A/N: I'm back! And in college... Don't hate about the lack of updates, I got a life too! Anyway let's get to story time!
Disclaimer: Kim's mine, not Cyberchase.
Phase One
Daisyfan5534
Chapter 10
Time was at the essence, Hacker would be on top of her any minute now. Kim slammed the red coconut on the rock, trying to break it in half so she could stick the one half to the chest she dug up underwater. Of course she couldn't pull it out, otherwise she'd be contributing to Solaria's problem.
With a final slam, the coconut broke into halves. Kim set one half down as she placed the other half on tope of the chest before covering it up with sand so it was hidden like before. She took the other half in her hand before swimming away from the chest. Kim stopped for a moment before looking around the ocean floor, searching through her memory to remember where the next chest is. If she couldn't remember this would be the fifth time she had to return to the cave with the writing. not that she minded, the Solaria history was cool, but there had to be a faster way of doing this.
All she had to do was put the coconuts on all of the chests hidden underwater and Hacker would leave Solaria, right? Then there was the issue with the chests he already stop and changed for money; she can't get those back. Kim added that problem with the list of things she had to take care of. She'll talk to the octopus about it and get his opinion. He should be at the caves with the map to where all the other chest locations are, which was a good thing, because Kim ultimately forgot where the next chest was. With the mission in mind, Kim swam in that direction.
Meanwhile…. Above water…..
The roar of a motor came to a stop, as did its boat in the water.
"There you kids go."
"Thanks, Coslo." Inez said as she put on her diving helmet, the rest of the Cybersquad doing so as well.
"Don't mention it," Coslo responded. "After you helped with my fear of heights, it's the least I could do."
"Do you still work at the ferris wheel?" Digit asked.
"I do, but the heat wave made the system buzz out. I'm off the clock until it's fixed." he explained.
"Don't worry, we'll get the heat under control!" Matt exclaimed.
"Well, good luck."
The Cybersquad jumped into the water. After they surfaced and waved bye to Coslo, they ducked back into the water.
"Okay, we're in the water, all we have to do is find Hacker." Jackie told them.
"Hopefully, it won't take long." Inez said.
"Should we split up?" Matt asked.
"If it helps find him faster." Jackie responded.
"I'd hate to burst your bubble, earthlies, but this isn't Aquarium. We're in new territory; there's no hotdog hill or pizza canyon to know where we are or to tell someone where we are." Digit explained. "Not to mention, the fish and other creatures don't talk. We can't ask them for help."
"Digit's right, we shouldn't split up if we can't tell the others where Hacker is." Inez mentioned. "Listen, Solaria is an island surrounded by water. If we swim around the island, then we should eventually find Hacker."
"That sounds like it could take too long." Matt told her.
"It's the only plan we got, and it would be best if we stay together." Jackie added.
"Then let's work fast to find the Hack!" Matt exclaimed as the team began to swim.
"What do you think, octopus?"
"I'm not sure." He responded as he and Kim looked over the cave drawings. "Our best bet to figure out why the treasure thing works is to, and I hate to say it, but…"
"I get it, we have to remove a chest and examine it." Kim responded. "If that's what we're left to figure out how to save Solaria then we have to do it."
"I'll help you with the last few dozens of chests, then we'll figure out how to cover for the chests we can't get back."
"Hopefully there's not a lot. We should also work on getting rid of Hacker. Today." Kim added.
"We'll brainstorm while we finish hiding the chests." The octopus said as they exited the cave.
"Kim!"
The octopus and the mermaid turned towards Jumper swimming towards them.
"What's up?"
"Three kids and a cyboid. You mentioned them before." Jumper said.
"Yeah, they're the Cybersquad; what about them?" Kim responded.
"They're here!"
"I know I saw them on Solaria when I was getting the coconuts."
"No, I mean they're here, in the water!"
"What?"
"They're trying to find the guy you mentioned before."
"Damn it…"
"What's the problem?" the octopus asked.
"They don't know I'm alive, and if they know then they'll ask why I'm hiding. I don't want them to get hurt, because someone wants to kill me." Kim responded before turning away. "It's… It's better this way."
"So if they're swimming around Solaria, how are we supposed to get the rest of the chests?"
"Easy, the rest of the chests are from the edge of the south beach to my cliff. Jumper can keep them away from that area." Kim suggested.
