"Ants are social insects, like termites or like bees," Ms. Hertz droned, her back turned to the class as she drew and labeled a diagram of an ant on the board. "A single individual is incapable of any personal initiative. The decisions are made by the colony." Several students yawned behind their hands as they leaned on the desks near the front of the room. The only students truly attentive to the lecture were Aelita and Jeremy, who were both bent at the waist, observing the ant farm that Hertz had brought with her to class that day. "Although the creatures may seem bright, it is truly a collective intelligence."
"You mean an army of Sissy's could be intelligent?" Odd snorts, interrupting the lecture and causing Ms. Hertz to turn from her labeling abruptly. "I don't believe it!" The class snickered as Ms. Hertz ordered class to return to order.
"Ms. Hertz, what about killer ants?" Ulrich asked curiously as the room returned to calmness. "Do they exist?
Hertz smirked and stuck her nose in the air at his naïve question, shaking her head in amusement, causing her grey cloud of wiry hair to shake back and forth. "Well, yes, Ulrich, maybe in movies," she chuckled. The class began laughing again, and Ulrich tried to hide his blush by staring out the window angrily. Jade rubbed his back for a moment comfortingly; she thought it was a worthwhile question.
"There are, in fact, army ants though, and they destroy everything in their path," Hertz continued, returning to labeling the antennae of the sketched ant she had on the board. "It's true to best stay out of their way."
"Do any of those filthy bugs live around here?" Sissy asked with a flip of her hair and a crinkled nose, the furthest one from the ant farm.
"No, fortunately. They live down in South America. There, the phenomena is called marabounta," Hertz called over her shoulder.
"Phew, I'm glad I live in a country where there isn't any danger," Sissy sighed as the bell rang. As the other students began to pack their items, Aelita shot Jade a smirk and rolled her eyes for her pal to see; how on Earth could Sissy be that dumb?
The students ran to the lunch room, trying to beat their classmates to the line. Yumi joined them when they were all able to finally sit down. "Saturday's my favorite day," Odd chimed, swallowing a forkful of pineapple before continuing. "No school in the afternoon!"
"I like Sunday's better," Jade grinned before catapulting a grape at her brother with her plastic fork. "No school at all." While the others continued with their playful banter, Aelita couldn't help but notice Jeremy's intense stare out the window.
"You seem worried, Jeremy," she ventured. "What's on your mind?"
"Franz Hopper's notes, Aelita," Jeremy sighed, returning his gaze from the window to his pale blue lunch tray, where most of the food still sat, uneaten. "Last night, I decoded a really interesting part on a multi-agent system." The other's stopped their tom foolery and turned to Jeremy, attentive. "It's a computer program that follows the principle of an ant hill. What happens is-"
"Oh, no!" Ulrich interjects, shaking his head quickly in disgust.
"Ms. Hertz has already bored us to tears with all that ant stuff, don't you start now," Odd spat. Jade and Yumi laughed into their elbows, trying to hide the unsightly view of partially chewed food in their mouths.
"Seriously," Jeremy hissed, pushing his spectacles up the bridge of his nose in irritation. "This time, I might've found a way to really weaken X.A.N.A. Let's head up to the factory after lunch, I can explain everything there." Aelita suddenly rose from her seat, grabbing her lunch tray and hopping over the lunch bench.
"Well, normally I'd love to," she said as she walked away, "but I really gotta' finish my Italian homework. See ya'." She walked away, dumped her spare food into the trash can, left her tray on top of the lid, and walked from the cafeteria. Jeremy stared after her through the window, and missed the panicked look the rest of his group shared.
"Yeah, well, I gotta' go practice for a skateboarding competition," Odd added.
"And I've got swimming after classes," Yumi continued.
"I'm headed to clean up my room," Jade said apologetically as she herself got up from the table. "I can hardly see the floor anymore. Sorry." As the three walked away, Jeremy turned to Ulrich.
"Well, what about you, Ulrich? Are you doing anything now that classes are over?" Ulrich glanced over his shoulder darkly, but at what, Jeremy couldn't imagine.
