Code Lyoko: The Ultimate Journey

by Master Doom Maker

One month has passed since the Lyoko warriors have defeated the super virus, Xana. They thought their lives were finally getting back to normal, but Xana has returned in a way they've never expected. The gang has now become involved in a whole new adventure like no other with new allies to join in their battles against their longtime enemy.

34. ANOTHER PATH TO TRAVEL

CHAPTER 34: ANOTHER PATH TO TRAVEL

The gang quickly made their way back to the safe house and entered the building to see Aelita talking and laughing with Guardian Warrior, or better known as GW. They all got in, happy to see they're ethereal friend.

"Hey GW, when did you get here?" Odd called out to him.

"Ah, hello there young warriors, I am glad to see you all again." GW smiled to them as he got up to greet them. "Aelita and me were just talking about the events that have happened to you all in the last few weeks."

"Did she tell you how I kicked Xana's ass all over the place?" Knulgen asks smugly.

Aracane approached him from behind and gave Knulgen a hard shove. "You didn't kill Xana alone." Aracane said to him as Knulgen turned around angrily. "We all managed to inflict damage on him, but when Xana connected to his new body, it was Aelita that defeated him."

"We may have defeated Xana, but he's still alive." Yumi reminded them. "And he's out there somewhere, and we have no way of finding him."

"She's got a point." Ulrich said as he walked up beside her. "Xana could come back anytime now, and we wont know how to find him." Ulrich added.

GW stood there for a moment and thought over what they said until he spoke. "I always knew that Xana would not be finished after you all defeated him. Xana will return indeed, but he will not be so eager to attack you all head on."

"Really?" Leadonus asked. "I would be wanting to get revenge if I was him. Xana is definitely not the kind of guy to take defeat so casually."

"It is true, Xana does not take defeat well, he will want revenge. Xana is cold and calculating, and will want to try to make an example out of you all." GW said as he gently paced around while talking in a wise tone. "But he will not foolishly charge into fight you all. You have defeated him in the past, but now that you have inflicted harm directly on him, he will think his plans through. He wont admit it, but you all have sent a mortal pain to the being that fancies himself as a god."

"So what your saying is we got Xana running scared? That's freaking awesome." William boasted.

"Hmm, well, it's not that you have him running scared, but Xana will be more cautious when fighting you all again." GW said as he sat back down on the couch.

"What should we do until then? Wait for him to attack another city, or come looking for us again?" Sam asked.

"You still have many things to do. So I suggest when your all done here in this city, it would probably be wise to travel out and explore the lands." GW suggested to them.

"Alright! Road trip guys!" Odd cheered.

"Yeah, road trip!" Miodelus added.

Kairaree laughed at they're excitement. "Hold on you two, we still got to clean ourselves off, then have a celebration on saving the city from disaster." She said to the two bouncing boys.

"Hey GW," Jeremie called to him. "Why don't you stay for the party. It would be nice to have you around."

GW smiled at his request. "I thank you for the offer, but I have to decline. There are things I need to attend to right now, but if you have more parties in the future, I would be more then happy to try and stop by if I could." He said as he got from the couch. "But by all means, enjoy your victory party, you all earned it. I will be going now."

"Take care GW, we'll see you later." Jack said while waving to him.

GW nodded to them as he walked away, and in a flash of light he was gone from their sights. GW's departure was considerably good timing, because Markus walked into the safe house only moments later.

"You guys did it!" He said with a smile as he closed the door. "You all stopped Calroc before he blew up the floodgates and destroyed the city. So where is that bastard? Did you all kill him?" He asked.

Z walked up to tell Markus what happened. "We managed to track down his hideout and eventually disarm the bombs before they blew. We then fought him and knocked him into a drainage pool and flushed him down. He may be dead, but I doubt it. We'll just have to wait and see if he emerges again." Z explained to his former master.

"He may have limped away, but the most important thing is you stopped him from destroying the city. That's far more then anyone could do, even for adults." Markus said as he praised the gang.

As they talked, Jeremie went to the kitchen area with Aelita as he told her about the little party. "We'll worry about Calroc later guys. You all just get cleaned up again and we will start fixing food for the party." Jeremie said to them.

"Yes, please do. This is twice in one day you all smell like you took a dip in the sewers." Aelita giggled as the others nodded and went to shower up.

After awhile the gang was cleaned off along with Alpha hosing himself down outside, the gang was ready for their celebration. They all pitched in with making the dishes and getting drinks from the fridge, and even Knulgen sneaked a few of the beers and drank them quick. After awhile the gang settled down and sat at tables and couches eating. Despite the place being a safe house, it was well stocked with surprisingly good food. After awhile, the earth members of the gang told their new friends more about earth, and Markus and Z told the gang a little more about their missions.

Kairaree wanted to ask when and how Z lost his arm and leg, but she would ask him in time when it was appropriate. The night finally came in as the gang began to clean up. Knulgen and Aracane almost got in a fist fight when they argued about who should help do the dishes.

