The Seventh Lyoko Warrior

Part XLIV: Underwater Tower

This is the 50th entry of The Seventh Lyoko Warrior, please show some love and send some reviews. I feel pretty good about this chapter so I'm gonna put another review goal and hope it gets met again because you guys are awesome. How about 350? Is that a little much?

The Xanafied police officers stood in front of Michael, blocking his path as they watched him menacingly. They hadn't moved from their spot but Michael was nervous about what they were doing. Xana knows that Michael's strong but it was strange to see them just standing there staring at him. He didn't know what to think but he had to go to Lyoko.

"You and I both know that these guys can't stop me," Michael said to Xana through them. But at the same time, both officers drew their pistols and aimed them at Michael's head.

"You can take a few punches but what about this?" both guards said as they cocked the hammers on their guns back while keeping their sights trained on him. Michael, in a state of panic, dived to the ground just as both officers opened fire on him. Hearing the shots, Michael was now in a very bad situation since he didn't have any cover.

Thinking on his feet, he threw both hands out as black flames shot out of his palms like a flamethrower. He managed to catch their sleeves on fire just in time as they stopped firing to put the flames out. Distracted for a moment, Michael jumped to his feet and darted towards the exit. The officers both managed to put out the flames but didn't have enough time to react when Michael got between them. Using his strength, he pushed them, sending them both flying into the side walls. He bolted out the door while the officers turned static-like from the impact.

Michael bolted out of the Wreck Room and made his way towards the factory. He didn't want to waste time so he really started to run. He made it out of the school just in time as lights inside the school turned on. Jim and Suzanne were the first to walk out the front door and notice the officers leaving the Wreck Room in pursuit of Michael.

Michael managed to get into the woods without any sign of the officers. He sighed in relief until a shot hitting a tree made him jumpy. Thanks to Xana the officers were running faster in hot pursuit. Firing their pistols off trying to hit him as the three were locked into a chase. Halfway through the woods however Michael's left shoulder was nicked as he started to run as fast as he could.

Michael made it to the manhole cover and started to pull it when a random bullet hit the edge of the cover and ricochet off. His eyes were wide in fear before he jumped into the sewer not caring about the ladder. He hit the ground hard and made his ways towards the factory. But both officers did the same thing that he did by jumping down and were in hot pursuit again.

Michael heard the shots ringing through the sewer tunnels when he turned his head and saw the officers still pursuing him. He was halfway towards the ladder when another shot hit one of the steam pipes beside him causing a jet of hot steam to push out with a loud hiss. Michael made it through unscathed but both officers were slowed down because they had to crawl under the jet of steam. Feeling a small sense of triumph, Michael pushed himself to keep on going.

When he made it to the latter the guards were nowhere in sight. He climbed the ladder while occasionally looked back at the sewer tunnel to see if he could spot them. He listened closely but there wasn't any sounds of footprints so they must have turned back. Not wanting to waste time; Michael climbed the latter and exited through the sliding hatch and made his way across the bridge. Little did he know, there's another Lyoko Warrior at school.

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Ulrich was in his room still sulking about what he saw at the festival. He turned his phone off and locked the door to the room. His mind was struggling to figure out what to do, thoughts of Yumi tormented him. Even as he sat on his bed looking at nothing he was getting as feeling of jealousy. He was just starting to like Michael but he saw Yumi kiss him on the cheek. She only did that to Jim because he was great to them after he got fired when Jeremy fell down the stairs and twisted his ankle when they were bringing Aelita into the real world for the first time.

Odd and the others were already at the factory but he didn't know what was happening. He continued to sulk as he thought about what he wanted to say to Yumi. He's been hiding from her without a word that it was tearing him up on the inside. He wanted to apologize for what he said but now he felt guilty because Michael was there. He sees how Michael and Ana are together and he wishes that him and Yumi could be that way together but with their relationship as it is he didn't know what to do.

