Angel: Tomorrow I have way too much stuff to do for me to update the story, so I'm updating it today. I have orientation early in the morning, I have an appointment right after that, and then I gotta do shopping for my mother...I wouldn't even know when I'd get home for me to upload anything, so I'd rather be safe than sorry.
The Lyoko Warriors are in Sector Five on a mission. "Holosphere system connected," Jeremy looks at the Celestial Dome coming online. The transporter spins into the Arena, letting out all five of them. "Welcome to Sector Five."
They look at the wall slowly coming to a stop, Jeremy glancing at the screen.
"The wall's gonna open any second now," Yumi eyes it and they slowly stop spinning, the wall opening just like Yumi said. "Let's go!" She takes off first, the others running after her. They stop at the wall and the passage forms.
"Three minutes to find the key, go!" Jeremy tells them as they run down stairs this time. When they enter the Core Zone, the key is high up on a wall. All of the doors close, putting them on alert. Usually that didn't happen.
"Uh oh. The doors are in the wrong place," Odd comments and a Creeper arrives from across the room.
"Here come our old friends," Yumi notices.
"Creepers. They just can't stay away from us," Odd winks at Amy, who rolls her eyes playfully.
"Remember, guys, the clock is running."
"We get it, Einstein," Amy replies as he scans the room for the key.
"Let's see...I found the key at 2 o'clock directly above Yumi."
Amy, Yumi, and Ulrich pull out their weapons while Odd aims his arm. Amy glances at the key above them. "That's a job for a cat," Ulrich hints, looking up. A Creeper fires, hitting Odd. Another one fires and Yumi flips to the edge, hanging on as she moves so that the Creeper doesn't see her. The monster scans around, distracted as Ulrich approaches it from behind.
Odd climbs up walls and platforms, flipping to another one and landing safely. A laser knocks Ulrich's sword out of his hands. Odd jumps onto another platform. Ulrich reaches out and takes his sword back.
"Not so fast, dummy!" Yumi flips back onto the platform, throwing her fan and destroying it. Another one fires, hitting Odd. He trips, but uses his claws to latch onto the wall.
"Odd, you're running out of life points," Jeremy warns him as he looks down below. Yumi throws her fan again, getting rid of the other creeper. She catches it as another Creeper appears from behind Odd.
"Odd!" Aelita calls out, but it's too late for him as he's hit by the laser. However, he manages to hit the key just before he's devirtualized.
"Nice one," Jeremy smiles and Amy throws her spear, getting rid of the Creeper that devirtualized Odd. The door opens behind them and they take the path to the elevator. Aelita looks down as they wait.
"Now!" Ulrich shouts and they jump off, landing safely. The elevator spins around the dome and comes to a stop at the Celestial Dome. They stop at the closed door and it opens, allowing them to enter. Aelita stops at the edge of the platform to begin searching.
"I'm connected, Jeremy."
"Come on, Aelita," He urges, "We gotta gather the data before the Flying Mantas come. The Mantas are about to hatch! Five, four, three, two, one. Now!"
The three look around as the Mantas merge into the Dome. Three of them exact fly around, but to the others, they're nowhere to be seen. "Hey Jeremy, I don't see any Flying Mantas," Yumi explains as all they can see are the walls of code.
"Strange, I can see them on my screen," Jeremy replies in confusion, none of them noticing a Creeper right behind them. "Stay on your guard. They may come from the other end of the sector."
A Creeper hits Yumi from behind, Amy and Ulrich immediately turning around to it. Ulrich blocks a laser with his sword as the Creeper relentlessly fires at them. Ulrich gets hit in the shoulder and Yumi is devirtualized. Amy gets hit in the stomach, knocking her to the ground. Aelita glances at the spot where Yumi disappeared, working as fast as she can.
Ulrich dodges the incoming lasers, throwing his sword into the air. He spins it around when he catches it, throwing his weapon at the Creeper. It gets destroyed in front of them, making them cover their eyes.
"Done, Jeremy. You can take over again," Aelita reports as she stops touching the interface.
"Okay, I'm on it. I'm programming the Overbike and the OverRunner."
