Cam began working on a firewall to slow Xana from infecting the supercomputer with a virus. It wasn't easy, though. The consist headaches combined with dizziness didn't help his focus. For the first time, Cam began to wonder if he really was working to much.
"You should see the tower soon." The on screen map showed the other fastly approaching the tower. Maybe they wouldn't need the firewall after all. "Do you see the tower?" Cam rubbed his eyes, unable to focus. All of a sudden, everything became blurry and unfocused. Cam couldn't remember what he was doing. The only thing he remembered was sending the others to Lyoko, after that..nothing.
"Are you sure we're going in the right direction." Lynn asked, as they came to the edge of the sector. "There's nothing here." They spread out to search the nearby area in case it was another of Xana's tricks.
After several mintues of silence from the lab, Emi opened a connect. "Cam?" She asked, wondering where he was. While the others continued searching, Emi accessed the labs camaras. "Lynn, Alexei we have a problem."
"Cam fell asleep at the computer again?" Alexei asked, hoping to lighten the mood. He and Lynn walked over to Emi to see why she appeared worried.
"Your halfway correct." She moved away from the digital screen so the guys could see. "He's passed out."
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Kya's POV:
"If the two of you actually trained together, your skills would improve radily." Lilie said the moment, Mara and I skated over to her. Lilie is a former Olymica Champion and our figure skating coach. My old coach from back home, use to be Lilie's coach before retiring. When I transferred to Kanna Academy two years ago, he recommded Lilie to be his replacement. She had already been Mara's coach for six months before I joined. Which partly explained Mara's dislike towards me. Anything else, well you'll have to ask Mara.
"The compeition is less then two months away. Why do I have to share my training session?" Mara shoved pass to get off the ice first. She sat at the empty bench, taking up the whole space, to unlace her skates. "I've been working with you longer, Lilie. Shouldn't I get private sessions?" As a former Olypic Champion, Lilie's services are in high demand. Currently, she works with two others, besides us.
Lilie helped me off of the ice. "Just because your parents are rich, doesn't give you the right to act like a spoiled brat, Mara." Usually easy-going, Lilie didn't sugar-coat anything when speaking to us. "Your parents can afford to hire someone else, who gives private lessons."
Mara pouted, but said nothing else. I understand we're rivials and that we have to share Lilie's attention, but that still doesn't completely explain Mara's hatred of me. Not that I care enough to ask her about it. She wouldn't answer anyway.
"Mara, you get changed first. I have to speak with Kya." Lilie shoed Mara away. She waited for the other girl to leave before addressing me. "Honestly, I'm worried about how you'll do in the next competition."
Caught off guard, it took several long seconds before I answered. "What do you mean? You've said I've improved. My axel landings have gotten better, I might be able to start working on doubles soon." I've been begging Lilie to teach me how to do a triple axel for several weeks now. When I first began figure skating lessons, the triple axel was the only thing I wanted to learn. I quickly learned how impossblie that move would be without basic knowledge and training. I've broken my arm and wrist trying the move unsupervised.
"That not what I talking about." Lilie pulled out her cell with a recording of today's practice. The video showed me doing several warm-ups and then working on different routines. "You don't see the problem, do you?"
"No, I don't." Looking at Lilie, I could see she was concerned. "Spill, Lilie." Lilie is more like an older sister then coach. Our relationship is pretty causal, with us hanging out outside of practice sometimes. She hangs out with Mara also, but from the stories I've heard, Mara isn't the best at listening to others during conversation. I enjoyed how blunt I could be around Lilie and that she always gave her honest opinions and thoughts.
"Your transitions aren't clean, neither were your landings." She replay a part of the video to prove her point. Leaning foward with both arms by my side and one leg streched out behind me, the camrel spin was well balanced. The spin ended with me bring my leg down, as I straighted up. My leg came to far down, touching the ice which slowed my speed. This made transitioning into a sit spin awkward. Instead of keeping a study flow of speed, while lowering my body into a sitting position with one leg streched in forwards with both arms in front. The spin slowed enough that my leg completely touched the ice, allowing me to push off of the ice to regain speed and then transition into a sit spin.
