Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Betrayal
"I still can't believe that they fell for it!" Odd laughed as they all descended into the sewers.
"I know," Ulrich agreed. "It seems that adults just keep getting stupider."
"So, Carl. What are the other sectors like?"
"Well, there's four total. One's a huge underground network of caverns. That's my favorite. Then there's a volcano sector, moon sector, and city sector."
"A moon sector?" Jeremy asked. "I can understand the others, but that one seems odd."
"It is strange. Lots of craters and the gravity is much lower. Much easier to jump up and catch the monsters by surprise."
The conversation continued until they reached the factory. Carl had already arranged the groups meeting to explore the sectors. The other team would contact them before transferring. Jeremy sat down and brought up the connection. "You guys there?"
Brad's face appeared on the screen. "Hey, guys. We're just about ready over here. But I wanted to show you something first. I was searching through the other day and found this one game that I hadn't heard of."
"What's so special about that?" Ulrich interrupted.
"There probably isn't a game available that Brad hasn't heard of. He reads reviews, codes, and cheats just for fun," Carl explained.
"Yeah, I'm weird like that," Brad replied with a sigh. (A/N-Actually, I really am like that) "The game was 'Tower Quest 8' for the Playstation 2."
"Again, what's so special?" This time Odd asked the question.
"There were only 7 'Tower Quest' games ever produced. It flopped in 2004 after a pretty good run, but that's not the strange part. There's only one FAQ under the title: 'Final Boss.' Here's the site."
A window popped up on Jeremy's screen. It was a net explorer on the site entitled "Final Boss." Just to satisfy Brad, Jeremy started reading. "'The final boss can be tough, but easy if you know what to do. The Anax dragon is located at the top of the fifth sector and is guarding the game's last tower?' I don't get it?"
"'Anax' backwards is 'Xana'," Brad explained. "And, 'fifth sector' should click something."
"It could be just a coincidence."
"Read about the squads," he persisted.
"Fine. 'The suggested squads should be as follows. Squad one—swordsman, cat creature, geisha warrior, and female tower mage.'" This started to make Jeremy think. "'Squad two—arcane swordsman, berserker, juggler, and enchanter mage.'"
"The second squad matches our group perfectly. And judging from what Carl told us of you guys in France, the first squad is yours. Now read the leaders jobs."
The next line read, "'The leaders for each squad should be hackers.'" Now, Jeremy understood. "What does this mean?"
"I don't know, but it could be useful to keep handy. We're going to head down to the scanners now. Which region should we meet you in?"
"Ice," Jeremy said as he nodded to the others, still thinking about the strange coincidence. They walked to the elevator. "Hopefully Xana will keep quiet for a bit."
In Moscow, a scientist was looking through a large telescope. "Hey, Jim, come take a look at this."
Another man walked over and took a look. "What's this?"
The first man picked up a phone. "If it's what I think it is, then others are going to want to know."
Jeremy transferred the group in not too far from the ice region's transport tower. Not too long after, the three others flew up from the base and landed in a semicircle around the platform inside the tower. Carl immediately walked over and greeted his friends with "Hey, guys" and "How's it going?"
Brad, the big guy with the hammer, walked over and held his hand out to Ulrich. "Nice to finally meet you, Ulrich."
Ulrich accepted the handshake. "Welcome to Lyoko. Care for a tour?" he asked as he gestured towards the door.
He nodded and began to walk out. Evan and Kreilin followed suit. As the left, Carl looked down at Evan's hands, or more specifically, what he was holding. Instead of the red balls from earlier, Evan was holding two bluish energy orbs. "What are those?"
Evan turned and held one up. "Ukemis. Zen gave me an upgrade. They're much better than those dodgballs."
After a few minutes in the ice region, everyone went back into the transport tower. Next they would head to the forest sector.
As Jeremy watched, a warning appeared on his screen. "Oh, no," he said in annoyance.
Several seconds later, the now very large group stepped out of the tower. Jeremy called down right away. "It looks like Xana decided not to wait."
"What's that mean?
"Xana has sent monsters to destroy the white tower. You have to get their before they do, or our only connection with Hopper will be gone. Your vehicles are on their way."
Four crafts slowly materialized before them. But there wasn't any for Brad or Evan. "What about you two?" Yumi asked.
Without moving, the Ukemis in Evan hands began to swirl around him. With a short hop, they swooped in and caught him in midair. "Ready to go."
"I'll keep up," Brad said. "Just lead the way."
"Fine by me," Ulrich said as he mounted his bike. Aelita hopped on with Yumi and Kreilin joined Carl. Soon they were all flying through the forest.
Odd looked back and saw Brad, curled in a ball, rolling along the ground. "Ha ha ha. He's like a big goron!"
"I prefer you not make fun of Zelda," Brad replied as he tumbled.
Soon, the tower was in sight. Everyone stopped a little ways from the area. Two blue crabs were firing quickly at the tower and two white megatanks were waiting between the warriors and the tower. A little behind the tower, a lone person in a green and white tunic stood with their back to the group.
Evan's face paled a bit. "Blue crabs and holy tanks. Xana didn't want to waist anything, did he?"
"What are those monsters? I've never seen them before," Aelita asked.
