The World Without Fear

by optimus304

Sevreal months after the events of New Dawn, The Gang try to get thier lives back together. Aelita and Jeremy try to handle thier relationships, Odd tries to seek one with Sissi, And Ulrich and Yumi feel uncomforatble about the changes. Yet silently, Old villians will return. And new threats and problems which will Destroy the world that they love. Live In Fear.

7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6

Daredevil

Amines France

Business District.

20:30 GMT

The winds ripped and teared through the city like a speeding train, echoing between buildings and streets like a breath through a flute, creating an eerie and loud noise. Tree branches whipped and bowed to the powerful gusts like they were paper, even the mightiest of branches and trees surrendered to the storm's mighty power. Several trash cans that lined the many buildings tumbled over with ease like bowling pins as their contents spilled over into the street, spreading the garbage across a wide area.

A large bolt of lightning flashed violently, illuminating the sky as if it was the middle of the afternoon for just a few seconds. Following the bright and powerful bolt of electricity, thunder bellowed from the storm itself like the roar of an angry and ferocious beast, causing almost everything in the city to rattle and shake from its sheer power.
Many residents cowered in fear, taking refuge in basements and hallways away from windows and doors. Panic filled the minds of those still on their way home. They wondered if their journey would be safe and if their homes would be still standing when they arrived.

A loud noise echoed through the city and continued to grow in intensity as the local severe weather alarms announced to the civilian populace that the storm reached life threatening proportions. The many alarms throughout the city were hardly ever used; such dangerous weather conditions were rarely witnessed in this area. Now their alerting tone added to the amount of fear that dwelled in the hearts of Amines' citizens.
For some members of the public it looked like Armageddon.

The storm raged over the city as the local power grid struggled to keep its current flowing. The lights throughout the city flickered and dimmed as the storm's intensity caused some areas to shut off completely. Suddenly a bright flash of lighting hit a local power transformer. Yet unlike regular lightning that would strike and disappear in a matter of seconds, this one struck the transformer and stayed, draining the appliance of the electricity it dispensed and received. Within seconds, the transformer blew apart like a bomb, spreading its charred and smoldering remains over a large area with such intensity that many of the pieces penetrated several objects on their way.
As the transformer exploded, majority of the lights throughout the business district finally surrendered to the conditions and shut down completely. The dark and quiet void of the night fell upon the area as the entire city's power grid shut down. An eerie silence fell upon the street near the many large businesses and buildings.
Yet a pair of bright lights pierced through the darkness of the entire area as a loan black car roared down the city streets. Its tires screeched as it continued to make sharp turns in the dry asphalt. Its lights cut through the darkness as it passed several other cars that were trying to get to shelter.

"My God, did you see that?" Travis asked as he pointed towards the remains of the recently detonated transformer.

"This is getting really bad..." George said. "Let's hope the kids shut down the tower soon, whatever that means."

Travis fiddled with his phone as he tried to get in touch with his different contacts in Amines. Ever since he was appointed the official handler of the gang while still conducting his investigations, he made sure to stay in contact with the local authorities about any possible issues that may arise from Xervix or Mal-Tech.
He'd rather not do it, as both French government and local officials refused to acknowledge the gang's ability to handle the Supercomputer. But he knew that by hiding the truth he might get them into even more trouble if the French found their actions treasonous. He could not risk losing the little trust he, his fellow agents and the kids had been given. Besides, he needed them to shut down the city's power to hinder the progress of the attack. It seemed the only solution he could come up with to buy the kids some time on Lyoko.

He sighed as he called the number of a certain civil servant who could speak English fluently, which, as he learned, was an unusual skill here in France. Travis heard the phone right a few times until someone picked up. However, he soon realized that the person on the other end was speaking French, and seeing as how Travis's French was still pretty rusty, it wouldn't really help as much as he had hoped.

"Bonjour, ceci est le Amines City hall, mon nom est Zelda comment puis-je vous aider?" (Hello this is the Amines City hall, my name is Zelda how may i help you?) the lady on the other end of the phone asked.

"Hi, oui... c'est Agent spécial Dalesman du FBI au Grarage kids: Lyoko task force. J'ai besoin de parler avec... Mister Wentz." (Hi yes this is Special Agent Dalesman of the FBI with the Grarage kids: Lyoko task force. I need to speak with Mister Wentz.) Travis stuttered.

The lady by the name Zelda placed his call on hold. After a few seconds the phone rang once more. The line was picked up by a man with deep, elderly voice.

"Hello. This is Comissioner Wentz of the Amines fire and rescue. May I help you?" the man said over the phone.

"Good evening, this is Special Agent Dalesman of the FBI with the Garage Kids: Lyoko Task force. I'm calling because we believe the large storm that is barreling down Amines currently is an attack launched by Lyoko. We need you to shut down the city's main power grid as it appears that this storm is feeding off the energy grid." Travis said slowly and calmly to make sure that Wentz kept up with him.

There was a slight pause on the end of the line until Travis heard Wentz sigh heavily on the other end.

"Sir, are you sure this is an attack and not just a wild spring storm?" Wentz asked with strong French accent.

"Yes we do. We have confirmed that-"

Travis quickly grabbed the dash board as George hit the brakes on the Mustang to avoid hitting a tumbling trash can as it rolled across the road.

"Careful, George!" he hissed.

"Very well. We shall do what we can." Wentz said calmly as he put down the receiver.
"Stupide les enfants. je savais que nous devrions de enfermées et jeté les clés. probablement un groupe terroriste pour commencer" (Stupid children. i knew we should of locked them up and thrown away the keys. Probably a terrorist group to begin with) he muttered, probably believing that he could not be heard over the phone.

Travis tried to pick the words apart slowly. He understood the les enfants part. The rest was bothering him.

"Um... what did you say?" Travis asked in confusion, hoping he had heard wrong.

"Excuse moi?" Wentz said.

"About the kids and terrorists? You know, my French may not be perfect, but I'm a great listener,"
Travis asked, revealing that he heard everything. He did not even bother to be subtle; he had enough of disrespect towards their task force.

Wentz paused as he went completely silent.

"It is not of your concern, sir!" He finally broke his silence with a sudden burst of anger.

Travis felt his heart race as his eyes squinted in anger. "Why would you say that? These children are not trying to destroy the world, they're the ones protecting you!"

"Are you sure of that? Maybe they are hiding their true intentions from you?" Wentz said. "Why should we trust the care of that computer or the world in their hands? I think they're incompetent children who only care about fame!"

"You're wrong!" Travis said as he tried to keep his composure. The storm roaring outside made him realize he could not engage in this pointless argument anymore. "Listen, this is very important that you turn off the power now. The city's in real danger. You have to help us fight this thing!"

"Who are you to give me orders?" replied Wentz. "I will tell you something. We witnessed psychopaths who claimed they fought for what was right. Those kids will one day bite this world in the ass, you'll see. They have no right to play their little game. And to think you Americans and the UN approve of this."

Travis finally lost his cool. He couldn't understand why so many people around here were acting so thick and close-minded. Why did they refuse to hear the kids' side of the story? Was it fear that was forcing him to act this way? How could they be so blind to what was happening around them?
That alone caused a fire to ignite inside Travis.

"If that's the case, then why don't you go fight on Lyoko?" Travis yelled as he held the phone out in front of him, gathering George's attention. "I will come pick you up! And you can come fight these things! And then you can see how easy it is for them! To sacrifice so much of their youth so that you can do whatever you want!"

Travis hung up on Wentz, slamming his phone towards the floor board of the car. He placed his hands on his forehead as he breathed heavily.

"Another friendly government official?" George asked.

"Yeah... What an asshole." Travis grunted. "I'm so sick of this, you know? I mean, I would expect this from North Korea or Iran. But their own own homeland?" He picked up his phone. "After all the times they saved it..."

"Thank God that they are under UN's jurisdiction. If not for that, the French would take over the hard work of Aelita's father immediately," George muttered as he pulled onto a side street next to a large line of trees. "And that would be disastrous. They can't possibly handle Xervix on their own. The kids struggle despite having experience with Xana."

"We can't give them any reason to doubt the kids, George." Travis said as he looked out the window. "If only they listened to us and cooperated! The power is still on!"

"They will have to turn it off sooner or later. They will fear a grid overload," said George as he tried to calm down his colleague.

"They better do... if what the gang said is correct and Xervix or Xana has manipulated weather before, that storm will hit big any minute now."

"What do you think will happen if it does... hit big, as you say?" George asked as the Mustang swerved through the side streets.

"If what we saw out in the countryside is any indication, it might try to use the energy it absorbed and attack the factory. Or it could absorb the energy from the factory as well. That was no ordinary lightning after all."

"What about Aelita? Could it absorb her Savior energy as well?" George asked.

"I don't know... But we have to be careful."

