Author's Note: Thank you again for all my reviews! This time I have quite a few things to say.
First, I probably am going to write my sequel and I already have an idea. But I'm going to let you try and guess it first. In this story there is a part where I foreshadow the main plot that will be in the sequel. Send me a review or email with your guess and if you get it right...oh, I don't know...maybe you can read my story early or something. Anyway, just a little fun.
Second, I have some responses to reviews. Son of Xana, to clarify your point, I could have had that happen, but they are zombies remember? They were instructed pretty much to get shot by monsters to get virtualized and nothing else. Also, that's why Yumi and Ulrich ran below the people's line of vision. To sirhcnotilih, the idea came a bit late so I couldn't really use it. Sorry! Was a good idea though.
Only one more chapter after this one. Enjoy!
"Jeremy," I said, "we're here in the virtualization room."
"Good, get into your pods," he instructed. "You're going to the mountains."
I stepped into the virtualization pod and turned around as it slid shut.
"Transfer Yumi...transfer Ulrich...scanner Yumi...scanner Ulrich...virtualization."
I flew through the tunnel that led to the virtual world and a flash of bright white light blinded me. Then I was being virtualized and I landed in a crouch on the stone pathway. Ulrich landed next to me.
I looked around. "Looks quiet," I commented, squinting at everything in the gloom.
"Yumi! Ulrich! Over here!" Aelita's voice carried through the area. I turned to my left to see Aelita running toward us with Odd just behind her. Aelita stopped when she reached us. "Good to see you," she said urgently. "We need to find the tower Xana activated right away."
"How come a tower didn't activate before?" I asked.
"When Xana changed the shot of his monsters into virtualizing rays he activated a tower," Aelita explained breathlessly. "Come on, I think its back the way we came."
With Odd and Aelita leading, we ran across the pathway, our footsteps making soft crunching noises. I saw no tower ahead but hoped there was one.
What we found was no tower. "Ah!" Aelita exclaimed softly and pulled Odd back behind a boulder with her. Ulrich and I ran to where she was hiding. When we looked at her questioningly she said, "Xana's army."
I peeked around the side of the boulder and found she was right. Numerous members of Xana's army were scattered across the pathway ahead. They seemed to be lazy and careless, and as I watched one of them even started to sharpen their sword on the rock they were sitting on. The sharp metallic scraping sound made me wince and look back at my friends.
Odd had been looking too. "Some sort of army Xana's got here." He snorted. "The kind that gets a bit tired?" He laughed but the three of us shushed him immediately.
"Maybe we can have some kind of advantage," Ulrich said, glancing back at Xana's army. He was once again thinking like an army general. I swore that in a previous life he must have been.
"Maybe," I said jokingly, "you should be on their side instead of ours. They need your tactics more."
"Very funny," Ulrich said then turned back to us. "We might be able to surprise them."
I knew what he was thinking exactly. I nodded and spotted a boulder on the other side of where we were hiding. I ran swiftly for its cover than peeked around to make sure no one saw me. Ulrich ran next and peered around to make sure all was still as it was before.
"Okay Yumi," he whispered into my ear. "Aim carefully." I took sight of a boy that was yawning and leaning back on a rock near the edge of the pathway. Slowly I unfolded my fan and closed one eye to aim better. Then, with of flick of my wrist, I sent my fan whizzing into the army's mist. The fan hit the boy square in the chest and he toppled over the side with a scream. In seconds he had fallen into the gloom and de- virtualized. I caught my fan as it came back to me. Then we waited.
The area became hushed with silence as Xana's army froze and realized something wasn't right. We heard their ill concealed footsteps crunching as they crept nearer the boulders we were hiding behind. Odd took the opportunity to aim. "Laser arrow!" Two red streaks shot out of his purple glove and struck down two members of Xana's army. They fell over the side as well; I could hear them screaming. Everyone froze once more.
"Who's there?" A voice shot out of the silence. It was one of the Xana army members. Ulrich nodded at me.
"Surprise!" he yelled and jumped in the middle of the pathway. I jumped behind him and saw the shock registering on Xana army members.
"Get them!" A boy screamed and they charged through the narrow opening between the boulders. The first that went through were instantly shot down by Odd's arrows. The rest started to hesitant.