The vehicles appear in front of the edge, Ulrich and Aelita jumping on. Amy backflips into her race car. "Hang on, princess," Ulrich revs up his bike, driving to the tunnels. Amy follows him, but so do the Mantas. Jeremy opens up one of the tunnels.
"Okay, the passage is open."
"Jeremy, we've got a problem," Ulrich and Amy finally see the Mantas. "We just found the Flying Mantas."
"So that's where they were hiding," Amy narrows her eyes. Aelita looks away from them.
"You should be able to lose them."
The two drive faster, trying to evade them. Aelita looks back to see something hatching from the Mantas.
"But...what is that?"
"All I know is it's not good!" Amy drives ahead as small skulls appear, exploding.
"Mines, Jeremy! They're hatching flying mines!" Aelita explains, Ulrich and Amy moving back and forth. They narrowly miss each one, driving into the tunnel and escaping. Jeremy sighs in relief, placing his hands behind his back with a proud smile.
"Well," Jeremy says once they're back in the lab, "These are codes for XANA's subsystems. I cracked them three weeks ago. Hey yeah! This one looks like the source code to a virus! I might be able to use it! If the virus inside you is anything like this one, I might be able to free you from XANA!"
"You mean..." Aelita smiles at him. "Like soon?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay, we're outta here. There's a big climbing competition tonight," Odd smiles, grasping Ulrich's arm. "Gotta practice."
Ulrich snatches his hand back. "I already told you, I'm not doing it."
"Really?" Yumi asks in surprise. "Why not?"
"Cuz," He says simply.
"At least come and watch me," Odd suggests, Yumi walking over to him.
"Come on, Ulrich. For once, Odd's found a sport where being scrawny is a plus!" Yumi jokes, Amy stifling a laugh.
"Hey, I am not scrawny!" Odd glances at Amy and then back at Yumi. "Ha! I'm svelte! It's not the same," He crosses his arms with a slight huff. "You don't think I'm scrawny, do you, Ames?"
"Of course not," Amy shrugs at him. "I'm barely taller than you and I'm doing it too. I have to support all my svelte friends."
"Now that's a real friend!" Odd smiles, putting his arm around her shoulders. She bites her lip as she blushes to herself. It did not make her heart race, it did not, it did not.
In the gym, Odd is climbing up the rock wall. "Come on, keep it steady," Jim is of course supervising. Odd's going against Herb, which means he had this in a cinch.
"You should've left your zits down there, huh Herb?" Odd continues climbing. "You're too heavy!"
"Della Robbia, I'm gonna-" Distracted by the trash talk, Herb lets go and falls onto the mat. Odd laughs as he reaches the top. Herb glares up at him.
"I'm the king of the world!" Odd shouts and Amy laughs, clapping for him. Jim glances at Ulrich.
"Okay, Stern. The wall."
"Um," Ulrich looks away, not wanting to. "You see, Jim..."
He doesn't get to finish as William stands in front of him. "First one to the top!"
Ulrich looks up at him, annoyed by that dumb smile of his. "Sorry. I don't climb." Not only that, he didn't want anyone to know...
"Are you scared?" William teases, leaning in towards him. Yumi raises an amused brow at Ulrich, who definitely doesn't want her to figure it out.
"Come on, William, leave him alone," Amy speaks up as she could sense the real reason why Ulrich doesn't want to climb.
"No, I'm not scared, I..."
"Come on, Stern," Jim interrupts, no one was getting out of it. "Show us what you got. Get up that wall, hurry up!"
Ulrich glances at Yumi and stands up, walking up slowly to the wall. Odd jumps down in front of him. "Hey man, humiliate this guy and let's go eat," He places a hand on his friend's shoulder, walking over to Amy.
"That was great, Odd," She smiles up at him.
"Who's scrawny now?" He winks at her and she chuckles, Yumi smiling in amusement. "You were good earlier too."
"Oh yeah?" Amy raises an eyebrow. "I didn't know you were watching."
"O-Oh," Odd didn't mean for that to slip out. He rubs his neck in embarrassment. "Well...I, uh, just happened to notice when you were going against Nicolas. You know your stuff."
"Thank you," She smiles softly at the compliment.
"Oblivious," Yumi fake coughs into her fist. Amy hides her blush, elbowing Yumi slightly in the arm.
