Hey everybody, sorry for the delay I was having issues trying to get my ideas outta my head and onto paper. But I finally did an equivalent of locking myself in a room until I at least start. And you can now see that it is working so now let me do the one thing you've all been waiting for and give you the disclaimer. Also this is my Xmas present to all my fans and friends out there, Merry Christmas everyone

I do not own code lyoko nor none of the characters you see on the show. I do, however, own half of the OCs you will see later in this story. As well as the ones who belong to other writers whom I will mention when their OCs appears, and now on with my story.

Tale of the Ten Swords

Chapter 8

:lyoko:

Odd was ducking in and out of cover as the remnants of Xana's army begun to move towards his position. Them being so far away helped in the fact that their aim wasn't as good as it usually was, which would have been good for Odd if it wasn't the same for deal for him. As Odd continued to dodge enemy fire and retaliate, his thoughts were focused on the whereabouts, or lack thereof, of his best friend and comrade in arms. He was having trouble believing that Ulrich was gone, or the insane amount of power he was giving off, but he had seen it with his own eyes. Ulrich had become a human lightning bolt, with the way his energy was acting. To anyone else, they might've thought he was the son of the thunder god, Thor. Hell, after that kind of display, who's to say they aren't related Odd thought to himself as he ducked behind another wall for cover as he fired more laser arrows and the occasional laser claw bolt to get ones that his arrows were having trouble with.

C'mon Yumi wake up, Odd thinks as he looks over at Yumi's still form, I need you here. Looking back out, his I widen in shock as he saw a great black sphere barreling towards the entrance of their hiding place. Thinking of no other alternative, Odd rush back to where Yumi was and scooped her up into his arms preparing to take her out before things got worse. However as h was about to set foot of the archway wall of energy appeared from both sides of the doorway meeting and melding in the middle. Realization struck him, they pinned in, and it's my fault, I brought Yumi here so I wouldn't have t worry about anything getting to her as long as I held the archway, but I never figured they lock us in here; and there a megatank heading right for this place. Odd looked around trying to see if there was another way out, he thought about using he laser claws to break out but they wouldn't have any effect on the megatanks outer shell. Wait, maybe I can break outta here he thought as he retreated to the far wall, placing his claws on the harden ice. Here goes something.

"STRIKE LASER CLAW" he cries as he drags his claws along the wall of ice, golden streaks followed his fingers down before causing the ice to explode outward through the wall creating a small opening in it. Reaching back he picked Yumi up and pushed her out the other side as he went back in and began to charge his gauntlets again. Ulrich, buddy, wherever you are, lend me some of that power of yours, I think I'm gonna need it. Odd closes his eyes drawing more and more power and sending it to his gauntlets. The golden glow had steadily been growing to the point not that his claws looked elongated and the glow that had only been in his claws, had now seeped all the way up to his wrist and a bit up his fore arms. He raised his hands, gazing at each, clenching them before returning his sights back to the megatank that was still head towards him at full speed. He closed his eyes for a bit as he prepared himself for what he had in mind as he waited for the wall to cease.

As it began to recede, he opened his eyes; there was a feral look about them as his eyes had turned to a golden yellow, his pupil turned into slits. With a low growl, he launched himself out of the archway, his arms swept back as he dashed towards the megatank, dodging and weaving in and out of laser fire. He didn't have far to go as the megatank was heading straight for him. Rearing back one of his claws he prepared to launch his counter attack.

"STRIKE LASER CLAW" He cried slashing his fist along the ground, the force propelling him into the air just as the megatank roared by underneath. As it did, it rolled into the makeshift trenches his claws had gouged into the ground; however they sent it flying as they acting like a small ramp.

Letting his momentum carry him end over end, he soared upside down and sent his last 'laser claw' after it. It collided into the back side of the megatank propelling it over the top of his ice shelter it bounce and skidded as it tried to regain control before it sailed off the edge., it began to spin its shell in reverse slowing it down at about a foot and a half from the edge. Opening its shell it began to charge its attack. Odd was still coming down and had no way to change his flight path.

"Oh snap" he says just as his tries to bring his arms up to defend himself but is too weak to form his shield. Just as the laser was about to fire, a fierce glowing halo came around in a burning arc and slashed through the eye of the megatank. It erupted with a dazzling yet blinding explosion, however it didn't stop there; the burning halo continue on to slice through another three monsters, causing a few more explosions. As Odd followed it with his eye one question kept coming to mind; 'where did that come from? None of his friends had anythi—' his head whipped around as realization struck him. There kneeling on one knee was Yumi, her arm still out stretch from hurling her tessan fan. All around her body, the same burning glow surrounded her, looking like she was engulfed in flames yet they neither burn nor singed her. Reaching behind her, she grasped her second fan and hurled it after the first leaving with the same burning energy that enveloped her body. With her other hand she thrust it out in Odds direction and closed her fist. Odd suddenly felt as if he was in a vice grip as he found himself bound by some invisible force. Pulling her arm back she cast out her power and brought him to her.

