Chapter 12: Second Warning

Bang.
Bang.

Bang.

Ulrich cringed. With every bullet the soldier fired, Ulrich felt as though it was his own heart being fired into.

He felt tears coming to his eyes. Yumi lay on the sand, blood leaking out of the three holes in her chest. Those three moments felt like the longest in Ulrich's life. The soldier stood over her, an impassive expression on his face. Xana's was like a man who had just partaken in revenge, which he had.

"Well, that's that." Xana said. "It is time to go, minions." He said, turning to the remaining monsters and the possessed soldiers. "I have the ultimate weapon now, but this desert is short on targets. We must go back to France right away."

"What about the other humans here, Lord Xana?" One of the soldiers asked. Ulrich badly wanted to rush forward and throttle Xana, but he also knew that doing so would be an invitation for all of Xana's minions to start shooting at once, and the ones now standing over him and Odd wouldn't let them get away easily.

"Destroy the vehicles that brought them here. We'll see how long they'll last here in the desert. Water is a necessity among living creatures, I hear, and I doubt those archeologists brought enough to last all of them through a trek back to civilization." Xana said, with a dismissive wave. "And with Yumi dead, I'm sure they won't be able to fight us even if they do escape."

"But Lord Xana," one of the soldiers said, with a confused expression on his face, "If Yumi is dead, then why is she still moving?"

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Two Krabes, one glowing green, the other not glowing at all, rushed forward and butted heads, sending the glowing one sprawling. Aelita was worried. Although the Frelions had been able to pick off a lot of Xana's Krabes when they first swooped in, the Tarantulas had been better at shooting down flying targets than she thought they would be. One or two were still firing down, but all three Tarantulas were still firing upwards.

Jeremie's Krabes had formed into a little defensive cluster, but they were surrounded by Xana's Krabes. There was an explosion, and the lasers firing outward decreased. The battle had been going well at first, now they were obviously losing. She heard a rumbling sound, and turned to see two of Xana's Megatanks rolling into position. One fired, and the laser blew Jeremie's Tarantula apart.

"Aelita, can you do anything?" Jeremie's frantic voice called out. "My monsters can't hold Xana's monsters off much longer!"
"I'll... I'll try, Jeremie." Aelita said softly, clearly sounding like she wasn't sure she could help.
She knelt to the ground, closed her eyes, and started to sing. The high, clear note resonated around Lyoko.

She opened her eyes, unsure if what she had tried had worked. It had.

The three Krabes which were left had grown to a tremendous size, empowered by the sound of Aelita's voice. Jeremie stared at his screen, which now held three giant green circles, surrounded by about ten smaller red circles. The character cards for the Krabes now showed that they had no less than 40,000 HP, and an laser attack of 400 life points per hit.

"Aelita..." Jeremie said, "Um, have you always been able to do that?"
"Uh, theoretically, it should have been possible." Aelita's voice came through the speakers, "But believe me, I'm just as surprised as you are."

The first of the super-sized Krabes raised a claw into the air, and brought it down with devastating force. The shockwave sent the five Krabes nearest it flying up into the air, where the Krabe shot lasers as big as they were right into them. The second Krabe swept a giant claw along the ground, sweeping the rest of Xana's Krabes right off the edge into the digital sea.

Two elliptical blasts hit the third one, but even the Megatank's massive firepower didn't seem to faze the Krabe. The Megatanks closed their shields but the Krabe fired two laser blasts anyway. Each of the two blasts vaporized one of the Megatanks, armor and all. Meanwhile, the three Tarantulas were making a run for it, but a few lucky shots from the still-normal Frelions destroyed them.

With all of Xana's monsters gone, there was silence on the plateau. The three Krabes started shrinking down to normal size, and the two Frelions remaining swept down. The monsters bowed to Aelita, and then flew and walked off. Aelita watched them go.
"Thanks!" She shouted, waving after them.
"Alright, Aelita. Its up to you now."

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Xana whirled around and saw that Yumi was indeed moving. She sat up, and looked around, first at Ulrich and Odd, then at Xana, then at her own chest. She reached down and, wincing with pain, pulled the bullets one by one out of her flesh. Then, before everyone's eyes, the wounds started to shrink, and the flesh began to heal. In moments, it was as if Yumi had never been shot at all.

