Glow: Hey everyone! Ready for the next chapter?
Viv: Of course they are.
Glow: Don't get all technical on me!
Verdana: Shut it, both of you!
Odd: And here it is!
Aelita: Who said you could say that?
Jordan:Ignore them. Just read the story.
On a signal from Verdana, they pursued their attack. Verdana rushed forward and threw her boomerang at the bird-snake. It whacked it right in the chest, at which moment, Odd shouted, "Laser Arrow!" After the laser arrow hit, they expected that the critter would be dead. But it wasn't. It was standing there, without moving. Verdana sighed and looked around at the others, to see how they were faring.
Viv was holding her own against the flying woman, and the others were doing the same. Viv was dodging the karate kicks and punches thrown at her. Those 13 years of Tae Kwan Doe had payed off. The woman just laughed. "Do you think you can really defeat me?" In response, Viv just gritted her teeth and renewed her attack. All of the sudden, she felt a kind of prickling at the base of her back. Suspicious, she jerked back. And not a moment to soon. The woman's ponytails had shot forward and would have knocked Viv from the sky had she not moved. The woman's eyes narrowed. "So you escaped from my trap this time, but you will not again."
Yumi and Ulrich were down below, against the square squid (try saying that three times fast). Ulrich was coming in, slashing with his sword, while Yumi kept cutting it's tentacles off with her fans. They worked brilliantly as a team, having trained that way after X.A.N.A.'s demise.
Jordan and Aelita took on the frog thing, using alternating attacks. First, Aelita would shoot an arrow, then Jordan would come in and attack with his rod. However, the frog thing would avoid their attacks for the most part. After it dodged, it would launch a counter attack consisting of kicks with its legs and barbed tongue. One such attack hit Jordan's arm. His rod flew from his hand and the frog thing picked it up. After a brief outburst in another language, it pointed the rod at Jordan and Aelita, who was helping him get up. The frog thing pressed the button. Suddenly, the frog thing shot backwards and landed on its face. Jordan and Aelita laughed. The rod only works for Jordan, a precaution against X.A.N.A. that had never actually been tested. Jordan, now with the feeling back in his arm, picked it back up. The frog thing, now back up as well, gave a loud outburst of its language that sounded distinctly like cussing. "If that's what you want, then here!" Jordan said back. Then he cussed in seven different languages. Aelita stared surprised at Jordan. - -I had no idea that such a gentle boy knew so many nasty cuss words- - she thought. Jordan finished, "Chinzgada!" The frog thing couldn't really understand him, but it got the gist of what he was saying. Growling in a very un-frog like way, it pursued its attack on them.
Meanwhile, Verdana was fiercely attacking the bird-snake with her boomerang. All at once, the memories came rushing back. "Y-y-y-you!" she sputtered at the critter. "I locked you up!" It only smiled in return and launched its attack. It gave a large screech that knocked her and Odd off their feet. Realizing what was happening, Verdana pushed Odd onto the ice. Crouching next to him, a shield formed around them. The dangerous sound waves passed over them without harming them. "I had no idea you could do that, Verdana" Odd said amazed. "That wasn't me. I can't do that." Glancing around again, she looked to locate the source of their protection. Up above them, Viv was still fighting the flying woman.
Employing all the fighting techniques she knew, Viv was barely blocking all the woman's attacks. She was tiring quickly and she knew that. Once, she was just a second too slow and the woman flicked her hair at her. Knowing that there was no way to avoid being hit, she cringed. Then she slowly opened her eyes. She was encased in a protective bubble. When it vanished, she looked around confused. The woman was gone, standing next to the bird-snake. Viv glided gracefully down to the ground next to Verdana and Odd.
Yumi and Ulrich were having a bit of a problem subduing the square squid. It wrapped a tentacle around Yumi's leg and arm, pinning them. As it dragged her closer, Ulrich pulled her other side, keeping her from fully being sucked under the square squid. All at once, it let go. Ulrich fell back, with Yumi on top of him. While they were collecting themselves, the square squid attacked them. Yumi raised her hands to block the attack. The attack that never happened. She found Ulrich and herself encased in a protective barrier. When they emerged, they found that the square squid had joined a stand-off between its friends and theirs. Seeing the setup, they walked over to their friends and stood next to Viv.
Jordan and Aelita were being slowly pushed back by the frog thing. It pressed its advantage and kept them at bay. Aelita shot an arrow at it, but it turned and whacked it at Jordan. He dodged, but just barely. He dove to the ground. The frog thing jumped on his back, while shooting out its barbed tongue at Aelita. It hit her and knocked her down. Jordan leapt up, dumping the frog thing off, running over to Aelita. He dodged both ice lumps on the ground and renewed attacks by the frog thing. Finally he made to her, but then something terrible happened. Jordan slipped on a patch of ice and slid over to Aelita on his stomach. As he reached her, the frog thing shot out its tongue at them. Jordan closed his eyes and thought, - -This is the end, I know it. No coming back from this.- - Aelita was thinking similar thoughts and it came as a gigantic surprise when the tongue was stopped by a barrier. Then it was gone. They stood up and saw the frog thing hopping over to where there appeared to be a stand off going on. They had been fighting the farthest away from Verdana and Odd, so they took off at a run to catch up.