The 2 agents and their car came to a stop at a Stop sign. The wind shook and wiggled the sign in its place as the Mustang took off yet again. As the Mustang drove away from the sign, a large tree branch snapped in half and dropped off a large elm tree. The branch landed right in the middle of the road in front of the car.

George quickly rotated the steering wheel right as the car veered into the other lane. The passenger side tires of the Mustang hit the edge of the branch as the rest of the car sailed right past it. No sooner had the car swerved back into the left lane than the rest of the tree fell over right behind them, blocking their path back down the street.

Travis breathed a sigh of relief until he saw straight in front of the car. Some of the telephone wires snapped and hissed until a few of the cords came loose from the transformer. Sparks snapped and hissed through the air as they landed on the ground next to the Mustang.

"OH SHIT!" George shouted as he swerved the car to the left extremely hard. The car came to a complete halt as the wires continued to spark and jumped from the current going through them.
"Man, now we're stuck!" George whined as he slammed the palm of his hands on the steering wheel.

Travis unbuckled his seat belt and stepped out of the car. He took a long look at the road in front of them as he tried to figure a way out of this area and back to the factory. He stepped a few inches away from the car in order to survey the area thoroughly. The wind ripped though Travis's hair as he watched for any possible way out. As lightning flashed overhead, he spotted a small alleyway just a little bit past them.

Travis stepped back towards the car and lowered his head so he could see George's face.
"There's an alley over here. Let me check to see if it's clear." Travis shouted as he tried to speak over the roar of the wind.
Travis quickly stood up and jogged a few yards over to the alley's entrance. The sign in front of the alley said One way only. But with an emergency like this, Travis didn't care too much about the law. He knew they had to get back to the factory. If the children couldn't deactivate the tower, the storm would unleash its fury on the rundown building and possibly cause it to collapse, entombing everyone in there for Lord knows how long.
He peeked down the alleyway. It was narrow, with a couple of trashcans and a single street light hanging over it. Yet the alley was wide enough for the Mustang to drive through. Travis waved to George, instructing him to pull the car into the alleyway. He watched the black sports car's backup lights come on as the car slowly inched its way towards his position.

The car backed up enough for the front end to pull inside the alley with no restrictions. Travis ran around to the passenger side of the car and opened the door.

"OK, let's go." he said as he grabbed his seat belt.

As Travis buckled his seat belt in, he glanced over to see George glancing upwards at the storm. His eyes were big as marbles as if he had just seen a ghost. Travis decided to glance upwards as well, to see just what George was looking at.

Large clouds overhead began to swirl in place as the lighting bolts inside the storm danced around in the air. But instead of being whitish blue like lightning usually was, they were now dark orange, almost the same color as an old, rotting pumpkin. The lightning crackled and popped as the bolts converged into the center of the angry storm cloud. It looked as if lightning was gathering together to meet in the center. As the lightning traced through the sky and towards the center of the storm cloud, the middle part of the cloud opened up, revealing a small glowing ball of energy, the same color as the lightning. The small ball pulsated as it slowly grew in size. The clouds around it swirled in a clockwise formation as the storm continued to bellow loudly.

"It looks like it's... charging up." George said.

Suddenly, a thought raced across George's mind. The storm had been striking power lines and latching on to it. It was absorbing as much energy as possible. This storm wasn't no ordinary storm after all, that had already been established. But it wasn't rain that the storm was going to drop on the city. It was going to rain lightning bolts and eventually unleash a powerful charge of lightning at the factory. A surge of energy that powerful wouldn't just destroy the building itself, but it could also electrify anyone inside of it... maybe even deep down in the lab. Then all that would be needed was to eliminate the resistance on Lyoko and Xervix and Aether would easily win.

"We gotta get back there." George said as he sat back in his seat. Before he could reach for the shifter to throw the car in drive, a hand grabbed his arm, stopping him from moving the car forward. George looked over at his partner in confusion.

"Look!" Travis said firmly as he pointed in front of the Mustang.

George looked up to see a figure standing right in front of the hood of the car. The figure wore a black trench coat with a hood over their face. It looked like the figure Travis and George saw earlier when they entered Amines through the freeway, 34 miles back. The person just stood there, motionless and silent. The coat swayed a little in the wind, yet it moved so that nothing underneath the coat could be revealed. It looked like the grim reaper without its scythe.

"Who is this guy?" Travis asked as he reached for his 1911 Colt. He stepped out of the car and pointed his pistol square at the individual's head. "FBI! Stay where you are!"

George followed suit as he stood behind his car door with both of his hands on his Glock-8. He placed his finger on the frame right above the trigger well as he prepared for anything this person might do.

"Who are you?" Travis demanded.

The figure continued to stare at them quietly and showing no emotion whatsoever.

"ANSWER ME!"

The figure slowly raised up a single hand with his palm pointed towards the agents. He held it there as if in attempt to show that he meant them no harm.

"You must hurry..." the person said in a low, yet young voice.

Travis and George looked back and forth at each other in confusion.

"What do you mean?" George asked.

"They are coming for them... And you are still slacking off. Unless you act now, someone will claim the planet... And the Guardian and Savior." The figure said.

"Savior? You must mean her?" Travis asked leaving Aelita's name out of the conversation as he continued to point his pistol at the short hooded figure. "But who's this Guardian you speak of?"

"Yeah, who are they?" George asked as he flipped his pistol from safe to fire.

"Please help them... Please help us. I don't want to do it." The person said.

"Do what?" George asked.

"I... Want... to be..." the person tried to speak, his voice cutting in and out.

"Be what?" George asked once more.

"Human... a... a... again..." the person said with pain in their voice.

As they did, they jumped into the air higher than any human ever could. Their cloak flapped through the air as they rose in altitude and landed on top of the neighboring roof. The figure landed on the roof with elegance and precision. As soon as they landed on top of the roof, they were gone in a flash of lightning.

Travis and George stood there dumbfounded as they slowly lowered their weapons.

"What... the hell?" George asked. "Since when did Darth Maul join the case?"

"And what did he mean by Help us and I don't want to do it?" Travis asked as he holstered his pistol. "That person was too short and sounded too young to be a special agent."

"And he sounded like it was hard for him to speak. Did you notice he kinda paused a little before each word?" George asked. "Think he works for Mal-Tech? Or was a new Titan?"

"I don't know. But if he was, why would he warn us?" Travis asked as he glanced up towards the roof.

_Lyoko, Sky Sector.

Aether stood over the weakened and defenseless Puck. His claw like hands were clasped over his dagger as it slowly raised above his head, preparing to plunge the blades into his foe. After shattering the young A.I.'s mind with his argument about what it means to be human, Aether was now prepared to help Puck experience the only good thing humans were good at. Dying.

"Don't worry. Your friends' deaths are sure to follow." Aether teased as he looked a terrified Puck in the eye. "That is, if there is afterlife for either of you."

Odd quickly stood up and held out his paws. He flexed his fists in the usual manner that allowed a laser arrow to fire out of his glove, only to hear a depressing and shallow clicking noise – the noise that his arms usually made when he was out of ammo.

"Jeremy! I need more arrows, and fast. Aether is about to finish off Puck!" Odd shouted as he bent down and ran on all fours in an attempt to get to Puck and Aether without haste.

"I know, Odd... Someone's gonna take care of it." said Jeremy with a relaxed tone.

"But who? What are you talking about?"

"The sector is now synced with the scanners."

Odd heard his gloves clicking and clinking, as they were in the process of reloading.

Meanwhile, Puck slowly looked up at his triumphant opponent. Thoughts of what was about to happen raced through his mind. Would he end up as deleted data? Would he just vanish from existence? Or would there actually be something waiting for him? Puck closed his eyes as he thought about the life he was expected to live...The life he wanted to live, and the live he couldn't live. But was it really a life he had lived? Or was he just programmed for this? Were his desires and his choices the work of free will or were they predetermined?

Aether screeched loudly as he prepared to plunge the dagger into Puck; his muscles tightened as he prepared to take his prey. Suddenly, the side of the tower burst open in pink and blue flame as a pink blur flew out from inside it. The sides of the tower's entrance flew like glass out of a shattered window. As soon as the pink blur flew out of the towers entrance, the tower's wall quickly repaired itself like most of the terrain on Lyoko. The pink streak flew at high speeds, like a bullet from a gun, aiming towards Aether.

The Titan looked up in time to feel the hard impact from an object hitting him square in the sternum. Its momentum caused Aether's hands and legs to trail behind his body as he was carried through the air, leaving a high pitched scream in his wake.

Aelita gritted her teeth as her wings folded behind her body. Her right hand wrapped around her opponent's body while her left hand hung down at her side as she used her energy field as a propulsion device. The force from the beam was enough to give Aelita the speed she needed.
Once she had finished synching the towers up to the scanners, Jeremy informed her of Puck's predicament. A swell of rage and anger filled up inside her as she realized what Aether had done. She was so angry that she even thought about using her Savior powers, but discarded the idea after Jeremy talked sense into her. She knew that by fighting Aether she was at risk of being devitalized, leaving the others stuck on Lyoko with no way to shut down the activated tower. But with Odd down and Puck in trouble, it was a gamble she had to make.

