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.

8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7

Ulrich And The Hydra

The large eel like creature floated in midair above its startled enemies. Its red and green skin glistened in the golden light of the sector, while its large boney plates and tusks reflected the light off the majestic sky line like the windows of a skyscraper in the falling sunset. Its body slithered and jerked like that of a snake, yet its movements were a little more fluent and fast as compared to that of a python. It was almost as if the creature swam in the deep cold depths of the ocean. Its massive head stayed perfectly still, fixated in one spot as it glared down at its victims menacingly. Its large eye focused on them like that of a predatory animal preparing to pounce and attack its helpless prey. Only this predator was much larger than its prey – almost five times larger than the humans that stood below it. If a creature of this size were to get a hold of any of them, it would mean a much painful trip back to Earth, and possibly even a scary one in fact.

"There is something you don't see every day." Odd said as he slowly pointed both his hands up towards the large beast.

"Um, Jeremy... we got a new monster and its pretty... big," Yumi said, trying to describe the newest threat. "I mean... big."

"I'm analyzing it now... it's stronger than the Phoenix we ran into in the cave sector." Jeremy said as he looked for a possible weakness in the beast's design.

"It looks like Gyarados on steroids." Ulrich joked as he backed up slowly.

"Yeah. Where's my Charizard when you need it?" Aelita said jokingly, trying to break the tension.

Suddenly, the beast threw its head into the air and bellowed loudly into the sky. Its roar sounded like metal scrapping against metal underwater; a roar that shook the sector to its very foundations. The leviathan's roar startled the 5 warriors below to the point they even cowered down in intimidation. After a few seconds, the beast finally closed its mouth as an eerie silence filled the world around them.

The 5 teens looked up in fear and suspense as they prepared themselves for the Hydra's next move. They took up defensive positions. They would not go easy on the Hydra, nor would they yield to its presence alone.

The Hydra grunted loudly as it lowered the massive bone like head and charged towards the 5 teens. The menace slowly opened its mouth, revealing a series of large and sharp, saw blade like teeth, each one as jagged and daunting as the next.

The large beast swooped down from the sky in an attempt to grab one of the gang members inside its massive jaws.

Odd and Aelita immediately fired their projectile weapons, trying in vain to deter the beast off course and away from them. Their weapons had no effect on the Hydra; in fact it appeared as if the creature was ignoring the attacks.

"Get down!" Aelita shouted as the Hydra approached.

The four of them lunged to the ground and laid as flat and still as possible while Puck maneuvered the Over-Board out of the beast's way. As the beast came closer, it swooped down over the panicked children, missing their heads by no more than a few inches. After traveling away from the 5 warriors, the beast quickly spun around in a U-turn like fashion and once again aimed for the children. It paused in the air as it readjusted its aim and corrected its altitude so that it would have a better chance of swiping the children into its crushing jaws or hitting one of them with its sharp tusks.

"Jeremy! Our weapons don't work on it!" Aelita said as she quickly jumped to he feet and fired another series of energy field orbs at the advancing serpent.

"Get away from it! I'm gonna hit it with the Skid's weapons!" Jeremy shouted in the lab as he quickly grabbed the Xbox controller. No sooner could his fingers wrap around the controller properly than his middle finger squeezed the right trigger of the controller.

Back on Lyoko, the Skid rotated around so that the weapon systems on board could get an accurate shot off on it. As soon as the Skid's targeting systems locked onto the Hydra, the Gatling guns on the Skid screeched and whirled as the cylinders opened fire once more. A barrage of yellow lasers leaped from the guns' rotating chambers as they traced through the air and shattered on the Hydra's tough and boney carapace. The Skid continued to track the beast in the air as its operator made sure not to give the Hydra a moment's peace.

The Hydra bellowed and flinched in pain as the lasers from the Skid seemed to have more of an effect on it than the attack from Aelita and Odd. Yellow lasers impacted and flickered on contact with the Hydra's skin as the beast wiggled and kicked in pain.

The Hydra finally suffered enough pain and discomfort; the beast roared loudly and raised straight into the air, avoiding the 5 warriors. The eel like beast slithered and maneuvered quickly as it tried its best to avoid Skid's fire. Yet it still was a large target, and the Skid's weapons were precise enough to whittle the beast's skin.

Finally, the beast managed to get out of range of the Skid's weapons. It turned around and screamed loudly as it withered in the air and slowly sank in the atmosphere. Its large body tightened up in pain. The beast screamed through the onslaught of the Skid's weapons until its massive form slipped underneath the sector's floor and disappeared completely.

"Whoa!" Odd exclaimed. "I think Jeremy actually bagged his first Lyoko monster?"

"Did he get it?" Yumi asked.

"No, I didn't." Jeremy said with a hint of frustration in his voice. "Jessica just informed me that it's still alive, the Skid didn't do as much damage as I thought. I barely scratched it."

"Then where is it?" Aelita asked as she glanced around, looking and listening for any sign of the creature.

"Maybe it's running already?" Puck asked.

The floor underneath the gang shook as if the Earth itself was shaking. The entire platform vibrated with even greater force, followed by a second louder and more powerful thud, causing the entire ground to shake and tremble once more from the tremor. A sharp and mighty ripple ripped through the ground like a wave from the ocean while the vibration continued to escalate in power.
As the platform continued to shake and rumble, a small mound began to grow from the sector's floor. The mound started out as a pile of golden bricks being pushed upwards, but as the vibration grew, the ground bulged outwards more and more. Large cracks and fractures raced from the peak of the rising mass and quickly raced outwards, while some of the loose and broken bricks that made up the sector's pathways and platforms bounced off the ground with every vibration. The ground moaned under the pressure of the growing lump; gravel and stones crumbled and cracked next to each other as they rolled off the shifting and growing upheaval.

"Running my ass!" Ulrich shouted as he watched in shock while the large mass of land continued to grow like a balloon. "It's right under us!"

The floor of the sector suddenly erupted in a powerful explosion. The surface of the once shimmering and beautiful sector flew upwards, sending debris and dust high into the air. Large sections of the once steady ground flew high in the air and came crashing down to the ground with incredible speed and momentum. A shockwave ran underneath the sector's floor, causing more damage and increasing the size of the newly formed hole in the ground. A large red and white object crashed through the floor from underneath it as it rose into the air, its large boney structure thrashed around as it increased the size of the sink hole. Sections of the sector's terrain rose into the air while other parts lowered and snapped from the sheer force.

The Hydra roared loudly as the sector's floor fractured and gave way like sand in the water. Its large head jutted forward from the ground. As the crater continued to grow, the beast lowered its massive head back into the hole as slabs of the sector's concrete like floor crashed and broke off its body.

Aelita quickly activated her wings and jumped as the ground beneath her feet disintegrated. Her wings glowed brightly and launched her back into the air like a bird taking off from terra firma. She spotted Puck flying on the Over-Board towards the newly formed crater. She glanced down to see that the floor of the sector was still holding, but the more the Hydra thrashed, the more damage it did to the sector's already fragile surface.

"Come on!" Aelita shouted towards Puck. "We gotta get the others!"

Ulrich suddenly felt his feet give out under him as the ground gave way to the deepening hole. The section of the ground splintered and tilted, causing him to land on his side and slide towards the large hole that sat right in front of him. Ulrich felt his body scrap along the sides of the crater as he looked for a means to stop himself from falling any further.

Across from Ulrich, Yumi also was sliding down the sides of the pit on her stomach, frantically looking for anything that she could grab onto. The young Asian grunted and yelped as she desperately tried to slow herself down. Yumi felt her fingernails catch the surface of the Sky sector's tough terrain as she struggled to save herself. Yet no matter what she did, she could not find anything to hold on to. Her entire body continued to pick up speed as gravity pulled her towards the large predatory mouth of the Hydra.

Suddenly, a grand idea popped into Ulrich's mind as he quickly turned his head so that he could look straight at Yumi.
"Yumi! Use your staff!" he shouted as he flipped on his stomach as well so that he could get into position.

Ulrich pulled a sword from its sheath; the blade glistened in the amber skyline. He impaled the sword into the sides of the crater. Sparks flew from the sword's contact with the brickwork until finally the sword hit a snag, causing Ulrich to stop immediately before falling into the jaws of the Hydra. The ground that he stood on inclined, with the drop off from the newly raised ground being drawn into the very crater where the Hydra sat at.

After hearing the instructions of her boyfriend, Yumi quickly pulled out her staff and stabbed it in a similar style like Ulrich did with his sword. The staff penetrated the glimmering surface as Yumi felt her body come to a grinding halt. Yumi let out a sigh of relief as she felt her body stop dead in its tracks just a little ways from Ulrich's location. Yumi felt her thin, athletic legs dangle and intertwine with each other as her body hung there, no longer sliding towards the beast that was settling down in the center of the crevasse, but still in danger, as she was close to the edge of the pit.

Yumi glanced down towards the center of the pit. She watched as the Hydra's large head slowly settled down into the hole and glared upwards towards her with a frightful glare. The beast prepared for the moment one of the endangered humans lost their grip and fell into its grasp.

"Good thinking," Yumi said as she looked over towards Ulrich.

"I figured rock climbers do this, so maybe it would work." Ulrich said.

Suddenly, the sound of loose rocks and a loud scrapping noise came from above both teens as a flash of purple slid past Ulrich's peripheral vision. Ulrich glanced down to find Odd slowly sliding down the pit's slanted sides and towards the mouth of the Hydra.

