Earlier
Cam's POV:
"EWW! It got on me!" Mara screeched. She held her hoodie, like it was contemated. "I just bought this!"
I'm partnered with Ally, but Mara couldn't be serepated from her best friend and tagged along. "It's called sap, Mara. The most it'll do is make your hoodie sticky."
Wrong thing to say to her. She tossed the hoodie at Avery and narrowed her eyes. "Sap or no sap, my limited edition pink Sub-Digtial hoodie is ruined!" She flipped her hair, giving me a smuggle look. "Not that I execpt a poor loser like you to understand considering-"
"Mara!" Ally's stern voice got Mara's full attention. "Enough. I'll wash your hoodie it'll be fine."
Just like that, bratty Mara was gone. "Thanks Ally!" She hugged her best friend. "I knew I could count on you, unlike some people."
"Why are you looking at me?" Mr. Z just had to assign partners. I don't have the energy for this.
"You haven't started our project." She said seriously.
"I'm not your partner, Avery is. And even if I was, I wouldn't be doing all the work." I'm getting a migraine.
"Geez Cam, I didn't know you were this selfish." Did this bratty girl just call me selfish? "You'd really sepereate me from my best friend, just for some project? And than you won't even help us with it."
Know what, from now on I'm not going to stop Kya from ripping her a new one. "Careful Mara, I'm not your friend like Alexei is, nor will I spare you feelings like Lynn."
Unfazed, she gave a defiant look. "You seem to be under the impression I like you. Think again nerd boy." She flipped her hair, as she closed the distance between us. "The only reason I'm 'nice' to you is because you Alexei's best friend and you don't cause us trouble like Lynn and Kya."
"Mara." Ally said in a low voice. "Don't."
Mara gave a befliy peerved glare to the blond. "Don't what? Tell Cam how it is? Let him know his place? Or hurt his feelings?"
The mere sound of her voice is enough at this point to annoy me. Ususally I can ingore her rants, because the others deal with her. Let's face it, I'm the only one with no personal connection or grugde against this group. Alexei's friends with this bratty chick (note to self, have Alexei reevaluate some of his friendships), but rivals with Avery. Lynn is enemies with Avery, same as Kya is with Mara. I have and want nothing to do with them. I mostly stay out of things, because my friends can handle themselves. Doesn't mean I can't and won't sit back and let them say anything they want to me or my friends.
"Mara, go get your head examed." My calm voice didn't betray the annoyance and anger I felt. Better not to let Mara know how much she truly irrated me. "At the end of the day, I'm Alexei's best friend. Who do you think he'll side with between the two of us?" The look on her face revealed her uncertainty.
"You think your better than me, just because your 'best friends' with Alexei." She said this, as if she actually believe it.
"Believe what you want Mara. But sooner or later your going to drive him away with you brattiness and selfishness." There's no use arguing with idiots. To save myself from getting more of a headache, I started to leave.
"Nice going, Mar." Ally stated, "Now I'll gave to finish the assignment alone." Ally isn't one to lash out, but the irration could clearly be heard in her voice.
I paid no attention to the trio of nesenses. They've already wasted enough of my time. Mara dragged us around for almost an hour looking for a tanning spot. Even Ally was stunned by her friend's 'interesting' idea.
Futher into the forest, I found a quiet spot. Sunlight gently filtered down through the dense leaves. The warmth from the sun added a calming air to my otherwise annoyed mood. I found an old stump and settled down to draw. There weren't many flowers, but uquince foilage decorated several trees. Drawing isn't a hobby of mine. My sister's the artsy one, even if we attended art classes together.
I just finished my second sketch, when my cell rang. "Hey Alexei. Any chance your calling to switch partners?"
"Emi's missing. Someone from Kadic saw her wonder off the path. We're looking for her now." Alexei stated.
"Great, just what we needed." Balancing the cell on my shoulder, I pulled my laptop out. A flashing red light on the screen signaled an attack. The locator program began beeping the moment the program opened. "Xana's launched an attack."
"Hang on, I'm putting you on speaker." A moment later, Alexei said. "Do you know which sector the activated tower is in?"
"He came this way." Avery's voice drifted through the trees.
