Chapter 22
Take a bow
Yumi jumped out of the way of another laser blast from Aether's beak; Aether leapt into the air and sliced his swords at Yumi. The gust of wind from Aether's take off knocked Yumi down, She jumped up on to her feet and located Aether, He was flying towards her with his arms stretched out. Yumi leaned back and bent her knees so that she was able to bend away from Aether's blades. Yumi then did a back flip and kicked one of Aether's blades out of his hands. She came back up onto her feet and tossed one of her fans at Aether; the blade hit Aether in the shoulder as he screamed a human scream in pain. The fan flew back to Yumi like a boomerang as she caught it. Aether pulled his head back and pointed it forwards at Yumi. A small thin laser beam shout out as Aether aimed at Yumi. Yumi jumped to her left and landed on the ground in a roll as she attempted to throw another fan. However Aether ran towards her and kicked her in the leg. She lost her balance as she fell to the ground. Aether jumped into the air and descended upon Yumi. He Slammed his daggers into the ground next to where Yumi was standing. Yumi back flipped out of the way as Aether sliced at the air where Yumi's head was once positioned.. Yumi landed on her hands in a crouched position. She ran forwards and slid on the ground. She brought up her foot as she nailed Aether square in the face. Aether let go of the dagger he stabbed into the ground from when he tried to hit Yumi and fell backwards. Aether slid across the ground until he came to a stop. He then slowly stood up.
"This has been fun. But now it's time to end it," Aether said as he spread his wings. His wing was still ripped from when Yumi's fan hit. The wing suddenly began to glow as the large tear in it suddenly sealed up and disappeared. Yumi stood in disbelief as Aether flapped his wing to see if it worked properly. After a few seconds he stared back at Yumi and smiled.
The Scyphozoa finally released Ulrich from the scan. It growled as it slowly disappeared into the shadows. Ulrich moaned a little as he felt his head. It felt like someone took a power saw to his brain. He slowly stood up. As his vision cleared up, he saw Yumi fighting some kind of flying monster. Then he remembered that the monster was the reason that he was captured by the Scyphozoa. Ulrich tried to stand up but lost his balance and fell. He slowly stood up; his legs felt like a slump of pudding. He finally stood on both of his feet and pulled out his swords.
"Jeremy I'm awake. And I'm getting tired of the monsters on here constantly putting me in the sleeper hold," Ulrich said in frustration.
"You need to hurry and help Yumi, she has only a few life points left and she isn't holding well against Aether. William has been devirtualized, Aelita is battling a large swarm of hornets and mantas, and Odd is running from Tartarus: another titan thing that Xervix created.
"Ok so what do we do?" Ulrich said.
"I'm probably going to have to pull you guys out. That pyramid will have to wait," Jeremy said.
"Wait!! If we don't deal with this issue now, it will come back and bite us hard. There are still four of us. And how far is this Pyramid?" Ulrich asked.
"It's in the middle of the sector. Ulrich I know what you're saying but these two titans are tearing us apart. And what's worse is that the Scyphozoa was scanning you, Yumi and Odd's DNA so that Xervix could create more. That means we might have more of those things on the way soon," Jeremy said
By this time Yumi, Odd, And Aelita were listening to the argument.
"Look Xervix obviously doesn't want us anywhere near that Pyramid. So whatever it is it must be important. If we don't get it now then we may loose a potential advantage," Aelita said.
"And what if it turns out to be a trap? Xervix could be attempting a tactic similar to last time when he trapped Ulrich and Yumi. Only this time, William won't be able to save us," Odd countered.
"It will be… just like before…," Yumi said as she dodged some of Aether's jabs.
In the Lab Jeremy thought about what Aelita had said. She had a good point, but then again he didn't want to loose his friends.
"They make a good point Jeremy. If we could break through those monsters, we might see what exactly Xervix is after. It might have some clues about this System thing too," William said as he looked at Jeremy and the monitor. "And if it looks like they are going to run into trouble, pull them back."
