He Who Calls
Chapter 38
Journal of Odd Della Robbia
A Sixth of the Way There
We are one-sixth towards Xana's annihilation. If everyone else can destroy the Fragments, Xana is dead. The future is very bright, because taking 1Base was not very hard. Then again, since we can only mount an expedition a day, we can't mess up. It will be extremely hard to mount a successful attack from the factory, and there are five days until Christmas break is over.
The next day, they were preparing an expedition to 2Base. Ulrich was necessary to destroy it. Aelita and Milo were wiped out, so Yumi and Odd consented to go. Jeremy sat at the computer.
"Scanner, Transfer, Translation, Virtualization," said Jeremy as the three dropped through the Rabbit Hole. Franz and Juanita were watching for various threats at other terminals.
"That's weird," said Odd. "This is just like 1Base, only everything is green." It was.
"I see Milo isn't with you," said Bella as she and King fell through the Rabbit Hole and landed in front of them. "Oh, that must mean it's a great time for an attack!"
"Guys! A tower's been activated!" Jeremy exclaimed.
"Send… Milo… And Aelita…" said Odd as he dodged whiplashes.
"A tower has been activated on Xanadu!" said Jeremy. Aelita and Milo were already in the Mini-Scans.
"Xanadu?" asked Milo as the doors shut. He and Aelita appeared in strange surroundings. They looked the same, but everything else was a completely random color. A seventy-five mile tall tower loomed in the distance with a red aura around it. "This is Xanadu?" asked Milo.
"That's Xanadu," Jeremy confirmed.
"Right," said Milo as he and Aelita walked by a red tree. They started to run toward the tower.
Ulrich stood up. They had just finished wiping out King. Bella had just lashed at him, prompting a duck. He had her whip caught on his sword. Odd ran up, shot her in the shoulder, and she vanished.
"Oh, no," said Yumi. Five Tarantulas and five Creepers dropped out of the Rabbit Hole. "Ulrich, try and get through the gauntlet. Odd and I will get rid of these." Ulrich ran up, blocking lasers on his way to the door. When he finally made it through the hallway, the Scyphozoa waited right in front of the door.
"What the hell are those?" asked Milo as five things that looked like Creepers with Tarantula legs crawled around the tower.
"I don't know," said Jeremy. "Just try and get rid of them."
"Roger," said Milo as he threw his hat, blowing up two of the things. Aelita tossed a few energy fields at them. One shot Milo, instantly sending him back to Earth. His hat landed in it as he was shot, though, and Aelita ran into the tower. Fortunately the panel was on the first floor of the tower. Aelita quickly deactivated it.
"What did that tower do, anyway?" she asked as she stepped out of the Mini-Scan on Earth.
"It enabled Xana to create those new monsters," said Jeremy.
"Damn," said Milo. The sentiment was mutual.
Yumi got to Ulrich and chopped off the tentacles right before he was possessed. It hovered away at great speed. Odd had been sent back by the army of Tarantulas and Creepers right before Yumi had gotten rid of the last one. The last security laser devirtualized Yumi right as Ulrich walked through the door.
"You guys okay?" asked Jeremy as Odd and Yumi stepped out of the Mini-Scans.
"Did Ulrich make it?"
"Yes."
"Then yes, yes we are."
Ulrich walked forward to a pedestal at the back of the room. The yellow Eye of Xana sat on it with a niche in the middle shaped like Ulrich's sword point.
"Two down," muttered Ulrich as he plunged his sword into it. It turned the same color as the walls, and then vanished along with Ulrich and 2Base.