Chapter 7: To the tower we a go…?

"You need to hurry." Jeremy's voice said.

"We know." Odd's voice yelled at the empty sky of the mountain region. "Yeah know you could give us our vehicles. That would hurry us better."

"I can't…there's a problem." Jeremy said.

"What's the problem?" Aelita said, starting to pant as she tried to keep up with the others.

"It's…it's nothing…you're just going to have to get there by foot." Jeremy's voice sounded a little nervous.

"How much further than?" Yumi asked. She too was starting to pant. It seemed the transport orb had dropped the others off on the complete opposite end of the activated tower where she had joined them.

"Not to much further, take a left at the fork." Jeremy said.

"Do we have any surprise guests?" Kurama asked. He was leading the gang, having a lot more stamina in his demon form.

"Ah…no…not that I can see." Was the answer.

"Do you not think that strange?" Kurama said, stopping, the rest of the gang checking up behind him.

"What is it Kurama." Yumi asked.

"I have only been here once, plus knowing Hiei's experience, and what I can recall, XANA always has monsters around. We have been running what seems like the whole length of this sector and not one monster has even showed itself." Kurama said.

"He's right Jeremy." Aelita said, wondering why she hadn't thought of that.

"Don't mess around guys. Take it as…see it as 'good luck.' You need to get that tower deactivated." Jeremy's voice was cracking.

"Jeremy are you alright?" Aelita asked.

"Yes…why?" Jeremy said.

"You have been through something quite horrific Ernestine, you should…." Odd tried to say.

"We don't have time to worry about me…you need to go…now." Jeremy yelled.

"Okay…okay…geez. We're just worried about you." Odd said, placing his hands on his hips.

"How's Ulrich?" Yumi asked, worried about him as well.

"I don't know." Jeremy said.

"What do you mean you don't know? Have you not checked on him? Is he not there with you? I saw him when I went to the…." Yumi's voice rose as she thought about seeing Ulrich sitting by one the pods, he looked dazed and confused, but looked alright, at least at the time.

"He's still out…I…I think he's still in the……" The boy's voice cracked.

"Jeremy?" Kurama said. Something was not making sense.

"I'm sorry…I…guys...blocks coming at 2 o'clock." Jeremy warned.

"You're the one who wanted action." Yumi said, smiling to Kurama.

'That was just a little too convenient don't you think?' Youko said in Kurama's head as he pulled a rose and waited for their guests.

Kurama didn't answer as about ten blocks came into view, immediately firing.

'Something is wrong.' Kurama thought as he watched the blocks firing, yet not seeming to try and hit them.

"Man I'm on my game today." Odd screamed. "That's four for four."

Yumi moved up to Kurama's left. "This is too easy." She whispered as she was easily blocking the blasts.

"I was thinking the same thing." Kurama said. Suddenly he moved so he was deliberately hit.

The ray struck him dead in the chest, staggering him back several paces. Other than that, he felt fine.

"What are you doing?" Cried Yumi as she ran beside him. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, surprisingly so." The fox said with a smirk.

"Kurama, you just lost 50 life points…be careful, you need to stay and help get Aelita to the tower." Jeremy yelled with frustration in his voice.

Odd took out the last two blocks.

"Get going, the tower is just up ahead." Jeremy said.

The gang ran until they came to a white tower.

"Jeremy, this tower's not red. It's not an activated tower." Aelita said, stopping just short of entering.

"Well, it must be a trick by XANA. The computer says it's activated, so go." Jeremy said.

"Jeremy, do you realize what will happen if I deactivate an inactivated tower?" Aelita said.

"Yes, so…I trust the computer, you need to trust me." Jeremy said.

"If you're sure Jeremy." Aelita said, getting ready to walk in. The others watched nervously.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A familiar voice said.

Kurama held an arm out, stopping her. She looked up at him in confusion.

"Hiei?" Kurama said, his eyebrow rising.

"I got your note." Kurama could hear the smirk on Hiei face. "This boy is not Jeremy."

"Then…." Aelita gasped, as well as the others

"Are you sure?" Kurama asked.

"You doubt me fox." Hiei growled.

"No." Kurama smiled.

"Well now, that's just great. Then where is Jeremy?" Odd said, throwing his hands in the air in frustration.

"He was obviously not in sector five." Ulrich's voice was heard.

"Ulrich." Yumi said with a smile.

"Yeah…I don't know what happened, but when I woke up, Hiei was standing over me. We came up here and that thing was doing something to the computer. I don't know what. Oh and Hiei said there were a lot of dogs surrounding the school. My guess is they are the same ones that attacked Kurama in the woods." He said.

"They must have broken through my barrier." Kurama said. "Hiei, have they gotten into the factory?"

"He's a little busy holding off whatever it is, but from what I can tell, the answer is no." Ulrich's voice sounded tired.

"What do we do now?" Odd asked. "How are we going to find Jeremy and Ulrich can't run the computer?"

"We also don't know what XANA was doing, what if he has sabotaged the computer." Aelita said. "We might not be able to return?"