"What? Why me?"
"You're the only fish that talks."
"Should I show them the cave? If they want to save Solaria, then shouldn't they know what's happening?"
Kim looked at the octopus as she shrugged her shoulders, unsure about it.
"As long as they don't spread the word, we don't want another repeat of this." the octopus said.
"Got it!"
The Cybersquad hid themselves behind a rock to watch Hacker. It only took fifteen minutes to find his boat, and they were still confused on what Hacker was doing. All they could see was a claw reach down and grab something before pulling it back into the boat.
"What is he doing?" Matt asked.
"I don't know, but it must have something to with Solaria overheating." Inez replied.
"Look!" Jackie pointed to the column of bubbles forming from the spot Hacker clawed. "That's weird, it's almost as if it's…"
"A volcano."
The kids and Digit turned around to see a pale fish swim up to them.
"An undersea volcano, to be more exact." the fish said.
"I thought you said that the fish don't talk, Digit?" Jackie said.
"They don't, we'll they're not supposed to." Digit responded.
"And you're right. The only reason I can talk to you four, is because I was cursed."
"What's your name?" Inez asked.
"Everyone calls me, Jumper."
"Okay, Jumper, what was it you said about the volcano?" Matt asked.
"It's the reason why Solaria is overheating." Jumper responded.
"Just that one underwater volcano is doing this much damage?" Digit said aloud.
"No, it's not just one, it's multiple. They're just getting uncovered." Jumper told them.
"But what's covering them? And why is Hacker taking them off?" Inez asked the fish.
"Follow me."
The team listened to the fish and followed him through the ocean.
"They bought it." The octopus said to Kim as they swam past the boulder they were hiding behind.
"They'll get the chests back from Hacker and we can take it from there." Kim responded. "Hopefully…"
"We have a job to do; let's get it done."
The octopus and Kim nodded to each other as they went to finish hiding the chests.
"So where are we?" Matt asked.
"This is where the octopuses hang out." Jumper told him.
"Is it octopuses or octopi?" Jackie asked.
"It doesn't matter, both are correct." Inez responded.
"Whatever the plural version is, they guard the caves, because the knowledge inside the cave would mess up all of Cyberspace history." Jumper continued.
"What do you mean?" Jackie asked.
"You'll see." Jumper said, leading the way to the cave.
The Cybersquad turned on the flashlight that came with their scuba gear after arriving to the cave so they could see inside. The four of them were in awe to see the carvings on the cave walls.
"This is amazing!" Jackie said aloud.
"All this time, Cyberspace history was right here." Inez added.
"Are these mermaids?" Matt asked as he touched the carving.
"Yes, mermaids and mermen used to inhabit Solaria."
"Used to?" Digit asked. "So what happened?"
"Well, a long time ago, back when Cyberspace was Cybergea, merpeople infested the waters and the island had no people on it." Jumper started. "Back then Solaria was referred to as Sol Island."
"But that doesn't make sense, wasn't Solaria a giant block of ice?" Inez asked.
"That's only a start of what you guys think is history." Jumper responded. "Sol Island got the name because is was alway sunny, and that was because of the underwater volcanoes."
"So how do the volcanoes tie into all this?" Jackie asked.
"The number of volcanoes began to grow, this caused Sol Island to boil because of the heat. So to counteract the heat to save themselves the merpeople had to do something."
"So what did they do?" Jackie asked.
"Sol Island at the time was popular for pirates to hide their loot from Ivanka, one of the ships crashed in a storm and sunk to the bottom of the ocean. The treasure chest the pirates were trying to hide, landed on top of one of the volcanoes. It was only one volcano, but it lowered the temperature, so the merpeople concluded that they had to sink other ships to get their treasure and use it to cover the volcanoes." Jumper told the team.
"So Hacker is collecting the treasure covering the volcanoes, that's why Solaria is over heating." Inez concluded.
"That explains why Coop and I saw him at the bank the other day, he must have been cashing in his earnings." Digit said aloud.
"But if Solaria was Sol Island, how was Solaria discovered as a block of ice?" Matt asked.