Aelita shifted her right hand, causing Aether to fall out of her grasp and releasing the bird man onto the hard ground below. As soon as Aether hit the ground, she mounted the bird man and began swinging her fists at Aether's face. Her jabs were solid and quick, not like some street fighter just getting quick jabs in for show, but like a pro boxing champion who wanted to knock her opponent out and end the match quick.

"You think you can threaten my brother?!" she shouted as she delivered another blow to Aether's twisted and bent beak.

She grabbed Aether's neck and lifted him up into the air with all of her might. She then formed an energy field in her right hand and punched Aether in the chest, sending the bird man flying down towards the ground.

In the meantime, Puck slowly tried to stand up. His body was dizzy and light, indicating how close he was to devirtualization. Yet it wasn't his body that hurt, it was his pride and his emotions that were damaged. He let Aether exploit his own personal discomforts... and it almost worked.
Puck tried to stand up on his own two feet, yet his legs gave way each time he tired to lift himself up. On the third attempt, Puck noticed the sound of footsteps approaching him. He glanced around fast and spotted Odd standing right next to him. The spike haired blonde bent down next to him and grabbed his left arm. He slowly lifted it up and over his shoulder as he helped Puck stand up.

"You look like you just went toe to toe with King Kong." Odd remarked.

"Please... I'm not in the mood for jokes, man." Puck said shrinkingly.

"I heard what Aether said. I won't tell anyone." Odd said as he led Puck inside the tower. "But between you and me-"

"ODD! I'm begging you, just leave it alone... Please." Puck cut Odd off, startling him. He felt a swell of sorrow as the words Aether spoke continued to dance around in his mind.

"Puck... I heard what Aether said as well." Jeremy said.

Puck entered the tower along with Odd in silence. As soon as the virtual being entered the tower, he felt the dizziness and weakness leave his body. It felt like he had went from being out in the heat and stepping into a cold, refreshing pool.

"I know you don't want to hear this, but you really do have a lot of human qualities. Qualities I didn't even think a A.I. could have," Jeremy said.

"I appreciate you two trying to cheer me up, I really do. But please, it's probably for the best that you don't mention this to Aelita or bring it up ever again... for my sake," Puck pleaded.

Odd patted Puck's shoulder. "I promise. But if you ever need anything, both of us are here for you."

"You two are acting like I'm gonna self delete myself or something." Puck joked a little, trying to lighten up the mood. While hiding his true feelings"But I really do thank you guys for trying to cheer me up."

In another part of the sector, William blocked a blast from Krab's eye cannon. His sword pinged as the laser resonated off of it. As the ping echoed through the blade, a faint white and blue glow came over the sword, indicating it was fully charged. William swung his sword like a baseball bat as a blue and white wave of energy surged forth, striking the Krab and causing it to explode instantly. But before William could recover, a laser blast struck him from behind. The blast caused him to drop to his knees; his sword fell to the ground, sliding a few feet away from him in a counter clockwise motion.
William glanced up in time to see a pair of Sentries advancing on him, their cannons aimed and preparing to open fire. William quickly vanished into a cloud of white smoke and maneuvered out of the way from the oncoming laser blasts. The smoke trail traveled towards the discarded sword as it reformed into the white clad warrior. William grabbed his sword and turned to face his opponents, which started to fire like madmen. The two monsters held nothing back as their blasters fired repeatedly.

William vanished once more into a cloud of smoke and flew towards the Sentries. The lasers passed through the smoke as William came within inches of his foes. He reformed and punched one of the Sentries in the face; his blow was enough to knock it off balance. He grabbed the Sentry and thrusted his sword into its middle section. As the second Sentry continued to fire, William charged up to it, using the dying Sentry he impaled as a shield. When William was close enough he pulled his sword to the left of the Sentry he stabbed as its mid section flew out with it. William then sliced the final Sentry in half vertically as the first Sentry exploded. William watched the second Sentry burst from his attack. The thin robot-like creature's remains exploded in a shock wave like pattern.

Suddenly, William heard a sound come from his left. He turned in time to see a green orb fly past his face. He bent his back and knees so that he could bend backwards like he was in a limbo contest, avoiding the blast. He straightened up in time to see a second blast whiz right past him. He slowly stood up and turned to face his new oncoming opponents.
Three Defenders slowly marched up in unison. Their metal like bodies clanked and clinched together like they were knights in suits of armor. Their cannons were pointed straight at him. He turned and charged towards the 3 monsters as he scrapped his sword on the ground. As soon as he was close enough, William raised his sword to strike.

One of the Defenders quickly swapped out its cannon for its sword and blocked the attack. The second Defender engaged. William jumped backwards as the second Defender sliced at him. He hashed at the attack with his sword as he pressed his weight into it. He then rolled the attack off to the right so that the Defender would need more time to recover.
No sooner had he maneuvered past the second Defender than he scrapped his sword along the monster's side. Sparks flew from its side as it grunted from the impact. William then sliced vertically with his sword only to see the Defender block his attack once more. William then heard the first Defender switch weapons; he spotted a cannon pointed right at his face. He lifted his lower section into the air as both his feet struck the cannon from the second Defender, causing it to pull upwards into the air as it went off. Once William landed on his feet, however, he felt a sudden jab at his leg. The third Defender, which he had forgotten about, stabbed him. He watched as it pulled the sword out of his leg and punched him in the chest, sending him flying backwards. He hit the ground with a hard thud.

Ulrich looked up from his battle with the Blocks as he watched the entire fight unfold. He quickly stabbed the last Block in the eye as he ran over to William's location in an attempt to save him.

The three Defenders slowly walked up to William in single file formation, their blaster arms pointed upwards. As they approached William, they stopped and dropped their blasters. William could see the inside of their barrels glowing as the monsters that stood before him were preparing to fire their weapons.

"Don't miss," William grunted.

The Defenders fired; the green orbs struck William. The orbs exploded into a cloud of green dust as William faded away into a cluster of pixels.

"WILLIAM!" Ulrich shouted as he turned in time to see his friend disappear right in front of his eyes. A sudden burst of rage filled Ulrich's body as he tossed his sword into the air with incredible speed and accuracy, skewering two of the Defenders in the head, thus causing their destruction.

Yumi glanced over in time to see William's body vanish. Shock fell upon her as she realized what just happened. William had been defeated.
Yumi dropped her staff out of her hands; it hit the ground next to her. Her face showed both shock and sadness as she realized what had just happened. She felt cold anxiety surround her as she realized she failed to protect one of her friends from disappearing from Lyoko and being thrown into the Limbo. She had always fought with such tensity and resolve that she never wanted the possibility to ever happen. Yet even know as she tried her best, she let William down.

Ulrich grabbed his sword and turned to face his lover. His eyes mirrored the same horror and sadness as hers.

"Jeremy...We lost William." Ulrich said with a soft tone.

"It's OK. We just linked the scanners up with the sector. He just arrived back here on Earth." Jeremy said.

"You mean, he's alive?" Yumi asked with hope in her voice.

"Yes, I'm alive... Just angry that I was defeated that easily. By the way Ulrich, I got 16 before I left. See if you can beat that." William said over the intercom in the scanner room.

Both teens smiled at the sound of William's voice. All morning aside, they were filled with a newfound motivation at the news. But before they could revel in the fact, the sound of approaching opponents snapped them back into reality. A large line of Defenders, Krabs, Sentries and Kankerlats slowly approached the pair in a firing squad like formation. The large row of monsters seemed to cut off their escape route. More and more monsters appeared in the group as it became evident that Yumi and Ulrich were their top priority.

Ulrich slowly backed up towards Yumi, The yellow samurai clutched both swords in his hands as he prepared for the inevitable wall of laser fire.

"I think we're in trouble." Ulrich said as he crossed his swords.

Yumi picked up her staff and held it behind her in a defensive stance. Even though she was prepared to fight, she knew there was way too many monsters for the two of them to fight. Even if they managed to destroy a few of them, they would soon be over run and would meet William's fate. That would leave Aelita, Odd, and Puck at the mercy of Aether and Xervix. It would become a nightmare.

The row of Blocks and Sentries aimed their weapons at the two warriors and opened fire. The laser volley dashed through the air like a wall of heat and death as the monsters commenced their attempts to gun down the 2 teens. Both Ulrich and Yumi managed to dodge and block a majority of the laser fire as they slowly walked backwards, distancing themselves from the advancing monsters.

"It's like they're trying to push us... not hit us." Ulrich noticed.

"Guys, watch out. You're getting pretty close to the edge of the sector." said Jeremy with concern.

Yumi glanced backwards to learn that Jeremy was indeed right. The ledge was only a few feet away. And at the rate they were going, it would be a matter of time until they were at the very edge itself.

