Hello once again people of the internet! I'm back once more to present to you the next chapter: The Robots.
Honestly? Not one of my favorite episodes. It's not as bad as I had remembered it being, but it still isn't one I go back to watch.
Chapter 23: The Robots
Jeremy, Ulrich, Odd, and I were all sitting in science class in our usual spots, with Ulrich and Odd sitting in front of Jeremy and me. Ms. Hertz was attempting to drill through a sheet of titanium she had brought in. As hard as she tried however, it didn't even appear to have a scratch on it. She finally stopped the drill and lifted up the sheet.
"As I'm sure you've noticed, this sheet of titanium is much stronger than steel, which is why it is used by NASA for constructing in space shuttles." Ms. Hertz explained. I nodded my head before grinning.
"I guess that's why there's a titanium Power Ranger and not a steel one." I thought. Jeremy gave me a strange look before shaking his head at me with a slight chuckle.
Up towards the front of the room, Nicholas leaned over to Herb and said to him, "You should've used it for your robot."
"I'm afraid this alloy would be a bit out of your budget range, Herb," Ms. Hertz then said, having heard Nicholas. Oddly enough though she didn't look all that upset about the disruption. "But since your friend brought it up, let me remind you that the robot competition is scheduled for this afternoon. I hope you've all finished your models." She turned towards the board again.
"Is yours ready, Jeremy?" Ulrich asked as he looked back at us. Jeremy simply responded by giving a thumbs up.
Jeremy's Dorm
"So where's this robot of yours, Einstein?" I asked as we all walked in. Yumi had come to join us after class, as she waned to see the unveiling as well.
"Give me a minute, and you'll all be able to see it," Jeremy replied, typing something in his keyboard. Aelita's face suddenly popped up.
"Hello everyone." She greeted. We all waved to her. Jeremy reached up for a box on one of his shelves as well as what appeared to be the controls for the robot. He pulled out what appeared to be a metal version of Kiwi and smiled.
"I'd like you to meet Kiwi 2." Jeremy said. We all looked at one another in amazement. Kiwi, however, didn't seem fond of the metal look a like. He backed away as the robot moved forward.
Seeming oblivious to this, Odd said, "Cool! Kiwi's got a playmate!" Kiwi then ran into one of the corners of the room in an attempt to get as far as possible from Jeremy's bot.
"He's as cute as the original." Aelita said, letting out a giggle. "Congratulations."
"Yeah" Odd agreed. He bent down with a smile on his face. "How's our nice little robot? You want a bolt or a nut?" Kiwi 2 began walking towards him, which Odd seemed to take as a good sign. However, Odd's smile faded away when the robot lifted it's leg and did its business on him. The purple clad boy gave Jeremy a rather annoyed look, as if to say, 'Really?'
"Sorry. I didn't have the time to take him out." Jeremy apologized. "He needs and oil change everyday." Yumi, Ulrich, and I all started laughing, much to Odd's chagrin. The bell then rang, reminding us of why Kiwi 2 was built in the first place.
"Showtime, Einstein." I said.
"We're bound for glory guys." Ulrich remarked, a fist raised in the air. The four of us walked out the door. I turned before completely leaving to wait for Jeremy. He picked up his bot and looked back at Aelita.
"See you later, Aelita. Call us if you see or hear anything suspicious on Lyoko." He told her.
"I promise," she said with a nod. "But I hope XANA gives you enough time to win the contest." Jeremy gave her a smirk before turning and leaving. I gave Aelita a two fingered salute before following him and shutting the door.
Gymnasium
Jeremy had to go to ahead of us, seeing as he was a part of the competition. The four of us all entered the gym and sat down on the bleachers that had been set up. Soon, more and more people took their seats in the gym, and eventually Jim walked out with a mic in hand.
"And now for the moment you've all been waiting for! That's right! The grand finale!" Jim shouted into the mic. "In this corner, Iron Sissi! And in this corner, Kiwi 2!" Almost everyone in the room began cheering and chanting for Kiwi 2. We looked over to our left to see Herb next to what looked like a rather poor recreation of Sissi.
I couldn't help but laugh at the sight. "Oh god, is THAT supposed to be Sissi?!"
"I think so." Yumi said, grinning.
