Ring.
Aelita tentatively answered her cell phone. She was still shaking from seeing the explosion over the factory's security cameras.
"Hello?"
"Aelita? Its Robert, you know, Odd's dad? Listen. Please, please don't tell me that explosion I saw was caused by the Grail."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Della Robia. It was the Grail."
Aelita heard a sigh come from the other end.
"Then we are all doomed. They are coming for us now."
"Who?"
"The aliens."
Aelita went as white as a sheet. "Jeremie," Aelita said, turning to him, "Odd's dad says that aliens are coming. What do we do?"
"I know what we have to do." Jeremie said. "I figured out the problem with the return to the past function. But before we can use it, Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich have to defeat Xana."
Aelita nodded slowly. That sounded far simpler than it actually was.
--------------------
For a moment, Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Xana just stared at the explosion. Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich looked horrified. Xana looked like he would very much like to do it again.
A bird chirped. Instantly the trance was broken.
"GET OFF ME!" Xana shouted, pushing Odd off. He picked him up and flung him into the wall, then picked up the Grail and started pressing the buttons on it again. The ice having melted, Ulrich and Yumi lunged at Xana, grabbing the Grail. For a few seconds, three pairs of hands were all tugging on the golden cup in different directions.
"You're not doing that again!" Yumi shouted at Xana.
"And why shouldn't I?" Xana said, mockingly. He kicked Yumi and Ulrich's legs out from under them, forcing them to let go of the Grail, but as he did so, Ulrich kicked Xana as well, sending him sprawling. He let go of the Grail, and it flew into the air.
Four pairs of eyes and one security camera watched the Grail fly. It reached a peak, then fell downward. Over the edge of the roof. Yumi, Ulrich, Xana, and Odd scrambled over to the railing and saw it fall.
It hit the pavement.
And broke into a thousand pieces.
"Oops." Ulrich said.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Xana screamed.
---------------------------
The Battle Coil passed Mars without a glance at it. Ahead was a little blue point of light among all the white ones- the planet Earth. The ship's enormous speed allowed the Yakanomere on board to see the point of light to grow into a full sphere, partly shrouded in night. They passed the Moon with only a cursory inspection, and found nothing of interest on it.
The blue planet was ahead of them now. The spring started to break up, and the individual coils formed into gigantic black rings, each about the size of France or Spain. The rings descended, dropping into the Earth's atmosphere, fanning out, while Commander Ekaia grinned with glee on board.
"Prepare for the attack." He said, and the Yakanomere rushed to obey.
---------------------
"You... YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" Xana shouted, turning to the kids. Before they could reply, Xana whipped out his staff again and started firing again.
Yumi ducked, Ulrich rolled out of the way, and Odd jumped straight up, firing arrows. Xana blocked them, then fired another blast.
Yumi took out a fan and threw it. Xana caught it and threw it back, but Yumi caught it. Then she threw it again and Xana caught it. For a little while it looked simply as if they were playing Frisbee, but they knew better. Ulrich rushed at Xana from the side, but Xana raised a hand, and an invisible force pushed Ulrich back, and he fell in a heap.
"Ulrich!" Odd called. "Incoming baseballs!"
"Huh?" Ulrich said, confused, just as Odd fired a stream of arrows at him. Ulrich whipped out his sword and deflected them. Right into Xana's back. Xana staggered, and the deadly throwing cycle was broken. The fan hit Xana, and he fell backwards, lying flat on his back in the middle of the roof. He tried to get up, but discovered that he simply did not have the energy.
Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi closed in on him. They were standing over him, when they saw Xana's eyes widen with terror, staring not at them, but beyond them. They looked up to see what he was looking at, and also were transfixed by horror.
There was a strong wind blowing, as thousands of tons of displaced air rushed in all directions. A gigantic black band of metal was descending, black and curving. They could see where it curved in on itself, knowing that it would eventually curve all the way around and meet up with itself.
"A deadly ring..." Yumi murmured.
Screams of terror were coming from everywhere, as gigantic black rings settled over every city in every country. "This is not good." Yumi said. They turned back to Xana.
"Any last words, Xana?" Ulrich asked, drawing his katana.
"There is only one way to truly kill me, humans, and you have not found it. Destroying this body of flesh and blood will only send me back to cyberspace."
They looked at each other, then nodded.
"It's good enough for now." Yumi said.
Ulrich swung his sword.
---------------------
"Sir." One of the Yakanomere troopers said.
"Yes?" Ekaia said in reply.
"It is as you command. The humans are totally defenseless. We can attack at any time now."
"Then do so."
The featureless black rings were suddenly dotted with thousands of points of bright light, as thousands upon thousands of powerful lasers lit up, ready to rain destruction upon human civilization.
And that was when bright, white light emerged from an insignificant-looking abandoned factory, and everything was swallowed up.
