Disclaimer: I do not own Cyberchase.
Summary: Will the returned Crimson Blade, altered but still as evil as ever, achieve his ultimate goal? Who will become tangled in his dark designs? And, most of all, who will survive his vicious onslaught? New allies, new threats, and old enemies combine to make the Cybersquad's desperate fight against Crimson harder than ever…
Rating: PG-13 (minimal gore, death, violence)
Author's Note/s: The previous chapter was very short, I know, but I promise this one will be longer.
Re-edit Notes: Okay, some minor dialogue changes here. Plus, I fixed the ending…
Eh, I know this is kind of off the subject, but I've noticed that fanfiction writing is a lot like art:
When you draw or write it a first time, the work seems okay. But, if you take another look a few months later, the work seems out of proportion or sounds very childish. That's what it's like with this; at least the early chapters, anyway. Just a little observation…
Chapter 2: Painful MemoriesOn Earth, however, the weather was a complete opposite – beautiful and sunny with a bright blue sky. At least, where the Cybersquad lived, anyway. Everyone was enjoying the good conditions while they lasted.
Everyone except Matt.
He was sitting in his room with the sunlight streaming in through his window, watching all the other kids on the street laugh and play without a care in the world. How he wished he was like them; he had been once, but he would never truly be again. The eleven-year-old, young as he was, had too much to think and be concerned about – including his friends.
Matt kept worrying about Crimson Blade – the over-confident, evil re-incarnate he had crossed paths with not too long ago. Or at least, it wasn't that long to his mind. That was how Jackie had gotten so sick; that was how Inez and Digit had also been hurt. Thankfully, all of them were fully recovered – Inez's hair had even grown back to the same length.
The reason he was worried was that he wasn't quite sure the creature was actually dead – the only thing he had done was spit on his mortal (or immortal) enemy. But then again… he had seen him shudder, and go limp; and after all, those pipes were certainly too heavy to have not killed the foul thing completely. But still, a nagging feeling at the back of his mind gnawed at his soul, warning him.
Giving a wistful sigh, still staring out the window at the children outside, he heard the doorbell ring and slowly descended the stairs to see who it was.
It was Inez. As he beckoned for her to come in, the Hispanic girl looked at him strangely. "Matt… are you all right? You look terrible."
Catching a glimpse of his reflection in the hallway mirror, Matt saw that, indeed, he didn't look too good. There were dark circles under his eyes, his hair was rumpled and his clothes were creased – he'd slept in them two nights in a row. Turning back to the bespectacled girl, he sighed and shook his head. "Come on up to my room where we can talk," he said, and doggedly went up the stairs into his room, closing the door behind them.
Once they were settled, Inez began to speak.
"Matt, what's going on? I haven't seen you in a while."
"I'm sorry… it's just… I've been thinking…" He stopped, upon a thought that suddenly came to him. "Where's Jax?"
"She had to go out today with her mom, I think. Don't hold me to that, though."
"Ah." Another long pause.
"Matt, just say what you want to say. Get it off your chest."
"All right, Nezzie," he teased her, and then grew serious.
"Thankyou, Matthew," she quipped back.
"I've been thinking about Crimson Blade…"
"Oh… him."
"Yeah… somehow I have the feeling he's not dead. I don't know how, or why, but… I just have this feeling. I still have nightmares about him sometimes. And they seem so real…"
"Well, you may be right, Matt."
"What!" He was joking around again. "I'm right for a change? Did Jax pay you to say that?"
"No, Matt." She rolled her eyes. "Trust your instincts. What does he do or say to you in the nightmares?"
A shadow passed over the boy's face. "He says to me… that he's going to find me… and I can't stop him…" He trailed off, staring off into the distance, recalling.
"Stop him from what?"
"From murdering all of us…" Matt whispered. "And he looks so real… when he kills me, all of us… it feels so real…"
"Nightmares can seem real, Matt… but you look really shaken up by the whole thing. More than you should be."
"I know." He looked sorrowfully at his friend. "It's been a long time since what happened, but I can't stop remembering what he did to you, and Jax, and Didge. And most of all, I'm scared of him coming back…"
"Well, all you can do now is keep your eyes peeled for anything. Just in case he somehow survived…"
"Please… don't remind me."
Inez had just opened her mouth to say something else when Motherboard's face appeared in one of Matt's posters.
"Inez – Matt," the supercomputer said. "Hacker is attacking - " There was static for a moment, and a long pause. " - Pompadoria - " Another pause. "Jackie and Digit – are already there."
"Portal us in, Mother-B!" the pair said in unison, and were sucked up by the pink, sparkly portal that appeared in front of them.
---
Next thing Inez and Matt knew, they had landed in a clearing in the Forever Forest. Jackie and Digit were already standing there, waiting for their companions.
"Hi Inez! Hi Matt – whoa! What happened to you?" Jackie narrowed her eyes as she caught sight of Matt's dishevelled condition. "Tornado? Hurricane, maybe?"
"Shh, Jax. I'll explain later," Inez said quietly to her friend, as the redhead's face darkened.
"So, what are we supposed to be doing?" asked Matt in a tense voice, carefully not looking at Jackie. "Motherboard told us Hacker was here."
Digit scratched his head. "Well, that's the funny thing, ya know. Jackie and me have had a look around, and we haven't seen any sign of him!"
"That's weird," said Matt bitterly. "He usually leaves his mark."
Digit raised his eyebrows at the boy's sullen tone and looked over at Inez questioningly. She shook her head and mouthed the words, "Tell you later."
"Well," she said out loud, scanning the area. "I suppose we'd better start looking."
After about an hour of searching, the four of them were frustrated and tired. They had now come to a conclusion - Hacker was definitely not at Pompadoria. Slightly peeved, Jackie punched the buttons on her Sqwak Pad and explained what had happened to a puzzled Dr Marbles.
"But… that wasn't what she said," he said hesitantly. "And the portal was programmed to go to Sensible Flats, where he really was. You need to get over there, now!"
Jackie looked over her shoulder at the others and bit her lip. "If you guys are thinking what I'm thinking…"
"Yep. Someone tampered with the transmission and the portal," Matt finished.
"And it couldn't be Hacker, or Buzz and Delete, because they're busy at Sensible Flats…"
"So… who could it be…?" Digit asked, slightly nervously; the Cybersquad glanced at each other warily.
Jackie turned back to the Squak Pad. "Dr Marbles - " She stopped speaking abruptly as she saw what had happened: there was no signal, only white-black static and a loud buzzing noise.
"Jackie?" Inez asked, concerned. "What happened to the Squak Pad?"
"I – don't know," the African-American responded worriedly, stabbing some of the buttons frantically. "It was fine before, and I put in the numbers right and everything…"
"Hey – look!" Matt said, pointing to their left, where a circle of pink-purple light hovered in midair, awaiting them. "A portal! Motherboard must have dropped out, so Dr Marbles just sent us a portal instead of trying to reach us."
"Matt… I don't know. He didn't warn us." Jackie folded her arms stubbornly.
"That's because he didn't get to."
"Usually, he does!"
"What else are we supposed to do, then?"
"Well, while you guys argue, Didge and I will just go to Sensible Flats now…" Inez interrupted loudly. The fighting pair looked sheepish.
"Sorry…" Matt muttered softly, glancing away and sighing heavily. Jackie said nothing, only rolled her eyes and grinned at Inez apologetically.
"Thankyou. Now, let's get going before Hacker does something serious," Inez replied, and ran to jump into the swirling, sparkling portal. The others followed soon after.
They landed in Control Central – the wrong location – a few seconds later, only to find the familiar building dark, empty, and silent as a graveyard.