Finally coming up with a solution, he stood up and pulled his earplugs out. He had to go and apologize to her, "she must be pretty furious" he thought to himself. He was heading to the door when he heard footsteps coming from the other side. He stopped himself when the footprints stopped and he saw two sets of feet shadows in the bottom crack of the door. Suddenly the door handle started to jiggle, someone was trying to enter.

Kiwi started growling, warning Ulrich that it's not Odd or anyone he knows on the other side of the door. He began to back away when the strange silence from the other side continued. Ulrich pulled his phone out and quickly turned it on. Just as he got to the window he noticed six voicemails from Jeremy and an S.O.S Xana alert from Aelita and the jiggling of the handle got stronger and louder.

Ulrich quickly turned around and opened the window when he heard loud banging coming from the other side of the door. Ulrich climbed out the window and started to close it from the outside when the door broke open just as the window was halfway closed. The two officers looked carefully around the room but started to growl more when they didn't see any sign of him. Meanwhile Ulrich was already on the ground running towards the factory when one of the officers noticed the window and looked outside to see him running away. With another growl and a look of frustration, the two officers ran out of Ulrich's room in pursuit.

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Michael was in the Scanner Room while everyone else was in Lyoko at the Forest Sector. He told Jeremy that two officers were possessed so if they arrive than he'd have to rematerialize Michael. So far everything was good but Michael wasn't too eager about saying it's safe. He jumped into the scanner and was virtualized onto the Forest Sector and made his way towards Odd, Yumi and Aelita coordinates. The distance was a little far but Ulrich's Overbike was just the thing he needed to get around faster.

He drove for about a minute until he found Aelita and Yumi waving for him to join them. Overjoyed to see them and not the cops he sped over and stopped with a side-turn slide brake. He drove Ulrich's Overbike once or twice and already he's pretty good. He didn't like Odd's Overboard mainly because he's more of an "on the ground" type of guy. But the others were glad to see him but that quickly changed when Yumi noticed that Ulrich wasn't there with him.

"Where's Ulrich?" Yumi asked, taking a few steps closer. Michael got off the Overbike and felt somewhat disappointed.

"I tried to find him but I haven't seen him," said Michael. "Have you guys seen him?" Odd, Yumi and Aelita both nodded their heads.

"I tried calling him but his phone is shut off," said Jeremy with a sigh of frustration.

"Any idea where he could be?" Yumi asked Odd but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know but I know where a few Bloks are," Odd said, pointing out towards three approaching Bloks. Michael summoned his sword as Yumi pulled out her metal fans and Odd got in his stance.

Michael blocked an incoming shot while Odd made the first move and fired two laser arrows at the Blok on the left. One hit its side, causing it's body to spin a little as the second on missed by a few inches. Odd growled for a second as Yumi took her turn. She threw both fans, one hit and killed the Blok on the left as the second finished Odd's job by killing the Blok that he hit. The last Blok turned pink from Aelita's Energy Field before it exploded, catching Michael off guard because he was gonna charge it.

Odd and Aelita both shared a few jokes, mostly she made fun of him missing the Blok while he defended that he's just not in the zone. Michael however looked around the sector. Yumi didn't notice it at first but he was having this growing worry about where Ulrich and those two cops were.

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Ulrich was running through the woods as fast as he could. The dirt underneath him was still somewhat wet and muddy from last night's rain. He kicked up patches of wet dirt, some almost hitting his back as he sprinted through the woods. He was still being chased by Xana's possessed officers. He couldn't hear them but he knew that they were catching up to him.

The darkness was unwelcoming as he would occasionally turn his head to look behind him; nearly running into either a tree or tripping over a small rock. It wasn't until he finally started to hear two sets of footsteps running towards him that he started to panic. He tried to keep his cool but the sounds of gunshots behind him made him quiver. He couldn't stop but he knew sooner or later he'd have to slow down.

