Chapter 8 Part 2 Stay with me

Lyoko, Sky Sector

Aelita piloted the Skidbladnir towards the battle with the Hydra as she listened carefully to the newly devised plan. She looked to her left and right and spotted Ulrich and Yumi pulling up alongside of her as she looked out towards them.
“Sounds like a fool proof plan. We deal with the Hydra while Aelita goes to Earth and cuts out the power on the storm.” Ulrich said as the two Nav-Skids left the large storm cloud.

“I think that it's doable. It's a good idea, Jeremy.” Aelita said.

“Actually, it was Sissi's.” Jeremy said.

“Sissi thought of it?” Yumi said, surprised. “I think she's giving you a run for your money in terms of brilliant ideas.”

The three kids smiled as they heard Jeremy breath heavy from the joke.

“By the way, who will pilot the Skidbladnir when Aelita's back on Earth?” Yumi asked.

“Odd has piloted it before, so I'm pretty sure he would have no problem.” Jeremy said.

Aelita looked at her radar as she spotted the Hydra's signature. The long line of red was dog fighting with two small green signatures, which were Puck and Odd. The dots raced back and forth in a circular, eight-like fashion as the beast traced and followed them with impeccable speed. Aelita watched as the Hydra closed in on one of the signatures and came extremely close to striking; at the last moment, the small green dot would tilt to the left or right and duck out of the Hydra's way, sparing it another few moments.

“OK, we need to get Odd here so that I can swap out, then.” Aelita said as she thought about how much time Odd and Puck had left before they got lucky.
Aelita looked up from her radar in time to see the large silhouette of the Hydra ripping through the air. Its large body was twisting and twirling through the air as it chased after Odd and Puck's Nav-Skids. It moved spastically, like a large predator chasing after much faster and agile prey.

“Odd! We need you to come to the Skidbladnir so that we can swap out.” Aelita said over her radio.

“Yeah, Jeremy's already told me about the plan. Only problem is the huge mouth of death right behind me!” Odd said as he rotated his flight stick to the left.
Odd's Nav-skid tilted left and rolled out of the way as the Hydra came close to snagging his prey.

“We'll have to keep the Hydra occupied to get him out of there, then.” Aelita suggested as she reached for the controls to the Skidbladnir's weapons.

“Leave that to us, birthday girl,” Yumi said with a smile as she hit the accelerator on her Nav-Skid. Yumi whizzed off towards the air battle. Her craft vibrated as she reached for the trigger on her flight stick. As Yumi got into range of the Hydra's massive body, she quickly tapped the trigger on her flight stick as the cannons of her Nav-Skid fired blue bolts of laser fire towards the Hydra's body.

As the Hydra chased Puck, it suddenly felt Yumi's laser fire strike its body; it grunted loudly in disapproval. The Hydra turned in time to see Yumi zoom past its face. The Hydra bellowed as it gave chase to its newest pest. No sooner had the Hydra embarked on attacking its newest prey than it felt
a sudden blast to its face as Ulrich zoomed off in the opposite direction. Its large eye tracked Ulrich.

“Remember me?” Ulrich asked as he attempted to gather the Hydra's attention.

The Hydra roared as it chased after Ulrich in vain; it remembered that Ulrich was the warrior who attempted to lasso itself a while back.

“OK Odd, we got the Hydra's attention... go swap out with Aelita.” Ulrich said as he rocked the cockpit of the craft back and forth, the Nav-Skid zooming through the air as the Hydra continued its deadly pursuit.

Odd quickly piloted the Nav-Skid back to the awaiting Skidbladnir. Its docking arm opened up, revealing a position for Odd to land at. Odd flew past the Skidbladnir as he prepared to make his landing.
“OK I'm switching the Nav-Skid to Manual,” Odd said as he placed his claw like finger on a blue crystal like button.
The Nav-Skid rotated through the air quickly, performing an aerion roll as it came to a stop over the Skidbladnir's docking arm. The Nav-Skid lowered as a bolt of blue electricity arched from the Skidbladnir's arm and latched onto it. A small metal plate rose up and snapped into the bottom of the Nav-Skid as it locked the craft into place, thus completing the docking procedure.

“Do you always have to perform some kind of trick when you're coming in for a landing?” Aelita asked as she lowered the docking arm into the vertical position.

“Hey, most of the time it's Yumi who does it.” Odd barked in response.

“OK, guys. I’m gonna transport Aelita to Earth and teleport Odd into the cockpit of the Skidbladnir... you remember how to pilot it, right, Odd?” Jeremy asked.