"Jeremy, we need our vehicles!" she shouted.

"If I materialize the vehicles now, they will get shredded by the monsters." Jeremy said as he tried to figure out a plan.

"Hang on, look!" Jessica shouted at Jeremy as she still observed the situation on Lyoko on the tablet.

The blonde teen jumped out of his chair and walked over towards her and Sissi. He looked on the radar monitor to see a sight of hope and relief for Ulrich and Yumi.

"Hang on... Aelita is on the way." Jeremy said with a smile over the intercom.

"She'd better hurry!" Yumi shouted as she took a hit to her ribs.

Ulrich then heard a slight whining noise that sounded like a whistle at first, but it was getting even louder as he listened to it. In fact, it began to sound more like a high pitched scream.

"What's that noise?" Yumi asked as she had heard it as well over the sound of the laser fire.

Suddenly, at the peak of the sound's volume, an object slammed into the wall of on coming monsters. The object hit with such a thud that it damaged and almost destroyed the platform they were on. The object skidded along the ground with such velocity and power that some of the weaker monsters were destroyed while the stronger monsters were either knocked over or slipped and fell off the edge of the sector.

Aether came to a stop just before the edge of the sector. His body was badly damaged and close to devirtualization. He laid there motionless for a while as he tried to recover from the sudden beating Aelita had given him. It was still dancing around in his head like a marble inside a drying machine. How could such a small girl suddenly turn into a powerful opponent?

"Ah... that really hurt." Aether moaned as he rolled over.

Suddenly, Aelita appeared over Ulrich and Yumi's heads. Her wings flapped furiously as she attempted to slow down from her super speed flight. As the pink haired angel landed right next to Ulrich and Yumi, her wings folded and disappeared.

"You guys OK?" she asked, concerned.

"Definitely. A little bit longer and we would be skydiving by now." Yumi said as she high-fived her friend.

"Did you throw him?" Ulrich asked in a state of shock and surprise while pointing at Aether's motionless body.

"Actually, I mostly just punched him. I let the speed I built up and my altitude do the rest." Aelita said as she tired to blow off what she did. Anger still filled her body as she still hadn't forgotten what Aether did to Puck. The anger still filled her with great resolve.

"Where are Puck and Odd?" Ulrich asked.

"They are recovering in the tower. They should be finished up any minute now." Jeremy said over the intercom.

Before Yumi managed to utter a word, a laser blast whipped right past her side. Yumi looked to her left to discover that the monsters Aelita hadn't wiped out when she dropped Aether like a missile to the ground had recovered and were now re-engaging the team with malice.

"We're gonna be surrounded again real soon." Yumi said as a pair of fans materialized right in front of her.

Three of the remaining Blocks took up a line formation and opened fire. Standing on-top of the blocks were the only few remaining Kankerlats. The small capsule like creatures fired like a wall of machine guns, each round zipped through the air at the 3 teens in an effort to remove their threat against Aether's plan.

Ulrich cut and blocked as many of the laser blasts as possible, while Aelita used her energy field to absorb the laser blasts that were directed towards her. Ulrich whipped his swords through the air as fast as he could, but with more and more monsters joining the attack, he was soon outmatched as a laser blast struck him center in the chest.

Yumi called out for Ulrich only to have a laser beam strike her in the knee, while the second laser blast caught her in the shoulder, forcing her to the ground.

"We need to get out of here!" Ulrich shouted as he rolled to his left, dodging a series of laser blasts.

"But if we try to materialize our vehicles they will just get destroyed!" Aelita said as she suddenly felt a hard shot to her back.

"Aelita!" Yumi shouted as the purple ninja tossed one of her fans into the air. The fan glowed brightly as it whipped around like a boomerang. The fan chopped the arm of a Sentry, causing it to fall to the ground and thrash violently.

Aelita slowly stood up. She looked around the area to see that the stronger monsters were beginning to regroup and reengage them. She looked at Ulrich and Yumi, who were both fighting the best they could, yet they were continuously being pushed back once again. Aelita knew if she fell off, she could fly to safety. But Ulrich and Yumi would plunge into the virtual sea, and there was no guarantee that Jeremy and herself could save both of them in time. She had to think of something before it was too late.
As she stood up, she noticed a large crack in the ground where Aether had landed. The ground was still too delicate and could go at any minute with the right amount of force. Then, it sparked in her mind what she had to do. She wasn't sure if it would work but she knew she would rather risk it than say goodbye to Ulrich and Yumi.

"I got an idea." Aelita said as she fired off both of her energy beams.

"If it involves me going through the air again, no way!" Yumi shouted as she caught her fan.

"Ditto," Ulrich agreed.

"No, not that. Jeremy, These platforms are fragile, right?" Aelita asked.

"Yes they are...What do you have in mind?" Jeremy asked.

"Can you materialize the Over-bike and Over-sled right under Yumi and Ulrich when I tell you to?"

"Sure." Jeremy said as he suddenly caught wind of what Aelita was thinking about. "It will be close though. What about you?"

"I'm gonna try something. If I concentrate on my energy field and hold it so it builds up power, I might be able to destroy the platform." Aelita said as she lobbed a second energy beam at a Tarantula.

"Can you even do that?" Jeremy asked.

"I think I can. And Yumi is capable of doing something similar anyways..."

"Yeah, but it drains me every time." Yumi said, catching on.

"Look, how about I just bring you three in and get you out of harm's way, We still have the contingency plan." Jeremy said into the microphone.

"I don't wanna take that risk. What if something goes wrong or it doesn't work?" Aelita said as she jumped to her left and rolled along the ground.

"But what if something goes wrong with your plan?"

"That's why Yumi and Ulrich will have their vehicles. Either way we're out of options." Aelita said with a hint of stress in her voice.

Jeremy sighed. "OK... Just promise me that you're gonna come back here to earth... to me."

"Promise." Aelita sprinted backwards and stood behind Ulrich and Yumi. "I need you two to keep me covered." she said as she placed both of her palms together.

"I just wanna go for the record and say I hate this sector." Ulrich said as he caught wind of what the two nerds were planning.

"Noted and agreed." Yumi said as she somersaulted through the air, avoiding a large laser beam fired from a Mega-tank.

Aether slowly stood to his feet and looked past the line of monsters that were engaging the children. From the looks of the battle, they had everything under control and it would only be a matter of time until all 3 of them were devirtualized. Yet Aether wasn't too thrilled about the idea of the Garage Kids not being defeated by his hand. After the humiliation Aelita had just placed him through, Aether felt he deserved the honor and the pleasure of destroying them.
Aether opened his beak and fired a crimson beam of energy towards the children. The crimson laser cut through the air and past a majority of the smaller monsters' laser beams as it arched towards the trio.

Ulrich noticed the beam approaching Yumi. He watched as the beam approached Yumi, who had not yet noticed it.

"YUMI!" Ulrich shouted.
He threw his hand out and fired his grapnel beam. "Get there first," he thought as the blue and white beam buzzed out of its bracket that was attached to his wrist.

Yumi turned around in time to notice the beam approaching her. The speed of the beam was so great she would not have enough time to dodge it. It was within inches of her face. Suddenly, Yumi felt something snag her in the belly as she was tugged hard. The beam passed right by her eyes as she was pulled through the air and into the welcoming arms of her boyfriend.

"Hold on to her, I'm gonna do it." Aelita said as she held her left hand up to protect herself, leaving her right hand below her. Pink energy coursed through her arm as a small ball of energy formed in her palm.

"I will cover you." Yumi said.

She stepped away from Ulrich and placed her hands up to her forehead as a white glow emanated from her. She focused all of her attention on the small cluster of rocks to the very far right of the circular area they were fighting at. The rocks lifted up into the air and flew towards Aelita. The rocks passed by the pink haired girl and formed a small floating wall in front of her. Lasers chipped away at the rocks as they floated in place, acting like a shield to guard Aelita from the oncoming laser fire. A few of the leftover rocks flew in front of Yumi and Ulrich to serve as their own personal shield so that when the time came, Yumi just had to drop the rocks and they could all escape with no problem.

"Just a bit more." Aelita said quietly as her right hand shook violently.

"I'm ready on my end." Jeremy said.

Suddenly, a beeping noise came from inside the lab. Jeremy glanced over to see that a warning sign had popped up over Aelita's icon.

"Aelita, be careful. Whatever you're doing is hurting your physical form."

"I... I will be fine." Aelita said as she noticed a slight numbing sensation coming from her right hand. The sensation flowed through her body and reached her chest as she felt a slight sensation of pain race through her body. It was unusual and disturbing.

"It's not the System activating, is it?" Jessica asked nervously.

"No... she's putting too much stress on her virtual form, and it's causing her physical body to react to it." Jeremy said.

"Is that bad?" Sissi asked.

