Ch.6: The Shade Speaks
Beep…Beep… The sound of the tracking device continued to throb its steady sound as the Cybercoop journeyed deeper and deeper into space, with a worried gang of teens on board. Inez, Jackie, Sherri, Slider, and Digit could hardly turn their eyes away from the flashing dot appearing on screen. Silence gripped their mouths, but their minds were reckless with worry.
Inez's fingers tapped impatiently against the armrest of her seat, ready to Cybraya as soon as possible and find Matt. Who knows what their friend could be suffering at Hacker's hands! And with all that computer had told them about the Lost, it seemed like everything would soon be to hot to handle.
"We're coming Matt" said Inez in her mind " Please, just please, survive 'till we get there,"
Meanwhile, on Cybraya, Hacker was getting impatient for Matt to return with substance. The earth brat had been gone for close to two hours now! Rumbling stomach unable to stand the wait any longer, Hacker got up on his feet and called to the dunce-buckets.
"Buzz! Delete!" shouted Hacker, making the two robots hit themselves with heavy piece of the Wreaker's hull. " Come on! That earth brat is late! Let's go find him,"
"Sure Boss," said Buzz, immediately running to meet his master's command.
"Coming!" said Delete.
Together, the terrible trio pushed through the thick, cyber jungle until their feet stopped in amaze, spying the same ruins that Matt had found.
"Wow" said Delete in wonder, especially when seeing the giant, winged-fox statue "This place is beautiful,"
"I don't care if its beautiful or not!" shouted Hacker "Where is that earth brat?!"
"Hey Boss" said Buzz, standing nearby the statue " I found the kid's Squackpad! Hmm, he must have dropped it when he came here,"
"Give me that!" said Hacker, immediately snatching the device " Why would one of Motherboard's cronies leave this behind? Bah, there's no signal! This thing is useless to us now!"
"Oh! Oh!" said Delete " Maybe we should try searching one of those temples Boss, he's bound to be hiding in there,"
"Fine" said Hacker "Eenie, Meanie, Minne, Mo!"
Picking the middle temple, Hacker and his goons walked inside to discover a treasure trove of Phoenix Gold lying in huge pile, inside a massive, ornate bowl. By the large quantities of the rare mineral, it was obvious that this was stolen vault loot from When Rich Action Knocks.
"Boys" said Hacker, forgetting all about the search for Matt " empty your pockets, cause from this day on, we're rich!"
Meanwhile, in a dark, unknown place, Matt found himself painfully coming awake to peer at the soulless, orange eyes of the Lost standing all around him. The shade-like beasts simply stared at the boy as he jumped up in shock, fear and confusion running through his mind.
"What the…where…what's going on here?" asked Matt.
In response to his outburst, one of the Lost stepped out of the crowded shadows, in full view so Matt could see. Matt's first instinct was to fight or run, but then he got a really good look on the Lost that stepped forward.
'Hey" said Matt stunned " I know you. You were back on When Rich Action Knocks. Why'd you bring me here?"
Instead of speaking the Lost pointed upwards to a throne where a large figure with the same glowing-orange eyes sat. A blue aura surrounded his black body, displaying superior power, and Matt could only guess that this was the Lost's king.
"Matt" whispered out the King Lost " we meet again,"
"Again?" said Matt " What do you mean?"
" Last time any of us saw you" said the King " you became lost, torn apart by the Cyber Ripper once made by your enemy,"
"Cyber Ripper," thought Matt, thinking back to that time.
Multiple images flashed through his head, moving so fast that they hardly made a lick of sense. Pain, screams, the feeling of being torn apart, darkness, a voice.
"Ahh!" screamed Matt, kneeling on the floor.
"It is time to remember," said the King.
"We made it!" said Sherri, pointing out the window " That must be Cybraya,"
"Wow" said Jackie amazed " it looks so beautiful. Kind of makes me wish that we found this place a long time ago,"
"Both Hacker and Matt are down there" warned Slider " so we had better be careful going in. Hide the Coop in those trees and we'll set out and search,"
Minutes later, the Cybercoop was safely hidden on the ground, and the crew popped out to begin looking for Matt. Digit and Slider volunteered to check out the Grim Wreaker while Inez, Jackie, and Sherri searched the rest of the site.
The five adventurers figured out quickly that they couldn't communicate through their squackpads once they split up and agreed of meeting back at the Coop if they found anything out.
With that decided the team split up, and Digit and Slider made it to their destination first. Digit was surprised at first to see that the Grim Wreaker was such a wreck, but was even more stunned by the fact he and Slider were able to slip on board without running into Hacker and goons.
"Where is everybody?" said Digit confused "They decide to take a walk?"
"I've been hacking into the Wreaker's main system" said Slider " there's not much power because the core's been drained. Security cameras show no signs of anyone on board except you or me. That means Matt and Hacker are somewhere on the island,"
"Well, what are we waiting for?" said Digit " We got to tell Nezzie and the others, let's go!"
With that said, Digit and Slider left the Wreaker, ran past the hidden Cybercoop, and continued in the direction where they had seen the girls depart. They soon found them crouched down behind a bush, trying best not be seen.
"Hey guys…," started Digit, before being shushed by Jackie.
"What's wrong?" whispered Slider.
"Hacker," said Jackie, pointing a finger through the bushes. Digit and Slider stepped in to take a closer look.
Past the plants, their eyes gazed onto a magnificent set of ruins that looked thousands of years old. A giant, winged-fox statue stood at its center with temples shrouding behind it. Grunts could be heard as a trio of figures emerged from behind the hauling a large load of what seemed to be Phoenix Gold across the ground.
"Faster you dunce-buckets!" cried out Hacker's voice " I want all this gold loaded onto the Wreaker before sundown!"
"Whatever you say Boss," said Buzz, dragging his load.
"What about the kid Boss?" asked Delete " We still haven't found him anywhere,"
"So what" said Hacker " let him stay lost for all I care. I got what I wanted, his hidden stash of Phoenix Gold. Pretty clever to hide it on an unknown cybersite, but not so clever as to crash the Wreaker right where it was,"
"So Matt is here," said Jackie.
"Yeah" said Inez " but it looks like Hacker doesn't have him anymore, and he's found the stolen Phoenix Gold to boot,"
"We have to find some way to stop them" said Slider "I know looking for Matt is our main priority right now, but we can't let Hacker get away with all that gold,"
"I may have a plan" said Sherri " but to execute it we must move fast. Come on,"
With that said, the Cybersquad moved off to carry out Sherri's plan, trailing after the terrible trio with the silence of mice.
"Uh" said Matt, opening his eyes up to a new scene "Where am I now?"
"Hahaha!" cruelly laughed Hacker's voice as the green, cyber menace rode in upon a huge machine, pointing a wicked-looking gun at some fleeing members of the Cybersquad. "Stand still kiddies, this will only hurt for a moment or two. My Cyber Ripper will grant you oblivion!"
"Cyber Ripper?" thought Matt in his mind, feeling that he had heard that name before realization dawned "Wait a minute! Am I in the past?"