"I don't know what you guys are talking about. It looks pretty accurate to me!" Odd said. That set all four of us into more laughter. I wiped a tear from my eye as we let our laughter die down in order to listen to Jim explain the rules.
"Remember, both robots are forbidden to use any physical force. Shake hands now!" Jim motioned to Jeremy and Herb. Jeremy stuck his hand out with a friendly smile on his face. Herb, however, scowled at it and hesitated in lifting his hand. He eventually did so, but it was obvious he hadn't wanted to. "The first to score five baskets is the winner. Let's go!" Jim shouted, then tossed a small basketball into the air to begin the game.
Both bots went after the ball, but Kiwi 2 was the one to grab it. Jeremy maneuvered Kiwi 2 over to the basket and scored. We all cheered when the point was added onto the board.
"Way to go, Jeremy!" I shouted.
"Kiwi 1, Sissi 0!" Ulrich exclaimed. Odd and Yumi high fived.
The next point was scored by Iron Sissi. When the ball was tossed again, Herb managed to grab it again and scored again. The next time, Kiwi grabbed the ball and made an impressive shot into the basket, making us all cheer again. Jim then blew his whistle.
"Time out. One minute for half time." Jim announced. Odd, Ulrich, and I all went down to Jeremy as fast as we could to give him some encouraging words.
"You're doing great, Jeremy! Keep it up!" Odd said, which Ulrich nodded at.
"Yeah, keep at it and victory will be yours in no time!" I assured him. He smiled at us and nodded. We ran back up to our seats just before the match continued.
The next point was scored by Iron Sissi. Then, Kiwi 2 scored again. Then, Sissi again, and then Kiwi again to tie up the game.
"Game ball!" Jim shouted before he tossed the ball into the air. I gripped the seat as I watched Kiwi leap for the ball. He ran over to the basket. Right as it looked like he was about to make the basket, Kiwi 2 suddenly exploded! Jeremy gasped as the pieces broke apart, laving him with nothing.
"Huh!?" I watched in horror as Iron Sissi grabbed the ball and made the winng basket. Looking at Herb's face, a memory suddenly hit me, making me utter a low growl. "Oh that cheating little rat!"
"Uh..." Jim let out, still just as confused as everyone else was. "Well done! And thank you to all our contestants. The robot contest is over for this year. And remember class 9B, you've got Phys Ed. in five minutes." Everyone in that class groaned and stood up.
The four of us walked over to where Jeremy was sitting. He was looking sadly at one of the pieces left of Kiwi 2.
"It's ok, Jeremy. Don't worry about it." Ulrich told him.
"You can't win all the time." Yumi said, sitting down next to him.
"But what happened?" Jeremy asked. He looked down at the piece again.
"We could show you!" Milly then said. Jeremy flinched at the sound, as he hadn't seen their approach. "Take a look at this!" She handed Jeremy her camera. A recording of the match began to play, but it was from a much closer perspective than what we had seen. She slowed the footage down as Iron Sissi's mouth opened up. A metal nut then flew out of the open mouth and hit Kiwi 2 directly, making it explode.
Jeremy frowned at the revelation. "So that was it. He cheated." He said. We all looked over at Herb, who was talking with Sissi. "Herb, can I talk to you for a minute?" Jeremy asked, putting his backpack back on. What ever Jeremy was going to say was cut off by lots of screams. We looked over to find a gigantic robot now entering the gym. "Huh!? Where did that come from!?"
"Oh great, just what we needed today!" I groaned. The robot was huge and had glowing red eyes. It took one look at us before it charged at us. Sissi and Herb screamed.
"I'm getting out of here!" Sissi shrieked, though I can't say I blame her. The robot snatched Jeremy up and held him in the air with a tight grip. Ulrich looked around the room to find something to throw at it. He ran to grab the basketball and chucked it as hard as he could at the thing. It obviously didn't do much in terms of damage, but it did make it drop Jeremy. We all ran over to him.
"Come on!" Ulrich yelled. We all ran as fast as we could into the boys locker room and slammed the doors shut. A couple of boys that were changing covered their chest when they saw Yumi and me.
"Hey! What are you doing in here?" One of them asked, glancing at me and Yumi. We both looked at each other and rolled our eyes.
