"Aelita! Hang on! Odd’s almost there!"

"I hope so." Aelita answered, a small amount of fear creeping into her voice. Jeremie warned her of Odd’s vision which frightened her even more.

She could do nothing to save herself. As soon as se tried to get away, one of the Blocks would fire at her, either with it’s lasers or freeze her in place, keeping her still until the Schyphizoa could get there. There was nothing she could do but wait there until help arrived.

But what if it doesn’t? Aelita thought as the seconds slowly ticked by. What if this time no one makes it in time? What if XANA succeeds in getting my memory? Then what will happen to us?

Aelita never told anyone, but these thoughts plagued her every time she stepped foot on Lyoko. They sometimes even haunted her when she was on earth, away from the Schyphizoa.

The sound of the monster drew closer. Aelita could feel the panic well up inside of her. Her green eyes remained wide open as if to watch for XANA’s monster. She didn’t see it.

Odd, please hurry up! She prayed.

"Aelita! The Schyphizoa!" came Jeremie’s frantic voice.

Whirling around, Aelita saw the floating monster looming over her. She gasped in fright and backed away from the tentacles that danced around her. Immediately, she remembered what Jeremie had told her about Odd’s vision and stopped walking.

Exactly what the Schyphizoa wanted.

Aelita could do nothing as a tentacle wrapped around her. She gasped again as she hung there, unable to move; helpless to free herself. She saw the other tentacles making their way around her head and yelped as the monster began sucking her memory from her.

With each piece, she gradually began to feel weaker and weaker. She wanted to free herself from the unbearable feeling of having her memory pumped from her head, but she couldn’t. All she could do was hope that Odd would hurry.

*~*~*~*

Even from afar, Odd could see the familiar sight of the Schyphizoa. It wasn’t a hard thing to miss, being so large and all.

And it had Aelita.

Good thing I can multi-task, Odd mused as he leveled his weapon at his eye level. "Laser arrow!" he shouted as he fired, continuously getting closer to the scene on the Overboard.

Direct hit.

The Schyphizoa dropped Aelita and backed away, but only a little. Aelita scrambled to her feet and tried to run underneath the Schyphizoa, but a Block reminded her of it’s presence. Aelita froze, not wanting to be hit by the laser blasts.

The remaining two Blocks turned their attention to Odd and began a series of rapid firing at him.

"Shield!" Odd shouted. Immediately a purple shield came up from his wrist and deflected the blasts. He lowered the shield and returned the favor.

Jeremie watched the spectacle from his seat in the control room, biting his index finger hard enough to cause a small abrasion. "Hurry…" he muttered under his breath, not noticing. Yumi and Ulrich stood behind him, both as anxious as he was.

"Odd! The Schyphizoa is going after Aelita again!" Jeremie warned.

"Just a little problem to take care of first!" Odd retorted as he dodged more laser fire. Man, I really hate these stupid Blocks!

His strong dislike of the monsters elevated when the two spun around so that a different side was facing him…the fire ring side.

"Great…" Odd growled under his breath. The fire-rings were shot out at him. Odd successfully dodged the first three by rising into the air, but the second Block realized this and decided to shoot continuous rings at different angles.

It was a bit trickier to dodge, but miraculously the cat-boy managed. "Laser Arrow!" he shouted as he again launched an assault. This time the arrows penetrated XANA’s mark on the Block that had stationed itself on another plateau. "Yes!" he said triumphantly. His glee turned to horror as he watched Aelita back away from the Schyphizoa, getting closer and closer to the edge.

No!

*~*~*~*

Aelita knew that Odd was around and doing his best to get to her, but the thought didn’t stay too long on her mind as she concentrated on getting away from the Schyphizoa. Even the thoughts of Odd’s vision faded away as she saw the monster’s ominous body looming over her. She could do nothing but back away.

Suddenly she felt her foot slip. Frantically she glanced back to see that her foot was no longer on the plateau but rather hanging over the Void. Desperately she tried to regain her balance in any way she could, but it was no use.

The next feeling she got was of her falling…

"Aelita!" Jeremie cried out as he watched helplessly.

"No!" Ulrich echoed Jeremie’s horror. Yumi gasped, knowing that Odd’s vision was coming true just by the way Ulrich and Jeremie were acting. A groan came from behind her.

"XANA…" Ulrich growled.

Odd saw what was happening. Another laser arrow hit one of the remaining Blocks, but he didn’t care. He pushed the Overboard as fast as it could, racing to Aelita’s falling form before the Void claimed her as a victim.

He was closing in. He was close enough to see the genuine fear in her eyes. He didn’t say a word as he began his downward trajectory, spinning in order to gain more momentum.

Odd was under her, but barely. He didn’t have time to get any farther down. He leveled the Overboard out and scooted forward as Aelita’s petite frame slammed into the back of the board. Odd held out his hand and helped her to a standing position; a large sigh of relief reflected everywhere on his body - including his tail.

"Next time you feel like leaving your buddies there, Princess, let me know first. I can give you a safer ride home." he joked as he winked at her.

Aelita giggled in response as she grabbed his waist, afraid of falling back toward the Void.

"Nice job Odd!" came Jeremie’s relieved voice.

Odd zipped away from the site. "Next stop: the activated tower!"

*~*~*~*