Chapter 9- Old Friends (11.23.07-11.25.07)
Aelita, Odd, William and Yumi ran out of the tower. They were on a raised path, almost like a bridge. Virtual water flowed beneath the path, making the path seem even more like a bridge. “Franz,” Yumi said, “we’re in the Ice Sector.”
“Good,” Franz said. “We don’t have enough resources to bring your vehicles up. The passage tower is just a little farther. Head down the path, and then through the cave tunnel.”
“What about the Digital Sea?” Yumi asked.
“There’s not much use of doing that now,” Jeremie said, “since you four are vulnerable to the water as well as XANA’s creatures. And since we don’t have the Skid, it’ll just make it harder for you guys to get to the tower. Plus, it would save the energy we currently have in the supercomputer, which still isn’t a lot.”
The four of them ran forward on the path until it opened up to a small island-like raised platform, at the same level as the bridge-path behind them. It was surrounded by sharp wing-like rocks that curved toward them. Aelita remembered this as the place Sissi had virtualized her when Mr. Delmas, the principal, Sissi’s father, had been Xanafied. Aelita also remembered even father back to when XANA had taken control of a set prop, an alien, which he had used to attack Ulrich and Yumi. Odd and Aelita had taken this very path to get to the tower.
Odd, and Yumi, remembered this place well, too. XANA had given them an Ultimatum that either Aelita had to be in the Ice Sector by 2:00 to give herself up to the Scyphozoa, or Yumi and Odd would have been liquidated. In that attack, Ulrich had saved Odd and Yumi in time in the refrigerated warehouses on the wharf with Jeremie’s bulky, prototypical EMP Bomb. Odd and Yumi had also been virtualized here. Odd also remembered, like Aelita, far before Aelita had been materialized for the first time, when the movie director, James Finson, had come to town, and had used the old Factory as his set. Ulrich had gone along as a “technical advisor”, to watch and protect the supercomputer. And Sissi again had interfered that time too.
In front of them, the path started up again, but it took a very steep decline, more than 45 degrees steep. It gradually curved out, and finally entered a cave, with an opening to a tunnel.
William, his sword still on his shoulders, supported by a hand, put one foot half-over the drop, and shivered. “That’s one steep drop,” he said, looking down.
Suddenly, there was a laser shot, and a few rough groans. Everyone turned. Three Krabes were walking toward them from the path behind them.
“Shield!” Odd shouted, blocking more shots. Aelita, Yumi and William blocked the shots fired at them as well. Yumi looked up briefly, addressing the two people sitting in the Lab. “Franz, Jeremie, what do we do?”
Jeremie thought. “Two of you and Aelita head to the passage tower,” Jeremie said, “but the other person should stay to fight the Krabes before joining the other three. I know splitting up isn’t always a good idea, but we need someone to keep the monsters busy.”
Then a window opened on the screen, showing the Skid’s energy levels. The shield was rapidly decreasing.
Franz frowned again. “What...?”
Then a radar window opened, explaining the situation. Franz sighed. “Aelita, Odd, Yumi and William: XANA is attacking the Skidbladnir with the Scyphozoa. I’ll tell Ulrich to stay there and fight it, but he’s going to need some help. I need one of you to take the Transporter to Sector 5 and help Ulrich.”
“I’ll go,” William said, slamming his sword to the ground to block another shot.
“And I’ll stay to fight these Krabes,” Odd said, as Aelita and Yumi destroyed one apiece at the same time. “Okay…Krabe. Yumi, Aelita, get to that passage tower.”
“No need, Odd,” William said. He jumped onto the remaining Krabe and jammed his sword into the dark red XANA eye on the Krabe’s shell. William quickly jumped back off. The Krabe groaned, swaying, and exploded.
“Okay,” Jeremie said. “All four of you need to take the tunnel, but after you exit the tunnel, William, you need to take the Transporter. I’ll guide you.”
“Got it,” William said. There was another shot. Everyone looked over their shoulders. Two more Krabes walked onto the plateau.
“All of you, get going,” Franz said. “Don’t worry about the Krabe.”
“It’s your lucky day, Mary!” called Odd. He jumped off the platform onto the steep incline. Aelita gave a little wave, and jumped after Odd. Yumi and William quickly jumped after Odd and Aelita as well.
The Krabes groaned, still firing at them, but not being able to follow them down the incline. Aelita, Odd, Yumi and William disappeared into the tunnel, William still dragging his Zanbato.