"You gotta get out." Ulrich said simply. The first boy opened his mouth to argue, but whatever argument he had died when the robot began bashing on the door, an action that left it slightly dented. They both yelped and ran out as fast as they possibly could. We all braced ourselves against the door to try and stall for time.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Odd asked.
"XANA." Yumi agreed.
"Why else would a giant robot hunt us down?" I asked in a sarcastic tone.
"If it's true, Aelita's probably been trying to reach us." Jeremy quickly pulled his laptop out and sat on the bench. "Aelita?"
"Jeremy! At last!" Aelita exclaimed with relief.
"Everything okay?"
"No, not really. XANA's activated a tower and the Bloks are after me," Aelita said with a shake of her head.
Jeremy grimaced. "And we've got a humongous robot at school that's causing panic wherever it goes." He informed her.
"But how could XANA have ever made a thing like that?" Yumi asked.
"Think about it guys! Where's the lab located?" I said.
"The factory!" Jeremy then realized. I nodded at this.
"Right, and if he made it at the factory, that means he's probably capable of making another!" I exclaimed.
Jeremy nodded at this. "Ok. Ulrich, Yumi, and Emily, you find a way to neutralize that thing while Odd and I go to the factory to give Aelita some help."
"We're on it." I assured him.
"Better hurry." Aelita urged, then she disappeared from the screen. The robot them decided to begin banging on the door with an incredible amount of force once more. We all backed away from the door to avoid injury. Yumi looked at Ulrich and me and nodded.
"Let's go." She said.
"Good luck you guys, and stay in contact." With that, Jeremy and Odd ran out of the back of the boys locker room. I towards the others again.
"Ready?" I asked.
"Ready." They replied. We went behind the lockers, with Ulrich on the left and Yumi and me on the right. We were just out of the robots sight, so when it finally busted the door down, it didn't spot us. We took advantage of the opportunity and ran out of the room, but the robot heard us. It began chasing after us. We made our way out of the gym and onto the field, but XANA was still hunting us down.
"He won't quit!" Ulrich shouted as he looked back at the bot. "Got any ideas?"
"Not really." Yumi answered honestly.
I looked back at the robot. Suddenly a light bulb went off in my head. "Guys! We should find a specialist in robots!" I exclaimed. Ulrich then pulled his phone out and dialed a number.
Lab
A beeping sound could be heard emanating from the supercomputer as the elevator door opened. Jeremy and Odd gasped at the sight in front of them. A lot of the wires were strewn everywhere, likely a courtesy from the robot.
"Look at that!" Jeremy said. He quickly ran over to the chair and began typing. Seconds later, he was letting out a frustrated sigh. "I can't access anything! All the programs, the scanners, the holomap, nothing!" He looked over at Odd with a frown. "Everything's down, which means I can't send you to Lyoko." Jeremy's phone then began to ring. He pulled it out and answered it. "Hey, Ulrich."
"Jeremy! How are you doing?" Ulrich asked.
"Not so great. Emily was right about XANA making the robot at the factory. He messed up all my controls, which means there's no way to get to Lyoko for the time being."
"The time's come to eliminate the robot."
Kadic
We took a small stop in front of the science building. We were a decent distance away from the robot. Ulrich put his cell phone away and looked at us with a grim expression.
"Jeremy's too busy," he explained.
"Yeah, but Jeremy's not the only one that's skilled with robots." I reminded them.
"Who've you got in mind?"
"Herb."
"We haven't got a choice I guess." Ulrich conceded. We looked back to see the robot still chasing after us on the field. "Quick! We've gotta find him!" We took off once more. We found Sissi and her group very quickly Yumi grabbed Herb's arm and said,
"You're coming with us," Despite his protests, we continued to run.
"Hey! Where are you going?! Come back!" I could hear Sissi exclaim. "The school's being evacuated!" We ignored her and continued forward until we reached the arches. Yumi let go of Herb's arm. He leaned against the wall to try and catch his breath.
"Herb, we've gotta a favor to ask you," Yumi told him.
"Will you help us disconnect that robot?" Ulrich asked, getting straight to the point. Herb stood upright again and glared daggers at the three of us.
"I'm sorry, but you're not in my gang," He was about to walk away, but I blocked the path with my arm.
"That thing is a tremendous danger, Herb," I pointed out. He was rather stubborn, though.