Odd tried hard to stab his claws into the ground, yet due to the horizontal slant, his weight caused his claws to jar loose and slip. No matter how many times Odd tried to grab a hold of something, he slipped faster and father down the pit towards the awaiting Hydra. Odd suddenly felt his legs roll up towards his chest as he began to tumble and roll down the slanted slope like a barrel. He whined as he tried to find some means of escaping his unlucky predicament.

"Someone help him!" Aelita shouted frantically as she zoomed towards the others.

Ulrich reached out for Odd in an attempt to grab him. His arm reached out as far as he could, stretching to the point that his arm stiffened like a board. Yet as hard as he tried, his best friend slid right past him and was too far away for Ulrich to grab a hold of. That's when Ulrich remembered his brand new upgrade that Jeremy had given him. Without a moment's hesitation, Ulrich aimed his arm.
"Get there first!" he pleaded as he squeezed his fist.
The launcher buzzed as Ulrich fired his grapnel beam. The beam shot out of the launcher, arching and zipping in multiple directions as it traveled at high speed towards the tumbling Odd, buzzing loudly. The contact point of the beam snagged Odds's hand, latching on to him and tightening its grip around the wrist.

Odd felt his body come to a halt only a few inches away from the Hydra's gnashing mouth. His left arm raised above his body as he laid on the ground. Even though it was uncomfortable, it kept him from the ever dangerous reach of the beast below him. He grunted and moaned loudly as he felt his body dangle right in front of the worst thing since Jaws.

"Odd! Hang on!" Yumi shouted as she watched Odd's body hang right above the Hydra's mouth.

Odd looked straight downwards into the large, dark tunnel that was the Hydra's mouth. Its massive jaws opened wide, revealing large razor sharp, scimitar like teeth that were the size of old English long swords. The inside of its mouth was illuminated by a faint blue light, similar to the light of a deep sea animal attempting to attract its prey. The beast repeatedly slammed its mouth shut as the incisors clashed into each other, trying to lunge forward in an attempt to grab a hold of the small purple snack that hung right above it.

Odd could feel every bite and clenching jaw movement the large eel like creature made; a harsh reminder of what awaited Odd should he slip and fall into the unforgiving mouth.
Odd instinctively raised his feet into the air to prevent the Hydra from getting lucky and grabbing a hold of one of his limbs.

The Hydra lunged forward towards Odd again. Odd quickly raised his lower body upwards towards his chest in time to hear the jaw of the Hydra clamp down loud and hard. Odd felt a shock wave emanate from the jaw of the Hydra as it snapped its jaws over and over again in an attempt to claim the young cat boy.

"Man, I never thought I would experience what it's like to be a worm on the end of a fishing lure." Odd said as he held out his free hand. He felt his hand click loudly, indicating Jeremy had just loaded it with fresh arrows. "Unfortunate for you though my big gilled friend, this worm shoots back!"

Odd fired a series of arrows into the mouth of the Hydra. The arrows hit the inside of the monster's mouth, perforating the inside of the beast's maw and causing bits and pieces of its teeth to shatter like concrete under a hammer.

The Hydra roared loudly as it pulled its head back a few yards. Pain filled the Hydra's body as it was once again injured and stalled at the hands of the children. Yet this pain was more of a nuisance than threat. It opened its mouth a bit as if it was preparing for an attack. But instead of lunging forward towards Odd, it stayed back from the teen sharpshooter, far enough so that it was out of range.

Odd glanced down into the mouth of the Hydra. He could still see menacing teeth inside the leviathan's mouth. Odd looked around the inside of the mouth and noticed that the damage inflicted upon the Hydra's mouth where not as damaging as he hoped.

"I'm gonna need one of those old World War 2 style anti tank weapons to kill this thing." Odd remarked, observing the resilience of the creature.

Odd suddenly noticed movement inside Hydra's mouth. A large mass wiggled around inside of its mouth as it moved closer towards him. The Hydra's mouth opened wide as the large object protruded out of it. It was its tongue – large and lumpy, dark violet in color, with smooth and almost liquid like surface. It seemed to be more like a separate entity than it was a part of the creature's anatomy.
The tongue split open on its tip into a 4 prong like shapes towards the end. The prong like ends of the tongue were hard and jagged, unlike the rest of the tongue. They were sharp and pointy and looked like legs of a crab, with glowing yellow orbs that ran along the sides of the tongue.

"Oh... that's gross." Odd commented as he glanced at the monster's mouth.

"Odd! Climb up!" Ulrich shouted with a hint of stress in his voice. "I can hold you, but you need to hurry!"

Odd glanced up to see his best friend trying to pull him up and out of the way of the Hydra's newly brandished tongue. Odd quickly turned around and placed his feet on the wall and slowly began to walk up.

"OK, I'm coming." Odd shouted as he twisted his body around.

"Just whatever you do... don't look down!" Puck shouted as he fired a bolt of lightning towards the Hydra.

The lightning bolt slammed into the side of the Hydra. It swelled into the creature's skin only to dissipate and vanish into the beast's body.

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Odd, Ulrich and Yumi said in unison.

"Why?" Puck asked in confusion.

"Because whenever you tell someone not to look down... THEY LOOK DOWN!" Odd shouted.

"Right. And this whole thing is not doing wonders for my vertigo right now." Ulrich said with his eyes pinched shut.

"Hey, sorry. I honestly didn't know." Puck explained as he veered the Over-board upwards so that he could prepare for a second attack.

A series of pink orbs slammed into the side of the Hydra as Aelita flew overhead. Aelita paused in midair as she aimed for the head and fired off another series of Energy Fields in an attempt to stall or divert the Hydra's rage away from Odd. Yet the dragon like creature ignored the blasts as it lunged forward in an attempt to snag Odd in its clutches.

"Odd, I'll keep it distracted. But hurry." Aelita shouted over the roar of the Hydra.

Odd slowly walked up the wall with the grapnel beam still attached to his left arm. He used his right arm to try and stick his claws into the surface of the broken ground, so that he could get some from of support and take the strain off Ulrich. Odd slowly took the slope one foot at a time as he tried not to focus on the large beast behind him and more on climbing up out of the crater.

"One thing's for sure. I'm definitely not going rock climbing anytime soon." Odd joked.

"Odd, this is not time for jokes!" Yumi shouted in encouragement.

Yumi slowly pulled herself up on her staff and threw her left leg over as she placed her second leg on top of the staff. She slowly stood up and held out her arms as she focused on balancing herself so that she could be retrieved just as easily as she had hoped. Yet she found it hard to concentrate on her balance with all that was going on down below. The Asian lowered one hand and reached behind her back into her pocket. She felt her body sway a little to the left as she pulled one of her fans out. She pulled her hand back in her usual manner as she aimed for the tongue. She tossed the fan; the metal blade unfurled in the air and took on the form of the saw blade. As soon as the blade completed its form, the metal fans flickered with light, making a loud high pitched screeching noise. The blade raced through the air towards the Hydra. The fan slammed into the side of the Hydra's tongue. The tongue shook from the impact; the large mass shook like a piece of jello. Yet the fan bounced off the tongue instead of penetrating it.

Odd glanced up at Ulrich; he could tell the strain from his own weight was just a little too much for him. Ulrich squinted hard and bared his teeth as he lifted up Odd once more.

"Just a little more..." Odd said as he climbed closer and closer to Ulrich

Ulrich felt his arm tingle a little as he concentrated on keeping his arm steady, so that Odd wouldn't have any problems climbing up or the grapnel beam wouldn't come undone. However, fatigue and stress affected their virtual forms almost as much as it would their flesh and blood bodies back on Earth. It wasn't as hard as it was on Earth, however after a while the stress would cause significant trauma to their bodies. What happened to them on Lyoko eventually caught up with them when they were materialized.

"We gotta hurry and get Yumi out next." Ulrich said as he pulled his arm up a little.

Suddenly, Odd's tail stiffened up on its own, as if something held on to it. Before Odd could react to the strange sensation, a sharp tug on his tail caused him to shriek a little as he felt something pulling his body backwards, followed by a second harder tug. Odd felt his lower section stretch like a rubber band as he felt a tug on his tail once more. Odd held onto the grapnel beam line with all his might, but the strange force that pulled his tail was greater than Odd could imagine.

Odd rotated his head to look behind him towards his lanky, feline tail. He caught a glimpse of something latched onto it, holding on tightly. At first, Odd couldn't get a good glimpse to see just what exactly it was that was holding on to him until he followed the rest of the object's body back to its source. What he saw was the long tube like object's body heading back inside the mouth of the Hydra. The large beast's mouth opened wide as it tried to retract its tongue every once in a while, while still being wrapped around his tail tightly. The tongue pulled backwards towards the Hydra's mouth.

Odd let out a loud yelp. "I knew my tail was gonna cause me problems!"

He tried to hold on to the Grapple beam line as hard as he could, but then he felt another hard pull on his body as he grunted loudly, in an attempt to hold on.

"BUT... NOT... LIKE... THIS!"

Ulrich let out a loud yell as he felt the full force of the Hydra's weight hit his arm and shoulder now. His already suffered enough from Odd's weight, but now the added pull of the Hydra was damaging his virtual form even more. It couldn't take much more abuse. Ulrich's body suddenly dropped a little as he continued to hold on tightly to the sword he previously stabbed into the ground. He tried to pull with all of his might to lift Odd up away from the Hydra. However, the weight of the Hydra was too much and pulled even harder than Ulrich possibly could.