"Yeah, I gotta' be somewhere," Ulrich responded.
"Oh, yeah? Where?" Jeremy asked, chewing on a small carrot. Ulrich stared after Yumi as she exited the cafeteria with William.
"The swimming pool," Ulrich quipped, quickly rising to follow.
"Well, because it seems like everyone has something better to do, I guess I'll go handle it by myself," Jeremy grumbled to himself, throwing the majority of his food away.
At the swimming pool, Ulrich watched at William performed a perfect dive from the 10 foot tall diving board. Yumi, who sat on the pool's edge, clapped enthusiastically at her form. He splashed over and threw his arms over the cement ledge near her, resting the weight of his body both in the water and on his arms as he chatted with her. Ulrich felt his chest swell with jealousy, and he quickly climbed the ladder to the slick diving board above.
"Hey, whatdoya' know? Isn't that Ulrich Stern about to dive?" William asked, glancing up at Yumi through his wet locks. Yumi's neck snapped rigid as she looked up to her friend above. Ulrich's knees bent and his thighs tightened, and just as he was about to spring, his eyes darted to the pool's edge below, and his eyes met Yumi's.
His foot slips, and Ulrich plummets at an awkward angle into the water, a stoned bird falling from the air. Yumi screams, calling to see if there's a life guard on duty. Pounding feet from nearby students as they come to watch the spectacle. Ulrich's entire body aches, and all of his muscles are taunt with pain. He struggle to flap his arms, kick a leg, anything to propel him to the surface, but he's sinking, drowning…
When Ulrich regains consciousness, he finds himself in the most awkward situation of his life thus far. Jim leans back as Ulrich chokes up water, coughing as he tries to find air. "Ah, good thing I was here. I got my CPR certificate a while back," Jim crowed.
"Wow, Ulrich's so lucky William saved him," someone whispered.
"Are you okay?" Yumi asked as she crawled close, patting Ulrich on the back as he coughed harder and tried to wipe the taste of Jim's kiss of life from his mouth. He smacked Yumi's hand away, and stormed to the locker room, embarrassed and infuriated.
He showered and went straight to his dorm room, brooding on his stupidity. He hadn't been alone for a few minutes when the dorm room door banged open, and his roommate walked in, holding his skateboard under his arm. Odd smiled at Ulrich in greeting, but when he only received a glare in return, his grin withered.
"What's the matter?" Odd asked as he shoved his board underneath his bed.
"Nothing," Ulrich scowled. Odd straightened and gave his best friend a critical stare, trying to decipher what was bothering him. "Where's Jade?" Ulrich asked, trying to change the subject.
"She decided to do her studying with Aelita, now what's got you so-" the bright chime of Odd's phone cut off his interrogation. He dug in his pocket, and yanked his cellular device free. "Yello?" he answered cheerily. A moment passed as the person at the other end of the line talked, then Odd replied, "Alright, soon as possible." Odd clicked the "end" button and turned back to Ulrich.
"Jeremy's called an immediate meeting at the factory," Odd called as he headed for the door. When Ulrich didn't rise to follow, Odd turned back, a furrow in his brow. "You coming?" Ulrich growled in irritation and turned his back on Odd, his body language speaking volumes to his frustration.
"I'm not in the mood," Ulrich snapped. "I'd rather be by myself." Odd about faced and glared at the back of his best friend's head. Geez, Ulrich was always so moody.
"Come on," Odd countered. "You know if you don't come, Jeremy will get mad." Ulrich turned his face partially back to Odd, so only one half of his expression could be seen, and narrowed his eyes into his most angry glare.
"Leave. Me. Alone." Ulrich hissed, his bruised pride causing him to lash out. Odd and Ulrich stared at each other in anger for a moment, when finally Odd snorted in disbelief.
"Fine. Suit yourself, both of you can stay here," Odd grunted, returning to the door.
"Both of us?" Ulrich asked in confusion, turning fully back to his best friend as his eyebrows touched in bewilderment.
"Yeah," Odd replied without turning around as he stepped through the door. "You and your bad attitude." With that, Odd slammed the door so hard that the pencil holder across the room on Ulrich's desk rattled. Odd went by Aelita's room and picked up her and his sister. When Aelita called Yumi's phone, there was no answer.