For the next few minutes he kept his pace but was slowly getting tired. The area was so dark that he didn't know that he passed the manhole. He had been running for over twenty minutes and already starting to feel his body getting tired. Constantly having to hide hoping that the officers don't find him between searching for the manhole and having to run away when they spotted him.

He finally managed to lose the cops when he found himself at the Hermitage. He looked at the decrepit old building gladly remembering the secret passage through a large vent cover. Ulrich ran towards the building only to suddenly hear the men still running in his direction. He went through the front gate and made his way around the building and found the hidden tunnel entrance. He pulled the secret grate door open and went down the stairs while carefully closing the door behind him hoping that they weren't close enough to see him.

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Michael, Yumi and Odd were busy fighting a new group of Bloks while Aelita flew up hoping to spot the tower. Odd was fighting two Bloks while Yumi was already fighting one because she destroyed a second one that was fighting her while Michael was dealing with four. Michael liked the challenge but he knew that Xana was throwing him extra numbers because of his powers.

Odd shot a few laser arrows at one of the Bloks before summoning his shield to block an incoming laser attack. He kept his shield active while moving it sideways and firing off a few more arrows, destroying one of the Blocks and nearly causing the other to fall over from the explosion. The remaining Blok spun its square head and shot a beam of ice at Odd, catching him by surprise as it froze his left leg from foot to knee. His shield disappeared as he threw both hands out and shot four arrows at the last Blok, destroying it.

Yumi was blocking shot after shot until the Blok spun its head around and fired three orange rings at her. Yumi saw this and started doing front slips as each ring passed her. After she passed the last ring she found Odd dealing with his frozen leg. But just when she dropped her guard, a laser hit her in the stomach, knocking her onto her back as one of her metal fans slipped out and landed a foot beside her. Quickly getting her bearings, she grabbed the fan and threw it without aiming. The fan spun and flew past the Blok but hit it in the eye just as it was returning to her. She recovered her fan after the Blok exploded before making her way towards Odd to give him a hand.

Michael noticed what was happening when he was forced back into the action when he managed to block an incoming laser that almost blindsided him. Michael boldly charged towards the group of Bloks with them firing at him. He blocked laser after laser before getting close enough to slice one of the Bloks in half before jumping back to avoid more shots. His left hand opened as a black ball of compressed fire energy appeared a few centimeters above his palm. He let it charge up for a few seconds before throwing it at the middle Blok; sticking to its eye. Michael's left index finger twitched, causing the ball to explode into a small torrent of black flames with enough power and range to knock one of the Bloks off its feet and hit the more closer one. It wasn't enough to destroy it but he managed to stun it long enough to charge towards it and stab the blade of his sword through the eye as the tip protruded out the other side. He yanked his sword out and jumped back just as the creature exploded.

He walked over towards the knocked over Blok when a ball of pink energy randomly appeared out took out the downed Blok. Michael looked up and noticed Aelita hovering above with a smile on her face. She touched down on the ground and turned Flight Mode off as she proceeded over to him.

"I can't let you have all the fun," Aelita said with a cocky grin on her face. Michael just chuckled as he reached his left hand out and high-fived her.

"Xana's gonna need to stay on his toes if he's gonna fight the Aelita/Michael tag team," Michael said a smile.

Odd was clawing at the ice encasing his leg when Yumi came up and started whacking it with her closed fan. Michael and Aelita found them and went over to help but with Yumi and Odd working together the ice crumbled off and disappeared. Odd knelt down and was rubbing his former frozen leg just happy to be out of that mess. Yumi put her fan away as Michael made his sword disappear.

After Odd was done rubbing his leg the gang proceeded to where Jeremy was telling them to go. Aelita regretfully told them that she couldn't spot any activated towers when she was in the air. She flew off while everyone was battling but managed to return when Michael was about to finish off the last Blok.

