11-6: Fire-Maiden
I kinda made a mistake in the previous chapter: according to my research on Wikipedia, Hornets can't shoot quickly. They fire, fly around for a few seconds, then fire again, but they travel in large groups so it seems like they fire rapidly. I rewrote pieces of the little battle scene in the other chappie to work according to that rule. Thank you for listening.
(((-6-)))
"Aunt Tila, it's me, Sissy."
"Hello dear! How's school?" the woman sounded delighted to hear from her niece.
"Oh, you know how it is. But that stuff's not very important. I was actually calling to speak to Janika. Is she around?"
There was a deafening silence on the other end for at least fifteen seconds, which made Sissy's jitters blossom into butterflies. "Is this some kind of joke? Janika called home last night from Kadic."
"I haven't seen her since Tuesday when she went back home to be with you since you got pregnant. I saw her get on the bus!"
"Jira visited and came back alone when we decided to let Janika continue schooling there. She said her sister was away on a special field trip and—Sissy, where is she?"
The butterflies in her stomach had grown into bats. "I don't know! I don't know!" she began to cry. "I'm sorry, I don't know anything!" The girl hung up before her aunt could reply.
Who else could possibly help her? No one! She couldn't hide the Flame for much longer either. It was coming to her more frequently now, as if it had a new source of power and needed to use its energy faster. What could she possibly do?
(V)
Odd inhaled his breakfast and made a beeline for the line to get fourths when his phone began ringing the song "What Do You Do with a Drunken Sailor?" which would only mean Jeremy was trying to call him.
"You've got to be kidding me! Oh well, I guess I can show him my awesome ability to eat and talk on the phone at the same time." He took a bite out of a roll and flipped on the cell. "Mm-hmm?"
"Odd! Listen up—" And he described what Yumi had told him. "We've got to get to Lyoko and protect Janika. Who knows what could be happening."
"If I know anything, she's probably battling X.A.N.A.'s critters already." Of course, it sounded more along the lines of: "Ith Ah noo enafin, sez pwoffy bathwin zanz kittas ardy."
Jeremy didn't say anything for a few seconds. "Uh…okay. You do that. Just try to meet us by the sewer entrance. Yumi said she'd be here soon."
"But I'm still eating!" a.k.a. "Vuh Ah'm shil eethin!"
"Whatever! Just meet us there."
"Aww man!"
(V)
Ulrich came out of the showers just as Jeremy hung up on Odd. "Something wrong, Einstein?"
"Ulrich!" the blonde kid spun around. "Yumi's been attacked by Hornets and they should be heading here too. We've got to get to the factory and shut down that Tower ASAP!"
"How long ago did she speak to you? It's not that far to the factory by air. Wouldn't they be here by now if Yumi already got atta—"
"Duck!" Jeremy tackled his friend and they crashed to the floor just as the window at the end of the hall shattered beneath a barrage of red lasers from three Hornets. The attack missed the two kids by half a meter.
Through the broken window, Ulrich spotted the robots flying crazily about. One fired again as he was trying to open his door and escape inside. The shot grazed his shoulder as he tried to dodge and behind him there was a yell as a boy coming out of the showers walked into the hallway. He wasn't hit, but definitely surprised to see a laser skim merrily past his face.
Jeremy followed Ulrich into the cover of the room and breathed a sigh of relief that didn't last long as the window there was smashed to pieces as well.
"Any better ideas for a hiding place?" he called as they took cover between the bed and dresser.
Ulrich shot him a look that could kill. "Why don't we go get Aelita? I'm sure she'd like to know about this."
"I already told Yumi to call her. She knows about it by now."
"Aelita doesn't have her phone, Jer. She told me last night she accidentally left it by that cot you guys set up in the factory."
"You mean she's incommunicado?"
"Yeah, if that means we can't talk to her."
"It does."
"Then yes! Now what are we gonna do?"
Jeremy thought for a moment and finally decided to dash through the hall and into the stairwell as quickly as they could. There were no windows along that path, so it would be impossible for X.A.N.A.'s monsters to follow.
"Ready to run?" he asked his buddy.
"Now or never," Ulrich said grimly.
(V)
As Janika swooped down on the campus, she realized the Hornets had barely arrived before her. Maybe X.A.N.A. hadn't given them directions. She saw the narrow beams of their lasers as they hovered around the top floors of the dorms. Apparently they'd found at least one member of the gang.
One of them spotted her and abruptly fired. It appeared that her 'betrayal' was no longer a secret. One broke off to come after her, and Janika flew as fast as she could in the opposite direction.
About that time, Jeremie and Ulrich made it to Aelita's room and warned her while Yumi was still a seven minutes' run from the school where Odd was waiting by the sewer. One Hornet was chasing Janika wildly at the same time that the other two were buzzing around the dorms waiting for one of their victims to exit so that they could divebomb them. It just happened to be Sissy.