"She's still swimming, I bet. Come on, Jeremy's waiting on us," Jade said, leading the way into the sewers. When they finally entered the control room, Jeremy was bursting with impatience.
"There you all are! Hey, wait," Jeremy paused, "Where's Ulrich?"
"He's sulking," Odd grumbled, shaking his head. "I don't know what his problem is." Jade scowled too; sure, she liked Ulrich, but that didn't give him a free ticket to be a jerk.
"What's this program?" Aelita asked as she finally reached Jeremy's side, turning the conversation back to the subject at hand.
"It's marabounta," Jeremy declared proudly. "My very own creation."
"And what does it do, exactly?" Jade asked, her irritation at Ulrich seeping into everything she did.
"It's a multi-agent system that functions according to the same principle as an ant hill," Jeremy continued, the Della Robbia twins' moods not getting him down. "Instead of ants, though, we have these little spheres whose mission is to search and destroy X.A.N.A's monsters."
"I get it," Odd smiled, the good news making him forget about his conflict with Ulrich. "While the monsters are getting wiped out by your ants, X.A.N.A leaves us alone while we're on Lyoko!"
"Bingo!" Jeremy cheered. "You've guessed it!"
"Hey, that's great!" Jade smiled, pushing her long rogue bangs behind her ear, only to have them slip in front of her face again.
"But wait," Aelita interjected, her expression more cautious than jubilant. "What if there's a real bug in the program?"
"Impossible," Jeremy sniffed, folding his arms proudly across his chest. "Remember, Franz Hopper was a genius."
"Why don't we go to Lyoko to check it out?" Odd suggested to Aelita and Jade. "If this thing really works, then nothing can happen to us."
"You read my mind, Odd," Jeremy sang. "Go to the scanner room, I'll transfer you!" Jade and Odd immediately made for the elevator, excited at the future that this program posed. Aelita's face was full of worry and fear as she stared at Jeremy's bright computer screens, unwilling to look at anyone else, but also unwilling to follow the twins. "If there's the slightest problem," Jeremy whispered, just so he and Aelita could hear, "I'll pull the plug, promise." Aelita, glad to be saved the humiliation of the others knowing she had doubts as to both Hopper's and Jeremy's skill, but still feeling uneasy about testing the program, she nodded at Belpois and joined the two other blondes in the elevator.
Aelita was so nervous for what awaited her on Lyoko that she didn't hear Jeremy's routine calling procedure until he said "virtualization", and she was being broken down on a molecular level. She felt lighted headed and nauseous, which was strange, as in this moment, there wasn't a head to feel light, nor a stomach to feel queasy. Just her millions of molecules whizzing through a pipe.
She landed on Lyoko and felt immediately better, with her strong feet beneath her. "You're south of the marabounta," Jeremy informed them from above. "Take the path to your right. Sorry, you'll have to travel without your vehicles, though; I don't have enough machine resources to bring them up."
"Roger, General," Odd smiled before racing the two girls forward.
"Hey look, a Krab," Jade shouted, pointing to the tall, awkward machine. "It's moving pretty fast, I don't think I've ever seen one move that fast before!"
"Follow it!" Jeremy instructed from above. "It's headed in the right direction." The red Krab disappeared into the distance, but they followed the claw marks it left in the forest sector floor. After a few minutes, Odd's paw shot forward in a pointed finger.
"Guys, look!" he exclaimed. Aelita felt a pit form in her stomach. "Jeremy, we can see it! We can see the marabounta!"
"Well, what's it like?" Jeremy breathed excitedly. The Krab was struggling to stand as a living black, oily mass scaled up its legs, working its way into the monster's joints. The mass was shining and lurched about, bubbling like a cauldron of toxins. Jade shivered; looking at it she thought of oil spills in the ocean, making the sea animals writhe, choking and coughing until they just couldn't breathe anymore…
"It's pretty scary," Jade whimpered, taking a few steps back, and grabbing Aelita's hand to shift her further away as well. The Krab lurched and shook, trying to free itself. Aelita was grateful that the monster couldn't make a sound; she feared what kind of horrific screams it would've made under such a terrible and painful fate.