Jeremy looked back at the screen. Odd, Aelita, and Yumi had heard most of the conversation, but were too busy fighting to say anything to them.
"Ok. Regroup and rejoin with each other. I have a short path to the Pyramid, and there are several towers along the way. And no matter what, Aelita must not get caught by the Scyphozoa, or Xervix, or any other monster. If worse comes to worse I'll pull you guys out. If that happens, no arguments, understand?" Jeremy ordered.
"Got it," all four said in succession.
Ulrich ran at full force towards Aether, unaware that the Scyphozoa that had captured him had disappeared into the shadows. Yumi blocked one of Aether's blades with her fans, as Ulrich sliced Aether in his leg. Aether grunted in pain as he jumped into the air and flew off. He made a fast turn and flew back towards Yumi and Ulrich.
"I'll knock him out of the sky you take out his wings," Ulrich said. Yumi nodded.
Aether flew up towards the ceiling of the sector and stopped flapping his short wings. He then began to lose altitude at a fast and incredible rate. The air around him made a loud screaming noise as if he was a bomb plummeting to earth. He held both of his daggers out towards his sides as his mouth glowed red. He was preparing for a dive bomb run, and he planned to take both of them out.
Ulrich held both of his swords at his sides as Yumi held one fan in front of her and the other behind her.
"Ready?" Yumi asked. Ulrich nodded.
"Here… I… come… ready… or… NOT!!!!!!!!!" Aether shouted as he fired his beam at the Lyoko warriors below. Both jumped out of the way, Ulrich jumped onto the wall as he then kicked himself into the air towards Aether. He sliced one of Aether's glowing grey wings off and kicked him square in the chest. Aether fell into a downward spiral as he neared the ground. Yumi put her fans away and placed her hands on her head. A nearby rock suddenly glowed white as it flew off the ground and hit Aether. The rock and Aether flew off the cliff. Aether screamed in rage as he jumped off the rock and grabbed onto a rock sticking off the wall. He watched as the boulder fell and slammed into the river below him. He dangled on the rock as he looked up. He growled in anger as he saw the silhouettes of the two warriors on the ledge run off in the opposite direction.
"When I find you two dirty land walkers, I'll teach you to disrespect me," Aether said as he began to climb his way up the wall. He would need another thirty minutes before his wings could heal up. He began to climb ferociously up the wall. He wanted to get his hands on those two kids. And fly up to a high altitude and drop them.
"Ok. Meet Aelita and Odd at the Crystal field. It's along the wall. It's an area surrounded by crystals. I'll send you your vehicles," Jeremy said as the Overbike and Overwing virtualized. Ulrich hopped onto the Overbike as Yumi climbed up onto the Overwing. Both of their engines revved up as they took off in the direction of the Crystal forest. Aether climbed out of the pit to see the duo take off. Aether moaned in objection as he looked around for a way to follow them. He came up with an idea.
Aelita flew at high speeds toward where she thought the crystal field was. She flew over a passing of roots and mushrooms as she spotted several Tarantulas and Sentries on the move. They were heading to the northern area of the sector. She paused in midair as she counted the number of monsters on the move.
"Jeremy. Are you seeing this?" Aelita asked.
In the lab, Jeremy scrolled over towards Aelita's position. He saw the number of monsters that were walking single file down the row of mushrooms. He counted six Sentries, five Tarantulas, and two Defenders.
"I'm tracking their movement now. Looks like they're heading towards the Pyramid as well. Xervix must also be after what ever is in there. Aelita, right now I would advise you hang back and wait for the others. Even though you're flying, there are still too many of them. And they might send some more fliers your way as well."
Aelita looked around and saw a tall clump of twisted roots standing off to the left of the path. Aelita flew over to it and landed on the root cluster. Her wings flickered and disappeared as she looked over the edge.
