Red Sun Rising

Chapter 1: Meet Robo-Man and Candy Boy

Steven:

Recap:

My eyes landed on the altar, where a smooth round black stone sat, pulsing with white energy. I picked it up gingerly, examining it. It was warm to the touch and rather light. The Omnistone, the one thing that would rid us of Red Hood once and for all, was here in my grasp. A smile made its way onto my face.

"We did it guys! Good job, Crystal!" I turned around and immediately froze.

Nothing had been damaged on the summit. Aqua, Terra, Ven and the rest of the D.T.C. were staring at the stone I held in awe. But the one person I couldn't see was my sister.

"Crystal?" I called out. No answer. "Crystal!" I turned in a full circle, the others looking around as well. Fear gripped my chest. Had the creature...?

"She was standing right there a few seconds ago," Max said with brows furrowed.

"You don't think she—"

"Don't, Danny."

"The burst of energy... It—" Terra began before Aqua elbowed him in the gut.

"Crystal!" "Not funny, cuz!" "Where'd you go?"

"You're wasting your breath," a new voice said. "She's not here."

Quick as a flash, our weapons were out and pointing in the direction of the unknown speaker. From behind one of the boulders, a guy in a white Traveler's cloak came out and leaned against it, his hood covering his face and his arms folded in front of him. I half-hoped it was Lee. But the voice didn't sound like him.

"What do you mean?" I called out, taking a few steps towards him. If he had anything to do with this... "She isn't..."

"No, Steven Rockwell. She's still alive." The stranger's words lifted a little tension off my shoulders. "She's just... temporarily offline, I guess you could say. But we're wasting time here. Come. We must keep the Omnistone safe."

My eyes narrowed. Despite his cloak, I didn't exactly trust the guy. "Who are you?"

The guy took his hood off, revealing unnerving silver eyes under a mop of black hair. "My name is Malachi, and I'm a friend of Crystal's. I believe she's mentioned me before."

'What? Nonsense!' I wanted to yell at him. But when he said his name, something did strike me as familiar. The gears in my head began turning. Malachi...Mala...chi...Kai?

I did a double take and nearly choked on my own saliva. "Wait a minute... you're Kai?!"

~

Kai, or should I say Malachi, made a big gesture of sweeping his cloak back and gave us an exaggerated bow. His clothes didn't look any different from Earth's. In a dark blue shirt and black pants, he could've passed for a normal guy in the city. "Traveler Malachi at your service, D.T.C." He straightened up, observing our shocked expressions. "Ah, yes. My...nickname. Crystal often opts to use the...unfortunate term to tease me at times but, as to why you thought it was a female name..."

"We, uh, know a girl who..." Johnny began, but stopped as I strode forward, no longer paralyzed by shock.

"Where's my sister, Kai? What did you mean by 'temporarily offline'?" I asked, gripping my pistol tightly.

"She used a lot of energy in creating the Omnistone, Steven Rockwell, both Traveler and Hood," Malachi calmly replied. "It would've killed her, most likely, but I arrived just in time to send her into a cryogenic sleep in The Realm in order to reenergize."