HEART OF A WARRIOR III

WARRIOR’S REDEMPTION
CHAPTER 20

            Chaud sat on his bed, deep in thought about what he had learned.

            Somehow, those people he called “Suspects...” were, in fact, in league with Bass himself. Their Net Navis… resembled them closely, but were about as strong as a level-one normal navi. Coupled with the fact that they had apparently recruited darkloids to their numbers… the situation was already too complex as it was.

“I guess they can’t all be easy, heh?”

            “No, sir. I guess not.”

            “So what now?”

            “I would advise that we strike first, before they get a chance to adapt to our presence.”

            “… I agree. Do you know where their base of operations is?”

            “I think so… But I’ll have to check to make sure about it.”

            “Good. Make sure, and we’ll attack soon.”

            “Yes, sir.”

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

            Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita, and Jeremie glumly stared into their trays of food. It wasn’t a good feeling- the knowledge that someone knew about them, and was trying to kill them. Well, not that they hadn’t experienced that before, but for some reason, this was different.

            Jeremie sighed loudly, unfortunately drawing the attention of the overweight athletic coach, Jim.

            “ALRIGHT, Belpois, what’s the matter?” he bellowed as he marched up to their table. “I haven’t seen people so depressed since I did all that work with the,” he hesitated, “Red Cross… back in Yumland…”

            “You were in the Red Cross?”

            “I’d rather not talk about it. Now spill- we got enough depressed people here as is, so either tell me what’s wrong or I’ll haul your butts down to the Counselor’s office faster than you can say, uhh…. ‘Counselor’s Office!’”

            Jeremie’s genius intellect, as amazing as it was, could not seem to fabricate a story. Thankfully, Yumi came to the rescue.

            “We’re trying to figure out a problem we’re having with… Aelita’s brother!” she blurted.

            Jim’s eyebrows raised a few inches at this proclamation, while her fellow warriors shot her glares.”

            She flushed and continued, “W-well, her brother’s not old enough to come to Kadic, so he lives back home with their parents… and there’s this bully who’s threatening to beat him up.”

            At this point, Ulrich jumped in, slowly at first, but picking up steam as he went.

            “A-and he’s a friend of ours, so we want to help him, but this bully is…”

            “The son of a policeman!” Burst out Aelita, a little brighter now, “And if he fights my brother, and my brother fights back, he could get in a lot of trouble!”

            “But what with,” Jeremie’s voice caught in his throat, “Odd, and all, it’s kinda overwhelming…”

            “So we can’t really think up any good ideas on how to help him. You have any clue, Jim?” finished Yumi.

            Jim looked at each one in turn.

            “Have you tried talking to this… bully?”

            The four warriors looked at one another. By the silence, it was clear that none of them had.

            “Look, you’re not going to make any headway against him with this strategy. Why,” and his voice regained it’s usual bluster, “When I was in the army, we were taught that sometimes, you had to deal with situations where sometimes, you had to make peace with someone, even if you didn’t like them, for the sake of the mission!”

            Ulrich nodded at this, but then frowned, before opening his mouth to ask the usual question. “When were you-”

            However, it was at this moment that Jeremie’s backpack began to beep loudly. His eyes shot wide, and he stuttered, “Uhh… th-that must be him! He’s got that online-phone-thing. You know, where you can call people over the internet…?”

            “I got’cha, go and talk to him. If you need any help, just come talk to me.” He rumbled as he walked away with a smile and a spring in his step.

            As the Lyoko warriors got up and walked quickly for the door, Chaud Blaze brought his PET to his mouth, and whispered, “They’ve taken the bait. In pursuit.”

            “Good. You and Protoman should be careful.”

            “Understood.”

            --- --- --- --- --- --- ---- ---

            In less than five minutes, the Warriors were on Lyoko, ready and waiting to charge into battle against their foes. Thankfully, since the last battle, Franz had decided to complete the upgrades to their weapons and armor.

            Ulrich now wore a one-piece yellow-and-black jumpsuit, with a high-tech scabbard for his two katanas. He also had a HUD device that wrapped around his head and rested comfortably over his left eye. He looked around in amazement through the instrument, surveying all that he saw and receiving a veritable gold mine of data in return.

            Yumi was clad in another jumpsuit, this one was burgundy-and-wine colored hugged her curves tightly, but provided her with enhanced strength and came with holsters for her two tessen fans. These weapons themselves had been modified to be heat-seeking and to have a thin layer of energy cover the edges, to enhance their cutting power.

