Emma was enjoying a wonderful dream about her and Kowalski. They were walking through a clearing, in the middle of a small wood, with a sparkling blue waterfall in the corner of the clearing. The water cascaded down the waterfall, and flowed down through a stream at the foot of the waterfall. There was a little bridge so they could kuvuka, msalaba the water. The sky was filled with stars, the twinkling lights dotting the navy blue sky. A willow mti was in one corner of the clearing. It's long thin branches, swayed side to side in the light breeze. Emma recognised the place. It was an island in the Atlantic Ocean, and the only place on the planet that she could use her powers. She saw autumn leaves scatted across the landscape, the shade of red machungwa, chungwa and dhahabu barely recognisable in the darkness. A full moon shone down, giving the clearing a soft glow. She loved the feel of the soft nyasi on her bare feet. She walked on through the clearing, Kowalski holding her flipper, and smiling at her. She watched the leaves and tried to bring them over to her with her mind. They started dancing over swirling around Emma's head, before landing on the floor. A deep red one landed in her flipper, and she took a closer look at it. This particular shade of red seemed familiar.... Suddenly the moon and stars disappeared, plunging the clearing into darkness. Everything around her began to turn dark, and unfriendly. She inched closer to Kowalski, and her moyo sped up. At the edge of the clearing, two glowing pairs of red eyes opened, and Emma stopped dead. Fear consumed her, and she froze on the spot. The last time she had seen glowing red eyes she nearly died. She tried to move, but her feet seemed anchored to the ground. The eyes got nearer, and Kowalski stepped in front of her, trying to protect her. The red eyes then pushed Kowalski into the water and went for Emma.
She woke up with a start, he breathing quick and shallow. She got back to reality and saw Sam, Kowalski and Skipper looking over at her.
"Oh thank goodness wewe weren't waking up." Kowalski told her, hugging her tightly. Emma hugged back, rather distantly. Her mind was still on that dream. She hadn't had a nightmare since she was 10, and that nightmare was trying to warn her about something bad. Would this one be the same? She had a strange feeling that her brain interrupted a good dream to warn her about something, so whatever was coming, if anything was, it might not be in the clearing where she was.
"Em, are wewe ok?" Kowalski asked, stroking her hair. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I just had a bad dream, I... I think somethings bad's going to happen." Emma admitted. Her stomach flipped over queasily, when no one replied. The bad feeling intensified, and she looked up at them worriedly. "Has.. has something happened?" She asked, a panicky feeling filling her body. Skipper nodded gravely, and he walked towards the lab door, gesturing for Emma to follow. She got up, and a nasty chill went down her spine. Kowalski and Sam followed, walking inayofuata to her. Emma started feeling worse, as Skipper opened the lab door, and lead her out. She scanned around, and a ball of panic formed in her throat, stopping her from speaking. Rico was in the room looking worried, Tom, and Private were looking close to tears, and that's when Emma realised what was wrong. Chris came up to her and patted her on the shoulder comfortingly. Emma stared at the drag marks on the floor and realised that Ashley was nowhere to be seen. She crouched on the floor, and saw traces of blood stained around the marks. The drag marks started at Ashley's bunk, and led to just near the door. A horrible feeling overwhelmed Emma and she rushed to the toilet. She came back a few minutes, looking scared. Someone had broken into the HQ, and actually managed to kidnap one of the team. Yes Ashley was only here for a few days, but he was sweet, enthusiastic, and helpful. Emma already counted him as a friend. Who took him? Why did they take Ashley? What are they planing to do with him? These maswali made Emma's stomach churn even more, and she held her breath, trying to force back the sick feeling in her throat. What scared her even zaidi was that whoever got in could have took anyone, au everyone, they just got in easily, and didn't wake a single person up. What's to stop them from doing something like this again?
"We think he got kidnapped between 2am and 6am." Private told her, his voice as silent as a mouse. Emma just nodded, still unable to say a word. She glanced at the time, which was 7:30am. She took a closer look at the blood, and saw that it was still a little wet.
"I.. i'd say about 2 hours ago." She eventually managed, breathing slowly and deeply, trying to keep herself calm. She realised that she might have some information that the others didn't have. She took a deep breath, and sat down on the cinder block table. "I haven't had a bad dream in four years." She finally said, pouring herself a drink and gulping it down.