They reached the group only seconds after the frog thing. Verdana smiled. Now her group was bigger than the other. That was until another two beings showed up. Verdana did a recount and smiled again. Her group was up by one. "Hello Indevrigo. I'm sorry for any inconvenience you have suffered through this little test. I had to know if you really were the legendary warriors of Lyoko." the female one said. "Hello CHEV, so nice to see you again. Last time I saw you, you were locked up in the crypt with all of the others." The gang, minus Jordan, looked on in surprise.
"You know each other!" Odd said incredulously.
"Of course we know each other!" CHEV replied. "How could we not, seeing as we originated in the same system." Ignoring CHEV's comment, Verdana turned to the dog-headed, Egyptian looking thing behind CHEV. "Well SIRS, I see that CHEV let you out." The gang goggled at the thing behind CHEV.
"I thought you'd be more cat-like, being called the Panther by your cronies." Viv said, kind of puzzled.
"You would think, little girl, you would think. Names are often deceiving." He ran his eyes up and down her form disdainfully. "I see that you have taken the form that fits your heritage. I hate that miserable island, and you remind me too much of it." He spit at her feet. So, Viv did the most unlikely thing for her: she spit back. Only, instead of hitting the ground at his feet, it hit his clawed and furred feet.
"You little freaking witch!" he yelled, followed by a brief burst of another language. Viv just raised her eyebrow and said nothing in return. Verdana pulled the awkward attention from Viv and returned it to CHEV. "I take it you want help fighting the Shadow." Verdana said bluntly. The frog thing leapt up and down, speaking in his language. Verdana responded, "Ranpi gund pundes ka, LEGE." "Would you mind telling us what you said?" Odd asked.
To his surprise, it was Jordan that answered. "Glad to see you, LEGE. That's what she said, couldn't you understand?" Odd gave him the "are-you-stupid" look.
"Do you think I would have asked if I understood!" he retorted.
"Sheesh. No need to get defensive about it." Jordan replied. Verdana turned to the other beings.
"Ranpi gund pundes ka, ABRO, XAT, and EROX." The one she addressed as XAT, stalked over to her.
"Why the hell'd you send your noobie up to fight me? Why didn't ya come yourself, coward?"
Verdana rolled her eyes and replied, "First, Viv is not a noob. Second, I can't fly. Third, I was-"
The bird-snake finished, "She wass fighting me, XAT, so calm down." It was the first time any of them had heard him speak. His voice sounded rich and deep, with a bit of a snaky hiss with the "s" sound.
"Pumti ku! Pumti ku! Kato a jupe bemtek ad reclar, EROX!" Jordan translated for the rest of them. "Calm down! Calm down! You're a fine one to talk, EROX!" LEGE and the square squid, ABRO, were jumping and swaying around, making the scene become one of pandemonium. Finally, Aelita, who had been quiet, yelled, "Shut up!" Surprised, everyone froze. It looked quite comical. EROX and XAT were locked together, wrestling. LEGE had stopped in mid-jump, freezing with his feet barely touching the ground. ABRO stopped swaying while his head was to one side, and he looked as though he had been cut in half and realigned badly. CHEV and SIRS were trying to separate EROX and XAT. Verdana was standing off to the side, watching. The rest of the gang was huddled together, trying to avoid being hit by stray blasts. Aelita meanwhile was seething. Addressing the frozen figures, she spoke. "CHEV and SIRS, what the hell did you do with Jeremy?" She glared at them. Then realizing she had just revealed her love for Jeremy, she turned bright red. The gang did not look too overly surprised at this. "You've been dancing around each other for ages, Aelita. You sure picked a heck of a time to realize it yourself." Yumi told her. Aelita and Jeremy were still too shy to admit their love for each other, unlike Ulrich and Yumi. Aelita turned even more red if that was possible. "If you are quite done, I'll tell you. We just put him in that miserable pit you locked SIRS in. After he virtualized you that is." CHEV said to Aelita.
Before any akward questions could be asked, Verdana turned to CHEV and her group, who by now had untangled themselves. "We need to go back to our world for a little while. I know you want help with my brother, and I have many questions that need answering. So, we're going back to their world to finish up a few things before we come back here. Besides, we can't go without Jeremy." Then, as an after thought, she added under her breath, "and a few other things." This arrangement seemed acceptable by both parties, so Verdana prepared to devirtualize them. She pulled out her remote and pressed a few buttons.
All of them disappeared and reappeared in the scanners. The first thing Aelita did was run down the tunnel that led to the pit. She lifted the stone up long enough for Jeremy to climb out. Once she set it back down, she threw her arms around him and gave him a big hug. Jeremy was a little startled at first, but then relaxed and hugged her back. After a couple minutes, they let go and walked back to the others. Verdana led them all back outside to their things. Ulrich and Yumi helped to pack everything back up. Aelita and Jeremy worked on fixing the laptop. Jordan helped Viv pack her stuff. Verdana was leaning against a tree at the edge of the clearing. Odd was busy packing up the food. Jordan handed Viv the last of the stuff, but she did not take it. She was staring openmouthed at her bag. "It's gone." she whispered. Jordan dropped the stuff he was holding and moved to her side. "What's missing?" he asked. "My box. My box is gone." He put a comforting arm around her shoulder, as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Verdana, who had been watching the whole thing, stood straight up from her position against the tree kind of jerkily. She turned to the forest behind her and clenched her hands into fists.
Glow:Hehhehehehehehe! Evil cliffie once more.
Jordan: REad and REview peoples!
Glow: And leave a cafe mocha for me!
Viv: Don't.
Verdana: Please don't.
Glow: PLEASE! I will get the next chapter out faster if you do...
Jordan: Once again...ignore them.