"Ulrich! Hang on!" Yumi shouted as she stood toe to toe on top of her staff.

"Guys, hurry! That tongue is capable of siphoning off life points if one of those orbs touch you." Jeremy said over the intercom.

"Jer... Have you... found a weak point...YET!" Ulrich shouted as he fought the strength of the Hydra.

"No. I've been over every possible point on its body... I don't think it has one." Jeremy said as a hint of stress resonated in his voice.

Aelita flew down towards the crater. As she arrived over the crater, she fired two Energy Fields towards the Hydra's tongue. The two pink orbs hit the Hydra's tongue, causing it to whimper and shudder, yet its hold on Odd's tail was firm as it was not about to release its hold and let one of its targets escape.

"It's unstoppable!" Aelita noted as she fired a third energy orb. "It's gotta have a weakness somewhere."

Aelita watched as Ulrich pulled with all of his might, causing the grapnel beam to tighten up from the tension. Every time Ulrich pulled on the beam it looked as if he was also pulling the Hydra with it. Yet the Hydra would pull back as well. The large, taught mass was too tough and sturdy compared to the thin and energy based beam of Ulrich's grapnel line. It was quickly turning into the most dangerous game of tug of war ever.

Then Aelita noticed something on the tongue of the Hydra, a small crack that ran just underneath the section where the tongue split off and formed the prong like ends. As the tongue stretched a little, she could see a small breach of light coming through the tongue from the other side of the beast. It wasn't just a crack, it was really a tear, which indicated that their attacks had been doing plenty of damage, just not enough. Perhaps energy weapons and projectiles weren't as effective towards the Hydra's body. But what about melee style weapons? Aelita pondered if it was even possible to remove the Hydra's tongue, or if the tear was really caused by the gang's focused attack and not a design in the beast's anatomy.

Aelita turned around and looked towards Yumi. The warrior geisha held her one of her fans in her hand as she looked to be targeting the side of the Hydra's mouth.

"Yumi, wait!" Aelita gathered her best friend's attention. "Aim for where I'm floating!"

"What? Why?" Yumi asked.

"I think I found a weak point," Aelita shouted as she turned around and lobbed a few more energy orbs at the Hydra. "But my Energy Fields are too weak. You might be able to cut it."

"But I've been tossing fans at this thing the whole time and haven't hurt it. Why do you think I could damage it?"

"If I could engulf your fan with my energy field, it might give it a little more power. Not enough to destroy it, but just enough to coat the fan in my energy." Aelita explained as her wings flapped in the air.

"But what if I hit you?"

"Yeah...You promised us no more daredevil, Lita!" Puck said as he brought the Over-Board up to Aelita's level.

"Just trust me. I'll move out of the way when you throw the fan, I'll need to anyways. I'm gonna use my Energy Field to heat up the fan."

"You're only gonna get one chance though girls, make it count." Jeremy said over the intercom. "Yumi, I'll replenish your fans."

"Whatever you're... gonna do... do it FAST!" Ulrich shouted as he pulled once more with all of his might.

"I'm getting a virtual wedgie from this thing!" Odd shouted.

"I'm gonna help alleviate some stress off Ulrich and Odd," Puck said as he stepped on the Over-Board's accelerator.

The engines of the large purple cat themed surf board roared to life as Puck dipped the nose of the Over-Board towards the crater. Puck maneuvered the Over-Board next to Ulrich as he got close enough to try and help him and Odd in their predicament. Puck reached over and grabbed a hold of Ulrich's grapple line. As Puck grabbed the wire, a sliver of confusion raced through his head. The wire felt almost cool and crisp in his hands, which was most unusual since there was hardly and feeling of temperature, pain or texture on Lyoko. However it wasn't affecting Puck as much as he feared.
With all confusion aside, Puck started putting all of his weight onto his side of the line as he pulled the line towards him as hard as he could. The small purple clad boy grunted and gritted his teeth as he felt the line occasionally slip through his tight grasp.
Puck stepped on the accelerator of the Over-Board as the engines slightly hummed. Yet even with the added power of the Over-Board, Puck felt the line slide in between his fingertips; no matter what he or the others did, it was not enough to prevent the Hydra from succeeding, yet Puck refused to give up as he pulled with all of his might. He would not let his friends go without a fight.

Yumi held her fan behind her shoulder as she aimed for Aelita. Squinting one eye allowed her to get a better field of vision towards her target. She tightened up the muscles in her arm as she prepared to launch her fan, hoping she would hit her target and not her best friend.

"Ready?" Aelita asked.

"Yeah!"
Yumi let out a loud grunt as she prepared to toss her weapon.

As Ulrich was pulling, he heard a small cracking noise come from above him. Ulrich listened for it again but never heard it. Ulrich once again pulled his arm as hard as he could, but this time he heard the sound once more, only louder and followed by a cracking sound. Ulrich noticed several small rocks tumbling past him and landing on him. He looked up fast to see his sword was almost ready to pull out of the slope. Only a quarter of the sword's blade remained in the slope as the blade began to lower down towards the pit where the Hydra sat. The amount of stress he and the Hydra put on it almost released the sword from its resting place in the brick like ground. From the looks of it, it wouldn't hold much longer.

"Guys! Hurry!" Ulrich shouted.

Aelita quickly flapped her wings as she rose out of the way.

Yumi gave out a battle cry as she tossed her fan. As the fan left her hand, the weapon opened up entirely and glowed, creating a whirling disk like saw blade. The fan lit up like a bolt of lightning as soon as the weapon left her hand, creating a high pitched whirling noise that resonated through the air.

Aelita held her palms down towards the ground as she concentrated on forming a pair of orbs while observing the fan's movement. A small circular light rotated around her palms. As the light made a rotation around her palm, a pink flame shot up from and formed a round ball of energy with a vibrant whitish pink core. Aelita held up both her hands and aimed for the fan. The flying teen led the fan a ways out so that she could get an accurate hit. Aelita fired one Energy Field and quickly followed up with the second to ensure that she hit the fan with at least one of her Energy Fields. The pink orbs flew through the air like fireballs of molten lead falling through the atmosphere from outer space. A small trail of pink flame flowed behind them as the energy began to pour off.

The first orb sailed shortly in front of the fan, failing to connect with it. The fan continued to cut the air until the second shot hit it, igniting it in a pink flame. The fan wobbled lightly, but after a few seconds corrected itself and continued its course towards its target. The fan screeched and grinded through the air as it came even closer to the Hydra's tongue.
The fan curved around the Hydra's tongue and sliced into the tear. The energy from Aelita's orb caused the tear to widen, allowing the fan to cut through it with a loud scraping noise. Finally, the fan penetrated through the other half of the tear and the tongue dropped out of the Hydra's mouth. The beast screamed.

Odd suddenly felt himself propelled through the air as the tension from Hydra's weight was relieved when its tongue released Odd from its grasp. Odd hollered as if he found himself on an amusement park ride, while his body was set flying though the air. As he got closer to the crater's edge, he reached out his hand and slammed his claws into the ledge. As his claws dug into the golden concrete like surface, Odd felt his feet land on a protruding crack, allowing him to finally get a foot hold on the ground.

Ulrich watched as Odd flew right past him like a missile. No sooner had Odd flown past him than he noticed the grapnel beam was still attached to his hand. Ulrich quickly released the grapnel beam to avoid being launched into the air himself.

"Hey Puck, can I get a lift?" Ulrich asked, a little worn out from his game of tug of war.

Puck lowered the Over-board down towards the ledge where Ulrich sat at. He held out his hand in a gesture to help the worn out samurai onto the overboard.
"You've definitely pulled your weight today." Puck said as Ulrich stepped onto the Over-Board.

"Yeah. I'm gonna feel it in the morning." Ulrich commented as he placed his hand on Puck's shoulder.

The Over-board hummed to life as it flew away from the large gaping hole and the beast that screamed in pain and misery.

The Hydra swayed its head back and forth, destroying the ledges that barely rested along the sides of the hole. The beast screamed in sheer pain as it tried to free itself from the hole it created, roaring and growling until it felt one of its back plates loosen from where it was snagged at and jarred backwards through the hole, screaming in agony. Soon it disappeared underneath the hole and flew underneath the sector.

Odd slowly climbed out of the crater as he grunted and growled. His body was tugged so hard that he felt as if he was 10 inches taller. Odd's left arm felt even longer than his right arm as he tried to compare them to see if there was any actual difference in length. A sigh of relief left the boy's mouth as he collapsed on the ground, laying flat on his back.

"Odd, how do you feel?" Jeremy asked

"I don't wanna go fishing on Lyoko again. Never... ever... ever again, Jeremy," Odd prayed.
He heard a distinct flapping noise coming from behind him. He turned around to see Aelita emerge from the crater with Yumi in tow. Aelita had her arms wrapped underneath Yumi's shoulder blades as they both flew towards Odd and landed next to him.

"You OK?" Aelita asked.

"Aside from feeling a little taller, I'm good." Odd assured as he slowly stood up on his own two legs. "I know my tail has to be longer."

The Over-board whizzed towards them with Puck and Ulrich on it. Ulrich leapt off the board as he walked up to Odd and patted his best friend on the back.

But before Ulrich could say anything, the Hydra roared once more as it flew up into the air. The angry snake monster roared in rage as will for revenge flowed through its body. The gang had just injured the Hydra both physically and mentally. And now it was bearing down on them like a mad and rabid animal. Its mouth opened and closed sporadically as it prepared for its next attack.