It's legs finally collapsed beneath it, and it sunk below the marabounta's surface. The only indication that the Krab had been fully destroyed, and not just carried and absorbed into the black mass, was a small light that shined through the surface. The dense marabounta absorbed the entire shock wave and sound of the Krab's death.
Nearby, other monsters were facing equally treacherous deaths. Wasps were being shot from the air, Megatanks were being swept away as if the giant beasts were a pebble before a great, living wave. The worst monster's death to endure was the Tarantula's. When the Tarantula's leg was first touched by the black, toxic bulk, it screeched tremendously, causing Aelita to cower into Jade's embrace, burying her face in Jade's chest. It screeched and wailed in pain, fighting for its life in such an inhumane battle. If the poor monster tried to scrape the marabounta off with one leg with another, the marabounta would only transfer over their acidic burn, spreading quicker and killing the Tarantula faster. Aelita never imagined she'd feel bad for X.A.N.A's abominations.
"I never thought I'd say this," Odd said incredulously, shaking his head, "but I feel bad for X.A.N.A."
"It's working even better than I thought!" Jeremy crowed victoriously from back on Earth.
"If you want my opinion, Einstein," Jade sighed, cradling her friend, "you've invented yourself a nasty piece of work." Jade was glad that deactivating towers would be easier, and that Lyoko trips would be less dangerous, but… the feral and animalistic screeches of the painful deaths around her made Jade's tail twitch in apprehension and her ears flatted against her skull. The sound of death made her want to flee.
"Jeremy," Aelita whimpered finally, "I've seen and heard enough." Her voice was filled with such disgust and fear, she sounded like a five year old who just watched her first nature documentary on a lion's hunting habits. "I… I wanna' come back in." Jade petted Aelita's head kindly, hushing her soothingly.
"Yeah, alright I'll bring you back," Jeremy said from above, his voice suddenly dripping of unspoken apologies. He regretted making her see that. "Head southwest, there's a tower nearby."
"Got it!" Odd grinned, the least shaken by the experience. He sprinted off, unscathed by the marabounta's dark tactics, but felt all the light drain ffrom his body, leaving him weak and clumsy, when he heard Jade scream.
Jade, being quiet and shy, wasn't known for being very outspoken. When she screeched with pure terror and bone-chilling fear, every strand of fur and every hair on his body stood on end as he whipped around. Odd could've sworn his world was ending.
Somewhere, on another planet, Jeremy's voice asked, "Odd, what's happening?" but the voice felt like miles away, and so unimportant.
Surrounding his little sister and his best friend, the marabounta was slithering forward, reaching with thin, oily tendrils to touch either of them. Aelita clung to Jade's back, sobbing hysterically, as Jade shot Laser Arrows wildly, trying to protect both herself and her charge. Jade's eyes, which were usually cool, collected, and calm behind her bangs, were wide and watery. She blinked every half a second to keep her vision from growing blurry with tears; in this moment, she was the only thing protecting their lives. Odd, what's happening?
Before Odd could comprehend what he was doing, he was sprinting back to them. His legs were pumping as fast as they could, but every part of his body felt heavy. His arms slapped uncoordinatedly against his body as he ran, his feet were dragging, his vision was hazy. Everything was happening, happening to fast. Yet so slow. He was so slow. The marabounta was fast, closing in on two of the most important people in his life.
"Odd, Odd," Aelita sobbed, quaking in fear. Odd, what's happening? As Odd ran, the fear intoxicated him, blurring his vision, dragging his arms, weighing down his feet as he tried to move faster. Thoughts jumbled, arrows fired, and Jade screeched his name, begging for her older brother to rescue them. Odd, what's happening?
Odd was still too far away to be of any help, and he knew if he tried to close the distance physically, he'd be too late. He called his sister's name as he lifted his arm and shot a Laser Arrow, praying to all the gods he didn't believe in that she'd see it in time.