Ulrich stares up at the wall, and to him, it looked like his whole world was crashing down.
"Ready Aelita?" Jeremy looks at her and she nods with an encouraging smile. He does the test on the virus to see if it would work. A few seconds later, he beams. "Yes! The test worked. It's unbelievable!" he stands up, holding her hands.
"We did it! We've got the antivirus!" She smiles as they spin around slightly. Then she gets a great idea. "Jeremy, what if-what if you injected me right now? We could surprise the others!"
"But isn't that a little risky?" He hasn't had a chance to see if there was a bug or if there was something he missed. If he administered it to her, something could happen, and he couldn't bare to have that guilt on him.
"It'll be just as risky in two hours, or in two days," She replies.
"Okay," He nods in agreement. "Go to the scanner. I'll start the process."
Ulrich grips the plastic as he struggles to keep it together. William has a bit of an advantage as Odd, Amy, and Yumi watch them. Ulrich whimpers to himself as he climbs slower.
"What is he doing? Hey, come on, Ulrich! Move it!" Odd was hungry, and he needed some lunch from good old Rosa. Ulrich reaches out, but he looks down at how high he is, shaking. He looks at the panel in front of him, not sure of how long he can last in front of everyone.
"You can beat him! Go for it, Ulrich!" Yumi encourages, the brunette frowning. If she told them not to cheer him on, that'd be suspicious. It was better if Ulrich told them himself...
All Ulrich can focus on is the sweat dripping down his forehead.
"Come on, huh, Spiderman? You spin a web or did you fall asleep?" William mocks, Amy putting a hand to her forehead. She already knew how this was going to end.
Badly.
"Hey, Stern, what's the matter with you?"
All of the demands and urging from them makes him shake and he lets go, falling onto the mat. He opens his eyes as his friends are staring down at him.
"Oh, I get it," Odd walks up to him. "A little nap before lunch, right?"
"Leave. Me. Alone," He spits back.
"Ulrich..." Amy murmurs in concern as he stands up, dusting himself off. Yumi noticed the shaking, the hesitation, and the slowness.
"Y-You've got vertigo...is that it?"
He glances at her and doesn't answer, looking at the wall. He storms off without another word, confirming their suspicions.
"Ulrich, wait!" Yumi is about to go after him, but the other two stop her.
"Let him chill out a while. Give him time to get over it," Odd stares after where Ulrich left.
Amy rubs her arm as she sees Ulrich leave and the other two notice her off look. "Did you...suspect it?" Yumi wonders curiously.
"I did, but...I didn't want to talk about it behind his back. My mother had a fear of heights. She wouldn't go on planes, she would always take a cab or boat if she went overseas. Seeing Ulrich like that...reminded me of her. The scared look in his eyes...how much he wanted to hide it. He was probably too ashamed to tell us..."
Yumi frowns at Amy's explanation. Ulrich had nothing to worry about. She wasn't ashamed of him. Everyone had a fear, and it was natural to be ashamed of it.
"What's your fear?" Odd asks the brunette.
"...Wolves. Like the ones from the visions I shared with Aelita. I kept it hidden because most of the time I don't let it bother me. But everyone handles their fears differently..."
Odd smiles a little at her that she's willing to be brave. That was Amy, alright. It took a lot for her to admit it and to still be strong for herself.
"Ready?" Jeremy asks as Aelita is in the scanner. She's enclosed in for the scan.
"Yes. Do it," Aelita smiles happily. Soon she'd be free of XANA and they'd be able to shut down the Supercomputer. She could have a normal life...like she's always wanted. Jeremy presses enter and she spins around in the scanner, the antivirus being administered. Just as she's being given the antivirus, something goes wrong, making Jeremy leave his chair.
The antivirus enters Aelita as Jeremy enters the scanner room. He pulls apart the doors with all the strength he has and Aelita falls into his arms. "Aelita! How do you feel? Say something."
She leans in with an amused smile. "Something."
"Heh heh. If you could make jokes as bad as Odd's, then you must be okay. I thought only Amy could use them."
"She let me borrow some," Aelita winks up at him.
