Chapter 5

David hid himself behind the pillar close to the entrance in front of the Animal Kingdom. Keeping his eyes out for anyone that would show up. Being the first Keeper to be there. Wayne made sure of that. Also, Wayne had told him to keep an eye on his friend, Nikki. He never explained why, which made David even more worried for her.

Why did Wayne told him to watch her? Was she in trouble? He hoped that she wasn't in trouble, but he told himself that he would not only watch over her, but to keep close to her.

As he was waiting, he noticed a glowing figure walking towards him. Charlene. The Cheerleader of the group.

"David?" Charlene called out to him before rushing over to where he was sitting. "You're early."

"So are you." He spoke up, looking over at her.

Charlene glanced around before sitting down next to him. "Hey, since it's just the two of us. Can I talk to you about something?" She asked softly, like she didn't want anyone else to hear her except him.

"Sure. What's up?" David turned to her direction, now interested to what she had to say.

"Do you know what's going on between Maybeck and Nikki?" It was that question that made David's eyebrows raise in concern.

"Not much except for last night. Why? What's going on?" He asked, resting his arms onto his knees to listen to what she had to say.

"Maybeck's been...well….he's a little distant today. Like he's hiding something from me. I know he's done it before. But he's stopped ever since then. Why is it happening now?"

David can see the worry in Charlene's face, seeing how concern she was for Maybeck. "Oddly enough, so has Nikki. Actually, they both were silent after the thing in the Tiki Tiki room. I was told by Wayne to keep an eye on Nikki."

Charlene's eyes widen by this. Was there something going on between Maybeck and Nikki? No, it couldn't be. Nikki wouldn't go after Maybeck. Or were they being controlled by the OTs? Like they did to her?

"Look, I don't know what's going on between them. I just know that we're going to find out. I still need to warn the others about what Wayne said." David explained to Charlene to ease her mind of the worries. Also helping him get through his own worries for Nikki. But it didn't help much. He still feared that Nikki was in trouble somehow. And he was going to get to the bottom of it.

…..

Nikki woke up in the control room close to the entrance of the Magic Kingdom. Maybeck sat down beside her, having just woken up in his DHI form.

"Are you sure you want to do this? Didn't Wayne warn you not to do this?" Maybeck asked her, narrowing his eyes at her. Not because he was angry that he had to meet here, but because he was concerned for her.

Nikki stood up quickly and rushed over to the computers and turning them on. Already her fingers were typing so fast to access to the system.

"In fact, we should wait for Philby. He knows this computer stuff. Though, he might say that it's dangerous." Maybeck kept trying to talk to her, growing more concerned when she didn't say anything. She was too focused into the computer.

"Don't worry about it. I can handle this. Besides, I have to know if I can do this. Just think, Maybeck. Our DHIs on the computer." She finished typing into the system before taking a step backwards.

"Look, Nikki." Maybeck gently grabbed her by the shoulder to make her look at him. "What if something goes wrong? If they shut down the computers, you'll be lost in the system. Do you know that?"

"Maybeck, I'll be alright. They're not going to shut down the entire system. The Disney staff always keeps their systems up so they can test the park rides and attractions. I doubt they'll shut down the computers. They need them." She stepped away from Maybeck, but kept her eyes on him.

"Besides, if anything does go wrong, you know what to do." She frowned as she said this. "But, there's something about accessing the computers that could be useful. And, it could be fun." She smiled before approaching the computer.

"Wait." Maybeck ran over to her. "At least let me accompany you. You shouldn't be doing this alone. Especially since this is your first time doing this."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" She raised her eyebrows at him.

Maybeck shrugged. "Eh. Why not? As you said, it could be fun."

Nikki smiled by this. "Alright. But, so we don't lose each other. We might need to hold hands so we don't get lost in the computer. Like a buddy system."

Maybeck shook his laugh, softly laughing. "I haven't heard of the buddy system since I was a kid in the boys scouts." He said before taking hold of Nikki's hand.

"Alright, here goes nothing." She smiled. Taking a deep breath before turning to the computer. Having herself go all clear while holding Maybeck's hand. Feeling him going into the all clear state.

She reached her hand towards the screen, her hand going through it. Suddenly, a strong force pulled her hand further into the computer. Pulling herself and Maybeck in. Having them both completely sucked in. The room was empty.

…..

"Maybeck?" Maybeck could hear Nikki's voice calling out to him. Opening his eyes, he would see a blurry scene of Nikki and….was she floating. Because of the blue light surrounding her DHI form, she looked like one of the ghosts from the Haunted Mansion.

He glanced around, finding that there was no ground beneath them. Like her, he was floating in his DHI state. Actually, he looked like his character in the Kingdom Keepers chat room. Only in different clothing than he wore in the game.

"W-Where are we?" He asked as he glanced around. They were floating in front of Mickey Mouse's head. No, it was the logo of Mickey from the old cartoons that he used to watch when he was a kid. It quickly hit him that he found himself in front of a screensaver. They made it! They're inside of the computer system.

"Maybeck! We're in the computer!" Nikki beamed before doing a flip as she kept floating in the air.

"H-How is this possible?" Maybeck stared around him in shock. Then he realized something. How were they supposed to get out of there? Was there a back door they could use?

"Hey Maybeck! Over here!" Nikki called out, already moving towards a folder on the screen. Tapping her hands on it to open it. Peeking into the documents that were there.

"This can't be happening." Maybeck shook his head before moving himself by stroking over to her. It's not like he could just walk over to her.