To Odd the sensation he felt was like being strapped to a surf board and set in from of a stage fan, the kind they use to stimulate storms in movies. Needless to say, it was an experience he was not looking forward to anytime again in the near future. When he reached her he felt the pressure ease off, however his momentum kept going, pulling his head in he managed to roll and take the impact with his shoulder blades then tumbling end over end. Once Odd was out of the way you sent her power out to both of her fans, then raised her arms in a summoning gesture, then crossed them before her, sending her fans slicing into the frozen ground live a pair of buzz saws, leaving a trail of searing red energy in their wake. When they reached the end , she lifted her arms towards the sky, her fans following her direction lifted in a great crescent before she had them slam into the army of monster with a colossal explosion. The shock wave reaching them at speed great enough to knock Odd end of end again, sending Yumi flying on to her back. When the winds died down and the smoke cleared there was a large area remove from the land in a rough shape of a waning moon. That attack had demolished many of Xana's monsters while leaving the rest over on the other side. It wouldn't hold them back for long but it would give them a chance to escape and regroup.

"Yumi, are you alright?" Odd asked as he raised himself to his hands and knees.

"Yeah," she said after a few seconds, "I think so…"

"Good I just want you to know if you every pull another stunt like that again Imma……Imma…. Damn I'm tired. Just don't do that again please" he says as he stumbles his way over behind what was left of their makeshift shelter, Yumi following soon after. When she reached him, leaned back against the wall and slowly slid down to sit beside him.

"Odd..." Yumi said as she began to sway before she collapsed.

"Whoa," Odd said as he caught her before she fell, "not again." He said with a sigh. "This is not my day."

He laid her down as the ground began to rumble. It took him a while to notice at first but when he did he looked for the source. Peering around the side of the glacier wall he saw a sight the just seemed to be mocking him. Heading towards them was two mega tanks thundering toward them. He looked at Yumi's still form; he could expect no more miracles from her. And he wasn't sure if he had anything left to fend off another megatank, let alone two. After a moment of pondering he finally settle on a course of action. He was going to lead them away from Yumi, hoping they wouldn't notice her before he could find a way to deal with them.

Running off to the side, he launched a few laser arrows, hoping to get their attention. In this, he succeeded as they changed direction to follow him. They chased after him like a small stampede, charging up another laser claw a thought crossed his mind of how many more of these he could pull off as he noticed that the glow that had once been almost as fierce as staring into the sun was now shining more like a glow stick. He pushed the thought form his mind as he reared back is his and slammed it into the ground launching himself over the giant twin cannonballs barreling towards him. As he landed behind them the carried on for a bit before stopping and opening their casing revealing their fleshy interior. They charge and shot their laser at him. Flipping into a back handspring, he managed to dodge them as he landed on his feet he launch five laser arrows at them however instead of closing to defend against the attack they just rolled a bit to the side, letting the arrow head impact harmlessly on their armored hide. Odd grimaced when he saw this I can probably get them with my laser claw but I doubt I could fire off another afterward, and if I miss I'm pretty much a sitting duck. No, I gotta save them for later. The megatanks kept up their attack, forcing Odd to dodge one after the other, keeping him off balance as he slowly lost ground. Then they shifted a bit and Odd wondered what could've drawn their attention as he looked over his shoulder. His eyes widen in fear as he realized the mistake he made. They had missed him on purpose in order to put Yumi in range of their attacks, now if he dodged their attack they would hit Yumi and with her unconscious already he didn't know what would happen to her.

"Dammit, I can't believe I let them push me around like this." He said to himself. He turned back around to them charging their lasers once more. Raising his hands so he could see them he focused everything he had left into the points of his claws, c'mon don't fail me now he thought as he pushed more energy into it.

"c'mon," he said as his claws began to glow, "shine brighter…..and brighter…….and even brighter!!!!!!" His claws were once again back to their fierce glow as they were when he first used them. Then they grew beyond that becoming ablaze with his energy, his will. Looking onward only one thought crossed his mind "BRING IT!!!!!!" he said as they launched their attacks simultaneously.

Pulling both his arms back, he held them there as he waited for them. When they were nearly upon him, did he slash forward with both of his claws catching the beams in his clawed hands. The force was more than he expected but he didn't release his grip on them. No instead he leaned more into it. Using every ounce of strength he could call forth, he held his ground then took a hasty step forward pushing the beams back. Just as his hopes began to rise he saw two more specs of glowing red shining out of the corners of his eyes looking to his left he saw another megatank, jerking his head over to the right he saw the same. Unbelievable after all this, this is how it all ends, like this?!

As those thoughts crossed his mind the other two megatanks fired their attacks at him looking to finish him off here and now. He saw them coming and closed his eyes as he took what he expect to be his last breath and as he did a memory crossed his mind, it was of a girl a bit taller than him wearing a plaid skirt with black leggings. A grey short sleeved shirt covered her middle while a small black choker hung from her neck. On her wrist she wore little black hoops, two on her left one on her right. The next thing he remembered was her shoulder length black hair with twin red streaks going through. Lastly her eyes, or rather her piercing gaze she had that seem to see right through him those eyes that he couldn't get enough of mixed with that chocolate brown skin made an image of the on girl he felt he would miss, if there were any pieces left to miss her. After a second he wondered why he wasn't screaming in pain raising his head and looking to one side he saw a yellow and brown outline against the red wall of energy and it seem a long piece of silver separated the outline as his mind finally caught up with his eyes. It was Ulrich, he was hold back the attack with his katana looking over to the other side he saw another Ulrich clone holding off another attack. as he did the math in his head he began to wonder where the third Ulrich was, blocking yet another megatank. He hadn't even noticed.

"Hey, sorry I'm late" Ulrich said as he looked back at him.