They made it to where Jeremy was leading them but they couldn't see any towers. The platform they were on was a much larger platform with a large deep lake in the center and trees and large formations of rock around the area. The area was nice and quiet but they had to keep on their guard in case anymore Bloks or worse would show up. There were plenty of trees around but the area was pretty open.

"Your screen must need glasses Einstein, there's nothing here but trees, rocks and water," Odd said before sitting down on a small rock beside the lake. Jeremy leaned forward and read the coordinates again to them but they didn't see the tower anywhere. He even pointed them to its exact position but the lake was the only thing there.

Odd knelt down beside the edge of the lake and reached his hand down because he remembered the last time when they were looking for a tower back in "Seeing is Believing". They hung around the Oasis area of the Desert Sector trying to find the tower when Odd threw a rock in the water and discovered that there was another platform underneath them. Thinking the same thing would happen, he reached his hand into the water hoping that it was just a trick. But he quickly noticed that like the Ice Sector, the water was real too.

Aelita saw was he was doing and remembered back to when they were trying to find the tower. She summoned her wings and flew over the edge only to discover that they platform that they were sitting on was basically a large floating island. There wasn't a platform underneath, just a large collection of virtual dirt.

Odd pulled his hand out, discouraged by his lack of findings that he sat down while Yumi and Michael walked around. Michael got this uneasy feeling in his gut when he suddenly a sharp pain in his head nearly knocked him down. He tried to look around but everything around him turned blurry. He tried squinting but it didn't help.

Suddenly everything he looked at turned shades of grey and moved like it was in slow motion. The blurriness was gone and he could see clearly again but he tried closing his eyes hoping that it would go away. He thought it was some kind of new symptom of something but he felt fine all day. He tried rubbing his eyes but nothing worked as he looked around wondering by everything was different.

"Are you okay?" Yumi called out to him, noticing that he was acting strangely. He turned his head and looked at her in shock as she appeared completely white. Before he could say anything his ability to see color returned leaving him completely confused. "You're pupils turned cat-like again, does that happen often?" Michael shrugged his shoulders. Odd overheard them and turned around to see Michael clutching his forehead with his left hand.

"Do you have cat vision?" Odd asked, sounding somewhat jealous. Michael however shook his head no. "I wanted to ask because your pupils look like you're part cat." Michael just shrugged his shoulders.

"Unless you count becoming colorblind as "cat vision" than not really," Michael said with a small chuckle. "It's strange, in my wolf form I'm completely colorblind but nobody's ever appeared completely white to me."

"White?" Aelita asked curiously.

"Yeah when I looked at Yumi she was completely white, like I was looking at a moving white spot in a grey picture."

"Interesting," said Jeremy. "Can you try and do it again?" Michael stopped for a moment and think about what happened.

He didn't know if it would work but he closed his eyes and thought as hard as he could about what he saw. He tried to recall the feeling when everything changed but for a moment nothing was working. When he opened his eyes everything appeared normal. That is until a sharp pain hit his mind as his pupils changed again and the color around him turned grey again. Surprised by his discovery, Michael looked around at the now colorless area in wonder.

He then looked at Yumi and Aelita when he found that they were completely white like Yumi was before. He glanced over at Odd and noticed the same thing, a completely white figure sitting on a grey rock. Amazed by his new vision, he walked over to Odd and started to reach out to him when he quickly realized that his hand and arm were completely white too. He looked down at his feet but they were the same too, white without any distinguishing color.

"This is really cool," Michael said. His pupils changed back as the world came back in color again. Odd slumped over the rock thinking about wanting a new power now.

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Ulrich was running through the sewers when he came across the latter that led to the bridge. He grabbed the climbed and started to climb up when he heard a loud crashing sound, he realized that they must've found Franz's secret sewer entrance. Panicked now that they were coming his way, he hurried up the latter and made it to the top of the bridge. He closed the sewer entrance and made his way across the bridge.

