8-6: Weapon Shuffle
Well, as you can see by the title, they didn't actually lose their weapons. For the most part, that is.
(((-6-)))
Ulrich looked for his sword and couldn't find it. He was beginning to panic when he felt something on the other side of his belt. The samurai gawked as he looked down.
"Yumi, this is yours!" He held out the folded fan painted with pretty pink flowers to her.
She didn't say a word to him, but tried to snatch it out of his fingers. As she touched it, sparks flew and they were both sent flying in opposite directions! Ulrich hit a tree and Yumi smashed into Odd. As her right hand touched him, more sparks threw them apart.
She picked herself up, staring at Ulrich with confusion and ire. "What just happened here! I want my fan!"
"Well, I want my Laser Arrows but I can't get them, now can I?" Odd said derisively as he pointed to the conspicuous purple glove on the hand that had touched him.
Aelita inspected her belt to which five pairs of ninja stars were attached. She fingered them thoughtfully. "Jeremy, what do our profiles say?"
He sounded worried. "Nothing at all. Everything checks out. There must be some mistake! Maybe X.A.N.A. is disguising it somehow, but nothing appears to have been changed."
Behind the disarrayed gang, Horthe stood watching quietly. She looked the same as she did on Earth except that her clothes were slightly different and there were light pink swirls on her cheeks. She levitated off the ground slightly to look at the trees around them. The evening light made everything darker and more foreboding.
While they were still arguing, the dark-skinned girl noticed a shadow pass over them and ducked instinctively. All conversation ground to a halt as a humongous Hornet hovered overhead. Samantha came closer to Horthe and the gang, almost curiously.
Her initial contact with Jeremy resulted in a barrage of stinging insults in his direction and then she threw up a mental wall that prevented any further dialogue between them.
Now she lowered as close to the forest floor as she was able, all ten wings beating at different rates to keep her aloft. The wind pushed them back against the trees and only Horthe seemed to be able to resist it.
Samantha caught sight of her counterpart instantly and gave a baffled buzz. The two were linked in a way almost like Jeremy's telepathic connection, but stronger. They stared at each other, both seeing themselves. Their thoughts intermingled and clashed in an exchange with a very explosive outcome.
(V)
X.A.N.A. snapped back in astonishment. When he had lost communication with his Pawn, he had pressed all his influence upon the human. She had been shocked and frightened, but his suave persuasion and a few charismatic mental images won her over to his side at last.
But now the Warriors had returned and fallen into his trap…except that someone was with them who should not exist. Should be dead! And there was a wall between them that prevented communication, which made her his foe.
This anomaly could cause his plans to be twisted askew if given the chance. The human was speaking with her. If they got the chance to understand one another, it was the end for him. He commanded his giant Hornet to attack, telling her that the one resembling her was a trick of the enemies.
The remaining Warrior on Earth was alone and helpless. Though it stretched his powers very thin, he managed to send her a little gift that would get rid of her permanently.
X.A.N.A. also sent Megatanks to take care of the other pesky Warriors, but his orders bounced back and belatedly he remembered that when Pawns were activated, he was only able to utilize the corresponding monster.
A swarm of Hornets virtualized nearby, waiting further instructions.
(V)
Samantha felt X.A.N.A.'s warning flare in her head and heeded it directly. Pulling back, she fired a laser at her counterfeit self, but the other was too quick and avoided the blast by taking to the air. She shot poison after the little pest, all of it missing completely as she was consumed by blind rage. She did not notice that where the acid touched the digital forest floor, it began to eat away the ground! The gang barely managed to evade a splatter that tore holes straight through a tree trunk right behind them.
Jeremy was frantic. "Parts of the platforms are vanishing from my hologram! Samantha's poison is tearing the place apart! Oh, just great. The only path toward the tower has been destroyed! She just took care of it."
The geisha turned to her friend. "Aelita, do you think you can make a bridge?"
"I'll try." The pink-haired girl dropped to her knees and hummed, but there was no echo of her voice that indicated any power behind it. She opened her eyes, mystified. "It's gone. I can't use my Synthezation!"
"What are we supposed to do!" Ulrich demanded. "The only way is blocked and we can't make a bridge, plus Samantha has gone psycho on us and Horthe is keeping her occupied."
Aelita glanced up at the two opponents zipping around between the tall trees. Her brow furrowed and she had an idea. "Do you remember when Janika first came and the ground shook so violently that we couldn't walk?" They nodded. "We climb the trees."
With that, she tossed a pair of Janika's pilfered shurikens at each of her friends and the teenagers used them to rise above the dead end on the ground. Odd seemed to be the best at it (due to his feline characteristics) and as he held the weapons, he couldn't help but wonder if she was all right.
Then he heard a buzzing in the distance.
(V)
Janika forcefully came back to herself through an ocean of fear and pain. Her arm was on fire and the barest move sent waves upon waves of new, fresh pain exploding all over her brain. She realized there were people standing over her. The only one she could recognize was Jim.
Wait, they weren't standing over her. They were carrying her on something flat. To where? What had happened? Why wasn't Odd with her?
Jim was talking to her but she couldn't understand a word he was saying. It all ran together like some alien language. A blonde woman appeared. Was that Nurse Dorothy? Janika couldn't be sure. She started talking too, but once again it was nothing but garbled sounds.
Nurse Dorothy helped move Janika onto something softer and she began to make sense of what she saw around her. It was the infirmary, for sure. No other place on campus was this white. The pain in her arm slowed to an aching throb of fiery needles and the dark-haired girl began to feel slightly safe.
Then she saw it. Or him. There by the medicine cabinet, hovering over a bottle, his gaseous form leering evilly at her. And he was gone.
The nurse's words still weren't clear, but her actions were. She picked up a sterilized needle and reached into the cabinet for the very bottle X.A.N.A. had infected. She drew the fluid into the needle and walked toward Janika.
Another cliffy! (does evil voodoo dance and sings:) You'll just have to waaaaait till I updaaaaate! Well, here we go. How about this one: so far in the TV series, which kid is the best warrior on Lyoko?