---
Ulrich ran into the middle of the Arena. “Jeremie, Franz, I’m here. You can access the Transporter.”
“Ulrich, you need to go back to the Hangar,” Franz instructed. “XANA’s attacking the Skidbladnir with the Scyphozoa.”
“What?” Ulrich quickly ran back into the Corridor. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“It appeared just after you left,” Jeremie said, “but we were helping the others to the tower.”
“Can’t you run that program to reinforce the Skid’s shields?”
“The one with activating a tower in each sector?” Jeremie sighed. “Ulrich, we don’t have any towers to use right now besides the one in Franz’s Replika, because we’re using a highly strict access program to protect the Forest and Desert Lyoko towers. To activate one of those towers means lifting the protection, which we would rather not risk.”
“William is coming as your backup,” Franz said.
As the Elevator started to rise, Ulrich caught his breath and groaned inwardly. The last thing he needed right now was a weight to keep him down and protect in addition to himself.
---
“Woo hoo!”
Odd skidded out of the tunnel and off the cliff, as if he was on his Overboard. Aelita, Yumi and William shot out of the tunnel behind him. Odd landed, skidding in an upright position. Aelita activated her wings with a wave of her hand to her wrist and slowly beat back her momentum with her wings. Yumi’s and William’s landings were less graceful, both of them landing with a sickening crunch on the ground far below.
William got up, brushing himself off, and then gave a hand to Yumi and helped her up. “Franz, Jeremie,” William said, “where do I go?”
“Go to the edge of the plateau,” Franz said. “It’s on your left. The rest of you, get to the passage tower. It’s in the middle of a canyon on your far right.”
In the distance, about fifty yards away, stood the canyon. William could see the end of the plateau in directly the opposite direction. “See ya!” he called, waving, heading toward the edge of the plateau.
“Good luck!” called Yumi. Odd and Aelita again exchanged a glance, and decided mentally at the same time not to mention any of this to Ulrich.
Yumi ran a few steps and then stopped, looking back at them. “Coming, you two?”
“Of course!” Odd ran to follow Yumi, Aelita in his wake.
“Franz, Jeremie,” William called, addressing the sky, “I’m almost at the edge of the sector.”
“William,” Jeremie said, “we’ve developed a way so that you don’t have to carry your sword on your shoulders. Just think of it disappearing, and it’ll disappear. When you want to call it back, think of it and focus your mind on it.”
William stopped, taking his Zanbato off his shoulders and looking at it. It disappeared in light wisps of white smoke. “Thanks!” William called, continuing running. He finally grounded to a halt, looking over the edge of the plateau to the shimmering, dark blue Digital Sea. “I’m here.”
“Okay,” Franz said, typing the six-letter password to the Carthage window. “Scipio.”
The white, spherical Transporter with the Lyoko eye upon its front soared up out of the Digital Sea. It paused before engulfing William with a white radiance, spinning, and then whooshed towards the bright light at the other end of the sector.
---
The Elevator shuddered to a stop at its destination. Ulrich ran off the Elevator. “Jeremie, Franz, I’m here!”
In front of him was the Skid, and the Scyphozoa was attacking it with its tentacles.
“Ulrich,” Jeremie said, “we’re shutting the sky entry portal so you don’t get any uninvited guests.”
The entry portal closed. The room got considerably darker without the bluish light from the Celestial Dome.
Ulrich drew his sabers. “Thanks. This’ll be a piece of cake.” Ulrich got ready to throw a saber, but just as he was about to throw it, the creak of the Elevator sounded behind him. There was a laser shot that blasted the saber out of his hand. Ulrich turned. “Jeremie, Franz, where’s my backup?”
Four Creepers slithered off of the Elevator and took positions around the Skid. All except for one, who turned and started firing at Ulrich.
Ulrich groaned. “Super Sprint!” He ran, gazette-like, and retrieved his saber. “Jeremie, Franz, where’s my backup?” he repeated, blocking shots. “I think I might actually need it.”
“William’s on his way,” Jeremie said. “In fact, he’s in the Arena right now.”
Indeed, about four stories below his feet, in the Arena, the white Transporter spun to the center of the room. William appeared in the Transporter’s white radiance. The Arena didn’t spin, since the Corridor was already open. “Jeremie, Franz,” William called, running out of the Arena, “I’m here.”
“Good,” Franz said. “After you exit the Corridor, run to the end of the path and take the Elevator up to the Skidbladnir Hangar.”