Jade's gaze met her brother's and she shot a Laser Arrow of her own at the exact same spot as he. The combined explosion of their darts cut a swath of clear land through the marabounta to her brother. Jade savagely gripped Aelita's robes and shoved her through the half a breath's span, shouting, "Go!" Aelita stumbled forward into a reckless sprint, her breath wheezing as she sobbed for air. Jade squeezed through the closing gap and quickly caught up to her charge. She grabbed the back of Aelita's clothes and hauled her forward even faster.
Odd fell in step with the girls, wanting all in the world to stop and cradle them, tell them everything was alright, but the sloshing sound behind them told him they were far from safe.
"Odd, for the love of everything good and pure, what's happening?" Jeremy shrieked from above. Odd shook his head, finally hearing Jeremy clearly, his loved ones saved from the jaw's of death.
"Your stupid marabounta has it in for us!" odd shouted to the sky in rage.
"Now is no time for jokes," Jeremy chided from above. "I only programmed the marabounta to go after X.A.N-"
"Jeremy, you idiot, it almost got Aelita and my sister!" Odd hollered back, cutting off the programmer. Jade ran on all fours, her eyes still huge, watery saucers as she fought back the hysteric breakdown that was threatening to overwhelm her as she tried to focus on protecting Aelita, and not the fact that she and Aelita had almost been torn apart.
"This…this can't be right," Jeremy stuttered, the anxious energy of his creation almost killing the most important people to him making his voice waver. "Di-di-did you do something special?"
"I fired a couple of Laser Arrows-"
"Odd, you're the idiot, why would you-"
"Stop fighting!" Jade shrieked, her fear causing her usually monotone voice to be ear piercing with panic as they ran full tilt from the massing black wave. "We didn't have a choice!" Jade fired another Laser Arrow at a specific tendril that almost brushed her brother's shoulder. The marabounta was gaining on them. "It was going to kill Aelita and me!"
"How can that be?" Jeremy shrilled incredulously. Everyone was so panic filled, the whole group conversation was nothing but screech after screech. "Unless…" his fingers were swollen with terror, and clumsily he began tapping away at the keyboard, several typos slowly him as he had to retype the proper sequence again.
"Oh, Jeremy, you IDIOT!" Jeremy shouted at himself when the screen he desired finally appeared. "It's my fault! The virus planted in Aelita is making the marabounta think she's one of X.A.N.A's monsters!"
"Nice work, Frankenstein," Odd yowled as he performed a back hand spring to shoot at the black liquid behind him before fleeing again, not losing speed. "I thought you said we had nothing to worry about!"
"Jeremy, get us out of here!" Aelita sobbed, her lungs aching but knowing to stop would be the end.
"I know, okay, head to the tower, I'm killing the program!" Jeremy wailed, guilt smothering him from all angles. He typed in the deletion sequence, and hit enter, only for a raging red exclamation mark to blink in his face, blaring a siren noise. "Oh, no! No, no, NO! I CAN' KILL THE PROGRAM, THE MARABOUNTA DOESN'T WANT TO DIE!" Aelita's new sobs shook her whole body, slowing her down.
"You gave it a mind?" Jade screeched in panic, grabbing Aelita's elbow to drag her along faster.
"No, no, it somehow grew autonomous!" Jeremy cried. "It will submerge anything and everything in it's path! I'm calling Ulrich and Yumi for backup!"
"Jeremy, please hurry," Aelita begged. Her legs were seizing up, she wasn't sure how much longer she could run for.
Respite came in a darkly ironic way. The trio skidded to a halt to see that the marabounta had already covered the way tower, their sanctuary, and no ground in any direction wasn't seething in black, bubbling liquid. "At this rate, all of Lyoko will be destroyed!" Jeremy groaned. The three Warriors were surrounded, with Aelita blocked from her two guardians. "Look out, X.A.N.A's sending in a monster!" Jeremy yelled.
A Krab landed nearly on top of Aelita. Aelita braced for the laser, but one never came. Instead, the Krab scooped Aelita on one of it's legs and shucked her across the sea of marabounta, so that she landed beside Odd, once again in their radius of protection. Just as Aelita was thrown, the Krab fell to the grasp of the living oil, exploding silently beneath the surface.