“Of course I do, Einstein... it's just like playing Starfox or Afterburner.” Odd said.

“Now, Odd... don’t tear up the Skid while I am gone.” Aelita said in a serious tone.

“Don't worry, I've been going to driver's ed.”

“Aelita, I’m bringing you back now.” Jeremy said.

Before Aelita could respond, she felt the world around her glow bright and fuzzy as her virtual form faded into pixels. Aelita could feel her body being whisked through the various tubes and wires of the Supercomputer as she watched bright blue and white lines pass by her, as if she was on a roller coaster ride.
Suddenly, the bright and shiny lights faded as she found herself in complete darkness. Aelita took a short breath as she felt her body move a little. She was now back in her own flesh and blood body. She could feel the sweat on her arms from the transfer back, which was common for them when they would virtualize onto Lyoko. Her whole body felt a tad bit weak and sore from the return trip and her right arm which she used to overpower her Energy Field hurt like never before. She remembered that Jeremy had warned her that she was hurting her real body by over charging her energy beam. The pain was  enough to bring Aelita to tears. She grabbed her arm with her left hand as she gasped at the new found pain. Her face winced in pain as she tried to fight the urge to fall to her feet.
“OK. Never gonna do that again,” she muttered.

The door to the scanner opened up, revealing the scanner room. The bright lights blinded Aelita a little as her eyes attempted to focus. As her vision came to, she spotted a single arm stretched outwards towards her. Her vision soon improved as she discovered the arm belonged to Jeremy, who stood outside the scanner next to George with a warm smile on his face as he greeted her. Aelita placed her hand in Jeremy's as she slowly stepped out of the scanner and back into the real world. The palms of her loving boyfriend were sweaty from the constant typing and the heat from the lab, but were still soft and warm as she remembered.

“Welcome back.” Jeremy said as he placed a hand on her shoulder and helped Aelita step out of the scanner. Jeremy noticed Aelita was holding her arm and hunched over in pain. Jeremy quickly wrapped his arm around Aelita's waist as she stepped out of the scanner. “Are you OK?”

“Y-Yeah, it's just... my arm hurts.” Aelita said as she rubbed her arm. Her breathing was heavy and spastic. “ I think it is from when I destroyed that platform.”

“Does it hurt at the shoulder or is it the whole arm?” George asked as he placed his hand on Aelita's shoulder blade and kept a close eye on her.

“It's the whole arm....” Aelita said as leaned against Jeremy, trying to catch her bearings. She closed her eyes as she tried not to focus on the pain and instead on the task at hand.

“I tried to warn you about that.” Jeremy said with concern.

“I know but... I am sorry.” Aelita said as she slowly looked up at Jeremy's face. “I just need a hot shower, and a warm bed, and maybe some aspirin.”

“Are you sure you're up for this, then?” George asked.

“Yeah. The arm's feeling a little better. It feels like I slept on it wrong and someone punched me in it.”

“Let's get you to the storm then.” George said as Jeremy led Aelita to the elevator.

Aelita wiggled her right arm as she felt a little bit of relief flow into it. For some reason when she leaned up next to Jeremy, the pain in her arm stopped; she no longer felt sore or tired but calm and relaxed instead. Jeremy had always had this type of aura around him that always made Aelita feel safe, but she had never experienced it like this before.

George stepped into the elevator first. Jeremy and Aelita followed close behind. The elevator door shut; the small both rose up the shaft and opened up to reveal the lab before them. George watched as Aelita slowly stepped out of the elevator with Jeremy close behind. Something was different, though. A minute ago Aelita could barely walk and was in pain. Now it appeared she was just fine. What caused such a fast recovery was beyond him.

Aelita walked into the lab and spotted William and the others, who stood in front of the radar monitor as they watched the battle unfold on Lyoko. Their faces all mimicked the other, a sense of hope that the others could destroy the tower without Aelita circled around them as they watched the Skidbladnir enter the battle.

“Hey kiddo.” William said, waving at Aelita.

“How are they doing?” Jeremy asked as he walked past Aelita and gathered around the monitor.

“Odd just arrived. So far they're definitely keeping the Hydra busy.” Jessica said.

“Now that Aelita's here, we can deal with the storm.” Travis said as he stepped away from the terminal and walked towards Aelita. “You ready?”

Aelita nodded as she looked towards Jeremy. “ Are you staying here?”

“As much as I would like to go with you and support you, I gotta stay here and watch the others to make sure we destroy the Hydra.” Jeremy said.

