Chapter Seven: There Is No Alternative
Author's Note:
Here's Chapter Seven: There Is No Alternative, featuring Tina Sugandh's "There Is No Alternative" from the soundtrack of "Disney's Ice Princess." I'm sure you guys recognized the previous chapter as a mix of the ending of "W.i.t.c.h. Chapter Book #8: Out of The Dark" and a scene in "Disney's Ice Princess." Anyway, the next chapter is Chapter Eight: Reunited. Chapter Nine will be entitled Chapter Nine: On Top Of The World featuring Jordan Cahill's "On Top of The World" from "Disney's Stuck In The Suburbs." So, I'll see ya guys then, and here's Chapter Seven: There Is No Alternative. The finals and the competition is nearing! ;-)
-CelestialTime93
"This is it." Kim frowned, looking up from her tracking device. They were now back in Cyberia.
"In there?" Inez raised an eyebrow in disbelief on where Hacker would trap Elyon, "It's either he wants her killed, or he just wants to push her to the edge to blurt out a secret."
"Mom did know a ton of secrets that Hacker wanted to know." Slider replied, scanning the area for traps.
"And there is nobody who would be able to get in there." Jackie exclaimed, motioning her hand at the cave entrance, "It's dark, cold, and you'll freeze to death if you're cold-blooded! Even warm-blooded would do!"
"Aunt Elyon suffered through worst." Kim explained, "She skated in a blizzard, just for practice. And, whaddya know, she wasn't shivering when she got home. It's either the anger that Uncle Coop interupted her practice that made her warm herself up, or it was caused by the thing that Hacker's after." - Kim paused in confusement, then asked Coop with uncertainty, "What is Hacker after Aunt Elyon for?"
"That I never got to know." Coop replied, "All I know is that we gotta get in there from two different paths. Half of us will have to take the skies in the Cybercoupe, while three of you guys go through the tunnels."
"Coop, you come with me." Digit said, "Matt, Jackie, same with you."
"Which leaves us with Inez, Slider, and Kim with the tunnel." Matt said, as the others got into the Cybercoupe, "We'll meet you guys in the chamber. You have the skwak pad, right, Inez?"
"I got it in my bag." Inez replied, looking down at her brown handbag which replaced the gymbag she carried, "We'll contact you if we need help."
"And we'll do the same." Jackie called back, as Matt leaped into the Cybercoupe with the others. And with that, the Cybercoupe was off.
Inez, Slider, and Kim, began to run towards the entrance until Inez noticed the ground.
"Stop!" Inez exclaimed, haulting Slider and Kim with her arms outstretched to the side, then she pointed to the ground, "Look. The ground."
"Great." Kim groaned, slapping her forehead, "Please don't tell me that's what I think it is."
Slider knelt down and knocked the substance on the ground. "Yep. Solid ice. Looks like Hacker's got it all planned out."
"And it continues through the whole tunnel!" Kim whined.
Then, an idea struck Inez. She reached into her bag and pulled out her skates.
"What are you doing?" Kim asked.
"Hope you brought your skates, guys." Inez smiled, tying the laces of her skates tightly, "'Cause we're gonna skate all the way to the chamber!"
Trapped inside an ugly life
Stuck in my coocoon
I needed some wings to make it right
I had to fly away real soon
I busted out and headed straight
And now I'm loving life
'Cause nothing can get in my way
I'm the prettiest thing in the sky
"Now!" Inez cried, once the other two got their skates on.
The three sped down the ice tunnel, which soon led into an obstacle course made completely of ice and snow. Icicles hung from the almost never-ending ceiling. Icicles spiked up from the ground in random places.
"Now I know why nobody likes to come in here!" Slider cried over the sheathing sounds of their skates and the screaming wind as they travelled through the semi-chamber at high speed.
"Look at all of these cliffs and icicles!" Kim hollered, "Any of these can break at anytime!"
"Which is why we're gonna go fast!' Inez smiled, then sped up the same time as the two cousins did.
Break me, break me
Y'think you can
Take me, take me
"Uh-oh!" Inez cried after a while, "Cliff ahead!"
"Ready?" Slider exclaimed.
"On it!" Kim called back.
The three did a perfect triple lutz in perfect sync, and continued skating once they landed.
Oh, oh, you're wrong, wrong
Been held down too long, long
Higher, higher, higher
I'm gone, gone
Been held down
'Cause this is the way I wanna live
There is no alternative
"Whoo!" Kim exclaimed, "That was awesome!"