"Well, the plan to cover the volcanoes worked… Until they covered all of them except one. It didn't take long to cover them, so the temperature dropped dramatically and it became too cold to survive. The merpeople watched as their home slowly froze, and all of them ended up hiding out in a cave, hoping that the one volcano they didn't cover would be enough to reverse it…"
"And it wasn't…" Matt concluded.
"Sol Island froze over and became a block of ice; the mermaids and mermen went extinct. The cold of Sol Island eventually froze the middle ocean and the islands in the middle before getting the rest of Cybergea. After Cybergea became a popsicle, it broke, becoming the cybersites we know today. Some cybersites defrosted quickly, others remained frozen for some time. As for Solaria, the cyberfolk found it as a block of ice, and the one volcano that wasn't covered slowly melted Solaria." Jumper explained.
"Everything we know about Solaria is a lie, who knew?" Digit said aloud.
"A lot of the fish and creatures here survived the ice and they uncovered a couple more volcanoes to help out. As of now there should only be seven volcanoes heating up Solaria, but that Hacker guy is uncovering more."
"So to recap, the mermaids and mermen sunk ships to steal treasure and cover up volcanoes, but they covered way too many and ended up causing Cybergea to split?" Jackie summed up. "And Hacker is unknowingly causing Solaria to boil?"
"That's correct." Jumper told them.
"So what do we do now?" Digit asked.
"We put a stop to Hacker!" Inez responded.
"Well, we better do it fast, I think the water is getting warmer." Jackie added.
"None of us went… I don't think…" Matt joked.
"Ha ha, Matt. You know what I mean." Jackie said. "Come on, let's go."
Hacker's evil laugh could be heard from underwater, but that's just an expression. The Cybersquad and Jumper were watching him from afar and Hacker's laugh is hard to miss.
"Okay so what's the plan?" Jumper asked the team.
"Well as crazy as it sounds, what if we just explain to Hacker that the treasure is destroying Solaria?" Digit suggested.
"As if Hacker will listen to reason." Jackie responded.
"Yeah, I know…" Digit admitted.
"You said that the pirates were going to hide their treasure from Ivanka right?" Matt asked the fish who nodded in response. "Well what if we lie and tell him that it's Ivanka's."
"Or better yet, get Ivanka involved." Inez added.
"We might have to stick with lying, if you guys were to leave, there might not be anything to come back to." Jumper told them.
"Yeah, you're right." Matt said with disappointment before glancing back at Hacker's ship. "Get down!"
The team and the fish dunked their heads back underwater after Matt caught Hacker looking in their direction. It wasn't long after they went under when Hacker's boat fled.
"He saw us." Matt spoke.
"Guys, we don't have a lot of time. Jumper, is there any other way to cover the volcanoes?" Inez asked.
"No, there isn't. The chests were the only thing strong enough to keep the heat from escaping and made them die down." The fish explained. "I've got all of my fish buddies to think of a way to stop the volcanoes, in the meantime we have to get rid of- NET!"
Jumper quickly swam away, leaving the team confused.
"Net?" Matt said aloud.
"Earthlies, swim!" Digit exclaimed as he started to follow the fish.
The kids looked behind them, seeing a fishing net being dragged towards them by Hacker's boat and that was enough of a reason to swim away. Hacker's boat began to pick up speed, making the Cybersquad's escape attempt useless as they ultimately got captured along with Jumper. The net slowly pulled the five out of the water. Jumper was small, so he was able to squeeze through the holes and land back in the water.
"Well, well, well… Look what the tide brought in." Hacker said to the Cybersquad before walking inside the boat. "Let's go for a little joyride, shall we?"
The boat sped off, Jumper was trying to follow it the best he can. He wasn't that fast of a swimmer, but he's the team's only ally, he had no choice but to try and keep up. However, the boat was much faster and Jumper soon figured out where the boat was headed. He had to get Kim involved, it was his only option.
Meanwhile…. On the other side of the ocean….
The octopus helped Kim cover the treasure chest with the coconut shell over it with sand. At the rate they were going, they'd be done in about a half hour.
Getting the treasure chests covered was their main priority, and with Jumper keeping the Cybersquad away from them, it felt like everything was working.
"Any idea on how to cover the other volcanoes without the chests? Or why the chests even work?" Kim asked the octopus.
"I was hoping you'd figure that out." The octopus responded.
"I don't know, it's more of a hunch…" Kim told him.