He grabbed onto the rope and slid down without any trouble. He was halfway to the elevator when he heard another loud sound that sent shivers up his spine. He stopped and looked back only to see the two officers standing inside the entrance. Not wasting another second, Ulrich turned around and bolted towards the elevator eagerly hoping to be able to call it up. He was almost there when an officer appeared right in front of him and gave him a large backhand slap across Ulrich's face before he could even stop. Ulrich fell to the ground as the two officers towered over him.

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Michael was still staring at the lake still while Odd decided to get up and walk around. Yumi and Aelita were talking about girly things as Michael wasn't paying attention. His eyes were focused on the lake, for some reason he couldn't stop staring. The water was somewhat clear but something didn't feel right with him. He couldn't put his finger on it but something about that water wasn't right.

Convinced that he had to try, his pupils changed again and the world turned colorless. He looked down into the water, it looked like dark grey sludge from what he could see. But then he noticed something inside the water. He took a closer look when he found what looked like a large cylinder space missing from the water about a few feet underneath the water. Michael's pupils changed back as he looked at the water but saw only water. His pupils changed again as he looked down to still see the missing space inside the water.

"Guys, I think I found the tower!" he called out to them. Aelita, Odd and Yumi looked over at Michael as he pointed down at the water and looked over at them. "The tower's underwater."

"Xana hid it to confuse us," Aelita stated while walking towards him. She looked into the lake but couldn't see the tower. "I can't see it, is it really there?"

"I can see it right there…actually I can see a void in the water," Michael said as he pointed in the direction of the void. Aelita looked closer but she felt more confused when she didn't see any void.

Odd picked up a small rock, similar to "Seeing is believing" he tossed the rock in his hand a few times before he threw it into the lake. The rock slowly sunk three feet down into the water when suddenly it stopped sinking and came to rest. Aelita looked at the rock curiously wondering why it wasn't sinking any further but resting in the middle of the water. There was nothing for it to sit on and the water was much deeper. Her face was puzzled for a few seconds until she recalled a memory from before they met Michael.

"Xana made a tower invisible before but he never went this far besides cloning on," Aelita recalled as she kept her gaze fixed on the rock. "Is it even safe to go in there?"

"I don't know guys but we have a problem!" Jeremy said with panic in his voice. As if on cue. Everyone looked up as Jeremy went on. "Ulrich's in the factory but those two officers that attacked Michael are here with him." Yumi was quiet as a sense of fear hit her mind.

"Where is he?" Michael bravely asked, causing Yumi to turn her attention towards him.

"He's on the top floor by the elevator," said Jeremy. Michael's hands caught on fire. Yumi jumped when it happened but she remembered that using his powers like that drains his life points.

"Thank you," she quickly said with her lips. Michael smiled and gave her a nod to tell her that he's glad to do it.

The flames burning around Michael's fists began to grow bigger as Jeremy saw his life points decreasing much faster. He didn't know why using his powers drained his life points but at the moment he was glad that it does. He made the fire grow as much as he could hoping that it would be enough. He even went as far as to make his flames spiral and take the shape of black balls similar to his Fire Bomb ability.

Michael could feel his increase in power getting stronger as the balls got bigger. He couldn't go into Rage Mode but he had to do what he could. Finally the flames suddenly extinguished and his body started to devirtualize. Odd, Yumi and Aelita watched on as their friend departed back to Earth hoping that Ulrich was okay. Not too soon after he left, they heard the sound of Tarantulas coming their way.

Odd and Yumi prepared for the fight as Aelita ran towards the water. Out from behind a few trees three Tarantulas appeared. They approached the defending warriors as Aelita jumped into the water and swam down to find the entrance to the tower.

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One of the scanners doors opened with Michael quickly jumping out and ran to the elevator ignoring the after effects of being devirtualized. He rode up the elevator hoping to make it in time. He didn't want to show but his hands were shaking rapidly, he was getting antsy. He didn't like elevators much and he wasn't too eager taking it but he had an idea of his own to help Ulrich.