"Did that Krab just sacrifice itself for you?" Odd blinked in surprise. X.A.N.A's Bloks materialized in droves above them and fell from the sky, forming a protective perimeter around the three.
"I…I think I understand," Jeremy slowly said from above. "X.A.N.A knows he can't let Aelita die, cause he needs her memory."
"What's the matter with them?" Jade whimpers when one Bloks marches to close, but proceeds to shoot a laser at the nearing marabounta, and not at her.
"Their… protecting me," Aelita whispered in awe, staring at her foes turned friends.
"Aelita's right, "Jeremy said, finally capping his panic and returning to his offensive coordinator position. "Use them as allies to defeat the marabounta!" Jade and her brother took up spots between the Bloks and Kankrelats, shooting Laser Arrows into the shifting mass as it tried to approach.
Suddenly, Yumi materialized from above, and tossed a fan. It sliced through the Bloks to Jade's left, destroying the help.
"No, Yumi, not them!" Jade barked, and began firing twice as fast to make up for the lost gunman.
"The marabounta is the one to go after!" Aelita instructed, pointing at the multiplying ocean. Yumi's eyes widened in horror upon alighting on the creation.
"What is that horrible thing?" she gagged, shaking her head in repulsion.
"One of Jeremy's bright ideas," Odd hissed.
"Right now, X.A.N.A's an ally, and our only enemy is the marabounta," Jade said sharply, her near death experience's unbridled fear finally releasing her, and allowing her to focus. Yumi blinked, trying to clear her vision, if it had been wrong. Lyoko Warriors fighting alongside X.A.N.A's monsters.
"The world has turned upside down," she mumbled, before taking position between to Kankrelats to fill a hole it the wall of bodies' defense. Above, Jeremy struggle to regain control of his creation.
"How are you doing up there, Jeremy?" Aelita asked.
"I'll never make it in time, I'm such an idiot!" Jeremy moaned, slamming his fists on the armrests of his master chair. "I never even considered that your virus could be a…" Jeremy blinked at the idea forming in his head. "Your virus…what if…" he typed in some inquisitive strokes, and a victorious grin broke across his face. "This ought to work!"
"Jeremy, move it, things are getting out of hand," Yumi growled, the area that her knife sharp fans just cleared being filled once again with marabounta.
"I'm working on it," Jeremy sang nervously from above. To Odd's left, a pair of sticky tendrils shot from the forefront of the marabounta, wrapping around two Kankrelats, and dragging them to a silent end. "I think I've found a way to destroy the marabounta!" Jeremy finally declared from the sky. "Jade, I've inserted a code for a deadly virus into one of your arrows. If you hit a sphere with it, the whole colony will be infected!"
Jade immediately took aim at the massing black lake before her ready to finish the nightmare. "Wait!" Jeremy cried.
"What for?" Jade hissed.
"It'll only work if you hit the first sphere!" Jeremy warned. "The one that I transferred to Lyoko that created all the others. It's at the heart of the marabounta."
"Great, so how is she supposed to reach the heart of the marabounta? On a camel's back?" Odd snorted short temperedly. A whirring of cogs brought the four Lyoko Warrior's gazes to a Krab, who had tilted it's hood in a greeting and bow towards Jade.
"It's the only way," Yumi said encouragingly. Jade leapt lithely onto the beasts back and wobbled slightly when it righted itself to its full height once more.
"Be careful," Aelita called from several feet below.
"Well, here we go!" Jade said to herself after a steadying breath. The Krab she rode charged into the oily lake, it's long legs covering a lot of ground quickly. As it lurched and struggled against the masses marabounta that was scaling its legs, Jade wondered how long it could keep going.
Aelita's scream of pain and fear caused Yumi to turn around rapidly. A tendril of marabounta was spiraling up Aelita's leg, trying to drag her into the main body of it's destruction. Yumi sprinted the short distance and hacked at the marabounta with her fans, slicing away the death grip that was burning Aelita's leg. The moment she was free, Aelita hobbled away quickly, and rubbed at her ankle soothingly, trying to forget the icy hold of the marabounta that burned her skin.