Finally after the gang was done cleaning up and putting away the dishes, and some of the pans, the gang settled in for the night. The day had been long and difficult for them. They fought Xana only a little pasted midnight, then fought him in his new body, then flew to the city with only a few hours of rest. Then found out about a so called sewer monster, only to find out that it was a deformed lizargian named Calroc, and barely prevented him from flooding the city to rob it of it's money and jewelry.

Tomorrow the gang will start out on a new path and look for any possible leads on Xana. But first the gang had a earned a long goodnights rest.

DAY 21

The morning came, and the gang was quick to wake up and get started. They all made themselves breakfast of eggs, cereal, bacon, and toast, and even Miodelus managed to make waffles. Markus was away, and didn't even leave a note for them, but they knew he probably had something important to do.

As the gang ate their breakfast, Z got up from his seat to speak to them. "Alright guys, now that we got this city hopefully

secured, where do you all think we should head to?" He asked them.

"I could give a shit less." Knulgen said as he poked the food around on his plate.

"Well no one would ask you anyway." Aracane replied to his comment.

"Either way, Z's got a point. Where do you all think we should head to now?" Yumi asked the gang.

The door to the safe house suddenly opened and Markus walked into the room. "Morning there young warriors, how you doing?" Z's former master asked them.

"Well we're doing okay for now, but we can't think of where we should go." Ulrich said to him. "If we had even a slight lead, it would really help us out."

Markus thought to himself for a moment before speaking to them. "You know, I might actually have somewhere you all can go." He said to them.

Jeremie slightly shifted in his chair before he spoke. "Really? Where would that be?" He asked.

"There's a small war going on in a land far from here. It's been going on for a few years now, but it's only just became known to the world." Markus explained to them.

"So what does that have to do with us? And how are we even going to get there?" Eli'ton asked.

"Intel shows that the rebel force has been getting help from an unknown source for quite some time. They say the people who are helping them wear unmarked black armor, just like some of the troops you foug ht on Xana's floating fortress." Markus explained to them.

Odd put his fingers to his chin and thinking out loud. "Strange, why would Xana help some ragtag rebel forces in some far off war?" He wondered.

"Whatever the reason is, it can't be good. We should head there, but how will we even get there?" Leadonus asked him.

"Finish up your breakfast and I will show you all how." Markus said to them with a smile.

The gang quickly finished up and got ready to leave. They gathered their backpacks that some of them carried and Markus then lead them out of the private airport. The black plane that brought them here had long been gone and off to whatever cargo

delivery they needed to do. Alpha put on his mask cloak and the whole gang began to follow Markus. They walked down a sidewalk near the private airport.

After an hour of walking, the gang and Markus saw a small train yard come into view. They walked in completely unhindered by the small amount of workers as Markus took them around a corner and showed them to a train on a track, ready to go.

"Warriors, here is your ride." Markus said to them as he showed them the train. The gangs train was black and looked like a cross between an old fashion and modern train with eight ordinary boxcars connected to the train.

"Alright, we get to ride a train again. And we don't have to pay either." Odd cheered to them.

"So where just going to ride this to the location? What's even in this train to begin with? There's too many boxcars." Yumi asked as she walked up to the train.

Markus showed them the way inside as they all climbed in the back. The first two boxcars were like cargo carriers with sliding doors, but didn't have anything in the except for some random junk and tools. The next four were like any ordinary passenger boxcars. The last two boxcars that Markus showed them was the most important part of the train. The last two boxcars connected to the train engine were filled with many crates meant to be delivered to where the gang was going.

Z walked up to one of the crates and opened it to see many medical supplies and rations. "Is this what we're delivering to that land? Who do we even give this stuff too?" He asked him.

"The crates are filled with medicine and rations for the troops in the land. The place that their defending is a massive open land called Grayvon Valley. The troops that are fighting against the rebel forces is called The Grand Militant. A military for hire that we Zarcanions have a mutual pact with." Markus explained to them.

"So why are we delivering this cargo to them? And where are we suppose to meet them?" Deotalus asked.

"The train has a G.P.S. on it, and the route is already programmed into it. The grand Militant troops, or T.G.M. troops will meet you all at the station where they will be waiting. The cargo is very important, and needs to get there." Markus said as he looked over the cargo one more time.

"I suppose our route is secret, and that is why you have us riding a train like this to get there, right?" Jack asked.

"Yes. Your route should be secret. It's mostly open fields and mountain ranges, cliff areas and some farm lands here and there. So it should be a smooth ride." Markus answered.

"Wait a minute," William suddenly said. "Weren't we suppose to cash in on that photo of Calroc to get the cash reward?"

"No..." Z said to him. "We can't cash in on the photo. The people of Seadrift City don't need to know about him. It's already been in enough trouble, and the last thing they need to know is that their city was almost flooded." Z explained as he pulled out his communicator and deleted the photo of Calroc.

"Looks like the 'mystery of the sewer monster' will just become another urban legend like any other." Sam chuckled.

"Probably for the best. We need to keep a low profile anyway, so Xana doesn't find us before we find him." Ralfaius said as he leaned against a crate.

"Indeed it is." Markus agreed. "I put some guns for you in the train, Z. The guns are in the trains engine room in crates, and there's some food and water bottles in a few coolers in the passenger boxcars if you guys get hungry and thirsty." Markus said as he pointed in the direction of the things.