"Well, it's all we got." The octopus said.
"My theory is that the chests are made with some kind of material that prevents the heat from melting it, or it's the treasure keeping Solaria cool. Either way, what if we take the lid of the chest, fill it with some treasure and place that over the volcano." Kim explained.
"And we can put the coconut half on top of that. We should cover them with rocks as well so no one finds them again." The octopus added.
"Kim!"
"Jumper, what are you doing here?" Kim asked as the fish frantically swam towards her.
"The Cybersquad! They got captured!"
"Where are they?"
"If I didn't know any better, the Hacker guy was headed to shark's grotto. That's why I had to come and get you."
"That's it! I don't care what you do, but you need to sink that ship!" The octopus told her.
"Fine, but you and your octopus friends have to finish the rest of the chests, including the working theory." Kim responded.
The octopus nodded, and they all parted ways. Jumper was taking Kim to the grotto.
"Do you think the sharks will attack them?" Jumper asked.
"No, they're harmless… For the most part." Kim responded.
"Didn't one of them almost eat you?"
"Yes, but I swam away. Besides, I can communicate with them now."
"Hopefully, they can listen to reason."
The conversation ended and the two swam as fast as they could to shark's grotto.
Hacker finally stopped his boat in dark water. He stepped outside of his air conditioned space and into the hot sun so he could control the fishing crane that kept the Cybersquad hostage. Hacker moved the crane's lever so the team would be suspended above the water, just high enough that an animal couldn't jump out of the water to reach them.
"Final stop, kiddies." he said before cracking an evil laugh. "Don't even think about trying to escape, unless you want to be someone's dinner."
As if on cue, shark fins began to poke out of the water; the Cybersquad was trapped.
"I knew you brats would try and interfere." Hacker said aloud.
"We know what you're up to, and we're going to put a stop to it!" Matt exclaimed.
"I'm sorry to burst your bubble, children, but I'm not doing anything wrong. I just so happen to be lucky and find treasure."
"What do you think is causing Solaria to overheat?" Inez added.
"The sunisphere had its chance to shine, but I think Dr, Marbles contraption may be running of time. It's a simple malfunction."
"The entire ocean floor is lined with underwater volcanos! The treasure was covering them up and kept Solaria from overheating!" Jackie explained, hoping it would knock some sense into him.
"Ha, you really think I'll believe that? The treasure is mine!"
"You do realize that you're collecting Ivanka's treasure?" Digit lied.
"What are you babbling about now, you cyberturkey?"
"Why do you think we're here? Ivanka sent us to stop you from taking her treasure." Digit continued.
Hacker laughed before pulling a padlock out of his pocket and showed it to them. "You see the engraved initials? They stand for Mack Starrow, who was one of the most notorious pirates next to Ivanka. This was on many of the treasure chests. So in other words, this isn't her treasure; none of them are." Hacker turned towards the door to enter the boat. "I'll let you mettling muppets hang there until I figure out what to do with you. Buzz, Delete, keep an eye on them."
"Yes, boss." Buzz said as Hacker walked back inside the boat.
Buzz and Delete didn't really pay attention to the kids and Digit, they just went back to their card game that they were playing with a solar powered fan keeping them cool. They had a radar that detected motion from the sharks, fishes, and other sea animals that were under the boat, so they had something else keep them entertained. The Cybersquad didn't bother to try and persuade the bots to let them go and save Solaria, they wouldn't want to throw the money away.
"Dige, do you think you can beak it?" Matt asked.
Digit took the net into his wing, feeling how strong it was. "Sorry, Earthlies. The net seems like titanium, I can't beak through that."
"It's okay. Nice try with the Ivanka thing, by the way." Jackie mentioned.
"Guys, what are we going to do? Hacker won't listen to reason, Solaria's in trouble, and we're trapped." Inez asked.
As the Cybersquad began to spitball ideas, Kim and Jumper finally found the boat from underwater. They kept their distance because Hacker had a radar that shows motion from under the boat and Kim didn't want him and his crew to see that there is an extinct creature in the water. Kim managed to communicate with one of the sharks to lay off the boat and the bait being dangled off of it, as well as making sure that she and Jumper were safe.
"What do we do?" Jumper asked.