(The first one is the camrel spin and the second is the sit spin.)
"Right here." Lilie paused the video. "Clearly, your unfousced. These are easy spins you've done dozens of times. I've never seen you mess up like this." She replayed more of the video, this time showing me working on spins. Each spins landing ends with me strumbling slightly.
(These are some of the jumps Kya was praticing.)
Putting her cell away, she gave me the big sisterly look. A look she often gives when she wants us to be completely honest from the start. "Talk, what's distracting you? You'll need to have a clear head and be fousced moving forward. You want to make it into the nationals, right?"
How could I explain things? Lilie wouldn't believe me if I told her about Lyoko and the supercomputer. Not mention, she probably wouldn't remember the conversation. Return to the Past has a good bouns of erasing anyone's memory if they haven't been to Lyoko. We discover this after our first use of Return to the Past, when Cam didn't remember anything.
"My main distraction is about a hundred and fifty pounds of annoying brattiness." I jerked my head in the direction Mara had gone. "I'd do much better if Mara wasn't around. Why can't you train us speretaly like you usually do before a competition?" The last thing I need to worry about is Mara stealing or copying my routine. Although, she's admitted she'd never do something so cowardly and pitic. Do I believe her? Nope.
"The two of you need to stop fighting and aruging all the time." Lilie crossed her arms. "There's going to be a speical team competition sporced. There will be one team compeition avablie for each compeition level. I was thinking of forming a team with you and the other three girls to enter. But if you and Mara can't get along, there's no way we're entering."
"Why didn't you inform us sooner?" I asked, as we made our way to the locker room.
"Don't worry about that right now." Lilie patted my head, like she always does before leaving. "We'll discuss it more after the upcoming competition has passed." She offered a reassuring smiled before leaving.
Once she left, I checked to make sure Mara wasn't still changing. The less time spent around her, the better. Before changing, I checked my cell. Nothing, no voice mail, text, or missed call. Because we didn't know what Xana's lastest attack was, not hearing from the others is worrying.
Quickly changing out of my pratice clothes, I grabbed my everday clothes. A white tank top with a large black heart in the center, dark jeans, with a pair of black tennis.
(The outfit above is Kya's everyday clothes.)
Exiting the skating ring, I bumped into someone. That someone was the errgoent captain of the soccer team, Avery. He must've come to pick Mara up.
"Sorry, Avery." Apolozing, I tried to walk pass. Avery moved to block the path. "I apolozed. Now move out of the way."
Avery gave me a changelleing look. "Where are you running off to? Did you get abandoned by the other nerds?"
The guys dislike Avery because he's a jerk. I dislike him, because he's a play boy flirt whenever we're alone. When I first arrived at Kanna, I hadn't known about Lynn and Avery's riviay. Since I never saw the two of them together and Lynn refused show me his room, because of said arrongent jerk. I befriended Avery without knowing they knew each other. For time, Avery was a good friend. That all changed when I asked him to hang out with me and my best friend. The only other friend I had at Kanna stopped taking to me. All because I refused to take sides and stop being friends with Lynn. Since then, Avery likes to go the extra mile to annoy me whenever we're alone.
"We're not at school. So I will sock you." I shot him a warning glare. This was not the time nor day to being annoying me. "Move, Avery!"
"Not until you tell me where you and your friends keep disappearing to during school." Avery's words sent a chill down my spine. He shouldn't have remembered any of the times we've had to sneak away from class to go to the Lyoko. The Return to the Past has always worked. Unless he's noticed us leaving during lunch and after school. Great, another thing to worry about.