“Okay,” William said, even though he had already been here a little less than an hour ago. He ran out of the Corridor, across the rectangular path and onto the Elevator. He turned to face the way he came as the Elevator rose up the navy blue framing structure.
---
Aelita, Odd and Yumi ran out of the canyon path. “Jeremie, Dad,” Aelita said, panting a little, “we’re here.”
“Great job,” Jeremie said. “All you have to do is get through those Tarantulas, destroy the shield, reset the Ice Sector and we’re good to go.
“Tarantulas?” The three of them turned to look at the tower. The entire circular space surrounding the red tower was silent and empty except for them. “There isn’t anyone here besides us.”
“Funny,” Jeremie said. “They’re here on our screen.” The radar window indicated that twelve Tarantulas were surrounding the tower, facing Odd, Yumi and Aelita.
“It’s possible that XANA was able to bug up our radar,” Franz said, typing. “I’m running a check just to confirm which of our resources XANA was able to modify before we kicked him out.”
Aelita, Odd, and Yumi stood patiently, waiting for the update.
After half a minute, another window opened up on the screen of the supercomputer. Franz squinted, reading the data. “It looks like XANA was able to bug up the radar program,” Franz said, “along with a few choice items from the restricted part of the supercomputer. I’ve been able to fix and repair everything, though. It doesn’t seem like XANA was able to gain anything complete from the restricted part of the supercomputer in the time he had.”
There were sudden sounds of walking, mechanical-like. Aelita, Odd and Yumi turned back to the path they had come from. “Finally!” Odd said, as three Krabes appeared, walking towards them in single file, and upon exiting the path, lined up side-by-side and charged up. “It’s been like a ghost town here!”
Yumi turned to Aelita, drawing her fans. “Take care of the shield and the tower,” she said. “We’ll handle these three.”
Aelita nodded and ran as shots started firing at her, Odd and Yumi. Aelita stopped three meters in front of the tower, and charged up for another Energy Field.
The pink sphere of energy grew bigger and bigger, now above Aelita’s head. Aelita finally threw it. “Energy Field!”
The force was so great, Aelita was thrown backwards. Ripples of blue energy passed through the shield, and it finally lit up and exploded in those light blue squares.
Aelita got ready to run into the tower, but a sudden white blink behind the tower made her stop. “What?” Aelita squinted to see, and ran around the tower.
As she rounded the tower, she gasped, slowly walking backwards toward the tower. “Yumi! Odd! I need some help here!”
Odd and Yumi turned, the Krabes destroyed, and ran around the tower. Upon seeing the sight, they both gasped as well.
Walking towards them were the twelve Tarantulas that they had thought were there.
Odd got into a shooting position. “Get to the tower!” Odd called, indicating with a slight wag of his head. Aelita quickly turned and ran toward the tower.
---
William spun forward, hitting his two Creepers. “Yeah!” He quickly ran to help Ulrich.
Ulrich was blocking more of the shots. He turned to the approaching William. “Can you handle them?”
William nodded, still running forward. “Okay, you creepy crawlers, I guess you’re all mine!”
“Super Sprint!” shouted Ulrich, running and jumping off the platform. He landed on the Skid, surrounded by all the tentacles. He quickly turned and slashed. The Scyphozoa rose and floated away angrily, all of its tentacles cut. Just as it turned away, Ulrich threw a saber. The sword hit the eye of XANA upon its head.
The Scyphozoa swayed back and forth, electrical currents passing across its brain. The brain finally lit up completely like a light bulb, and the Scyphozoa exploded. Ulrich caught his sword as it flew back to him.
William drove his sword into the remaining Creeper. “Good job!”
“You too,” Ulrich said, surprised and pleased.
“Great job to both of you,” Franz said. “Get back down to the Arena, and I’ll send the Transporter to take you back to the Ice Sector. Aelita, Yumi and Odd need your help.”
“Okay,” Ulrich said, jumping off the Skid and landing beside William. They both ran back onto the Elevator.
No one still knew that XANA had done something besides stealing energy from the Skid. In addition to taking something from the Skid, he had also done the opposite.
---
“Aelita!”
Aelita tripped as she was hit by yet another shot. Odd quickly ran to her aid, Yumi still blocking shots as she spun in circles like a figure skater.
“Odd, protect Aelita,” Franz instructed. “She only has 20 life points left!”
“Shield!” Odd blocked more shots from hitting Aelita. With his shield still intact, he looked over his shoulder at Aelita. “Get into the tower!” he shouted.