"Our weapons have no effect." Yumi commented. "What should we do?"

"The Skid's weapons seemed to hurt it a little though... Maybe that could work to our advantage?" Odd suggested.

Ulrich pondered as he glanced over at the Skid. Its weapons did in fact harm and deter the Hydra during its earlier attacks and it seemed as though the Hydra's main purpose for creating a hole in the ground was to separate the gang from the Skid. Maybe the Skid was the key to destroying the Hydra.

"Jeremy? Can we use the Skid?" Ulrich asked.

"Yeah, it's all set... There are only a few additional options I need to add but it is combat effective." Jeremy said over the intercom.

"What about the Navskids?" Ulrich asked as he walked a little towards the direction of the Skidbladnir.

"The Navskids can work, but the programs for tracking the Navskids, returning them to the Skid, and there techomonatry programs are still not fully fleshed out yet."

"In English, Jeremy?" Ulrich asked.

"Don't take them into the digital sea."

Puck glanced over at Ulrich in confusion. He had a small idea on what Ulrich had I mind but he wasn't to sure if the plan Ulrich was conceiving would work or not.

"Hold on, Ulrich...What do you have in mind?" Puck asked.

"I say it's time to break the Mark II in." Ulrich suggested.

"Um, do you think the Skid or the Navskids could stand a chance against that thing? Also don't forget Aether is in the area. He might get a little jealous over the fact that we're flying as well." Puck said with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Look at it this way. One, we're running out of time with this storm. Two, we're dealing with a lot of guys in the air right now. And three, our firepower alone is not enough to hurt that thing and the Skid's weapons were enough to drive it off. It's our best option." Ulrich defended his idea.

"I've got an idea," Odd said, stepping into the conversation while keeping an eye on the Hydra. "There's the Skid and five Navskids. Two of us keep Hydra busy while the other two protect the Skid. Aelita pilots it to the tower to deactivate it, then we regroup and take on the Hydra together."

"That's just what I was getting at." Ulrich said.

All five were startled by the sound of the Hydra's roar. They turned their heads to see the beast was circling back around. Only this time it wasn't targeting the gang, it was targeting the Skid.

"OK, we need to hurry." Yumi said. "I'll take Aelita and Puck and go for the tower."

"Good. Odd and I will take on the Hydra while Jeremy looks for its weakness." Ulrich suggested as he glanced over at Odd, only to receive a positive nod from him.

"Let's not stand around waiting for the Hydra to make another move, let's go!" Puck yelled as he turned the Over-Board towards the Skid. Yumi jumped onto the back of the Over-Board as the small elf like A.I. hit the accelerator.

"You know I'm gonna want that back!" Odd said.

"Sorry, can't hear you." Puck joked as he hit the accelerator.

Aelita spread her wings and back flipped high in the air. She flew towards the Skid, following Puck and Yumi close behind. Odd jumped onto all fours, close behind the two girls and Puck, with Ulrich super-sprinting alongside the Over-Board.

The Hydra slithered through the air as it zoomed past the tower the gang have been standing in just moments ago like a bullet train passing by a platform in a subway. Its large, pale, red body eclipsed the tower like a shadow of a skyscraper. As it pursued its prey it slithered closer and closer to the ground until its massive lower jaw scrapped along the ground, causing pieces of golden, brick like ground to chip and crumble away. The beast growled loudly as its large eye focused on all 5 warriors. With one hard lunge, the Hydra planted its lower body into the ground as it snaked along the brickwork towards its enemies.

Aelita, Puck and Yumi arrived at the front of the Skidbladnir. Yumi leapt off the Over-Board as she turned to face the giant beast that was on fast approach towards them. Yumi was shocked to see the massive beast spread up as it closed in on them, however something was off with the creature's course. It didn't seem to be chasing down Ulrich and Odd, but seemed to be on a direct course towards the Skid. That's when Yumi realized just what exactly was happening.
"Jeremy! The Hydra knows we want to use the Skid. I think it's going to attack it!"

"If it destroys the Skid, our plan is out the window. You guys need to hurry up and load into the Skid, fast!" Jeremy said.

Odd ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He was close to the beast. Odd could make out fine details in the creature's skin and boney carapace. Small cracks and fine ridges adorned the large bone like horns that jutted out of the creature's head. One stab with those horns could definitely damage, maybe even destroy the Skid.

"Hey, flounder! Remember me?" Odd shouted as he jumped to his hind legs.
He waved his hand over one of the panels on his arm, activating his Ice Beam, and on his other arm he activated his wave cutter. He pointed both hands at the head of the Hydra and unleashed a barrage of ammunition. But every shot he fired had no effect towards the behemoth. He was met with dissatisfaction as he watched his laser arrows, ice shots, and wave beams bounce off the side of the Hydra.
"Nothing's working... Jeremy, can you attack the Hydra with the Skid's weapons?" Odd asked.

"I can't. I might run the risk of hitting one of you." Jeremy responded.

"Let me try one of my new little tricks." Puck said as he arrived at the Skid on the Over-Board.

"What are you gonna do?" Yumi asked.

Puck winked. "Time for some fried Hydra."

Aelita watched as Puck flew up to them on the Over-Board and jumped off. He quickly pulled out his staff and switched a small dial on it. As soon as he did, the top of the staff turned from gold to red. Puck waved his staff in front of him as the top piece glowed bright red. A large series of red orbs appeared in front of him. The orbs were green wire frames, similar to the terrain of Lyoko without the program that creates the surface of a sector. The red wire orbs then flashed as a red surface developed over the tiny, basketball sized orbs. As the red surface completely enclosed the orbs, a bright flash ignited inside of the balls. Soon flame engulfed the orbs, turning them into a series of floating fireballs. The fireballs floated in the air, awaiting the command of their creator.

"How did you do that?" Aelita asked.

"Just like you can create and manipulate the terrain on Lyoko, I can create different elemental effects." Puck said, turning back towards the oncoming monster. "I call this my Mister Puck's great balls of fire technique."

Puck threw his left palm out. The fireballs zipped through the air like missiles. They rotated like baseballs as they approached the large beast.
The orbs hit the front of the Hydra's face with tremendous impact. The fireballs exploded into burning shrapnel and flames. Fire whipped across the face of the Hydra like water from a shower, scorching the face and body of the massive snake to charcoal black. The Hydra whined a little but still refused to yield as it continued on its path, ignoring the burning sensation on its face, eyes and mouth.

"Well, so much for your fireballs, Mario." Yumi said as she held her hands up to her head.

The Over-board was surrounded with white light as it lifted off the ground. Within seconds, it zipped through the air towards the Hydra's head.

Odd continued to run alongside the Hydra at a distance where he could easily avoid any projectiles the others were tossing at the beast. He continued to fire madly at the Hydra as he aimed for its eye, trying to stall or injure it.

Odd waited for Jeremy to reload his weapons when he checked up ahead to see what the girls and Puck were doing. His heart suddenly sank when he spotted his Over-Board flying towards the Hydra with no one on it.

"Oh no, not again!" Odd shouted as he saw what Yumi was about to do.

The Over-Board slammed into the beast's mouth and exploded. It shattered into a flurry of pixels as the board rammed into the front of the Hydra's forehead. The impact sounded like a car smashing into a building and glass shattering; the pixels from the board evaporated. The impact caused the beast to suddenly stop and raise its head into the air as it grunted in pain.

"You did it!" Aelita said as she made a fist in triumph.

The Hydra shook its head as it tried to shake the pain received from the blow. Its vision fuzzed a little from the impact as it grunted loudly. After a few quick shakes, the landscape it saw cleared up and the beast could see ever so clearly. The Hydra bellowed loudly and violently as it dropped its head down to the ground and continued its attack.

"Uh... Anyone got a kitchen sink?" Puck asked as he resumed his attack.

Ulrich glanced to his left to see the Hydra commenced its charge, yet it seemed slower now. Ulrich realized that a hit from a beast that big would more than likely damage the Skid, possibly even destroy it. Ulrich thought about all the work Jeremy had been placing into there equipment recently and realized how much of a set back losing the Skid would be. But what was more than that was how much they needed the Skid right now. If the Hydra destroyed the Skid, they would have no chance of stopping the Hydra and being able to shut down the tower. In essence, the Skid was vital to their plans right now.

Ulrich drew one of his swords and super sprinted towards the accelerating beast. He ran straight for its massive cranium. He held the sword behind him, pointing straight outwards so that it wouldn't get in his way or become a hazard. He readied his grapnel beam with his other hand as he prepared for a move that would hopefully protect the Skid.

"What's Ulrich doing?" Aelita asked, pointing towards the yellow ninja.

Yumi glanced over and spotted her boyfriend sprinting in the direction of the beast. A streak of yellow flashed behind him as he initiated his super sprint ability.

Ulrich closed the distance between himself and the Hydra. Its massive head was within throwing distance of the beast's maw. The teenage ninja was the size of a mouse compared to the Hydra's massive size. It would almost be impossible to physically harm such a massive creature, yet Ulrich wasn't looking to harm it... but rather distract it.
"Here goes nothing!" he shouted.