“Why not just pull everyone out?” Sissi asked. “If Aelita can stop the storm from being as devastating, why does Odd and the others need to remain on Lyoko to destroy the Hydra?”

“One, so we don’t deal with it again and two, Puck. If we left Puck on Lyoko, he would be at the mercy of the Hydra and wouldn’t stand a chance.” Jeremy said as he plopped back into the computer chair.

“OK. We'll go take care of the storm. You just kill that flying snake.” George said.

“Where should we take her to? The eye of the storm?” Travis asked.

“I would say that’s your best bet.” Jeremy said as he pulled up the local weather map for the city.
He observed that the storm was only a few minutes away from the business district. It was still growing in intensity and looking more and more powerful.
“If you hit the center of the storm it should lose its power and turn it into a regular thunderstorm.”

“We can take 5th street from here, right?” George asked.

“Take 5th and turn on veteran's parkway.” William said. “Maybe I better come with you... in case something happens.”

“No, you need to stay here, William.” George responded. “If something was to happen, say someone get hurt, you need to be here to look after them.”

Aelita noticed that Travis was saying very little in this situation and also seemed a bit distracted. The agent looked down at Aelita as he walked past her. Aelita could tell that whatever was bothering Travis earlier that day was still bothering him now. He was cold, distant. Travis seemed as if his mind was at a different place. It was unusual for Aelita to see Travis in such a mood. Usually Travis was calm and collected. But now it seemed as if he was hurt and depressed. This wasn’t the Travis that Aelita knew.

“Take good care of Aelita, OK?” Jeremy said as he turned to face the trio walking towards the elevator doors.

“Don’t worry, Romeo... we will.” George said as Aelita walked inside the elevator door.
George pressed the button on the elevator as the door shut.

Before it did, Aelita glanced towards Jeremy. She smiled and gave a quick wave towards him. Before the door shut entirely, she caught of glimpse of Jeremy waving back. The gesture made Aelita smile a as the elevator rose to the factory level.

“How bad is it out there?” Aelita asked as the elevator came to a halt.

The door hissed and snapped as the small metal shutter opened up to reveal a dark and foreboding weather.

“You tell us.” George remarked as orange lightning crackled in the sky.

The storm was now one solid mass of dark and powerful clouds. There seemed to be no end to the size of the storm. It was as if someone placed a blanket over the world. The wind rose quickly as it whipped and tore at the clothing of Aelita, Travis and George. Large arches of lightning raced through the sky towards what appeared to be the center. It was as if the storm was actually a living creature, with the lightning serving as its veins.

Aelita heard the sound of a car door opening. She glanced down to see that Travis was opening the passenger side door and was about to step inside of it.

“Is Travis OK?” Aelita asked as she glanced towards George.

“He's having one of those moments, you know. It's nothing personal.” George said.

“A moment?” Aelita asked. “He seemed fine earlier.”

“Well, I think he's mostly mad at the fact this happened on your birthday.” George said, trying to cover up the truth. He had already made the mistake of telling Ulrich the truth about Travis's past and would rather not bother anyone else with it out of respect for Travis.
George watched as Aelita ran to the car and hopped in the back seat of the Mustang. This was no time for him to lose his focus. He had work to do.


Lyoko, Sky Sector

Odd slowly rematerialized inside the cockpit of the Skidbladnir. It had been quite a while since the last time he piloted the vehicle. The controls were much more sophisticated than he remembered and had also been upgraded. Many buttons and levers were much different than when he first piloted the Skid a year ago. Odd glanced down at the pedals on the floor board. There was one big on and 5 smaller ones that aligned the floorboard of the Skid.
“Why are there six pedals if there are only four directions?” Odd asked as he glanced back up.

“OK, Odd, I am back. Do you remember how to pilot the Skidbladnir?” Jeremy asked.

“Uh...” Odd paused as he glanced around. He spotted a small white lever down near the center console.
“Yeah, it's all coming back to me.” Odd said as he reached for the lever.

“Head towards the Hydra and engage it. Once it's destroyed and the storm's been neutralized I will bring you guys back” Jeremy said.

“OK then...” Odd said as he grabbed the shifter. “Look out Hydra, ODD DELLA ROBBIA'S COMING TO SLAY YOU!” he shouted in a heroic manner as he pulled back on the control stick.

The Skidbladnir stayed in the exact same spot. It did not move at all. Odd pulled back the control stick a second time, fearing maybe the Skid was still in stand by mode.

“...Odd?” Jeremy asked.

“Hang on, Einstein... I think the Skid's out of gas.” Odd responded.