Aelita slowly got up, and turned to run toward the tower.
“Ahh!” Odd was thrown backward from five multiple shots hitting his shield at once. “Aelita!” he shouted, rolling to turn toward her.
Aelita was a meter away from the tower. But just as she entered the tower, a laser shot hit her. She stumbled into the tower.
“Aelita!”
Aelita collapsed to the ground, on the top line of the Lyoko eye of the tower, just as she had all that time back when she had first left the Forest tower after Jeremie had turned the supercomputer back on, that fateful day on October 9th, 2004.
Franz and Jeremie sighed with relief. “Aelita,” Jeremie said, “you made it into the tower in time. Your life points are regenerating.” Sure enough, the thin blue line on the side of the window displaying Aelita’s card refilled to the top.
Aelita slowly stood up. She sighed with relief, and walked to the middle of the eye upon the floor.
---
The Transporter flew to the edge of the plateau with a whoosh. It opened, displaying a white radiance from within, and Ulrich and William appeared. The Transporter circled back and dropped in the direction of the Digital Sea.
“The tower is in front of you,” Jeremie told Ulrich and William, “in the middle of the cavern.”
“Okay,” Ulrich said. “Super Sprint!” Ulrich shot forward, left arm out in front of him.
William, his Zanbato stored, ran after Ulrich in a form of Ulrich’s Super Sprint, with a purplish-white glow behind him, compared to Ulrich’s yellow one.
---
Aelita pressed her hand to the interface. “Tower restoration program activated.”
The cerulean-blue cables throughout the Ice Sector sparked blue. The shields all exploded, and the towers’ auras shifted, as if blown by a great wind. The towers all turned back to blue.
“Ice Sector restarted,” Aelita called.
“Good job, Aelita,” congratulated Franz. “We now only have the Mountain Sector left, and then Carthage. With the extra resources now freed, we can now bring up your vehicles.”
Outside the tower, five Tarantulas still sat firing at Odd and Yumi. Yumi groaned as she flew backward, hit by another shot. “Franz, Jeremie, we might not even make it out of here!”
“Sure we will,” said a voice behind her. Yumi and Odd turned to see two sabers flying at the Tarantulas, along with a cleaver-shaped sword. “Ulrich! William!” Yumi called with relief.
Three of the Tarantulas exploded, defeated. Ulrich and William smiled. “Happy to see us?” Ulrich asked.
“Definitely.” They all turned to see Aelita walk out of the tower and prepare two Energy Fields. She shot them both at the Tarantulas, which momentarily fizzed pink before exploding.
“Good job, everyone!” Jeremie congratulated enthusiastically. “Here’s your vehicles. Once you exit the canyon, the way tower will be due west.”
The Overboard, the Overwing and the Overbike materialized in front of the tower, pointing to the path leading out of the canyon. Aelita hopped onto the Overboard behind Odd, and Ulrich quickly climbed onto the Overbike. Yumi jumped onto the Overwing.
William stood looking left out. Yumi beckoned to him. “Here, William, you can come with me.”
William smiled, and jumped on behind Yumi. They took off through the path.
Ulrich’s face turned stony, and then sad. Aelita and Odd glanced at him. “Don’t worry, Ulrich,” Aelita consoled, “Yumi still likes you. I can still see that.”
“I suppose,” Ulrich said, rather moodily and sad. He lifted his foot onto the pedal, and the Overbike took off.
Aelita glanced helplessly and sadly at Odd, before they took off right behind Ulrich.
---
The Overwing, Overboard and Overbike flew out of the tower in blue circles. “Franz, Jeremie,” Aelita said, “we’re here. The shield apparently let us out.”
The Mountain Sector stood calmly, its usual lighting reflecting a mid-morning setting, especially with the mist. White cables appeared every so often, always linking to a tower.
“The way tower is south of you,” Franz instructed. “At the next plateau, take the path to your right. It should take you through a hollow mountain, and then to the tower.”
“Okay,” Yumi said. Suddenly, there was a sound like a bird, and a laser shot barely missed Odd. They looked up and back. “Great.”
Three Flying Mantas flew behind them, trying to slow them down.
Aelita sighed. “Our progress is getting slower and slower with the Digital Sea at its normal level, and without the Skid for faster travel.”
An idea occurred to Ulrich. “Franz, Jeremie, since we have our vehicles, can’t you raise of the Digital Sea now?”