Odd peeks into his room after lunch. "Ulrich?" He looks to the girls as the boy isn't there. "Maybe he went to the factory to mope."
"We use that all the time, though. If he really wanted to be left alone-"
"Hey, we've got great news!" Aelita interrupts as she and Jeremy run up to them.
"We found the antivirus! And I've already given it to Aelita," Jeremy gestures to her.
"You what?!" Odd asks in shock.
"That's so great!" Yumi beams at them. Amy jumps forward and hugs Aelita.
"I'm so happy for you, roomie!"
"Aw, thanks, Amy," Aelita giggles as she returns the hug. "All we have to do now is shut down the supercomputer, and it's adios to XANA!"
"Okay, but not without Ulrich. We have to find him first," Yumi explains. Doing this without Ulrich just didn't feel right. He was a part of this as much as they were.
"Why? Where is he?" Jeremy wonders, thinking that something must've happened to Ulrich to make him disappear.
"Off somewhere hiding. I mean, sulking," Odd holds up a finger, Amy rolling her eyes.
"Let's just say he'd rather not talk about it."
"Uh, in that case, he's in the forest. He always goes there when he feels like moping," Jeremy explains. He's seen Ulrich go off into the woods once when Yumi 'kissed' Matthias.
Ulrich breaks some sticks in half. He couldn't believe that he let everyone see his vulnerable side...especially Yumi. It's not like he wasn't planning on telling them, he just...
He just couldn't do it.
Being so scared wasn't something he was proud of. So now he just wanted to stay here until maybe dark. Or until he gets over it.
Probably the former.
He breaks another stick, hearing a weird noise behind him. He sees nothing out of the ordinary, however, but that doesn't ease his nerves. There's a growl he could've sworn he heard, making him stand up. He looks around, surprised to see Yumi, Amy, and Odd approaching him. How did they knew where to find him?
"So, back to your usual cool self yet?" Odd asks casually.
"Not a hundred percent," He turns away and at his response, Amy cringes a bit. At least he was actually speaking?
Yumi walks up to him, placing a sympathetic arm around him. "Well, this might help you to quit sulking. We've got some incredible news!"
"I don't believe it," Jeremy is in his room, typing on his computer. "I don't believe it. I'm actually writing the final entry in the Lyoko travel log book. Can you imagine?" He asks in excitement, hearing a groan from Aelita. "Aelita?" He turns around to see her holding her head, looking the opposite of fine. "Aelita, are you okay?"
"I...I..." she couldn't really describe what was happening to her.
"Do you think it's the antivirus?"
"No, it's just an energy slump. I'll go and lie down in my room for a minute or two," She stands up. There's no way this could be connected to the antivirus. She's fine, right? After all, she was just given the one thing that freed her from XANA, the computer program who was determined to destroy their world. It was one big step towards her freedom.
So why was she still doubtful?
Jeremy stares after her as she leaves, hoping that she'd be okay. After all, she'd been through so much as both a human and a virtual being...
Aelita still has her doubts as she walks down the hall. She holds her cheek, still feeling dizzy. Suddenly, her hands start disappearing and she gasps. Her left hand disappears completely and she gasps as she sees Sissi stepping out of her room.
"Oh, Aelita. I didn't even see you standing there," Sissi smiles a bit, but not because she's happy to see Aelita. "But that's hardly surprising, you're such a wallflower."
Aelita glares at her. She didn't have time for Sissi's insults, not when her body parts had just disappeared.
"How can you expect a guy to notice you someday? I'm not talking about Jeremy, of course, he's already married to a computer chip. It's so weird how Amy hasn't helped you with this. I mean a real guy, you know. Look at me, for instance." Aelita's right hand disappears and she gasps quietly. "I'm really pretty and attractive." Aelita's legs disappear, but thankfully Sissi's not looking at her. "I'm also funny, and intelligent and sweet." Aelita disappears completely into thin air. "And, very attentive to others."
Sissi looks back to see that Aelita has gone...
Or has she?
"Uh, just what I was saying. She's so unremarkable, you don't even realize that she's gone!" She leaves the dorms.
"Oh no!" Jeremy exclaims, his door opened by no one.
"Jeremy, this is awful!" Aelita exclaims in horror.