"I don't know. I've never seen this before. But it could have harmful affects on her."

"If a normal trip to Lyoko leaves us weak and exhausted...What will happen to her while she's trying to pull off this move?" William asked.

Aelita concentrated long and hard as she overcharged her Energy Field. She had never tried this before and she was actually unsure if she could do it. She lowered her left hand and placed it on the back of her right hand to help her keep the growing ball of energy steady and to hopefully relieve some of the pain in her arm. Her arm was trembling in multiple directions as if it was on a spring. Yet Aelita was careful to focus only on the energy field itself and not her Savior powers. If she focused on using the System while she was on Lyoko, she ran the risk of possibly destroying the supercomputer and everyone in it. She could feel the System's energy in the back of her mind, reacting to the stress she was under presently. She had to be extremely careful not to awaken it or she might kill everyone on Lyoko and possibly even inside the factory.

Aelita held her hand up high into the air as she screamed loudly from the stress she was placing on herself. Her head felt as if she was in a vice grip while her arm and shoulder felt as if they had just been run over. Her scream filled the air of the battle, gathering the attention of everyone and everything on the platform. The numbness turned into a burning sensation as she felt her energy field charge up to its full extent.

"Ulrich! Yumi! Stop her!" Jeremy cried as he heard Aelita's scream through his headset.

"Aelita, stop!" Ulrich shouted while Yumi concentrated harder on her telekinesis.

Aelita couldn't take much more. Her body glowed pink as the energy field's overcharge gave off a feedback into her. Finally, she felt her energy field flicker in her hands, indicating that it had reached its maximum power effect.
She was ready.
Aelita breathed deeply as she formed her open hand into a fist.

"NOW, JEREMY!" Aelita shouted as she slammed her fist into the ground and released the built up energy field.

The ground shook as the golden rock like surface cracked and fractured from the pink energy that coursed through the ground like magma from a volcano.

Aether felt the platform they stood on shake and tilt as he spotted a large crack tracing up from where Aelita had once stood towards the direction of the monsters' assault. Realizing what the small humans had done, Aether jumped into the air and took off in the direction of the activated tower.

"Such power!" Aether marveled as he turned to see the entire platform burst into dust and debris.

No sooner had Aelita released her attack than the Over-bike and Over-sled materialized directly in front of Yumi and Ulrich. The two teens sprinted as fast as they could, as the sections of bronze colored rock shattered like glass and fell into the digital sea. Yumi felt her feet give way a couple of times before she reached her Over-sled. She jumped onto the sled and hit the throttle, it took off into the air with Ulrich close behind her. After getting a safe distance away from the platform, both teens turned to watch the result of Aelita's efforts.

Aelita stood in a kneeling position as she watched the ground around her shatter like glass. She quickly waved her hand over her small pink wrist bracelet. A pair of pink wings flashed from behind her back. The young teen jumped into the air as she made her escape from the exploding platform.

The monsters still left on the platform tried to escape from the large pit that was opening up behind them, yet one by one, the monsters vanished into the hole as they trickled downward with rocks and debris from the platform into the digital sea. The Kankerlats tried to speed away from the platform only to find themselves tumbling down into the virtual sea with the rest of their comrades.

"Whoa." Ulrich murmured as he was watching the scene from above the platform.

"It worked." Yumi said with relief. "You OK, Aelita?"

"My arm hurts a little, but I'm fine." Aelita said as she floated stationary in the air.

"Did you know you could do that?" Jeremy asked.

"I had some idea that I could charge up my energy fields. I just didn't know how powerful blast I would need to shatter the ground like that." Aelita said. "I'm sorry if I scared you Jeremy. I just couldn't think of any other option."

"Its OK, Aelita.. I forgive you. Just... next time, let's save something like that for a last resort." Jeremy said.

"OK. No more daredevil stuff from now on unless I absolutely have to." Aelita said, feeling a little remorseful that she upset Jeremy.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but that was quite impressive." Ulrich said.

"But still... the scanners are synced. Why did you feel that was our best course?" Yumi asked.

"As if it could help." A voice said coming from just behind the three kids.

Before Aelita could turn to see who the voice belonged to, she felt a sudden thrust towards the back of her head. Something hard hit her in the rear of her cranium. Before Aelita could find out who had just hit her, she felt the world around her go fuzzy as she slowly closed her eyes. Her limp body fell down towards the digital sea and the remains of the once large platform she had just destroyed..

Yumi turned in time to see Aether punch Aelita with a powerful blow from his wings. Aelita's head thrusted forward extremely hard as she lost balance and fell through the air like a rocket towards the digital sea.

Yumi looked on in shock and horror.
"Aelita!" she shouted as she instinctively hit the throttle on her Over-Sled and raced towards her friend.

Ulrich quickly drew one of his katanas out as he prepared to engage Aether. But before Ulrich could strike at the fiend who had cheap shot his friend, Aether spread his wings and flew away.

"What's more important, my dear Ulrich? Fighting me or saving the frail insect?" Aether shouted, laughing.

Ulrich grunted in anger as he knew Aether was indeed right. He placed his sword back in its sheath as the Over-Bike's engine roared. He flew towards the girls at wicked speeds.

Yumi once again hit the throttle on her Over-Sled as she raced downwards towards Aelita. Her hair whipped on the wind. Yumi dodged and skidded past some of the rocks that were falling past her as she approached Aelita. Smaller pieces of rock bounced off Yumi's body as they free fell through the air. Yet Yumi paid them no attention, she didn't care, her main focus was her little sister and her best friend. She had to catch Aelita no matter what. After all the times Aelita saved or sacrificed herself for Yumi, she would rather fall into the digital sea herself than see Aelita vanish before her eyes.

She came closer as she matched the altitude of the Over-Sled to Aelita's. She glanced down to see that they were within yards of the virtual sea.

A large rock hurtled towards Yumi. The craggy golden brown stone tumbled and cracked through smaller pieces as it fell. The Asian looked up to see its jagged, pointed edge tumbling directly towards her. Before Yumi could react, a dash of yellow sped by the rock as it split into two sections. The impact from the slice caused the rock to change course and sail directly past the two teens.

"I will take care of the rocks and any debris, you just get Aelita!" Ulrich shouted as he made another pass.

Shocked Jeremy sat there, glued to the monitor. Standing behind him were William, Jessica and Sissi, who watched Yumi and Ulrich race towards falling Aelita after Aether's sneak attack.
A small tear formed in Jeremy's eye as he realized that this might be the end if they would not catch Aelita. A sudden thought raced through Jeremy's head. What would happen if Aelita did die? After all that's happened and his promises to protect Aelita no matter what, what would happen if he couldn't keep it? What would life be like without her? But he couldn't give in to those thoughts. It was Aelita's birthday and he had to do something. He would rather damn himself to hell than let the sweet young woman who stole his heart vanish.

Jeremy quickly opened up a window and began to type in the codes and commands to materialize Aelita as fast as possible.

"What are you doing?" William asked.

"I... I gotta save Aelita, I have to!" Jeremy said frantically.

"If you bring Aelita back, what about the storm? Who will deactivate the tower?" William said.

"I gotta save her!" Jeremy said as he tried to type in the proper codes in vain.
Sweat dripped off his brow as the small tear landed on the keyboard. Jeremy's finger slipped and an error popped up, making him start the whole thing all over again.
Jeremy sweared to himself as he realized just what was happening. He was panicking. He had never panicked like this before when someone was in trouble.

"Give them a chance. Ulrich and Yumi won't let Aelita fall!" shouted William.

"What happens if they fall into the digital sea?" Jessica asked, unfamiliar with the topic.

"Their data is scattered and it would be impossible to find them. We barely found Yumi once and that was a spur of the moment thing." Jeremy said as he restarted the materializing procedure.
The program was ready. All Jeremy had to do was hit the Enter key. His index finger shook above the key as he observed Aelita and Yumi's movements on the screen. He could save his girlfriend with one little move... but chose to wait in hesitation.

"Calm down. Aelita's in good hands. If you bring her back now, Yumi and Ulrich will have a hard time getting through the collapsing platform." William argued.

Jessica walked over to Jeremy's side and placed her hand on the chair of the computer. She tried her best to gather the bespectacled teens' attention. But it was clear that the only thing on Jeremy's mind right now was rescuing Aelita.

"Can you bring all three in?" she asked.

"I can't! There's not enough time." Jeremy said as he slammed his fists into the chair.

"I'm telling you to calm down...Yumi and Ulrich will catch her!" William said.

"And if they don't? If something happens? What if they fall in as well? What then, William? What?!"

A small hand reached up and stopped Jeremy from raising his voice again. The bespectacled teen turned to see a concerned Sissi looking at Jeremy with sympathy.

"They'll save Aelita. Don't worry. Have faith." Sissi said in a calming tone.