Ulrich pointed his left hand towards the Hydra. A loud zapping noise echoed from his arm as a white beam fired outwards towards the Hydra's side. The long beam zipped through the air and made contact with the side of the Hydra's cheek. Ulrich felt the beam snag and tighten up as the connection was secured. Ulrich then flexed his arm upwards; he felt his legs leave the ground as Ulrich was propelled through the air towards the Hydra.

"Oh God, I'm gonna hate this." Ulrich thought as the realization of what he was about to do hit him in the head.
He twisted his lower body forward so that instead of landing at the very point his grapple beam was attached to, he would swing past it. His body zipped past the Hydra's cheek. Ulrich looked to his left as he looked deep into the Hydra's large mouth. He saw nothing but rows upon rows of sharp, jagged teeth. As Ulrich passed the large mouth, he felt his body raise upwards towards its head. Ulrich then took his sword and stabbed it into the side of the Hydra's reddish white skin. The sword sunk in deep as he felt the momentum from his swing leave his body. Ulrich looked down to see that he was standing on the very forehead of the Hydra. He accomplished what he had set out to do.

"Now... to wrangle in this catch." Ulrich said as he pulled his left arm closer to him.

As Ulrich pulled the beam closer, it tightened against the monster's mouth, restricting Hydra's movements and its ability to open its mouth further. The beast whined and screeched in disapproval as Ulrich tightened the beam more. Ulrich then raised his left arm upwards as he finally gained control of the Hydra. Holding on to his sword with his right hand, Ulrich used it to keep himself on the Hydra's head so as not to fall off. He pulled his left hand high into the air and pulled the beam with all of his might as he grunted and growled loudly.

"He caught it?" Aelita asked as Odd finally arrived at the Skid.

The Hydra stopped its advance and raised its massive head into the air. The monster roared in objection as it passed right over the Skid and continued on its course.

"He did it!" Yumi said with a cheer.

---

"OK. While Ulrich has the Hydra under control, mount up inside the Skid and get going." Jeremy ordered as a sound of thunder echoed in the background.

Inside the lab, Jeremy was typing fast as he prepared the Skid's controls to be passed over to the others on Lyoko.
The Skid's controls and features were far more advanced than the original Skid's, so if the others just jumped into the Skid like the old days, they would have a lot of questions. Jeremy knew it would take a lot of time for the others to discover all of the Skidbladnir's new functions, and now wasn't really the best time for an introductory lesson. So Jeremy would have to make do on his end to make the transition a little easier.

"Looks like someone's going Hydra riding." Sissi noted as she operated the second monitor and kept Jeremy informed. "Ulrich's got the Hydra moving away from the others."

"But what if something happens to Ulrich? I mean, no one can help him for the moment." Jessica asked as she quickly glanced at her phone.

"I'm sure Ulrich can handle himself," William commented. "He just has to show off, huh?"

"I've Skid almost ready for the others." Jeremy said as he finished typing multiple codes. "I'm sure they will help Ulrich deal with the Hydra in a minute."

William stood behind Jeremy as he watched him operate the various windows and programs that helped the Skid function.

"Of all the times for me to devirtualize, I've never ridden in the Skidbladnir." William commented, annoyed at the present situation. "Things might have been easier if I was still on Lyoko. Heck, we might have been done by now."

Sissi glanced up at William. She stepped away from the computer terminal and approached him.
"You know you did your best, William. There's no shame in that." Sissi said, trying to alleviate the tension building up inside him.

"Yeah, I know... but I'm kinda a sore loser when it comes to things like this. Once you start fighting on Lyoko, you start to get a feel for when things are about to crash down... and I play the whole thing in the back of my head and analyze where I went wrong and all."

"So... you have a lot of experience on Lyoko, William?" Sissi asked.

"Not as much as the others, but quite some." William noted.

"Then... can I ask you something?"

William turned around and looked at Sissi, who had her hands behind her back. "Sure, what is it?"

"Well... it's..." Sissi started as she wondered if now was the right time to ask about what bugged her.

She wanted to contribute to the team more than she already did, yet she didn't want to get in the way at the cost of her friends. Ever since Odd saved her from Aether, she often wondered if she was worth value to the team or not. Sissi found herself in a world that only existed in movies and TV shows, a world of fiction that couldn't possibly exist... or so she thought. Yet here she was, in the middle of it all. Was she truly hero material? Was she worth the time and effort it would take for the others to train her on Lyoko? Or would she train with them and then turn around and let them down?
She remembered how much of a nuisance she was to Ulrich and the others in the past. She despised herself for her own childish ambitions and antics. Yet even now when she was trying to make amends, would she actually be a worthy Lyoko Warrior? Or would she falter and fail? It was a question that tugged at the back of her mind. Sissi had already volunteered to fight on Lyoko, but had she truly thought about the consequences?

"What is it, Sissi?" William asked again, gathering Sissi's attention.

"Uh... Nothing. Don't worry about it." she said.

William looked at Sissi in confusion. A minute ago she seemed to be adamant about something, but now she seemed a little too guilty to ask whatever it was on her mind.

Jeremy stopped typing and turned around to look at Sissi. This sign of hesitation was something rare in her. For the past few weeks, she had been a huge help to himself and the others. She motivated them when they needed it the most and didn't even bother to judge them or report them for using the super computer to fight Xervix. In fact had it not been for Sissi, Jeremy and Aelita's first date might not have gone as well as it had. Sissi had always been a source of motivation for the Garage Kids, yet now she seemed lost herself.
Jeremy was snapped back to reality when Jessica's phone rang loudly. The ringtone played some lyrics of No Rest For The Wicked, a song Jessica said reminded her of the kids and what they were doing and had been through.

Jessica picked up her iPhone. The caller ID showed a picture of Travis wearing a pair of Aviator sunglasses and a tropical type shirt with red and blue palm trees on it that made him look like a throwback to early 80's.
"Yeah, what's up?" Jessica asked as she answered. After a few short nods and one-worded answers, she hung up the phone and looked towards Jeremy.
"We need to hurry. The storm is 5 minutes out and Travis and George are on their way back here. We might need to evacuate."

"How bad is it out there?" Sissi asked.

"I'll go take a look and bring Travis and George back here when they arrive," William said as he made his way over to the elevator.

"You can't. It's dangerous out there." Jessica said in a calm, yet authoritative voice.

"Yes, I can." William said as he hit the button on the elevator door.

Jessica bolted towards the elevator door."William, wait!"

"What's wrong?" William asked jokingly. "I've dealt with dangerous things before. I'm sure I can handle a little thunderstorm."

"That's not it. I'm in charge of your safety and well-being. If anything happened out there..." Jessica tried to explain until she was cut off by William.

"Relax. I can handle this. I took care of myself during the Las Vegas thing, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but with help from us and the others." Jessica said firmly.

"This is part of fighting Xervix, Jessica. Calm down." William said as he reached over to hit the button on the elevator that would take him up to the top floor.

"You're not going and that's that!" Jessica said loudly, gathering the attention of Sissi and Jeremy. "You don't know what's out there. From what Special Agent Knight and Dalesman said, this storm is not acting like any ordinary storm!"
Jessica breathed harder and faster as her hands lightly trembled a little.

"Why are you so worried?" William asked as he stepped out of the elevator. "You didn't mind us going to America and fight there. So why are you worried now?"

"Because this is no kids' game anymore, William! People's lives are on the line and that storm could drop a horrible death on anyone. I will not let a friend of mine walk out there only to get hit by something. And I will be damned to hell if that happens." Jessica said as she gritted her teeth.
Her hands were shaking madly. She stared at William in silence for a moment. William was as tall as she was, so she didn't have to look downwards at him as she did the other members of the gang.

William finally placed a hand on Jessica's shoulder and smiled faintly.

"We'll stop it, Jessica. Have faith." he said calmly.

Jessica suddenly realized she was scared that the gang might not be able to deactivate the tower. She was scared that the storm might injure someone or herself. Jessica had never been in a situation like this before. In Las Vegas she could fight and shoot the creatures that were coming after her, but here she was confined to a small basement. She couldn't fight a storm... or on Lyoko. She was powerless and that was why she was nervous.
"I'm sorry, William. You're right, it's just... In all my years with the CIA... and after what happened in Las Vegas... It's becoming too much to take at times."

"Don't sweat it. First time is always the hardest. Especially when you're facing a fear of yours. Right, guys?" William asked the others with a smile.

"Let's just say my blood pressure gets pretty high at times. Like earlier with Aelita." Jeremy said with a faint smile.

"And when you're riding on a flying surf board with Odd Della Robbia? I'm surprised I didn't have a stroke." Sissi added as well.

"See? Everyone gets nervous in this job. You just gotta have faith in the rest of us. Because we're not just fighting for our lives here, we're fighting for each other." William said as he let go of Jessica. "Now I'm going to check this storm out. And why don't you come with me, Jessie?"

"OK. Just don't call me Jessie. It's Jessica."

The elevator door opened slowly, revealing the dark night sky of the outside world. Garbage and debris blew through the factory's main floor like leaves in the wind. Empty soda cans and cardboard boxes tumbled and whirled through the air, eventually fading away into the darkness of the factory. The wind cause the light fixtures over the bridge to shake and tremble as the wind continued to intensify.

William and Jessica peeked out from inside of the elevator as lightning flashed in the dark, black sky, followed by the sound of thunder. The lightning flashed brilliantly and continuously as the storm got closer and closer to the factory.

"Man, that sure is one violent looking storm." Jessica noted as she shielded her eyes from all the rocks and sand flowing through the air.