"Oh that's a good one." Odd said, placing his head in his hands.

"We are going to have to take a risk." Kurama said. "Ulrich, can you bring us back."

"I never watch what Jeremy does." Ulrich replied.

"One of us needs to go back." Aelita said.

"Well Aelita, you can't do it, you have to stay and deactivate the tower." Odd said and then muttered. "If we ever find it."

"I'll risk it. I'm the only other one who knows how to run the computer." Yumi said.

"Actually, I was thinking I could risk it and then if everything was okay, you can follow." Kurama said.

"And if you don't make it." Yumi said, but really didn't want to hear the answer.

"Then we'll all just live here as one big happy family." Odd said.

"It's the only choice we have. What do you want to do?" Aelita said, looking to Kurama.

A smile crawled across his face. "Give me what you got." He said and turned to Odd.

"Okay, but this may sting a little." Odd said as he raised his arm and clicked a round.

"It should only take one since you lost a lot of points earlier." Yumi tried to lighten the mood.

Just before Odd fired, Kurama said. "Do not do anything until you hear from me."

The pod opened with a whoosh and Kurama fell limply to the floor, having that same feeling of being slammed back into his body, making him dizzy and clumsy. He knew he could never get use to the feeling and had great respect for the others who did this on a regular bases.

"Kurama?" He heard. "Kurama."

Painfully, Kurama forced his eyes open. "I'm here." He croaked his entire body hurting. He got to his hands and knees, nausea washing over him. Getting his stomach under control, his keen smell picked up a metallic scent. Looking along the floor he saw a dark blot of liquid. Crawling over, he dap his finger and brought it to his nose. 'Blood.' He thought and started looking closer. He saw a trail leading away from the pods.

"Ulrich…" Kurama said.

"Are you alright? Yumi wants to know what to do." Ulrich said.

"I need to check something out. Tell her to wait just a moment." Kurama informed and staying on his hands and knees followed the trail as it took him to an unmarked door at the back of the large room. Placing his hand on the knob, he got on the balls of his feet before turning it.

"Jeremy." He shouted as he saw the boy laying on the floor. Going to the boy, he saw he was unconscious and had a cut on his forehead.

"What's going on?" He barely heard Ulrich say.

Picking up Jeremy, Kurama headed to the elevator.

The door opened and Hiei flashed by him, followed by the fake Jeremy.

"What took you?" Hiei said.

"You seem to have everything under control." Kurama said, walking to the computer.

Ulrich jumped out of the chair so Kurama could place Jeremy in it.

"Where did you find him?" Ulrich asked.

Kurama didn't answer as he checked the boy over. Reaching into his hair, he pulled out a seed and busting it, held it to Jeremy's nose.

Jeremy's nose wrinkled and as he pushed back from the smell, finally opened his eyes and blinked a few time. "What?" He muttered.

"What is that?" Ulrich asked, curious.

"Think of it as smelling salt." Kurama said.

"And you carry that in your hair?" Ulrich said.

Kurama just shrugged. Jeremy was awake and looking at them.

"Welcome back Einstein." Ulrich said.

"What's going on?" Yumi said.

"Kurama found Jeremy." Ulrich told them.

"Alright now we can get out of here." Odd said.

"What happened?" Jeremy said, looking to Kurama.

The two filled him in and he immediately began typing.

"Okay there is an activated tower in the ice region, you need to head there. Take that tower, its fine. By the time you get there, I'll have everything fixed."

"On it." Yumi said

"Hiei, you need a break?" Kurama smirked as the fire demon blurred past him. Hiei had been keeping the fake away from them.

"You want to play fox." Hiei answered, stopping in front of him long enough to say it.

"Do you want to go to Lyoko?" Kurama asked, knowing the fire demon wouldn't pass up the chance.

"You think you can handle this?" Hiei asked.

"You doubt me…go…and remember to play nice." Kurama said, drawing a rose from his hair.

With Hiei's help the gang made it to the ice region and the activated tower.

It was nice to hear Aelita say. "Tower deactivated."

"Okay, everyone ready…return to the past now." Jeremy said.

a)a)a)a

The gang was standing next to the vending machines.

"So Jeremy, what happened?" Yumi asked, taking a sip of soda.

"I don't remember. I went to the lab to do some work. I've been looking into a way to transfer you all directly to sector five. I was in the pod room working and then I don't remember anything until I woke up at the computer with Kurama and Ulrich." Jeremy said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, you missed one heck of an adventure." Odd said.

Jeremy just looked at him.

"Don't worry Einstein, we'll fill you in." Ulrich said with a pat on the back.

a)a)a)a

"You're lucky I came when I did." Hiei smirked as he watched Kurama pack the last of his items.

"I know and I will owe you for sometime." Kurama said smiling.

"You will." Hiei said and headed to the door when Kurama had his bag in hand. Stopping at the door, he turned and added. "You know next time…I might not be there to save your fur, fox."

"I know…and I think the next time Principal Delmas calls, I will politely decline."

End Chapter 7

The End