"I'll watch them. I just hope we don't have to mess with these things at the pyramid," Aelita said. "How are Odd, William, Yumi and Ulrich doing?"
"Ulrich and Yumi are riding fast in your direction. Odd is running from Tartarus; I sent him the Overboard but Tartarus smashed it. He is going to head to the crystal field and try to lose Tartarus. And William was… devirtualized," Jeremy said.
"By a team killer," William said.
"Oh come on it was an accident," Jeremy said.
"I know, but I intend to ride him about it when he gets back."
Aelita heard a loud scream come from the area where the monsters were marching toward. She saw a large bird like monster. Larger then any flyer she had seen. It was bird like with one leg near the end, next to its tail feathers. Its head had a large horned crest that came up the head and wrapped downward like a rams. Its beak opened up, revealing it was split in three different places. The Xana Symbol was on its face, but what was more was that the wings and tail feathers were on fire. Then she saw that they weren't on fire, they were made of fire.
"Uhh Jeremy… do you see this Phoenix looking thing? It's huge!" Aelita said.
Jeremy looked at the monitor though the video link that Aelita had opened. Both William and Jeremy saw the giant flaming bird that flew above the monster army. Jeremy ran a quick scan over the monster's bio. It had massive fire power, but it didn't have as many hit points as Jeremy thought it would have. However he noticed that the flames acted like a shield. If Odd's laser arrows, or Aelita's orbs, or Yumi's fans hit it, the flames would absorb the shot.
"Ok it looks like it's just a kind of massive dive bomber, but its life points are a little low, almost as many life points as a manta. I would say keep out of sight, and don't shoot it. If you fire at it, those flames will absorb the shot," Jeremy said.
"So how do you destroy something you can't destroy?" William asked.
Jeremy thought for a few seconds and then thought of an idea. He opened a new screen which displayed Odd's current outfit. To the side it labeled the costume. Purple lightning suit. It showed where Odd's force field came from, and it showed the twin hand cannons that the arrows fired from. Jeremy typed in a list of other commands and opened a screen that said attachments. There were a series of symbols. One looked like a lightning bolt, one looked like a fire ball, one looked like a snowflake, and the other looked like a missile.
"When I designed everyone's new costumes, I created a lot of equipment that I wanted to implement. But after Xana made his move to catch Aelita, I had no other choice but to send them in unprepared. Looks like now we can use these," Jeremy said.
"What are you going to do?" William asked.
"Well the phoenix monster is on fire, and most of the weapons will explode if it gets to close. So I'm going to give Odd his Ice Shot. It shots a ball of ice at extremely cold temperatures. Now even though the Phoenix is on fire, the shot should be enough to douse one of its fires, opening a hole for the others to hit it at," Jeremy said. "All we need to do is get Odd to a tower and install both the Ice Shot and his toggle button."
"Toggle button?" William asked.
"So that Odd can choose between the laser arrow ,ice shot, and possibly another upgrade" Jeremy said.
"Are you going to upgrade the rest of us Jeremy?" Aelita asked quietly.
"Hmmm… I could give you your Charge beam. But remember, every time you use it, you lose life points. That was really the only upgrade I made for you that I finished," Jeremy said.
"Ok so I'll just make sure I use it moderately. And only if I need to use it," Aelita said.
"Ok I'll get them prepped. We never finished Ulrich or Yumi's; for now just find Odd and get to a tower so I can upload the upgrade you two," Jeremy said.
Jeremy began running a couple of programs that would link the upgrades to the tower.
Aelita walked over to the edge of the mushroom. She held her hands out wide and fell off the mushroom. Her wings opened up wide as she glided across a group of stalagmites.
"Ok so where is Odd?" Aelita asked.
Jeremy continued to type in the codes as William watched from behind. "Just follow the screams," William said.