"How do you even get these things put together so fast? It's almost like you planned for this to happen." Eli'ton asked Markus.

"There's no plan in things like this. We're just really good at working with what we got." Markus answered him. "Now you all must get going, time is of the essence."

"You heard him guys, let's move out. I've always wanted to ride a train anyway." Bel'la said with a smile.

Everyone began to settle in on the train. Z and Alpha went to the engine room to start the train up. True to his word, there was four long crates in the corners of the train. The others just sat in the passenger carts and looked out the windows. As the train got ready to go, Markus stood in the engine room with Z and Alpha as he reached for something in his coat pocket.

"Before I go Z, I want to give you something." Markus said to him as he pulled out a new gun. It was a magnum revolver with a silver color and long barrel with a round cylinder where the bullets go.

Z turned and grabbed the revolver and spun it around in his finger before putting it in a holster under his left arm. "Thanks Markus, this will really do some damage." Z said to him with a smile.

"I suppose you have another mission to deal with after we leave. That is why your not coming with us, correct?" Alpha asked Markus.

"Yeah, I got a new mission from headquarters. I'll fly off to it after you all leave this train sation. So take care all of you." Markus said as he left the engine room. He then said his goodbyes to the others and got off the train and stood on the tram station as the train began to move.

The wheels of the train began to pump, the two stacks blew steam as the train rolled down the tracks. Markus waved to them as some looked out the window to wave back. A blanket of steam blew over him and covered him. A few moments after the steam dissipated, Markus was gone from view, as if he seemed to fade away. But in truth, he just went away very fast. The gang had left Markus yet again, but they knew they would see him again in time as they rode off to a new land.

A few hours passed as the train rode down the tracks. The gang paced around in the train, talked, even played I spy and guessing games as they looked out the windows to take in the view.

"Okay bros, I spy with my eye, something green." Miodelus said to them as he asked another question, which they have been playing for a few hours.

"Hmm...is it the grasslands?" Leadonus asked as he leaned back in his seat, even though he knew the answer.

"Yes it is!" Mio said to him. "Okay, I spy with my eye, something green." He asked again.

"Is it the grasslands again?" Deotalus asked, knowing the answer too.

"You guys are good! How do you know the answers all the time?!" Miodelus asked, not getting the fact that his questions are not at all challenging.

"You know what bro?" Ralfaius said. "Let's just sit here and be quiet."

"Man I wish there was something to watch on this train." Odd said, in an almost whining tone. "With all their resources, they could have put a tv or something in.

"It's all right Odd, We'll be there soon. Just sit back and relax." Said Sam to calm him down.

In the train engine room. Z, Ulrich, Alpha, Jeremie, and Aelita were hanging around as Z looked over the trains navigation on the terminal near that controls the trains speed and direction.

"We still got a lot of hours to go guys. It would probably be near the end of the day before we reach our destination." Z said to them as he looked over navigation system and followed the indicator mark that was their train going down the tracks.

"I better tell the others before they get restless, especially Odd." Ulrich said as he chuckled at the last part and left the room.

Aelita turned to Jeremie as he looked over the train engines power source near the control terminal. "What you looking at Jeremie? Isn't that the trains power engine?" She asked.

"Yeah it is. I just wanted to see the trains power engine." Jeremie answered her as he looked away for a moment. "It's really amazing. It's electric, and it conducts electricity through the tracks and powers the train. This planet is full of amazing things to see and do, and we've only been on this planet for over twenty days." Jeremie said as he went back to looking over the train engine.

"This world has made some major advances in the past few decades." Alpha said. "If this technological advancement keeps at this pace, then deeper space travel might become a possibility in the next few decades."

"That would be pretty amazing to see since we're still so young, we might just see it happen." Z said as he still kept his eyes on the terminal.

Ulrich walked back into the passenger cart where the others were. Aracane and Knulgen were sleeping in their seats. The twins were talking in their native language, and the others were just hanging around. Ulrich looked over and saw Yumi sitting alone in a seat in the far corner. He walked over to her as she looked out the window.

"Hey Yumi, is this seat taken?" Ulrich asked her.

Yumi looked to him for a moment. "No, go ahead and have a seat." She gestured.

Ulrich sat down across from her and looked back out the window. "Well, Z said that we still have a ways to go before we reach the station. So we should just relax and wait."

Yumi slightly shifted in her seat. "Sounds like a plan to me. It's not like we got much to do anyway." She said as she still looked out the window.

"It sure is a nice view out. It's kinda cool to have our own train to ride around in, and I can't wait to see that new land." Ulrich said to her.

"Only to go to another battle. That seems to be all we have in our life now." Yumi replied with a little sadness in her tone.

"I know our life has gotten really hectic in the last few weeks. But we all still got each other, and that's all we need to get through this." Ulrich said to her.

Yumi gave him a warm smile in return to his kindness. "Thanks Ulrich, your right. As long as we stay together, we'll beat Xana and anything he throws at us." She said with confidence.

Ulrich took a deep breath and leaned back in his seat. Hey Yumi," Ulrich said to catch her attention.

