I'm sorry, guys. I was scheduled to update this yesterday.

SamandMax0569 - You gotta have a little faith in people. That's what a little Hawaiian girl once taught me when an earthquake making alien's actions were about to destroy the Earth.

??? - I forget where that incident came from. It was on another fanfiction dot net story a long time ago, and I can't find it. ; Your username reminds me of someone I once knew named I Cant Think of a Username. XD

Mewberries - Ah, good to see you at the fanfic site again, Mew. Hope you like how the story turns out.

Holiday Magic

Chapter 4: The Candy Cane Tower

"Get out of here, you guys!" shouted Ulrich at the frightened shoppers. "Take cover!"

Comet rammed his antlers into a stone fountain. Dodging the debris, Yumi remarked, "It's deck the halls, not wreck the malls!"

Ducking behind a counter, Ulrich pulled out his cell and speed-dialed the Supercomputer. "Hello, Ricky? How's Odd and Aelita doing?"

"They should be nearing the activated tower within a minute," he heard his little cousin say. "How 'bout you and your girlfriend?"

Ignoring the 'girlfriend' part, due to the situation, he reported, "Not good. This guy's tough; we're getting smacked around."

"Oh, dear."

The older boy shook his head. "I swear you don't even try, sometimes."

"Humor like mine's a gift."

"Yeah, and you're real modest about it, aren't you?"

Ricky laughed. "Very funny, cuz. Anyway, looks like our friends on Lyoko have a date with a MegaTank. Signing off."

Upon hanging up, Ricky called to the virtual duo, "Heads up, guys! You've got Mega-company!"
Up ahead, Odd saw the large, black sphere split open to reveal the Eye staring them down. "Of course," he said. "It's our old pal's welcoming committee."

As he said this, the MegaTank charged up Odd pulled a maneuver with his Overboard to evade the elliptical laser that came from it.

"Hang on tight, Princess," he told Aelita.

"The way you fly, do I have a choice?" she asked.

Odd shrugged. "Well, yeah; fall. But I wouldn't recommend it."

That said, he took a firm stance on the board and flew complicated and potentially dangerous stunts to avoid the MegaTank's hits, so he was avoiding danger by getting into danger. Doesn't that make sense? No, I don't think so either, but that's Odd.

"Um, I know you're probably having fun, but my big cousin and his girlfriend are getting their posteriors booted, so you might as well hurry it up."

"Oh, sure. Deadlines always ruin my fun," he said. Without warning, he turned around and charged his Overboard straight at the MegaTank. "Time to jump off, Aelita!" said Odd before the two abandoned ship, and the vehicle smashed straight into the monster's Eye.

Aelita ran for the tower, but three Blocks made their presence known.

"Looks like some more playmates, Odd!" Upon hearing Ricky say this, Odd got down on all fours and dashed over to place himself between Aelita and the monsters.

Aelita sighed and rubbed her forehead. "We don't have time for this. Ulrich and Yumi need help now!"

As she said this, red and white diagonal glows appeared around a tower in the Ice Sector.

Hiding behind the counter of a wrecked music store, Ulrich and Yumi turned to look at each other, and Ulrich said, "At this rate, I'm not sure if we'll make it out of here. And... um, just in case we don't, there's... there's something I, always wanted to..." he stammered to form the right words, blushing.

"Yes, Ulrich?" Yumi nodded him on.

"The thing is, Yumi, I--"

COMET SMASH! The killer reindeer crashed his way to where the two were hiding. But, just as he was about to deliver the finishing blow, a lasso grabbed hold of him from behind and pulled him back. Taking a good look at who saved them, Ulrich, Yumi, and X.A.N.A. realized it was Santa Claus from the mall display! His eyes had the glow of an object possessed, but without the Eye to say it was by the megalomaniac program the gang fought on a regular basis.

X.A.N.A. glared at the jolly old statue through Comet's eyes. "Stay out of this, old man. This is none of your business."

Santa's eyebrow's raised. "Oh, ho ho... any business regarding the good boys and girls of the world is business of mine," he said.

Knowing the Santa statue was being controlled by a tower somewhere on Lyoko, X.A.N.A. scanned all the towers for activity until he found the one in the Ice Sector. Well, we will just see about that, won't we, Nicholas?

Back in the Sand Region, Odd dodged two ice beams at once while Aelita waited from safe distance. But, her location wouldn't remain safe for long as Ricky warned, "ALERT! CODE JELLY! I REPEAT, CODE JELLY!"

Instantly, she saw the Scyphozoa appear just around the corner of a nearby canyon

"You know, you might want to try running."

"Good idea," she said, but a red outline appeared behind her and began filling in.

"Heads up! The villain has called out the heavy artillery!" warned Ricky upon seeing what was happening. A moment later, the monitor announced the appearance of the Tarantula.

"I'm trapped!" he heard her cry.

"Yes, I'd say that's the appropriate word," he replied before turning the monitor's attention to Kitty Boy. "Odd, Aelita needs help now!"

Suddenly, another map popped up in front of him. "Huh?" He noticed the scene was in the Ice Sector, involving a pair of MegaTanks. "Holy stocking stuffers!"

Switching back to the Desert, he reported what he saw. "You're not going to believe this!" he cried as Odd faced off with the Tarantula. "That's a candy cane colored tower in the Ice Sector, and two MegaTanks are firing at it!"

As he dodged the blasts from the overgrown spider and returned fire, Odd called back, "You're right, I don't believe it. Have you been drinking too much eggnog, kid?"

"I'm serious! Someone else has activated a tower, and X.A.N.A.'s trying to keep them from interfering! And, I have a good idea who that someone is."

At that moment, Ulrich's card appeared in the telephone program. "Ricky, the craziest thing just happened! The Santa statue just--"

"Came to life and started defending you from Comet?" he interrupted.

"Yeah..." he replied hesitantly. "How did you know?"

"Just a hunch," said Ricky. "There's a candy cane tower in the Ice Sector, and X.A.N.A.'s trying to shut it down."

"Shouldn't someone be protecting that tower then?"

The smaller boy's eyebrows raised when he saw something--or someone--else appear in the Ice Sector. "I think someone's already taking care of it," he said.

A group of armed elves stood between the tower and the monsters. One of them, with the name Joey on his shirt, folded his arms narrowing his eyes at the monsters. "You better watch out."

Another elf labeled Lenny laughed, "Hey, you just quoted that one song--"

"Can it, Lenny!" barked Joey. "We've got work to do!"

Ricky smiled as he watched the scene unfold. "Yep. Someone's already taking care of it."

XD Wow. Elves that kick keister! Anyway, I had the candy cane tower not appear on the Super Scanner, because Hopper's white tower, later, wouldn't either. Also, I'm now using the codelyoko dot com spelling for Scyphozoa from now on, since I know that's official. Now, we know Santa leaves the naughty with coal. Let's see what he leaves the twisted and totally evil with. XD