Odd yelled in distress as he jumped out of the way of Tartarus's blade. He was low on life points and was running out of places to run. Tartarus slowly followed Odd as he smiled. He enjoyed chasing the purple feline. He was merely toying with Odd, buying time until Aether cornered Aelita and forced her to download a piece of the cartographer.
Tartarus finished in a plume of black spoke. The smoke ran along the ceiling as he started to catch up with Odd. Odd ran faster as the smoke flume ran in front of him and slid down from the ceiling, running in front of Odd. Tartarus rematerialized in front of Odd and held out his hand. Odd's neck ran right into Tartarus hand. Tartarus squeezed his hand tight as he slowly lifted Odd in the air. Odd held out his hand and tried to fire off an arrow. Tartarus used his other hand and grabbed Odd's hand as he fired off a shot. Odd gasped as he tried to wrestle his way out of Tartarus's grasp.
"How can someone as small as you be such a nuisance?" Tartarus asked.
"Like this!" Odd said as he fired a shot from his other hand. The shot ricocheted off a
rock and pinged off a root ball. The Arrow nailed Tartarus in the back as he fell over in pain. Tartarus released Odd who hit the ground running. Tartarus turned around and shot a cloud of dark mist directly at Odd. Odd rolled forward as he jumped out of the way. He ran behind some stalagmites and ducked behind a large boulder. He turned around in time to see Tartarus come running down the path. Odd fired several shots towards Tartarus. One hit Tartarus in the knee as he fell over and skidded to a halt. Odd leapt from behind the rock and ran down the path some more. Tartarus scrambled to get to his feet. He grabbed his sword and started to chase after Odd. Odd spun around and fired several shots towards Tartarus as he ran backwards. It was a little trick he learned how to do after so many years fighting on Lyoko; it was hard to learn at first but it was quite handy.
Tartarus used his sword to block the arrows as he swung his sword fast. Odd fired an arrow at a stalagmite. The arrow hit the rock, causing it to shake and eventually fall. Tartarus stopped in time for the rock to smash to the ground in front of him, cutting off his chase.
"Odd… that was awesome," Jeremy said.
"Well what would you expect?" Odd said.
"Listen Odd. We need to upgrade your arm cannon. There is a new monster that is impervious to most attacks. Your ice shot should work wonders on it. Plus with all the new monsters, we figured it was high time we went on the offensive. We're going to make a run for the pyramid. Aelita's on her way; the nearest tower just so happens to be in the crystal field. Aelita will meet you there," Jeremy said as he virtualized the Overboard for Odd.
Odd mounted the board and tapped his foot on the front part where the accelerator was. The engine hummed as the purple cat and his large surfboard like machine gained altitude. He could see the entire area where they were at. It was still quite impressive. Just towards the end of the sector he spotted the Pyramid. He couldn't quite make it out but something about it was different then any normal pyramid that he had seen in text books and on TV.
"Jeremy? Is that the Pyramid?" Odd asked.
"It is. That Pyramid seems to be in the center of the Sector. There are other Pyramids in the other sectors as well. That includes the older sectors as well. But for right now we're going to see what the pyramid looks like in this sector."
The engine on the overboard flared up again as Odd flew towards the crystal field. He passed over several stalactites and moss coverings. Odd flew low to the ground of the cave so that he wouldn't attract any attention. Odd heard a noise coming from behind him. He turned around to see a black mist shooting at him at lightning fast speed.
"OH come on… this guy never gives up!!!" Odd said as he rolled his eyes. "Well you want to play, tartar-sauce… let's play," Odd said as he jumped off the Overboard. Tartarus rose up from the mist and sliced the Overboard in half as Tartarus landed on the ground. He glanced up to see Odd run into the entrance to the crystal field. Tartarus slid his sword onto the latches on his back as he slowly entered the field. The field was a string of crystals and glass orbs. There were large crystals and small crystals. Some with white hues, red hues, blue hues, and black hues. Tartarus slowly entered the field. He could see several images behind the crystals that were distorted and bent. Almost like a fun house mirror.
