Author's Note: This note is dedicated to Son of Xana to whom I have to say: Muahahahahaha! (Hey, I like evil laughs too!) You'll be pleased to know, however, that this chapter does not end in a cliffhanger but future chapters will, so brace yourself. Anyway, Son of Xana, I thought you devoted your life to reading and writing fan fics (speaking of writing, you should start writing more of your own, which is really good, by the way). Oh well, I hope you enjoy the chapter! And many thanks again to my faithful readers and reviewers. You guys rock! I hope you enjoy as well. Now, on with the chapter...
"Either Xana is insane these days or he suddenly took up an interest in painting," I mused while backing up with Jeremy, Odd, and Ulrich right beside me.
There were four blocks in all: one (I feared) for each of us. They were lined up in rainbow order: red, yellow, green, and then blue. I stepped back again.
"Hey, Jeremy?" Ulrich asked tensely. "Mind giving us some background information about these goons?"
"Sorry, Ulrich," Jeremy said nervously. "I don't have any background information on this."
"But why the hell would Xana color his monsters?" Odd said, getting impatient.
"I don't know, Odd, but move!" I screamed as they attacked. I started running to my right, sprinting my hardest in trying to outdistance the monsters. Ulrich followed me as Odd and Jeremy ran the other way. I looked behind my shoulder to see the yellow block and the blue block detach from their group and scuttle in hot pursuit of us. "Hurry, Ulrich," I said between gasps for breath, "or else they'll catch up to..."
The words stopped forming when the blue block flew over us and lowered itself onto the ground right in front of us. We slid to a stop in horror. "Since when did Xana's monsters fly?" Ulrich asked in panic.
"Since now?" I answered helplessly. "Great we're doomed now. This thing will get us no matter where we go."
"I have a feeling," Ulrich started, looking behind us, "that this is about to get worse."
I pivoted on my heels to see was he was looking at and when I saw it, I gasped in shock.
It seemed that the yellow block had grown a mechanical arm on its right side. And suddenly a sword materialized in that hand. The block brandished it at us threateningly. "Wait," I said, the clockwork in my brain turning furiously, "that sword looks familiar."
"That's because it's my sword!" Ulrich yelled angrily and without thinking charged at the block holding his sword that he would normally use in Lyoko. "Give me back my sword!"
"Ulrich, no!" I screamed as I watched him try to tackle the block. But the block shot him squarely in the chest. I watched in terror as he flew past me, getting some major air in the process and landing a sizable distance away. "Ulrich!" I yelled as the blocks enclosed the distance with me. I trembled as they positioned themselves on either side of me. Then their Xana symbols started to glow. Right before they fired, I finally was able to move my paralyzed self and I sprang to the side. The blocks' shots hit each other straight in the center of their Xana symbols and they both blew up. Relieved to be rid of them, I ran to Ulrich's side.
"Are you okay?" I asked him anxiously, helping him sit up.
"Yeah, amazingly. That was a stupid thing to do, just run up and present an open target for Xana's monsters like that." He shook his head slowly.
"You aren't hurt?" He shook his head again. "That's not possible. You were shot. You can't take a shot without at least a little bit of damage."
"I do feel a bit tired."
"Is it possible that those shots suck out your energy?"
"Beats me," Ulrich struggled to stand up but almost fell back down. I grabbed his arm to steady him. "Thanks," he said, smiling at me.
"Um...yeah..." I blushed and let go of his arm reluctantly.
"Holy crap! What's that?" Ulrich said, pointing to where the blocks had been. I looked and saw something faintly glowing blue and yellow. We ran over there, Ulrich slower this time, and started searching for the source of the glowing through the pieces of wood that had been the monsters. After a short amount of time, my face was lit up by a glowing blue light.
"What's this thing?" I asked, picking up a blue crystal on a leather cord from the monster rubble. I twisted it around for a while, viewing it from all angles before touching it. Finally, I did. It was warm and the glowing did not lessen.
Ulrich held up a similar shaped crystal from the ruins of what had been the yellow block. He gazed at the crystal in wonder. "I wonder why it's glowing."
"Only one way we can find out," I said resolutely and before he could stop me, I slipped it over my neck.
"Yumi, don't! It could be a trap!" Ulrich yelled, reaching out a hand as if trying to stop me. I stood there and watched the crystal glow steady against my black shirt that showed my belly button.
"Well, if it's a trap, it's a pretty stupid one," I stated. "Nothing's happening. Put on yours, Ulrich."
