Chapter 7

"Xana attack," Jeremy groaned.

"What is it this time?" William asked from Lyoko. He and Aelita had already virtualized, and Aelita had been aiding Jeremy with the super-scan's repair from a tower.

"I'm looking." Jeremy tapped a few more keys. A window with lines of JavaScript popped up, and he started reading the information. "Hey, this looks familiar…"

"Familiar how?" Ulrich asked, absently scratching his ear.

"Whatever this attack is, Xana's done it before - or something like it, at least."

"What's he playing with?" Aelita asked, "Organics, machines, what?"

"Looks like he's combining his work with satellites, with the strength of some electrical generators, to..."

Ulrich made a face. "Generators…when did he…"

"That sounds familiar," Yumi put in.

Jeremy swiveled around. "You should both remember that one: you were airborne for a while."

"Oh, that attack," Ulrich said dryly. "So what's he doing now, making the factory float away?"

Yumi shook her head. "With satellites? It actually sounds more like I guessed right."

"What was your guess?" Odd complained.

The only answer Yumi offered was a shake of her head. Her idea still scared her too much.

"It looks like Xana reversed the trick he used during Ulrich's soccer game," Jeremy said, studying the JavaScript. "Strengthening the pull of gravity…but he's using the satellites, so whatever he's affecting with this attack, it's not actually on the planet."

"So…what's he pulling on?" Ulrich asked.

"Why do you think your powers have been acting up?" Yumi asked with a groan. "I really am sick of always being right, you know."

If the look on Ulrich's face was anything to go by, he'd made the connection.

"The moon," Jeremy said slowly. "He's bringing the moon closer to Earth - and since he's not tied to any supercomputer anymore, he's probably going to impact the planet and kill everyone with it!"

"THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!" Odd shouted wildly, running around in circles and flapping his arms.

Ulrich gave Odd a very lupine snarl, stopping the Chicken Little impersonation in its tracks.

"Yeah, not helpful, Odd," Yumi added coldly, wishing silently that she could use that kind of dramatic threat; typical vampire sounds mostly involved bat shrieks that were more suited for battle cries.

"We'd better deal with this now," Jeremy said. "Even before the moon hits the earth, werewolves everywhere will probably be going out of control soon."

"If they haven't started," Yumi muttered. Then she lifted her voice. "I'd better get back to school. There are three other werewolves there, and we don't need them killing anyone."

Jeremy nodded. "Ulrich, are you going with her or virtualizing?"

Ulrich cocked his head. "Actually, I'd probably be safer virtualizing. You know, if the attack actually takes until high tide before we stop it."

"Right, you and Odd get to the scanner room. Yumi, find the werewolves at Kadic and don't let them kill anyone."

Ulrich and Odd rushed into the elevator. Yumi followed them in as the door closed.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be going the other way?" Odd asked.

Yumi ignored him, jumping up to the ceiling and opening the trapdoor in it. Then she exploded into a flock of bats and flew back out, earning a screeched, "Did you see that?" from Odd.

Okay, Yumi, admit it: you enjoyed that.

Ulrich and Odd arrived in the Ice Sector just as Aelita was coming out of her tower.

William glanced at Ulrich. "Hey, what would happen if you virtualized as anything less than human?"

Ulrich shrugged. "I don't know, actually: it's not like we've ever had the opportunity to find out."

"Actually there've probably been plenty of opportunities," Jeremy commented, "But you hadn't told any of us you were a werewolf, so…"

"Yeah, that too."

The three vehicles appeared all in a row. Ulrich jumped aboard his Overbike right away.

"Odd, do you mind if I took the Overboard?" William asked. "My sword doesn't mix well with handlebars."

Odd shrugged and jumped onto the Overbike behind Ulrich, who gave him a "do-I-look-like-a-taxi-to-you" look.

Aelita claimed the Overwing. "Where's the activated tower, Jeremy?"

"It's not too far from you. There are Crabs in the way, so watch out."

It didn't take long before they were greeted by the Crabs. Ulrich and William slanted past the first one, each slicing off two legs, before Aelita followed up to finish the job.

"Man, that's still fun!" William shouted.

Odd jumped off the Overbike and shot out another Crab, landing behind Aelita on the Overwing.

Jeremy suddenly spoke up. "Uh, good-news-bad-news time…"

"What's the good news?" Odd asked.

"There are only two more Crabs."

William cleared one of the Crabs as he dropped his sword on it. The explosion threw his sword into the air, and he spun around and caught it. "Yeah!"

"So…bad news?" Ulrich asked hesitantly. He had a pretty good idea what the answer was: Megatanks.

"The tower's guarded by Megatanks…"

Spot on. "How many Megatanks?"

"Well…uh…"

The three vehicles rounded a corner and came upon the tower - with six Megatanks in front of it.

"Aaah!" William yelped, overbalancing as he veered off. "You know, you could have answered the darn question, Jeremy! I don't like nasty surprises!"

"Let's even the playing field," Aelita said calmly, shifting to one side and leaving Odd scrambling to keep the Overwing balanced. Then she used her Creativity to form a wall between them and three of the Megatanks. "There: three Megatanks, three vehicles."

Ulrich growled to himself at Aelita's composure as he focused on destroying one of the Megatanks; he and William had rounded the corner first, so Aelita'd had time to brace herself based on their reactions.

Suddenly, something thin and black leaped over the wall and landed between them and the tower. It was between a Creeper and a Tarantula in size, and had four spindly legs ending in long, sharp claws. Its white face loosely resembled a skull with pointed teeth, and a red laser glinted in its mouth as it hissed.

"What…is…that?" William asked slowly as he climbed to his feet; he'd managed to destroy his targeted Megatank, but destroyed the Overboard in the process.

"Uh…yeah…" Jeremy said slowly. "I was going to mention that…I don't know what it is."

"Great," Ulrich snarled. He gunned his Overbike and charged it. "What else can go wrong?"