Glow: Well, I'm a little disappointed. No one reviewed. Oh well. Viv, ya want some Surge?

Viv: Sure. I thought they were more reliable than this.

Glow: Normally, yes. I'm not sure what is going on right now.

Verdana: What the heck are you talking about? Anyway, read and review.

Jeremy glanced back one more time and saw the trees heal themselves. All the branches that Verdana had cut off, regrew. The path was sealing itself behind them! His first instinct was to panic. - -I will not panic! I am not like that anymore! It is actaully helpful. If anyone is following us, they'll have a hard time if the path disappears.- - Jeremy let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, a branch cracked behind him. His expression went from relieved, to frightened. - -Hold on. We're in a swamp, so there can't be any hard ground for the branch to crack against. That just means that something cracked it as it went through.- - he thought happily. His face went from happy to scared. - -That means that it has to be big.- - He heard another branch snap. He squeaked. Aelita looked back at him.

Instead of looking at him like he was insane, she asked, "What is it?"

"I, umm, I heard a couple branches, ummm, snap."

"That's strange. I wonder why I couldn't hear that." Jeremy was saved from answering, because at that moment they went out of the swamp.

"We're almost to the cave." Verdana called back to her friends. Everyone was glad to be out of the swamp, even Verdana. - -Only a little ways further. We can make it. I hope.- - She glanced at the watch she brought forth from her wrist. - -They are running out of time and there is nothing I can do. Unless...- -

Back in the forest

Tron woke up with a splitting headache. - -So much for Plan A. Time to go to Plan B. Although I liked Plan A a lot better. It came with a pretty girl in the deal.- - He gave a sigh. - -Now if only I could remember what Plan B was.- - "Do I even have a fricken Plan B!" he shouted to the silent trees. All at once, he felt that the trees were mocking him and laughing at him. "What the hell are you laughing about!" he screeched again. The trees remained silent, although they were still laughing at him in their own way.

Outside the forest

"All we have left is a short climb up this mountain, then we'll be there!" Verdana told the gang happily.

"Define short." Odd retorted, having learned from the past that her perception of short was not the rest of theirs.

"Oh pish. I'm talking about maybe a quarter of a mile, tops. I fail to see why you were worried about it."

The purpleish-blue mountains looked brown from close up. A few shrubs dotted the rocky sides, but for the most part it was barren. The group began the climb, even Viv. This was mostly due to the fact that she was frightened about something she could not name and wanted to stick close to the gang. Jeremy was talking to Verdana about a concern that worried him. "Tron said that it wasn't right to bring something back from the void, and that is what we did with you."

"I understand what you're thinking. I did not go to void, so I cannot be brought back from there, even if it were possible. It was unnatural for my brother to bring back certain viruses, like X.A.N.A. Those were the ones who resisted and caused problems, so I destroyed them, like you did with X.A.N.A. The rest of them were just locked up in the Crypt."

"If you don't mind me asking, where and what is the Crypt?" Jeremy asked, grateful she had silenced his worry, but curious about the place she had imprisoned the viruses.

"There's really not much to tell. It's a big tomb underground near the village. It contains the remains of the Creator, the maker of the system. He brought himself here, then died in solitude, once he found peace. Too late he realized that the viruses had taken over. Creating my family was the last thing he did. It was meant to be a sacred place, but I had to imprison the viruses there. Other than that, there's nothing special about it."

"Well, maybe, but we should probably make a stop there none the less. I've started to realize that things seeming to be un-special, usually hide interesting things." Jeremy had learned to expect the unexpected when it came to dealing with Verdana and her temperamental brother. Verdana shrugged.

After about five minutes, Verdana stopped suddenly. The rest came to a pile up right behind her. Odd, who was unlucky enough to be last, smacked into OSTA and slid down the hill a ways. OSTA snickered as Odd pulled himself up again. "What are you laughing about orange-boy?" Odd snapped angrily. OSTA just smiled smugly and turned to face forward.

Verdana was standing by a pile of rocks. She seemed to be searching for something, but the rest of the gang had no clue what. "It's gotta be around here somewhere..." she muttered to herself. As she viewed the area around her, she was struck with a memory. "Of course. It won't have moved." She stepped a little to the left and began looking for something again. She found a purple rock with a vertical groove in it. Then, she placed the side of her hand and pinky in it. Where she had been standing before, a dark tunnel opened up. "Enter the cave." she said darkly.

Glow: That was ominous, eh?

Verdana: -pushes Glow into bedroom- you're sick, so go sleep! Please leave a review, doesn't matter what you say, just leave one. I've never seen Glow so down. So PLEASE leave one!