"BLUHHHHHAHHHH!!!!" Tartarus turned to see Odd looking like the size of a elephant. Tartarus grabbed his sword and sliced the crystal in half. The crystal slammed to the ground with a thud as it shattered into several pieces. Tartarus looked around for any sign of the purple cat. He then heard the sound of someone giving him a razzie. He turned to see five Odds waving their hands next to their ears and sticking out their tongues. Tartarus sliced and smashed all five of them. Tartarus looked around. He caught glimpses of Odd in the crystals. He ran in one direction and then ran in the other. He looked fat one minute, and then thin the next. Suddenly he saw a version of Odd running right towards him. He grabbed his sword only to see the reflection fade. Suddenly he felt something jump on his back. Odd wrapped one of his arms around Tartarus's neck as he forced all his weight toward the back. Tartarus fell on his back; fell on Odd. Odd had his knees bent and bounced Tartarus off his back. Odd fired several shots into Tartarus's back, causing him to bounce in the air with every shot Odd fired. Odd rolled out of the way as his arm cannons glowed white from Jeremy reloading. Tartarus sat up and turned around in time to see Odd running in the opposite direction. Tartarus ran towards Odd and sliced at the purple cat. The orb shattered into several pieces as Tartarus growled in anger.
Tartarus looked up to see seven Odds climbing up a crystal. Tartarus held his sword as he watched the seven Odds jump off the crystals. Six of them disappeared. One Odd however hit Tartarus in the face, while firing a shot at the same time. Tartarus dropped his sword as Odd back flipped in front of Tartarus, kicking him in the process. Tartarus fell to the ground as Odd pointed his arm cannon at Tartarus. "Never mess with purple lightning," Odd said as he fired a shot straight at Tartarus's head.
Odd looked down to see his arrow plant into the dirt; Tartarus had fled.
"Odd. Tartarus is leaving the area. Now's your chance. The tower is in the middle of the fields. Aelita is waiting for you," Jeremy said.
"Gotcha Einstein," Odd said as he ran towards the tower.
Back in the lab Jeremy breathed as he realized they might stand a chance of getting out of this. William watched over his shoulder. He felt bad about not being able to help; he knew that if he was there he could have taken out Tartarus and bought Odd some time to get to the tower. Instead he was once again careless and lost.
"Your awfully quiet back there William… you ok?" Jeremy asked.
"Yeah it just…," William said as he breathed heavily.
"You lost… it's not the end of the world… yet," Jeremy said.
"Last time I lost, I cost us so much though… am I even worth keeping?" William asked.
Jeremy took off his headset and turned around to look at William. "Will. Last time you saved us all. Without you Aelita would be stuck on Lyoko. Ulrich and Yumi would be dead and lord knows what would happen next. So if you're looking for an answer as to if you're valuable or not, I would say you're definitely a valuable player to the team in the fact that you're one of the strongest among us."
William smiled a little as Jeremy turned around to continue helping the others. "Besides. A wise man once said the past is there to learn from. Not to worry about," Jeremy said.
"Who said that?" William asked.
"The man who built the computer, Franz Hopper."
In the cave sector, Yumi and Ulrich rode fast on their vehicles. They rode down a long and wide path surrounded by roots and rocks. They passed several crystalline structures that were giving off light. Yumi kind of liked the light the crystals were giving off to light the sector.
"Gotta admit, this would be a nice place to hang out, if it wasn't for the random monsters trying to kill us left and right," Yumi said.
Ulrich looked up at her as he drove down the path. "I don't think so; it's too dark and dismal. It's giving me a sense of paranoia," Ulrich said
"You're just…," Yumi tried to finish her sentence as she heard a loud screaming noise coming from behind them. Ulrich and Yumi both looked to see a group of weird looking spider things running down the path. Each had a long proboscis on its front and five legs. They were brown like a hornet and had the same body build. There were three of them. As they ran from their perch, they jumped into the air as the arms waved back and forth. Suddenly a winged webbing appeared in between the legs of the animals.
