Author's Note:

As I promised, this chapter's got some action in it and whole lot of new mysteries! Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I Never owned Artykins and his friends...CANT YOU REMEMBER THAT?

Foaly rushed over towards Artemis, praying that there is nothing to fear, that maybe the boy just made a mistake, though he doubts that theory.

"What'a wrong?"he asked urgently.

Artemis didn't have to answer, one look at the screen could plainly show that there's a problem, a big problem at that.

SYSTEM ERROR, VIRUS DETECTED, was written in bold red letters on the screen.

Foaly took over and started typing like mad, Artemis gladly stepped back, better lead the professionals to deal with this, not that he wasn't one.

The machines suddenly went haywire, circuits buzzed and crackled, some even broke, Foaly began to get a bit panicky.

"What's happening? How can a virus get in my computer?" he said, sweat dripping freely from his face.

The main computer suddenly started issuing commands by itself, starting the engine at that.

Foaly's head snapped up as he heard the sudden whirr of the machine, everything was going wrong.

Leaving his previous position he clambered of to the machine, pressing a red button again and again, producing no obvious effect.

"The emergency shutdown isn't working!" he cried desperately.

"Is there any other way to shut it down?"

Foaly shook his head worriedly, "I don't know...I wasn't the one who designed this machine..."

Artemis shook this away, "Get her out of there!"

Foaly went closer, but a large chunk of burnt metal fell, blocking his way.

"I-I can't! She's trapped in there!"

Artemis managed to remain calm, "Butler!"he called out.

Butler came running into the room in less than ten seconds, panting slightly. He looked around the wreckage in the room, spotting Artemis he rushed towards him.

"Come on, Sir, we need to get out of here."

"Butler, Cyrenela is trapped. Get her!"

Without second thoughts, Butler charged through the already burning equipment.

Dodging flaming debris, he finally reached the tunnel-like bed, "Is she inside?!"he yelled, dodging yet another falling piece of metal.

"She's inside the Power Analyzer!"came Foaly's voice.

"THE WHAT?!"

"Inside the tunnel!" came his charge's voice.

Butler pushed away some blockages, seeing the hole of the tunnel, he reached a hand inside, feeling for the girl.

There! He clasped his fingers around what seemed to be her foot and gave a mighty pull. Cyrenela was still asleep, carrying her carefully, he made his way back, nearly tripping himself at one moment.

When he finally emerged from that fiery trap, he was burnt a bit, though Cyrenela didn't look touched at all, strange since she was the one trapped in the first place.

Artemis checked his bodyguard, nothing to worry about, just s few burns, can surely be healed in a heartbeat.

"Are you fine, old friend?" he said with concern.

"Yes...I'm...fine...is she...?"Butler answered in-between pants.

Artemis and Foaly looked at Cyrenela, she was still sleeping peacefully. Undisturbed and unharmed, she wouldn't even know what happened when she wakes up.

Then Cyrenela's eyes slowly opened.

"We've had a bit of a problem, fortunately, we managed to get you out of that machine before any damage could've been done," Foaly explained breathlessly.

Cyrenela silently stood up, her eyes looking straight ahead. She walked soundlessly towards the flaming part of the room.

Foaly laid a hand on her shoulder, "Now, now, no need to be so shocked, it was merely an error in the proceedings-

He didn't get to finish that certain sentence for Cyrenela suddenly threw him over his back.

"Oof!"he grunted. "What was that for?!"

Cyrenela didn't answer, instead, she continued on walking.

Artemis sensed that something was wrong, he went to her briskly, standing on her path. That's when he saw it, they had always sad that the eyes are the windows of the soul, that if you look in the depths of one's eyes you'll see everything there is to know about him/her. Well, when Artemis faced her he can't see anything, figuratively speaking...it's as if you were looking at a blind person, the black in her eyes were unnoticeable, they were almost white.

"Madam?"

Come to me...let me help you remember...let me help you forget...

"What's that?" Foaly said shakily.

All of them remained silent, trying to hear that voice again.

Yes, come my dear, you're making the right choice...

"Who's it calling?"

"Fectnoperi?" Artemis tried.

She continued on walking, her eyes looking through him, as if not seeing him at all.

"Cyrenela?" he said desperately, trying to break her from whatever trance she was in.

You're almost there...ignore them all, forget them all...you don't need them...

Butler's eyes darted around the room, trying to find the origin of that strange voice.

"ARTEMIS!" Foaly suddenly cried out loud.

Artemis didn't have a chance to react, Cyrenela had buried her hand in his abdomen without so much hesitation.

He crumpled on the floor, his arms wrapped around his middle, gasping for air and in obvious pain.

Butler, seeing his charge being attacked, ran over and embraced Cyrenela in a tight hug (though not in a way to show any affection) preventing her from doing any harm and preventing himself to do anything...drastic.

Cyrenela didn't struggle, in fact, she didn't even react in any way.

"Artemis, you alright?" Butler asked.

Artemis coughed slightly, still on the floor. "Yes, Butler...just a bit...shaken."

He slowly rose back to his feet, not really standing straight considering the pain he's currently experiencing.

Foaly went over and helped him up, his eyes however, were fixed in Cyrenela, who still didn't show any signs of recovery from whatever's taking place.

He snapped his fingers directly in front of her face, still no effect.

"What's wrong with her?" Artemis asked. "And what was that voice?"

"I don't know..."Foaly said quietly.

Cyrenela raised her head upwards, staring straight at the ceiling, and then...she smiled.

Butler suddenly released his embrace off her as if he was electrocuted.

"Butler, what are you doing?"

"She's hot!" he exclaimed.

Foaly's eyes widened, "Oh no...Quick, run for cover!"

Butler sensed the urgency in the centaur's voice and decided to comply, grabbing his charge quickly he ran behind a large block of metal.

Artemis peeped through the side and managed to see what was going on.

A thin wave of mist hung in the air, surrounding Cyrenela. Gradually, it became thicker, until he can only see her silhouette. Then, a blast of force came, completely knocking him off his feet, good thing Butler was there to pull him back up.

Then he heard that voice again.

Hmm...very nice...you made the right choice...you won't be disappointed, I know you won't...

They heard crashes, bumps...sounds clearly giving them a picture that destruction is at work.

As suddenly as it came, it stopped in the same manner, Artemis was about to move out but Foaly stopped him.

"Look," he said quietly.

Artemis followed his gaze, and saw that the incident had late effects, which in this case, was acid, all around them the metallic equipment were melting, pretty soon, everything was nothing more than a blob of grey goop.

Artemis looked at the centaur's face and realized that look, a look that meant he was hiding something.

Artemis rubbed his temples, then he looked at Foaly with an icy stare that could've frozen him at the spot. Foaly however, was melting in his glare, how could he have been so stupid as to obey the commander's orders?

The boy looked at him straight in the eyes and said, "Explain."

Author's Note:

Well? How'd I do? Did I do good? TELL ME! How? REVIEW!

Who do you think that voice is? Wild guesses are acceptable!

Reviews:

Identity99

sticks tongue out Yes I can! And whatever you say can't make me...uh...never mind. Hehe...I updated!

Cocoaducks

Thanks for reviewing! I'm having a busy time for now so if you like to have a talk or something about your ideas, email me )

And I'll reply to you as soon as I can!

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