"I think I have an idea… How good is your acting?" Kim responded.
"What do you need me to do?"
"I'll explain later, but first we need to take out the radar." Kim looked around and spotted a sunken ship with its sail. "Help me get the sail free!"
"Whoa! Buzzy, look!" Delete said with excitement.
Buzz looked at the screen next to them, showing them red outlines of what was under the boat. He saw the moving red creature moving towards the boat.
"What is it?" Delete asked Buzz.
"It looks like a stingray." Buzz told him.
"What's a stingray doing here?"
"I don't know. It's getting closer to the boat."
"Buzzy, can we keep it? I want to feed it, and love it, and call it George!"
"You want to call every animal George!" Buzz exclaimed. "Huh? It stopped right under the boat."
It wasn't long after the creature stopped before they lost connection with the radar.
"What happened? Where's George?" Delete asked worryingly. It didn't take long for him to get attached to the animal.
"Geor- I mean the stingray probably fired the radar. We can't see nothing!"
Delete sighed before walking towards the side of the boat, looking over the edge to see if he could spot the ray, but got distracted by a tall cliff in the distance.
"Hey, Buzzy. Look."
"If this is about the stingray-"
"It's not. Can you see the cliff?"
Buzz looked to what his friend could see.
"Yep, I see the cliff."
The bots conversation caught the attention of the Cybersquad.
"Wait, what cliff?" Matt asked.
Delete turned to them using his had to point at the land formation. "That one. I think it's the one your friend-"
"Delete, zip it!" Buzz jumped up, slamming his hand over Delete's mouth to shut him up.
The Cybersquad looked at the tall cliff, the edge of it hanging over the water below. The sight gave them chills, ignoring the fact that it was extremely hot. It had to be Kim's cliff.
"Look, we're sorry about what happened." Buzz started. "She was an earthbrat, but that doesn't make it right."
"It wasn't Hacker, was it?" Jackie asked.
"No, I would not still be working with him if he did. I like being bad, but killing others is where I draw the line." Buzz told them.
"And electrocuting Kim and almost us, isn't?" Inez asked.
"We didn't know how far he'd take it, and we didn't think he'd actually… you know. If he did, then it'd be accidental." Delete admitted.
"They're right, Hacker wouldn't kill." Digit agreed.
"I shouldn't have brought this up." Delete said aloud.
"It's fine, we just haven't actually seen the cliff, let alone been to Solaria since it happened." Digit responded. "Buzz, Delete, by any
chance do you think you can let us go?"
"Can't, you four stay there." Buzz's sympathy left and his bitterness quickly replaced it.
"It's the least we can do, Buzzy." Delete said to his friend.
"Give us a minute." Buzz turned to Delete so they could discuss the situation. "The best we can do, is to have you four tied to the crane base on board, but that's it. We can't let you roam free."
The Cybersquad whispered among each other, figuring that they'd have a better chance of stopping Hacker on the boat rather than hanging over the side, so they agreed to the terms.
Buzz and Delete brought them on board, and tied them to the crane. The Cybersquad didn't try anything to escape, the two bots were being nice to them.
"Thanks, fellas. This means a lot." Digit said.
"Yeah, well don't expect us to do something like this again." Buzz responded as he finished tying the knot.
"Hacker won't be too mad at us, will he?" Delete asked.
"He's too busy worrying about the gold to care." Buzz responded.
There was a brief moment of silence, everyone trying to figure out what to say, then a fish jumped out water and onto the boat.
Delete went into a panic, running inside the boat and coming back with a bucket in his hand. He filled it with sea water and put the fish in, saving its life.
"Well, what do you know? A fish." Buzz said aloud.
"Can we keep it? Please?" Delete asked.
"I don't see why not."
"Come on let's see if we can find some food for it!" Delete exclaimed as he ran inside the boat, with Buzz right behind him.
Once the henchmen were gone the fish surfaced in its bucket and turned towards the Cybersquad.
"Are you guys okay?"
"Jumper!" Matt responded only for the fish to shush him. "You are one crazy fish."
"I had to do something to get on board." The fish replied.
"Why'd you do it? You could have died." Inez said.
"I think I have a plan, but I wanted to make sure you guys were safe. This was the only thing I could think of." Jumper explained.
"So what's your plan?" Jackie asked.