“Odd?”

“Uh... hang on, Jeremy...”

“You forgot, didn’t you?”

“Um... well... it has been a year.”

Odd heard a sarcastic sigh from Jeremy as he could only imagine his friend facepalming.

“Push the red button on the left that looks like a square. Then step on the large pedal on the floor board and use the flight sticks to steer where you want to go.” Jeremy said.

Odd glanced around the console until he spotted a red button that matched Jeremy's description. He slowly reached down and pressed the button; the craft suddenly hummed to life. After a few seconds Odd placed his foot on the pedal as the craft slowly accelerated.
“What do I do for weapons?”

“On the overhead row is a green button. You want to touch that button and it will bring the weapons online for you. To go into a holding pattern you want to hit the green button next to it.”

“OK. Now it's time for me to pay a visit to the Hydra.” Odd said as the craft sped towards the air battle.


Yumi's Nav-Skid tumbled through the air as she zipped past a tall pillar standing in the air. The Navskid's engines roared as Yumi felt every fiber of her being tingle with sensation. The fear of flying so fast and close to other objects was enough to make Yumi's heart stop a couple of times. Yet she knew if she slowed down, the beast behind her would catch her and send her back to the real world... defeated, if she was lucky.

The pillar suddenly cracked and tumbled as the Hydra burst through the it in pursuit. The beast kept a good pace with Yumi as it paid little to no attention to anything else but the small creature attempting to get away from it. The Hydra's body made sharp turns and twists as it quickly moved towards Yumi. Its metal scales clanked and clinked together as its body twisted in multiple directions.

Yumi pulled up on the flight stick of her Nav-Skid. The G-force was enough to cause the virtual warrior to flinch madly. Yumi moaned and grunted as she tried to fight the G-force. She had to keep the Hydra busy so that the others could attack it.
“Are you guys ready?” Yumi asked as she decelerated and let the craft level out.

Close behind the Hydra, two Nav-Skids broke through a cloud as they stayed in close pursuit of the beast. They tried to keep the craft stable and steady as they kept a close eye on the Hydra's body. With every twist and turn the Hydra made, they mimicked so that they could get a target lock faster.

“ Yumi, just hang on.” Puck said as his Nav-Skid led Ulrich's close behind the Hydra.

Yumi swerved her Nav-Skid out of the path of the Hydra once more. The young Asian looked over in time to see a nasty row of teeth come crashing down right beside her. Yumi quickly veered left as she rocketed away from the savage beast. The flight stick was pushed all the way down to the floor as Yumi leaned forward. The powerful G-forces were pushing her body hard, yet Yumi continued to hold fast, she didn’t want to end up as Hydra's lunch.

Ulrich watched as the small red triangle on his targeting system rotated around the Hydra's small weak spot. He gritted his teeth as he found his patience was running thin, every second he waited for the targeting program to acquire a lock was another minute that meant Yumi was still in danger.
Finally, a short ping echoed through the cockpit, announcing that the small triangle was now locked onto the back of the Hydra's body and was ready to fire.

“Yumi, move!!!” Ulrich shouted as he placed his index finger on the red trigger under the flight stick.

Yumi quickly tilted her flight stick as her Nav-Skid banked to the right. The Nav-Skid then decelerated, allowing the massive beast to slide by.

Ulrich squeezed the firing trigger as the Nav-Skid rattled and shook. A barrage of lasers poured out of the muzzles of its barrel, raining down on the Hydra's weak spot.

The lasers slammed into the target which was marked with a Xana symbol. Small, thin armor plate vibrated and rattled as the blue lasers perforated the thin sheet. As more lasers poured onto the Hydra's back, the plate exploded in a blue flamed explosion. Fragments of the plate scattered in the air, revealing the soft inside of the beast.

“You did it!!!” Jeremy shouted from the lab. “Now you just got to hit its internals!”

Yumi passed by the stunned Hydra as she prepared to take aim at the large creature. She glanced down towards the withering behemoth when she realized that a small section of the plate was still attached to the Hydra's body.
“ Wait, we didn’t destroy the plate.” Yumi noted as she veered away from the Hydra. “There’s only a small piece left, but we should be able to hit it with the Skidbladnir.”
Yumi brought the nose of her craft around and prepared to engage.
“I got this one, Ulrich,” she said as she brought up her targeting system.

“Wait, look!” Puck shouted over the radio.

The Hydra roared defiantly as it suddenly lurched its body downwards. Pain raced through its body as its armored plates clanked against its open wound. Its massive scales shifted and clanked together as the mighty beast slid down past the surface and vanished underneath the sector's floor near the digital sea. An eerie silence fell on the entire area with the exception of the hum from Yumi's Nav-Skid.

