I guess I have to thank a lot of people for helping to get me back into the mood to write again. Among them are these people: rockgoddess87, Rycr, Blueeyeblonde, Ulrich38, Mystic Dragon, and Haley-Demi. Thanks guys and gals for you time and words. Consider this chapter a very special thank you.

Unleashing Valor

By: Tellemicus Sundance

Odd's Fury

Sissi and the rest of the school cowered together in the halls of the first floor. The gale force winds were tearing up everything within miles. They generated an eerie howling sound that was close to deafening.

Covering her head with her arms in her crouched position, she couldn't do anything except pray that she would live. She didn't want to die, didn't want to, shouldn't, just couldn't! Not yet! She wasn't ready to!

In the minds of the rest of the students were similar thoughts and hopes for survival. But as the storm tore down doors, weak walls, and smashed windows, those hopes didn't seem to be anything than that.

Hopes.

"Look out! There's a monster on your tail!"

Glancing around, Odd saw nothing but a large canyon. They were hiding under an outcropping that was barely large enough to cover them. Aelita kept her hands on the controls of the Overwing, prepared to fly away if they were spotted.

Now, because they were hidden and the Flying Mantases were so close, she wasn't sure if she should risk revealing their hiding place or not. The monster might not have spotted them.

"I don't see anything, Jeremy," Odd whispered.

"It's there," he said firmly. "Trust me."

"I don't see anything," Odd repeated.

Then he saw it. It was that metallic ball that they'd encountered last time. It seemed to just peel itself from the landscape; directly above them. Moving faster than they could react, it had snatched Odd with one of its pinchers.

In a split second, he was lifted up and thrown high up into the air. Acting on instinct alone, Aelita launched the Overwing forward as fast as it could go. The circling Mantases spotted her in an instant and attacked.

Odd was thrown up to the top of the cliff. Reaching out, he dug his claws deep into the rocky surface as he began to descend. He slid a short distance before stopping. Climbing to the top of the canyon wall, he paused to catch his breath. His adrenaline had spiked dramatically in that moment of danger.

As he stood up, he heard Jeremy shout a warning. But it was too late. He was caught. Two tentacles wrapped around his waist, red energy pinning his arms to his sides as he was lifted up into the air.

Six more tentacles pressed themselves to his head as he recognized the only monster that could do this. The Scyphoza! A single, stray thought raced through his mind before the most excruciating pain he'd ever felt in his whole life tore through him.

What is the Scyphoza doing here?

Even though she was ducking and weaving continuously, she could hear him. Odd's pained shout seemed to tear through all of Lyoko. It was enough to cause her to glance to the side to find him.

It was that moment of inattention that caused a stray laser to slam into the Overwing. It jolted to the side unexpectedly, throwing her off, before dissipating. With a yell, she fell to the rocky surface below her.

Then a white and navy blue body appeared below her and broke her fall.

Their strength was failing fast. They had barely been able to lift the cover clear of the opening and scoot it ever so slightly to the side. Now it rested, balanced precariously on the edge, while the two teenagers under it tried to catch their breaths and soothe their aching bodies.

"What's holding it down?" Yumi asked. After they'd assured that it wouldn't fall back into place, she'd moved down the ladder to give Ulrich and herself some space.

Peeking through the sliver of an opening they'd made, Ulrich looked around. There was debris everywhere, water was gathering quickly around the opening and threatening to seep in. The wind was making a deafening howl that reverberated down the shaft into the sewer.

Then, in a flash of lightning, he caught the barest glimpse of something. It sickened him to realize what they'd been forced to lift from such a bad position. If he'd been in a good position above it, he'd been able to easily move it. Of that he was very sure.

"It looks like a piece of debris has fallen on the lid," he said loudly.

Slipping his fingers into the opening, he tried futilely to pry it open. It wouldn't budge. "Yumi?" he called out.

"Yeah?"

"Try to find a pipe or something to pry with," he said as he continued his attempts.

Nodding, Yumi dropped back down to the surface of the sewer. The water had been steadily rising and now the effects were showing. She was up to her ankles in sewage water on the walkway and it was rising fast.

She had to hurry.

