Welcome to Gaia! ::

I appologize to everyone for the long drought in chapters. It's all the fault of my parents. Every time I try and write the chapters on the new computer, they run me off it, saying I've been on the computer for too long, and that I'm not allowed to use it for the rest of the day. However, they don't care about me using the computer in my room, so that's where I go to type my chapters. The problem is, the phone line in my room is dead, so I can't connect the old PC to the internet. It's too old to utilize flash drive technology of any type, and the CD burner can't use rewriteables.

Essentially, the only way to move stuff off of it is on a floppy disc. There in lies the problem... the new computer cannot use Floppy discs. I used to have two methods of moving the files...

1. Use the computers at school, which I have accsess to every day. However, I can't do this right now, because it's summer break.

2. Use the computers at the public library. The problem is, I haven't been able to go to the library in a while, since I have both driving school and other obligations to deal with. Plus, it's an hour long walk to the library before I can do anything.

Thankfully for all of you, I have driving school tomorrow afternoon, and afterwards, I will be going to the library and posting episodes 12, 13, and possibly 14, if I finish it tonight. And once school's in session again, there won't be this problem anymore.

Yeah... I do have dial-up. Pretty sad, huh?

Regardless... you're about to get triple whammied by chapters, so watch yourselves, everyone.

Code SPIRAL 13 - maze of death

The three materialized in the mountain sector. Ayumu and Kosuke dropped in first, as they had already been scanned, but it took a little longer for Ryoko to materialize, as her form was loading for the first time. As she dropped to the ground, she landed with her fist on the ground, leaving behind a small crater. She wore a white karate robe, with a skin tight red shirt beneath it. A red headband was tied around her head, and she wore no shoes or socks. She appeared to be unarmed compared to the other two.
"Ryoko... looking good..." Kosuke said with a small whistle.
"You shut up." Ryoko shot him a glance.
"Jeremy, you got vehicles?" Ayumu asked him.
"Coming up." Jeremy keyed a sequence and materialized the three vehicles. Ayumu leaped onto the overbike, mounting his halberd on the front, like a jousting lance. Kosuke leaped onto the overboard, and Ryoko on the overwing.
"The tower is south of your location. Just keep going straight on your current path." Jeremy instructed them. "I've also got a swarm of monsters on my radar. Hope you guy's can handle it."
"No sweat." Kosuke replied, zooming off ahead of them towards a swarm of six hornets hovering above. Ryoko and Ayumu rode side by side. A krab, two tarantuals, and a megatank rolled on the path in front of them.
"I've got the krab." Ryoko told him.
"Then I'll take the tank. Then we'll split the rest." Ayumu cut his direction to one side to avoid the megatank's first eliptical blast. Ryoko spiraled off in the opposite direction, heading higher up in the air. Meanwhile, Kosuke hurled his first flurry of knives into the swarm of hornets, destroying one. As he dug into his bottomless pouch for more knives, he did a number of complex manuevers to avoid the lasers.

Ayumu ducked low against the bike to get more aerodynamic, as he aimed his lance for the weak spot of the megatank. It saw him coming, and then quickly withdrew into it's shell. Ayumu struck the metal side of the tank, the angle and force sent it spinning out of control on it's axis. Ayumu, seeing that his attack had missed, turned around and dismounted the lance from the bike, aiming it at the ground. He stabbed it into the ground, tightly gripping it while he gripped the bike tightly between his legs. The momentum of the bike sent him flying up, and he released the bike the exactly the right moment to send it carreening into the megatank, sending both the tank and the bike into the digital sea. Ayumu pulled the spear out of the ground and used it to deflect a shot from one of the tarantulas, but was hit by a shot from the other. Meanwhile, as one of the hornets, flying lower than the others, buzzed by the overwing, Ryoko swung her fist and managed to connect with it. As her fist struck the Xana mark, the hornet exploded as if it had been struck with a weapon. Kosuke hurled another knife and took out a third hornet. Ryoko glanced down beneath her to aim, and then leaped from the overwing, heading for the ground, head first. She landed on top of the krab, rolling slightly and pounding her fist into it's Xana mark. She rolled off the krab's head and onto the pathway. As the tarantula's continued to fire on them both, Ayumu continued to deflect shots off his spear as Ryoko acrobatically dodged them. Above, Kosuke had destroyed a 4th hornet, and was taking aim at the fifth. Unfortunately, one of the hornet's struck his overboard which dissapeared out from under him just as he flung his knife, destorying the 5th hornet. He found himself plummeting towards the digital sea.
"Kosuke!" Jeremy exclaimed. There wasn't enough time to bring him in. Kosuke, with his last fleeting thought, plunged his hand into the pouch, and drew out another knife, which he thrust into his chest. He devirtualized just before he hit the sea. Jeremy let out a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, Ayumu hurled his spear straight up into the air, impaling and destorying the final hornet. But he was now un-armed, and the tarantula took aim at him. It fired, and he was devirutlized. During the instant this occured, Ryoko rushed forward and swept her leg low, taking the tarantula's leg's out from under it. Then punching the xana mark and destorying it. Ryoko was shot in the leg by the final tarantula, but still managed to somehow destory it with a kick to the head. She took a deep breath, relieved the combat was finally over. The tower was only a short distance away, and, without a vehicle left, ran towards it. She entered the tower like Aelita, and ascended to the top. She placed her hand on the panel.