"I don't have time to stroke your ego, Avery." Groaning, I tried to shove pass him. "Do you want to end up in the prinpal's office again? Or should I injure you? Coach wouldn't like it if you couldn't play against Kadic."
Avery appeared unfazed by the threat. "Ally is Mr. Hall's periouc little cousin and I'm the star player of the soccer team. You can't do much to get me in trouble." Does he every stop stroking his own ego?
"Don't you trust me, K?" Avery's voice softened at the use of my nickname. "We were friends once. I've known you longer then Cam and Alexei."
Dispight everything that's happened between us, a part of me still wants to be friends with Avery. He not such a bad guy to his friends. "Your the one who stopped being friends with me when I wouldn't end my friendship with Lynn." I looked him right in the eye, letting him know it would take alot to rekindle any friendship we once had. "Besides, I can't be friends with someone who's mean to my other friends." I gave him a pointed look. There is no way I'm going to be caught in the middle of things between him and the guys. Not to mention having to deal with Mara and Ally more then usual.
Not liking my answer, Avery let out a frustated breath. "Would you be able to get along with Mara and Ally, if we were friends again?"
It was not turn to be shocked. "That's not the same. Mara is a spoiled brat who hates me for no reason. I've never done anything to her and Ally only dislikes me because of her friendship with Mara." Moving closer, I wanted to know I wasn't backing down. "I don't know what your problem is with Cam, Lynn, and Alexei. But it needs to stop."
"Avery." Mara walked out of the skating ring to stand beside Avery. "Where have you been? I've been waiting forever."
Avery turned to give Mara a charming smile. "Kya here was just telling where her friends keep disappearing to everyday."
Mara passed a confused look between us, before laughing. "Again with that theory?" She patted Avery's head like he was a child. "You honestly think those nerds could hide something big or important. Stop wasting your time on useless things and take me shopping."
Mara dragged Avery away, ingorning his protests. This is the one time I'm grateful that she was around.
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"Hurry up, Mi'Lady. Things are getting buggy!" Alexei threw his last shuriken at the newest herd of hornets. The group had been trying to reach Kya since they discovered Cam passed out. There wasn't much they could do from Lyoko without a guide. The plustions had lead them to the edge of the sector, where a tower should be. They'd searched the surrounding area and discovered nothing. Lynn suggested the remain in the area, should the tower be hidden by one of Xana's tricks. The plan had worked, until three waves of hornets greeted them.
"Xana's virus is interferring with my access to the supercomputer." Emi hide behind a blouder, letting the guys held the hornets. There was only so much she could do without risking her code being changed by the supercomputer. Cam had just finished debugging her the night before, which had been the second time in four weeks.
Closing the meun, Emi went to check on the guys. "We'll have to find the tower ourselves."
"Any ideas on how to do that?" Deflecting a laser, Lynn threw his chakram. The circular weapon whril through the air destorying two hornest. "Alexei, take Emi and find the tower. Two mega-tanks are head this way." Eagle Eye allowed Lynn to see the newest threat coming for them. He knew the three of them staying there was no longer an option. Better to sacfice himself to allow Emi and Alexei to get away, then all three of them become trapped.
"Come on, Mi'Lady." Shealthing his sai, Alexei grabbed Emi's hand. Not knowing where to go, he forced mainly on getting Emi to safety.
Back in the lab, Kya had discovered Cam passed out in front of the computer. Panic flooded her emotions as she checked Cam's pluse. Lynn had mentioned ealier Cam appeared exshuated. Maybe it had finally caught up to him.
"Kya? Cam?" Emi's worried voice flowed through the headphones, reminding Kya about the others. "Is anyone there? We arrived at the edge of the sector after following the plustaions, but found no tower."
Noting that Cam appeared fine, Kya pulled him away from the computer. She made him a makeshift bed on the floor with the blankets they kept there.
"Emi, it's Kya." Jumping into the role of guide, Kya immdiatly took in the situation. Emi and Alexei were sprinting away from Lynn, who was about to be ambused by two mega-tanks. She also noticed a new program that had yet to be lanched. "Do you know what this new program is for?"