"We'll celebrate later!" Inez called back, "C'mon! There's a thin ice bridge up ahead! We're gonna have to go by one foot, single file if we're all gonna get across safetly!"
"And here it comes!" Slider cried, as they approached a cavern with a single thin ice bridge covered in snow.
The three lined up single file, and started skating on one foot, balancing and controlling at the same time, their blades sheathing on the solid ice.
Finally, the three made it to the other side, and began avoiding the upward growing icicles with strength and graceful movements of their feet and skates.
All the colours of the world
Are painted onto me
I think of bein' a black and white girl
Now I'm finally free
I busted through the atmosphere
Into the clouds I'll fly
'Cause up on top is where I'll lay
Now I'll do what I want
The three leaped off of a cliff and onto solid, smooth ground, as the others in the Cybercoupe were seen through the peepholes in the ceiling.
"Hey, guys!" Jackie called down.
"How much further, Slider?" Digit called.
"It shouldn't be long!" Slider called back in reply.
Just then, the Grim Wreaker sped ahead of the Cybercoupe.
"It's Hacker!" Digit screamed.
"You guys go on ahead!" Matt called down, "We'll try to stall Hacker before you reach Elyon!"
And with that said, the Cybercoupe flew up higher into the sky, and began chasing the Grim Wreaker away from the ice caves.
"C'mon." Inez said, "We don't have much time before Hacker comes back."
Break me, break me
Y'think you can
Take me, take me
The three skaters skated much more faster down the pathways, as they skated up and down the icy slopes. Inez felt her stomach do flip flops everytime she went down an ice slope, 'causing her to feel a bit sick at the end of the ups and downs.
"Feelin' alright, Inez?" Kim asked at the end of the slopes.
"Just a bit nauseous, that's all." Inez replied, sickness in her voice. She shook off the sickening feeling and continued on.
Oh, oh, you're wrong, wrong
Been held down too long, long
Higher, higher, higher
I'm gone, gone
Been held down
'Cause this is the way I wanna live
There is no alternative
This is the way I wanna live
There is no alternative
Kim gasped.
"What's wrong?" Slider asked.
"Spiral." Kim squeaked, "Up ahead."
Slider looked forward and cried, "Oh my gosh! Inez! Look out!"
Inez wasn't paying attention. Her mind seemed to be focusing back on the arguement between her and her mother. What did she mean by the two of them fighting. They were going along perfectly well.
I wonder... Inez thought with some fright, Are there two of me walking around on Earth? Is there a bad side of me that I don't know of, that's walking around my home world whenever I'm not around? Was that what my mom meant about the two of us fighting? The last time we had a fight was when I was 15, but I was immature back then. What's going on?
"Whoa!" Inez's thoughts were interrupted when she slipped and began to slide down the giant ice spiral on her back, her hair flying past her shoulders.
"Inez!" Slider cried, leaping after Inez, also sliding down on his back.
"Slider!" Kim cried, jumping in after her cousin, "Wait up! Whoa!"
Everybody knows
That I can't told to be anything but me
Be who I wanna be
Change my life so suddenly
Just like aratatata
I'm free
Now that I know that life is cold
I can always be strong
Like if somebody's gone
The three screamed and whooped as they slid down the ice spiral slide.
"SINCE WHEN WAS THIS INFRONT OF ME?" Inez screamed.
"Since always!" Slider replied, "You just weren't paying attention!"
Before Inez got a chance to retort, Kim cried, "Exit coming up!"
"Jump!" Inez cried.
The three flipped acrobatically into the air and landed on their two feet, and continued skating through the last bit of the semi-chamber.
You're wrong, wrong
'Been held down too long, long
Higher, higher, higher
I'm gone, gone
Been held down
'Cause this is the way I wanna live
There is no alternative
"Where are the others?" Kim hollered over the sheathing sounds of their blades. Sunlight streaked through the dark chamber, creating small spotlights from the peepholes in the ceilings. And there was no sign of the Cybercoupe anywhere.
"Good thing is that Hacker's not catching up with us." Inez called back.
Just then, a dark shadow overcasted them, as the Grim Wreaker flew past.
"Never mind." Inez squeaked.
"That means the others are either captured, or they lost sight of the Grim Wreaker and are still looking for it." Slider said, "It's up to us!"
"Then let's go!" Inez exclaimed, as she led the cousins through the winding pathways of the remainder of the semi-chamber, jumping off cliffs and dodging fallen icicles.
