The awakening:
Cindy felt her stomach lurch as her pod raced along the tube. She felt the excitement building within her as the pod slowed down and stopped. She glanced quickly over head as the glass dome opened. She could see something, blue colored, descending from above; she felt her seat shudder as it attached itself to it, and she began to rise. Her seat came to rest in front of a new control panel; this one had a dark star like shape that she recognized from the tutorial.
Eustace spoke over the headset, "Insert keys now!" They all responded, "Keys ready!"
She took her key and inserted it into the hole in the panel below the star and as it clicked into place the star lit up in its different points and made beeping sounds; it reminded her of the game, Simon. She heard her lion roar as it came online.
She stared at the video screen as it activated. "Huh I'm underwater. I guess that makes as sense as anything else. I mean how else would Jimmy hide all the lions if they are all as large as this one?" She thought to herself.
She took a hold of the controls. The lion shot forward faster then she expected and she rammed into a nearby rocky formation. The lion shuddered from the impact and the view screen was clouded from the debris in the water, but other than that everything was ok. The gauges confirmed that the lion hadn't been damaged. "This thing is tougher than I thought it would be," She thought to herself.
"The controls seem a little touchy, be careful until we get used to these things, guys." Eustace said over his headset.
Sheen answered, Yeah but this is cooler then cooler. My lion was covered in lava guys!"
Cindy pulled back on her controls and raced upward toward the surface of the water. Her lion landed and fell in stride with the other cats as they raced along the desert sand a few miles out of Retroville.
A quick assessment of the lions and the operators revealed that Cindy was in the blue lion, Carl was in the yellow lion, Eustace was in the black lion, Libby was in the green lion, and Sheen was in the red lion.
"Ok everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing. Carl and Sheen please don't waste any time finding the dragons. I'm sure we will need all the help we can get." Cindy said.
"You can count on us, Cindy! We won't let you down!" Carl and Sheen shouted in response.
The lions stayed in formation as they flew into the sky until they hit a cruising altitude of three thousand feet. It was then that the red and yellow lions veered off from the pride and headed toward the Andes Mountains and the blue, black, and green lions rocketed off toward the island.
The radios were long range, so the lions could stay in contact even over the vast distance that was separating them, so it was no surprise that Sheen would start flapping his gums and fill up the airwaves with his banter.
"Hey we should pick a name for our group. I would suggest, the Ultra-lords!" Sheen said.
"No way, Ultra-doofus! We have to choose something that is stylish and has flair!" Libby replied.
"Libby! You're my girlfriend! Don't call me a doofus!" Sheen protested.
"Sorry Sheen. Let's come up with a name we can all agree on. What do you think our group should be named Carl?" Libby said.
Carl said, "I want to name us the Lama Force."
"That's a stupid name Carl, but I do like the Force part of it. How about, The Ultra-lord Fighting Force, you guys?" Sheen offered.
"No way! But maybe if you drop the name Ultra-lord from it." Carl said.
"Hey, Eustace, what do you think?" Libby asked.
"I honestly haven't given it much thought. What about you, Cindy?"
"I haven't really thought about it myself." She replied.
"Are you ok Cindy? You don't look to good." Eustace asked.
"My head hurts and I'm kind of tired to be honest with you." She replied.
"You haven't slept much. I can see it in your eyes." Eustace said.
"I tried to, but I couldn't sleep. I'm just so worried about him." She replied.
"It's a long flight. Why don't you set the autopilot and try to rest. I'll personally wake you when we arrive."
"Ok, thanks a lot Eustace." She switched off the viewing monitor for privacy, set the auto pilot, dimmed the lights and reclined in her chair. She found the muffled roar of the engines to be strangely soothing and before she knew it she was sleeping soundly.
Dream:
Cindy found herself walking through the long corridor in the dream world as she had before. She found herself wondering how she had gotten here. She struggled to remember what she had been doing beforehand, but nothing came to mind. The sensation was eerily familiar.
The hallway had no doorways that she could see this time. The way she had come was now a solid brick wall, so she had no choice but to keep heading in one direction. At the end of the corridor she found a single open doorway that led her into a dark house.
She had been in this house before but it seemed different this time. She was in Jimmy's living room. She saw the pictures of his family over the fireplace. She could smell the carbon resin from the extinguished logs.
She crossed the living room and turned suddenly toward the window in response to a screeching on the windowpane. Her heart raced in her chest from fear. She felt angry at herself when she saw it was just a tree branch blowing in the stormy wind outside. Lightning flashed, followed by the rumble of thunder.
She stepped back as the fireplace suddenly flared to live. The light filled the room and she stepped back from the rush of heat. She heard sounds coming from the direction of the kitchen. It sounded like footsteps, running, a child's giggling, followed by a door slam, which made her jump.
"Hey!" She shouted, "Is anyone there?" She heard more giggling in random directions.
By now her arms were covered in goose bumps. But she refused to let her fear conquer her. She continued exploring her surroundings when somewhere upstairs she could hear music start to play. She turned toward the source and made her way toward the stairwell. She looked up the stairs but it was too dark to see much. She felt for the light switch that she knew should be at the base of the stairs, but when she flipped the switch nothing happened. She took a deep breath and made her way slowly up.
It may have been the creek of the stairs combined with her own paranoia but she got the sensation that something was right behind her on the stairs. She froze in place and strained to listen for the littlest sound to confirm her suspicion. The fear was overpowering but somehow she found the strength to force herself to slowly turn around and look. She screamed.
The house echoed with the sound of Cindy's screaming…
To be continued….