"I said no!" He repeated, then tried to move my arm. I, however, didn't let it budge.
"Herb, how do you think Sissi would react when she finds out the only reason you won was because you cheated?" I asked darkly. He looked back at me with a completely shocked expression.
"What!?" That certainly got his attention
"Milly and Tamiya have it all on tape." Ulrich informed him. He growled at us, but finally caved.
"O-ok. But if you tell her-" Whatever threat he was going to make was silenced by the arrival of our robot pal. We all gasped as it began running towards us again.
"You two stay with Herb! I'll take care of this guy!" Ulrich yelled, then ran towards it as the three of us began running away from it again. I looked over at Herb.
"I hope you have a way to take this thing down." I said to him.
"I may have an idea, but we'll need Ms. Hertz's drill!"
Lab
It had taken longer than he would've liked it to, but Jeremy finally managed to get most everything back online. Aelita's face popped up again as he was typing.
"I've finally found the activated tower," She reported.
"You can't go by yourself!" Jeremy said.
"I'll go!" Odd announced. Jeremy nodded at him.
"Ok, but I don't know if the scanner management program is operational," Jeremy warned him.
Odd shrugged as he entered the elevator. "It's too late to test it," He pointed out "Let's give it a try!" He hit the button to go down to the scanner room.
"The Mountain Sector is where your heading, Odd," Odd walked out of the elevator and into one of the scanners. "Transfer, Odd. Scanner, Odd. VIRTUALIZATION!"
Lyoko
"Odd, are you ok?" Jeremy asked as he landed.
"Fine. I made it, Jeremy." Odd assured him.
"That's great. Aelita's just a little further north." Odd nodded at this.
"Alright. I'm off!" Odd move forward on the path Jeremy had directed him towards. He did a few jumps on some rocks to help him reach a higher up cliff. Then, he found Aelita as she approached him from behind a rock. "Aelita!"
"The tower is over there," Aelita pointed to the activated tower. It was a short distance away, and was sitting on a platform that spun around. Odd looked at the path leading up to it and saw two Bloks climbing up to it.
"We'd better make a little detour," He decided. The path then began running across another path that lead to the tower.
Science Building
Herb had taken apart Ms. Hertz's drill and used the actual drill part to construct a small bird looking device. The beak was the drill part itself. He lifted it up for Yumi and I to see when he was done finishing it up.
"There we are. Let's just hope the robot's not made of titanium!" He announced.
"Alright, good job, Herb. Let's go kick some robot ass!" I exclaimed, then ran out of the room alongside Yumi. Herb followed closely behind at a slightly slower pace. We ran outside and began looking around. "Now... where did it go...?" I could hear its footsteps towards where the woods were. I pointed in that direction.
We took off for there and arrived just in time to see the robot hit Ulrich pretty hard. He fell to the ground as he fell unconscious. The robot was about to squash him with its foot, but Yumi intervened. "XANA, no! Don't hurt him!" Yumi and I both emerged from our hiding spots behind trees. The robot immediately took interest in the two of us. I nodded at Yumi as the signal to throw the hummingbird drill, which she did.
From behind a bush, Herb took control of it. The robot did its best to get rid of it or smack it away, but the bird was too fast. It landed on it back and easily drilled a hole into it. While it was distracted, Yumi and I took the opportunity to grab Ulrich and ran over to the garden shed. Yumi kicked the door open and hid behind a corner with a still knocked out Ulrich. I quickly looked around for something to brace the door with, settling on a piece of wood.
I ran to the other side of he room, across from where Yumi was. I cringed when I heard the robot begin to pound on the door. It flew off of its hinges seconds later, and the robot barged in and grabbed Yumi by the neck. "Get away from her!" I exclaimed. I tried to attack the bot, but it ended up being a really bad idea. The robot sent me flying backwards. I landed against the wall, right back to where I started. I stood up to try again, using the wall to support me as I stood up, but Herb's robot had finally worked its magic. The red color from the robots eyes faded away, and Yumi was able break free from the robots grip. It toppled over after she was free.
"Hey, Ulrich!" Yumi said as she shook his shoulder. "We got him!"
Herb walked in moments later. He looked down at the defeated robot with a surprised look. "Herb, I've gotta hand it to you; that droid worked miracles!" I praised. He blushed at the compliment.