To say he hurt would've been the understatement of the year. He felt as though he was being burned with white-hot steel, electrocuted with high voltage, and frozen so much that it burned his skin and innards.

He probably would never know the correct term to use, but it also felt as though every cell of his body was being torn into. That something was invading him and sucking something vital out of him. He could feel it spreading from his head down his body. Moving very slowly, painfully slowly, but still moving. It left a hollow feeling where it had come and gone.

He once heard that in moments such as these people tend to lose their minds. They go crazy from the pain. They start seeing people and places, experiencing things that they'd never felt before. While all he felt right now was the pain and his eyes were shut tight in their torment, he did hear something.

A quiet voice in the back of his mind. The second that it began it's speech, the pain seemed to disappear to a dull ache. 'Let go,' it said forcefully. Like it knew that he knew what he was hiding. What could he be hiding? He was just a kid in a hell of a lot of pain. 'You're not what you think!'

It was then that an image flashed through his mind. The city was in ruins, bodies were everywhere. The sky was dark from the black smoke that was rising from the pride of France. The clouds and smoke were so thick that not a single ray of sunlight could pierce them.

As the image began moving through the city, the voice continued to speak and began to gain volume in his mind. 'Everything that you hold sacred is nothing but a pile of trash to this virus.'

Odd saw a large building coming into view. He could recognize it anyway, even as ruins; Kadic Junior High School. There was a line of corpses outside the main entrance. Many of them were mutilated beyond recognition, but the select few that weren't he identified them in an instant. William, Sissi, Jim, the list went on and on.

'This virus; it's a killer, a murderer! Killing innocent people is wrong! It'll destroy you, your friends, and your family.' He saw a pair of bodies that made his heart freeze; Aelita and Jeremy.

Even though they were easily the most devastated pair of bodies in the massacre, he knew them anywhere. He couldn't take his gaze from them, no matter how nauseous the sight made him.

Then the pain came back, but it was much more severe somehow. He felt an undying flame of hatred combust to life inside him. The most awful feeling he'd ever felt, far worse than the pain. This hollow fury made his earlier pain seem easily bearable.

He tried not to let it consume him. For even a simpleton knew that to fight in anger would only inhibit him. He tried to force it away. But the memory of that awful sight plagued his mind with the most unholy thoughts imaginable.

'Don't be ashamed of your anger!' the voice said almost soothingly. 'It's okay it hurts. It's okay to feel the rage.'

Disturbing as it might've seemed, it actually comforted Odd to know that someone or something agreed with him. But what it said next surprised him. 'Harness it! Use it as a tool!'

Then, he felt his self control slipping. Somehow, he knew that this voice was right. He had to let go and use his anger. It gave him strength. He could see it, almost touch, but he needed to grab it! But how!

'BRING IT OUT!'

Then the dam broke.

Aelita found herself on top of a Mantas. It was flanked by two others but none of them were shooting at her now. In fact, they were flying back towards where she'd lost Odd. As they approached, Aelita saw the last monster she'd ever thought of.

What's the Scyphoza doing here? This stray thought waved through her mind before. Then she saw who it was holding. Odd was thrashing about, clearly in the most indescribable pain ever. Aelita could only watch in horror as the Scyphoza continued unimpeded.

Aelita had to forcefully ignore her first impulse. That was to jump off the Mantas and try aid her friend. But she also noticed a disturbingly familiar black ball next to the squid monster. She'd never get close enough to help.

Then a scream tore its way out of Odd. It was unlike anything she'd ever heard before; full of pain, and hate. It sent chills down her spine at the eerie feeling it was giving her. It happened too fast for a comprehendible thought to sink into her mind. But the feeling that she seemed to sense radiating off of him gave her the impression that he wasn't screaming from the pain.

Then, his entire body seemed to ignite in a blinding flash of purple light. Aelita was forced to cover her eyes as the light was too intense and painful. Yet she could almost feel as though Odd was standing right in front of her. His presence was everywhere, and it was furious.

The first blast of the energy that was pouring out of him incinerated the tentacles that were binding and touching him. The Scyphoza roared in pain as it dropped him, instantly trying to flee.

