Chapter Two: The Return To Cyberspace
"The Northern Frontier!" Jackie squealed.
"Shhhhh!" Inez shushed, covering Jackie's mouth. "Someone's coming! Hide!"
The three friends dove behind a gigantic rock, as they saw who came.
"Buzz and Delete!" the three whispered.
"Hey, Buzzy," Delete (the dumbwitted one) said, "Did you hear something?"
"Nope." Buzz answered, "Let's go and find that crystal that the boss is looking for. What was it called again?"
"Uhhhhhh, I don't know." Delete answered. Like I said, the dumbwitted one.
"It's the Crystal of Shangri-La, you knuckle-headed twits!" a voice belowed behind them, "And according to the Magic-Detector, the crystal is behind that rock!"
"Oh-no!" Inez whispered, "That's where we are!"
"Quick!" Matt whispered, scavenging his surroundings, "Find the crystal and bust! Maybe we can do something like an invisibility spell!"
The three scavenged around quickly while the enemies approached. The leader, was Hacker (He prefers to be called, The Hacker, but that's another story!).
"Hurry!" Matt whispered.
"Who's there!" Hacker bellowed.
"Oh-no! He heard us!" Inez cried.
"Show yourself!" Hacker bellowed again.
Matt felt something emerge from his palm, and shot his clenched fist open to reveal a crystal orb, hung on a golden clamp and cradled in a golden ore.
"I'll distract them with magic while you guys try to get out!" Matt demanded, putting the crystal around his neck, "I think I know how to use the Crystal of Shangri-La!"
Jackie's eyes widened. "YOU HAVE THE CRYSTAL OF SHANGRI-LA?" she yelled. She covered her mouth as a dark shadow over casted the three teens.
"YOU MEDLESEM KIDS AGAIN?" Hacker cried, "I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONE FOR GOOD, SEVEN YEARS AGO!"
"Well, too bad!" Matt shot, summoning the crystal's powers, "Take this! Energy Blast!"
The crystal began to glow a piercing electric yellow light, then shot a beam of the same coloured light at Hacker, Buzz and Delete.
"Gah!" Hacker cried, "No! The powers of the crystal are all ready attached to the earth brat!"
"Now that you mentioned it, I agree!" Matt cried, not knowing what he was just saying. The crystal was still glowing brightly around his neck. "And if that energy blast wasn't enough, try this on for size!"
Matt's body began to glow as bright as the crystal itself! "Psychic Attack!"
The lights exploded in brilliant colours of aqua blue, emerald green, platinum silver, electric yellow, and ruby red. Each of the lights hit Hacker and his two dimwitted henchmen.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Hacker, Buzz and Delete were thrown into the Grim Wreaker, as the lights exploded the aircraft when they entered, sending the trio of troublemakers flying.
"I'll be back!" Hacker cried, as they were thrown into Cyberspace: Nowhere.
The lights soon died out, and the figures of Matt and the Crystal of Shangri-La came more visible.
Matt felt weak and light-headed all of a sudden. The crystal returned to inside Matt's body, as Matt was knocked-out temporarily.
"Matt...MATT! WAKE UP!"
"You don't think he's dead, do you?"
"No way! He can't be dead! He's still breathing!"
Matt tried to move, but only managed to suffice a flinck of his hands.
"Guys!" a familiar voice cried, "Matt's waking up!"
Matt's eyelids felt heavy, but he still fought to open them.
When Matt opened his eys, his vision began as a blur, then came to focus.
Jackie and Inez were back to their normal forms. But two new people were with them. Well, at least, one of them were human. The other one was a cybird named Digit.
The boy had light brown hair and emerald green eyes. He wore a red sweatshirt, beige khaki pants, and white runners.
Matt easily recognized him as Slider Metropolis.
Matt didn't really like Slider. Although he was jealous of Slider, Matt wouldn't let it suffice.
But, why is Matt jealous of Slider you ask? Well, you'll find out later...
"Wha...what happened?" Matt asked weakly.
"You released a ton of energy from the crystal, then sent Hacker flying!" Inez answered, "By the way, how'd you do that?"
"I don't know..." Matt answered, "But for one thing, something somehow connected to me."
Matt paused. "Um, you know, I didn't really understand what Hacker meant of the crystal being connected with me. As a matter of fact, I didn't even know what I was saying!"
"I think Hacker means that the crystal's a part of you now." Slider answered, "The Crystal of Shangri-La is a legend around these parts since you guys left. That's why Hacker's after it."
"Well that explains everything." Matt mumbled under his breath.
"Well, the good thing is that we're all safe." Inez said, "But still, I wonder, how did Matt even get the Crystal of Shangri-La inside him. As I recall, after Matt sent Hacker flying to Cyberspace: Nowhere, the crystal somehow inserted itself back into Matt's body. How did that ever get in there? I mean, there was no sign on how the crystal was inserted into Matt in the first place!"
"The crystal can reborn itself after it destroys itself." Slider answered. "But it can only reborn itself inside a human's body. So, those are called the Chosen Ones. The hold the crystal that maintains four of the basic elements and a powerful force of energy well-known to mankind. In other words, electricity or lightning. But the elders call it absolute energy. The other basic elements as you know are Earth, Water, Air and Fire. So far, three of five elements are found. Matt, you have the power of absolute energy. While Jackie has the power of Earth, and Inez has the power over water. The only ones that remain are Air and Fire."
"Who knows where the other two elements are gonna find themselves in!" Matt cried, "We gotta stay alert!"
"But it's not that easy!" Slider exclaimed, "These elemental powers are invisible to the human eye, so they can be anywhere. Also, they don't choose humans randomly. Master Pai from Shangri-La choose the next, what are called, the Guardians of Cyberspace. The only reason these powers are let loose to the chosen five, is because danger and darkness lurks over Cyberspace. This time, Hacker teamed up with the Wicked Witch, so they used dark magic to release the dark minions from each different cybersite. Not to mention, 20 portals have opened somewhere in Cyberspace. These aren't Motherboard's portals. These are created by pollutants from Earth."
"It's like when the ozone layer tears a huge hole in itself, letting all of the heat from the sun break through, and the oxygen disappears." Inez added.
"Exactly." Slider said, "Only the gaps within the barrier between Earth and Cyberspace tear more than one gap. It made twenty. The last time the gaps opened, there were only ten. That means, the chance of the dark minions making through the portals to Earth and wreaking havoc just increased by ten portals."
"Joy." Digit said dully.
"Great, no what?" Matt asked, "What do we do? Ask Master Pai who the other two guardians are?"
"Actually, that's not a bad idea." Slider said, "We can just ask him, and then we'll be able to find out who the guardians are, before the powers strike!"