            Aelita, of course, already had her own weapons and outfit upgraded by Franz, but it was still interesting for them to fully appreciate their outfits as one group for the first time. Still, something seemed off to the techno-Lyoko-elf.

            “Jeremie? I can’t feel any pulsations. It’s like he hasn’t activated a tower at all… Jeremie? Jeremie?”

            “I think you have more problems to worry about than your friend right now,” came a cold voice.

--- --- --- --- --- --- ---

            In the Lab, Jeremie was watching his friends appear on Lyoko, saw the new figure appear, and then…

            The screen turned black.

            “Jeremie Belpois?”

            He spun around in his seat to see Chaud Blaze holding a small electronic device in his hands, as well as a badge.

            “By order of the Officials, you and your friends are under arrest for aiding and abiding a Triple-S-ranked Cyberworld threat.”

            Jeremie scrambled up from his seat, ripping the headset from his ear as he scrambled a few feet from the Net Agent, before setting into a basic fighting position he had learned from Ulrich.

“You’re not fooling me, XANA,” snarled the blonde boy, resulting in a confused look on the Official’s face. “I won’t let you hurt them!”

“XANA? What are you-?” questioned Chaud, before Jeremie launched himself at him. Chaud coolly sidestepped slammed the helpless nerd into the wall before tapping him in a pressure point, knocking him unconscious in seconds.

            Walking over to the computer, Chaud placed the headphones on his head, and spoke, “It’s your show now, Protoman.”

--- --- --- --- --- ---

            “Protoman? Who’s-?” asked Aelita, but she was interrupted by a blade of crimson crystal sliced down mere inches from where she had been standing.

            “I am Protoman,” the red Navi growled, “And you are under arrest for association with a known SSS-Rank criminal.”

            Yumi backed up, her hands raised in a placating gesture. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking ab-”

            “Bass.” He spoke, monotone. “The Black Shadow. The Messenger of Darkness. The Ultimate Undefeated Net Navi. Destroyer of the Red Bandits. Wields unimaginable power, wears a brown cloak and has big fins on his head. You’re under arrest for aiding him in… whatever he’s doing.”

            “Don’t you need a warrant for his arr-” began Ulrich, but he was cut off.

            “Don’t spout legal matters to me. This little factory that we’re in is privately owned, so not only are you abetting a known criminal, you’re committing truancy AND trespassing on private property! That’s not even mentioning how you have hacked into top-secret files. Some of those carry the death penalty for even knowing about them.”

            “And,” he added, “Bass is the most-wanted criminal in the world. He has been deemed an SSS-Rank threat to cyberworld security. There is no one we want more than him, if nothing else, to face justice for his crimes.”

            Something about this sparked something in Yumi’s memories.

            “Wait,” she asked, “Isn’t there another SSS-rank criminal out there?”

            Protoman scowled. “That doesn’t matter. You’re all under arrest, and-”

            “You’re right, Yumi,” growled a figure from behind the Crimson Swordsman, “And I’d appreciate it if none of you would interfere with Father’s WORK!!!” She roared, and catapulted herself towards Protoman.

            Protoman, however, wasn’t known as the finest Net Agent without reason. His blade instantly manifest, he ducked and parried the initial strike, then followed up with his own stab at XANA’s heart.

            Ulrich and Aelita looked at each other for a moment, before leaping forwards to attack Lyoko’s demoness. Protoman, surprised at the unexpected aid, let his guard down for a moment, and was blasted aside from the energy-enhanced strike of the malevolent program’s blade.

            He tumbled over the landscape briefly before rolling to his feet, and observed as a black shape shot out from behind a boulder, taking Aelita and Ulrich with it. XANA grinned tighly, before advancing slowly upon the Net Agent, black smoke gently leaking out from wounds, sealing the noxious points of exit as they went.

            “You have no idea whatsoever what you’re doing.” Came the low, predatory, (and to Protoman’s great shock,) seductive voice. “You come here, waving around your little sword, so convinced that you are in the right… you have no idea.”

            Protoman angled his blade across his body in a defensive posture.

            “And I assume you’re going to tell me?”

            “Do I look like a two-bit Saturday morning cartoon villain? Father is careful. Father is brilliant. And father knows that failure is not tolerated. Why should I tell you? Not when you-”

            “ARE ABOUT TO f$#%& DIE, YOU $#@*!!!!”