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Ulrich tried to back away from the men but one of the grabbed him by the arm. Ulrich let out a small yelp when the man yanked him up onto his feet. Ulrich twisted around and tried to fight the man holding onto him but he forgot the second guard who came up behind him and whacked him in the back of the head with the butt of his pistol. The impact from the blow caused Ulrich to fall to his knees.

Ulrich's head was ringing with pain when he looked up at the guard who whacked him. The officer that grabbed him had his arms held behind his back as the other officer holstered his pistol as he towered over Ulrich. The guard raised his hands up as purple lightning shot out of his fingertips that jumped between both hands. The man's reflection shined in Ulrich's eyes, he tried to fight but he wasn't strong enough. All he could think about was Yumi now when he felt sorrow for not apologizing for the way he's been acting. A lone tear leaked down his left cheek when he heard the crackling sparks getting closer to his face.

Suddenly the crackling sound vanished followed by the sound of something crashing against the wall in front of him. He didn't know what just happened but he opened his eyes to see Michael by his right side. He was leaning forward with his left fist balled into a fist and held out in front of him. The guard he punched slammed into the wall underneath the platform by the upper entrance.

"GET DOWN!" Michael yelled at Ulrich. Ulrich leaned forward as far as he could as Michael turned around and kicked the confused guard; knocking him ten feet away.

The man that hit the wall quickly got to his feet and started to charge towards Michael and Ulrich with his gun now drawn. Michael looked at the man and listened to the other getting up and drawing his piece. In an act of selflessness, Michael grabbed Ulrich by the back of his shirt and dragged him into the open elevator. He sat Ulrich against the rear wall of the elevator when a loud bang erupted. Michael's left shoulder jolted forward from the bullet piercing into his upper back close to his left shoulder.

Michael jumped back, slammed his hand on the down button and got out of the way for the door to go down to take Ulrich away to safety. Blood trickled his backside as he turned to face the two armed officers. Knowing full well what would've happened if they both took the elevator down; Michael grinned from his small victory against Xana. Now all he had to do was distract them long enough for Aelita to deactivate the tower.

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Odd and Yumi were having a hard time dealing with the Tarantulas. Odd couldn't get a good shot in because they wouldn't let up. Yumi managed to throw one of her fans in the middle of a cartwheel. The fan managed to hit one in its back leg; slicing it off completely as the Tarantula stopped firing from its loss of balance. Odd saw this saw this as his chance and fired a few arrows at one of the Tarantulas still firing at them. He managed to hit it just right as the creature was stunned for a second before it exploded.

Aelita was still searching for the entrance to the tower under the lake. Every time she reached out to touch the tower she could feel its hard surface. She swam right to the very lakebed and tried to feel around hoping that the entrance would reveal itself to her. After what seemed like almost a minute she finally found the right spot when her hands fazed through the tower followed by thin blue rings appearing around her wrists. Aelita poked her head inside and found the entrance platform just a little off from where she was currently at.

She pulled her head out and swam around to where the platform was connected to the tower's inner wall and quickly went inside. As soon as she got inside she quickly fell to her knees gasping for breath. As she looked at the platform she felt a sense of happiness now that this attack was over. Once she had the strength to get back up she ran to the center of the platform and levitated up and flew over to the upper platform.

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Ulrich arrived in the Computer Lab as Jeremy left his seat for a minute to help Ulrich inside. He informed his friend that Aelita got inside the tower and was now working on deactivating it. Ulrich in turn informed Jeremy that Michael stayed behind to fight the two officers so it was only a matter of time.

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Michael and the two officers were already locked in combat. Michael's strength kept them at bay but with them using firearms he had to keep himself out of their line of sight. He hid behind a tall girder as their bullets ricocheted off the metal surface to give him time to heal. The bullet slid out of the wound as it slowly mended itself; luckily it didn't go far and he has a lot of energy since he had dinner and rested up.

