Unleashing Valor
By: Tellemicus Sundance
What Courage Is
October 12Today was a sad day for Korea and the US.
They had somehow lost control of their missile silos. Now, the nuclear weapons were bearing down on the planet with their armed radioactive warheads. Because of a strange virus that had infected their computers, their militaries were unable to prevent that approaching doom.
Only a group of young teenagers could stop it now…
Crouched behind an ice formation, a raven-haired girl studied the landscape and her enemies. Flicking her fan open with an experienced snap, Yumi gave a small smile. This would be hard, and boy did she love a good challenge once in a while.
A large group of monsters guarded the Polar Region Tower. Forming a tight circle around the tower were five Mega Tanks. There were also five Hornets that flew air cover for them.
"There's too many," her pink-haired friend beside her said. "We wouldn't make it halfway to the Tower."
"You're right, we wouldn't," Yumi agreed, her smile never leaving her face. "But you would."
Aelita looked at her questioningly as Yumi continued to scan the area. She withdrew a second fan, a recent upgrade from their computer genius friend Jeremy. Crouching slightly, she felt her adrenaline starting to rise in preparation.
Yumi continued, "I'm going to distract them. If I can destroy enough of them, Xana will have to send some Mega Tanks. That should give you enough room to get inside."
"But—" was all Aelita could say before Yumi moved. She rushed from one ice cover to the next.
If she were human at the moment, Aelita would've sighed resignedly as she began moving forward as well. She was scared, but she went anyway. If this made her brave or foolish, she couldn't tell… Not that she really wanted to know.
The blonde boy watching the computer screen was restlessly shifting in his chair. As the two girls crept forward, Jeremy could feel his anxiety grow. If they didn't get to the tower soon, the city would be a nuclear wasteland in a couple of minutes.
"Yumi," he said into his microphone. "Hurry! We've got less than four minutes!"
He watched on his screen as Yumi climbed onto a high ice formation. Stepping out of her hiding place and seconds later two Hornets vanished. Then, like an evil flood, the remaining three Hornets charged her. Yumi blocked their lasers as she dodged around, leading the monsters in the opposite direction of Aelita.
As she was dashing around an ice chunk, Yumi exposed herself to a Hornet that was circling around. It fired…and her back lit up on the computer screen as her Life Points quickly counted down. She faltered for a split second as the laser did its damage. It was that second's hesitation that landed several more blasts on her vulnerable form. The sheer impacts of the multiple attacks knocked Yumi onto her stomach.
"Yumi!" Jeremy called, concerned. "Don't stay there! You've only got sixty Life Points left!"
Peering carefully around an iceberg, Aelita waited impatiently as the Mega Tanks guarded the Tower. Seconds passed like hours as Aelita waited. All was silent in Lyoko except for echoes of lasers and an occasional explosion, as well as a mocking laughter. Then, after a pair of nearby explosions, a Mega Tank closed its casings and rolled away. Aelita sighed with relief and waited impatiently for them to pass.
As its lumbering form passed her, she dashed around her shelter. Aelita sprinted as fast as her legs would carry her for the Tower. There two Mega Tanks in the immediate area who spotted her instantly. They angled themselves and powered up their dangerous lasers.
Putting on a renewed burst of speed, Aelita leapt forward as they both fired. Two walls of red laser passed on either side of her as she hit the ground. Climbing to her feet, Aelita started running again. She was nearly to the Tower when the remaining two Mega Tanks rolled forward and blocked her path.
Without a conscious thought, she continued running forward. The only thought in her mind was to reach the Tower; she raced toward the Mega Tanks without apparent concern. Seeing that she wasn't going to stop, the tanks adjusted their positions.
They were so focused on deleting her that they didn't notice a dark figure in the distance. Just as they prepared to fire, two fans flashed passed Aelita on opposite sides. Moving so fast that they were nothing more than mere slivers of metallic light, they struck the tanks' Lyoko symbols. Slashing clean through the tanks, they whipped around and rushed behind Aelita.
Glancing long enough to see Yumi with a large grin, Aelita felt renewed vigor as she rushed to reach the Tower. As she passed into the Tower interior, Yumi gave a yelp of surprise as a series of Hornets' lasers blasted her from above and behind.
