"Emi we have to leave, now. Calex can't find me here!" Wave grabbed Emi's hand, pulling her behind some bushes. She shushed her confused friend as Calex's voice drew closer.
Did you find anything over there?Calex's voice echoed from the spot Wave and Emi had just been.
Nope. Even if a window was open, we can't see the floor. Who knows what we'd land second voice belonged to Kya. Wave remembered her from the times Kya and some guys visited Emi at Kadic.
"We have to leave before they come over here." Wave whisphered to Emi. She wanted to see her brother, but couldn't risk being discovered just yet. Calex new Wave had changed schools but not that she'd transfered to Kadic.
Wave motioned for Emi to follow behind, when she stepped on a branch. The sound echoed in the silent forest, gaining Calex and Kya's there?Calex asked.
Hi there...Emi stood to ancounce her , hi?She gestured for Wave to leave. Emi distracted Calex and Kya from Wave's retreat.
"Emi? What're you doing here?" Kya asked with fake surprise. She needed to make it seem as natural as possible that Emi being there was unexpected. Which it was for this time of day. The Defenders had planned to meet in the evening to explore Sector 5.
"My friend wanted to explore the forest since she's also new to Kadic." Emi explained, leaving out the friend's name. "We got separated on the way here. How about you Kya?"
"Same as you. My friend Calex." Kya gestured to the male next to her. "wanted to show me the abandon mansion he found in the forest."
"Great!" Calex smiled. "Two more people means more heads to help finger out how to get inside the mansion."
Kya and Emi shared a looked. Allowing Calex or anyone else to get inside wasn't an option. They had enough to deal with without having to explain the supercomputer and Xana to anyone.
"But first, we should look for your friend." Calex said to Emi. "Where did you two get separated?"
Before Emi could answer, Calex's cell rang.
"Hey sis." Calex answered. "How are things back home?"
Emi wondered if Wave had gotten away before making phone call. Unless he had another sister they didn't know about. But the timing was to convent for it to be someone other than Wave.
"Now? Can't it wait?" Calex sighed. "Yeah, I know how much music means to you." Another pause. "Yes, I'm heading back to the dorms now."
"I didn't know you had a sister." Kya asked once Calex hung up.
"She's my stepsister, my mom got remarried awhile ago." Calex showed them a photo of a girl there age who had dyed orange hair styled in two buns. She were a goofy smile and handphones around her neck. "That's Waverly, my little sister. She prefers to be called Wave and is a year younger than you."
"I haven't seen her around Kanna. You should invite her to hang out sometime." Kya suggested.
Calex shook his head. "She's back home in the states with our parents. I'm the only one who transferred."
No wonder Wave freaked out, he doesn't know she's attending Kadic.Emi thought to herself. What was Wave planning? She'd have to grill her friend when she got back to the dorms.
"Don't feel to bad being apart. Cam and I are also away from our siblings." Kya thought back to her own brothers. The annoyance often aruged among each other, while Kya remained netural. As a result, she was the voice of reason and tie breaker among the siblings. "We love them, but a break is needed at times."
"Tell me about it. Wave's so into music and DJing, she has me listen to her samples." Calex groaned, remembering the time Wave brust into his room at three a.m. to listen to her new mix. "Speaking of music. She emailed her lastest ones and wants me to listen to them immedailiy. I'll have to cut our time short."
Emi checked her phone to see Wave had called Calex, pretending to be back home with their parents. She wasn't sure if he had seen her with Emi, but wanted to make him think someone else had been with Emi by calling, just in case.
Kya checked to make sure they were alone, before gesturing towards the manison. The girls made their way inside. They decided to wait until Cam and Alexei arrived to discuss what just happened. Waiting for the guys, they busied themselves. Emi booted up Cam's new sub-hacking programs. She wanted to see if bit of data they'd gotten from Sector 5 could be used on the program. There wasn't enough to run the full program, but she was able to determine the data could increase the sub-hacking program's effeincy.