Ryoko

Code... SPIRAL.

The walls of the tower began to spin in various directions, the floor of the platforms cracking. A red glow ememenated from the outside of the tower... and then the tower shattered like glass, it's fragments fading out like all debris on Lyoko.
"Tower destroyed." Ryoko said. "Bring me in, Jeremy." She shouted to the intercom.
"In progress now." Jeremy said as he pressed the enter key, and Ryoko faded off of Lyoko and reappeared in one of the scanners. Back at the hospital, principal Delmas, who was about to be overtaken by a mob of the possessed staff, was surprised as they all suddenedly collapse. Unfortunately, as they passed out, they were all piled on top of him, and he could not move.

The three of them came back up to the computer lab to find Jeremy already frantically at work.
"I'm hacking into the a satellite to track the signal from Aelita's cell phone." He explained. "In only a few moments, we'll know where she is."
"Did you think that perhaps the hunters might have simply dropped her phone somewhere so you couldn't trace it?" Kosuke suggested. "That's so obvious."
"I don't understand... if the hunters want to kill them... why didn't they just do it at the hospital? Why'd they kidnap them... and why are they keeping them alive?" Jeremy questioned as he waited for the signal to go through.
"Come to think of it... when that other hunter... Yamato, kidnapped Aelita, he didn't kill her right away. He waited for her to wake up, monologued for a little while... and tried to shoot her, right?"
"Yeah." Kosuke confirmed.
"This may sound strange but... they have a system." Ryoko tried to explain.
"As you're aware... we've had certain restrictions placed on what we could do... the promise made to Kiyotaka. It's kind of like a code of honor. That's what all those games were for. They were to give you a chance. For some strange reason... whoever's leading the hunters have placed similar restrictions on them." Kosuke explained in full. "They have to beat us mentally before they can kill us. Or something to that effect."
"But were still not sure if there are actual rules... or if the hunters just like to piss us off." Ryoko added with a snarl.
"I'd have to say the second is more likely." Kosuke responded.
"Any luck?" Ayumu asked Jeremy.
"I... can't get the signal anywhere. It's either been destroyed... or it's in a location guarded with electronic jamming." Jeremy said with frustation.
"It's hopeless then. Unless you have another way to track them?" Ayumu asked.
"Ahem... aren't you forgetting something?" Kosuke leaned on the shoulder of Jeremy's chair. "A certain function..." He hinted. Jeremy smacked his head.
"Duh! Now that the tower's gone, if I just launch a return to the past, then they'll be freed, and the hunters won't remember anything."
"And then... we can lay a trap and try to capture the hunters when they try to kidnap them again." Ryoko exclaimed. "It's perfect."
"Do it Jeremy." Ayumu said. Jeremy nodded, and keyed a sequence, his finger hovering over the enter key. "Return to the past..." He started, but before he pressed the button, he was stopped.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Rang a voice from the computer. Jeremy froze. A window opened in the center of the screen. It displayed a video feed, of a dimly lit room. Most of the shot consisted of the bottom half of a man's face. He was wearing a white t-shirt and a blue jacket. He had a gold earring that resembled a series of rectangles, it made an insteresting jingling sound when it moved. His eyes and up could not be seen, but they could make out some dark brown hair. His jaw rested in the palm of his hand, keeping it propped up, as if he was bored. The silver Xana ring was clearly visible on his middle finger. "If you press that button..." The feed flipped away from the man and to a feed of another room. It was a large, empty room, the only light coming through the windows. Aelita, Rio, and Sissi were all tied up to chairs in the room. "Then I detonate the c4 bomb hidden beneath the floorboards directly below them. They'll be dead before the return reaches them." Kosuke slamned his fist on the top of the monitor.
"You b*****d!!! You're the same one who tried to kill Eyes, aren't you? I recognize your voice."
"And you're the red haired freak who jumped me." The man responded as the screen flickered back to him. "What's your point?"
"How do you know about the return to the past?" Ayumu demanded.
"I'm quite familiar with all the supercomputers functions. After all... we helped design it."
"Huh? What's he talking about?!?!" Jeremy turned to Kosuke.
"Damn it... fine, I'll tell you. The hunters... or at least, the original ones... were scientists for Project Carthage. Many of them had even been scanned... so they know all about return to the past and it's effects." He explained, gritting his teeth.
"For two groups that are supposed to be working together... you sure keep eachother in the dark." The man taunted. "Unlike you... we and Xana have an... understanding."
"What do you want? Why are you taunting us like this?!" Ryoko demanded.
"Why... I want to play a little game, or course!" The man grinned. "If you win, you can free the hostages, and you'll all go free. Fail, and you'll all meet a quick, but painful demise." He chuckled. "Oh... and even if you do manage to initiate a return without me triggering the bomb, I'll remember. I'll just skip the games and kill them all with snipers within a day after the return. So it's in your best interests to play along."
"What are the rules?" Ayumu asked.
"There aren't any. The hostages are being held in the abandoned "x-cellent" hotel on the outskirts of town. You have until midnight to save them. If you can't... boom." The man grinned as the window dissapeared. The four of them glanced at eachother nervously... and then nodded, as they stood up and headed for the elevator.