Michael looked around for a way to get around their bullets without getting hit. But just as he was thinking, he couldn't help but notice that they weren't stopping to reload their pistols. He wasn't stupid and normally you only have a small amount of rounds in a standard police issued handgun.

He looked to his right and saw something, the bullets had a purple color and burned where they hit. When he was shot earlier it was with a real bullet, they must've run out between chasing him and Ulrich. He was glad that Ulrich wasn't hit but now he had to deal with the officers.

With his right hand open, he raised it chest level with his palm facing up. He could feel energy flowing through his body and into his hands as the energy left his hand in the form of black flames. The flames spiraled around above his hand in small circles as it took the shape of a small black ball. He figured if he could just get one of them to stop attacking than he'd have a good chance at disabling them.

Both officers started circling around in opposite directions to flank Michael while still firing to keep him pinned. But just as they were almost at him, Michael turned to the left and fired the fire bomb close to the man's feet. The bomb gave off a small explosion that knocked the man down while fuzzing up. Michael turned and ran to the right and bolted towards the other officer.

The officer kept firing his weapon but Michael was quick to dodge as he got close enough to grab the man's gun hand and pulled the gun out of his hand with his training in CQC from his grandpa. He disabled the man's arms, knocked him to the ground and kicked him in the head to knock him out. With the man's gun still in hand, he turned around just in time as the other man was getting up. He threw the gun and hit the man square in the jaw, knocking him out cold.

Michael was just about to sit down when his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket to see that Jeremy was calling him. Michael sighed in relief as he held the phone up to his ear.

"You ready for a Return Trip?" Jeremy asked cheerfully on the other end.

"Yep," Michael said with a smile as he laid down on the floor.

Jeremy activated the Return Trip as the factory and school were engulfed in the white light. When he awoke, he was back in the Wreck Room. The room was still a mess but now he knew that another werewolf was here. He ran through the clues again, quickly noticing the broken orange phone and torn piece of cloth. The room still smelled like wolf but at least now he had an idea of what happened. But the question on his mind was who else is a werewolf?

As he pondered, he remembered his cross. He pulled it out and looked at it, its beautiful silver color and shine. He thought back and remember Ana using it to stop the other werewolf from killing him. Thinking back to that moment, he felt sick to his stomach that she experienced all that. But he remembered that the cross is made out of pure silver, the other werewolf was hurt by it.

"At least I have a weapon against it," he said to himself with a sigh of relief.

Just as he put the cross in his pocket, the two officers from earlier barged in and looked at Michael who stared at them hoping that they weren't possessed again.

"What are you doing in here kid?" one of the officers asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

"This area is off limits to students," the other officer added.

"Sorry officers, I just wanted to see what happened," Michael said with a little fear in his mind to what they would do next. Michael started to walk towards them with his head lowered. He was about to leave when one of the officers turned around and gave him a kind pat on the shoulder.

"There's no need to worry kid," the man assured him with a smile on his face. "It's probably just a bear, one of our patrol officers spotted a few in the woods. We've already got Animal Control out there to relocate them to a safer environment so there's no need to worry."

Michael gave the man a fake smile before they sent him on his way. He couldn't tell them what happened but he was just glad that they let him leave without any problems. He reached inside his pocket and felt the piece of torn cloth that he snagged from the Wreck Room. He could still smell the scent but at least he had a way of tracking this werewolf.

He got to his room and laid down on his bed. He couldn't wait to start the hunt tomorrow but he had to start finding clues to find Aelita's mom. He didn't have much time to go poking around for information but since he's pulling double shifts it gives him a great excuse to go into Sector Five with Aelita to look for clues after school. Even as he went to sleep his mind was riddled with excitement to begin the search.

However tomorrow is going to be an interesting day with Mr. Valentine teaching Mr. Hertz's morning class.

Find out what happens next in Part XLV: A Bad Reunion