Kya hadn't brought anything to work on since she was suppose to hang out with Calex. Bored, she explored the library. They'd already searched the eastern side of the manison several times, but paid little attention to the library. Kya didn't know if this was because they spent more time in the library and by extension the library or they simply overlooked it.
She wasn't looking for anything in partulacir. They place had seen better days. It was cleaner than when they first started coming to the mansion. They could sit comfortably on the chairs and sofas without getting dusty. The selves were another story. Because most of their time was spent in the lab and the information needed on the supercomputer, they never took the time to check the selves or books.
Kya found herself peering at the selves, wondering who collected these books. Worn covers and dust made most unreadable. She didn't want to grab on and destroy it by mistake. Content borswing, she noticed a piece of paper widgeted between some books. Gently removing it, she saw it was a photo. A woman with purple hair smiled at two children. The children's faces' were unreconizgable due to being faded. Kya was able to make out the taller one was a boy and the shorter one a girl.
"This must've been the family that lived here." Kya looked closer for clues as to where the photo could've been taken.
"Hey Fancy Feet!" Alexei's voice startled Kya. "You ready?"
Kya quickly shoved the photo in her pocket. "Shut it, Alexei." She turned to see Alexei and Cam enter the library.
"Wow, two whole seconds. That's a new record." Cam shook his head. "Alexei could you not agiatie Kya? She's your only backup on Lyoko today."
Kya watched the two banter between each other, happy it was someone else dealing with Alexei. She let the best friends continue their back and forth as they made their way to the lab to meet up with Emi.
Cam POV:
"Not only did Calex find the mansion, but your friend as well Emi?" I asked, waiting to confirm the information. Someone stumbling upon the mansion isn't that concerning. It's an abandon building in the middle of a forest. People are bound to find it. The concerning part is that two students from Kanna and Kadic had found it. Students who are friends with Emi and Kya who want to explore inside the mansion.
"Yes, she was curious about the inside." Emi explained. "She'll probably want to come back and finish exploring."
"Same with Calex." Kya added. "He's determined to get inside. The locked and stuck doors didn't bother him."
"Shouldn't it be fine as long as they don't discover the entrance on the second floor?" Alexei referred one of two ways to enter the mansion. We sure the second floor more since it closest to the shed. The other entrance is located in the western wing. Not only is it far away from the library, you'd have to navigate through the debris to arrive in the eastern wing where the library is located.
"I'm more concerned that we'll run into them one day." I shared my thoughts. "We come to the mansion pretty often whether there's an attack or not. Someone's here just about everyday."
"We could limit when we come to the mansion to before and during school and late at night." Alexei suggested, forgetting that he and I have more leyway in late night movements than the others.
Emi must've thought the same thing. She stated, "Before school work's but during school is risky. Late night even more so. Kya, Lynn, and myself all live in the dorms with a curfew." That's something even more to consider since Lynn got caught sneaking back last night by Mr. C. The more we sneak around, the most risk we take in getting caught.
"She's right." Kya agreed. "Other than Emi and Cam, the rest of us have no reason to come to the mansion at night if it isn't for exploring or an attack."
"Speaking of exploring." I opened the virtualization program, getting ready to send them to Lyoko. "Let's switch gears to the reason where here. We'll continue the discussion another time when Lynn's here. For now, let's get started."
The others headed for the elevator ready for the mission. Alexei and Kya will escort Emi through Sector 5 to reach the platform where she can access the sector's data. The more data we can acquire, the better our chances of quickly fixing the materization program.
Emi POV:
"We're here Cam." The transporter let us out in the corridor to Sector 5. The spinning corridor opened into the labyrinth we'll have to traverse. "Which way?"
"Head straight until you come to a fork, than take a right." Cam instrusted.
Alexei was already entering the labyrinth before Cam had finished. "Come on, we gotta hurry before the place changes."