"It sure is, XANA is attacking," When he turns around, he doesn't see Aelita. He raises his eyebrows in confusion. He could've sworn he heard Aelita's voice. "Aelita?"
"I'm here."
"You are? Where?" All he sees is the open door.
"Right in front of you! But I'm...I'm invisible!"
"You what?" He reaches out to touch her.
"Hey!"
"Oop," He leans back in his chair, silently embarrassed. "Sorry."
"Could this be XANA's attack?" She wonders if the antivirus had XANA written all over it. She wouldn't put it past him.
He narrows his eyes at her question. It would be a perfect distraction, given that he doesn't know what effect this would have on Lyoko. "Quick, to the factory."
Yumi, Odd, Amy, and Ulrich are walking through the woods to get back to the school. There's a rustle in the bushes, causing Ulrich to look around. A twig snaps and the others stop, turning around. Someone approaches and it's enough to make Amy go pale.
"Uh oh. What's that?" Odd is looking straight at a wolf. "A nice little doggie, I hope."
Then there's the XANA symbol in its eyes. "No, a big bad wolf, Odd," Ulrich steps back a bit, Amy shaking in fear. She could just imagine being in the wolf's mercy, sweating. More of them appear, snarling at them. Amy feels like she's about to soil her underwear at this point. And seeing the XANA symbol only makes things worse.
"Uh, when you're faced with a pack of wolves, what do you do?" Odd looks at the others, noting how scared Amy is. He takes a hold of her hand and his touch is enough to make her stop shaking. She feels...safe all of a sudden.
"You run!" Yumi shouts and they do just that. The wolves chase after them, Odd still holding onto Amy's hand as he pants. He takes the lead, trying to get Amy far away from them as possible. Maybe if she wasn't close to them, she'd calm down a bit.
An invisible Aelita takes the lead as Jeremy dials Yumi, only to get her voicemail.
"Konnichiwa. You've reached Yumi's mobile. Leave me a message."
"Yumi, meet us at the factory. There's a bug," He hangs up, hoping that she'll listen to it. Aelita stops at the ladder, Jeremy stopping behind her.
The wolves continue chasing after the four, Ulrich coming to a stop. "Oh no..."
"Let's go, come on!" Odd urges as Ulrich is looking at a small mountain.
That they'll have to climb.
While being above the ground.
Nevertheless, it was either that or risking his life with the wolves, so he follows after the others. Yumi, Odd, and Amy start climbing the rock. Ulrich stops, wondering if he could really do this. He looks back at the wolves arriving and starts climbing as fast as he can.
Yumi almost reaches the top, Odd looking down at the already behind Ulrich. Yumi grips the edge of the cliff, Amy following soon after. She bends down and helps Odd up, Yumi seeing Ulrich's dilemma.
"Ulrich, hurry up!"
He continues, trying to keep it cool when a wolf jumps up and grabs his shoe.
"Ulrich!" Yumi calls out in concern. Ulrich kicks the wolf off him, which whimpers and falls to the grass below. He's almost there as he grips another rock, letting go. He glances at how...high...
"Don't look down," Odd advises him.
"Trust me, it'll only make it worse if you think about it," Amy calls out, biting her lip at the wolves. She was just glad that she's on a cliff and they can't climb.
Ulrich's vision starts getting blurry at all the rocks below him. He squeezes his eyes shut, not wanting the height to distract him.
"Concentrate on your hand grips, and don't think about anything else!" Odd calls out, Yumi only watching. Amy bites a fingernail, hoping that Ulrich could get it together.
Feeling slightly encouraged, Ulrich continues on. "Yeah, that's it! Keep climbing!" Odd tells him, Yumi reaching out her hand.
"Just a little further!"
He grips the rock in front of him, but he slips, Yumi grabbing his hand before it was too late. "Gotcha." With Odd and Amy's help, they pull him up to the top. He breathes a sigh of relief.
Finally, he could breathe again...
"I'm here, Jeremy," The invisible Aelita reports as the scanner closes. She's scanned for the problem. "It isn't XANA," Jeremy places a hand on his cheek in guilt. "It's a bug in the antivirus. I have to deactivate it, but it's gonna take a little while."