The marabounta slid up Yumi's body, coating her in a thick layer. The chilling burn of the marabounta's caress reminded her of what frostbite must feel like. Her outlined form slowly melted into the rest of the marabounta, and a bright light without concussion told Odd and Aelita she had been devirtualized.
The quiet chittering of someone being virtualized sounded above them, and Odd and Aelita looked up in time to see Ulrich drop from the sky and join the fray. "Nice of you to finally show up," Odd huffed as he shot again at the marabounta. Ulrich smiled apologetically at his friend, before viciously hacking at the approaching enemy line.
The Krab Jade rode was no longer lopingg at a steady pace, but was now crawling and lurching forward, trying to fight through the marabounta scaling it's legs.
"Jeremy, I think I see it," Jade breathed. Several yards ahead, a single orb floated above the others, periodically spitting out another cluster of marabounta.
"You've only got one shot." Jeremy warned. The Krab stopped moving forward, the marabounta finally overpowering it. It slowly sunk into the ground, the full body of the marabounta getting closer and closer to Jade. Her panic rose in her throat as she saw the black watery levels approach her. She breathed deeply, her right arm extended, her left paw holding her aim steady.
An icy cold tickle at her ankle caused her to scream in panic as she shot her Laser Arrow, the Krab fully disappearing beneath her.
An explosion of brilliant yellow and orange light blinded her, forcing her to squeeze her eyes shut against the brilliance. The entire world seemed to rock with the concussion, and Jade wondered if the force would obliterate Lyoko itself.
When the world stopped shaking, Aelita opened her eyes to a sight of relief. Nowhere around her was an oily sphere slinking towards her. The remaining Krab, Kankrelat, Blok, and Tarantula from the battle were lined up in front of her, their intense gazes locked on her.
"Be careful, Aelita," Ulrich warned, his blade still drawn. Odd raised her arm threateningly as well, aiming at the Blok's large Eye.
"Ulrich's right," Jeremy said from above as well. "X.A.N.A is still our biggest enemy and threat." Nothing moved in the entire forest sector. Each side appraised each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. After a few tense moments, all the monsters lowered their Eyes to the ground in a deep and respectful bow before skittering off, leaving the three Warriors to stare after them in awe.
Back in the forest of Kadic Academy, the sunshine and singing birds made Aelita think it seemed hardly impossible that such a terrible thing as the marabounta could exist in such a bright world. "Next time you wanna' play at being a mad scientist, clue us in next time, okay?" Odd joked as Yumi finished replacing the man hole cover over the sewer entrance.
"Hey, I really tried to," Jeremy said defensively, holding his hands palm up in surrender, "but you all had better things to do!" Jade rolled her eyes at Jeremy conspicuously, and Jeremy sighed in defeat. "But your right Odd. This time, I was a big zero, from start to finish."
"You found a way out of it Jeremy, that's what counts," Ulrich said comfortingly, throwing his arm around the slender boy's shoulders to try and reassure him. The young adults began walking back to the main grounds of campus, laughing and joking about their time on Lyoko as they exited the tree line. Sissy sat on a nearby bench, reading a magazine, and saw the strange group coming her way.
"Well, if it just isn't the whole weird crew," Sissy said loudly in a mocking tone.
"Well, if it isn't the brainless frog face," Odd shot back without a misstep.
"Ha, ha, ha, you crack me up," she snapped, crumpling her magazine and shooting to her feet. "By the way, Ulrich, are you feeling better after what happened at the pool?" She added, a snide smirk playing on her full lips.
"Cool it, Sissy," Ulrich growled, walking a little faster. When they were out of ear shot, Jeremy asked about what happened at the pool, to which Ulrich avoided the question.
"Come on, Ulrich, what happened at the pool?" Odd asked when a direct answer was evaded.
"NOTHING," Yumi and Ulrich shouted insistently, stalking up the stairs together in synch. Jade and Jeremy blinked at their backs in surprise, confused about their defensive tone.