Emi pulled Alexei to hide behind some trees, while they spoke to Kya. "That must be the firewall Cam was working on. Xana's newest attack is a virus that will allow him full access to the supercomputer." Emi's face appeared on the montor as she spoke with Kya. "Lanuch the program, even if it's imcomplete. We'll need the extra time to find the tower."
Kya did as instrtuced and launched the program. A flashed blue bar appeared, signaling the firewall had successfully been lanuched. "Besides finding the tower we have another issue. A hack still has to be completed to enter the tower."
"Don't worry. Cam began the sub-hacking programs before leaving the imfary. It was the only way to make sure the hack could be completed, since they haven't been upgraded yet." Emi explained.
Kya wished Cam would wake up to take over. She hated being the only one besides Cam able to use the supercomputer. Now the others were relying on her to find the tower.
"Hate to break it to you, but from the looks of it, the tower is at the edge of the sector." Kya double checked the readings, to make sure they were correct.
"That doesn't make any sense." Alexei butted into the conversation. "We've already searched that area and found nothing."
Kya, rolled her eyes. "Did you guys actually look everywhere?" She wasn't surprised Alexei wouldn't have thought of it, but Emu should've. This thought came to Kya as she remembered the attack with lamps and other electical items exploseding. (This was the attack during chapter 1 and 2.)
"Xana's done something like this before. Remember when we couldn't find the tower in the ice sector? We couldn't see it because it was invisble." Kya found it odd Xana would reuse a tactic that had already failed.
"It's the only explanation we have. So," Alexei drew out his sai, ready for battle. "let's head back and help Lynn."
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Lynn's POV
"Homing Arrow!" I threw my charkam, hoping it would destroy the last mega-tank. Eagle Eye had allow me time to position myself to avoid an ambush. I'd taken the first mega-tank by surprise, destroying it with one strike.
"Lynn, the others are heading back." Kya's voice startled me, breaking my concentration. Homing Arrow deactivated, since I wasn't actively using it. The charkram missed it's target, circling back to me. "Your close to the tower. It's several feet to your left."
Catching the circular disk, I ran for cover. "Are you sure, Kya? We've already searched the area." A mega laser slammed into the blonder I hide behind. The others need to get here soon, before I become viratal dusk.
"Ysk realc!" 'Clear Sky' A familiar voice said. Moments later, a thick fog rolled in. The next attack from the mega-tank comptelely missed me. Luckily, Eagle Eye, allowed me to see through the thick fog. Two figurers came running over, with one of them stopping behind the mega-tank. The familar sound of blades slicing through a monster, followed by an explosion alerted me to Alexei and Emi's presention.
"Emi, where are you?" Alexei floundered through the fog. "I can't see anything."
Emi had no problem seeing, as easily grabbed Alexei and navgated him to my location. "It isn't that differcult to see." Emi powers often gave her simple immobaty to her own abilites. Like now, she could appearily see through the fog as if it weren't there. "How much time until the hack is complete?"
"Less then five mintues, still have to imput the final code as well." Kya informed us.
"How did you guys find the tower the last time it was invisrble?" I asked. When Cam and Alexei asked me to rejoin the team, they also informed me of all the recent attacks. The invislbe tower in the ice sector is one of them. "Maybe we can repeat that."
Emi shook her head, "We got lucky that time. A laser missed us and hit the tower." She glanced around at the fog. "I doubt it'll work this time."
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Being in the lab, unable to help directly on Lyoko was begining to frustate Kya. She wanted to be there to help her friends. She felt the most useless while in the lab.
"What about using Eagle's Eye?" She suggested. "While it's activation is random. It does allow the user to 'see' and 'sense' things that are hidden or nearing."
