25 The Secret Behind the Array in the Azure Forest

Penny looked at the figures of her friends that was getting more blurry as time went by and contemplated telling them about how she was currently feeling but thought against it, thinking she needed rest.

"Don't worry guys, I just need some rest. Come on, let's go," she muttered before she turned her back and headed for the Frozen Cave.

The rest of the group followed behind her worriedly and they began to make their journey to their secret hideout leaving the whistling winds behind.

The group had walked a certain distance as they navigated through the dense forest with familiarity when they noticed that the forest seemed quite the same as it was before the raid.

It was untouched! Like the raid never happened.

"It appears the forest is the only place in Platinum Valleys that is still intact." Penny said with a bitter smile forcing the rest of the group to remember the heart-rending state of their home that they had left behind.

Discovering the gloomy change in his friends Cyrus tried to liven things up, "Don't worry guys! We are still coming back and that to, to reclaim our home from their evil hands! We just need to get word to the rest of Azalea for help. So now is not the time to feel glum!"

Cyrus's very short words of encouragement stirred up emotions in the rest of the group, and although they didn't say anything, they could feel it casting out their feelings of sadness, defeat and insecurity whilst allowing conviction and hope take root in their hearts.

Hope of the possible redemption of Platinum Valleys...of their home!

The secret to getting word to the rest of Azalea rested in the Frozen Cave. This was because, although it was their secret hideout, it was also their escape route whenever they wanted to sneak out to see the other parts of Azalea much to Davis's dismay. Jeremy didn't mind cause well, it was Jeremy.

Penny managed a small smile in spite of her headache at Cyrus's successful attempts to lift their dampen spirits. It was just what they needed. He had done a great job in igniting their fighting spirits once again.

She sighed as she thought, intentionally staying a step behind Cyrus using his blurry figure as her guide so she wouldn't give herself away.

Finally, the group made it to the edge of the lake directly in front of the Frozen Cave. This lake was pretty wide and it also had a waterfall that was several foot high.

Azure Falls.

It was Jeremy's favourite training spot for the kids which they later turned into their hideout/escape route when they discovered the cave behind the falls.

Standing side by side, the group looked across the waters to the rocky build of the cave that was peeking through the incessant drizzling of the waters falling into the lake below it and as they walked closer, they could hear splashing noises caused by water crashing against more water and rocks.

They made their way towards a big tree that had thick branches entwined with vines stretching all the way over the lake. Grabbing a vine each just like they've done since they were younger, they take one last look over their shoulders before taking a deep breath as they prepared themselves for what's to come.

Getting inside the cave was tricky as they had to use the vines to cross over the lake and land on a narrow path of broken rocks that was formed from the continuous outpour of water before they could walk behind the falls and get into the cave.

Because of how narrow the path behind the waterfalls was, Davis had a really hard time getting into the cave and sealing it shut to prevent Penny and her friends from escaping out of Platinum Valleys again.

He'd fall into the lake several times whenever he tried and after many unsuccessful attempts, he got fed up and decided to ask for Jeremy's help but was refused each time by the same excuse.

'Dave, you can't stop the kids from taking their curious minds on a curious journey', he'd say with the tone of an elderly man, causing Davis to almost faint from anger.

Lowering her eyelashes as she reminisced about the good old days, Penny and the rest of the group were just steadying themselves to swing over the lake and make their way into the Frozen Cave when they heard a loud voice...

"PENNY!!" the voice echoed through the forest.

The voice was like a spell that halted all four of them on their tracks with their backs turned and hands on the vines.

'That...sounds like.....dad?,' Penny thought but she wasn't sure due to the bellowing sounds of the wind in the part of the forest that they were currently.

"PENNY! CY!"

"AVI! TIMMY!"

They heard the voice again calling out to them but closer this time. Finally finding movement in their limbs, they gingerly glance at each other and realise that they were all wearing the same expressions...shock, confusion, uncertainty and....excitement?

"Mr Davis?" Cyrus gasped in shock.

However, although they were all wearing the same expressions, Penny also had tears in her eyes as she realised who was calling out to her. She herself didn't know if they were tears of joy for knowing he was alright and hearing his voice again or tears of pain for all she had to go through.

"Dad!" she called out enthusiastically as she dropped the vines in her hand and went towards the direction of the voice reaching out to her with the rest of the group following closely behind with smiles on their faces.

"PENNY!" they heard the familiar voice once again.

It was coming from right behind her! It really was her dad!

She suddenly increased her pace, leaving a slight distance between her and her group.

'It's so close now.' she thought as she kept running following the sound of the voice she so longed to hear. Even the blurriness and ache in her head were long forgotten leaving only the intense emotion to see her loved one once again.

She was running right were she came from through the bellowing winds and flying twigs and leaves, all the while imagining her happy reunion with her dad when she suddenly came to a halt.

That was because....

"Isn't that exactly where you came from just now Penny? Those mutants in silver shirts are definitely still there!" Timmy said in shock after he and the rest of the group caught up with Penny not forgetting to link the men with their silver shirts.

Apparently, it seemed although the men had gone a rank high from being just normal trained men to mutants, Timmy still looked down on their silver shirts.

However, Penny seemed to have gone still as she had an expressionless face on. Although that was what it seemed but she was in fact still trying to hear the voice that called out to her but now it was all silent.

Like she imagined it all. And if it weren't for her friends also admitting that they heard her dad's voice, she'd have believed her headaches were causing her to hallucinate. And talking about headaches, she could feel the pain coming back now.

The four of them stood together trying to see the situation of things with the strong wind blowing at them from the four corners of the forest, slicking it's way through their hair and clothes, even causing Penny's hood to fall from her head unto her shoulders.

Anyone who wasn't a true resident of Platinum Valleys would be shocked by this scene! Even the mutants who took so much pride themselves would lose their wits at the sight of four teenage children withstanding such high intensity of wind current.

However, they weren't exactly withstanding it, they were just standing at a point where the air stream wasn't as much. It was a type of array that Jeremy designed by planting trees at strategic points in the Azure Forest which will direct the wind stream to a particular direction depending on the nature of the weather.

The only way to get around the array was by walking slowly on specially marked paths made of rocks embed in the forest floors. It was really that simple.

This was to deter non-natives with bad intentions from finding out the secret entrance into and out of Platinum Valleys but was later used to train the kids to have a sort of 'immunity' against the wind. The kids had been blown away a couple times but were always caught in time before they were injured.

In fact no one had been injured from the current of the wind till today, with S6 making himself the first to be sent flying into a tree. He would've had his hands on Penny by now if he didn't use so much speed to go into the corner path. The array was made as such, the more energy you use to oppose the force of the wind, double of it would be used to repel that energy.

Especially now when they were having a stormy weather to deal with.

So as the kids were currently standing on the marked rock paths and weren't using any energy to repel the force of the wind, they were steady in the face of the violent air stream.

Glancing at Penny's unreadable profile, Cyrus mumbled, "I can't hear Mr Davis's voice anymore. Then that means..."

"Mr Davis must have met the mutants." Avi said as she and the rest of the group sharply rose their heads in unison towards the end of the corner path.

No sooner have they thought those words when they heard a loud sound coming exactly from where Penny had left those men.

'BOOM!'