Back at the hotel, Aelita and Rio had fallen into an uncomfortable silence.
"Rio... you told me... the hunters just want to kill all the blade children."
"Yeah."
"So why are they doing this? If they wanted us dead... couldn't they have just killed us at the hospital?"
"Well..." Rio pondered for a moment. "The truth is... I think we're being used as bait."
"Huh?"
"With me being held hostage like this... Kosuke and Ryoko won't sit idly by. They'll come here to try and save me. I'm sure Jeremy and Ayumu will do the same once they learn you've been captured too.
"And Sissi?"
"She's just an innocent caught up in this. She was there when they weren't expecting her... they weren't expecting you either I guess... but they didn't have any choice but to take her too."
"So what you're saying is... the hunters are trying to gather us all up. The lyoko warriors and the blade children..."
"Yeah. They want to kill us all in one big haul."

It was on the opposite end of the town... it was around 8:00 when they arrived at the abandoned hotel. It was a unique building... a work of art and modern architecture. While it was under construction, it was being dubbed the "hotel of the future". Even though it had been in the mid 90's it was already set of offer computer integrated rooms, high speed connections, and other conviences that still aren't avalible everywhere in present day. However, before construction finished, the .com bubble burst, and the company in charge of it dissapearred. And so, it was abandoned... incomplete and unused until this day. They split up and surveyed the perimeter of the building. They met back near the front.
"No sneaking in around the back." Ayumu reported. "There are mines buried everywhere."
"Mines? You've got to be kidding!" Ryoko commented.
"Afraid not." Ayumu replied.
"All the first floor doors and windows we could sneak in through are locked." Kosuke said. "And even if I pick the locks, they've been rigged with explosives. The instant we open one, we go boom."
"The only safe way in then is the front door." Jeremy grimaced. Of course, that's what the hunters wanted. It was too far back from the road for anyone to take notice, but the light's were on in the first floor lobby.
"Looks like we're expected." Ryoko comment.
"Fine hunters, you're on." Kosuke said firmly.
"Still... there's no dobut... the whole building is probablly booby-trapped. We must proceed with caution." Ayumu said. They all nodded to eachother silently, and then headed towards the front door.

"The game finally begins." The man said to himself with a smile as he watched them set foot in the lobby on a security camera. He was in the security control room of the building... every floor under surveillence on numberous monitors. Another sat in the control room with him, the female hunter from the kidnapping. A third man stood in the back, hands in his pockets. He was wearing a tan trenchcoat, and his face could barely be seen behind the zipped up collar. He stood stiff as a board, nervous.
"Relax, old man." The female hunter said to him. "This will be a peace of cake."
"Don't underestimate them." The man in the trenchcoat ordered. "Reyson... is everything set up?"
"Yep." The man sitting in the chair answered, as he picked up a small, wired phone up off the tabletop.

As they stood in the middle of the lobby, the phone rang. Not their cell phones, but the phone at what would have been the reception desk.
"Are they trying to lure us?" Jeremy asked.
"Lure us to the phone? Get real." Kosuke responded.
"Just answer it." Ryoko ordered.
"Huh? Why do I have to do it?" Kosuke complained.
"Now!" Ryoko shook her fist at him, and he hastily rushed over and picked up the receiver.
"Hello?" He asked.
"The hostages are on the top floor." Came Reyson's voice. "Too bad..."
"Wait... what do you mean too bad?" Kosuke exclaimed. In response, he heard a dial-tone. "Damn." He placed the receiver back down. Kosuke turned around to see that Ryoko had turned her eyes on.
"Do you guys hear that?" Ryoko asked.
"What... you mean they enhance your sense of hearing too?" Ayumu asked.
"It sounds like ticking... there's a bomb! But I can't tell where it is!!!" Ryoko exclaimed. Jeremy quickly surveyed the situation. All the hallways on the first floor were boarded up. The elevators were shut down. The only path was a single spiral staircase that led up to the next floor.
"Our only choice is to go up! Hurry!" Jeremy shouted to them as all four of them made a break for staircase. A few seconds away from the staircase, they heard the explosion behind them.
"Bombs rigged to the phone lines?!?! You've got to be kidding!" Kosuke whined.
"Hurry!" Ryoko urged him. They heard yet another explosion behind them as they climbed the staircase. Another bomb had been detonated at the foot of the stair. As they broke onto the second floor landing, Kosuke started up the stairs to the third floor, but instantly stopped, spun around, and tackled all three of them, knocking them onto the second floor.
"Look out!" He cried as a bomb exploded on the portion of the staircase between the 2nd and 3rd floors. The path became impassable... and if they had been on the stairs when it had detonated, they'd have been dead. The path back down was also impassable. "I guess there's no turning back now." Kosuke commented as he extended his arm to help Ryoko up.
"It might be better if we find a way down rather than continue on ahead. I'm sure there's another way... maybe if we gain acsess to the elevator shaft somehow..." Ryoko suggested. A light flipped on behind them. The lights had come on in a single hallway, the only one acsessible from their present location. The hallway was short, only about twelve feet long, and led to a pair of doors on either side. But in between them and the doors, was a grid of wires about 6-inches above the ground. Each square of the grid was only about 8 by 8 inches. The wires were connected to red boxes that lined the sides of the hall.
"Claymore mines." Ayumu muttered. "Someone's having a little fun with us."