"So?" Chris replied, looking confused.
"Last time I had a bad dream, it was a warning, and my dream ended up being quite accurate to the real thing." Emma explained. "But this bad dream interrupted a good dream, so I'm not 100% sure that it will be accurate." She admitted.
"Well what happened in your dream? It still might give us some clues." Kowalski asked, sitting down beside her.
"Urm, well wewe and me were in a clearing.." Emma began blushing a bit. Kowalski smiled at this, and nodded for her to go on. "And I had my powers. The whole dream was awesome, until this red leaf landed in my flipper." Emma explained. I took a closer look at it, and the dream went really dark, and......." She trailed off, feeling afraid.
"And?" Kowalski asked, squeezing her flipper comfortingly.
"And, these pair of glowing red eyes came out from the edge of the clearing. I.. I couldn't move, I was too scared." Emma continued, fighting back the tears that were staring to fill the back of her eyes. "You tired to protect me, but it pushed wewe in the water, and then went for me, and that's when I woke up." Emma finished, a bit proud that she didn't end up crying. Kowalski hugged her gently, and looked around at the others.
"So if this dream means something, what do wewe think it means?" Kowalski asked.
"My theory is that someone with red eyes took Ashley, and whoever that person is, is coming for us next." Emma replied. Her gut told her that something was wrong with this theory but she ignored it.
"Well which of our enemies have red eyes?" Skipper wondered outloud. Emma wasn't very sure.
"Urm, Hans, Savio, the panya King maybe?" Emma answered. "Though for some reason, I doubt it is Hans." She admitted.
"Why?" Rico asked.
"Well first of all in the dream, the person was bigger than us, and it felt like someone we hadn't defeated before." Emma explained.
"But we've defeated all of them before..." Skipper said, looking confused. Emma was about to agree, when she had a flashback to when the baby fossa visited. Her eyes widened,and she looked up at the others.
"We actually haven't." Emma corrected, a thought buzzing in her head. The team cast her confused looks. "Us lot in general haven't defeated Savio before. First Burt did, then Julien, then the Baby Fossa." She pointed out. Skipper looked shocked, then he patted Emma on the shoulder, looking impressed.
"Your right sis." He told her taking out his book he kept on villains. It had profile's of every villain that they had ever faced in there. He opened it up to Savio's page, and his face fell.
"What's wrong?" Emma asked.
"Savio has been missing for a while, we have no idea where he is." Skipper told the team gravely. Emma stomach lurched again, and a bad feeling was in her gut. He gut kept telling her that they were completely wrong about this, and they weren't going to find him, searching for Savio. Emma quietly told her gut that she believed her brain because it was smarter, but this didn't stop it from trying to convince her that something was up. She ignored it, and turned her attention back to Skipper. "Don't worry, we'll find him." Skipper reassured them.
"Savio, au Ashley?" Emma asked.
"Both." Skipper replied, closing the book.
She woke up with a start, he breathing quick and shallow. She got back to reality and saw Sam, Kowalski and Skipper looking over at her.
"Oh thank goodness wewe weren't waking up." Kowalski told her, hugging her tightly. Emma hugged back, rather distantly. Her mind was still on that dream. She hadn't had a nightmare since she was 10, and that nightmare was trying to warn her about something bad. Would this one be the same? She had a strange feeling that her brain interrupted a good dream to warn her about something, so whatever was coming, if anything was, it might not be in the clearing where she was.