"The blue crabs are like red crabs, but they can fire at a much faster pace," Brad explained. "The holy tanks are like megatanks but with a different firing pattern. You leave them to us. But I don't know who that other person is."
"You have hornets coming in," Zen called.
About ten or so hornets flew over the tower. Brad turned to Carl and pulled out his hammer. "Demon blade. Now." He laid his hammer down and Evan and Carl put their feet on opposite ends, grabbing onto each other's wrists. "Here we go." With that, he started to spin. After several seconds, he was just a blur. "Ready…GO!"
Carl and Evan jumped off the hammer and were sent flying through the air. Evan began to twist in the air, causing both of them to flip as they spun. With a massive heave, Evan threw Carl faster, who pulled out both swords just after letting go. Both arms and swords completely extended, Carl became a spinning ball of steel. He collided with the cloud of hornets, ripping through every single one. He caught himself on the tower wall, and pushed off again, just dodging several energy bolts. He landed on the ground in a low crouch, his blades held along his forearms. He looked up and froze, shock spilled across his face. His body convulsed as it was hit by two machine guns from both sides. Carl slowly disappeared, his life points completely drained.
Odd was completely dumbstruck. "How long did it take to perfect that?"
"About three months of hard training," Evan said as he landed beside Brad. "Just a shame Carl didn't survive."
"Aelita, I think you should come home right now," Jeremy called. "It's too dangerous down there." He didn't want to run the risk when there was no tower to deactivate.
"Alright. Good luck everyone." Jeremy pressed enter and brought her back to the tower.
Up ahead, the strange figure turned around. It was a girl with black hair. Her eyes were very white, as if she was blind.
As soon as she showed her face, Brad, Evan gasped deeply. "No," Brad whispered in shock. "It can't be."
"Hello, Brad. It's been a while," the girl said. Here voice was anything but friendly. Her eyes were also slightly whited, making her look blind.
"Who are you?" Ulrich asked.
"Sarah?" Evan asked.
"Nice to see you to, Evan."
"Wait," Odd said, confused. "Didn't Carl say that Sarah died?"
"I did," Sarah confirmed. "But I'm back, no thanks to you. Xana saved me, and brought me back here. At first I couldn't remember a thing, but Xana told me all about how you ran me over, Brad."
"WHAT?! That's insane! Xana was the one that killed you! I was trying to stop him!"
"Ha! Xana told me that you would try to use lies like that. Now, thanks to you, I'm stuck here without any sight." Her body glowed yellow as a large boulder rose up behind her. Suddenly it came hurling at them. Yumi quickly stepped forward and pushed the rock upwards with the telekinesis, sending it harmlessly overhead. "You can't stop me from getting my revenge." She raised her hand and the two white tanks rolled forward. Each began to glow red as it approached. They popped open to reveal their eyes.
Brad jumped in front, arms crossed in an "X" over his chest. "Solid Wall!"
The tanks fired. But instead of firing a circle beam, they fired hemispherical energy fields! Brad caught both of them full blast. Without even faltering, he threw them both off.
Again, Odd was amazed. "He just took TWO hits from tanks! How can he still live?"
"Bradley's Solid Wall allows him to reduce damage done to him." Evan walked up behind him as he explained. He laid both hands on Brad's back. "Heal!" Red energy flowed down his arms and across Brad's back.
Jeremy was also impressed. "Brad's life points just increased. You guys must be the perfect combo: Brad takes reduced damage, and Evan gives those life points back."
"You must destroy the crabs," Zen called out. "The tower cannot take much more damage."
"Alright, then," Odd said excitedly. "Let's go!" he screamed as he charged the tanks.
"No! Wait!" Too late. The tanks opened and fired, catching Odd in the crossfire of two energy spheres. "Stupid fool," Evan whispered. He turned to Yumi and Ulrich. "You two get the crabs. We'll take out the tanks."
Yumi nodded and took her Overwing towards the tower. Ulrich jumped off his bike and super sprinted after her. Evan flew into the air on his Ukemis. "Separate." The two orbs split into four, two under his feet and two circling around him. He flew closer to the tanks as they charged up. A moment later, Evan gestured throwing a ball and the two swirling orbs flew towards the tanks. The tanks opened, ready to fire, but were hit straight in the eyes. Each fizzled and exploded. Evan pulled his arm back like an umpire. "You're out!"
Yumi flew into the clearing, throwing both fans. They sliced through the crab's head before it knew she was there. Ulrich planted himself in front of the other one. He deflected several shots away, but couldn't keep up. He missed one, which struck his shoulder. Before he could recover, the crab lit him up, depleting his life points quickly. It then turned on Yumi and blasted her out of the sky.
Sarah charged at Brad and punched his face. Brad fell back from the hit. He raised his head and saw Sarah over him. "Aren't you going to fight me?" she asked.
"I can't. I love you." If he could cry in Lyoko, he would have.
"Good," she sneered. "It makes my job easier." She held her hand up and several rock fragments joined into a large spike. Before Brad could say anything, he was crushed.
Jeremy was getting worried. They had lost five fighters in a matter of seconds. Jeremy gulped as he stood up. "Aelita, take over."
"What? But where are you going?"
"In. Start the transfer."
Good cliffhanger? I hope so. Please excuse the last tiny bit, I stink at romance, but I felt that it is needed.
