Ch.10: Phoenix Fire
"Ah!" cried Digit, looking upon their intruder with fear " how did a Lost get here?"
"Through my squackpad apparently," said Jackie, overlooking her device.
"Doesn't really matter how it got here" said Slider " we can't let it escape."
"Didn't come to escape," hissed the Lost.
"Then why did you come?" asked Inez.
"Matt. Danger. The sorceress spell," said the Lost.
"Um" said Jackie " mind phrasing that in clearer English?"
"Wait" said Inez " he interacted with the squackpad before. Can you show us what you mean?"
The Lost simply nodded, and made his way over to Motherboard's control panel. Concentrating, blue sparks began to dance around his claws, and he dug them into the metal console.
The Cybersquad began to panic as the Lost suddenly disappeared into the mainframe, and Motherboard jerked around feeling twitchy and weird. After phasing in and out for several seconds, Motherboard finally regained her normal face, except this time, her eyes glowed orange.
"He possessed Motherboard!" said Digit with shock.
"Yes" said Motherboard's voice, even though it was not currently her own " This vessel was necessary in order to speak more clearly to you. I promise no harm while I'm in here."
"Then tell us" said Shari " what do you plan to do with Matt?"
"The ceremony has already begun" said Lost Motherboard " your friend will become the vessel of the Phoenix reborn, which we will use to dismantle Cyberspace so that we can be whole once more. Every piece of data we consume makes our forms stronger."
"Until enough good data is consumed to cancel out the evil we took so long ago, we shall remain cursed. That is the sorceress spell."
"So your plan is to devour all of Cyberspace?!" asked Digit shocked.
"Matt as well" said Lost Motherboard " once he has served his purpose, he too shall be consumed."
Gasps shot through the whole terminal when something didn't sit right in Nezzie's mind.
"Why are you telling us all this?" she asked.
"To much sacrifice" said the Lost, having to pop out of Motherboard's system " Not what sorceress meant. Must stop King Lost...before to late."
–-
Meanwhile, down in the thrills of R-Fair City, a sporting cybersite where many carnival games and rides could be found, customers were lining up for their chance to win great prizes when the sound of an enormous caw drew their attention to the skies.
Lucky, the female robot manager of R-Fair City, had just finished dropping off a couple of customers before she turned to the sky, her eyes widening in surprise as she spotted the fiery form of a Phoenix suddenly appear.
The massive bird looked menacing in all of its flaming glory, before opening up its mouth to shoot down a hot blaze of death, incinerating anything in its sight.
Citizens screamed, while Lucky quickly ran for cover to avoid the searing flames. Taking shelter in one of the game booths, Lucky breathed in and out with panic, trying to clam down her nerves.
The hiss of the crackling fire could still be heard as more and more deadly streams rained down, but Lucky could soon discern a noise hidden among the burning flames.
Curious to what it was, Lucky risked a peek outside of the game booth, and gasped when she first sighted the Lost.
Hungrily, these black beings marched in search for prey, some running after the citizens as they attempted to flee, while others stopped at the ruined game booths, snacking on their leaking bits of data.
"Got to tell Motherboard," thought Lucky to herself, instantly typing out the signal for distress on her portable phone.
A growl came close to Lucky's ear, and the robot turned to face a harsh look in a Lost's cold, orange eyes. Its mouth formed into a wicked grin, and with claws sparking purple it lunged.
Meanwhile, flying up above R-Fair City, the King Lost stood perched on the Phoenix's shoulder, reveling in the destruction that was taking place below.
"Yes, at this rate" thought the King " all of Cyberspace will be ours."
His dreams of conquest were suddenly interrupted when the pink flash of Cyber-Portal appeared, dropping off the remaining members of the Cybersquad, and the mutinous Lost, right onto the ground.
"The heroes arrive" hissed the King " Matt, destroy them!"
The Phoenix let out a vicious caw and dived right towards the unsuspecting group, death promised on it's talons for a kill.
"Man" said Digit, when he and the gang popped through the Cyber-Portal "Lucky wasn't kidding about things being bad."
"Look out!" Inez screamed, pointing out to the Phoenix who was suddenly dive-bombing towards them.
Without a word of argument, the gang slalomed their way rapidly through the booths, seeking a safe shelter in order to hide from the fiery death, when it seemed there were none to be found. Luckily, a familiar voice shouted out, guiding them towards safety.
"This way!" shouted Lucky, waving her arms, urging for the Cyber Gang to follow.
Following Lucky, the Cybersquad followed her to a hidden station located underneath the roller coaster ride, and let out sighs of relief, glad that they escaped.
"Thanks Lucky," said Jackie, and then gasped at seeing her friend's state.
A nasty gash lay cut into the robot's shoulder blade, and she was doing everything she could not to feel the pain.
"Lucky, what happened to you?" asked Inez.
"One of them clawed me" said Lucky, pointing to the Lost who had followed them inside the station " Is he a friend of yours, because the others sure aren't!"
"It's complicated" said Slider " right now we need to rescue Matt from these guys before anymore damage can be done."
"And how are we going to that?" said Digit " Smile and say please?"
"Use me," spoke the Lost.
"What?" asked everybody else, looking towards him.
"Use me" said the Lost again " Save Matt."
Meanwhile, somewhere deep in a fiery blaze of Limbo, Matt's soul wandered around lost, calling out for any of his friends, hoping that they would hear. But no one answered him through the blaze.
Where was he? How did he get here? What happened to him?
The answers to those questions lay safely buried within the King Lost's mind.