"Everything's in here. Manuals, emails, even pictures that people saved are on here. This is so amazing!" She grinned. Diving and looking into files like they were treasures from a sunken ship.

"As much 'amazing' as this is, we should think about getting out of here." Mayback only watched her from a short distant. He had to admit, this was really cool.

"One minute. There's something I need to find." Nikki dove downwards to the files at the bottom of the screen. Looking into them.

"What could you be looking for that's so important?" Maybeck decided to follow her downwards so she wouldn't get into trouble.

"If the Overtakers are using the staffs to help them, maybe there's clues in here that can help us." Nikki explained.

Maybeck raised his eyebrows. He never thought about it before. The Overtakers could be hiding something in the computers. They had always used the computer systems to hide information, or get information about them to find ways to track them down. By this, he moved to a file and helped her look into each file.

For a while, they couldn't find anything. Maybeck was beginning to doubt about this whole situation and was going to say how pointless this is. Until something caught his eyes. Maybeck opened the logo that said, VMK. His blood went cold. He called Nikki over, who quickly joined her to look over at what Maybeck found.

The file was locked. Only a password can open it. But Maybeck slipped his hologram hand through the file, unlocking it from the inside. He opened it. The file enlarge and took over the entire screen. They both were looking into the chat room where they would all meet up online when they weren't at the Parks and were stuck at him. As Nikki was looking around with a curious look, Maybeck walked forward. Seeing the chats from the previous nights they had posted on the wall.

"The OTs have been spying on our conversations." Maybeck turn to her, both shared the same frighten look. The Overtakers had not only sent the OTKs to spy on them in schools and homes, they had been looking into their personal lives by using their chat rooms on VMK and looked into their emails. It had confirmed their suspensions that they had all along. With this, they would know about their plans.

"This is getting serious." Nikki said with a frown.

"Yeah right it is!" Maybeck angrily said. "We have to tell the others about what we found. But we need to get out of this computer."

"Hold on. If these Overtakers have been spying on us, they could be using the cameras in the parks to also check if we're there. Let's see if this computer can access us to the cameras to find our friends. We can use that to find them." Nikki said before she moved to get out of the chat room and went for another file. Trying to not let the shock of what they found out stop her from completing her task.

"They could have been spying on us this entire time. That explains how the pirates found Whitman and Chase. And how they knew we were in the Tiki attraction."

Maybeck went over to her just as she opened the file that carried the camera footage from each of the parks. They looked into the Magic Kingdom. Nothing. Epcot. Nothing. Hollywood Studios. Nothing. Animal Kingdom. Nikki's eyes scanned the area close to the animal exhibits. Seeing two tall figures heading towards it. Both men were the security uniforms.

"Could they be Overtakers?" She turned to Maybeck as she showed him the footage.

"I don't know. But we need to get down there now." Maybeck said with a serious look.

"Yeah, I know." Nikki looked around for a way out. Like a backdoor or an opening to get them out of the screen.

"Do you know how we can get out of here?" Maybeck looked around, trying not to show an panic.

"I-I don't know. There should be a way out." She stuttered, her eyes scanning around.

"You don't know a way out?!" Maybeck yelled at her.

"Look! I'm trying to figure out how. Just give me a chance." She talked with her hands waving in frustration. She should of thought about an escape route before coming here.

"Quick! Hide!" Maybeck grabbed her arm in sudden, pulling her behind one of the side files. He pointed upwards at the clear screen. Seeing a man's face peering down at the computer. The man was wearing a green polo shirt with the Magic Kingdom logo on the right side of the chest.

The man's eyes were scanning at the computer, confused to why a couple of folders were opened. "How are these open?" The man's voice echoed through the screen. "It must be Jerry. I knew I shouldn't of given him the password." The man said before he closed the open files before he walked away.

Both Maybeck and Nikki signed before stepped out from the file.

"That was close." Nikki breathed out. "If that guy thought we were viruses, he would of tried to get rid of us."

"Which is why we need to get out of here." Maybeck stepped out, looking over at Nikki. "Though, if, and it's a mighty if. If we do get out of here, there's still security guards out there. Maybe Overtakers."

Nikki took a moment to think. Something made her look upwards, spotting an app saying 'email.'

"I think…I might have an idea how to reach the others and get out of here without being spotted." A smile spread across Nikki's face before looking over at Maybeck. Maybeck followed her eyes, staring up at the email.

"So, you're saying that we're going to email ourselves to Animal Kingdom. And then find a way to beamed ourselves out of the computer and find the other Keepers."

"Exactly!" Nikki grinned.

"As strange as it sounds, it's not a bad plan, Tyler." Maybeck nodded. Impressed by the crazy plan she had. He was the first to climb up onto the files before Nikki followed him to reach the top email file.

Maybeck pressed the file, opening it up. Hitting the 'compose' button to start a new email. Nikki remembered the email to reach Animal Kingdom thanks to Wayne for giving her connections to the trusted staff. Clicking with her hand to pull out the touch keyboard to type in the email into the email box.

"Quick, get into the text box." Mayback gestured her to go down. Nikki did as she was told, sitting into the text box before Maybeck joined her.

"Hold on tight!" He pressed the send bottom before moving his hand to allow the email to do what it should do. Suddenly feeling the box moving. Not realizing that the email that they were in was rushing in high speed as it was being send throughout the digital world till it finally reached the computer in the control room at Animal Kingdom.