New and Improved
Chapter 8: The Craftiness of XANA
Sissi walked outside, the sounds of crashes, explosions and screams could still be heard off in the distance, but nothing was heard that close to the area. She saw Odd and Mrs. Hertz. Mrs. Hertz was helping Odd make his way toward the dorms. "Odd!" Sissi ran towards them. "Odd, are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just a little worn out."
"He saved me from two of those dreadful monsters back there. As a reward, he gets an 'A' in my class!" Mrs. Hertz closed her eyes and smiled. She let go of Odd, and Sissi took hold of him and helped him back to the dorm. Mrs. Hertz smiled and made her way back to the science lab. Boy, have I got some cleaning up to do!
By the time Sissi and Odd reached the dorm, Odd was strong enough to walk under his own power. "Thanks, Sissi," he said. "Let's just hope no more come around this place."
"Why don't be just go and fight them?"
"It's too dangerous, plus, I can't count on being as lucky as I just was. We'll just have to hope that our friends deactivate the tower soon."
"I understand." Sissi and Odd reached her room and Odd laid himself down on her bed, still exhausted from the battle with the two Tarantulas. Sissi sat down next do him, stroking his hair. Oh, I do hope they succeed; it seems that XANA's causing trouble on a much grander scale than usual.
----
Jim was the last to come out of the Way Tower in the mountain region. "Wow, that's was fun! I hope we can do that again sometime. But first, we need to take care of this blasted tower!" Jim rumbled along in his tank, which was surprisingly fast for a vehicle of its size. The tank was red, and it had a small cannon mounted on its front, it's the only vehicle with a weapon on it. Jim could load his staff into the barrel for use as ammo. Jim's vehicle was still the slowest, but it could keep up well enough with the faster Overbike and Overwing.
"OK, guys, the tower appears to have remained stable for the moment. It's on the far side of the sector. I'll be on the lookout for monsters."
"Let's just hope XANA plays it fair this time," said Ulrich. He revved his bike engine as he said this, speeding it up somewhat.
"Hey, Ulrich," said Yumi. "Wait up!" Yumi sped up slightly, trying to keep up, and did Jim, though his vehicle was approaching its max speed. Little did they know that a few Bloks were following watching them as the team made their way towards the tower. The Bloks scurried off, meeting a several more Bloks, along with several Kankrelots. They seemed to communicate somehow, making noises and several motions with their bodies. Then the army of monsters took off, disappearing into the distance.
----
"My, my," said Mr. Delmas, still watching the television set. "This is terrible; so many innocent people have lost their lives as a result of these terrible things. If only there was something we could do.
"I'm sure the authorities will figure out something," said Mr. Fumet. "These things have got to have some sort of weakness. Everything does, right?"
"In theory and in movies and television, perhaps," said the principal, "but this is real, we may not have a way to exploit such a weakness, if these things indeed have one.
"That's true," replied Mr. Fumet. "Still, we can only hope that something can be done to stop all the carnage." He grimaced as he saw a citizen get frozen by a Blok.
"By the way," said Mr. Delmas. "Does anybody know where Jim is? He'd surely be around in a time like this."
"I have no idea," said Mrs. Hertz. She'd just entered the room. "While that is strange, it seems that these things may have a weakness."
"And, what is that, Susanne?" asked Mr. Fumet.
"Well, Odd Della Robbia of all people saved me from two of those things."
"You mean they're here!" exclaimed Mr. Delmas.
"Well, they were, at least for now. Odd managed to trick them into firing upon each other. Perhaps these things aren't as smart as we made them out to be."
"Or maybe it was just luck," said another teacher scowling. "I doubt Della Robbia could have figured out something like that."
"Don't underestimate him," scolded Mrs. Hertz. "He's smarter than you think. He just doesn't seem to know it. If he only applied himself more, he'd get better marks."
"I suppose that's true," said the scowling teacher. Mrs. Hertz smiled, but it quickly faded when she saw what was taking place on the television. "Oh, that's just awful, can't anybody do something?"
----
There was a knock at Sissi's door, and Sissi got up and answered it, leaving Odd resting on her bed. It was Samantha and William. Samantha looked scared, and William had his hand around her shoulder. "Hi," said William after a moment of awkward silence. "It is OK if we stay in here with you guys? Samantha insisted on coming here."
Sissi blinked, a little surprised that Samantha had wanted to come here of all places. "Sure, come on in," she said finally.
"Oh, thank you," said Samantha. "I'm just so scared."
Odd woke up. "Oh, hey, Samantha. You OK?"
"She's fine," said William. "She just got a little spook that's all. She swore she saw a couple of those monsters."
"Well," said Sissi, "there were a couple of them here earlier. Odd managed to take care of them though. Maybe she saw them? What did they look like?"
Samantha described what sounded look the Tarantulas to Odd and Sissi. "Oh, those dumb things?" said Odd, chuckling. I took them out easy; I got them to kill each other. A classic trick, can't believe they fell for it."