            A purple meteor slammed into the ground in front of Protoman, knocking him backwards.

            “Ch-Chaud…” gasped the red navi, growing increasingly more worried, “Cha…ud…”

            “Don’t bother, bugsucker,” Smirked Forte, “The Big W’s got a way of jamming signals to the surface.” He leaned in closer, a particularly nasty smirk forming on his wild-eyed face. “It’s just you and me, cupcake…”

            “Oh really? Must I talk to you again for you to realize your pitiful nature, copy?”

            Protoman’s eyes (hidden by his sunglasses/visor) widened as a golden blast of energy blasted the Bass-like being out of the way. His head swiveled to see the source, a familiar brown-cloaked Navi with ominous golden fins.

            “The agents are finally here?” he asked, eyes radiating a cold anger. Protoman noted, with some confusion, that it was not directed at him. He merely nodded.

            Bass’ frown deepened, and his arms began to crackle with power once more.

            “Contact your operator. All will be explained once the battle is concluded,” came the response, before he jumped into the air to dodge a dark energy disc.

            “YA KNOW,” screamed the insane clone, “As I recall, it was YOU who had his sorry loner hard drive pasted all over the walls of the school the last time we met!”

            “And yet,” intoned Bass calmly, “I accomplished my goal while you were left floundering…” he smirked.

            The two flew at each other, Forte’s razor wings clawing desperately at Bass’ shield, while Bass aimed rapid-fire bursts of power.

            All of this nearly made Protoman miss XANA attempting to pierce his skull with her blood-hued blade.

            --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

            Yumi had been taken out in the first few seconds of the fight, as Odd literally ripped through her. Ulrich and Aelita were taken off guard by this strange, berserker Odd, but quickly began to prepare themselves.

            Aeltia leapt to the sky, and began to pepper the cat-boy with energy. Snarling, he raised an arm in response, spewing the explosive, razor-sharp, crystal bolts from his wrists. Aelita, having gained a measure of  maneuverability and speed not available to her on the ground, dodged and looped over and past the anti-personal fire.

            It was nearly inevitable that at least one would hit, until Ulrich intervened. Moving at speeds that were impossible before his upgrades, the felinoid was attacked with a maelstrom of blades, and the Samurai was at the center of it all.

            Odd wasn’t out of the fight yet, though, despite his gradually increasing damage from both energy and blade. With a sinister click, his claws extended out from his fingertips, glowing with the dark pink energy that gave him his powers in the first place.

            Ulrich barely had a second to respond before his face was clawed off. As his limbs flailed, they stabbed the cat straight through the heart.

            The blade stuck out of the darklings’ chest, and, had Jeremie been present, he would have found it funny that the sword attracted the energy of Aelita’s blasts like a lightning rod, causing the slave of XANA to explode in a black fireball.

TO BE CONTINUED…..

OMAKE for CHAPTER 14: (please don’t kill me for this…)

            Forte grinned as energy began to charge in his hand, ready to smite Aelita from existence, when he felt another presence nearby. He turned just in time to see Bass land on top of the Administration building.

            “Hey, that’s…” started Forte, as he stared at Bass.

            “…That fake Navi again, of all places!” Growled Bass.

            “I found you… FAKER!!” Cried Forte as he pointed dramatically at Bass.

            “Faker? You’re comparing yourself to me?” Bass asked incredulously, indicating himself. “You’re not even good enough to be my fake!”

            “I’ll make you eat those words!” Cried Forte, and he lunged at Bass before getting knocked back by a burst of red light.

            Shadow the Hedgehog stood in the middle of the Kadic grounds, glaring at the two navis and Aelita.

            “We got our scripts mixed up. AGAIN.”

            “WHAT THE #$^&?” Screamed Aelita, “We’ve been doing that for the last four hours, and it was with the WRONG FRAKKING SCRIPT?!? Screw this, I’ll be in my trailer.”

            Forte immediately put on a monocle and spoke in a highly cultured, snobbish voice.

            “I do say, I did believe that there was something decidedly off about that last script.”

            Sithking Zero walked onto the scene, snatching the scripts from Shadow before yelling, “Okay everyone, take five! We’ll try it again at three!”

            “Fyyngh bgum Mumph!” spluttered Bass, who already had six Ho-Ho’s in his mouth.