He did so reluctantly, almost reversing the action once and then forcing himself to slip it over his neck. He stood up next to me and watched the crystal as it glowed. Nothing peculiar happened. Then suddenly there was a flash of yellow light near Ulrich's right hand. He yelped and stepped back. I shielded my eyes from the light and when it receded, I risked a peek. When I did, I stood there stupidly with my mouth open in a perfect O. My expression looked something like Ulrich's.
He was holding his sword that he would normally have in Lyoko to fight with. It was the same one the monster had been holding. After the sword had been apparently materialized, the glow of the crystal around Ulrich's neck receded to its regular brightness. After a while, Ulrich finally reacted and brandished the sword a couple of times in front of him. Then his face broke out into a smile. "Sweet!" he commented and stabbed at the air in front of him a few more times.
"Hey hotshot," I said, backing up, "watch it. I'm standing here you know."
He looked up suddenly. "The blue box that followed us could fly right?" he asked excitedly. I nodded. "Then maybe you can fly. Trying flying Yumi!"
"Okay. Sure I'll fly. I've done it millions of times before, so I know just what to do!" I said sarcastically, giving Ulrich a look that said he was crazy.
"Just push off the ground or something," he said off-handedly, once again occupied by his new best friend, his sword.
I sighed and looked down at the crystal. "Here goes," I said quietly. I bent my knees and pushed off the ground, jumping a few inches into the air. But all I did was come back down. "Not working," I informed Ulrich. "Anymore brilliant ideas?"
"Do what they do in the movies. Spread your arms like you're flying or something."
"Okay," I said skeptically, spreading my arms. Nothing happened. I looked skyward. "I really feel like a fool right..." I started then choked on my words when I started rising in the air. I looked down and saw Ulrich watching me wide-eyed. I started to smile and directed myself to go to my left. It worked. I extended my arms in front of me, as if I was reaching to touch the nearest wall ahead of me. I went faster.
I whooped in delight as I looped around a tree and landed gracefully on the flat roof of the nearest building. Ulrich came running after me. "Cool! Can I try?" he asked hopefully.
"Sorry, but I got first dibs on this," I said, pretending to be arrogant. "Besides, you seemed too busy with your darling sword." He scowled at me.
Suddenly, a streak of red whooshed past my head. I screamed and ducked just in time. When I was pretty sure it had missed me, I looked behind to find an old fashioned arrow sticking out from the roof shingles. Puzzled, I turned back to the front and saw Odd running over to where Ulrich and I were, waving and shouting something. He had an odd lump on his back.
"Awesome!" I heard finally. It was what he had apparently been yelling all this time. "I shot that!" he said proudly, holding up a bow and turning around so we could see the quiver of arrows he had strapped to his back. When he turned back around, I noticed he had the red glowing crystal around his neck. "Apparently, these crystals give us powers. What are you doing way up there Yumi?"
"First of all, I'm trying to survive by dodging that arrow you just shot," I said pointedly.
Odd smiled nervously. "Oops."
"And because," I said, taking to the air again and landing next to Odd, "I can fly." I was pleased when he looked at me in wonder. "Where's Jeremy?"
"Right here," Jeremy said, appearing next to me suddenly. I jumped back in shock.
"How did you get here?" I asked.
This time he smiled widely. "Apparently the green crystal makes you run as fast as the speed of light, or somewhere in that proportion. So the naked eye can't see me when I run."
"So I see...I mean, experienced," I said, quickly correcting myself.
"And I see that you have the ability of flight and Ulrich has his sword back from Lyoko," Jeremy observed. "These will help us in the fight in the real world against Xana. It has been evidently proven true what I said about Xana. He is materializing his monsters."
"But why would he materialize monsters, that when killed, would help us?" Ulrich asked, slipping the sword into its scabbard that had also been materialized earlier.
"I'm not quite sure," Jeremy said, "but I could ask Aelita to hack into his system in Lyoko. That might give us some more answers. In fact, I want to go to the warehouse right now."
"I'll go with you," Odd offered. "Besides I want to try out my new skill."
"Just don't hurt yourself or anyone else, Odd," Ulrich warned.
"And be careful," I added.
"Careful is my middle name, guys. Don't sweat," Odd winked as he ran off after Jeremy.
"More like Trouble," Ulrich said, sighing. "I hope he doesn't destroy anything on the way to the warehouse."
"Give him a little more faith, Ulrich." I looked around. "Now, what do you say on cleaning this mess?"