"Well," said Samantha timidly, "maybe you can do it again if more come? I don't want to die."
"Ssh," said William, putting a finger on Samantha's lips. "Nobody's going to die." William hugged Samantha tightly. The two of them must have gotten very close through all this, thought Odd to himself, smiling. Maybe William will leave us alone after all this is over. Just then, there was a loud thud outside. Uh oh, thought Odd, that doesn't sound good.
----
The four Lyokians approached the tower. "There it is," exclaim Aelita, pointing.
"Huh, and no monsters have appeared to stand in our way," said Yumi. "Seems XANA used too much of his resources for the attack on Earth."
"I wouldn't be too sure of that, guys," said Jeremie. "You've got several hornets coming in at point three-five."
"I see them," said Ulrich. He pulled up and turned around racing towards the coming swarm. He leapt off his bike, and stuck down a few of the Hornets and the swarm scattered. "Huh? They don't normally scatter like that. Something's wrong."
"Ulrich," cried Aelita, "behind you!" Ulrich turned around, but it was too late. The Hornets fired several shots, taking out his vehicle and striking the samurai several times. Ulrich fell to the ground, dropping his sword as he was devirtualized.
"Ulrich, no!" cried Yumi. She swung around and charged angrily towards the swarm. She threw one fan, then the other, taking out several more of the enemies. The few that were left scattered again. Yumi gasped and remained alert. I'm not gonna fall for that like Ulrich did! Jim was just reaching the area though he had seen what happened to Ulrich. When he saw the Hornets coming at Yumi and Aelita from below he cried out, "Yumi, look out!" Yumi wasn't about to fall for it, just like she'd promised herself. "Yah!" She threw her fans down at the Hornets, taking out all but two. Jim blasted them out of the air, using the gun on his tank.
"Thanks, Jim," said Yumi, smiling.
"Don't mention it. Now, let's get moving!" The team continued towards the tower, which was about ½ a mile away across a wide plateau surrounded by many tall and wide rocks.
"The coast looks clear guys," said Jeremie. "You can go on ahead now."
They made their way onto the plateau. They weren't far from the tower now, which was glowing red, evidence that it was under XANA's control.
"What a second," said Jeremie. "Something's wrong."
"Yes," said Aelita. "I sense it too. Something's definitely not right."
Then, all of a sudden, Yumi and Jim's vehicles disappeared out from under them, causing the three Lyokians to go tumbling to the ground. The ground shook around them.
"What happened? Our vehicles disappear, and now an earthquake?" said Yumi.
"Jeremie," said Jim, "what's going on?
"I…uh…I'm not sure. Wait a minute … oh no!"
"What is it, Jeremie," asked Aelita.
"The ground, it's crumbling around you! It seems that XANA's trying to cut you off from the tower!"
"Oh," exclaimed Yumi. "That's definitely not good. XANA's a crafty on, that's for sure."
Jeremie put his head in his hands. "It gets worse. I don't know why I didn't detect them before, but there's a multitude of monsters hiding behind those rocks surrounding you. XANA must have gained access to my systems somehow. First there was the tower moving, then the vehicles disappearing, and now this? What am I gonna do now?"
"Cheer up Jeremie," said Jim. "There's nothing the 3 of us can't handle. Just leave it to us."
----
Ulrich woke up in the scanner room. "Wha—what happened?" He stood up and took the elevator upstairs to the computer room.
"Ulrich, there you are," said Jeremie. "Are you strong enough to fight? Odd and Sissi may need you."
Ulrich rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I think so."
"Then hurry up and get back to the school. There's nothing more you can do here."
Ulrich got back in the elevator; he now noticed that it was a little beat up on the inside. Hmm, the monsters must have used this to get upstairs, he thought. Once he got upstairs, he jogged towards the school amongst the terror that was happening in the distance. He grimaced at the sounds of the screaming and yelling as me made his way through the forest.
----
The two couples in Sissi's room huddled together, hoping that the terrible, snarling sounds would go away. William looked at Odd. Odd noticed that William had a fierce look in his eye. He'd had enough of this. William stood up and ran outside towards the sounds of the monsters. "William, what are you doing, where are you going?" cried Odd, Samantha and Sissi together. William didn't answer.
"He's gonna get himself killed out there! I've gotta do something!" exclaimed Odd. "Sissi, you stay here with Samantha, I'm going outside."
"But, Odd," said Sissi, grabbing him by the hand.
"Don't worry about me," said Odd. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Besides, if it two of those Tarantulas again, I'll just trick them like last time!" Sissi smiled when Odd said this.
"Good luck," she said, releasing his hand.
"Tarantulas?" asked Samantha.
"Apparently Odd has given a certain type of the monsters a nickname already." Sissi smiled. "Don't worry; I'm sure he and William will be fine. They're both very brave boys." Samantha nodded, and put her head on Sissi's shoulder. Sissi sighed. Be safe, Odd, she thought to herself.