"Such an unexpected twist... I had no clue Thomas' son was involved in all of this." The man in the trenchcoat muttered from inside the control room. "I don't know if it's goodwill or pity, but conspiring with those demons makes him no different from them. If he too must die... so be it."

"THIS SUCKS!!!" Kosuke shouted violently. "They've got traps everywhere we go!!!"
"Looks like everything's going exactly like they planned." Jeremy agreed.
"They're doing everything they can to match wits with us. To prove they're better." Ryoko commented.
"It looks like they're testing you... the same way you tested me." Ayumu stated.
"From the looks of it..." Jeremy started. "The only parts of the building with electricity are the lights... phones... and the security system."
"Security system?" Kosuke questioned.
"Surveillence cameras. The way they've been timing the lights and the bomb detonations... the hunters are watching us from somewhere."
"Which means there must be at least one enemy in the surveillance room, wherever that might be, watching our every move. It'll be tough to do anything without them knowing, so we should take care of him first." Kosuke stated.
"Not a good idea." Ayumu stopped him. "I doubt he'd go down without a fight... it's a waste of time."
"What do you mean a waste of time? It's game over once the detonate a trap we get too close to."
"No... they can't detonate any of the traps themselves. I can say with certainty that every trap in this building is run with trip-wires, motion sensors, and pressure triggers." Ayumu held up his cell phone. "Look... no service. I usually get perfect reception in any building. The entire building is being electronically jammed. No wireless electronics of any kind work here. It's to keep us from calling for help, but that also means they can't detonate a trap with a signal either."
"They can still use traps with wires though, so let's avoid any phone lines if we can." Jeremy suggested. The other nodded with agreement.

"That just leaves the path ahead." Ryoko muttered. "If we so much as graze one of those wires, those mines will take out this entire floor."
"It's too low to the floor to crawl under, and there's not enough space to step between the wires." Kosuke examined them closely. "Yeah... we're screwed." Jeremy surveyed the surroundings. The hunter had said that this was a game. And if it was a game, there had to be a solution. All he could see was a security camera in one corner of the room, as well as a pile of abandoned construction materials. Steel poles to be used for construction, assorted pipes, industrial strength rope, even a few simple tools like hammers, saws, and drills. Then it hit him.
"I've got an idea." Jeremy told them as he stepped over to the pipes, and began to assemble various materials and tools from the pile.

It took him nearly half-an hour, an accidentally cut finger, and a whole roll of duct tape later, it was done. It had been difficult, but he had fashioned a pair of makeshift stilts. He nervously got up on them and tested their strength. They seemed steady enough.
"Kosuke... use these to get across the hall." He leaned the stilts towards Kosuke. He also picked up the industrial rope and slung it over Kosuke's shoulder. "Take this with you, and tie it to something when you get over there. Then the rest of us will use it to climb across."
"Wow... good thinking Jeremy." Ryoko commented.
"Hey... hold on a second!!! Why do I have to do all the dangerous stuff?!?!" Kosuke argued.
"Because I said so." Ryoko said in a falsly pleasent voice. Kosuke sighed.
"Yes ma'am." He said as he reluctantly got on the stilts and crossed the hallway, narrowly missing the wires that triggered the bombs. He secured the rope to a sturdy pillar on the other end, as Ryoko tied a strong knot to the pillar on the opposite side. The result was a suspended rope they could use to cross the hall. Ryoko and Ayumu crossed it easily, but Jeremy struggled to cross, nearly falling on two occassions, but he managed to survive.

They now stood at a fork. To their left was an open door which led into a stairwell. To their right was a closed door, which also lead to a stairwell.
"Which way?" Jeremy asked them.
"Both paths are probably booby-trapped." Ayumu commented.
"We take the closed door." Ryoko replied.
"Why? That door's got to be rigged with explosives?" Kosuke argued.
"Exactly. The easiest trap to avoid is the one that's easiest to anticipate." She replied as she wrapped a layer of duct tape, still attached to the roll, around the door handle, everyone pressed themselves up against the other wall, away from the door, as she yanked the whole roll, turning the door handle and yanking the door open. She released her grip on the tape as the metal door exploded outward, blown away by the force of the explosion. Kosuke grinned as they all stepped into the stairwell and headed up.
"If they're trying to test us, they're about ten years behind the curve." Kosuke commented.

"They may be children... but they are resourceful. We really don't give them enough credit." The man in the trenchcoat said.
"Whatever. They're just lucky." Reyson commented cockily. "And even if they do get past the traps." Reyson paced towards the wall and picked up a rifle leaning against the wall. "Boom."
"The intruders have entered the north side emergency stairway." The female hunter informed them.
"Give them some light." The man in the trenchcoat ordered.