"It's worth a try." Lynn shrugged. "We've got no other plan." Closing his eyes, Lynn began focusing. This would be his first time trying to active Eagle's Eye. He had tried before, because it was a passive skill. But according to Cam's vast gaming knowledge, passive doesn't made it can't be actived by force of will.
"The fog won't last long." Emi said, as she tried to maintain the fog a bit longer.
"Eagle's Eye!" Pain coursed through Lynn's eyes as he successfully actived the passive ability. The raging pain made it differcult to see. Pressing his palm against his eye, Lynn struggled to search through the fog.
"Lynn, stop!" Kya pleaded. "Your radily losing life points." The screen before her showed Lynn's life points radpliy dropping since the moment he actived Eagle's Eye. Kya was also worried about the physical strain it appeared to be putting on Lynn. The sideeffects from Override on Cam were already bad enough, they didn't need another one.
Ingoring Kya's pleas, Lynn contiued his seach. The departing fog didn't help, as images became blurry when mixed with the fog. The building pain became to much, as Lynn collasped to the ground on one knee. He knew he needed to stop, but wouldn't since it was their best chance of quickly finding the tower. He just hoped he wouldn't have to repeat this 'fun' experince anytime soon.
"It's over there!" Lynn grunted, while struggling to point in the direction of the tower. The top lay to the far left of the platform, near the edge. They couldn't find it, because the ground breath the tower was also inviblie. Making them think the platform's edge was shorter then it really was. Lynn knew it was the tower, based on it cycliner shape.
"Just in time, three hornest have found your loaction." Kya warned, as the winged monsters round the corner and began firing. Lynn was the first one to be devirtalized. He'd been pinned in place by his by the anoyizing pain coursing through his temple. This made him an easy target for the horents, who quickly changed their focus to Emi.
"Emi, head for the tower. I'm about to input the final code." Kya watched helplessly as Alexei placed himself inbetween the horents and Emi. Meanwhile, Emi headed for the tower while Alexei covered her.
Emi couldn't see the tower herself, but ran into the direction Lynn had pointed to. Praying she wouldn't fall into the digtal sea, Emi ran full speed. To her delight, she entered the tower's first platform. As she walked into the center, each of the two outter rings and the center dot lite up, reflecting the platform was in the shape of the eye of Xana. Emi was lifted up to a second idientcal platform, with everything lighting up at moment she stepped foot on the platform.
A small holo-screen greeted Emi in the center. Placing her hand on it, the word 'EMI' came up. Followed by 'CODE' and ending with 'LYOKO'. "Tower Deactiveated." Emi's voice echoed through the tower as the thousands of digital screens that lite the tower went black and dropped.
Back on earth, Kya entered the commands needed for the tempral reversal. "Return to the Past Now." Light engulfed everything, returning time to how it was several hours ago.
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The group stood outside of the science room, 'ecger' to repeat the class. "So the reason you fainted was because of using Override multiply times in a single day?" Lynn asked after Cam finished explaining why he passed out during their mission. Cam wasn't thrilled when he discovered what had happened during his time 'asleep'. They had yet another issue to deal with, Eagle's Eye's usage when forced. Cam wanted to take a look at the program, but it would have to wait. He just hoped Lynn wouldn't suffer any sideeffects. Yet something else they'd have to keep an eye on.
"That's my theroy." Cam's theroy was based on the fact, a Return to the Past hadn't been used when they went to save Emi. Had it been used, the sideeffects probably wouldn't have been as bad; if there was any at all.
"I don't think you should go to Lyoko for a while." Kya voiced her concern. Having been the one to find Cam passed out, she was more concerned then the others. She wanted Cam to know how much he worried her, but didn't want to come off as nagging. She would speak with Lynn later about how to apporch Cam about the topic.
"Class is about to begin." Mr. Z warned, as he walked into the room. The group side their goodbyes to Lynn, as they braced themsevles to repeat the school day.
(Above is a picture of Alexei.)
*photo found on Google*