Glow: Wheeeee! -bouncing off the walls, literally-

Viv:Much thanks to L-

Glow: Shoosh! Here they come!

Verdana: How the heck do you get caffine!

Glow: Whatever do you mean?

Jordan: Alright, hand it over.

Viv: Hand what over?

Aelita: Come on, pulleez! It's for you're own good!

The gang stood uncertain, glancing down into the darkness of the cold cave. "Well?" Verdana asked, "Let's get a move on, shall we?" She was the first one to slide down into the darkness. The others followed nervously after her. Once they were all down, Verdana lit up the area with one of her energy balls.

Verdana led the way down the passage. After a few minutes of near darkness, their surroundings began to light up a little. There were strange glowing crystals protruding from the wall and they got more numerous as they got further. All of a sudden, the passage just ended. There was a wall of pitch black surrounded by a corona of bright white light. Verdana walked up to the darkness.

"I do not fear the emptiness." she said, and then she walked through. Odd thought that was a strange thing to say, but followed her anyway. He smacked into the wall.

"I do not fear the emptiness?" he tried uncertainly. He slammed into the wall again.

Aelita caught on and approached the black space. "I do not fear the emptiness." she said with absolute certainty, then stepped forward. The darkness swallowed her slim form.

"I do not fear the emptiness." Odd tried again, using the same tone as Aelita. He stepped in. The cool darkness enveloped him. All at once he understood the meaning of the words. He was in nothingness, he was non-existent. Only those who did not fear the emptiness of the void could pass and they had to be sure about it. They weren't just passwords, but they are key to passing through the nothingness and into the light. After what seemed like an eternity (only in reality just a few seconds) he stepped out into the brightest cave he had ever seen. Pure white light came from everywhere. The virtual crystals were so beautiful when seen awake. Odd glanced behind him. The black gateway wasn't there. All of the sudden, Viv tumbled out of thin air.

After everyone had collected themselves and gaped at the crystals for a while, Verdana brought out the sleeping crystal. She muttered a few words and turned it in a complete circle. Then, she brought one of the larger crystals from the wall closer to the dormant one. A bright light flared and Verdana was surrounded by a sphere of light. She rose up in the air and brought Viv's crystal to touch her where her heart would be. The light flashed again and Verdana drifted back down. In her hand she held Viv's crystal, now shining with a white light.

"There you are one crystal, prepped and ready! Now, each of you choose a small crystal. These will be your protection and weapons against my brother and his buddies. Remember, a SMALL crystal. I'll turn it into a piece of jewelry and it will protect you from viruses forever... unless it gets destroyed, so watch out." Viv felt the crystal in her hand. It didn't feel right for some reason. She asked Verdana about it. "Of course it won't feel right. It didn't choose you and you didn't choose it. If you want, I'll keep this one because it is the one that I picked and you can choose another to put in it's place on your necklace." Viv nodded and began searching.

Nearby Odd stared at a pile of crystals. He picked one after another up, but tossed them all away. None of them seemed just right. As he did this, he noticed that each of the crystals had it's own color. It was very hard to see, but there was a colored tinge to all of them. Finally, he picked up a crystal that just felt good to him. It had a very faint gold tinge to it and when it was put up against any of the other crystals, it just looked white. "Hey, Verdana, I think I found mine!"

Verdana wandered over and examined it. "Okay, what do you want it made into?" Odd thought for a moment.

"I think an earring would be nice. I heard they're the thing to have back home in America." Verdana shrugged and closed her hand around it. She opened it again and the crystal sat in a gold backing.

"Now you have to pierce your ear!" Verdana laughed.

"I forgot about that little fact." Odd admitted.

"Did you also forget that it won't be allowed back at Kadic? Principal Delmas is quite strict about that as you recall." Indeed, just as Verdana said, he was extremely strict. Odd remembered how he'd had issues with Verdana's multiple piercing's.

"I hate it when you're right. Oh well, he'll just have to live with it. I got it done here and my parents won't care." Verdana smiled again and pierced his ear using a bolt of purple energy.

Yumi and Ulrich began searching together, both feeling a little bad about what had happened. The strange thing was that they found their crystals at the same time. The crystals were growing from the same place, only in different directions. The color looked to be the same, a beautiful ocean blue tinge. As they reached for the crystal that felt best to them, their hands crossed. They both blushed deep crimson, as if they still hadn't told each other how much they liked them. Once they picked the crystals, they noticed that the tinge wasn't exactly the same. Yumi's was a little darker ocean blue tinge and Ulrich's was greener than he'd originally thought. Verdana came over to see how they were doing and they showed her the crystals.

"So, any thought as to what you want them made into?" she asked.

"Could you make mine into half a heart?" Yumi asked. "You know, like one of those best friend necklaces, only, you know...more special?"

"And mine the other half of the heart?" Ulrich added. Verdana took the crystals from them and closed her hand around them. She concentrated very hard and a few minutes later opened her hand again. In her palm, there was a heart with two chains coming out of it. Yumi and Ulrich took their respective halves and marveled at how well they fit together. Verdana smiled at this, and then moved on.

- -It's a good thing time stands still while we're in here, because it's running out for them...and fast. I need to get them home soon- - Verdana thought as she watched the rest of them looking for their crystals. Just then, she noticed that Aelita had located hers and was studying it. It was the clearest one there was, having only the lightest tinge of pale, pale pink. "So, wha'da ya want it to be?" Verdana inquired.

Aelita frowned, then answered. "I'd like a bracelet, if it's not too much to ask." Verdana smiled, took the crystal and turned it into a bracelet. The chain was made up of golden leaves, with the crystal in the center of a silver petal flower.

Jeremy found his, a slightly yellow one, and had it added to his watch. Jordan came up with a red tinged one that ended up becoming part of a dog tag. OSTA, no surprise, picked an orange tinged one that became a piercing for his eyebrow. Verdana took her crystal out of Viv's necklace and turned it into a ring. Viv was the last one to locate her crystal. It was slightly silver, like the bottom of a cloud. Verdana replaced it in the necklace. "Now, time to take on my brother." Everyone followed her back out of the cave.

Jordan: -going through the contents of Glow's and Viv's pockets- Hey, I don't get it. There's nothing with a large amount of caffine in it. There's just a chocolate bar, but chocolate doesn't have that much caffine.

Verdana: Oh well. They've gotten away this time. -leaves with Jordan and Aelita-

Glow: -laughs evily- They never suspected a thing.

Viv: And thanks much to all those who, umm, well, you know what you did, and you know who you are. Wait, did that make sense?