The lights flickered on loudly in the stairwell they had just entered.
"Bastards. They're leading us on." Kouske muttered as they climbed the stairs. "How many stories is this building again? And we have to climb all the way up? This sucks!"
"Stop whining." Ryoko snapped at him. "I know I'm in good enough physical condition to do this, it's you three I have to worry about."
"Well Ryoko... looks like you don't have to worry about that." Jeremy stopped her. They were on the fifth floor landing, and the passage up to the sixth had been caved in.
"Looks like they want us on the fifth floor." Ayumu stepped towards the open door that led to the rest of the floor.
"Are you sure you want to give up on this staircase? I bet we can find a way through." Ryoko called out to him.
"How do you suppose we'd do that? It's completely walled in." Ayumu disagreed.
"So you would prefer to just walk head first into another trap." Ryoko shot back at him.
"We've been in a trap since we entered this building..." Ayumu peered cautiously through the door frame. "No harm accepting one more invitation."
"Hey, you're the one who said not to rush ahead." Jeremy chased after him. Ryoko followed them wordlessly. Kosuke groaned as he reluctantly followed.
"Jeez... you're all the same..." He muttered.

"Jeremy? Are you there?" A voice said from outside Jeremy's door at the academy. It was his father. After getting no response for a little while, he opened the door to find Jeremy's room as it always was, astrew. It was past the student curfew, so Jeremy should have been in his room. His suspicions jumped once again to the abandoned house in the woods where Jeremy had hidden before. He needed to talk to Jeremy. Something had come up.

"Are you sure about this?" Thomas stood arched over, hands on the front of the cheif's desk. "Everything that they told me was made up?"
"Yes. I made a call to local police over in Canada. I asked them to check the facts of her story. No match what-so-ever. Furthermore... whatever is being covered up here, your son is a large part of it." The chief explained, and Thomas gasped. "Think about it... he spends nearly half a year being defensive about her... then suddenedly has a change of heart and tells you everything? What they told you was clearly a vast falsehood they created to throw you off the real scent."
"But... why?"
"That's what you were supposed to figure out. But I can see now you're too attached to this case because of your son to do what needs to be done. I'm afraid I'm going to have to put someone else on this case."
"No... wait! I can still handle this! Trust me!" Thomas pleaded. The chief looked at him speculatively.
"Fine. But we're taking a new angle to this investigation. I want you to investigate the people closest to her. That means, your son. If we find out what he's hiding, it will inevitable lead to her secret as well. Also... we have some new intelligence... the murders of Jim Morales and Imzato Shiridan, have all been connected to this. We aren't sure how yet... but we need you to find out. I trust that you can investigate your son objectively and unbiasedly?"
"Y-yes." Thomas said after hesitating.
"Don't let them find out they are being investigated again." The cheif ordered him before sending him on his way.

He returned to the present, ruffling through Jeremy's belongings, looking for clues. He could find nothing of improtance to his eye, and any attempts he made to hack his son's computer proved fruitless. He decided that, perhaps, Jeremy might have hidden something at the abandoned house, and carefully replacing everything as it had been when he left, he shut the door behind him and set out for the hermitage.

The four back at the hotel stood before another roadblock. They were in a wide, long room. It was to be a confrence room if it had been finished. Standing between them and the door was a wall of criss-crossing trip wires that was about 6 feet high. At each end of the wall stood a pile of barrels, presumably filled with explosives.
"It looks like we can't force an explosion like we did with the door." Jeremy stepped back after examining the wall closely. "I don't know how many explosives are in there, but the whole floor would probably collapse if they went off. And the rest of the building would go with it in a domino effect." Ryoko stepped close and surveyed the height.
"It's not too high. If we use our Eyes, Kosuke and I could jump right over it. You guys would be stuck back here though." Ryoko said.
"Forget about it." Kosuke stopped her. "We still have a way to go before we find the girls, we need all of us."
"That's besides the point." Ayumu interuppted. "You couldn't get through anyways. In addition to the wires... there are also... lasers." He pointed to the space between the ceiling and the wall. Ryoko looked and imediately noticed black boxes on one of the walls that also formed a net of motion sensing lasers. "They to go over the next, and you'll cause an explosion big enough to kill us all."
"That's sneaky." Kosuke sneered. "So... our only chance is to find a way to disarm the bombs."
"We have neither the time nor the tools." Ayumu stopped him.
"Well then you come up with something!!!" Kosuke yelled. Jeremy had fallen back meanwhile, and was examining what appeared to be a latch in the floor under one of the tables in the room.
"We'll go under!!!" He shouted to them as he pulled up the panel, revealing a tunnel.
"How... how did you know that was here?!?!" Kosuke exclaimed.
"This was supposed to be a "smart, high tech building". Naturally, there needs to be acsess tunnels like this to run wires through. They're all over the building!" Jeremy exclaimed as he crawled down into the narrow tunnel. A few moments later, another floor panel burst up on the other side of the net as Jeremy grinned at them, climbing out. Ayumu smiled and descended into the tunnel after him. Kosuke stared at the small acsess tunnel, and held the panel open for Ryoko.
"Ladies first." He said politely. He was rewarded with a harsh slap in the face.
"You dumbass. I'm wearing a skirt!!!" Ryoko shouted at him. Kouske wimpered as he descended into the tunnel with Ryoko behind him.