"Not more new monsters!!" Ulrich yelled. "You know I miss the old…"
"KANKRELATS!!!!!" Yumi yelled as she pointed behind them. Running on the ground at high speeds were a group of Kankrelats. Their eyes glowed as they began to fire several shots towards the two warriors. Yumi held out one of her fans as she deflected several shots from the Kankrelats. With her other hand she threw her fan. It whistled a high pitch scream as it flew in one direction. It sliced straight through one of the Kankrelats as the other two continued along the path. Ulrich noticed a large root coming up on his right. He pulled out one of his Katanas and sliced a large chunk of the root off. The piece of digital wood slammed to the ground as the last two Kankrelats slammed into it, causing both of them to explode.
Yumi smiled at Ulrich in approval when she suddenly heard a loud cry, like an owl. She turned around fast to see one of the new Air Spiders flying towards her. It jumped on her back. Yumi struggled to fly the Overwing and the new parasite at the same time. The Air Spider stuck its proboscis into her back. Yumi yelled loudly as she felt it hit her. She didn't feel any pain, just a large amount of pressure on her back side. A second Air Spider jumped onYumi's leg. It stuck her as well as Yumi kicked her leg violently to get it off.
"Jeremy what the hell is that thing doing?" Ulrich asked.
Back at the lab, Jeremy looked at its stats and Yumi's stats and gasped as he realized what it was doing.
"Ulrich, it's draining her of her life points. It looks like it is built to drain life points and inject those life points into a new body, more then likely monsters. You need to get it off her or else it will drain her of the last of her life points," Jeremy said.
Ulrich hit the acceleration on his bike as the rear engine roared to life. His wheel lifted off the ground as his bike went airborne. Ulrich flew up behind Yumi as he sliced at the Air Spider. He missed the first time. Ulrich heard another noise over his shoulder as he saw the second Air Spider flying towards him. He threw his sword at the Air spider. It pierced the monster and pinned it to a nearby rock. He turned his attention to the Air Spider on Yumi's back. She was swatting at it with her hand as she screamed in disgust. The Spider on her leg jumped off and slid on the ground as it scurried away.
"Get this damn thing off me!" Yumi shouted. "Hold still," Ulrich said.
As he prepared to slice at it, the air spider leapt off her back and flew up into the air. Yumi stopped fighting as she looked up. There above them they saw Aether. He clutched the Air Spider as it fed him Yumi's life points. It slowly restored Aether's health. Aether's wings glowed brighter and the color returned to his skin. Aether looked down at the two kids as he screamed loudly. He smashed the Air Spider with his hands as he began to fly down towards their level. Ulrich swerved to the left as Aether gained speed. Ulrich held his sword tightly as he tried to think of a way to cut Aether back out of the air again. Then he saw Aether's mouth glow as he prepared to fire his cutting beam.
"LOOK OUT!!!!!" Ulrich shouted. Aether fired his crimson red beam. Ulrich managed to make it out of the way. The beam hit the Overwing as it suddenly began to spin out of control. Yumi tried to hold on to it as it spun faster and faster. Her fingers began to slip as she tried to hold on.
"Ulrich help," Yumi shouted. That's when Aether hit the Overwing with his daggers and split the Overwing in half. Yumi felt gravity take its hold on her as she began to fall downward towards the ground. She didn't fall too far since they were flying low to the ground anyways. But she still felt it when she skidded on the ground hard. After a few feet she tried to stand up but felt dazed and disoriented. A clear sign she was about to get devirtualized if she was hit one last time. The ninja geisha heard a loud screaming noise. She turned to see a large bird man flying towards her.