Jeremy removed his shaky hands from the keyboard as he placed his faith back into Yumi. Yet he still instinctively wanted to save his girlfriend. He wanted to ignore everything and bring Aelita to safety. If he did manage to save Aelita, what would happen to Yumi, who was so close to saving her? Would she fall into the digital sea instead? And how would it affect the situation on Earth? Could they risk not deactivating the tower and letting the storm rage?
It had been long since Jeremy was so frightened and powerless.

Yumi came within a few feet of Aelita. Her friend's body tumbled in the air like a leaf as they quickly approached the digital sea.

"Aelita! WAKE UP!" Yumi shouted as she extended her left arm.

Her hand could only scrape past Aelita's leg. Every time she reached for Aelita, she would fail to make contact and secure her. Yumi reached out once more and stretched her arm out as far as she could. She could feel her fingertips lightly slide past Aelita's leg. Yumi reached out even more and finally felt her palm close around her ankle.

"I got you!"

A sudden dark shadow over shadowed Yumi as she looked up in time to see a large piece of the platform come hurtling down towards her. Yumi let go of Aelita's leg and tilted the Over-sled handle bars to avoid the massive object. As soon as the rock had passed both of them, Yumi noticed she wasn't close enough to grab her.

Ulrich accelerated towards the two teens who were approaching the large glittering mass that was the digital sea. Both girls were only a few yards away from the surface and closing fast. It looked like Yumi wouldn't be able to catch Aelita in time. He cringed at the idea of what would happen.

Yumi closed the distance between her and Aelita once more; the determined Yumi reached out once more in an attempt to once again grab Aelita. As she reached out to grab her friend once more, a laser shot sailed right past them. Yumi glanced up in time to locate the source of the laser.

A free falling Krab fell directly above them. The monster tumbled through the air, occasionally firing a shot when it had the two humans in its sight. Yet every time the monster fired, the laser shot missed.

Yumi instinctively pulled back a bit to avoid one of the lasers that came far too close for comfort. As soon as Yumi did, she realized that she was no longer close enough to Aelita. And there was not enough time to grab the poor girl before she fell into the unforgiving sea.

"NOOO!" Yumi shouted.

Suddenly, a blue and white beam raced past Yumi down towards Aelita with incredible speed. It finally wrapped around Aelita's waist like a lasso. Aelita's body stopped free falling as she dangled in midair. Yumi glanced up to see Ulrich holding position right above them. His arm dangled off the side of the Over-Bike as he tried to keep Aelita steady. His position was unbalanced due to Over-Bike's tilt and the added weight of his unconscious friend.

A loud growl came from above the scene as a swarm of Hornets approached the 3 teens. Their small stinger like cannons glowed as they prepared to attack.

"Hurry up and grab her!" Ulrich shouted as he glanced back down at Yumi.

The Hornets unleashed a barrage of laser fire. Thin, glass-like bolts of energy ripped through the air like a high speed train. As the Hornets approached Ulrich, a bolt of lightning flashed, hitting one of the Hornets dead on and causing a second Hornet who was close to the scene to explode from the feedback of the electricity. Ulrich quickly turned around to see the Overboard with two warriors on it, flying towards them.

"Pretty sweet, huh?" Odd asked.

"Sweet?! This is crazy!" Puck shouted over the roar of the Over-Board's engine as the wind whipped his clothes.

"We'll hold off the Hornets. You get Aelita." Odd shouted as they flew past Ulrich.

The remaining Hornets regrouped and formed a V-like formation as they closed in on Ulrich. The squadron of monsters dipped hard to the left to avoid one of Yumi's white fans from slicing into one of them. The 3 leading Hornets turned right as they prepared to make another pass at Ulrich and Aelita.

Odd steered the Over-Board in the direction of the approaching monsters. His left arm raised as he prepared to fire his primary weapon.

"Oh no, you don't!" Odd shouted as he unleashed his Cutter Beam into the swarm.

Small purple ribbons arched through the air as they met with two of the Hornets head on. The ribbon like lasers pierced the insect like monsters' bodies like shrapnel. Eventually, the pieces glowed red as they came together inside the monsters' body and met, causing the ribbons to detonate and destroy the monsters in a large purple explosion.

Yumi moved towards Aelita as she dangled like an ornament on a Christmas tree. Yumi placed her hands to her forehead once more as her unconscious friend's body was wrapped in white. Yumi focused as hard as possible so that when Ulrich released Aelita, she would not drop like a rock.

"You wanna hurry up? My arm's getting tired!" Ulrich said as a second bolt of lightning ripped through the air.

Yumi maneuvered the Over-Sled past a free falling Krab as she pulled up next to Aelita. She placed Aelita on the seat of the Over-Sled and released her telekinesis. With her hands shaking and her body tense, Yumi wrapped Aelita's hands around her as she hit the throttle on her vehicle and took off away from the remains of the platform and upwards to safety.

"Jeremy, we got Aelita." Yumi said, smiling.

Back in the lab, all four spectators cheered and smiled as they heard the news. Jessica hugged William and danced around, while Sissi patted a happy and tearful Jeremy.

"Thank you, guys..." Jeremy said as he whipped the sweat from his eye.

Ulrich pulled up next to Yumi so that he could check on them. "You OK?"

"A little stressed out... and I'm pretty sure if I could feel my heart beat, it would be bouncing like a trampoline by now. But I'm OK." Yumi looked behind her at her passenger. Aelita was still out like a rock. Her small head rested on Yumi's back as her body remained perfectly still.

"Is she OK, Jeremy?" Ulrich asked.

"I'm running a scan on her now. Get her to a tower in the meantime, that attack almost drained her of life points." Jeremy said as he still tried to recover from his fright.

"You guys go ahead." Odd shouted as he destroyed the last Hornet. "We will be right behind you."

Yumi turned around and looked at the sleeping girl who rested her head on her back. A question raced through her mind.

"What exactly happened?" Yumi asked as Ulrich took the lead on his vehicle.

"I don't know. I think she exhausted herself by trying to use that attack." Jeremy said as he continued to type in a series of commands.

"And Aether sucker-punching her in the head didn't help, I guess. She did seem out of breath when she joined us above the sector." Ulrich added.

"You think we might need to send her back to Earth?" Yumi asked.

"We will have to wait until I can examine her. Worst case scenario we may have to implement our contingency plan if Aelita is unable to deactivate the tower."

"What contingency plan?" Ulrich asked.

Volcano Sector

Typhoon watched the entire fight transpire in the sky region on a large screen. However, it wasn't the fighting style or the tactics of the gang that didn't surprise Typhoon. It was Aelita's valiant effort to save Ulrich and Yumi. With no regard for her own life, she managed to save both of them from the onslaught from Aether and his monsters.

"It doesn't make sense. She knew that they would be devirtualized if they were defeated. But still she battled to protect them." Typhoon pondered out loud.

"What are you getting at?" Xervix asked as he sat in his throne.

"I believe I have discovered the chink in the wall."

Xervix raised his head in confusion as he glanced at the black armored Titan. "A chink?"

"Yes, my lord. Every warrior has a weakness of some type. And that is exactly what we need, to discover the weaknesses of our adversaries and exploit them.
As for the one called Aelita... She fears losing her friends, possibly due to some traumatic event that happened in her earlier years of life. It's something she can't shake or delude herself to. "

Xervix stood up from his throne. His face glowed with delight over the news he heard. It all made perfect sense. Aelita constantly tried her best to protect everyone around her, she had always fought long and hard to protect her teammates. But the problem was, how did Xervix miss this important tidbit? How did he miss such a huge and very noticeable weakness? Whatever the case was, he now knew exactly how to proceed.
"Intriguing and inspiring, Typhoon. Perhaps the best defense, and offense in this case, is to create new Titans based upon the children s fears and weaknesses, as opposed to say, their own strengths?"

"I concur with your proposal, it is logical." Typhoon said with a nod. "Shall I study the children and their lifestyles to find their weaknesses as well?"

"Indeed." Xervix said as he glanced at his scythe. A small chuckle left his mouth as he thought about the idea of Aelita's weakness.
"Fear... petty human emotion. It led to the downfall of many civilizations and the rise of many great empires. In this case, the fear our dear enemies posses shall become the instruments of their destruction. And indeed it is a fitting weapon as well. It's easy to break human bones, cut their skin, but to break a living being's spirit is to truly bestow suffering and pain upon one's enemies. Suffering and pain that would live with them for the rest of their days."

"And once our obstacle are removed from play, the world will be yours." Typhoon spoke. "In the meantime... Shall I send the Hydra?"

Xervix nodded as he turned to face the large beast Typhoon created. The beast sat in the corner of the room as it awaited its orders.

Typhoon approached the large beast. It growled a deep and rattle like noise, acknowledging the presence of its creator. With a wave of his hand, the beast bellowed as it lifted off the ground. Within a flash, the snake-like demon slithered and slumped out of the entrance to the lair and in the direction of the Sky sector.