Just what I needed, those three. "I'm heading to the lab now to double check." Packing my laptop up, I quickly slipped into the shadows of the trees. "But according to the program, it's the derest sector."
"Do you want one of us to meet you at the manison?" Kya asked.
"No, you'll have better luck searching together." The access tunnel wasn't far, luckily I didn't run into anyone on the way. "I'll also try to figure out the attack."
"We'll contact you as soon as we find her (something)." Lynn said, before Alexei hung up.
Something tells me the vechiles will need to be finished sooner, rather than later.
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Present:
Lynn's POV:
The first thing I noticed when the dust cleared was the debir blocking any means of esapce.
The first thing I noticed when the dust cleared was the collasped roof. Than the chaos around us. THe walls had caved in, blocking any path out. Kya lay on the ground, holding her arm. The spot where she'd stood moments ago, was crushed under a chunk of the ceiling. Unfortanly, in my attempt to save Kya, I didn't get away in time. My right leg was pinned under a beam.
"We're fine, Emi." It's partially true. We weren't crushed or badly injuried. "Head for the manison with Alexei."
"What if it collaspes again?" Emi asked, worry filling her voice.
"There's several beams holding the rest of the ceiling up." I tried to reassure her.
Kya strumbled over to me, concern written on her face. "What are you talking about. Your leg is-"
"Get to the lab and deactivate the tower." I cut Kya off. "It's the quickest way to save us."
"He's right." Thank goodness Alexei's also trying to convice her. "A Return to the Past will fix everything."
"Okay." Emi agreed. "Let's go to Lyoko."
"Lynn, Kya keep your phones on. We'll have Cam keep in contact." Alexei said, moment later their footsteps faded.
"Why'd you lie to them?" Kya checked the state of my leg. She gently touched the area that was pinned.
Seeing that we were going to be here for awhile, I made myself comfortable. "What's the point in worrying them more? Emi wasn't going to leave until she knew we were okay. Them staying wouldn't solve anything."
Kya tried to lift the beam with her good arm. She struggled for all of five seconds, before collasping nect to me. "Looks like we're stuck."
I laid my head on her shoulder. "Not to different from our school's camping trip." Our old elementary school had a campling trip for third and fourth graders each year. Somehow Kya and I fell down a hole into a cave. We were trapped there for several hours. During that time, we relied on each other to stay calm.
"You wanted to try climbing out." Kya snorted. "You nearly broke your arm, mister mountain climber." She laughed.
"So you don't hate me." We've had arguments in the past, but it never lasted more than a few days. Her avoiding me for two weeks is very worrying.
"Wanna tell me what's going on?" I sat up to look her in the eyes. She looked away, clearly not wanting to have this conversation. "There's no where to run, might as well talk about it now."
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Alexei's POV:
Emi lead us down an old passage way that lead to the access tunnels. Following the path lead to the manison quickly. We headed directly to the scanners.
"Cam, Lynn and Kya are trapped within a house." Emi said, "Their safe for now, but the house could still collaspe."
"I'll contact them once your on Lyoko." Cam's voice drifted through the speakers.
"I've confirmed the activated tower's in the desert sector." Cam informed us, as we stepped into the scanners. "Vitrulzation!" Moments later, we were in the desert sector.
"Where's our ride, general?" Landing beside Emi, I scanned the area for enemies.
"There only protypes, they can't take more than one hit." Cam reminded us, as a cyberbike and cyberjet matizaled. "The tower's north of your location."
Emi hopped onto the cyberjet, while I take the cyberbike. We quickly made our way through the landscape. A long winde path lead to the tower. Emi stopped behind a pillar, several feet in front of the tower. Good thing, as two large monsters guarded the tower.
"Eww, it's those Creepiers again." Those were the monsters that ambused us ealier.
"Creepiers?" Cam asked.
"Yeah, it's the name I came up with." Alexei stated.
"They remind me more of Tarantulas." Emi peaked out staring at them. "Any info on them."
"You'll have to destory them first, before I'll get anything." Cam stated. "There's only two of them, good luck."
"We couldn't defeat one of them, when all of us were on Lyoko. How do you execpt s to take down two?" Wish I had one of my 'crazy' plans, as Kya puts it.