"Run." Ulrich and I ran down the pathway, eager to put as much distance as we could between the Xana army and ourselves. Even though we had won the first battle, we were still outnumbered twenty to one and would not last a minute if we were forced to stand up and fight. I looked behind my shoulder and saw that Xana army members were running after us now and more and more were coming. Soon lasers arrows, spears, and all sorts of weapons were being thrown at us. We dodged the best we could but kept running. Finally, there was a huge boulder in front of us and the path split in two, winding itself around the boulder. Without a word, we split and each took a path, forcing the army to split in two as well if they wanted to keep sight of their prey.
Just as the path was about to become one again, I noticed through a tiny hole big enough for a person to slide through, a path down below us. I looked farther back and saw a little hole in the bottom of the boulder for someone to crawl through. I signaled to Ulrich and then jumped down through the gap. I landed on the pathway and continued in a crouch to the hole in the bottom of the boulder. I crawled through the small opening and waited for Ulrich to come through.
"Hey! We'd they go?"
"Probably farther ahead. They run faster than we thought."
"Let's go!"
The pounding of feet slowly died away. I breathed out in relief. "Good thinking Yumi," Ulrich congratulated. Then he stopped. "Uh-oh."
I looked ahead to see two blocks scuttling toward us across the narrow path. Without another word, I scrambled back through the hole and emerged on the other side. But bad news awaited there also.
"There they are!" I looked up with a gasp to find a fresh wave of Xana's army looking down at our hiding place. Ulrich emerged from the hole right as they were sliding through the gap between the two pathways up above.
We ran forward and pushed the first two off the pathway and into the gloom below. Then we continued to run straight ahead, though running slower to keep our balance. The path was very narrow and one wrong step could send you tumbling into the abyss. I heard screams behind us as the monsters, confused and unsure, shot into the Xana army. I smiled. Another glitch in the system.
Suddenly I stopped when I looked up ahead. I could see clearly two figures up ahead. One was standing with a hand on her hips and the other had his arms crossed. I gasped. Sissy and Ben.
Immediately I reacted. I turned around and placed my index finger and middle finger of both hands on my temples and concentrated. Suddenly the narrow pathway began to shake as it crumbled to nothing behind us. The yells and screams of the Xana army could be heard as they fell in dismay into the misty void below. Then I turned quickly back to face the two figures still standing unmoving on the other side of the narrow defile. I almost slipped in the process and Ulrich grabbed my arm before I could fall forward.
Steadying myself, I knew as an instinct that we would need to get on sturdy land again or else they would always have the advantage. I snapped out my fan and ran forward. When I was close enough, I let it fly. It flew right in between the both of them. To avoid it, they jumped to either side of it, making a clear path in front of us. I reached the pathway and caught my fan. They returned to face us, both of us now evenly matched.
"Yumi? Yumi! Can you hear me?" Jeremy's voice reached my ears.
"Yes," I whispered, "what is it?"
"You need to de-virtualize all of Xana's human army now. All of them. Aelita is near the tower and once we return to the past, anyone that is still in Lyoko other than Odd, Ulrich, and you will be permanently trapped in Lyoko."
I nodded. "I'm on it."
"You have thirty seconds."
"Thirty seconds is plenty," I said, determined. Then I turned to address Sissy and Ben. "It seems your time has come."
Ben narrowed his eyes at me. "Ladies first," he said as he flew at me, his staff held in front of him. Without bothering to reach for my fan, I dodged him and kicked him from behind. He flew into a nearby boulder and turned around in rage.
"Cheap shot," he said.
"Loser," I shot back. He lunged at me again but this time he let his staff fly. It hit me in the chest and I flew back into the boulder behind me. I sagged against it, catching my breath. I saw his feet come up to right in front of me.
"I thought you'd be more of a challenge. Pity."
"Pity yourself," I snarled and tripped him with a sweep of my leg. He fell forward and his staff rolled off the pathway. He watched in horror as it toppled into the mists.
"Ten seconds," Jeremy reminded me nervously.
I grabbed Sissy's whip that she had dropped on the ground and bound up Ben's hands. Then I led him forward and pushed him onto the narrow pathway on which I had come. Sissy was led by sword point to join him. "I can't believe you would hit a girl, Ulrich!" she cried.
"I didn't hit you," he corrected. "I cornered you."
"See you at school," I said cheerily and knelt down to where the narrow walkway they were on connected to the main pathway we were on. I took out my fan, and sliced it through the rock twice. Then the walkway began to sway and crumble and the last thing we saw of Ben and Sissy was them tumbling into the abyss.
"Nice work, team," Jeremy whooped.
I stood up and glanced at Ulrich. He smiled back and suddenly reached out and hugged me. I hugged him back.
"Ready for a return trip to the past, Yumi?"