The Warriors looked around the room they had just entered, and the sight they found before them shocked them for a brief moment, but their battle-ready state quickly kicked in.

Ahead of the gang was an army of hundreds robots, standing at approximately six feet. Their metal exterior was a mix of grey and black, thick plates of armor covering their elbows and knees over already thick metal. They lacked distinct eyes, but had the eye of X.A.N.A. inside their chest, visible through a glass window at their core. Their arms were equipped with massive cannon-like weapons, a light blue aura visible from the tip of the arm.

"Aelita, these aren't the same robots as last time, right?" Odd questioned.

"No... these are much larger." She said, an energy field charged up in her right hand.

"Since when did X.A.N.A. have an army in the real world?" William asked, holding his sword at the ready.

"Since the last time we were here. But this time it looks like he's given his robots an upgrade." Odd replied, taking aim into one of the massive divisions the robots were divided into.

Ulrich looked across the expanse of the massive room, raising a brow. "If they're activated, then why aren't they attacking us?"

"Maybe they aren't finished yet?" Yumi said, walking down the steps that lead to the entrance until she was level with the ground. She approached one of the robots, waved her fan in front of what she could only guess was its head, then turned back to her friends.

"Guess we got here just before X.A.N.A. finished them." Yumi said, pausing for a moment before she let out a slight laugh. "And to think we got so worked up over a false alarm."

As Yumi began to walk back over to her friends, Ulrich could have sworn he saw the robots right arm move slightly. He quickly just passes it off as his eyes playing tricks on him, but was quickly proven wrong. The right arm of the robot swiftly rose and grabbed at Yumi.

"Yumi! Watch out!" Ulrich yelled, causing her to turn around quickly. She had no time to react as the robot took a step closer to her and grabbed Yumi by the neck with its humanoid right arm. It's fingers clenched around her throat as it raised her off the ground, Yumi flailing her legs around in an attempt to break free. Her hands fought to make even a bit of room for air to get to her lungs, but as she pulled at the machines grip she found its strength greatly superior to her own.

"Hey, let go of her!" Ulrich yelled, jumping high into the air from the stairs, landing on top of the robot whose grasp currently kept Yumi incapacitated. He thrusted his sword straight into the thick metal structure of the machines head, causing it to momentarily lose power.

Yumi fell onto the cold concrete floor with a thud, her back aching, her neck throbbing. The robot regained it's strength after the strong blow and moved its cannon towards Yumi who was currently lying on the ground defenseless. A massive ball of light blue electricity built up at the tip of the cannon, but before the machine have a chance to fire, Ulrich stabbed his blade into the 'heart' of the bot: the symbol of X.A.N.A. protected by a glass chamber.

The bot collapsed immediately, leaving behind a wounded Yumi who was panting between coughs on the ground.

"Yumi, are you alright?" Ulrich asked, coming to her side immediately.

*hack* *wheeze* "Yeah, I'm fine." Yumi said, struggling to stand up after her fall.

Ulrich stretched his arm out to her, signaling for her to accept his assistance, which she quickly did. After Ulrich helped Yumi back to her feet, they joined the others back on the stairs.

"It's not safe here, we need to leave now." William said, putting his massive sword back over his shoulder.

"Wait!" Aelita said, causing the group to focus on her. The pink haired angel pointed directly ahead of her, staring completely focused on one spot of the room.

"Look at the back of the room, inserted into the wall. It looks like that thing X.A.N.A. is building in the factory." She claimed, causing the others to take a closer look at the back of the room.

"Hold on, let me get a look." Jeremy said, accessing one of the internal cameras inside the base. He used the zoom feature to get as close as possible on the object only to confirm Aelita's claims.

"She's right, it looks exactly like the device X.A.N.A. built in the factory." Jeremy said into his mic.

"This can't be good." Hopper said, pacing back and forth for a moment. "I'm going to go check it out. I'll be back soon."

Jeremy didn't even have time to respond before he entered the elevator and headed up. Jeremy didn't understand why, but for some reason he had the slightest feeling that something bad was about to happen, something that would change all of their lives forever. But he had no time to indulge in his feelings; right now he had work to do.

But he just couldn't shake that feeling. It just wouldn't leave his thoughts.

—

Yo bros! Informal introductions over, this is one chapter away from the climax! I know, right? But hey, with more tension built up here than the Golden Gate Bridge, I'm sure you're all excited for my next post Sunday! Enjoy the wait...

Today's poll:

Favorite minor character? (Ex: Milly, Herb, Sissi, Jim, ect.)