"It's hard to explain, you just have to trust me."
A second of confusion passed as the Cybersquad wondered what the fish had planned, then Buzz and Delete came back with a box of crackers. The bots sat in front of the bucket, breaking the crackers in small pieces and throwing them to the fish. However Jumper wasn't interested in the crackers, he was busy telepathically communicating to the fish in the water.
"The team is okay, the robots are trying to feed me, and Hacker isn't up here." Jumper told Kim who had her head up against the boat to stay hidden.
"Okay, at least they're safe. Just let me know when Hacker shows up." Kim responded.
"I doubt you'll need me to tell you that…" Jumper mentioned.
"Buzz! Delete!" Hacker yelled. Jumper was right, Kim could hear him from a mile away. "What are you brainless bots thinking? Why did you bring them on the ship?"
"We figured you'd like to confront them face to face, rather than them hanging over the ocean." Buzz said, giving his best poker face.
Hacker growled before turning towards the Cybersquad. "Did you convince them to let you aboard?" he asked.
"And be closer to you? As if." Jackie responded.
"No matter. After today, I'll be rich and you kiddies won't interfere with me again." Hacker told them.
"You're destroying Solaria by collecting the treasure chests! We weren't lying about that!" Inez exclaimed.
"If what you say is true then let it be. It'll be one less cybersite to worry about." Hacker responded.
"You won't get away with this, Hacker!" Matt said.
"That's THE Hacker to you, mettling moppets!" He yelled. "Once I'm done here, I'll deal with you Earthbrats. I just have to decide whether to throw all of you into a black hole or leave you to join your friend at the bottom of the sea."
"That's low, even for you!" Digit told him.
"It's not like you'll be able to stop me. I've finally won!" Hacker exclaimed with an evil laugh at the end.
"Kim? Is now a good time?" Jumper asked his friend.
However there was no response. Upon hearing that Hacker would leave them on Solaria to die, Kim began lowering herself under the water, angrily breathing out her nose to cause bubbles to form as her head went under.
"I guess that's a yes…" Jumper whispered to himself. "They might not be able to stop you, but I will!" Jumper said aloud, finally letting his voice be heard.
"Who said that?" Hacker turned away from the Cybersquad to find the voice.
"I did!" Everyone's attention turned towards the bucket with the fish in it. Buzz, Delete and Hacker were confused and a bit shocked about the talking fish.
"You? You're just a fish. Solarian fish aren't supposed to talk." Hacker said aloud as he walked closer to the bucket.
"My name is Jumper, I speak for the sea! I was cursed by my ancestors to protect the waters of Solaria!" Jumper said dramatically, but it was exaggerated enough to seem believable.
"And you're going to stop me? A tiny fish?" Hacker laughed as he picked up the bucket.
"I ask you to release the treasure you've collected, so I can keep this cybersite safe!" Jumper added.
"This attempt was cute, kiddies. I honestly thought you were better than this." Hacker said as he dumped the bucket out into the ocean.
"That's not us…" Matt responded.
"I've been nice, but now I have to resort to the worse." Jumper said to Hacker. "I call upon my ancestors of this grand island to restore what is right, and send this wrongdoer away!" Jumper's tiny fins were raised up into the air to make it look like he was calling to the 'ancestors.'
Nothing happened. Everyone waited for something, anything, but it was just silent and calm. Hacker started to scoff, turning his back to the fish as he brushed off the empty threat.
THUNK
The boat was hit from underneath with a force that caused Hacker fall on his face. Seconds passed before the other side of the boat was hit. Hacker made a break for the controls inside the boat to try and start up the engine so he could get out of there. Unfortunately, another hit crushed the propeller, leaving him stranded in the ocean. Hacker ran towards the propeller to see if it could be fixed, but it was completely destroyed.
Then the boat started to rock from side to side, nearly sending Hacker, Buzz, and Delete overboard. However they gripped on to the sides of the boat, which was good because the boat slowly started to turn in a circle, gradually picking up speed as a whirlpool was magically created underneath them. The speed and put too much pressure on the boat, thus putting holes in it. As the boat filled with water, Hacker pulled out a remote from his pocket and pressed the button. Within seconds the Grim Wreaker flew above them and lowered a ladder for them to climb of the sinking ship, leaving the Cybersquad tied to the boat.