They stood on the other side of the next, with no remaining options but the next set of stairs, which they guessed would lead to even more booby-traps.
"Guys... I don't think it's necessary to play around with these guys anymore." Ayumu stopped them before they ascended the stairs.
"What do you mean?" Ryoko asked.
"These guys are way to predictable. There's no reason for us to have to deal with every single one of the traps."
"So you want to find a way to trick them." Kosuke summed up.
"Even if we did clear every trap on every floor, there's still no guarantee we can rescue them safely, right?"
"Fine... do you have any ideas?" Kosuke asked him.
"Do you have a knife? Ayumu asked. Kouske nodded and passed his silver knive to him. "Jeremy... can you pinpoint the power line out of a bunch of other wires?"

The hunters watched their prey from the control room as Kouske passed a knife to Ayumu.
"What are you kids up to now..." Muttered Reyson with some level of amusement as they walked into the camera's blind spot. A moment later, the electricity went out.
"Go to the electrical room and reset the ciruit breakers. Get the cameras back online." The man in the trenchcoat ordered the female hunter as she rushed out of the room. "Planning on pulling something just because we can't see you, eh? I was expecting... more..."

Aelita shivered as the light's went off on their floor. They had felt the rumblings as the bombs on the first floor had detonated, and they suspected their rescuers were on their way for some time now.
"The powers out! Jeremy and the others must be fighting back!" She exclaimed.
"Now's out chance. While the security cameras are offline." Rio grinned, as she twisted a knife she had been concealing in the hand, trying desperately to finish off the rope that bound her, which she had been whitling away at for hours.
"Wait! You were hiding a knife?" Aelita said, realizing that Rio had the knife for the first time. "Good thinking."

The female hunter must have managed to restore power a few minutes later, as the cameras flickered back on in the security room. They were nowhere to be seen on any of them, the fifth floor camera displayed only electrical snow.
"The fifth floor feed is gone." Reyson relayed to the man in the trenchcoat.
"They think they're being sneaky, but they're still on the fifth floor even though we can't see them." The man in the trencoat muttered. "What are they trying to do?" He turned to Reyson and the female hunter who had just returned. "Turn the elevators on and go investigate the fifth floor." He ordered them.
"Sir, the power is still out on that floor, and there's no emergency lighting, it's gonna be pitch black up there." Reyson argued. "What if they plan on ambushing us in the dark?"
"Then wear night vision goggles and eliminate them if they are so foolish. You are combat professionals." The man ordered.
"Understood sir." The female hunter said as she and Reyson picked up the rifles. They hurried out of the security room to the elevators. They were on the first floor, and they had just used a special key to reactivate them. They stood in the elevator, guns at the ready, as they reached the fifth floor and the doors opened. The only light came from the elevator, and it flooded out into the room. Looking much like SWAT team members in their bulletproof vest, night vision goggles, and rifles, they scoured the room, looking for them. After a couple of minutes, they both groaned. Reyson picked up the landline, a phone hanging on the wall, and dialed a number. The phone did not even ring once before it was picked up.
"We did a sweep. They're not on this floor." Reyson told the phone.
"What?" Rand the voice of the man in the trenchcoat. "Impossible! Where else could they have gone?!?!" He glanced at all the other monitors. The one on the top floor caught his eyes. It was the camera they had trained on the hostages. They were gone, severed ropes lying on the floor. "Get to the top floor!" The man ordered. "The hostages have escaped! Handcuff them this time so it doesn't happen again! Once you've done that, scour every floor until you find those kids! Now move!" He slamned the phone down. Reyson and the other hunter obidently ran to the elevator and made for the top floor. As it rose to the 15th floor, and headed for the top floor, the 16th, the elevator shook and froze. The female hunter seemed a little unbalanced by the shaking.
"What was that?" She exclaimed.
"I dunno." Reyson said, but about 30 seconds later they started to move again and reached the top floor. The burst out of the elevator as the doors opened, guns at the ready. "Come on!" They rushed through a corridor and into the large room where the hostages were held. They found no one there.
"Where'd they go?!?!" The female exclaimed. There was a rumbling, like the sound of something falling that came from behind them. "What was that!?!?" She shouted as they both ran back towards the elevator. They rounded the corner just in time to see it close, with Jeremy, Ayumu, Aelita, Kouske, Ryoko, Rio, and Sissi inside. The man in the trenchcoat pounded his fist on the console.
"DAMN YOU AYUMU NARUMI!" He shouted. "HOW?!"