Yumi looked back over to him again. "Yes Ulrich."

"Listen, there's something I've been wanting to tell since before we left earth." Ulrich began as he shifted forward in his seat. "You see, I've been wanting to say-"

Shatter!

The glass window between the two was shattered into many pieces as the they ducked down while glass shards hit the floor and the wind whipped into the boxcar.

"What the hell was that?!" William shouted as the others instantly noticed what happened.

Ulrich and Yumi got up from their seats and looked out the window to see nothing but the passing lands.

"Yumi, are you all right?" Ulrich asked as he patted some of the glass shards off his back and shoulders.

"I'm fine." She replied. "But what was that? What shattered the glass?" She wondered as the two looked out the window.

"What's going on in there? Who broke a window?" Z said, his voice coming in through the intercom above the passenger door.

Everyone was looking out the windows to see what was out there, but they couldn't see anything. Suddenly they heard the sound of an engine roaring and saw a dune buggy like vehicle with a roll cage in the back speeding towards them. The dune buggy had six men riding in it. One driving, one in the passenger seat, and four in the back. They were hooting and hollering while the buggy speed towards the gangs train.

They wore strange random parts of armor and clothing, and they all had some form of facial cover like helmets and goggles, and even the driver had a bandana over his mouth to go with the goggles. The buggy got close to the train as the men continued to holler at them, one of the raiders in the back picked up a hunting rifle with scope and aimed at the gang.

The gang in the boxcar ducked down as the raider fired away. Several of the windows were shot out as they covered themselves from the flying glass.

"Z! We're under attack. There's some kind of raiders outside shooting at us." Kairaree called to the intercom over the door.

Back in the train engine, Z was locking the trains speed in and went to the metal crates holding the guns. He opened one case and found a long range assault rifle with ammo that goes into the back of the gun.

"Jeremie, Aelita. Stay in here. I'm going to the boxcars and help the others." Z said to them as he loaded up on a few clips. "Alpha, are you coming?"

"Affirmative." Alpha replied as he took off his mask cloak and followed Z as Jeremie and Aelita agreed to stay in the train engine room.

The two made it to the others boxcar to hear the sound of gunfire and crazy yelling as the gang stayed down. They hid in the doors big threshold. Z ducked down and crawled to where the others were as more shots were being fired overhead. He crawled to them with his gun ready.

"Z, I thought you said this route was a secret? Why are these bastards here after us?" Knulgen shouted over the gunshots.

"Leave him alone Knulgen." Aracane warned him. "It's not Z's fault. Someone must have tipped whoever these people are off. So just shut it."

"Who could these people possibly be? Do you think they could be the rebels Markus was talking about?" Kairaree asked him.

"It's a possibility it could be the rebels." Z answered as he peeked over a window to look for a moment before ducking back down. "I don't know how they found us, but I know how their going to leave." Z said as he took a deep breath.

Z went into a meditative state as he listened to the sounds of gunfire and engine roar. He waited for the shooter to run out of ammo and reload. As the man reloaded, Z sprang up from his position and thanks to his years of training, he spotted the driver and pulled the trigger of his rifle and sent a burst of bullets flying. The bullets flew through the air and hit their mark which was the driver. Two of the bullets hit the man in the head and the last three struck the passenger as the buggy swerved out of control and flipped due to the high speed they were going. The men flew out of the buggy and were fatally injured, or killed on impact and the buggy exploded in a fiery blast as pieces flew through the air.

The gang cheered for Z as kairaree quickly hugged him, which made him slightly blushed.

"You did it, Z! You took those men out with only a few rounds." kairaree praised him.

"It was nothing. It was simply a matter of waiting for an opening and taking action." Z replied so he could make his blushing go away.

As the gang cheered, Miodelus looked out the window to see a troubling sight. "Uhhh, guys, we got a problem." He called to them.

The others looked out the windows to see what Mio was pointing to. The sound of many engines roaring was heard as they looked to see several buggies of different kinds racing towards the train. Most of them were like the one that was casing them a few minutes ago while the others looked more advanced. A few had six wheels and a longer bed for more men to carry, and while another was bigger then the rest, and had a cowcatcher welded to the front of it. That one seemed to be the lead buggy since it was bigger then the rest.

The strange raiders in the buggies surrounded the train from behind as they got closer to the train. They carried all kinds of makeshift weapons, like buzz saws on a pipe, chains with spike balls, and various other weapons made from tools. The strange buggies got closer as the raiders got more wild and ready to attack.

"Guys spread out into the other carts." Z ordered them. "We can't let them take the train and it's supplies. Protect at all cost!"

"I'm not laying down my life for a bunch of crates." Knulgen said as he crossed his arms.

"What's the matter Knulgen? Afraid to fight them off on a train?" Aracane challenged him, knowing how to get him fighting.

"Screw you! I'll kill all those bitches by myself." Knulgen replied as he drew his sword. Once again he fell for Aracane's trick.

"Looks like we got many more to deal with Yumi." Ulrich said to her as he drew his sabers.

"We always do Ulrich. We always do." Yumi replied as she drew her tanto and fan-blade.