Franz and Jeremie pondered the thought. “It would be awfully risky,” Jeremie said, “without the Skid to ensure your protection. Remember, you’re affected by the water as well as XANA’s monsters.”
“It’s worth the risk,” William said, “if it’ll get rid of these pests from following us.”
“No, it’s not,” Jeremie said. “The Mantas will just fly higher along with you. And the tower is also at your current level. If we raise the Sea, we’ll have to raise it back down so Aelita can deactivate the Mountain Sector.”
There was silence. “Jeremie, Franz, we might as well try it,” Odd said.
Franz and Jeremie sighed, looking at each other. Franz finally started typing. “Okay, Odd. There’s higher ground, a mountain, a little farther left.”
“Okay.” The three vehicles continued along the path. Where the path opened up to a mountain plateau, the vehicles took off.
In front of them was the big mountain. “It looks good,” called Yumi.
Suddenly, laser shots started firing not only from behind them from the Mantas, but from in front of them as well. Four Blocks were occupying the Mountain.
“Jeremie! Dad!” Aelita shouted. “It’s now or never!”
“Raising the Sea,” Franz said, pushing the enter button.
Yumi, William, Odd, Aelita and Ulrich quickly landed on the mountain. The Blocks continued to fire at them.
“Ouch!” William was hit, and tumbled off the Overwing. He quickly summoned his Zanbato. He blocked more shots, and rebounded others. A Block exploded.
“William!” shouted Ulrich. “The Sea!” He quickly turned and zoomed forward, slashing a Block along the way. William quickly packed his sword in a flash of white and jumped onto the Overbike as it flew past. Their mountain was now an island.
The remaining Blocks turned, nervously shifting. The Sea rose up, past the level of their mountain. The Overbike rose higher to join the Overboard and Overwing, just in time. The Sea finally submerged the mountain. One Block froze and exploded upon contact with the water.
The other Block looked in dismay, and quickly tried to escape the oncoming flow of water. It was not successful, and was caught by the water, disappearing as well.
“See ya, blockheads!” called Ulrich.
“What happened to our friendly flying friends?” asked Odd.
“Surprisingly, it looks like they got caught by the water as well,” said Jeremie. “But XANA’s bound to send more Mantas to take the place of the three that were destroyed. Get to that passage tower.”
“Okay,” the five of them called. The three vehicles rose up, away from the now-submerged mountain.
“Hey,” Odd said, “have you realized that just about every single monster XANA has created has been used against us today, here on Lyoko?”
Everyone pondered the thought. “There were the Megatanks and the Kankrelats in the Forest,” William said.
“XANA used the Hornets in the Desert,” Yumi contributed.
“He just used those Mantas and Blocks here,” Aelita said.
“And he used Creepers and the Scyphozoa against me, William and the Skid in Sector 5,” added Ulrich. “That’s all nine of them, minus the three Digital Sea monsters. Wow, Odd, you’re actually thinking for once.”
“Hey!” Odd exclaimed over the laughter.
“You’re coming up to the tower,” Franz said. “I’m lowering the Digital Sea back to its normal level. All you have to do is go around the mountain in front of you.”
The Sea slowly dropped beneath them. After circling the mountain, which did have a tunnel, but was inaccessible with the Sea still rather high, the path curved slightly left, to a place that looked strangely familiar. It looked like somewhere they had just been an hour ago. The three vehicles circled the mountain, and headed above the path in front of them toward the tower.
The passage tower sat in the middle of a cavern, with the front part of the cavern open for access via the path. It was exactly the same as the Replika’s tower that they had used for Translation. Except for the fact that THIS is the tower I should have stopped the Xanafied Aelita from running into, Yumi thought as she drove the Overwing.
A shot shook everyone out of their thoughts.
“I told you…” Jeremie said, nervously.
The oncoming squadron of five Mantas continued to fire at them. Yumi, Odd and Ulrich, the drivers of the three vehicles, blocked the shots with their weapons, Odd with his purple, transparent shield.
“Aelita, the tower is now accessible,” Franz said. “There’s only the shield to take care of.”
Aelita looked at the cavern to see the water finally lower beneath ground level.
Yumi turned to Odd and Ulrich. “Odd, take Aelita to the tower,” Yumi instructed. “We three will handle the Mantas.”
“Okay, Yumi!” Odd and Aelita boarded toward the tower.