"I'M BAAAAACCCCKKK," Aether shouted as he swooped down and grabbed Yumi by her feet. He hoisted her high into the air as she tried to struggle out of his grasp. Aether was carrying her by his feet. She squirmed and fidgeted as Aether gained altitude. Ulrich flew up towards them as fast as the Overbike could fly. He gritted his teeth as he realized he couldn't catch up to Aether. He had no other choice.
"Jeremy can you do something for me?" Ulrich asked.
"I can't bring her back in, something is blocking me from bringing her back in, I think it's Aether," Jeremy said.
"No, not that, listen," Ulrich said.
Aether flew higher into the air. As he neared the ceiling, he turned and looked around the area. No one was in sight. He then pulled out his daggers and threw Yumi up to him with his feet. He caught her by the arms and held her arms straight up so that she couldn't try to fight back.
"I think you will find the view around here rather spectacular," Aether laughed as he showed her the how far up they were.
Aether pointed his dagger towards Yumi's throat as he prepared to stab her with them. Then he looked down towards the floor of the sector. He looked up at Yumi who was still trying to free herself.
"See you next fall," Aether whispered. Yumi's eyes got wide as Aether prepared to let her go.
Suddenly a yellow flash came up to Aether's position. Aether looked with just enough time to see Ulrich drive his sword into his arm. Aether screamed in anger as he released Yumi. She tried to reach for Aether's outstretched arm as she began to fall. Ulrich saw this and pulled out his sword. He jumped off Aether, causing Aether to loose his balance.
Yumi felt her body in free fall as she tumbled and flipped through the air. She caught a glimpse of Ulrich falling behind her. She tried to reach for him as Ulrich caught up to her.
"YUMI," Ulrich yelled as he noticed how close they were getting to the ground. Yumi gasped as she felt Ulrich's fingertips touch hers. Finally he grabbed her. He pulled her up to him and hugged her tightly.
"Ulrich what are we going to do?" Yumi asked.
"NOW," Ulrich yelled. The Overbike flew up to them as Ulrich grabbed a hold of it and sat in the seat. He guided Yumi to sit behind him as she wrapped her arms around his stomach. Ulrich revved up the Overbike as he pulled up on the bike. The Overbike began to gain altitude as the pair finally leveled out.
"Jeremy that was great," Ulrich said.
"No problem. I thought you where afraid of heights?" Jeremy said.
Ulrich paused for a second as Yumi lifted her head up and looked at Ulrich. "I guess with Yumi in trouble I must have forgotten all about it," Ulrich admitted. Yumi rested her forehead on Ulrich's back as Ulrich came to a stop. He turned around a looked at her. She looked like she was a little groggy and was about to pass out.
"You ok?" Ulrich asked.
"I never want to go through anything like that again. Lyoko or not, I still panicked and it still felt real to me," Yumi said as she wrapped her arms around herself. "If this was the real world I would have more then likely thrown up by now or even have a heart attack."
Ulrich hugged her to reassure her that she was safe. She hugged back while back in the lab William and Jeremy watched.
"Huh newly weds are at it again," William said.
"You're not troubled by that are you?" Jeremy asked.
"Nah it's cool. I mean there are other fish in the sea. Besides I like being their friend more."
Jeremy smiled a little as William patted him on the shoulder and handed him a soda. Jeremy hadn't noticed that from watching all the fighting he was sweating like crazy.
Back on Lyoko Ulrich noticed something. Aether was nowhere to be found. He was usually right up on them, but he was nowhere to be seen. It was eerily silent.
"Jeremy where is Aether at? I don't see him anywhere," Ulrich said.
"It looks like he left the sector after you stabbed him in the arm. Better not wait for any other monsters. Get to the tower and get Yumi healed up. I have something you guys might need to get to that Pyramid," Jeremy said.
Odd stood next to the tower as he waited for the others to arrive. He heard a distinct flapping noise as he looked up. Through the light he saw a pink haired elf with wings land a few inches from him. Her wings folded up as they flickered and disappeared.
"Hey princess, how was the flight?" Odd asked.