The gang began to spread out into the other boxcars as the dune buggies got closer. Aracane, Knulgen, and Jack went to the back cart. The four Surfane brothers went to the seventh cargo cart. The twins went to the first passenger cart connected to the cargo carts. Z and Kairaree went to the next passenger cart. Ulrich and Yumi went to the third cart. William, Sam, Alpha, and Odd stayed in the last passenger cart connected to the carts that held the important cargo they needed to deliver.

The battle was on as the many buggies got close to the train. A buggy at the very back got close enough for a raider to jump on. His whole face was covered, but he was most likely a molnuck. The raider opened the back door and walked in the cargo tram.

"Welcome aboard!" Aracane said to the raider, catching his attention. "Let me punch your ticket!" He shouted and punched the man right in his masked face. The force of Aracane's fist sent the man staggering back and over the rail and off the train and rolling down the tracks.

His victory was short lived as more raiders hopped on and even opened the side doors by shooting off the locks with shotguns.

"Alright!" Knulgen said with a wide grin. The raiders hopped in the cargo cart as the three went to battle. "Time to kick some ass guys."

"Stay focused Knulgen. These people mean business." Jack reminded him as he held his sword, the Excalion high, ready to battle.

The three made quick work of the raiders as they fell to the three warriors weapons. Aracane sliced down a raider with his axe before grabbing another one and slamming him into the cargo wall. Knulgen was going at his wild pace as he cut down the raiders that boarded. Jack kicked a raider out of the cart just as he jumped on. But the best part of it was that the raider fell and landed on the driver of the buggy that the raider jumped from and caused it to swerve out of control and crashed into another buggy and sent the two buggies crashing into a burst of flames.

The raiders on the cart were gone or dead and the three won the fight. But from the end of the cart they saw the large buggy with the cowcatcher was on the tracks and gaining speed. The buggy slammed into the back hard and made the three hit the floor. The buggy charged again as it's engine roared and burst with it's powerful fuel burning out of the tall stacks before hitting the back of the train again.

As the buggy rammed the train, the others felt the shake as Leadonus walked in to see what was causing the shaking.

"What's going on? Why is the train shaking?" Leadonus asked as he clutched his scythes handle.

"These guys are ramming into the back of the train. But we don't know why." Jack said to him as he held on a rail as another ram was felt.

Suddenly a screeching sound was heard and they now knew what was happening. The buggy damaged the carts wheels and caused the boxcar to loose traction on the tracks and causing it to shake.

"Everybody out of this boxcar now!" Aracane shouted as they got up and ran while trying to keep their balance.

They ran out of the cargo cart and jumped into the next through the opening. Leadonus looked down to the connection locks and noticed they needed to be disengaged.

"Guys, help me unlock this cargo cart before it drags us down!" Leadonus called to them as he went to the locking wheel on the side of the other boxcar and began to spin it.

The locks got looser, but the cargo cart was shaking and the wheels were sparking on the tracks. Finally the locks were undone, but the chains and cables kept it still attached. Aracane and Knulgen quickly lopped at the chains and finally unhooked and cut off the cargo cart and sent it rolling and crashing off the tracks. They were now down seven carts.

They all headed back into the second cargo cart to find the other three Surfane brothers fighting off raiders. One raider took a stab at Ralfaius, but was quickly countered with his sais and made a deadly stab. Another raider with a club attacked Deotalus, but the smart brother quickly countered with the end of his trident before flipping it up and stabbing the raider in the chest with the head. Miodelus twirled his three-section-staff with the hidden blades pointing out the ends. Two raiders attacked him with axes. One raider with a mohawk built into the helmet was struck across the face while Mio grabbed the other end of his weapon and stabbed the other raider with a bandana over his face in the chest and ended him quick.

The three finished off the raiders quick as the other four from the last boxcar joined up with them.

"Great job bros. You finished those guys off nice and quick." Leadonus said to them as his brothers kicked the dead raiders out of the cargo cart.

"I think our victory is short lived!" Deotalus said as he pointed out the cargo door.

The others looked to see a buggy speeding towards them with a man in the back holding a rocket launcher!

"Is that a rocket launcher?" Miodelus asked. "Guys! They got a rocket launcher guys, and their going to fire!"

"Really Mio? Their really going to fire a rocket launcher at us?" Ralfaius asked with a heavy sarcastic tone.

"Really!" Mio replied while not getting his brothers sarcastic comment.

The raider aimed and fired at the boxcar and hit the side with a thunderous blast that blew off some of the wheels in the back, making the boxcar wobble even worse then the last one. The guys in the cart wasted no time and hopped out onto the passenger boxcar. Jack turned and raised his sword high as the blade glowed white, and the red eye shined. He swung the blade down and cut the locks, making the severed parts red hot from melting metal as the last cargo cart flipped off the tracks.

The seven ran into the passenger cart where the twins were. They took a moment to catch their breath after jumping off another cart. The twins ran up to them with concern on what caused the explosion they heard.

"Guys, what was that explosion?" Bel'la asked them.

"We got a maniac with a rocket launcher chasing after us." Aracane answered her.

Eli'ton looked out the window and saw the buggy coming. "Don't look now, but our rocket happy friend is getting closer!" He called to them as he made his helmet unfold onto his face.