The second his feet touched the ground, Odd was trying to lunge straight at the first creature he deemed as an enemy. The Scyphoza was the primary target. He was actually in mid-jump with his claws in front of him, ready to shred the monster to pieces, when something grabbed his foot.

Landing on his hands, he whipped his body around, swinging his free leg as he did so. The kick connected to and separated the arm of the metal ball from its body. As it stumbled from the lack of a balance point, Odd lunged forward.

He didn't care if this monster was the strongest to date. He didn't care if he got hurt or even if he survived. All that mattered was smashing these creatures of the most vile being in existence to nothing but piles scrap metal.

His fist hit and smashed through the metal plating of the ball right where the vulnerable eye was located. The metal felt like nothing but paper to him. It was shredded and he felt a satisfying crack as his fist passed through the eye itself.

Withdrawing his fist, he turned and dashed for the still retreating Scyphoza. He leapt for it and landed on the bubble above its eye. Drawing back his arms, he felt the energy radiating from his body change. It moved to cover and extend over his hands and fingers, forming long talons.

As he brought his first slash down across the brow of the Scyphoza, the demolished ball behind him exploded. But that wasn't important to him. He slashed again and again, trying to see how much of this beast he could tear apart before it too exploded.

He had actually dug himself a pretty impressive hole in the squid's head before it finally detonated.

As he fell to the ground, he felt his rage fade. It left him feeling cold, tired, and out of breath. Exhaustion unlike anything he'd ever felt in his whole life settled upon him. Not even his most grueling practice session and soccer game with Ulrich combined equaled to the near cardiac arrest state he found himself in.

He passed out before he'd even reached the ground. Leaving a stunned audience at what he'd just done.

Ulrich used the small pipe as best he could. But the frail thing kept bending, folding, and breaking. The cover had moved scarcely an inch. With the howling wind, cold water gushing in, and his extremely uncomfortable position, his slow temper had been roused.

Growling dangerously, he stuffed the pipe into a pocket and once again resumed trying to scoot the cover off with his hands. If it had moved at all, neither of the teenagers could tell.

"How's it coming?" Yumi asked from below him.

"The same as it was five minutes ago," he grunted.

Sighing, Yumi nodded. At this rate, they'd be lucky to get to out of the sewer before the clean-up crews arrived in the morning. Glancing down upon the still rising water, she glared at it. It was now almost two feet deep on the walkway and the smells coming from it were really starting to unsettle her.

Suddenly the howling wind stopped. A silence so deep hung over them that it was deafening in a strange sort of way. Looking back up to Ulrich, she was about to ask about it. But the words never formed.

Through the small opening, she saw a bright purple light. Moving as quickly as she could, Yumi climbed up beside Ulrich as he peeped through the opening. The light was coming from the factory. It looked as though it just shot up from the roof. It continued to climb into the sky at incredible speeds.

It touched the storm clouds. Like a ripple in a still pond, the beam of light waved out through the clouds. As the light disappeared into the distance, the clouds that had been engulfed in its light dissipated as though they had never been.

The weather service watched in amazement. Suddenly, when the storm looked like it was about to worsen, a tiny section over France started disappearing. They didn't know what caused this, but as they watched it continued onward and outward.

Mere seconds later, the hurricane that had terrorized Europe was nothing more than a few scattered clouds.

As the hurricane evaporated before their eyes, something else unbelievable happened. The factory suddenly seemed to explode in violent purple flames.

Shock waves sent waves rolling through the water. Typhoon force winds raced away from the factory and blew everything that wasn't bolted down away; everything within a radius of a mile.

Including the steel debris that had held Ulrich and Yumi prisoner in the sewer, even the sewer lid!

Climbing up unsteadily, Ulrich braced for anything as he left the sewer. It was almost as calm as day. Helping Yumi out, they faced the factory in disbelief. Despite the fact that it was clearly just some kind of energy, it was strange watching a building surrounded in angry flames not to be burning.

Then they felt as though someone was there with them. Someone that they both knew very well, after all he was their friend.

"Odd?" they asked simultaneously.

(Author's Note) Whoo! That's a rush! I nearly forgot how great it feels to write like this.

P.S. I've started a new forum and absolutely any questions and ideas that you all may have of me. Please do not hesitate to ask or suggest.