"Thank you," He said, seemingly stunned.
"Well, we've gotta go now. There are some things we need to do," Yumi said, bidding him farewell. He game us a slight smile as we walked out. As soon as we were a good distance away from the shed, we took off for the manhole cover.
Lyoko
Odd and Aelita were running as fast as they could on the path to the tower. Odd gave a nasty look at the Blok still following them. He took the first out with ease, but the second was a little bit more stubborn.
"Hey! It isn't exactly summer camp over here! Tell Ulrich, Yumi, and Emily to move it!" Odd shouted.
"They'll be there soon!" Jeremy replied. They were very close to the tower now. Aelita jumped across the gap to reach the ring that surrounded the spinning tower. She looked back as Odd jumped as well, and gasped when he was hit by the Blok's laser. He just barely managed to cling onto the ground. He pulled himself up and looked at Aelita.
"Jeremy, how many points?" he asked.
"Only 10 left. You've gotta jump."
Factory
As we landed from sliding, we were about to enter the elevator, A noise distracted us from doing that, however. We looked behind us to find another robot staring at us. I groaned.
"Why is it that I'm always right about the bad things!?" I asked with exasperation. Of course in this case, that would have to do with the face that I'd seen the episode, but that's aside the point.
"This is a nightmare." Ulrich agreed. "We've gotta go to Lyoko," Ulrich and I ran towards the bot while Yumi entered the elevator. The two of us made our way towards the assembly line in the factory. We gasped when we saw the machines moving. XANA was making another robot! And this one had guns!
"Oh good grief..." I groaned.
"It's never gonna stop!" Ulrich realized.
"Until Aelita deactivates that tower? No, it won't." I took a step back in fear as the robot moved its arms up and aimed at us. We ran as fast as we could for the stairs, but the bot fired what appeared nuts and bolts at us. "Ok, not real bullets. That's a little better than what I thought." I thought aloud. Then, we ran into a dead end. "Aw crap!" I exclaimed, turning to look at the robot.
Lyoko
"Ok, concentrate on the rotations," Odd urged as they watched the spinning tower.
"Two monsters!" Jeremy called out. Odd gasped and looked to the sides. Two Roachsters had appeared and fired at him. He couldn't react in time, so he was devirtualized. Aelita gasped as the two monsters approached her. One charged its laser, but it was killed by a flying fan.
"Go ahead. I'll take care of the last one!" Yumi said as she jumped to Aelitas side. The pink elf nodded and looked at the tower. She ran over to the platform and hopped on. Then she ran into the tower.
Factory
Ulrich in I could only back away in fear as the robot approached us closer and closer. I fell o the ground and backed up against the wall. When it raised its arms at us, I closed my eyes.
"Hurry up, Aelita!" I thought. I heard the firing sound. I heard Ulrich's scream.
But I never heard or felt an impact. I opened one of of my eyes to see that the ammo had stopped right in front of Ulrich head. I let out a breath of relief. Seconds later, white light engulfed us all.
Gymnasium
We were back to just before it all happened. Back at the contest when Iron Sissi tied the game up.
"Game ball!" Jim shouted, then tossed the ball up into the air again. Kiwi caught the ball again and made his way to the basket. We all cheered for him again, but I kept am eye on Herb. He got a mischievous look on his face before he pressed a button on his controls. Jeremy, however, was prepared this time.
Right as Kiwi jumped into the air, Jeremy turned his controls so that he would turn to the right, making the nut miss Kiwi entirely. Seeing the absolutely astounded look on Herb's face was great, I tell you!
"I now declare Jeremy the winner of this years robot contest!" Jim said into the mic. The four of us all cheered and high fived one another. "ok you two, I want you to shake hands!" Jeremy stuck his hand out again, but this time Herb turned away.
"No way!" He shouted. He stormed away, making Odd roll his eyes.
"What a sore loser."
"I forgive him," Yumi said. "He's nice every now and then."
"Huh? You mind explaining?"Odd asked us with a confused expression. Ulrich, Yumi, an I just looked at each other and laughed. Jeremy looked up at us and beamed. I gave him a thumbs up with a grin on my face.
And that's it! That's The Robots!
I'm so excited because of how close we are to finishing season 1! Just six more to go guys, then it's on to season 2!
See you next time!