Chapter 7

HI! It has been a long time exams is coming in next Friday .

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"…. don't tell me…."

Narumi called the academy to confirm what he had suspected.

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Ring!

" Yes, this is the Alice Academy," Gin Gin answered.

" Gino! I suspect something is wrong with the map we have given out to the students. THERE ARE THE MAPS GOING TO THE VARIOUS TRAPS IN THE ANTI-ACADEMY ASSOCIATION!" Narumi shrieked.

" What! Are you sure about this?" came the reply.

" OF COURSE. Use the computer and track where our students are now!" Narumi shouted in despair.

" Hold on."

Gin Gin type frantically on the keyboard and tracked the students from class B through their student pass. " Oh no!" he realized. The positions of the students were weird. They were not suppose to be there. They are in danger now- all of them!

" Narumi, who issue us the maps?" Gin Gin asked over the phone.

" What do you mean who issue us? I thought you are the one who take them from the Principal's office?" came a puzzled reply.

Gin Gin panicked. He was not told to go to the principal office to collect any maps. And, he was not the one who had the maps in the first place. Something was wrong.

"Narumi, I had not taken any maps from the principal office. I thought you are the ones who had the maps with you all the time?" Gin Gin asked again.

Narumi stunned for a moment. He too had not taken any maps. The maps were on his table that morning when they set off and he thought Gin Gin was the one who put them on his table.

" Gino, I think we have a major problem here…"

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Meanwhile, Yuu and Permy were trying to break free from the metal door. However, none of them had the ability to attack and it was no use. Permy only had the ability to find directions and Yuu can only create illusions. By now, both of them had realized that something was obviously wrong. Help had not arrived! They had sent out the emergency signal an hour ago. The oxygen level in the enclosed room was getting lower and lower and both of them were having difficulties in breathing.

" Yuu, I think they know that we are here all along. They lead us in this room. They know our weaknesses. They set us up in this room. But who is the " they" !" Permy screamed in fear.

The sense of loss and helplessness was too much for both of them. To them, it was like counting down to their death, seeing who would be the first one to get suffocated. Suddenly, Yuu realized something scary.

" Sumire, I think the anti-academy has a person with an Alice to control other people's Alice" he whispered in fear, " they control your Alice."

Permy gasped.

He was right. If she had been her Alice to find the way just now, she would have sense danger in this room and would be able to detect the danger before it was too late. She tried to use her Alice to see if there was anyone near them, but to her horror, she found that her Alice had been disabled.

" Yu- YUU! I CANT USE MY ALICE!"

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Meanwhile, Mikan and Natsume were not doing very well too. They had been walking in circles round the maze and could not find the way out.

" Erm.. Natsume, didn't we just come here not long ago?" Mikan asked.

True enough, they were back to the spot where they start off. No matter which way they went, they will just go back to the same spot.

" Argh! I had enough of this ! Lets rest first." Natsume said in frustration.

Both of them sat down on a piece of big rock. Panting, Mikan rested her head on Natsume's shoulder.

" Let me rest for a while please" Mikan pleaded, closing her eyes.

No reply.

" I will take it as "yes" then" Mikan smiled weekly. It was bad. The wound on her hand was bleeding non-stop. Mikan found herself getting weaker and weaker due to the excessive loss of blood but she did not dare to tell Natsume. Natsume, being a smart and observant boy, had already know that Mikan was tired out and secretly, he was getting worried. The only cloth tied round Mikan's wound was not doing much help in stopping the blood from flowing out.

" What can be done?" He thought desperately. At this rate they were progressing, Mikan will probably die. He closed his eyes in fear when he thought of this. " No way! I will not let her die. Not in front of me"

Light snores came beside him. Mikan was sleeping soundly.

" She looks so peaceful. It must be painful for her, the wound is quite deep. Darn that robot" Natsume thought, cursing that robot.

Mikan shivered at sometime and Natsume put his hands around her to warm her up- he had a fire Alice

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For now, the only group that was doing quite fine was Hotaru and Imai.