The buggy speed towards them as the rocket launcher man was loading another one at the end of the launcher. Z ran into the room without a word and pulled out his new revolver. The raider with the rocket launcher was done loading and aimed it at their cart, ready to fire.

Z broke the window with his gun and aimed out. "Time to see what this magnum can do." Z said as he cocked the hammer.

The target was a few meters from them and moving around erratically on the uneven terrain. Z took a long breath and concentrated on his shot. He lined his shot and pulled the trigger. The large bullet flew through the air and hit the driver right between the eyes and caused the buggy to swerve and the man with the rocket launcher fell back into the buggy and accidently pull the trigger and made the rocket fire off and hit into a long buggy, carrying many raiders. Another two buggies were down, but there was still many more to deal with.

The gang spread out more into the passenger boxcars. Z went back into the train engine and opened the cases. He pulled out a lever action shotgun, four new handguns with long clips, a hunting rifle of his own, a strap of grenades, and finally took as much ammo he could carry from a crate with only ammo in it.

As Z finished loading up on his new guns, he looked over to the case that he didn't open. "Hmm, I wonder what's in that case?" Z said to himself and went over to it. He flipped the latches and looked into the crate. A wide smile came across his face for seeing the new weapon. "Oh yes, I'll save this for later." he said with joy as he closed the case.

"What's in the case Z?" Aelita asked him.

"Let's just say it will give us an advantage if things get worse out there." Z answered her as he cocked his assault rifle.

"Oh, and things aren't already worse out there with these crazed raiders attacking us?" Jeremie asked in a sarcastic tone.

Z walked to the door as he got ready to leave. "Just keep the train at this speed, and turn the intercom system to open mic, so we can all talk to each other. Since all we got left is the four passenger carts and the carts with the cargo in it." Z instructed him as he then left the room and closed the door behind him. Z crossed over to the cargo filled carts and then into the second passenger cart where some of the others were.

Everyone was on edge, because they knew from experience that it is never this easy. They looked out the windows to keep an eye out for the raiders. They entered a new area that was mostly grassland on the right side, but a tall and long cliff on the left side that stretched for miles.

The sound of engines roaring was heard as they saw five big buggies riding a few meters from the train riding in a straight line from forward to back. The drivers had armored doors on their side, preventing bullets hitting them, and even armor flaps over the wheels. In the back of the buggy looked like some kind of harness system to attach something to it with raiders in the back waiting for something.

"What the hell are these assholes up to now?" Z said as he prepared for their attack.

As if to answer his question, they heard more engine roars, but it was coming from the cliffs above them. They looked up to see five more of the same kind of buggies like the five at their trains level, driving in a straight line. The gang noticed that the buggies at the top had a lot of men in each of them. In each buggy, a raider picked up a strange harpoon like device and mounted the weapon.

"What are those things? Some kind of machine guns?" Ulrich asked the others.

The raiders from the five buggies fired the guns and five hooks with cables flew through the air and landed in the backs of the buggies, clattering to the floors as the raiders in each buggy grabbed the hooks and attached them to the harnesses on the roll cages.

"They missed us? How?" Miodelus wondered.

"They didn't miss." Alpha said to him and the others. "They weren't aiming at us to begin with."

The raiders at the top wound up the cables until they were pulled taut. Five long lines were over the gang and their train as the raiders at the top attached a line harness and slide down the cables, hooting and hollering as they waved their weapons. They landed on the roofs of the passenger carts with a hard thud. There was at least over three dozen of them carrying melee style weapons, and some with assault rifles and shotguns.

A few of the raiders pointed down to the boxcars and opened fire. The bullets punched through the roofs and into the floors of all four passenger carts as the gang ran around and out of the bullets path, except for Alpha, since his metal body was unaffected by the gunfire. The raiders cheered and hollered until finally they were finally out of ammo and began to reload. Z took the opportunity and raised his right arm with the assault rifle in hand, and his left arm folding open to reveal his arm gun and opened fire into the roof above. His bullets burst through the top and hit some of the men on top of his boxcar and the slain raiders fell off the roof and rolled onto the ground and tracks.

Alpha followed suit and blasted away with his laser guns and burned through the roof with ease, both taking out and terrifying the raiders with the strange beams of burning light.

The raiders began to climb down the ladders and onto the small decks where the train carts would connect. They smashed the windows and broke down the doors and poured into the carts. The boxcar rumble began as the gang and the raiders fought in the cramped carts.

A raider took a charge at Odd, but he quickly leaped onto the top part of the rows of seats and began to pounce from seat to seat as the raiders took swings at him with their melee weapons of pipes, machetes, and various other type of makeshift weapons. He unsheathed his claws and sliced down a raider in one swing. Another raider tried to strike Odd down from behind, but Sam took the raider down with her bladed tonfa before the man killed him. Odd gave her a quick smile before the two went back to fighting.

In another cart, Aracane, Knulgen, William, and Jack were fighting their own pack of raiders. Knulgen was using the seats to get around like Odd was doing. He swung his sword like a madman while William and Jack fought back to back as raiders attacked them. Aracane grabbed a raider by the neck and tossed him out the window with ease before fighting off another group.