"I shall recall Aether at once." Typhoon announced.

"No!" Xervix shouted.

"The purpose being?"

"In order to rectify the mistakes of the past, all mistakes must be removed. Including that egotistical relic." Xervix said as his face showed his distaste for his oldest Titan.

Typhoon nodded in agreement. He knew from what Xervix had said before that Aether let his pride and arrogance jump into the way of Xervix's plans. In fact, Xervix completely blamed Aether for his failure to secure the System. But was the fault really in Aether's pride? Or was it in Xervix's fault at noticing the minor details...

"With all due respect, my lord. I believe eliminating Aether would be an error." Typhoon spoke with reverence.

Xervix glanced down at Typhoon. He had been completely impressed with his newest Titan so far, but now he wondered why Typhoon disproved of eliminating Aether. "Explain yourself, Typhoon."

"With all due respect, sir... Until we create new Titans and monsters and until we can develop a proper plan, we must keep Aether activated as a warrior. He may be a debunked and fragmented A.I, but I believe he can still serve a purpose in keeping hostile forces busy while we develop an effective and organized battle strategy."

Xervix paused for a second as he looked towards the dark knight Titan. He actually was correct. If Aether was eliminated now, then Xervix would lose any attempts to keep the children at bay while he worked on a plan to free himself. Yet Xervix did not trust Aether one bit, he was reckless and careless.

He worried that one small mistake from Aether's over the top pride would cost him his attempts at claiming Aelita and Jeremy. Yet without Aether the Garage Kids would march right in and destroy Xervix on the spot.

"Agreed. In the meantime I want you to begin creating brand new monsters and Titans. I want the children to wish they had accepted the my offer... and wish they never were born." Xervix said as he sat back down in his chair. "By the time I'm done with the children, I will make that antique old A.I. Xana seem like just a small insect."

?

Aelita slowly cracked her eyes open while she laid on her bed, glancing up at the ceiling. The room was brighter than normal as an early fall snow fell outside, blanketing the outside world from the cold harsh air and giving off a warm and pleasant feeling to the comfy home. The snow had been falling for hours and from the report given by the weather forecaster, it wouldn't give up for quite a while.

However the warm scenery outside could not overcome Aelita's mood. Her father was constantly busy down in the basement, which concerned her mother. Her parents had been arguing for over an hour now. Even as she laid there on her bed, the tiny 4 year old could hear their raised voices as they tried to argue their points across each other. It scared Aelita to the point she wanted to cry. She had never heard her parents argue like they were now. The intensity was something new and unusual for her, it shook her to her very core. She clutched her stuffed toy she called Mister Puck in her hand as she prayed for her parents to stop arguing.

Suddenly, at the peak of the argument, a loud noise echoed through the house. It sounded like a shattering noise from a broken dish. A disturbing silence from the downstairs area followed.

Aelita slowly perked her tiny head up as she wondered what happened and why was it so quiet. The argument stopped abruptly after the loud noise, and now an eerie silence fell upon the household. Aelita slowly stepped off her bed, her tiny feet walked over to the door to her room and cracked it open.
The light from downstairs still illuminated the house. Aelita could make out two shadows of her parents on the stairwell wall. But they were standing completely still, almost as if they were frozen in time.

Aelita slowly walked towards the stairs and peeked over the side. She could barely make out her father's leg from her stance. She slowly placed one foot on the top step and then placed her other foot on the same step as she continued walking down the stairs, clutching Mister Puck in her hand. Aelita finally made it to the bottom of the stairs. She could finally make out both of her parents, standing there and looking at each other.

Anthea had hand up to her face. A stream of tears glistened on her face as she tried to hold the rest of her tears in place.
"Oh, Waldo...what's going to happen to us? What will happen to Aelita? If only we hadn't worked for them, they wouldn't know about her." Anthea sobbed.

Aelita couldn't make out her father's face. His back was turned in her direction. However, she could see that he was clutching his fists and shaking them every once in a while, as if he was angry about something. This was a version of her father Aelita had never seen before.

"I don't care what happens to me." Waldo said.

Anthea looked up and gasped as the tears finally began to fall from her eyes.

"You and Aelita are everything I have ever wanted. You two are my lovely angels and I won't let anything happen to you. But... We can't protect her for much longer." Waldo said as his voice stuttered at the end.

"No, don't say that... the three of us will get through this. Just because my powers granted me visions of the future, it doesn't mean they will come true. We can't let them..." Anthea said sadly. "What if we asked Frank or that gentleman from the UN? Maybe they could help us?"

"In time, they will... But you have seen the visions in your dream, honey. You know what will become of me, and what might become of you and Aelita." Waldo said silently.

"It's a way to change what might happen... That's what my father told me." Anthea said as she pulled a chair out from behind the dinner table and sat down. "I lost my parents... My home... My people. And all I have left is you and Aelita. I won't lose either of you."

"But if I don't work on this, we will loose everything. Including each other."

Anthea busted out of her chair as she placed both of her hands on the table. "But we can always move again, start over once more... And have more children, have a family you and I have always wanted."

"Anthea... I won't jeopardize you or Aelita. That is why I'm building it downstairs, so that it may give Aelita a chance to live a life she deserves. And I know you want a second child, but... you know why we can't."
Waldo stuttered a little at the thought of his fears. He tilted his head to the left so that he could fight the emotions that were over taking him. "I love my daughter too much to let her die too easily."

Aelita slowly crept into the living room and stood in the entrance way of the kitchen, listening. She was worried over what her parents were saying.

"She will be an outcast, alone in the world and hunted her whole life when the time comes." Waldo said as he slowly began to break down. "They'll kill her."

"No. When the time comes, she will become the true protector to the world. And whoever she chooses will become a champion to everyone and everything." Anthea said as she walked over towards Waldo. "She will become an angel to them."

"Just like her mother," Waldo said as he embraced Anthea in his arms.

Anthea wrapped her arms around her husband. She knew the argument they had just had was all because of the mounting stress from the past few months. With all that was going on and as hard as they fought to protect Aelita, they were now backed into a corner where there was no true means of escape. Something would have to give and unfortunately, it would be them.
Anthea opened her eyes and caught a glimpse of Aelita standing in the middle of the kitchen entrance way. Her arms were still clutching Mister Puck as she gave her a sad and worried look.

"Oh, baby. How long have you been there?" Anthea asked, gathering Waldo's attention as well.

"I was scared. Are you OK?" Aelita said.

Anthea let go of her husband and scooped her daughter up in her arms. She placed her palm along the side of Aelita's short pink hair as she tried to calm her down.
"Of course we are, honey. People who love each other very much fight over differences sometimes."

"Your mother and I are just stressed from all our work." Waldo said as he walked up to his wife and daughter.

"It's not my fault is it?" Aelita asked.

"What would make you say that?" Waldo asked.

Aelita buried her face shyly into her mother's shoulder. "I heard you talking about me and I was worried I had gotten you in trouble."

"No, honey...We were just talking about how we love you and only want the best for you in the future. We know you will accomplish wonders, because you've always had a huge heart." Waldo said as he hugged both of the loves of his life.

"You're not angry at me?"

"We're not angry at anyone, Aelita."

Aelita smiled and patted her small hand on Anthea's back as she felt anxiety leave her mind. She had no reason to fret any longer...

"Aelita." A voice said softly. "Aelita? Aelita?!"

Aelita slowly opened her eyes. Her eyesight was fuzzy as she was slowly regaining consciousness. Soon her eyesight focused and she found herself looking at Ulrich's face. She moved a little as she blinked once again.

"Oh good, she's awake." Ulrich announced with relief.

Aelita slowly sat up with Ulrich's help. She sat on the glass like floor of the tower as she looked around.
"What... happened?" she asked as the memories of her dream, a vision of her parents, still lingered inside her mind.

"You saved me and Yumi, but Aether knocked you out and you almost fell into the digital sea. You put a huge strain on yourself. You lost almost all your lifepoints, so we brought you inside the tower." Ulrich said.

Aelita glanced up to see Yumi kneeling down next to her. Her best friend placed a hand on Aelita's shoulder.
"How do you feel?"

"Kinda sore. But I'm OK, I guess..." Aelita said as she slowly stood up.

"Take it easy, Aelita. You don't want to overdo it." Jeremy said over the intercom.

"Another dream? What was that about?" Aelita asked herself silently.

"What dream?" Ulrich asked as he heard Aelita's whisper.

"I will tell you later. Where's Odd and Puck?"

"They're outside dealing with some monsters." Yumi said as she pulled out her fan. "I came inside to replenish my life points."

"What about the storm?" Aelita asked.

"It's bellowing pretty hard outside. It's almost overhead." Jeremy said as the sound of thunder could be heard over the intercom.

"Then we better deactivate the tower. And... Jeremy... I'm sorry I worried you."

"It's o-kay, Aelita. Please... from now on, leave the daredevil antics to Odd, will you?" Jeremy pleaded.