"What... But... How...?" One of the archeologists said, in wonder. Xana looked at her, and noticed for the first time the blue aura shining around her.
"The Grail." Xana spat. "It looks like it affected her after all. Its power was still in her body when she was shot, and it healed her." He walked over to her. "You are a very lucky girl, you know that. I didn't notice it before, but when you fired the blue end at yourself, you absorbed its energy."

" As long as that blue aura is around you," Xana continued. He was obviously furious, and it looked like he was talking to himself more than Yumi. "Nothing can kill you. And there's no telling how long it will last."
"Then you haven't won yet, Xana." Yumi said.
"Don't let invulnerability go to your head, young lady! I can still kill your friends!" He screamed, whirling on her.

He turned to the monsters and soldiers surrounding Ulrich and Odd.
"DESTROY THEM!" He shouted. But nothing happened. For at that very moment, Aelita was in the tower, watching data flow down the inner walls into oblivion. The symbols in the soldiers' eyes disappeared, and they flopped to the ground, unconscious, as specters flew out of their bodies and dissipated. The monsters eyes dimmed, and they also clattered to the ground.

For a moment, the archeologists, the kids, and Xana just stood there, stunned. Odd broke out into cheers.
"Yeah! Take that Xana!" Odd shouted. "No worries now, guys, it looks like Aelita did it!"
"We've foiled you once again, Xana." Ulrich said. Unlike Odd, his face was still serious. He drew his sword. "And I can't wait to give you a little taste of this after what you did to Yumi."

Xana backed up, only to run into Yumi. She had grabbed the pixelization chip from the fallen soldier and placed it back on her neck, and when Xana backed up into her, she put her twin fans to his neck. He turned and pushed her away, then backed up in the other direction. But Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi were closing in and surrounding him, weapons drawn.

"You think you've won?" Xana snarled. "As long as any trace of my consciousness remains on Earth, the return to the past cannot be activated." The three kids stopped at that. They hadn't known that.

"Oh yes!" Xana said. "Normally it doesn't matter, because deactivating the tower removes me from Earth, flinging me back into cyberspace. But I'm still here in my new body, and I'm not about to lose it to you! Did you forget this little thing?"
Xana held up the Grail, and the kids took a step back.
"I am not afraid to use this against you!" He shouted.

"Um, Xana, or whatever your name is," Lexina said, "Based on our latest translations of the alien writing, I don't-"
"SILENCE!" Xana shouted, turning around so that the red end of the Grail was aimed at the archeologists. But since he was aiming at the archeologists, it meant that he was not aiming at the kids, and they took that opportunity to tackle him to the ground. The Grail rolled out of his hand, toward Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich's vehicles. Xana threw the kids off, ran forward, and grabbed the Grail.

He put the Grail into a pocket in the folds of his robes, then fired a blast of energy from his staff toward the kids. Ulrich knocked it aside with his sword, but the distraction was enough to give Xana time to hop on the overwing. He raised the vehicle into the air, firing blasts down.
"Hey!" Yumi shouted, as she blocked a blast with her fan. "That's mine!"
"Not anymore!" Xana shouted. "See you later, fools! I've got a world to destroy!"

With that, Xana flew off. "We have to go after him!" Odd shouted.
"Listen." Yumi said, turning to Odd's dad and the rest of the archeologists. She noticed that the blue glow around her body was fading. "Will you be able to get help for yourself and these soldiers?" she said.
"Yes, I have a cell-" Mr. Della Robia started.
"Okay, good." Ulrich said. "Yumi, you can share the overbike with me. Lets go."

"Wait!" Odd's dad shouted. His voice quieted, then he continued. "Odd, listen. You and your friends must not let Xana use the Grail as a weapon. The world is in more danger than you realize from that artifact. Its not just its firepower that's dangerous!"
"What do you mean?" Odd said, going over to his dad.
"We translated the second part of Canto's warning. You haven't seen it yet. Look."
He handed a piece of paper to Odd. The three kids read it, and, like when they read the first part of the message what seemed like an eternity ago, they felt chills go down their spines.

THE GRAIL IS SOUGHT BY THE YAKANOMERE

ACTIVATION OF RED WILL BRING THEM HERE

VALOR WON'T SAVE YOU FROM THE RINGS

THAT BRING DEATH TO ALL LIVING THINGS.