"Slow down Alexei." Kya called. "We can't rush in."
"This trip will be a waste if the labyrinth changes before we reach our destination." Alexei remained us.
Once the door opens to the labyrinth, after an unknown period of time, the place layout will change. When that happens, we'll no longer be able to access anything. Last time, we barely made it back to the main corridor.
"Cam did you forget to tell them what we discovered?" I asked.
"Discovered?" Kya and Alexei both looked at me.
"Take the next left, the button will be just beyond the next room." Cam directed, ignoring my question.
"Emi, what button is he referring to?" Kya asked. She lead the way, followed by me and Alexei.
"While you and Alexei were arguing over him borrowing a comic, Cam discovered a button that stops the countdown." Yesterday was our first official trip to Sector 5. While Alexei and Kya had been arguing like usual, with Lynn playing ref., Cam discovered button that stops the labyrinth from changing. "We'll have three minutes to find and press that button. Pressing that button also provides access to the elevator we'll take to get back to the celestial dome."
Kya entered the next room first, followed by me. One step inside, followed by pain in my left shoulder. Another jolt to my stomach followed. Knocked down from an unknown force, I was disoriented. Alexei mentioned something back getting back, while standing in front of me. Further in, Kya was pinned in the middle of the room. Shields up, she protected herself from a barrage of lasers. Creepiers positioned themselves along the room's ledge, raining down lasers on us. At the center, Kya took most of the fire. While the shield did protect her, she's rooted to the spot when using them.
"Kya!" Alexei tossed three shuriken at the Creepers that crawled out from an opening behind Kya. They pelted Kya's exposed back with lasers. Within seconds, she lost her remaining life points and disappeared from Lyoko.
"Emi get back!" Cam called, as Creepers' turned their lasers towards me. "You've only got sixty life points left!"
Hearing this, Alexei rushed towards me. He tossed four more shuriken, destroying those on the ground. "Get ba-" His words were cut off, as lasers from Creepers on the ledge drained his remaining life points.
Alone, the monsters turned their attention to me. My eyes roamed the area, looking for a way out, a place to hide. Luckily, the countdown ran out and the corridor changed. Walls enclosed the area in front of me, sealing the monsters in another area.
"Emi?" Cam called.
"I'm here." I looked around the newly formed room wondering where to go now. Without Alexei and Kya, it's to dangerous for me to continue on my own. "Let Alexei and Kya know I'm heading back to the corridor. I'll return to desert sector so you can remateriazal me on earth."
"I can't do that Emi." Cam stated.
"Your not thinking of continuing the mission are you?" That'd be very unlike Cam.
Cam was silent for a moment. "I can't tell them anything because they haven't returned to Earth."
Cam frantically searched Lyoko for Alexei and Kya's signatures. Noramally, they'd return through the scanners to earth once their life points reached zero. That hadn't happened this time. "They never returned from Lyoko."
"Try looking for their digital signature." Emi suggested.
"I've tried that three times, Emi. Nothing showing on Lyoko." Cam groaned, when something started beeping. Cam brought up the program, dreg coursing through him as he looked through it. "This can't be right."
"What? Did you find them?" Emi questioned, worried about her friends.
"I've found them." Cam slammed his hand on the chair's arm. A problem like this had acured once, with Emi. The time she'd entered an actived tower with an active firewall. She'd deactived the tower at the cost of herself. Emi disappeared from Lyoko, desvating the group. Later, Cam found traces of her digital signature scattered around Lyoko. The only way to save her, was to travel to each of the four sectors and retrieve her digital code from one tower within each sector. Then reassblem the digital code.
Something similar but less complicated had happened to Kya and Alexei. "This is now a recuse mission." Cam brought up the phone number of the one person who could help them now. "Hey, Lynn." Lynn was still in detention and couldn't leave campus, but he'd find away to leave to help his friends. "We need you. Kya and Alexei are trapped within a digital limbo. They can't return to earth."