Three transparent, blue figures appeared in the sky of Lyoko's desert region. They solidified and dropped gracefully to the ground. A little while later, a fourth figure joined them where they stood. Aelita, Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich took a few seconds to take in their surroundings. They had no idea that things would be a little different today.
The last creatures to stand where the four of them stood were a pair of tarantulas on a patrol mission that had disappeared under mysterious circumstances. They were on a medium-sized platform. Some distance in front of them was a humongous plateau ringed by very high sandstone walls. There was a small bridge leading to an opening in the rock, but the passage veered to the right after a few feet rather than going right through the cliff.
"Hey Jeremie," said Yumi, looking up at the sky, "How about programming our vehicles?"
Silence.
"Umm.. okay, then can you at least tell us where the tower is?"
More silence.
"JEREMIE!" Then there was some dark, evil laughter.
"Uh oh..." Odd said.
"You fools!", came the voice from above. "Do you even know who you're talking to?"
"Xana, I presume?" Odd said cockily.
"muh huh huh huh huh... correct."
"What have you done with Jeremie, Xana?" Ulrich shouted, shaking his fist at the sky.
"No need to worry about your freind. He's just a little... tied up, at the moment."
"So what are you planning this time, fiend?"
"Well, since you asked so politely," Xana said sarcastically, "I'll tell you. Since I am the one who transferred you, I have deposited you nowhere near the tower. Also, I have taken the liberty of disconnecting the dematerialization program. No more life points, and you're gone for good."
The four kids stared upward at the sky, waiting for Xana to continue. He was silent. "And..." Yumi said impatiently.
"What do you mean 'and'?"
"What else is there?"
"Do you want anything else?"
The kids remained silent.
"I thought so. I grow bored of talking. My monsters will be there to deal with you in exactly 12 seconds. Goodbye, humans."
"Man, Xana must be running out of ideas." Said Odd. "This is, what, the fifth time he's pulled the plug on the return trip?"
"Cut it out, Odd." Ulrich said. "What do we do now, Aelita?" There was a familiar rumbling at their feet. They looked down to see some red circles ripple across the landscape.
"The pulsations. It doesn't matter how far away we are. We just need to follow them. It looks like they lead through those cliffs to a tower on the other side." Aelita said confidently.
They started at a run towards the cliffs. "But you know what..." Aelita said, sounding confused, "I'm pretty sure I've been in this part of Lyoko plenty of times before, and I can't remember ever seeing these cliffs before."
"No time to reminisce now, Aelita." Yumi said, panting. "Our twelve seconds are up." She pointed into the sky to indicate three fast moving dots, coming straight at them. Too soon, they were clearly visible for what they were.
"Frelions?" Odd shouted. "Is that the best you can do, Xana? Because unless something happens to mix things up a bit, this will be a real snooze of an adventure story if anyone ever decides to write about it!" The Frelions' only reply was to start shooting their lasers. Odd dived out of the way and kept running, aiming backwards to fire a shot. The arrow flew through the air and missed.
"The opening!" Shouted Yumi, pointing. "Maybe we can lose them in the cliffs!" The four of them ran across the bridge and into the narrow passageway. A barrage of lasers followed them in, striking ground they had been at only moments before. The monsters paused at the opening to exchange nervous glances. They preferred wide open skies to fight in. Narrow passages were not their cup of tea. But orders were orders.
The kids ran through the passage, but after the first right turn, they found an intersection after a short distance. They followed the pulsations, but it wasn't long before they realized that they were in a very large maze. The Frelions flew a short distance behind them, firing shots that burned the walls. "Wait.. look!" Aelita shouted, pointing. Three more Frelions were flying towards them from another direction, so that there were monsters both in front of them and behind. "This way!" Aelita shouted, pointing them down another passageway to their left. They ran in, while the Frelions were forced to screech to a halt to avoid crashing into one another.
Now there were six Frelions following them. Odd aimed backwards again and managed to pick off two of them, but in return took a laser in the shoulder.
"Odd! Move it!" Ulrich shouted, while Odd ran to catch up.
"Oh no!" Shouted Aelita, pointing. Another group was flying toward them from a nearby passage. "C'mon!" She shouted, as they followed her down another passage.
"This doesn't look good." Ulrich muttered, as there were now a grand total of seven Frelions. They rushed out of an opening to find themselves in a very wide sloping passage, with the cliffs still rising high above them. Ulrich and Yumi drew their weapons, while Odd took aim, waiting for the monsters to fly out of the passage. They did, but instead of immediately attacking, they just hovered in midair for a second, then flew up and out, over the edge of the cliff.
"They gave up?" Odd said. "We must be pretty intimidating, huh?"
"Just shut up, Odd.", said Ulrich, "Listen." They all silenced themselves, but a low rumble could still be heard. They slowly turned their heads to look behind themselves.
"Sounds like a Megatank." Aelita said after a few seconds. "But bigger. Much bigger." It was then that the source came into view. "GIANT BOULDER!" Odd screamed. A massive, perfectly round rock was rolling down the wide path.
Nobody needed a second warning. They ran as fast as they could down the slope, while the boulder thundered after them. It came close enough for them to be hit with the debris churned up. Then it came close enough for its shadow to loom over them. "We're never going to make it!" Yumi shouted.
"Oh yes we are!" Shouted Ulrich. "TRIPLICATE!"
Ulrich separated into three running individuals. Each of them, without warning, hoisted one of the other kids onto his back, then dashed off at super-sprint. They dashed down the passage, until abruptly the sandstone sides were no longer there. The three Ulriches and their cargo veered off to the side, while the boulder rolled by them. It shuddered, then came to a stop on the now level ground.
The three Ulriches deposited their passengers on the ground, and then fused back into one person. "Whew! Thanks Ulrich!" Yumi said, relived.
"No problem." He replied.
"Great." Said Odd. "I feel like Indiana Jones now." His head shot upwards at the sound of more rumbling, but it was just the pulsations rippling by.
"Well, looks like we're out of danger for now." Aelita said. They all looked around to take in their surroundings. On one side were the cliffs, still rising high. On the other side were some sloping, sandy hills. There was open air above them. "We should go to the top of one of these hills." Aelita said. "Maybe we can see the tower from there.
So they climbed the hill, and at the top they could, indeed, see the tower. But that was the least of their worries. In one fell swoop, all thoughts of Xana, the tower, the Frelions, the boulder, and even Jeremie were gone, as they just stood there, slack jawed at the sight before them in all its inexplicable glory. "No. Way." Ulrich finally said.
There was a vast open area, ringed by cliffs. They could see on the other side an opening, and the activated tower just beyond it, glowing red as always. Two extensions of cliff jutted out into the wide open space, much lower than the other cliff walls, but still much too tall to climb over. They came to meet what was in the center of the giant plateau. What exactly was in the center, you ask? Well now, that's where it gets interesting.