You're wrong, wrong
'Been held down too long, long
Higher, higher, higher
I'm gone, gone
Been held down
'Cause this is the way I wanna live
There is no alternative
This is the way I wanna live
There is no alternative
This is the way I wanna live
There is no alternative
This is the way I wanna live
There is no altnerative
"The entrance gates!" Inez cried, then skated as fast as she could towards the door, with Slider and Kim skating as fast as her. The three crashed through the gates, to see Hacker and his two henchmen, Buzz and Delete there.
"It's the end of the line for you, Hacker!" Inez cried, pointing her finger at Hacker.
"Let Aunt Elyon go now, Hacker, while you still have to chance to do it without pain!" Kim demanded.
"Pain?" Hacker scoffed, "Ha! You think you can defeat The Hacker that easily? Well, you've been sorrily mistaken."
"Wanna bet?" Just then, Matt leaped through an opening in the ceiling and pinned Hacker down forward.
"Curse you!" Hacker strained, as Matt stood on top of him, trapping him down.
"You guys alright?" Jackie asked the three skaters, as she leapt off the ladder that was brought down from the Cybercoupe.
"We're fine." Inez replied, "Thanks to Matt here."
Matt grunted as he hit Hacker's head, knocking him out temporarily, then replied, "Ah, no biggie. That's what friends are for, aren't they?"
"Can we focus on the plan at hand here please?" Digit wailed, as he and Coop climbed down the ladder also.
"Where's Elyon?" Coop asked.
Horrified by what they saw, Buzz and Delete, shaking with fear, pointed in the direction where a young woman was close to freezing to death.
"Mom!" Slider cried, and skated to her. He knelt down and hugged her tightly.
Waking up from the sudden warmth that made contact with her body, Elyon woke up to see what was the cause of the warmth. "Slider?" she mustered weakly.
"I'm sorry." Slider sobbed, "It was all my fault, I shouldn't have made you so angry to leave the house."
"It wasn't your fault." Elyon reassured.
"Your mother's right." Coop smiled, kneeling down beside his wife and son, "It wasn't anyone's fault. Things just happen."
"Any room for me?" Kim asked.
"Come here." Coop said, hugging his niece.
The four were being reunited, as the Cybersquad watched at a distance.
Just then, there was a movement. The Cybersquad gasped when they saw that Hacker was awake again. And what he had in his hand horrified them more.
"I'm not done with you yet." Hacker growled, standing up, with the glowing powdery substance in his hand.
"Magnetite!" Kim cried, as Digit stood infront of the family, defending them.
"Get out of the way, you Cyberturkey!" Hacker snapped.
"Not a chance!" Digit cried.
Just then, Delete's robotic arms grabbed Digit and took him away from defending the Metropolis family.
"Any last words?" Hacker smirked, preparing to throw the magnetite at the family.
None of the family members replied.
"No?" Hacker cackled, "Then so be it!"
"No!" Inez cried, being hit with the magnetite.
Inez screamed in agony and recoiled once she was hit with the magnetite, losing her balance.
"Inez!" Matt and Jackie cried.
"Inez, what did you do?" Digit cried.
"Good one, boss!" Buzz exclaimed.
"Yeah, a good one!" Delete agreed.
Inez groaned, and collapsed to the ground, weak.
"Inez!" Slider exclaimed.
"Don't touch me, please." Inez said weakly.
"She's covered in magnetite, Slider." Elyon said.
"Something's not right about this." Slider muttered.
"This is what you get, if you get in my way, you little earth brat!" Hacker scowled, "Now thanks to you, I missed my one shot at the family you were trying to protect."
The others gasped when Hacker was about to kick Inez.
But Hacker was the one that should've been worried about...
"Hya!" Inez threw a bit of the magnetite off of her arm and in Hacker's eyes, causing him to scream in pain.
"Inez, you're okay!" Matt cried.
"You forgot something, Hacker!" Inez stood up, smiling, "I'm an Earthling! Not a Cybercitizen!"
"You little brat!" Hacker cried.
Digit kicked Delete's arm, causing him to yelp in pain and withdraw his arms, setting Digit free.
"Delete!" Buzz cried.
"What?" Delete cried.
Digit flew over to the Metropolis family and motioned them to follow him.
"Want more?" Inez cried, "Here's the rest!"
Glowing winds sweeped the magnetite clean off of Inez's body and flew onto Hacker, Buzz, and Delete.
"I'll be back!" Hacker bellowed, as he and his henchmen escaped from beam of green light from the Grim Wreaker. As the Grim Wreaker flew off, the caves began to shake and growl.
"This place is gonna collapse!" Digit cried.