"How did you get to the top floor?" Rio asked excitedly as they descended towards ground level in the elevator.
"We tricked the hunters into giving us a free ride on the elevator." Ryoko said with a grin.
"How?" Aelita asked.
"We cut the power to the lights, then climbed up into the elevator shaft, and waited for the hunters to come fix the problem." Kosuke grinned. He still recalled the four of them, pressed up agains the walls of the elevator shaft, supported by tiny ledges.
"Then, just before the elevator reached the top floor, we stopped it by triggering the anti-shock safety systems." Jeremy explained. They had jumped up and down on the roof of the car all at once, and the simultaneous shock had temporarily halted the car's movement. Kouske had pried open the door to the 16th floor, as the elevator car sat suspended between the 15th and 16th floors. He had quickly ushered the three hostages inside and up on top of the car. Then, as the car rose up, the doors had opened and the hunters had ran out. It had then been simple to open the ceiling hatch, drop the entire party down into the car, and then press the button and ride the elevator down to safety.
"Oh Kosuke, you're my hero!!!" Sissi shouted as she nearly jumped on his back, much to his displeasure. Her speech seemed strange, slightly slurred and in a strange tone, as if she was drunk.
"I wonder why she hasn't been questioning where we are?" Aelita asked as she glanced at Sissi.
"I had to use my eyes to wake her up. She's only barely concious, so only her most basic mental processes are working. But she'll be a spaz again once she wakes up more." Rio told her. Surely enough, that was also the reason for her strange manner of speech. She simply sounded as though she was drunk.
"Hey... Jeremy..." Sissi muttered in this drunked state as she got off Kouske's back. "Guess what?" She snorted. "Rio likes you!!!" She laughed insideously as if she had just told a hillarious joke. "Uh... where are we?" She continued to stagger about in the small space in the elevator, coliding with Kosuke again. Rio blushed profusely, and so did Jeremy, although he tried to hide it from Aelita.
"You guys were pretty amazing... to get free yourselves like that." Ryoko told Rio and Aelita, ignoring Sissi.
"I can't take any credit. It was all Rio." Aelita told her. The doors opened, letting them out on the ground floor, right in front of the entrance, as they all quickly filed out.
"Jeez... you two probably didn't even need our help." Kosuke muttered, as, having no choice in the manner, carried the drunken Sissi on his back.
"You're the one who wanted to bring some automatic rifles with us, Kouske." Ryoko snapped at him.
"Jeez... cut me some slack." Kosuke joked back. Jeremy's phone rang, and he took it out, answering it.
"Hello?" He asked.
"Jeremy! It's me." His father's voice rang through. "I came by your dorm to see you, but you weren't there. Where are you?" He asked.
"I'm... uh... at a party." He lied. But before the conversation could continue, Ayumu snatched the phone away from him, a distressed look on his face. He stared at the phone's display, which displayed three bars of wireless signal.
"EVERYONE RUN!!!" Ayumu shouted. "THEY'VE STOPPED THE WIRELESS JAMMING! THAT MEANS THEY CAN SET OFF THE BOMBS ANY TIME THEY WANT!"

Outside, the man in the trenchcoat sat in a black van, parked on the main road, near the driveway which led to the hotel. He held a black box with a white button in his hand. A glint of light came from beneath his trencoat and hat, revealing the man to be wearing glasses. He pressed the button. The seven of them ran out of the building as every bomb, every trap, on every floor, was triggered simultaneously. They stared up with terror and awe at the hotel, which was now entirely ablaze, smoke billowing from the top floor. The C4 bomb on the top floor had surely brought about the death of Reyson and the other hunter.
"Oh... pretty..." Sissi muttered in her drunken stupor, as Kosuke dropped her on the ground off his back. Before they could notice, the black van had driven away.

"Mr. Rutherford! We have mail for you!" Shouted the stewardess at the hotel in LA where Eyes was staying during his brief series of concerts in America. Eyes found this fact strange... since he had not told anyone where he was staying. He was handed a blue envelope with no return address or stamp, with only his name written on it, in a hasty scrawl. When he opened the enevlope, it was dramatically different. The letter was also blue, but it was written in white ink and was ornated with elaborate hand drawn borders. The text was a beautiful cursive that was so perfect, it was as if made by a machine. The letter was brief.

Eyes,

I'm coming back. I'll see you when you get back to France. I look forward to hearing your music again... and I hope I can be of some assistance in our fight.

Your brother,

Konone Hilbert

Eyes read the note over for a second time, then crunched the letter and envelope up in his fist, shaking.

Rio and Ryoko headed back for the hospital and Kosuke towards the school with Sissi, along with Jeremy, Ayumu, and Aelita. Though it took much prodding, they convinced Kouske to use his eyes to hypnotize Sissi and "adjust" her memories. Ryoko promised to do the same to Principal Delmas and the hospital staff upon her arrival. Jeremy had at first sugested the use of a simple RTTP, but the blade children had voted against it. There were only a few memories to be erased, and they didn't need Xana getting any stronger... or risk that the hunters may still follow through on their threat of killed him after a RTTP was used. The abandoned hotel was a necessary casualty, and with any luck, the destruction cause there may draw the police's attention towards the hunters, making it much more difficult for them to make a move. The three of them collapsed in Jeremy's room as Kouske headed to drop Sissi off in her dorm. When morning came, it seemed like everything had worked. Kosuke actually came and sat with them at the breakfast table, though visibly tired.
"Those eyes of yours sure come in handy..." Ayumu muttered through his omlettee. "Enhanced endurance and agility, knocking people out, waking people up, erasing memories, creating false ones, resisting Xana... what else do they do?"
"If I told you that, I'd have to kill you." Kouske said, half-joking, but half-not. Ayumu shrugged as he got up to scrape his plate. "You know Aelita..." He turned to her. "You could use them too. Don't forget... my offer to tell you everything is still on the table." Kosuke smiled. "All you have to do is ask."