"Bad turbulence," Aelita said as she rotated her wrist around. "How was hide and seek with… Tartar sauce?" Aelita asked as she tilted her head to one side.
"Oh man. William if you can here me, he is all yours next time," Odd said.
William reached over and took the mike from Jeremy. "Oh don't worry Odd, I'll get him next time. Just make sure you don't shoot me again."
"Oh come on, it was an accident William."
"Yeah accident or not you freaking shot me," William said.
"It could have happened either way; if I was being choked by Tartarus...," Odd said till William cut him off.
"Yeah but see there is a problem, I don't have a cat gun now do I?" William said as
Jeremy tried to take the mike back. "Oh Jeremy said Ulrich and Yumi are close by."
The Overbike pulled up with Ulrich and Yumi on the back. Ulrich stepped off and helped Yumi down. They slowly walked over to the tower while Odd and Aelita looked on.
"Is she ok?" Aelita asked as she pointed towards Yumi.
"She keeps losing consciousness; I don't know what's wrong. Jeremy scanned her twice and each time it says she should be recovering. I'm worried," Ulrich said as Yumi leaned on him.
"Maybe we should take her into the tower," Odd asked.
Ulrich began to lead Yumi toward the tower until Aelita stopped them.
"Wait. Wait no it's something else, something is wrong here," Aelita said as she walked over.
"What else could it be Aelita? I scanned her twice and there is nothing wrong with her," Jeremy said.
Aelita walked up to Yumi and noticed she wasn't moving as much as when she got there. She held out her left hand and closed her eyes. For a minute she saw nothing but the blackness of her virtual eyelids. Then the darkness slowly faded away and revealed a red landscape. She saw Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd but she saw other things as well. She could see their outline, but she also saw something in their chest, their virtual soul as she called it. It was their entire body compacted into one digital orb of energy. Flesh, bone, blood, soul and heart all broken down and reconstructed into this little jewel. Aelita swore that if she looked close enough she could almost make out their real world bodies in the orbs. She looked at Yumi and saw something else. She saw a long black line leading from Yumi's virtual soul and into an object on her back. It looked like a spider with wings.
"Jeremy there is something on her back!! It's some kind of Spider thing," Aelita said as she fired an orb at it, hitting it square in its side and causing it to fly off her back. The line leading to Yumi's virtual soul disappeared as the Air Spider flew off her back.
Ulrich and Odd watched as the Air Spider reappeared out of thin air and hit the ground. It landed on its back. It flipped itself over as it turned around and ran back towards Yumi. Odd held out one of his arm cannons and fired one shot. The Air Spider blew to pieces.
"How did you know that was there?" Ulrich asked.
"I call it my digital sight. I discovered it back when XANA hid a tower from me and Yumi. It reveals anything digital that we can't see with our normal eyes. I think that thing was trying to attack Yumi through her Virtual Soul," Aelita said as she patted Yumi on the back to see if she was doing better.
"I just ran a scan over her; I was running virtual scans over her but not Bio stats on her real body. That thing appeared to be attempting to pull her virtual soul out of her virtual envelope. It caused a lot of stress on her body. That is why she was so unresponsive," Jeremy said.
"Let's get her inside the tower and see if she can wake up or not," Ulrich said as he scooped her up in his arms and walked inside the tower. Odd joined him with Aelita following behind them. Why was Xervix trying to take Yumi's virtual soul? Aelita thought.
Well here is the long awaited Chapter 22, Its been a rough couple of weeks, finals, christmas, Back issues which might need a little surgery, Work. and the dam cold. But here it is, i hope to get another up before years end.
I went into more detail with the Cave sector, i pretty much took everything about a cave and added it on here. Plus I figured Odd need'd a good fight scene since he lost the last one. Plus Ulrich need'd a hero moment as well. OH and we gots two new monsters..HOW FUN!!!!
REVIEW OR NO SANTA COMING THIS YEAR!!!!!!!!!