Hacker finally left Solaria, leaving the treasure he found behind, saying that it wasn't worth it. Finally the boat started to descend down into the depths of the ocean as the whirlpool died down. The Cybersquad was grateful their helmets were still on, but they were still tied to the sinking boat.
Jumper immediately came to their rescue. The small fish was given a shell by Kim, who went to go hide, and then used it to cut the ropes, freeing the team. The Cybersquad swam upwards to the surface just in time to see the Grim Wreaker blast away in fear of the mythical ancestors' curse.
"Earthlies, you guys okay?" Digit asked.
"We're fine." Jackie responded.
"At least Hacker's gone!" Inez said aloud.
"I guess we did it!" Matt exclaimed.
"Congrats, guys! You saved Solaria!" Jumper told them.
"Us? It was mostly you with the curse!" Jackie responded.
"How'd you do that?" Matt asked.
"I didn't; you'd be surprised how many fish banded together to do that." Jumper lied. "While I am cursed, it's for the ability to talk. Although it would be cool to call upon my ancestors!"
"Well, we're glad you did." Inez praised.
"Thank you, from all the sea creatures on Solaria. I probably wouldn't have been able to do it myself." Jumper continued. "The volcanoes will get covered as soon as possible, so Solaria should be back to normal within the next hour or two."
"Do you guys need any help?" Digit asked.
"I think we'll take it from here. Thanks again!" Jumper dove down into the depths of the ocean. The Cybersquad wanted to join him, but they were almost out of oxygen, so they had no choice but to head back to shore.
Solaria was saved. The temperature began cooling down and the entire cybersite were thanking the Cybersquad for their accomplishments. Of course the team couldn't exactly tell everyone what happened, otherwise history would literally have to be rewritten.
After getting their congrats and thank yous from everyone, the Cybersquad wanted to head home. However they decided to make a quick stop and pay their tributes to their friend.
"Well… Here we are." Digit told the Earthlies as they finally arrived at the foot of Kim's Cliff.
The team walked up the hill, stopping near the top, not wanting to get too close to the edge. They each had an iris in their hands and one by one they placed the flowers down on the top of the hill with all of the other flowers, stuffed animals, candles, and letters that were in honor of Kim.
A moment of silence passed and then they left. Oddly enough they felt a bit better, and they're slowly moving on.
Everything was back to normal. Solaria was safe, the volcanoes were covered, and Kim is still MIA. After she helped the octopus with the volcanoes, she retreated back to her cave to relax for a bit before she had to go to work.
It was hard to believe that thousands of years ago all the mermaids were held up in the cave and eventually died, but at least it explains on how she became part mermaid. For it to work, one person and one fish had to be in the cave under a full moon, because the mermaids' last night was on a full moon.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Jumper." Kim said.
"Hey, Kim. Good job on sinking the ship, by the way." Jumper told her.
"I must applaud your acting too." Kim responded as she lightly clapped her hands. "Sorry I left you hanging back there, what Hacker said crossed the line and I just had to cool off."
"With that hit, I'd say you let your anger get the best of you." Jumper said.
"Maybe I did…" Kim admitted. "But at least they're safe."
"At least you didn't kill anyone."
"Yeah, that's a positive note."
"So what now?"
"I have to get ready for work. In the meantime, I want you to make sure all of the volcanoes are covered by chests and that the chests are covered by rocks or sand or something like that."
"Got it! See you later!" Jumper said as he left.
Kim huffed after the long day and changed into Kris before jumping in the water and heading towards the shore. She has to talk to Jerome, Oliver, and Ethan about their set at Frogsnorts and the funeral. However she may be a bit distracted. Seeing the Cybersquad again, made her want to come clean and tell them everything. But that meant putting herself, and possibly her friends in danger. Ledge has been quiet; he hasn't been stirring up anything ever since he tried to kill her. Kim couldn't figure him out or what he could possibly be doing.
As long as she continued to play dead, Ledge would think nothing was wrong and go along with phase two of his plan. The second he strikes, she'd strike back harder. Then this whole mess would all be over.
A/N: Once again, thank you BlackShadowScythe for helping me with the history! As of now, I'm in college, so writing will take a bit longer. I'll do my best to keep up to date with everything.