Aelita steps out of the scanner, silently hoping that it could be fixed. "What about the activated tower? What's the attack?"
"I have no idea," He says honestly. There's been no calls back from any of the four, which worries him a bit. But that bit of worry is diminished when Yumi calls back. "Yumi."
"We've got a big problem, Jeremy. We're in the forest, with a pack of wolves possessed by XANA."
"Oh no! Aelita can't go and deactivate the tower by herself."
"We'll do our best. I'll keep you posted," She hangs up and he places a hand on his forehead at how bad things are right now. First an invisible Aelita, and now his friends are in danger...
"Jeremy, virtualize me on Lyoko so I can deactivate the tower," Aelita speaks up.
"No way!" He shakes his head immediately. "We have to wait."
"Wait for what? For them to be devoured? We have no choice."
He had to admit that Aelita was right...if his friends were seriously injured by those wolves, Aelita would have to go by herself either way.
He just hoped that the Schyphozoa wouldn't attack.
"Your foot okay?" Yumi asks Ulrich as they're looking over the cliff. The wolves haven't left, unfortunately.
Ulrich simply nods, not wanting them to know how...scared he was.
"Good thing you weren't wearing sandals," Odd comments, Amy laughing a bit.
"At least the wolves can't climb..."
A growl interrupts her thoughts and they turn around in surprise to see another pack. "Oh great. A flying wolf."
Amy gasps sharply, panting as she's holding her beating heart. All she could do was stand there as the wolf advances towards them.
Aelita is sent to the ice sector and lands, visible. "Jeremy, I'm here. It's good to be visible again," She looks over herself.
"I programmed the Overwing for you," Aelita jumps onto the flying scooter once it appears. "And the activated tower shouldn't be far."
She takes off towards a plateau, determined to rescue her friends.
The wolf gets closer and Amy looks behind her at the edge of the cliff. She knew that if she moved one step further, she'd fall into another pack of wolves. Even if she wanted to move, she couldn't out of fear. Odd places an arm in front of her, blocking the animal from her.
"Back off, mangy mutt! This is when the kind hunters usually come to the rescue, right?"
The wolf pounces towards Ulrich, causing him to move backwards and to fall off the cliff. The three stare at him in horror. He falls through a small tree.
"ULRICH!" Yumi shouts and when he lands...
He phases right through the wolf.
"But...!" Odd stammers in shock.
"Huh?" Ulrich punches through a wolf and it goes to static, eventually fading away. "It's a decoy! They-They're just images!"
Odd turns around to the wolf in front of him, kicking the leg. Just like with Ulrich, it disappears. "That XANA's even slyer than I thought! Making Amy scared for no reason!"
Amy sighs in relief, hugging Odd. "Thanks for protecting me."
"Oh, uh, no problem, Ames," Odd mutters shyly, rubbing his neck. Yumi just smiles at them.
"No Scyphozoa in sight, Jeremy," Aelita moves past a rock. She scours the area. No monsters in sight.
"Anyway, be careful," Jeremy warns her. Knowing XANA, he always has a plan...
Four wolves walk up to them, Yumi kicking through one when it jumps towards her. It disappears and Ulrich goes to punch one, but it dodges its attacks, unlike the other ones.
"Uh oh. This one's real."
"So are these two," Yumi says as they back away slowly. Amy hits the rock as she starts silently panicking again. Yumi's phone rings and she answers. "Jeremy."
"How's it going?"
"It sure is no picnic over here," Yumi looks down at the wolves.
"Hang on, Aelita is almost at the activated tower."
She hangs up and Odd places a comforting hand on Amy's back. "Breathe, Ames. Breathe."
She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
Aelita flies down the path and stops at the entrance. The tower is just inside the ice cave. She runs inside past the waterfall and jumps onto the rocks. However...
She hits the tower, rubbing her head. She looks up, wondering what just happened. "What's going on?" She touches the tower, but is unable to phase through it. Usually, when she touches it, she's able to enter.
"Jeremy, we've got a problem..."
"Yumi?" Jeremy dials her as soon as he figures out the problem with Aelita.
"Yeah?"
"The antivirus I injected into Aelita has modified her virtual signature. The tower doesn't recognize her any longer!"