Emi got a mischiovous look on her face. "How durable are these vechiles?"
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Kya's POV:
"Come on, K. You can't keep avioding me." Lynn said with a half-grin. "We're best friends. Sooner or later, your gonna tell me." He sat with his back against some debri, arms relaxed behind his head. He looked completely at peace.
"I vote for later." Unlike him, I couldn't just sit around, waiting for the others. The collasped walls make it impossible to get out. There's a hole in the ceiling, maybe we could climb out?
"It won't work." Lynn said, as if he could read my mind. "It's to unstable to climb, plus..." He gave a meaningful look to his pinned leg. "We'll have to wait for the others to deactivate the tower."
"How can you sit there all calm and relaxed?" I looked around for something to lift up the beam. Most of the stuff laying around is useless junk. Even if I did find something, can I do anything with this missed up arm?
"That's your problem, Kya. You worry to much or try to do everything on your own." Lynn grabbed my wrist as I walked by. "You have friends who'll help you. You have me." He didn't have to say it for me to know he was referring to why I was avoiding him. He's my best friend, he knows when somethings bothering me. Sometimes he knows what it is without me telling him. Other times, like now, he has no idea. During these times, Lynn will either give me space, letting me tell him in my own time, or he'll poke and bug me until I tell him. Seems he's done waiting and is switching to the latter now.
"Spill it, K." Gone was my carefree best friend. Instead, Lynn went into big brother mode. " Or I'll tell ______ to stop sending you your favorite comics."
"Don't fractor me into your decision." My response was vauge. I'm not ready to discuss this, but I can't keep avoiding him forever.
Lynn blink for a moment, then realization dawned on his face. "How long have you known?"
"Since AD and a teacher were explaining the transfer process to you." I sat beside Lynn and rested my head against his shoulder.
Lynn sighed, than unexepctly popped me on the head. "Geez girl, you had me thinking it was something serious."
"This is serious!" Rubbing my head, I frowned. "You've got an amazing oppurity. Whether you go or not, is solely your chose. I don't want you worrying about the others or me when you make your deiscion." There, I've finally said the things that's been bothering me the most.
Lynn flicked my nose. "For a girl that's vocal on just about everything. This is what you deicde not to comment on?"
"Of course! I wanted to show you I'll be fine if you chose to leave. " The main reason I avioded Lynn is partly to show him I'll be 'fine' on my own if he choses to go. He'll worry about how I'll once again cope if he leaves. The other reason I've been avoiding him, is because I'm scared he'll actualy chose to go. "I won't be the reason you don't follow your dreams."
"So you want me to go?" Lynn questioned.
"No! Yes! Ugh!" I'm not explaining myself well. "Do I want you to go. No and yes. No, because I'll miss you and don't want to go through that same experince of when you first left to attend Kanna. Yes, because it's anotherstep closer to acheving your dreams. It's also a great oppurity either way. But whether you deicde to go or not, I don't want to be apart of your reason. Don't include me at all when you tell AD your final descion."
A smirk appeared on his face. "Was that so hard to tell me?" Ugh, sometimes I wanna smack him. Leave it to him find this amusing. "I was going to tell you about it once I'd made my descsion. I didn't want you to be burdened with the idea of me possbily leaving again or that you swayed my descion."
"So, I've been worrying for nothing?" Leave it to Lynn to serectly figure out the answer to what's been bothering me.
"Look," Lynn ran his hand through his dust covered hair. "neither of us should worry about whether or not I'll leave. I have until the end of the school year to decide. Plus my parents have to also agree. And you know what the chances of that happening are."
Lynn's father is a retired former prosffional soccer player. He wanted Lynn to follow in his footsteps, but Lynn had other ideas. Lynn's passions for music and love of song writing were greater than his father's desires for him to play sports prosffionsally. It's a consitute arugement they have whenever they speak to each other. It doesn't help that Lynn's got a natural talent for adapting to any sport. It's gotten to the point, his father will be happy if Lynn plays any sport, it doesn't have to just be soccet anymore. His father already wasn't thrilled entering the competition that was held a few weeks ago. No way he'll let Lynn transfer aboard for something music related.