Yumi looked all around her from the cockpit of her Nav-Skid, looking for a sign of the Hydra. She paid close attention to her surroundings as she waited for the Hydra to reappear; she  listened for any possible noise that could indicate the Hydra was once again about to pounce. However, she saw and heard nothing. The Hydra vanished.

“Ulrich, Jeremy, I lost it.” Yumi said reluctantly.

“I don’t see it either.” Ulrich said over the radio. “It dipped below the sector's floors and I lost it!”

“Hang on, Odd's on his way. He will be there in a few minutes.” Jeremy said.

Puck glanced around the sector's floor. He was searching for any trace of Hydra's presence, yet he was unable to see anything from his location. Nothing but a calm and silent world met his eyes.
“Did it retreat?” Puck asked.

“I'm looking for it,” Jessica said over the intercom.

Yumi scanned the outside of the Nav-Skid. She glanced around for any sign that the beast was close by, possibly hiding and stalking her like a savage animal preparing to pounce. Yet as Yumi glanced around through the open sky and below her near the ground, there was no sign of the Hydra.
“I don’t see it anywhere...” Yumi said.

“Maybe it succumbed to its wounds?” Jessica suggested.

“Don’t worry guys, I am here.” Odd said as the Skidbladnir's engines slowed down and brought the Skid to a slow dredging motion.
Odd sat up in his seat as he glanced around the area, joining the search for the Hydra. But the only thing Odd saw was Puck's Nav-Skid as it raced by him.
“Maybe the Hydra realized I was on my way and ran away?

“If anything was to scare anything off, it would be your odor.” Puck said mockingly.

“Odd? Do you have it on your radar?” Ulrich asked.

Odd glanced down at the radar of the Skidbladnir. All he saw was 3 little blue dots.
“No, the only thing I got is us.” Odd said as he stood up in his seat and glanced around for any sign of the Hydra. “Maybe you did destroy it?”

“I don’t think so. I doubt it just got scared and flew off,” Puck said as he flew down below the surface of the sector. “Jessica, any luck?”

“No, I've got nothing on the radar.” Jessica said back in the lab.
As she scrolled around the area where the gang was, she suddenly caught a glimpse of something red. A large and long object appeared to be slinking off to the left.
“Wait, I think I got it!” Jessica said aloud.

“Where is it?” Ulrich asked as he perked his head up.

It was then that Yumi heard a loud ping from her Nav-Skids radar. Yumi looked down to spot a large, long red mass approaching her location.

“Guys, I got it on my radar as well.” Yumi said as she glanced out her cockpit window.

Yumi's Nav-Skid passed by the tower where they had originally met the Hydra. Yumi glanced down towards the ground only to spot the massive hole in the ground where the Hydra attempted to attack them before.

“Yumi, you're too far out, you should come back.” Odd suggested as he stepped on the accelerator pedals of te Skidbladnir.

“Odd's right. Never mind looking for it, we should regroup for now.” Puck suggested.

Yumi paid no attention to Odd and Puck's plea as she continued to fly at a swift pace. The young geisha warrior kept a sharp eye out for any sign of movment.
“Where is it?” Yumi whispered as continued to follow the radar blip on her screen. The radar showed that the Hydra was right in front of her, yet she still couldn't see it.

“Yumi! You're right on top of it!” Jessica said as she watched the small blue dot that represented Yumi's Nav-Skid approach the Hydra.

“Where? I don't see it!”

Suddenly, the clouds above Yumi parted as a massive open mouth plummeted from above Yumi's vessel. The mouth opened wide and closed in on its unsuspecting prey. A ferocious roar bellowed as the beast slammed into the Nav-Skid's body, shaking the pilot inside, and slammed its jaws down tight onto the Nav-Skid. Sparks shot through the air as its massive teeth scrapped along the side of the Nav-Skid, cutting into it like fire through ice. The Hydra rose into the air triumphantly as it had finally captured one of the annoying pests that had been bothering it.

Yumi shrieked as she felt her body tilt to one side of the Nav-Skid's cockpit. She glanced up in time to see the massive teeth of the Hydra closing down on her fighter. The Nav-Skid's frame cracked and moaned as it was crushed under the pressure of the massive beast's jaws. The lights on the console blinked and sparked as the ship was further crushed. It sounded  like a car crash.

“ GUYS! THE HYDRA'S GOT YUMI!” Jessica shouted.