"You mean she can't deactivate them anymore?" Yumi asks in surprise.
"Exactly. That is, until I manage to extract that dumb bugged virus," He tries to get rid of it, only to get another error message. "But she's all alone on Lyoko, and I can't devirtualize her."
"Okay, we'll be right there," She hangs up, turning to the others. "Aelita needs our help."
"Glad to hear it, but how do you plan on getting out of this jam?" Odd looks back to the wolves.
"We split up. I'll take care of them," Ulrich speaks up to their protest.
"Are you crazy?!" Yumi exclaims at him.
"Need I remind you that these are real WOLVES?!" Amy stares down at them, shivering.
"Go on, I said, okay? I may have vertigo, but I can handle a few flea-bitten mongrels," He picks up a stick from the ground. "On three, get going."
"You mean one two and go, or do you mean one two three and go?" Odd asks, making Ulrich roll his eyes.
"GO!"
"Oh." The three run off, leaving Ulrich to slowly move in front of the wolves.
The Scyphozoa enters the cave. "Calvary's on the way, Aelita. Careful, behind you!" He sees that it's the same monster he didn't want to attack. "NO!"
Aelita turns around to the Scyphozoa, eyeing it nervously.
Ulrich swings the stick, but it breaks in half once it hits the wolf. The leader snarls its teeth.
Aelita backs away, only to hit the water slightly with her foot. She holds out her hand, using her creativity to incase the monster into a block of ice.
"You can start the process, Jeremy," Yumi informs as the three enter the scanners. They're enclosed in and Jeremy starts it up.
"Transfer Amy. Transfer Yumi. Transfer Odd. Scanner Amy. Scanner Yumi. Scanner Odd. Virtualization."
They close their eyes as they disappear into Lyoko.
Aelita presses a hand to her forehead, using her creativity once again to make a path of rocks. She smiles at how it worked and jumps from rock to rock, running away from the monster. The path disappears and she comes to a stop when she sees two Hornets in front of her.
"You know what you have to do. Your vehicles are on the way."
The vehicles land in front of them as they land onto the ground. Odd backflips onto his Overboard, Yumi jumping onto her Overwing. Amy backflips and lands into her OverRunner.
"Follow the trail. The activated tower is inside the cavern."
The three take off down the path, thinking about how Ulrich sacrificed himself so that they could get there. Without him, they wouldn't be there right now. "How's Ulrich?"
"No news," Jeremy reports gravely.
Ulrich is running in the forest, the three wolves pursuing him. He pants as he goes through the street, a bus passing by behind him. He runs straight across.
The Hornets are blocking Aelita's way, so she turns around and runs back inside. She gasps in fear as one of the Scyphozoa's tentacles are moving. Another one moves and it eventually breaks free. It flies up to her and she backs away slowly.
"Yumi, Odd, Amy, move it!" Jeremy urges as a Megatank appears. It blocks their path as it opens up.
The two Hornets fly after Aelita, stopping right behind her. "Jeremy..." She steps onto a rock, Jeremy cringing.
The laser fires from the Megatank and they move out of the way, the Overwing getting destroyed. The other two look back to her, looking at the monster. They get up and try to help Yumi, but it's too late as another laser hits her and devirtualizes her in one hit.
"Yumi!" Amy calls out and they move around the monster. It fires and Amy swerves out of the way, almost nearing the edge. She sighs in relief and Odd flies back to the Megatank. He flies straight at it and jumps, his Overboard destroying the Megatank.
"Well done, Odd," Jeremy congratulates as Odd lands safely. Amy comes to a stop in front of him.
"Need a ride?" She winks.
"My favorite girl coming to my rescue. Usually it's the other way around," He smiles in amusement and she tries to hide a blush.
"Just get in."
He jumps in behind her and she starts up the racecar, zooming down the path. Both of them hoped that they weren't too late.
"Guys, you're the only ones who can do anything now," Jeremy tells them.
Aelita is lifted up into the air by the Scyphozoa.
Ulrich dials Jeremy, running near the factory. "Jeremy, how's it going?"
"A complete mess. And you?"