"Em, are wewe ok?" Kowalski asked, stroking her hair. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I just had a bad dream, I... I think somethings bad's going to happen." Emma admitted. Her stomach flipped over queasily, when no one replied. The bad feeling intensified, and she looked up at them worriedly. "Has.. has something happened?" She asked, a panicky feeling filling her body. Skipper nodded gravely, and he walked towards the lab door, gesturing for Emma to follow. She got up, and a nasty chill went down her spine. Kowalski and Sam followed, walking inayofuata to her. Emma started feeling worse, as Skipper opened the lab door, and lead her out. She scanned around, and a ball of panic formed in her throat, stopping her from speaking. Rico was in the room looking worried, Tom, and Private were looking close to tears, and that's when Emma realised what was wrong. Chris came up to her and patted her on the shoulder comfortingly. Emma stared at the drag marks on the floor and realised that Ashley was nowhere to be seen. She crouched on the floor, and saw traces of blood stained around the marks. The drag marks started at Ashley's bunk, and led to just near the door. A horrible feeling overwhelmed Emma and she rushed to the toilet. She came back a few minutes, looking scared. Someone had broken into the HQ, and actually managed to kidnap one of the team. Yes Ashley was only here for a few days, but he was sweet, enthusiastic, and helpful. Emma already counted him as a friend. Who took him? Why did they take Ashley? What are they planing to do with him? These maswali made Emma's stomach churn even more, and she held her breath, trying to force back the sick feeling in her throat. What scared her even zaidi was that whoever got in could have took anyone, au everyone, they just got in easily, and didn't wake a single person up. What's to stop them from doing something like this again?
"We think he got kidnapped between 2am and 6am." Private told her, his voice as silent as a mouse. Emma just nodded, still unable to say a word. She glanced at the time, which was 7:30am. She took a closer look at the blood, and saw that it was still a little wet.
"I.. i'd say about 2 hours ago." She eventually managed, breathing slowly and deeply, trying to keep herself calm. She realised that she might have some information that the others didn't have. She took a deep breath, and sat down on the cinder block table. "I haven't had a bad dream in four years." She finally said, pouring herself a drink and gulping it down.
"So?" Chris replied, looking confused.
"Last time I had a bad dream, it was a warning, and my dream ended up being quite accurate to the real thing." Emma explained. "But this bad dream interrupted a good dream, so I'm not 100% sure that it will be accurate." She admitted.
"Well what happened in your dream? It still might give us some clues." Kowalski asked, sitting down beside her.
"Urm, well wewe and me were in a clearing.." Emma began blushing a bit. Kowalski smiled at this, and nodded for her to go on. "And I had my powers. The whole dream was awesome, until this red leaf landed in my flipper." Emma explained. I took a closer look at it, and the dream went really dark, and......." She trailed off, feeling afraid.
"And?" Kowalski asked, squeezing her flipper comfortingly.
"And, these pair of glowing red eyes came out from the edge of the clearing. I.. I couldn't move, I was too scared." Emma continued, fighting back the tears that were staring to fill the back of her eyes. "You tired to protect me, but it pushed wewe in the water, and then went for me, and that's when I woke up." Emma finished, a bit proud that she didn't end up crying. Kowalski hugged her gently, and looked around at the others.
"So if this dream means something, what do wewe think it means?" Kowalski asked.
"My theory is that someone with red eyes took Ashley, and whoever that person is, is coming for us next." Emma replied. Her gut told her that something was wrong with this theory but she ignored it.
"Well which of our enemies have red eyes?" Skipper wondered outloud. Emma wasn't very sure.
"Urm, Hans, Savio, the panya King maybe?" Emma answered. "Though for some reason, I doubt it is Hans." She admitted.
"Why?" Rico asked.
"Well first of all in the dream, the person was bigger than us, and it felt like someone we hadn't defeated before." Emma explained.
"But we've defeated all of them before..." Skipper said, looking confused. Emma was about to agree, when she had a flashback to when the baby fossa visited. Her eyes widened,and she looked up at the others.
"We actually haven't." Emma corrected, a thought buzzing in her head. The team cast her confused looks. "Us lot in general haven't defeated Savio before. First Burt did, then Julien, then the Baby Fossa." She pointed out. Skipper looked shocked, then he patted Emma on the shoulder, looking impressed.
"Your right sis." He told her taking out his book he kept on villains. It had profile's of every villain that they had ever faced in there. He opened it up to Savio's page, and his face fell.
"What's wrong?" Emma asked.
"Savio has been missing for a while, we have no idea where he is." Skipper told the team gravely. Emma stomach lurched again, and a bad feeling was in her gut. He gut kept telling her that they were completely wrong about this, and they weren't going to find him, searching for Savio. Emma quietly told her gut that she believed her brain because it was smarter, but this didn't stop it from trying to convince her that something was up. She ignored it, and turned her attention back to Skipper. "Don't worry, we'll find him." Skipper reassured them.
"Savio, au Ashley?" Emma asked.
"Both." Skipper replied, closing the book.
Prologue Cover -Duke-