A thought just occured to me. "There's still hope. What about your mom?" Lynn's mom was swam competively in high school and college. She now works as a coach for a college swimming time.
"Yes, she supports my music. But I don't want to put her in a position that'll make her have to chose between me or her husband." Lynn loved both his parents, and doesn't want to disappoint them. This must be hard for him. If continues his music, his father will neve approve. However, if he gives up music and fouscs on sports, his mom will be sad he didn't follow his dreams. Either way, he'll end up disappoint one of them.
Suddenly, the house began shaking. It caused several beams to completely collapse around us. The few reminding walls fell in on each other, closing off any hope of getting out.
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Emi flew over the Tarantulas on the cyberjet. She weaved through the air, avoiding their lasers. Alexei used the distraction to his advanatage. Acerlating the throttle, the cyberbike went full speed towards the tower. Distracted by Emi, they didn't notice the bike speeding towards them. Alexei backflipped off the bike, as it rammed a Tarantula into the digital sea.
The second Tarantula's laser hit the cyberjet destorying it. Emi crashed into the ground, before the Tarantula. Before it could attack, two shurikens knocked it's canon to the side. Alexei came up behind, tossing three more shruiken into it's eye.
Emi covered her eyes, as the mosnter explosed.
"The path's clear, Mi'Lady." Alexei stepped aside and bowed.
"Just in time, I've completed the hack." Cam informed them. "It's safe to enter the tower.
"Thank you kind sirs." Emi smirked, as she dashed inside the tower. She entered the tower, on the first platform. Each step took her into the center of the platform, a giant cirlce in the shape of the eye of X.A.N.A. As Emi passed a smaller circle on the eye, it lit up. Once in the center, Emi was lifted up to a second identical platform. Emi walked in to the middle of this platform, causing a small screen to appear. Placing her hand on the screen, the word 'Code' came up. Second later, 'Lyoko' came up.
As the data on the walls fell off, Emi said. "Tower deactiavted."
"Return to the Past Now." Following the tower's deactiation, Cam began a return to the past. A bright light came from the supercomputer, spreading out and engulfing everything.
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"I'll finish completion of the vechiles tonight." Cam leaned against a tree, talking to the others. They waited for the teachers to dismiss them. Kanna and Kadic students had gathered in the forest. Once again, they'd pair off to complete an assignment.
"They came in handy against the Tarantulas." Alexei mused.
Kya raised an eyebrow. "Tarantulas?"
"Yeah, those new monsters we faced. Emi named them." Alexei patted Emi's shoulder.
"So besides a new monster." Lynn began. "What about Emi's visions?"
"And that house?" Kya asked, reminded of the mythoius house. "There's a tunnel that leads to the mansion."
Cam thought for a moment. "Do you know what drew you to the house?"
Emi shook her head, "Once the visions ended I woke up at the house." She thought nack to the visions. "I'm more concerned about the visions."
"Didn't you say, it felt someone else was experincing them and you were only watching through their eyes?" Kya was curious about the visions as well. These visions could have a connection to Lyoko.
"Yes." Emi answered.
"What could've triggered them?" Cam wondered aloud.
"Does it matter?" Alexei asked, earning looks from his friends. "All I'm saying is that we're not going to figure anything out today. So why stress?" They stared at Alexei in shock. He actually said something useful, for once.
Mr. Z and Mrs. Hertz dismissed the students. Everyone paired up with someone from their respective schools. Once again, Emi was without a partner.
"You can come with us." Aelita offered. She stood beside Jeremie, as Odd and Ulrich went off and Yumi went with William.
Emi didn't know Aelita as well as she knew the others. She knew Aelita was new to Kadic also and had the same friends as Jeremie. "Maybe next time." Emi show how well Aelita and Jeremie worked together and didn't want to bother/interrupt them.
"Are you sure, Emi?" Jeremie asked. _______________
"Yup." Emi thanked them, before walking over to a certain orange haired girl. Wave was talking to Jim, when Emi came over. "Hi, I'm Emi."
"Ah, Ms. _____." Jim let out a sigh of relief. "Waverly here still needs a partner."
Wave gave an unamused stare at Jim. "It's Wa-"
"Wave." Emi finished. She smiled at a shocked Wave. "She prefers to be called wave."