More raiders slide down the lines to the end passenger cart as Alpha took noticed to this. He calculated a plan and began to head towards the back. He passed the gang with ease, or struck any raider in the face with his fist and either knocking them out cold, or killing them in one powerful blow. Alpha reached the back of the boxcar and went outside and onto the deck.

Alpha saw Ulrich, Yumi, Kairaree fighting off the pack of raiders that landed on the roof and started forcing the three to back up towards the other cart. "Ulrich, Yumi, Kairaree. Make your way over to the next cart now!" Alpha called to them.

The three turned around and ran towards the end of the cart they were in and made it to the deck and jumped over. The raiders weren't far behind them before Alpha unfolded one of his laser guns from his arm and blasted at the raiders who ducked down from the lasers that tore through the windows and seats of the end boxcar. As the raiders were distracted, Alpha kneeled down and grabbed the clamps holding the train and crushed the locks with his hand with incredible ease.

The sound of metal crushing and bending was heard as the boxcar with the raiders inside shook while Alpha slowly got back up onto his metal feet as the end of the passenger boxcar scraped against the tracks and the raiders rolled down or held onto the seats. Alpha had the twisted clamp at chest level as Ulrich, Yumi, and Kairaree looked in wonder of their robot friends massive strength. As some of the raiders crawled to the top of the boxcar, Alpha gave the raiders a mocking wave with his free hand and in one push, flipped the boxcar as he let it go, making the passenger cart flipped over and off the tracks, ending the raiders for good as the gang was once again down another boxcar, leaving only three passenger carts and the two with the precious cargo near the train engine.

The gang was done with the raiders that landed on the train, but the raiders still kept the cables hung over them. The gang either looked to the raiders driving beside them on the right, or looked up to the raiders on the cliff.

"What are these guys up to now?" Z said out loud to his friends as he looked out the window.

"Hey guys! Those raiders on the right are heading towards us!" Said Leadonus, as pointed outside.

The raiders on the right speed towards them with the raiders taking the hooks off the harness. As they got close enough, they threw the hooks onto the passenger carts. The hooks caught into the two carts near the cargo carts and the gang realized what they were doing. The raiders were trying to derail the train from the tracks by pulling it over.

Z quickly took his hunting rifle and fired a shot at the front driver while Odd drew his bow and fired an arrow at another driver through the neck as Alpha open fire with his laser guns at another buggy, tearing it to pieces and punching big holes in it before it flipped and crashed. One buggy got close beside them with two raiders trying to jump on as Z quickly pulled out his lever-action shotgun and busted out the window and fired two quick blasts at them and then shot the driver as the buggy swerved and flipped. Finally Z took a grenade and pulled the pin and threw it into the driver seat of the last cart. The driver tried to get it out while keeping the buggy steady, but as soon as the raider grabbed it, the grenade exploded and sent the buggy flipping.

The raiders on the right were gone, but they suddenly felt the raiders on top of the cliff slowing down to pull the train over. The wheels scraped and sparked against the tracks as they held on, unable to stop them since the lines were pulled tight and the hooks were on the outside of the boxcar.

The gang thought they were done as they got ready to be flipped over, but suddenly the raiders loosened up and the train stopped struggling against the tracks.

"What? Now they don't want to flip us?" Odd asked them as he looked out the window.

"Look down and you will see why." Yumi said to him, pointing down.

Odd and the others looked to see that they were no longer on solid ground, but on a track bridge high up in the air with a long and very wide cliff, many feet up in the air. The raiders were still attached to them, but stopped trying to pull the train over, due to the fact that if they derailed the train, then the cargo would be lost.

"Guys, we need to take advantage of this now." Z said to them. "Go out and grab the hooks and bring them to the last boxcar before we reach the end of this track bridge." he instructed as he went to the door and climbed up the ladder.

Four of the others wasted no time as they too went outside and climbed the ladders. They all carefully crawled on the roof and towards the hooks. Odd crawled to one hook on the side of the roof and pulled it out while Ulrich did the same. Not far from them Aracane pulled out a hook with ease. Ralfaius finally managed to take his hook out while Z pulled his hook out of the roof with ease too, thanks to his left arm.

Z waved for the others to follow him as they ran down the roofs until they reached the last cart and jumped to the deck, one by one while still holding the hooks.

"So what's the plan Z? What are we going to do with these hooks?" Ralfaius asked him.

Z wrapped the cable around the deck rail and locked the hook in place. "Easy, we're gonna give them a one-way ticket to the bottom of the canyon below us." Z explained to them.

"So we're going to loose yet another boxcar just to get rid of these guys?" Ulrich asked as he began to wrap his hook around the deck rail.

"We don't have much of a choice buddy." Said Odd as he too began to wrap his hook around the deck rail.

The other two did the same and the deck rail finally had all five hooks tied on. The others in the boxcar quickly got out and into the last two passenger boxcars as Alpha came out to where the five of them were, knowing their plan.

"Alpha, flip this cart off the tracks when your good and ready." Said Aracane with a smile as the five backed away and into the passenger cart with the others.