"I will. But... I just wanted to protect Ulrich and Yumi."

"Hey, what about me?" William's slightly outraged voice could be heard over the intercom.

"I tried to save you, but since I synced the sector already, I knew you were safe," Aelita said. "Besides, the monsters attacking Ulrich and Yumi were trying to push them into the digital sea. They had a huge disadvantage. I had to take action. Aether took me by surprise, though."

"You did good, but you put yourself in too much danger. Please, don't do something like that again." Jeremy said.

"I promise."

Suddenly, a loud noise resonated from outside the tower. The sound of a monster exploding was all to familiar to the gang.

"Well... Shall we join the others outside?" Ulrich asked.

Yumi nodded as she looked towards Aelita. "Yeah, let's go!"

"How far is the tower?" Aelita asked.

"It should be the next tower over, actually." Jeremy said. "Aether's throwing every monster possible at us, so let's throw everything we got at him. I'm gonna send you guys some extra fire power."

"Extra fire power?" Ulrich paraphrased Jeremy, intrigued.

"The Mark II?" Aelita asked as she glanced up. "Are you sure that it's ready?"

"It's as ready as it has ever been. I'm activating it now." Jeremy replied.

"Is what ready?" Ulrich asked as they approached the exit to the tower.

"The Skidbladnir... Mark II." Jeremy answered. "And you're gonna love what Aelita and I have for it.
Now head outside. It should be there in a minute or two."

Odd quickly fired a burst of laser arrows. The teen jumped and held out both hands as he fired his assault. He then swapped from his laser arrows to Ice Beam; his hand glowed orange. As the glow faded, a huge block of ice appeared on his arm as he held out his hand and fired a succession of snow ball like blasts from his glove. The ice shot slammed into the side of a Megatank just as it opened, freezing it on contact.

"Puck! Got another one for you!" Odd shouted as he hid behind his shield.

Puck flew over head on the Over-board. He pointed his staff at the Mega-tank and fired a green beam. Puck then used the green beam to pick up the Mega-tank and swing it through the air. The frozen monster slammed into a group of Creepers like a bowling ball through pins.

"Strike!" Puck shouted as he released the Mega-tank from his beam, allowing it to drop into the ocean.

"How many other functions does that staff have?" Odd asked.

"This, the lightning bolt, a new attack where it unleashes fireballs and the ice spread. Almost any attack a monster can do on Lyoko I've got programmed."

"Wish I was good with programs and such." Odd remarked.

He turned around to spot the others standing behind him and admiring the carnage they had brought on the monsters. He smirked a little as he noticed the dumbfounded look all 3 had on their face.

"Now, don't lie... this is pretty awesome, isn't it?"

"There were way more monsters when I entered the tower to replenish my life points. Did you guys do all this?" Yumi asked.

"Well, naturally I did all the work, Puck just focused on the air." Odd remarked.

"What?! No you didn't. I was the one who blew up the Kalamar that was out here." Puck argued.

"And I blew up the line of Krabs." Odd said as he folded his hands behind his head. "All 12 of them."

"Is that what you called it? Because as I remember, you spent your whole time running from them and screaming that you were gonna lose, over and over again!" Puck shouted.

"That was a distraction. To lure the enemy into a trap and then finish them off." Odd grunted while trying to look cool.

"Hey, uh... guys?" Yumi said.

"It looked more like you were panicking worse than a chicken on his way to a chicken restaurant." Puck joked.

"Guys?" Ulrich asked.

"Oh yeah! Ahat about you and the whole Manta squad that attacked you, God forbid you ever try to surf because if you did, you would crash over and over again!" Odd commented back.

"Guys?" Aelita asked with concern in her voice.

"At least I don't smell on Lyoko. Now I get what the others mean when they say that you smell worse than a sewer. Soap is your friend, stinky." Puck joked back.

"I showered today! It's just when working this hard, you tend to sweat a little."

"GUYS!" Yumi, Ulrich and Aelita shouted in unison.

Puck and Odd both turned to see all three looking straight ahead and pointing in the direction they were looking in.

A huge group of the remaining monsters stood right in front of the group. A huge formation of Kankerlats, Creepers, Tarantulas and Defenders stood silent with their weapons pointed directly at all 5 of them.

In front of the formation stood Aether himself. The winged warrior mockingly waved at the 5 warriors.
"Are we interrupting anything?"

Ulrich slowly drew his blades while Yumi held out her staff in one hand and a fan in the other, ready to defend themselves.

"Jeremy! Is our new surprise here yet?" Aelita asked.

"Yup, it just arrived... time for an air raid!" Jeremy remarked.

"Air raid?" asked surprised Odd.

Suddenly, a large dome like object appeared over the side of the sector; the black and grey colored object rose higher and higher until a pair of wire like wings also rose over the sector's ground.

"The Skid?!" Odd said in disbelief.

"Meet the Skidbladnir. Mark II," Jeremy said.

The large vehicle was almost identical to the original – with the exception of a few minor differences. Instead of one small thruster on the back, it now had two large tube like engines on the back with a smaller thruster in between them which rotated up or down, depending on the flight pattern the Skid was holding in. On two large wire like wings sat a pair of short tubes with yellow glowing light in the tips. Next to them sat a series of missile like objects and towards the cockpit of the skid sat four gatling gun like cannons. Towards the base of the Skid's long needle-like arm sat 5 Navskids that were designed differently then the Navskids the gang remembered. Their bodies were more slender and sleek, with a pair of long folding wings attached to them. They looked more like fighter jets than the submersibles the Navskids were originally.

"That looks like something out of Star Wars!" Ulrich remarked.

"Hey Aelita." Jeremy said on the intercom. "Remember when we played Call Of Duty Black Ops and we were in the chopper, and we kept getting shot down?"

"Yeah?" Aelita responded.

Back in the lab, Jeremy moved the chair away from the computer terminal and hit a button on the keyboard. A loud hissing noise came from the bottom of the console as a Xbox 360 controller slowly ejected out from underneath the keyboard. The controller was wired and connected to the console itself.

Jeremy hit the small guide button on top of it as a screen appeared on one of his monitors. The screen flickered as an image from inside Lyoko appeared, showing him the formation of monsters that appeared in front of him and his friends.

"Well... watch this!" Jeremy said with a smile as he pulled the right trigger of the Xbox controller.

On Lyoko, the 4 Gatling cannons began to spin with a loud whirling noise. After a few seconds the chambers of the cannons glowed as red laser fire rippled from the cannons. Molten laser fire rained down onto the enemies below the Skid's location.

The monsters attempted to return fire as quickly as possible. Yet the large storm of laser fire was too much for them as the laser fire chopped and sliced through many of the monsters.

Aether screamed in a high pitch manner as he spread his wings and took to the air.
"I really, REALLY HATE THOSE KIDS!" he screamed as he dodged a blast from the Skid.

The 4 cannons stopped as the last Block exploded from the damage. All 4 cannons smoked as they cooled off from the attack they had just delivered.

"Jeremy!" Ulrich shouted "That was awesome!"

"Thanks Ulrich." Jeremy said with a huge grin on his face. "Now that you guys have the Skid, we need you to head straight for the activated tower."

"Riding in style, huh? I can accept that," Odd said as the Skid moved slowly over their location.

"Hang on, guys." said Jessica, who still operated the radar on the tablet. "I have a huge radar signature, and it's heading right your way."

"What is it?" Yumi asked.

"It's not coming up on the I.D. It's bigger than anything I've ever seen," William said as he glanced at the radar from behind Jessica's back.

"A new monster?" Puck suggested.

Aether stood nearby on a golden tower like rock as he glanced down towards the children and their brand new vehicle. Aggravation and impatience swelled inside of him as he snarled and hissed.
"I bring out everything I can and they bring out a new vehicle? How on Lyoko am I supposed to combat that?"
Suddenly, a large shadow passed right over Aether. The panicked Titan glanced upward to see a huge snake like creature pass right over him on its way towards the gang.
"What?!" said Aether in confusion and doubt. "What is that!?"

Aelita turned her attention to the large object approaching them. Her eyes widened as she could make out its size and shape incredibly well. It looked like a huge dragon of Chinese lore slithering through the sky at them at an alarming speed.

"Guys!" Aelita shouted, gathering everyone's attention.

The Hydra stopped directly above them and hovered. The large massive creature glared down towards the 5 smaller warriors in defiance.

A lone Manta flew between the Garage Kids and the Hydra. The large blue and white creature yelped like a monkey as it prepared to attack. Suddenly, a pair of gnashing teeth stabbed into the Manta's hide. The Manta looked like a fly inside a much bigger and larger animal's mouth. It screamed in pain before it exploded in the Hydra's jaw.

The Hydra slowly raised its head up high into the air and quickly dropped it down back to its normal level. Its mouth opened as it bellowed a loud and deafening roar, announcing its arrival.