ALOHA, COUSINS! XD Just saw Leroy & Stitch! Twice! What's that got to do with my fic, especially since it's an entirely different network, let alone TV show? I don't know. Anyway, sorry for the extra day or two of waiting. Document Manager was giving me issues. And, I'm not talking about a magizine.

IAmTheBoss - XD HA! Music can't be used against me! I was in musicals!

purplelover - Here's more great job for your pleasing.

katfish xX - Does this mean you should start running for your life, which wouldn't be too hard because of all the sugar you consume giving you plenty of rush?

Mewberries - Maybe its those possibly expired fish sticks at the vending stands.

Little Park of Horrors

Chapter 3: That's crazy!

"Ricky? Is everything OK over there?" Jeremie had dialed Ricky's cell phone on the Super Calculator.

"If by 'OK', you mean, freaked out 'cause me, my friends, and our chaperone got attacked by a movie monster, then yes. We're very OK."

"X.A.N.A. has activated a tower in the Glacier Region," explained Jeremie. "So, we think he's behind this."

"Oh, naw. You really think?" asked Ricky, while hiding with the rest of the group.
"Cut the sarcasm, young man," Jeremie scolded. "I'm sending Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi into Lyoko to help Aelita get to the tower, but make sure that creature doesn't hurt you our anybody else, OK?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" said Ricky in a rather militaristic voice, before he and Jeremie hung up.

"Could you tell us what's going on?" asked Greg. When Ricky looked to the rest of the group, he noticed all their eyes were fixed on him. From what they overheard, they could tell that he knew what was going on. And, they wanted filling in.

"Oh, um..." he drummed his fingers awkwardly. "It's kind of hard to explain..."

"Could you at least try to?" said Amber.

The three defenders of Lyoko stood in position, waiting for Jeremie's signal. "It's off to the Glacier Region," he said. Taking their cue, they entered the scanners. "Here we go," said Jeremie, as he commanded the scanners to close. Then, he fired up the process.

"Transfer: Yumi. Transfer: Ulrich. Transfer: Odd." One by one, the scanners came to life, as their respective digital cards flashed across the screen.

"Scanner: Yumi. Scanner: Ulrich. Scanner: Odd." The three were scanned head to toe, as the data filled up in the computer.

"Virtualization!"

It wasn't long before the four friends met in the almost barren ice land.

"The pulsations lead in that direction," Aelita pointed out.

"Let's go," said Odd, as they quickly made their way along the path.

"Let me see if I got everything right," said Andy. "This creature is being controlled by a demon named X.A.N.A, and your cousin and his friends are in a computer world called Lyoko, helping a living computer program, named Aelita, get to the tower that X.A.N.A. is using to control the creature, so she can deactivate it?"

Ricky nodded.

Dani shook her head. "No way! That's crazy."

"Well, can you think of a more believable reason there's a monster attacking everybody?" asked Hiroki.

"He's got a point," said Andy.

"G-g-go away! Leave me alone!" Stammered a man in his mid-20s, having been cornered by the creature. It picked up a broken tree branch and was about to strike when a rock, somewhat smaller than a fist, hit him in the side.

"Hey, tall, dark, and ugly!" yelled Ricky in a taunting voice. Turning around, he wagged his patookie at the creature. "Nah, na, na, na, na!"

Hmm... how very foolish of the young boy, thought X.A.N.A, watching him though the creatures eyes. Oh, how enjoyable killing him will be.

With that, the creature charged after the little boy, who sprinted off.

Greg covered his eyes, but could not resist watching through his fingers. "If that thing catches up to him..." he whimpered.

"Greg, do you even watch Ricky when we play tag?" asked Hiroki.

"You're getting close to the tower," said Jeremie. Sure enough, the tower was just ahead, surrounded by a cylindrical wall of ice. "As well as X.A.N.A.'s welcoming committee," he warned. A set of Blocks were there, ready to battle.

"We see them, Jeremie," said Yumi.

Things seemed to be going OK for Ricky... that is, until he tripped on a large teddy bear that had been dropped in the middle of the walkway. "Ow! Hurting..." he moaned, lying on the ground.

The creature was about to catch up when a yo-yo wrapped around its ankle, tripping it. This gave Hiroki enough time to drag Ricky to safety. He a nod of gratitude towards Andy, who smiled and abandoned his toy, valuing his life more.

Pulling itself up, the creature clawed off the annoying toy, so it could continue to reek havoc.

Ulrich dodged the laser fire, deflecting a few with his saber, and charged one of the Blocks. "Impact!" he yelled, stabbing his digital blade into the eye of the monster.

Meanwhile, Yumi was struggling to hold back the fire of another Block. Ulrich took note of this and called to his other friend, "Odd, take Aelita to the tower. Yumi's in trouble!"

"OK, here we go," cried Odd, flipping over to dodge a laser beam. He fired an arrow into the Block that fired at him, destroying it. As Ulrich went to help Yumi, Odd killed off the other monster that was after him. "There. Aelita!" he called.

Seeing her chance to run for it, she sprinted up to Odd, letting him escort her to the tower. "OK, Princess," he said. "The home stretch."

"Why hasn't this Aelita person deactivated the tower by now?" asked Dani.

"Hey, give them a break!" said Ricky in defense. "They've got monsters to fight, too, you know."

"Are they anything worse than this guy?" asked Greg, watching the creature smash a few tables around, scattering a couple of families.

"Well... they shoot lasers," pointed out Ricky. But, he knew, just as well as his classmates, that they couldn't hold their own monster opponent off forever. Hurry up, Lyoko gang!

- The patookie is also known as the Gluteus Maximus, the hiney, the rear end, the caboose, you get the idea.