Alpha nodded and turned to the connecting locks and blasted the locks until it broke free and the passenger cart began to slide away from them. Alpha reached out and grabbed the rails of the boxcar and pulled it towards him as he held onto the other rail while keeping a firm grip on the hooked boxcar and began to lift the boxcar and flipped it off the tracks with barely any effort. The raiders at the top were too late to notice what the gang was doing as the boxcar fell off on the left side of the tracks and the cables tighten from the pull of the boxcar as the buggies were pulled off the cliff with the raiders flying out and down into the canyon below them.

A loud explosion was heard as the buggies exploded, and they were finally rid of the pack of raiders. The gang cheered again as the train finally got back onto ground level and back into open fields. Their destination was still far from them, but they hoped to be in the clear from the raiders. They all regrouped into a signal boxcar to discuss what to do next as they cleared out any dead raiders off the train.

"Well guys, where ever we seem to go, assholes follow us." Knulgen said as he leaned back into a seat.

"We do deal with a lot of trouble, but we can't let that get us down guys." William said to them.

"All that matters is, that we are safe, and so is the cargo. We won against those raider trash." Z said as he checked over his ammo and guns.

"I think we should go check on Jeremie and Aelita. I'm sure they would want to know if we're safe or not." Yumi said to them as she turned to the door.

"Good idea, let's-" Ulrich never finished talking, for they were all knocked to the ground as the back of the train was struck by something.

They got up and grabbed what they could and looked out the window to see the buggy with the cowcatcher again. The buggy speed up again and rammed the passenger cart again that shook the cart. The buggy kept slowing down and speeding up again with incredible force that broke off some of the back part of the passenger cart and creating an opening and giving them a better look of the buggy. The front was very wide, and had a lot of heavy armor covering it. Z took out one of his disposable handguns and fired at it, but the bullets only bounced off it as Z went through the other three guns.

With the bullets ineffective, the buggy used the boosters and rammed the cart harder. The gang filed out of the passenger cart one by one as the buggy rammed again and the cart began to squeal on the tracks. Alpha quickly blasted the locks with a charged shot from his laser gun as Ulrich was the last to jump over as Yumi caught his hand and pulled him onto the cart just as the passenger cart flipped off the tracks and the buggy speeding towards them. The gang ran to the back end of the last passenger cart as the buggy began to ram again.

"They're going to keep ramming us until all the carts are off the tracks with us all dead." Leadonus said as he braced from another ram.

"It's a crazy plan. Since the crates are made of metal and reinforced, they would survive the crash, and we would be out of the picture." Deotalus added.

"I know how we can end this." Z said as he ran for the door.

"What the hell are you talking about?! What are we suppose to do?!" Knulgen shouted to him as they got rammed again.

"Just hold on and I will be back. Get in the next cart if this thing starts to go." Z replied as he left. Z ran down the cargo carts with blinding speed and ran into the engine room and went to the weapons crate he opened awhile ago.

"Z? What are you doing in here? What's hitting us?" Aelita asked him as Z looked through the crate.

"It's a buggy with a ramming part attached to it." Z answered her. "It's covered in armor, but I know just the thing to even the odds." Z said as he pulled out a new weapon from the crate. It was a missile launcher with a long five shot missile clip. Z loaded the missile clip into the top part. "Time to end this." Z said to himself as he left the room.

"Looks like we're gonna need to cover our ears Aelita." Jeremie said to her as he went back to monitoring the trains speed and direction.

Z ran through the cargo cart and back into the passenger cart that was thankfully still there, but the others were holding on. They then noticed Z's missile launcher.

"Where did you get that thing Z?" Kairaree asked him with surprise.

"It was in one of the crates. Markus must have put it there in case of an emergency. And what better of an emergency then this?" Z answered her.

"Just don't blow us up with the buggy." Said Odd as he held on from another ram.

Z held onto the seats with one hand as the buggy kept ramming the back of the passenger cart. Some of the back broke off and made an opening like the last cart, which would actually work to his advantage by giving him a clear shot. Z got on one knee and held the launcher up and pushed a button that made a targeting screen flip out and looked through it with his right eye.

The buggy began to back up to prepare for another ram as Z lined up a shot at the square bulletproof window. The buggy blasted the turbo boost and speed towards them for another ram. Z pulled the trigger and a blast of smoke came out the back and launched a missile out the barrel. The missile flew through the air and burst into the window and followed by an explosion that sent the whole big buggy bursting in flames and ending the raider assault on them for good.

Z got up from his kneeling position and lowered the launcher as the others cheered again, this time their victory was true. The raiders were gone and the cargo was safe and secure. The passenger cart was banged up, but still stable enough to ride in.

An hour and a half passed as the gang finally came up to their destination as the train station finally came into view with a few people standing at the loading bay waiting for them. The battle was long and arduous for them, but they managed to beat the rampaging raiders and get to their destination with the cargo and themselves in one piece.

The train began to slow down, and the gang will help unload and give the supplies to the Grand Militant army that is waiting for them. The gang have finished yet another battle, and will soon be joining in a new battle, and hope to discover if Xana's men are supporting the rebel forces, and uncover why?

END CHAPTER.