Chapter 10

Chapter 10

One Path

Everyone ran to the cafeteria. If they were fast enough, Odd and Ulrich would still be there. Aelita, still stuck in Lyoko, was still at the factory. They all walked through the door and sat down at the usual table where Odd was finishing up his fourth helping of Sheppard's pie. "We've got a problem," Jeremy started as he pulled out his computer. He quickly briefed the two on what they had missed. "If Xana has been able to gain this new power, we have to take it away."

"And how do we do that?"

"We have to separate the two worlds. Xana only has this power because there were originally two that had fused with Lyoko and Regalis. If we can separate Xana, then his power will also split."

"But what about the meteor?" Ulrich pointed out. "Shouldn't we worry about that first?"

"That's the problem. Since Xana has been able to destroy most of the towers and activate those that are left, we have to deactivate every one. And, since there is one tower in every sector, they are linking and holding Lyoko and Regalis together. So the only choice we have is to deactivate all nine towers. This will stop the meteor and allow us to split Virtua."

"Wait a minute," said Yumi. "What do you mean by 'all nine towers'? There are only eight sectors in Virtua."

"Ah, but you are forgetting about Sector 5." Everyone drew blank looks. "There used to be no towers in Carthage, but a scan showed that one can now be found at Carthage's northern pole."

"Great. So what are we waiting for?" Odd asked as he stood up.

"Hold on. You know that no one can enter Lyoko for twelve hours after leaving. We have to wait till tonight before we can go in. Besides, we have more than two days. We'll go in shifts so that we can hold the attack for as long a period as possible. We'll have to skip class, but a return-to-the-past will fix that."

"Tonight, then." Carl stood and turned to go. "I may need a few hours of sleep."

The clearing at the manhole cover was extremely dark. Carl sat behind a bush, watching and waiting. A dark figure moved forward. Carl had been developing his night vision for years with late nights, so he could see Yumi clearly. He lightly tapped the tree behind him and Yumi snuck over to the bush. "Hey."

"Good evening." Carl settled back into a position to comfortably wait for the others. "I've been meaning to ask you, what's up between you and Ulrich?" Yumi was slightly surprised by his bluntness. "I can see that you have interests in him, but you are holding back. Why?"

Yumi stared at the ground. She did have feelings for him. She had even openly admitted them to Ulrich. But she still wasn't sure that she wanted to take it much further. "I just need some time."

"That's what Brad said. Look what happened to him."

This really surprised Yumi. "How could you say something like that? He's your friend."

"Yes, but he made a mistake." He turned and looked into her eyes. "Don't make the same one he did." He was cut off by a rustling.

Yumi thought about this for a moment. "Should I ask him? How do I know if he wants the same thing?" Her heart started to pound a tad. She breathed deeply, trying to calm herself.

"You should consider asking him how he feels."

"What? How did he know what I was thinking?" One of the bushes rustled again. "I'll just think about this later. We have work to do."

Odd came stumbling out of the woods. He was lugging a large cooler. Carl quickly stood. "What's that for?"

Odd dropped the cooler and jumped about six feet back. "AAAHHHH! Watch it, Carl." He reached down to pick up his cooler. "This is just a bit of food. If we're going to be up all night, then I'm going to need energy."

"I hope you're willing to carry it," Ulrich said as he and Jeremy walked past. "Let's go."

After about ten minutes, which would have gone faster if Odd hadn't brought so much food, they were at the factory. Odd set the cooler down in a corner while Jeremy began to establish a connection with the others. "Can you hear me, Zen?"

"Affirmative."

"Let's just start with one of the regions and work our way around. Who should go in first?"

"One person from each team is my opinion," Brad said as his face appeared. "And the one needed to deactivate the tower, of course."

"Alright." He turned around. "Who wants to go first?"

"I will," Carl said, raising his hand.

"So will I," Odd said in a hero-ish voice.

He nodded and turned back. "Looks like you have some resting time. Have someone standing by in case they need some help."

Yumi set herself on top of the cooler. She may be there awhile, so she closed her eyes to get some sleep.

Carl started the elevator. "You may have to face a few monsters that you haven't seen before," Carl said without turning. "I'll try to walk you through each one."

"No problem. We took out those other monsters easily."

"This coming from the guy who didn't get a single attack in before getting killed," Carl said with a snicker.

"Yeah, whatever."

The elevator opened and they each moved to one scanner. "You'll come out in the ice region," Jeremy said. "Let's go. Scanner Carl. Scanner Odd."

Odd, Carl, and Aelita crouched behind an ice pillar. A little ways off was a long, tight path leading to the activated tower. Small clouds floated through the air and a white megatank stood at the far end. Carl shook his head. "Puffers and a holy tank. Not good." He looked at the others. "Not much choice here. We'll need to charge 'em."

"Hold on," Odd said. "What are those puffer things?"

Zen called down to them. "Puffers are a small cloud suspended around a solid core. The cloud is its only attack, since it is poisonous, and does 20 damage for each second you are in it. One hit to the blue core will destroy it."

"Ok. Odd, you need to take out those puffers for me. Aelita, you watch the sky and behind us in case Xana tries to send some hornets or something, and he probably will. I'm going to go straight through. If you can get me to it, the holy tank is toast."

"Are you sure about that, Carl?" Jeremy asked.

"Don't worry, man," Brad said reassuringly. "He can handle himself."

Carl drew both swords. "Whenever you're ready."

Odd cocked his wrist and stepped around the rock. "Take this, monster scum!" He loosed three arrows and destroyed the closest puffer. The other nine instantly started moving in their direction.

Carl pulled around the other side and charged. Odd popped another one when he reached the edge of the path. Two puffers floated at chest level in front of him. In a poof of black smoke, he teleported around them and kept running. He quickly rolled under another and jumped another. As soon as passed them, they turned and started homing in.

Odd aimed and took out two others. "Those guys are all over him."

There were four more puffers between Carl and the tank. The all floated in a square shape, creating a wall of smoke. Carl didn't slow. He simply ducked his head and jumped through. As he passed through, he held out his blades and spun, slicing each puffer's core in half. He landed in a roll and kept running.

"Ouch, that wasn't good," Jeremy commented. "You just took 40 life points off, Carl."

The tank started to glow red, signaling its charge. Odd took a moment to notice that Carl wasn't slowing. "He's even crazier than me. Wasn't he watching last time?" He aimed and destroyed another puffer.

Carl started doing some calculations. He would have to time this just right. The tank opened and fired. As the energy came towards his face, a mental trigger fired. He quickly puffed out just before the blast hit him. The beam quickly expanded to its full range and started to draw back in. That's when Carl reappeared. He came out several yards back, still at full speed, but running just inches behind the retreating beam. "Got it!" He held out one blade. He followed the beam all the way back to the waiting eye. He plunged his blade in. The momentum he had gained sent the tank rolling backwards and carried him up and over. He landed on his feet, pulled out the blade, and jogged to a stop as the tank exploded. He let out a deep breathe and turned to find Odd and Aelita jogging up the path to meet him.

As they stopped next to him, Carl gave Odd a nod. "Nice shootin'."

"Go ahead, Aelita." She nodded and went into the tower. "Thanks. You had me worried for a bit."

"I tend to do that to people."

The tower's energy hue changed from red to blue. Jeremy again called down. "Excellent work, guys. Join Aelita in the tower and head for the forest region." Carl and Odd walked through the tower wall.

A/N: Again, not the longest chapter, but this is starting to get good. I wonder what will happen next! I can't wait to find out! Don't forget to write a review!