William carefully took a step out of the elevator shaft as his shirt rippled through the powerful gust. He looked upwards towards the skyline visible through factory's shattered windows; he spotted glimpses of dark orange lightning that pulsated and flashed through the air. The lighting was more constant than it usually was during a thunderstorm. Something was incredibly off about it.

William climbed up to the main entrance. He glanced out towards the city, only to find that the once brightly lit up town was now dark and eerie. Not a single light from a building or a streetlight illuminated through the darkness. It looked almost like the town had been abandoned. William could catch glimpses of the city whenever the lightning flashed, but other than that, he could barely make out the bridge from where he was standing.

A pair of headlights caught William's eye as a black Mustang pulled off from the street and pulled into the parking lot next to the factory. Its high beams pierced through the darkness like a pair of blow torches through butter. The engine of the car switched off as a pair of doors swung wide open due to the wind that whipped past the car. Travis and George stepped out of the car and shut the doors as they walked with a sense of urgency towards the entrance. Soon they met William in the dark and together they joined Jessica at the elevator.

"How does it look?" Jessica asked as she stayed in the elevator door, keeping the sliding door from shutting.

"It's bad," Travis said as they ran into the cabin.

"I figured you would still be fighting." George said to William, surprised.

"I messed up and lost." William responded.
He hit the button on the side of the elevator's panel as the large metal door slid shut. Once the door had shut all the way, the elevator jerked as it embarked upon its journey to the lower floor where the lab was located.

"Who's still fighting?" Travis asked.

"William was the only one to lose so far." Jessica said as the elevator came to a stop.

The large door opened to reveal the lab. The bright green light from the computer's holographic display engulfed the interior of the elevator as they stepped outside of it and walked over towards the main computer chair.

"What's the word?" George asked Jeremy.

"I've got the others loaded onto the Skidbladnir..."

"The what?" Travis interrupted.

"A virtual transport system that acts like a ship with fighters on it." Jeremy said as he glanced towards Travis. "Right now we're dealing with a new creature. Ulrich's fighting with it. We're working on helping Ulrich with it and getting Aelita to the tower."

"Well, we need to hurry." Travis said, garnering everyone's attention. "That storm has somehow been siphoning energy off the city's power grid and now it looks like it's focusing all the energy into a fixed point near the eye of the storm to release it into a massive lightning bolt."

"Will we be safe down here?" Sissi asked, concerned.

"We should be, but I'm not sure. We're several feet down away from the top portion of the factory. But with the storm gathering all that energy, it might release it and hit the factory above us." Travis said.

"So even if the storm had enough energy to strike the factory, it probably couldn't affect us?" George asked.

"No, I don't think so." Jeremy said as he finished. "Plus, even if we're trapped down here, we have enough food and water to survive for weeks."

"Then why would the storm be draining electricity from the city if it couldn't touch the lab down here?" George asked as he pondered. "There's no outside power source that powers the lab, from what I understand, the lab is powered by a nuclear rod, correct?"

"That's correct, George." Jeremy said as he remembered teaching the American agents about the inner workings of the computer. "For once I'm glad someone remembered that besides Aelita."

"Getting back on track," George said as thunder boomed through the walls of the lab, "From what we saw outside, the storm needs an open or exposed source of energy to drain it, such as the transformers. It never once drained the energy from a car."

"Because of the rubber tires maybe?" Travis added.

"If that would be the case then what about the buildings? It never struck a building in an attempt to drain them. I'm thinking that this storm, or this attack as you guys call it, does have a potential target. We're just missing the initial clue here."

"Well, for one thing, how do you know it will release the energy it's built up?" Sissi asked.

"When we were outside in the country it tried to. But thankfully we got out in time." Travis said.

"What if... this storm is disguised as a means to attack the factory, but it's not?" Jeremy wondered. "We all know Xervix needs Aelita and me because of her Savior powers, but what would he gain by eliminating us?"

"That's the thing. This whole storm doesn't add up. It's designed to mislead us into thinking that it's aimed for us... But I don't think it is." George said.

Jeremy quickly rotated the chair back around and pulled up a new screen. It showed a topographical overlook of the city. The map showed the current location of the storm and its projected path by the local weather meteorologists. When Jeremy glanced at the map, he discovered that Special Agent Knight was indeed on to something.
"The main front of the storm has already passed by the factory... But I think I might know where it's going."

"Where is that?" Travis asked.

Jeremy pointed towards the factory's location. "We're roughly on the outer edge of the town. It's heading towards the central area of town near the financial district... which is also the center of the city."

"That's it!" William said. "If it heads to the center of the city, it can unleash that lighting and do the most possible damage to the city. Instead of going after us..."

"It's going after everyone else." George noted.

"But what would be the significance of that?" Jessica asked as she stepped forward into the conversation.

"By going after everyone else in the city, it would show that we can no longer contain Xervix or Aether and it would more than likely turn most of the world against us through fear that it could happen again." George said. "Some government officials in France are still a little uneasy over the fact that children are in control of the most powerful computer in the country."

"And if they felt threatened by it, they would imprison the kids and shut down the computer." Jessica added.

"Now that is an attack that could really hurt us." Jeremy said as he picked up his microphone headset.

"Guys! We got a serious situation up here..."

"That's horrible." Yumi said as she heard Jeremy explain their situation. "They're gonna use this storm to wipe out the city."

"And injure Lord knows how many people." Aelita said in a worrisome tone. "Let's get to the tower right away."

"But we still need to pick up Ulrich. He's distracting the Hydra." Yumi said.

"Let's go get him. Then we can split up. Puck and Yumi can escort Aelita to the tower while Ulrich and I destroy the Hydra." Odd said, trying to rally the others.

"OK, stand by. I'm going to transfer you guys into the Skid." Jeremy said over the intercom.

Within a few seconds a large pool of light formed at the bottom of their feet and slowly traced upwards towards their heads. As the light passed by the different areas of their bodies, the sections that it had passed by quickly faded like an apparition in the shadows. Within seconds, all four of them vanished and rematerialized inside of the Skidbladnir and the Navskids.

Aelita sat in the main cockpit of the Skid. Its design changed greatly. No longer was the interior of the Skid similar to a submersible, but it was now similar to the cockpit of a helicopter, with the firing controls and steering controls on a large stick like throttle. On the bottom of the floor next to the throttle were two pedals. One pedal was designed to act as the accelerator while the other acted as the reverse thrusters pedal in the event the Skid would have to back up. On the console in front of Aelita were various panels and screens. One screen showed the Skid's shield status and hull integrity, the screen below it showed its weapon and armaments stats. A screen off to the left showed similar statistics for the five Navskids and a screen above it showed a small map grid that indicated their location.

"OK guys, I'm powering up the Skid now. How is it on your end?" Aelita asked as she pressed a series of glowing buttons and panels.

"These things are ten times better than I remember." Odd commented as he glanced around the cockpit of his Navskid.

The Navskids designs were similar to the Skidbladnir's design with a few exceptions. Instead of pedals on the floorboard of the Navskid, there was a single throttle on the left side of the pilot's seat that acted as both the accelerator and the brake. Overhead the pilot's seat was a weapons inventory, which indicated that these Navskids where far more lethal than their predecessors. On the left side of the Navskids was a small flight stick that controlled the firing weapons systems of the craft.

"These things are like fighter jets." Yumi commented as she looked around.

"OK guys. You're all set." Jeremy said as he finished the final install for the Skid.

"Seat belts everyone!" Puck said jokingly.

Aelita placed her hand on a large panel off to the left of the console as a loud hum came from the Skid's engines. The Skid shook a little as it slowly ascended into the air. The dock section of the Skid rotated vertically as it rose to sit right in front of the Skid's cockpit, just like how the original Skid had.

"Now let's go Hydra fishing!" Aelita said with determination in her voice.

Aelita pressed her foot on the pedal next to the control stick. She felt the craft vibrate a little as it slowly accelerated, going from 0-40 in a mater of seconds. Aelita watched as the tower they originally used to gain access to the computer passed by them and disappeared from view. Aelita noticed that she could also see the others who were already in their respected Navskids moving around and looking outwards towards the landscape.

"This is great. Why didn't you guys have this sooner?" Puck asked.

"Well we did kinda have to turn the computer on again at short notice. "Jeremy explained.

"I sense that this Jet thing has a program inside it that allows regeneration similar to the tower's. Nice touch." Puck commented.

"Thanks. I also added a new program that allows anyone who is in the Skid or the Navskids to eject and teleport outside of the vehicle should it get either shot down or destroyed." Jeremy said with pride. "Not only that, but the Navskids themselves are also dual purpose. They can be used in either the Digital Sea or on Lyoko."

"That's why they look different?" Yumi asked as she glanced outside of her Navskid at its large wings.

"That's right."

Aelita heard a faint ping come from inside the Skidbladnir's cockpit. She glanced down at the radar and spotted a large object that was just a few yards up ahead of them. She also spotted a blue dot on top of the object. As the dot came closer into view, Ulrich's name popped up next to it with his life point stats under his name.

"Guys, I got Ulrich and the Hydra on the Radar." Aelita said as she punched in a few more commands in on the panel. "You guys ready?"

"We're all set, Aelita," Odd said with excitement in his voice.

"Launching Navskids now." Aelita said as she reached up and pulled a lever right above her head.