While everything seemed well, it was not. Something else had happened the night before... something none of them could have anticipated. As Thomas Belpois scavenged the hermitage, he had found many, many clues. Vague information about project Carthage, photographs of Aelita with her parents, and other various things that aroused even greated suspicion within him. He examined the dates on the photos of Aelita, and could find no explanation to account for the ten year gap in her aging. He heard something move behind him and he whipped around, drawing his standard issue police officer's gun, pointing at the figure in the shadows.
"You there! Show yourself!" He ordered nervously. A man in a tan trenchcoat stepped out of the shadows, hands in the air in a sigh of peace.
"Relax Belpois, it's me." It was the police chief. Thomas sighed with relief.
"Whew... sorry about that." He holstered his gun. "I thought for a second you were..."
"Who, exactly?" The cheif asked him.
"I dunno. That's the problem." Thomas turned back to the room. "Do you know what this place is? Who owned it? And why are you here anyways?" The chief sighed a deep sigh, and then walked over and drew the curtains of the hermitages front window. He turned swiftly to Thomas, and placed his hand on Thomas' shoulder.
"Tell me Belpois... can you keep a secret?"

Code SPIRAL 13 - maze of death... end.

"new" computer is running windows XP and has dail-up but there is a thing on here called accelerator wich speeds it up. the only problem is the faster it gose the krappyer the graphics

well, aside from my eyes burning, that was pretty good.

*looks around at empty pop cans*
krap.. there all empty... i'll go get more from the garage....

Alright... it's time for Zaber's famous "writers notes"!!!

1. If Ryoko wasn't stopping him... Kouske would have killed off Sissi by now. Direct your anger towards her.

2. I am brining Odd and Ulrich back into the main story in the next chapter. Yumi will be close behind.

3. 14 - lamenting angel was based directly off an episode of Spiral. The entire episode was ridden with visual cues and hints as to both the identity of the man who switched the bomb, and the man who called at the end. Since it was far too difficult to convey in writing. So heres the hint.

Carefully re-read paragraph 24 of chapter 14.

UPDATED HUNTER LIST

Jim Morales - (deceased) - became a hunter while possessed by Xana. Killed by Kosuke, massive impact trauma.

Imazato Shiridan - (deceased) - posed as a gym teacher at Catic after Jim's death, and tried to pass information to Ayumu to use against the blade children. Killed by Rio, carbon dioxide poisioning.

Yamato - (deceased) - kidnapped Aelita and attempted to kill her, but she was rescued by Kosuke. Killed by Kosuke, shot through the skull.

Reyson - (deceased) - attempted to kill Eyes with a sniper attack on Christmas eve. Ayumu and Kosuke managed to catch him, but he got away. He later kidnapped Rio, Aelita, and Sissi in the hospital, and used them as bait to lure the blade children and the lyoko warriors into the trap ridden hotel, while working with "unkown female hunter" and "the man in the trenchcoat". He was killed when they wer betrayed by "the man in the tranchcoat", who triggered the building's traps while they were stuck on the top floor.

Unknown Female - (deceased) - Along with Reyson, she kidnapped Aelita, Rio, and Sissi to use them as bait for their trap. She was killed at the same time as Reyson when the bombs throughout the building exploded.

Police Commissioner Kinzaka (AKA The man in the trenchcoat) - (Active)
He was the mastermind behind the bomb ridden hotel. He clearly gave orders to Reyson and the unknown female, and sacrificed them by blowing up the hotel, hoping he'd succeed in killing the blade children who were also inside. He later appeared before Thomas Belpois in the Hermitage, and presumably told him extensive information about the Hoppers, Carthage, Xana, and/or the blade children. The extent of what he revealed is not yet known, but he is still acting as the police commissioner, while giving Thomas some secret assignments regarding spying upon the blade children, Ayumu, and Jeremy.

The Bomber - (Deceased)
The bomber attempted to hunt Aelita and Eyes by turning an unwitting Aelita into a walking bomb, and challenging Eyes to disarm it without either of them getting killed. Jeremy was able to deduce the man's identity, and he fled the scene, but not before pressing the detonator switch and starting a countdown. But as Eyes tried to disarm the bomb, he found the case to be empty. Someone had switched the bomb box with an empty one... and put the real bomb in the backseat of the hunters car. The explosion killed him as his whole car blew up as he drove down the highway.

Other Hunters

Franz Hopper - (unknown) - The discussion amongst the blade children seems to frequently reveal that Hopper is involved with, or is one of, the hunters. He may even be their leader. Kosuke mentioned that he's the one who ordered the extermination of the blade children, which the hunters appear to be carrying out.

Thomas Belpois - (unknown) - Depending on what he was told by Kinzaka... Thomas may now be a hunter. It is currently unclear as to what his true objectives in the case are. Does he just want to learn the secret for the sake of learning it? Does he just want to protect his son by finding out the truth? Or did Kinzaka recruit him and convince him to aid in the destruction of the blade children?

hmmm... okay so my theory is the guy who switched the bomb in the episode had a brown jacket and a white scarf? as for the man who called in the end... it said Aelita thought his voice sounded familiar right? then, it might not have been the same guy who switched the bomb like i first thought, because he didnt say anything when he handed the fake to her. that is unless hes made another appearance somewhere... gah! im confusing myself!

i think i have to reread the chapters to get more info.