Ulrich turned to the Mantas circling the cavern. “Now, to work on some unfinished business.” Ulrich drew a saber and put it out in front of the Overbike, like a snowplow. “Here we go!” Ulrich and William shot forward, Yumi not far behind them.
With the Mantas occupied, Aelita and Odd headed for the tower. “Laser arrow!” Odd fired ten arrows at the shield. The shield again lit up and exploded.
“Yes!” Suddenly, a shot came from the tavern. Aelita fell backward off the Overboard. “Aelita!” Odd shouted, looking at the falling Aelita, and then for the source of the shot. He groaned. “Oh, come on!”
Six Blocks walked out from behind the tower. Three of them remained in front of the tower, while the other three charged forward on the path.
“Odd!” Odd turned to see Aelita in full flight with her wings. “Let’s go!”
“Okay!” Aelita and Odd headed for the tower.
“Whoa!” The Overbike spun, hit by a laser shot. Ulrich and William fell off the Overbike to land on the path below. The Overbike exploded. Three of the Mantas still remained.
Ulrich glanced at how Aelita and Odd were doing, and jumped in surprise. The six Blocks continued to fire at both of them.
“I’ll go and help Aelita and Odd,” Ulrich told William. “Stay here and handle the Mantas with Yumi.”
William nodded, and turned back around to block more shots. Ulrich super-sprinted to the Blocks.
Aelita turned at the noise. “Ulrich, Odd,” she called to both of them, “cover me. I’m going to try to get into the tower by force.”
“Got it, Aelita,” both of them replied. Ulrich quickly took out one of the Blocks blocking the path, while Odd went for the three in the cavern. Aelita followed close behind him.
“Let’s see you handle this, blockheads!” shouted Odd. He took a Block out in the blink of an eye. “Yes!”
Yumi caught her fans as they soared back to her from hitting another Manta. She went for the remaining Manta, still on her Overwing, as William blocked shots from the other.
“Ahh!” The Manta finally hit the Overwing, and Yumi dropped off it as it disappeared. As she fell, she quickly released her fans. They finally met their target, and her Manta exploded. Yumi ran to help William.
Aelita deactivated her wings and landed in front of the tavern. She quickly shot an Energy Field, hitting the remaining Block. But as she started to enter the tavern, she was hit by a laser shot. Another shot hit the Overboard. Odd quickly jumped off of it as its white frame disappeared, landing beside Aelita.
They both turned to see Ulrich occupied with one Block from the path. The other one was scurrying toward them.
“Go on,” Odd said. “I’ll take care of it.”
Suddenly, a shot from behind him hit him in the back. He fell forward, landing on all fours, in time to see his Block fire a freeze ray at Aelita, trapping her. He looked for the source of the laser shot. Another Manta circled the cavern and spiraled down to where Aelita stood trapped by her frozen leg.
“No!” Odd shouted. “Laser arrow!” He fired one arrow at Aelita’s frozen leg, and the other at the Manta. The ice around Aelita’s leg disintegrated, but the Manta dodged its arrow.
“Aelita, go!” The shout came from behind Odd. He turned to see Ulrich drive his saber into his Block, jump over it, and land as it exploded. Aelita quickly ran into the tower just as the Manta flew to ground level in the cavern. The Manta sounded its birdcall, and flew toward Odd instead.
“I’ll take care of the Manta!” called Ulrich. Ulrich super-sprinted, jumped off the remaining Block, and landed on the Manta. Ulrich drove his saber into the XANA eye and jumped off of the Manta as it exploded. Odd obliged by jumping through an orange ring shot fired from the Block, and firing an arrow as he jumped through the next one. The Block exploded.
Inside the tower, Aelita pressed her hand to a window on the interface. “Mountain Sector restarted.”
Just as William rebounded a shot that destroyed the last Manta, the four of them turned to look at the tower. A white ring expanded around the tower, and expanded across the entire sector. The white cables around each tower sizzled blue, before the tower shields exploded and the towers deactivated permanently.
“Great job, everyone!” called Franz, as Aelita walked out of the tower. “I’m reprogramming your vehicles. XANA was able to bug up the Transporter, and I’m working on fixing it right now, but in the meantime, take your vehicles to Sector 5 through the tunnel in the sky.”
The Overbike, Overboard and Overwing materialized in front of the tower. Ulrich jumped onto the Overbike, while William and Yumi got onto the Overwing. Odd and Aelita hopped onto the Overboard once more.
“Here we go!” shouted Odd as they rose into the sky and toward the purplish-gray sphere.