Yumi devirtualized instantly.
Moments after she stumbled out of her scanner in the old factory, a blinding white light engulfed everything she saw and felt. She felt herself suddenly go weightless and a sensation of exhaustion lulled her into sleep.
It was dark. It was quiet. Yet it was comforting. Taking a breath, she willed her body to sit up from her bed. The effort was slightly strained, but Yumi opened her eyes and looked towards the clock in the darkened room.
After a moment, her sleep-induced brain was able to process the numbers. It read: 4:51 a.m. Xana had been thwarted again.
Smiling slowly, Yumi rested her head on the pillow and waited patiently for sleep to reclaim her. Then, as her eyelids fluttered shut, she felt a disturbance in the air. There was no other way to describe it.
Just…a disturbance.
Like someone was watching her. Like the air was charged with electricity despite the cloudless night. Like the disorienting sensation of floating weightless.
Something had just happened.
The park was as silent as the city surrounding it. The walking tracks and various paths were illuminated brightly under multiple street lamps. The gentle breeze pulled at the trees, creating a relaxing rustle of noise and causing small waves to lap at the lake's shore. Aside from the random stray dogs that were picking through some upturned trashcans, the park was completely devoid of any life.
Thus no one saw what happened.
First a fierce wind picked up abruptly. The force of the wind yanked the trees at odd angles. It blew the salvaging dogs' meals away in an instant. Taking a quick sniff at the hurricane-force winds, they yelped and fled like hell was on their heels.
It started as a glowing blue dot hovering several feet over the lake's surface. Sparks and electricity lashed off the dot as it began to rapidly expand. Growing enormously in size, it was quickly to the point of touching the water.
Then, it touched. Upon contact, the water within several feet of the touching surface was flash-frozen and formed a small ice-island. The abrupt temperature change caused segments of frost to coat the lakeshore.
The sphere glowed a beautiful and unearthly blue-white radiance. It threw caused odd, lopsided shadows throughout the immediate surroundings of the lake and shore. Then the center began to darken to a dull navy as a figure began to appear. Curled in the fetal position, a humanoid form began to take shape.
As suddenly as it had appeared, the sphere vanished, winking out of existence forever. However the creature that had appeared had remained. As soon as the sphere had left its body, it fell to the ice chunk underneath it. Upon hitting the iceberg, it had only enough time to grunt in pain and surprise before sliding off and into the cold evening water.
A masculine head quickly broke the surface of the lake, sucking in a deep breath of air. After several breaths, he coordinated himself and swam for shore. With his very fit body, the swim was very short.
Shivering against the cold induced from his water soaked clothing, the boy hauled himself onto the slightly raised elevation of the shore. Climbing to his feet, he wiped the water from his face.
Reaching inside his drenched and ragged jacket, he fumbled with the buttons. His cold fingers were numbing and began to tremble, but he still managed to undo the restraints. Withdrawing an airtight bag, the boy examined its contents carefully: no water had gotten inside and harmed the precious cargo.
Returning the bag to his pocket, the person hurriedly closed his jacket against a sudden wind. As he rushed for some protection against the intruding force of nature, he glanced at the sky. There was a nearly full moon trying to pierce the gaseous layers of the clouds that blanketed it.
It was a peaceful sight; one he had very few of. As a happy smile lit up his face, so did a ray of moonlight. Yes, he was here. Now, he could do what his friends and family couldn't do.
Hope had arrived.
(A/N) AH! The first real difference in this story as opposed to the TWL. As I'm sure many of you have guessed by now, I'm going to be salvaging my old chapters and rewriting them. But I'm also going to be adding new chapters as well.
Due to a recent encounter with my stepfather (evil bastard!), my updates are going to be even fewer and farther in between most likely. That is unless I can work a way around it and find time to rewrite the story. Wish me luck!
Now I don't mean to be a whiner, but COME ON guys! I know that there are far more people reading this than are reviewing! I checked not too long ago: 44 hits on the first chapter and 2 (TWO!) reviews.
In case you may have forgotten from my past stories, I LOVE reading reviews. So let's make a deal, I get at the very least 7 (SEVEN) reviews and I'll post another chapter.
Deal?
I'm dead serious about this!