He Who Calls
Chapter 19
Milo and Aelita were sitting in her room, since her present was still a surprise and they still had to discuss their choice. She was sitting on the bed; he was sitting on the desk. Odd, Sam, Jeremy, Emily, Ulrich, and Yumi barged in suddenly.
"We destroyed the photos!" said Odd.
"Tamiya can't blackmail anyone anymore!" said Ulrich.
"And she has to return all the money!" said Sam.
"What?" asked Milo. "Maybe you better tell us the story from the beginning."
"All right," said Odd. "We couldn't stand to see you blackmailed, so we made a plan…"
William stood on the ledge he had stood on when the Scyphozoa had just possessed him. He was in Carthage, in the Core Chamber, standing on that same blue platform. Lord Xana had said that he shouldn't bother attacking the Core. Jeremy had beefed up its shields by a few thousand notches. It would take months for all the monsters Lord Xana could make in a year to destroy the Core. William did have his own Black Manta with him, plus his standard guard of two Tarantulas. But he wanted more. He wanted another Xanadore, someone who could think like he could. He wanted Yumi Ishiyama by his side again. He felt that horrible pounding again. It was the horrible pain that felt like someone was driving a sword in one ear, through his brain, and out the other. Lord Xana had installed that pain in him. Whenever he didn't obey an order, whenever Lord Xana had any proof at all he wasn't being completely subservient, he felt that horrible pain. His thoughts were monitored, for God's sake. He had to sincerely want the death of the Lyoko Warriors or he would be destroyed from the inside. Not that he didn't want those goody-two-shoes freaks dead anyway.
"Thanks, guys," said Milo. "You saved us."
"Consider it a late and early birthday present respectively," said Jeremy.
"Wow," said Aelita. "We're free."
"And it's only 5:00," said Odd, checking his watch. "What are we going to do the rest of the day?" Milo's eyes were wide and he was staring at Aelita's computer.
"Run!" he said.
"No thanks," said Odd. "I know you're a track star, but—"
"I mean run!" said Milo. He pointed at Aelita's computer screen. It had the Eye of Xana on it, and there was black smoke pouring out of the screen.
"Oh," said Odd. Then he ran. Sam and Emily looked at it, obviously scared.
"What is that?" asked Emily.
"No time to explain! We have to get to the Factory! Come on!" said Jeremy. They both got up and ran out the door with him. The shadows caught Ulrich by the legs on the way out.
"Guys!" he yelled. Mio and Yumi quickly grabbed his arms and tried to pull him out. The shadows broke, reforming as a copy of Ulrich. "Polymorphic specter," Ulrich breathed.
"We have to go!"
"I'll hold it off!" said Yumi.
"Me too!" said Odd. "Milo, Ulrich, Aelita, get the tower!" He then delivered a shattering kick to the clone. "Go!" he yelled again.