" Bang!"

Crash!

" Another one gone" Hotaru sighed as the robot dropped lifelessly on the floor. Electric current flowed through it, making sizzling sounds.

" Pheweee!" Ruka whistled, a big group of crows flew and attacked the robot that was about to hit Hotaru from her back. In a few seconds, the robot was thrown into pieces by the fierce bites from the crows.

" Thanks Ruka" said Hotaru.

They were not done yet. More robots appeared around them- before they knew, they were surrounded by them.

" Now what," both of them said in unison.

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" Mikan, Mikan, wake up now.." Natsume shook her from her sleep.

" Hmm.. ?"

" We have to keep going now. When you are sleeping, I realized that the maze is made of metal that can be broken when burned. I am going to use my Alice to burn this maze down to get to the second maze" Natsume said it as a matter of fact.

Standing aside for Natsume to use his Alice, Mikan watched. Flames of fire surrounded to maze and soon, the metal walls started to melt. The heat in the enclosed maze was intolerable. In a few minutes, the walls melted completely and the second maze appeared before them as the flames subsided.

" Yeah! We DID IT!" screamed Mikan childishly.

Natsume smiled when he saw her so happy.

' Well well, what do we have here?" came a sinister voice behind the curtain of smokes.

" Mikan! Stand behind me! Someone's coming" Natsume warned as he stood in front of her.

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At the academy, Gin Gin were trying desperately to save the situation. He had rushed to the secret hideout near the anti-academy association to assist Narumi while the other teachers in the academy help to contact the Principal.

By now, they had received countless of help signals sent by the students from class B. They had sent help to them but could not contact the help team. This was strange. Now, all they could do was to pray for the help team to find the students and the Principal to sent them further instructions.

Ring!

Narumi snatched the receiver and answered the phone.

" This is the Principal, I want you to go into the anti-academy association and help to find the students. Let Gino stay for further notice. If the situation is desperate, try to buy some time. The personals of the academy and some teachers are coming over to help."

" Yes"

"Yes Principal"

" Okay, I know what to do now. Save the rest first? Okay, bye"

Narumi put down the phone and wore his gloves. Gino, who was beside him, heard the conversation and told him, " be careful, if you need help, send signal too. "

Narumi nodded his head and opened the door. Gino saw his back view getting smaller and smaller and soon disappeared. He had a bad feeling. He felt that he was now sending Narumi for the last time and he would never come back. Shaking his head, he scolded himself to have such a thinking and continued to monitor the computer screen, tracking where the students were.

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Narumi walked to the place where Yuu and Permy were. They were the first to send the signals and two whole hours had past. He began to run. Judging from the size of the room they were trapped in, two hours was a madness. The oxygen would be used up by now. He had to be quick.

He reached the shut door and shouted, " Yuu! Sumire! You all still awake?" With no reply, he started banging the door, trying to get their attention.

Meanwhile inside the room, Yuu heard some faint banging noise amidst his dizziness. Permy had already fainted not long ago. He staggered towards the door and tried to hear what was outside. His most fear was that the enemy was attacking and he was too weak to fight back. Putting his ears on the door, he heard a familiar voice.

" Narumi-sensei? NARUMI! We ARE HERE! SAVE US!"

Narumi heard Yuu's voice and shouted back, " STAND BACK! I WILL TRY TO BREAK DOWN THE DOOR."

Yuu, who was too weak by now due to the lack of oxygen, had to crawl back to where Permy was to protect her from the debris of the door when Narumi broke open.

" BANG!"

The solid metal door crashed opened as Narumi drilled through the door with a razor chainsaw he took with him. He rushed to where Yuu was and asked him, " Are you alright?"

Yuu, by now was utterly relieved to be saved managed to whisper " save Sumire" before passing out.

" Yuu! Sumire!"

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Done ! Haha… I spent one an a half hours on this chapter…much longer than the rest.. Quite happy with my achievements and your reviews.. Thanks!