"Ditto!" Ulrich runs into the entrance of the factory. The wolves are right on his tail and the leader pounces, knocking him down. His phone slides all the way back and he cringes.
"Ulrich!" Jeremy cries out but gets no answer. He taps into the cameras and sees the wolves surrounding Ulrich.
Amy drives as fast as she can and Odd points forward. "There's the cavern. Come on, Ames."
She narrows her eyes and goes even faster. She comes to a stop nearby. "Never know who could be around," She jumps out and Odd follows after her as they enter. The Scyphozoa proceeds to attack Aelita and the two come to a stop as they see the Hornets. Luckily, their backs are turned and they can't see the duo.
"Oh no," Odd turns to Amy. "They've got guard dogs."
"I told you," She only shrugs. "There's no way we'll be able to get past them without the Hornets seeing us. We need to get sneak past and get to Aelita."
Odd looks down at the water and then at the Hornets. He touches it and yelps, Amy covering his mouth and looking back towards the Hornets. They don't hear them and Odd shivers at how cold the water was...but Amy's hand felt different from the cold. He takes a deep breath and jumps in. Amy does the same and they swim underneath the Hornets, who don't suspect a thing.
They suddenly appear underneath the Scyphozoa. "Laser Arrow!" Odd fires both his hands at the tentacles, causing it to release Aelita. Amy throws her spear at the monster and it leaves. Aelita rubs her head, landing on a rock in front of Aelita. "You okay? Jeremy, how's it going with the antivirus?"
"Ulrich isn't going to last much longer!"
"I'm working on it," Jeremy reports, Yumi walking up to him.
"What about Ulrich?" She asks him and she leans in, seeing the footage. Ulrich holds his leg and jumps, hanging onto the rope, sliding to the bottom. Jeremy and Yumi both watch in anticipation until he lands on the ground, due to the pain in his leg. "Ulrich! I've gotta help him!"
"Wait," Jeremy gets a green exclamation point. "The antivirus is deactivated. Aelita, you can get into the tower now. Hope this works..."
Aelita looks up, having recovered from the attack. She steps onto the rocks and successfully enters the tower. Odd holds out a hand to Amy and helps her out of the water, holding onto her. If he was able to smell, he would enjoy her strawberry scent...
He sighs in relief once Aelita has gone into the tower. "It's okay, Jeremy." He wraps his tail around Amy's waist and she smiles at him. Neither of them notice the Hornets approaching.
Ulrich gets surrounded by the wolves, unable to get up.
Aelita walks up to the middle, letting herself fly to the top.
The wolves are right above him, growling.
She lands on the top pad, Ulrich cringing to himself. Aelita walks up to the interface.
The wolves start to gnaw at Ulrich's clothes.
Aelita signs in to deactivate the tower.
Ulrich whimpers as a wolf is tugging at his pants.
Code
Lyoko
"Tower deactivated..."
The wolves all fall unconscious around Ulrich. "Launch a return to the past!" Yumi cries out in worry for Ulrich. "Hurry up!"
"Return to the past now," Jeremy presses the button and everything is engulfed in white, including Ulrich and the wolves around him.
When they return back, it's the climbing competition again. "First one to the top," William smiles down challengingly. Ulrich looks up at him. "Well?"
"No thanks."
"You chicken?" William teases him. "You got vertigo or what?"
"Yeah," Ulrich smirks at him. "What about it?" He was no longer going to deny it. Fears didn't make him as different as anyone else. "No worse than being afraid of spiders."
"Mm?" William raises an eyebrow in surprise. Both Yumi and Ulrich smirk knowingly. "Hey, how did you know that?"
"I have my spies," Ulrich looks away and he sees Sissi giggling a bit. "Anyway, see you around, Spiderman."
"Hm," Yumi smiles in amusement, following after him. He huffs and watches the five leave the gym. Jeremy is waiting for them outside.
"So, Aelita, what's it like being invisible?" Odd asks once they step out. "I always wanted to be like...you know, Sue in the Fantastic Four?" he chuckles and Jeremy smiles to himself, walking after them.
"Well, whatever it was like, I don't wanna know. I'd rather be able to see myself," Amy flips her hand behind her. "And besides...it's better than being able to see Sissi everyday."
They all laugh at her remark.