She came out of the building almost weakly, leaning against the wall with her face flushed. The screaming and pointing kids, who had by this time noticed the deadly robot visitors, were fleeing for any cover they could find. All but her, of course. She couldn't seem to make sense of the strange nonsense they were yelling about.
Instead of firing, the pair of mechanical monsters came zooming down on her, each as large as the teenager, and so it came as no surprise to any of the kids who happened to catch the scene that Sissy shrieked with a voice that probably cracked every window on campus. It was a surprise, however, when one of the Hornets suddenly blew up in a scorching ball of red flames. The second barely escaped death by flying quickly out of range.
Aelita, Jeremy, and Ulrich had been watching their enemies from a first-story window (which was one of the first to be cracked by Sissy's super-sonic scream), but couldn't believe their eyes when she raised her hands to defend herself and wound up destroying her attacker! They eyed one another, not sure whether or not they had all seen the same exact thing.
"I think we know who the 'fire-maiden' is now," Ulrich asserted.
The other two gave each other relieved smiles. Aelita spoke first. "I guess that means we won't be giving me up to X.A.N.A., hmm?"
"Wait! Jeremy, we can't let him have Sissy either!"
"Don't worry, Ulrich," he assured his friend. "I was working on a way to help Janika last night that involved Sissy getting into one of the scanners and couldn't come up with a good way to get her to the factory. If we can get her into a scanner safely, there will be no problem fixing them both."
Aelita nodded with understanding. "We just have to keep X.A.N.A. from interfering."
"Well, are we going to keep her from getting barbequed or what?"
"Probably a good idea. Come on."
They rushed outside and saw Sissy staring at her hands in bewilderment. She started when she saw them, but held her ground, standing up straight and raising her chin haughtily. "So you know I'm a freak now, do you? Fine! Tell everyone and have your laugh. I don't care anymore!"
She began to run but Ulrich caught her by the shirt. "Sissy, we know what's going on with you! Jeremy can help fix it."
Her eyes grew wide. "What did you guys do to me? I'm a fire-spitting mutant!"
They surveyed her form surrounded by an unburning flame and stepped back, reminded unexpectedly of Janika caught in the backlash of her Bloodlust. It was clear the two girls were related.
Before they could begin to assure her of their sincere goodwill towards her, a Hornet came rocketing straight at her from behind. There was only enough time to widen their eyes before the robot opened fire. The single shot past Sissy and struck Aelita in the chest!
She let out a cry of pain as she was thrown back and the Flame left the principal's daughter, staring in shock at the bloody wound before her eyes. Jeremy knelt beside his girlfriend and Ulrich poised himself to protect them from the hovering monster, a grim expression on his face.
(V)
Janika had managed to lose her tag-along by going under a bridge and hiding in a crevice difficult to find unless you knew where it was. When X.A.N.A.'s pet had continued past and begun searching elsewhere, confused beyond words, she slipped out and returned to Kadic by the shortest path.
As she approached, there came the sound of laser-fire near the dorms. From above she could see the charred remains of a Hornet and another lingering almost smugly just over her friends who were helpless on the ground. She could see that Aelita had been hit.
At first she aimed her stinger-like tail at the creature, but realized that if she missed she'd hit her friends, and if she switched positions the enemy would realize she wasn't on its side. She had to make a decision now!
Not quite sure what she was doing, Janika dove toward the Hornet. She saw Ulrich's eyes become fearful as two foes appeared, but ignored him. This was her one chance!
"Eat dirt, you overgrown gnat!" she buzzed.
It heard her and began to whirl around but too late! She slammed into it going 50 kilometers an hour (A/N: we must use the correct measurements overseas) and they both crashed to the ground, its fragile wings crushed beyond repair as well as being completely stunned beneath her assault.
Hopefully the impact hadn't injured hers too in case the gang wasn't in a particularly forgiving mood toward Hornets right then. As she tried to move, she found Ulrich atop her, keeping her grounded. Odd came running from the woods, a large sharp branch in his hand. "Which one should I poke?" he wondered, twirling his weapon easily.
"Both!" Jeremy snapped venomously. "They tried to kill Aelita!"
"No! I'm not one of them!" Janika tried to cry, but all the others heard was a frantic buzzing whine.
Oh dear, I knew this was going to happen! The guy she likes the most is about to kill her and he doesn't even know it! Anyway, I'm just curious about my audience and I would like to know what your favorite book(s) is. Give me a short plot to go along w/ it too so that I can decide whether I should read it or not.
(You guys are so kind to let me answer my own poll! I'd say Ella Enchanted: about a girl under a curse to obey any order given to her. She has a stepmother and 2 stepsisters (sound familiar?) who use it against her while she falls in love w/ a prince. Do NOT waste your time on that movie they made. It's an insult to the book!)