7-9: Ally

I am glad to find out that nobody liked the Aelita/Theo pairing. I just wanted to get this story over with, so this is about 2 chapters combined and shortened, so don't complain to me about how quickly everything got resolved unless you want an army of tie-dye mice to attack you someday when you least expect it! Read or die! Mwahahahaha!

(((-9-)))

"Wait, wait! So you're telling me that this Block is really Millie?" Odd repeated incredulously once again. "How exactly is that possible?"

Millie had blown up Aelita's ice barrier with a single fire beam.

"Odd…" Jeremy sounded vexed now. "Unless you really want me to go through the whole thing in 'my language,' I suggest you pretend to be satisfied with these words: it just is. Now shut up. You still have to get Aelita past X.A.N.A.'s Blocks to the Tower and shut it down before Bloktra destroys the school or kills somebody."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We know that, Einstein, but unfortunately, there isn't a way up in case you hadn't noticed before when you told us," Odd replied sarcastically.

Janika and Aelita rolled their eyes at the arguing boys.

"Maybe Millie knows where it is," the AI girl suggested. "She's been here for a while, after all. It's possible she noticed something."

Jeremy stopped bickering with Odd. "Yeah, she says there's something inside the crevice that you guys might want to check out."

They nervously skirted the huge, dark Block and went inside. The cave was shallow, barely large enough for Millie's body to fit, but there was nothing of interest to see.

"Jeremy, it's empty. Wait, is this some kind of trap!" They started to panic.

"Of course not. Millie says she can see things you can't. I think it has something to do with having four eyes and an electronic brain. Aelita, walk straight at the back wall."

The pink-haired girl did so, though clearly confused. She reached out to touch it and gasped as her hand passed straight through!

"A hologram! X.A.N.A. used an illusion to cover the pathway so we wouldn't be able to find it."

She ran inside and the other two followed, Janika throwing a quick 'thanks' back toward Millie. The tunnel wound sharply upward with steps cut into the ice and an illumination coming from above. They burst out through the exit and came face-to-face with a collection of 15 Blocks! The monsters fired rapidly, striking them all.

"Ahh! They were waiting for us! The jerks!" Janika groaned as she clutched her stomach. She looked up at the monsters as they closed in.

"You guys are too low on lifepoints!" Jeremy protested. "Odd, you're down to 20. Why are you guys just sitting there? Move it!"

(V)

Yumi sagged and labored as she ran. Ulrich was too heavy for her to drag far. If she could just find a safe place to keep him, he'd be fine. The Japanese girl laid Ulrich down in the most sheltered place she could find. At least he was still breathing.

The sounds of glass shattering and children screaming broke the late evening silence. She needed to get back and make sure Bloktra didn't kill anyone. Why wouldn't the witch stay put after she was injured?!

She ran back toward the commotion. What now? She rounded the corner of the gym and stopped in her tracks. Bloktra was hurling icy shards from the firehose at the students! She had broken some of the windows on the dorms already.

Yumi could see the sick, pleased smile plastered on the Pawn's face as she listened to the cries of pain and fear. She had to do something, but she shuddered and brought one hand to her cheek when she recalled Roshia's heartless torture a week earlier. She could almost feel those shards of stone digging into her flesh…

"Stop it, Bloktra," she shouted, steeling herself as she stepped forward. "I am the one you want. Not them. They can't harm you, so why attack them?"

The creature in Millie's body leered condescendingly. "Humans ask too many questions. They take advantage of the world they exist in without appreciating its values." Her frown deepened. "Fools. How long do you think it will last?"

(V)

The Blocks scuttled forward, firing rapidly with their three separate types of beams. Odd was unlucky enough to get struck before he could fire his laser arrows and was instantly devirtualized.

"Odd, you idiot!" Janika growled

She threw a pair of ninja stars at the foremost enemy, but it twisted agilely to one side and spun its head around to aim an ice-beaming eye at her.

"Yaaah!" she yelped, jumping quickly to avoid it.

Aelita took the shot in the chest. Jeremy cried out her name helplessly as she iced over with a look of alarm frozen on her face. The dark-haired girl stood solidly in front of her friend as the Blocks started to surround her.

Suddenly the computer's operator shouted, "Duck, Janika!"

She didn't argue and dropped down just as a huge laser twice as wide as herself shot out and vaporized eight of her enemies. Half of X.A.N.A.'s force had vanished in less than a second! Jeremy yelled at her to keep down and another shot flamed another six more that were raggedly trying to fire back.

The last one went for Janika, but this time she was ready…and mad.

A tint of her Bloodlust flared and she darted forward to destroy the Block with her lengthened claws before it could focus on either her or Aelita. Jeremy cheered from his console and checked the timer on the pink-haired girl's ice prison.

"Fifty seconds until she thaws. I hope nothing bad has happened to Yumi and Ulrich in the last half-hour."

(V)

There hadn't even been a fight. As soon as the Pawn turned the hose on her and she was doused, she had frozen to the ground, unable to move.

"Why?" Yumi choked out as the breath was squeezed out of her body. Bloktra's grip on her neck was iron. "Why does X.A.N.A. want to kill us so badly, and why are you doing this? You don't have to, you know!"

"Yes I do!" the ice witch insisted. "He created me and so I must do as he commands or die."

She had just finished speaking when suddenly her whole composure changed. Bloktra fell back from Yumi screeching and yammering incoherently. The ice all around them melted in a sudden flood and the dark-haired girl stumbled a few paces away.

Yumi remembered Roshia doing the same thing when Aelita had deactivated the Tower before.

Bloktra thrashed on the ground for a moment before growing still. Her eyes sought the Yumi's as she whispered, "Please…sing something…to me…"

Her brow furrowed, but the plea was so pitiful, so languishing, that Yumi couldn't refuse. She knelt beside the Pawn and hummed a Japanese lullaby until a white light covered everything and rewrote the past…

(V)

Janika smiled as she sat at a table with the others at the dance. They kept their voices low as they spoke, explaining to Ulrich and Yumi about what had gone on with Lyoko and how Millie had turned out to be the black Block. The Japanese girl stayed quiet, not even raising her eyes to look at them.

"So that means that the huge Roachster last time was Maïtena? Why did she attack us?" Ulrich wondered.

"Who knows? She probably thought it was fun or something. She's weird anyway. I just hope that Bloktra is the last one we'll see." Jeremy looked over at his lovely date. "Hey Aelita, it's a slow song. Would you like to dance?"

Everyone paired up with their dates, Odd and Janika included. She gave him a crooked half-smile.

"I'm glad Millie decided to let you go with me."

He tried to match her feet as she danced and wasn't doing a very good job. "Yeah well, I felt a little nervous going with her after she just tried to kill all of us, even if it wasn't really her."

The blonde boy felt Janika lean into him, resting her head lightly on his shoulder. They danced to the soft music until Odd finally raised his date's chin. Their lips brushed together momentarily and then he heard a strange thrumming.

He stepped away from her. "Janika, are you purring?"

She opened her eyes and the cat-like pupils stared at him not with frenzied anger, but with genuine affection.

No poll today since this is the last chapter. Well, it's been 2 months, but I finally got the whole thing up. Cool, huh?