"Aelita says that already Xana is making more monsters disappear."
We were sitting in the cafeteria eating our breakfast. I listened in dismay to what was happening in Lyoko.
"She doesn't know how he's doing it, but it's happening at a more rapid rate. We have to do something."
"Like what?" Ulrich asked, slapping Odd's hand away from his food. "We don't know anything about how Xana's doing this and why he's doing this. All we know is that Xana's making monsters disappear in Lyoko."
"Maybe we should go to Lyoko," I suggested. "We can see how the monsters are disappearing for ourselves. It's the only thing we can do, it seems, that would really help."
Jeremy hesitated and then nodded. "I guess we could get some more information that way."
Jeremy, Ulrich and I stood up. "Odd, you coming?" Ulrich asked.
Odd looked up at us and then shrugged. "No, its okay. I'd rather not go back to Lyoko so soon."
"So soon?" I asked him incredulously. "It's been over three months!"
"Oh well, catch you guys later!"
I sighed and shook my head as we walked out. "He is so hopeless."
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"Virtualization."
An immense wind blew me up and then I was traveling quickly through the tunnel that would get me to Lyoko. Once out of the tunnel, I was put together with pixels. Then I landed in a crouch in the mountains. Ulrich came right behind me.
"Hey!" a voice called to my left. I turned to see Aelita running toward us.
"Hi Aelita," I greeted her.
"How's everything going?" Ulrich asked her.
She shook her head. "Everything's fine except for the fact that Xana is making his own monsters disappear. I don't know how. But come with me. I'll lead you to the last place I saw that had monsters."
She took off running back the way she'd come. I followed, running much more swiftly than I could in real life. Ulrich kept pace right beside me.
"What are we going to do when we see the monsters, Yumi?" he asked.
I shrugged. "Wait, watch, and if they attack, attack back."
We jumped over a gap in the pathway but continued running. Suddenly, Aelita stopped at a boulder. She went behind it and motioned for us to follow.
"The monsters are right behind us, I think. That's where they were last. We can hide behind here to watch."
I poked my head over the side of the boulder. The road ahead was empty. "I don't see any..."
"Monsters!" Aelita exclaimed. She pointed to an outcropping in front of us. Three blocks were scuttling their way over to directly in front of us. Two of the three were already positioned and aiming downward at us. Their Xana symbols were glowing as there lasers prepared to fire.
Ulrich stepped in front of Aelita and me. "Move!" he yelled as the first two shots were fired. His sword drawn, he blocked the shots expertly and then retreated two steps.
"Come on, Aelita, let's go," I said. Not waiting for her response, I pulled her out from behind the boulder and turned to face two more blocks. They picked their way out from the other side of the boulder. We had been ambushed.
The two blocks in front of Aelita and me started glowing in preparation to fire. I whipped out my fan and threw it hard. It sliced one monster in half and came back to me. The other fired. I ran to my right and dodged it just in time to see another shot come from the last block on the outcropping. It went straight toward Aelita. Hoping that it would work, I threw my fan in the way of the shot. My fan deflected the shot into the first two blocks and they blew up. As I caught my fan with my hand, Ulrich jumped up and smashed the last block on the outcropping into pieces of wood. I crept up behind the one that had attempted a shot at me and kicked it off the pathway. I watched it fall into the murky depths and fade away.
I smiled as I turned to face Aelita and Ulrich. "That was easy," I stated.
"Nice shot with your fan too," Ulrich said.
I winked. "Thanks."
"Uh-oh," Aelita said, looking forward. "I think more are coming."
She was right. As I turned, I saw more blocks headed our way. Ulrich jumped beside me, his sword drawn at the ready, the yellow band around his head fluttering in the virtual wind. I stepped back and flipped open my fan. "Here we go."
The first ones shot. Ulrich and I successfully blocked all the shots. But the next volley brought misses and Aelita flew back with the impact of one to her chest. "Aelita!" I screamed and made the mistake of turning around to see if she was okay. One shot hit me in the back and I went flying as well, crying out in virtual pain as my life points drained away.
"Yumi!" Ulrich yelled frantically but had enough sense to not turn around, as I had done. I slid a few inches on the hard mountain floor from the impact and then straightened myself up. Then I ran over to Aelita to help her up as well.
"There are too many," Aelita said worriedly as I, once again, joined Ulrich in the front line.
"Its fine, Aelita, we can take them," Ulrich said reassuringly, only it didn't have the desired effect since he got hit squarely in the chest at about the same time he said it. He flew back and I opened my fan to block more shots that were meant for him as he recovered from the blow.
"No, you can't!" Aelita shouted, the last word escalating into a scream that pierced the surroundings. She squeezed her eyes shut hard and buried her forehead into the palms of her hands.
I knew was she was doing. "No, Aelita!" I yelled. "It'll take too much energy!"
But it was too late to stop her. She started shaking, as did the ground. The monsters stopped shooting as they scuttled around, confused and unsure of what was happening. I steadied myself by grabbing the side of a boulder. Ulrich spread out his arms to keep his balance. And still, Aelita stood there and soon she dropped to her knees.
Slowly, a stone wall a foot thick rose right in front of us, blocking us from attacks from the monsters. The monsters finally figured out what was happening when the wall was already too high for them to shoot over. They scuttled frantically, shooting at the wall. The wall stopped rising at about seven feet high. Aelita opened her eyes and panted harshly. I ran over to her.
"Aelita, you didn't have to do it! You wasted too much energy!"
"Wasted?" she asked between gasps of air. "You would have been killed. Both of you."
"Yumi? Ulrich?" Jeremy's voice sounded in my head. "Can you hear me?"
"Yeah, Jeremy," Ulrich answered. "What have you got?"
"You got to get out of there now!"
Puzzled, I looked around. "Why? Nothing is threatening anymore in Lyoko."
"Its not in Lyoko. Its in the real world!"
Ulrich and I exchanged worried glances. "What is it?" we asked in unison.
"Odd's been attacked by Xana's monsters!"