his digivice to his side and mourned his own uselessness. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why.

    Perhaps sensing her Tamer's turbulent emotions, Kuro began to speak. "Kai..." She began, softly. "You are right. As it is... This battle is one we cannot win. But..." Whatever she was saying was crudely cut off by Shiro. "Grah! Battle I can't win!? Such a thing... HEAVY BLAST! Does not exist!" Shiro launched an energy ball mid boast, which flew straight for one of the flaming lizards. But while that one fell back, the other four continued to approach- And the one that was hit did not take long to recover.

    "There is a way, Kai. But it all depends on you. So you can either give up and we all die, or-" She was cut off again. "YOU CAN KICK IT UP A NOTCH!" Shiro bellowed, diving into the nearest Flarizamon. But there were four others, right there. Even with Alicia... Kai was certain Shiro would lose. Be deleted. Be gone... He didn't want that. And he knew exactly what Kuro and Shiro meant. But... He had never Digivolved beyond Champion before. Was he even capable of doing so? After all... All signs pointed to him being an accident, not meant to be a Tamer. It... Was honestly a miracle he could even reach Champion.

    His hesitation was obvious. "There is no time. DO IT." Kuro's voice grew loud, very unlike the soft spoken Digimon. Her love for her brother was obvious- It hurt her to see him in such peril. And she was right. It was now or never. Kai didn't have a choice. If this didn't work... He held up his Digivice. "Twin... Digivolution!" he called. And was met with a gratifying sight, the screen of the device lighting... And at the same time, Kuro and Shiro appeared to be enveloped in energy. Black for Kuro, white for Shiro. But unlike usual, this energy, which Kai suspected to be raw code, did not simply reform into higher forms. The two orbs stretched, straight for each other, the white one even pushing aside two of the Flarizamon to do so.

    Kai had never seen anything like it. Neither had the Flarizamon, given their lack of reaction. Either that or it was just Digimon etiquette to not interrupt Digivolution. Either way, these stretched portions of the orbs that had been Kuro and Shiro began to meld, mix... To become one. But then something happened. The two snapped back to themselves. And, having started to mix... A blatant white patch appeared on the black one, and vice versa. Kai didn't know what was going on... But the two orbs of what he could only assume were Kuro and Shiro's raw code began to contract. But not much... Instead, it was as if it was pulled over a framework with the extremities protruding first, until the whole body was revealed. He... Had done it! They had Digivolved! And not a moment too soon, as Shiro swiped two of the Flarizamon away with a single backhanded stroke.

    "YANGMON!"
    "Yinmon."

    Kai had a moment to admire their new forms. The two... Held themselves very similarly to the Flarizamon, bipedal, but with a very hunched forward head. Very different from their previous form. And much larger, too- While Shiro had been on par with the Flarizamon's size before... He dwarfed them, now. And Kuro, who had been smaller, reached the same size. And Shiro's wings had fully protruded- No more teasing him about his little baby wings now! And, perhaps a result of the strange digivolution... Each now bore a distinct pattern. A circuitboard diagram, Kai was able to recognize, but did not have the time or knowledge to determine the meaning. And their eyes now bore the color of their counterpart, Shiro's being black and Kuro's being white. Overall... It was quite impressive.

    More importantly... With two Ultimate level Digimon on his side... Perhaps the Flarizamon would realize they were outclassed, and give up without a fight?

    Kai breathed a deep sigh of relief, as the wild Digimon retreated. They... Had been lucky. If he hadn't... Hadn't been able to Digivolve Kuro and Shiro... Well, as Kuro said. They would die. It had been... A miracle that he had succeeded. It had only been... Two months since Kuro and Shiro had first reached Champion. Kai couldn't say he knew what the expected time between Digivolutions was... But it seemed early. From the time he met them, it had been a week till their first digivolution. And a month or so after that for the second. So was their growth fast, or slow? Kai... Couldn't say. He'd have to ask someone else. Someone knowledgeable. Like that DATS guy, Josh. He seemed like he might know.

    "That's right, you did. But... To be fair, even if you did listen to me and run- I know Shiro well enough to know he never would." Hearing his name, Shiro perked up. "That's right! I'm the strongest there is! I never run!" Whether this was as much to be proud of as Shiro seemed to think... Was questionable. But Kai let it pass. Shiro had, after all, just casually knocked aside two Champion level Digimon. Kai doubted he was the absolute strongest, especially remembering Giygas, but there was no questioning his strength.

    Anyways... My point is, it's over. We won. Somehow. But it was a fluke. It was... Luck, that Kuro and Shiro were able to digivolve. You can't expect flukes like that every time. When it comes down to it... If a battle seems unwinnable, it very well may be. Believing in yourself is all fine and good... But please, know when to stop. If you'd gotten hurt... Or killed, it would have been my fault. For bringing you here. So please, don't fight against the odds just because you lucked out once." His voice was almost pleading. He was lucky that when it came to him, he'd come out with just a broken arm. And in that fight... It had been even. No, he'd even had the advantage, since Tomomi was there. If Kuro and Shiro hadn't digivolved... If Kai hadn't been there... Kai just had a vision of Rustdramon's body lying broken on the sands.

    Kuro broke in. "Yes. Let us get out of this nasty sand and grime. I can already tell that it will take forever to take the sand out of my fur." Kai just nodded in agreement. He... Didn't really feel like he had any more words in him. Well, at least this time he wasn't passing out with hypothermia.