A blue pulse echoed from the cockpit of the Skidbladnir and traced upwards towards through the docking arm. A surge of blue energy shocked upwards into the Navskids, causing their engines to spark and activate. The engines roared to life as the Navskids floated off the docking arm and hovered above the Skid. As the Navskids carefully released from the Skid's arm, the brackets that kept the Navskids secured slowly lowered into the frame of the docking arm, so that the brackets wouldn't get destroyed or damage, thus allowing the Navskids to return if need be. Only one Navskid remained on the Skidbladnir. It sat underneath the arm as it awaited its pilot.

"So far everything is running smooth," Jeremy said as he watched the different programs boot up on the Navskids. "Switch your Navskids from V.S. To Air mode."

"How do we do that?" Odd asked.

"Hit the green toggle switch under the Navskid's status bar." Jeremy replied.

Yumi glanced underneath the Navskid's status icon and noticed the small green, translucent switch. She flipped the switch upwards. As soon as she did, the singular wings suddenly opened up and split into 3 separate wing sections. The 3 wings sat on the side of the Navskid's side, very familiar to how a jet fighters wings would sit.

"OK Jeremy, I think I'm ready." Yumi said as she watched Puck and Odd's Navskids do the same.

"Yeah, I'm OK and ready to give this thing a try." Puck said as his Navskid formed up to the left of Yumi's.

"Finally. A chance to fly something that looks more bad ass than an X-Wing" Odd remarked as he formed up to the right of Yumi.

"I see Ulrich and the Hydra up ahead." Aelita said as the Skidbladnir followed close behind the Navskids.

Odd could not contain his enthusiasm. "Let's rock and roll!"

With a loud roar, The Navskids sped off with the Skidbladnir close behind. The 4 virtual vehicles stayed in formation as they closed in on the target. The landscape around them whizzed by as the large red and white beast came into view, with Ulrich struggling on top of it.

The Hydra slithered through the air in an erratic fashion. The beast flopped and wiggled in the air as it fought for control of its body while at the same time trying to remain airborne. Not a single part of its body remained motionless or relaxed as it moved through the air powerfully. Its armor-plated body clinked and clanked as its body moved. All the while it tried to remove its single passenger. To the Hydra, Ulrich was like a tick or a parasite. Ulrich's attempts to control the Hydra's movements where almost painful to the beast. It felt like a small insect was stinging him hard and would not give up under any circumstances; instead, it dug deeper into the Hydra's flesh to the point that the pain constantly intensified. No matter how hard it tried to shake Ulrich off of its body, the yellow samurai tightened his grip.

Ulrich's grapnel beam remained tangled around the Hydra's mouth. The blue and white wire like laser grew tighter with every pull. Each time the Hydra would attempt to close its mouth on the beam and try to cut itself loose, Ulrich would pull high into the air to prevent the Hydra from allowing its teeth to make contact with each other, thereby cutting through the beam and freeing itself from Ulrich's control. Ulrich also kept his fingers around his sword, which was plunged into the Hydra's skin to keep himself steady. If it hadn't been for the sword, Ulrich would have lost his balance some time ago, leaving himself open to the Hydra's mercy.

"Never thought riding animals would be this tense." Ulrich said to himself as he occasionally glanced downward to see how high he really was.

He suffered from a severe case of vertigo. Any time he was several feet from the ground with nothing to keep him from falling to the painful ground below him was enough to make him break out into a cold sweat. Usually whenever he was in a situation like this, he relied on his friends to keep his thoughts centered and away from the fact of how high he was. But for right now though, he was on his own and with the bucking beast under his feet that could throw him off any minute.

"Ulrich? You OK?" Jeremy asked over the intercom.

"Actually... I'm regretting doing this." Ulrich grunted as the Hydra lurched to the left hard.

"Hang in there. Help is on the way." Jeremy responded, aware of what Ulrich was going through.

"Why did you do this anyway?"

Before Ulrich could respond, the Hydra roared loudly as it lowered its head, causing Ulrich to lose his balance. Ulrich felt three of his fingers slip off the katana as he battled to hang on to the Hydra with all of his might.

"Ulrich, hang on!" Jeremy shouted. "The others are almost there!"

Ulrich pulled harder on the grapnel beam in an attempt to pull the beast's head upwards, yet no matter how much he pulled, the Hydra's power was too much for him to battle against.

The ensnared Hydra drew its head down towards the ground even harder as it tried to take the upper hand. Its massive jaws opened wide as it prepared to make its move. The grapnel beam slid past its jaw line and sat on top of its massive, saber like incisors as it prepared to free itself from its captive - which in turn would turn him into its prey.
The Hydra finally clenched its jaw shut with a loud clap. The grapnel beam that was lodged in between its teeth finally yielded to the stress and pressure from Hydra's movements and snapped, freeing the beast. The Hydra screeched in triumph.

Now at the mercy of the Hydra, Ulrich felt his hand pull backwards from the momentum of the torn beam. Before Ulrich could contemplate a plan, the Hydra started moving operatically with such tenacity that Ulrich could feel the sword that he had plunged into the Hydra's body begin to shake loose. The katana slowly rose out of the Hydra's body; with each movement and contortion the Hydra made, the sword was forced out of the beast's back even more.

Ulrich placed both hands on the sword's hilt in an attempt to force the sword back into the wound. However, the inertia of the Hydra's movements caused Ulrich's body to twist and tilt in different directions, making his attempts to plunge the katana further into the Hydra's back futile.

Ulrich held out his hand and tried to fire a grapnel beam so that he could escape from the Hydra before the berserk beast jarred him loose, only to be met with a buzzing noise. Ulrich glanced down at his wrist in confusion as he pondered why the grapnel beam couldn't fire.

"Jeremy! My Grapnel beam's not working!" Ulrich shouted over the rantings of the Hydra's roars.

"Oh. You gotta wait 5 minutes after the line gets destroyed to create a new one." Jeremy said.

Then, the sword shook loose and flew up into the air. Ulrich watched as the sword flew away from him. Before he could reach out and grab his sword the Hydra shifted left, causing the sword to fly out of his reach.

Ulrich felt his body lurch backwards as the force and momentum of the Hydra finally caused him to loose his balance. Ulrich's body tumbled and flipped through the air, occasionally bouncing off the Hydra's armor plated back. The Hydra roared in defiance as it felt its passenger roll off its back and towards the end section of its tail.

Eventually Ulrich reached out and grabbed on to a piece of armor plating with both hands. The plate felt glossy and smooth, almost like a piece of ceramic tile. Yet due to its smooth surface, it was harder for Ulrich to grip onto. Ulrich's fingers slowly began to slide off as the teenage ninja desperately tried to gain his footing. His fingertips screeched and slid off the plating, causing his hands to slowly dislodge to the point where Ulrich would fly off at any second.

Ulrich suddenly recognized a distinct sound that he could barely hear over the Hydra's movements and roars. It was a soft buzzing noise that began to grow into a sound similar to that of a jet engine. Ulrich glanced over his shoulder and spotted a large object closing in behind the Hydra, followed by three other similar ones.

Yumi spotted Ulrich still on the back of the Hydra. She could tell that he had lost his original position on the Hydra's head and would slowly slip and fall off the beast at any moment. The thought of Ulrich falling through the air with an uncertainty of where he would land raced through Yumi's head like a bolt of electricity as she instinctively hit the accelerator on her Navskid.
"I'm going to get Ulrich, cover me." Yumi said as she closed in on the Hydra without hearing from the others.

The Navskid's engines roared loudly as it pushed past the other virtual vehicles and approached the Hydra. The interior of the craft shook lightly as its pilot pushed it to its limit. It felt as if the craft would fall to pieces at a moment's notice. It did not concern Yumi in the slightest. The only thing that mattered to her was rescuing Ulrich. Regardless if the craft would survive or not, she would not let Ulrich fall to his doom.

The craft approached the Hydra's tail as it lashed rapidly like a whip in the air, causing the craft to occasionally rock a little from the vibration. Yumi looked for a way for her to slip by the erratic moving Hydra so she could get closer to Ulrich. Yet the movements of the Hydra were constantly hindering her chances to get remotely close to the beast.

"Yumi, you're not going to be able to get Ulrich by yourself." Jeremy said over the intercom.

"I know, but I gotta try." Yumi said as she pounded her fist on the console.

"What if we tried using the Skid to ram the Hydra in the side so he could jump off?" Aelita asked.

"No Aelita, it's to risky... And you said you wouldn't do any more daredevil antics," Jeremy reminded.

"Like we have a choice right now?"

"But... Aelita!"

"Don't worry, Einstein. We won't let anything happen to Aelita." Odd said, siding with Aelita.

Jeremy bit his lip in concern as he thought hard and short. He hated it when Aelita had moments like this, all it took was one slip up and Aelita would get hurt or worse. But in this situation there was really no other choice in the matter.

"I'll be fine I promise." Aelita assured her boyfriend in her usual loving voice, the voice that always made Jeremy melt and agree with anything.

"Just be careful. OK?" Jeremy said as he placed his hand towards his forehead.

Aelita hit the pedal on the floor, causing the Skidbladnir to increase in speed. The Skid was surprisingly faster than the Navskids. It was capable to catch up to the smaller crafts and even pass them as it soared through the air towards the Hydra. The long prow of the Skid slowly slid past the Hydra as it finally flew side by side with the beast.

"I'm in position." Aelita said as she continued to match the Hydra's speed.

The Hydra glanced over to see the Skid's long sleek body fly right beside it. The sight of the vehicle that injured it recently aggravated the Hydra. The large snake creature growled loudly as it eyed the vehicle next to it.
The Hydra changed its course and flew into the side of the Skidbladnir. Small sparks flew as the hull of the Skid screeched from its attack. The Hydra pulled back a little and slammed into the Skidbladnir once more. The weight of the Hydra's body was enough to throw Aelita to the side of the Skid, causing her to bounce back and forth like a bobble head in the middle of an earthquake.

Ulrich noticed the Hydra attack the Skid as he realized what Aelita was attempting to do. The sound of scraping metal echoed through the air. Ulrich knew that the Skid could not withstand the power of the Hydra head on like it was; he had to jump off before it was too late. He glanced behind him and noticed Yumi, who was much closer than earlier. The Hydra's attacks slowed down the beast just long enough for Yumi to catch up. She was almost within reach, yet with the Hydra's constant spastic movement, it would be difficult for Ulrich to leap on to her Navskid at this velocity.
Then Ulrich glanced down at his grapnel beam launcher. The original beam was torn in half by the Hydra's maw. Yet the beam could not be used until it restored the line which according to Jeremy took 5 minutes to accomplish.

"Oh, I sure hope it's been 5 minutes." Ulrich prayed as he prepared for his leap of faith.

The Hydra roared towards the Skidbladnir as it prepared to ram the vehicle once more. The large bulking snake drew itself back from the Skid so that it could gain more speed and hopefully cause more damage as its plated coils stiffened into place. However this time, Aelita beat it to the punch as the Skid suddenly lurched to the left extremely hard, clashing into the Hydra's body like a pair of race cars battling for the lead. The Skid's large wings rubbed against the plated scales of the Hydra, causing many of the plates to shatter and crack like glass.

"Not this time, pal!" Aelita shouted as she held the Skid in place. "Puck, Odd! You guys ready?"

"Locked on and ready." Odd said as both Navskids stayed behind far enough where they would not get tangled up in the Skid's battle with the Hydra.

"Jeremy. Tell Ulrich it's now or never!" Aelita asked.

"Ulrich! You gotta move now!" Jeremy informed him.

Ulrich glanced over at the Skid in time to see one of the Skid's side panels slide off. Ulrich also noticed the amount of sparks flying from the Skid's side, indicating that it clearly couldn't take more of Hydra's abuse for much longer. Ulrich looked over his shoulder and observed that Yumi was almost close enough for him to jump off the Hydra's body, yet at the same time she wasn't close enough for him to jump successfully. Ulrich preferrd that Yumi be a little closer so he could just slide across the Hydra's coils and onto the Navskid. But with the Hydra's movements and speed, it couldn't be helped.

"Oh, these things are never easy, are they?" Ulrich growled in fear as he prepared to make his move. He mustered all of his courage together as he prepared to release his grip on the Hydra and fire his grapnel beam all in under a few seconds. Ulrich felt his mind go blank as he tensed up for the jump. His fears and his thoughts all emptied out of his head as he prepared. Yet even as he cleared his mind, one thought still remained. The height from the ground to the Hydra was enough to make Ulrich feel dizzy. But the longer Ulrich remained on the Hydra's back, the longer he would be far above the sky.

"Come on, Ulrich." Odd said from inside his cockpit. "Get the hell off that thing!"

Aelita continued to push the Skidbladnir against the body of the foul beast that flew next to her. She could heard the metal like body scrap and scream against the Hydra's plates. The cockpit of the Skid rattled and shook as the craft continued to push against the beast. With every vibration and every bump from the craft, Aelita winced a little as she expected the Skidbladnir to explode or crash from the force that both the Hydra and herself were putting on it.

Ulrich finally released one of his hands from the plate he was latched onto, causing his weight to grab his other arm and force it to let go at the same time. Ulrich flew towards the rear of the Hydra. He quickly looked towards Yumi's Navskid and fired his grapnel beam.
"Please make contact!" Ulrich prayed as he heard the beam fire from the tube under his arm.

The white beam whizzed through the air towards Yumi's craft. The beam missed the cockpit entirely as Ulrich had fired it while in free fall and not from the back of the Hydra. However, the beam did manage to hit the wing of the Navskid.
Ulrich screamed loudly as he felt his body being pulled towards Yumi's Navskid. He clenched his eyes shut as he felt his heart stop in anticipation for either his salvation or his demise. Ulrich twirled past the wing of the Navskid and elevated upwards as if he was Spider-man. The yellow ninja felt his body slam into the wing of the craft as he instinctively reached out and grabbed the edge of the wing.

"Ulrich's clear!" Yumi shouted as the Navskid veered off from the chase.

Aelita heard Yumi chime in on the intercom of the Skidbladnir. Realizing there was no further need to continue to hold the beast in place, Aelita quickly pulled the lever that was right in front of her towards her as the Skid shifted. The mighty craft came to a complete stop and zoomed far behind the confused beast. Its body took one more massive scratch along its side as the Skid took one final, powerful impact from the Hydra's side, leaving a large and magnificent scratch as smoke leaked from its side.
The Skidbladnir fell back a ways as the two Navskids that accompanied it passed it up, still in pursuit of the Hydra.

"I'm gonna give Ulrich his Navskid. Can you two hold it off?" Aelita asked.

"No problem. You're talking to the guy who beat Ace Combat 4 on Ace difficulty." Odd commented.

The Skidbladnir's nose dived downwards towards the ground, racing towards Yumi and Ulrich as the two remaining Navskids continued there pursuit of the Hydra.

"Jeremy? Have you found any weakness in the Hydra?" Aelita asked.

"Yeah. I found a primary weak point... But I don't think anyone will be able to reach it." Jeremy said reluctantly.

"Where is it?" Odd asked as he flipped up a small red switch in front of his flight stick.
A small red target reticule appeared on H.U.D. of the Navskid's cockpit. The small reticule traced along the Hydra's body. With in a few seconds, the reticule locked on to the beast and turned red.

"It's underneath the middle armor plate. However, the plate itself is extremely small and it's also the thickest." Jeremy said as he read off the stats of the Hydra. "It's a connector point for the rest of its body. The problem is that it would take a lot of firepower to destroy the plate and expose the weak point."

"Then we will have to do our best to smash through it." Puck said as his targeting reticule locked onto the beast as well. "I got a lock," Puck said as he reached over for the firing stick.

"Open fire!" Odd shouted as he squeezed the trigger.

The front muzzles of the two Navskids blared blue light as a stream of laser fire rained forward towards the beast. The thin blue lasers ripped through the air at speeds much faster than any of the Navskid's or the Hydra's. They were able to reach their intended target with great accuracy.
The lasers hit the Hydra's carapace as their impacts resonated through the shell like a ripple flowing through a puddle of water. The lasers caused small chunks of the armor to crack and fracture. However, they were unable to effectively damage or destroy the plate.

The Hydra realized just what the two bandits tried to perform as it slithered through the air. The mighty beast paused in midair and bent its long neck backwards as it roared in objection towards the two bogeys.

The two Navskids split up and flew past the Hydra as they prepared to make a quick pass for a second run. The nimble fighters left sharp contrails in their wake as they made a turn past the Hydra and pulled in the opposite direction, away from each other.

The Hydra tracked both of them as it prepared to go on the offensive against the two insects. Its head tracked one of the Navskids and took off in its direction. Its large mouth snapped shut as it ripped through the air with the intention of hunting down and destroying the two vehicles with a passion for hatred.

Meanwhile, Yumi slowly decelerated as she realized Ulrich was finally on board. She lowered altitude as she realized Ulrich's fear of heights. She leaned towards the window so that she could see Ulrich. She could tell by the look on his face that he was close to a heart attack.
She slowly descended towards the Sky Sector's golden bricked path. A sigh of pure relief left her mouth as she realized that Ulrich was at last out of harm's way from the Hydra. Yumi's concern for her boyfriend's safety was only seconds away from getting the best of her. She was aware of how fragile and weak Ulrich usually became in a situation where he was forced to face one of his worst fears. Yet in the back of her mind, she knew that Ulrich was fully capable of taking care of himself.

The Navskid slowly flew down near the surface of the Sky Sector's floor. The craft came to a complete stop over a large brick like path that stretched extremely far.

Ulrich slowly slid off the Navskid's wing and landed on the ground in a kneeling position. As quickly as he landed, Ulrich kissed the ground he stood on even though it was a fragile, artificial terrain that could easily be destroyed. He was just so glad to be out of the sky.

"Wait here for Aelita, she'll bring you your Navskid." Yumi said from the cockpit of her craft.

Ulrich nodded in agreement as he stepped back away from the craft so that he wasn't in the way when Yumi took off.

The Navskid took off with a loud roar of the engines, leaving Ulrich behind on the ground. ThegGrey and blue fighter accelerated as it raised into the air like a jumbo jet leaving the ground. The surface whizzed past the craft and slowly began to shrink in size as the craft raised in altitude.

Yumi watched as Ulrich shrunk down to a small little yellow figure, knowing that he would join the battle with the new monster as soon as she could return to the others and give Aelita a chance to drop off Ulrich's Navskid. It would take all five of them to make this plan work out to the fullest. If even one of them where to be devirtualized here and now, it would jeopardize the plan. And to top it all off, the super storm that waged back in the real world would eventually unleash its built up power on the civilian populace, causing numerous casualties.
Yumi pressed down hard on the throttle of the Navskid. They had to hurry and destroy the Hydra before it was too late.