End Game (REALLY OLD, CRINGY STORY)

by Chaoslord678

As the title says, it's a cringey end-game scenario I wrote years ago. It's almost 30K words, so have fun.

Let me say one thing - I wrote this 4 years ago, back when I was young and dumb. I don't feel like splitting up the chapters, so enjoy this super long wall of text!

A/N; Before people complain, let me set a few things straight; This fan-fic is one I wrote for fun, not out of seriousness, and it is set after the fan made episode 99, 'In XANA's Claws'. Eventually, I'll give it a re-write.

CHAPTER 1; (Episode 100; Friend or Foe 1/2)

It was a bright, sunny day as the sun rose into the sky above Kadic Academy, the most top-notch school in France.

This would seem like an almost perfect, normal day for most people, but not for a small group. Unknown to everyone, this group of friends saved the world on a day-to-day bases from an evil computer program bent on taking over the world.

The group consisted of six teenagers, all students of Kadic Academy, each different from each other, but close friends with the same goal in mind; stop the computer program, also known as XANA, for good.

These six teens, Jeremie, Aelita, Ulrich, William, Odd, and Yumi, worked as hard as possible to keep their secret safe, which was also aided by the power of the supercomputer that allowed them to fight XANA. Without it, they wouldn't be able to travel to Lyoko, the virtual world in which XANA resides and uses towers that allow it to slip into the real world.

But enough of the back story, let's focus on the present.

As Jermie sat up in his bed at seven a.m sharp, he was secretly hoping that he and his friends would have a XANA-free day, as it had been attacking all week, especially since it had managed to kill two of Kadics' students (SEE EPISODE 99; In XANA's Claws), also nearly killing Yumi in the process.

The supercomputer allowed them to hop back to the past, wiping everyone but their memories, but it couldn't reverse death. (FOUND OUT IN EPISODE 0; XANA Awakens/45 Minute Special)

As he finished getting ready for the day, Jermie spun around to hear his door being open.

"And this will be your roommate" he heard Jim, the school's P.E teacher say, showing in the oddest looking person Jermie had ever seen. He had green eyes, white skin, and running clothes with wicked red sneakers, but that wasn't the odd part; his hair was. He had regular, short-cut hair, but it was blue, with large spikes similar to Odd's, but multiple.

"Keifer, meet Jermie, one of Kadic's smartest students" said Jim,gesturing to Jermie, who just stood there, unsure of how to react to the newcomer.

"Nice to meet you" Keifer said with a small grin, shaking hands with Jermie. "You seem to like computers" he pointed out, looking at Jermie's set up in the back of the room.

"Yeah, I do" he said as he finished shaking hands with his new roommate. He didn't notice it, but he was still staring at Keifer's hair.

"Oh this?" Keifer asked, pointing to his hair. "It's a long story" he said, his mood slowly darkening. "But hey, it's whatever. But what I want to know, is who the hell is XANA?" he whispered to Jermie.

The other was shocked and taken back by this. How did this human… thing, know about XANA?

"Umm… what're you talking about?" Jermie asked nerviously, trying to keep his cool.

"Oh I don't know, a computer virus bent on taking over the world?" Keifer asked sarcastically. "And if you don't, then you're the wrong guy" he said, losing his spark.

They both went silent as Jim brought in a bed for Keifer, placing it on the other side of the room. He gave the boys a last look as he left the room. Jermie closed the door and sat down at his computer, facing Keifer.

"Alright" he said, his voice in a hushed tone, still not able to understand how this person he hadn't met until today knew about the evil he and his friends had been dealing with for two years. "What do you know?" he asked Keifer.

"XANA was created by a scientist" he said, shocked that Jermie was actually talking to him. "I don't remember him, but he and my now dead sister looked after me before I was even a year old. My parents… they hated me" he said, looking down at the floor. "But that's besides the point. Once I got a little older, around nine years old, my sister told me about the scientist, and how he had a daughter of his own. He had since moved, but my sister always wrote to him. He told her how XANA was meant to be a program to wipe something out, but it got too powerful. The last time she wrote to him we got no response. And a few days later, she and my parents died in a car wreck" he finished.

Keifer didn't notice like Jermie did, but his eyes were tearing up a little bit.

Jermie was taken back by this. Franz Hopper had cared for the person in front of him before he was one, and he didn't remember him?

"I.. I'm sorry to hear that" said Jermie. Keifer sniffed.

"It's fine. I don't know why the car wreck didn't kill me" he said. "What it did do, though, was increase my speed" he said, beginning to cheer up a little.

"Oh, you can run fast? That's cool" Jermie said, trying to cheer up his new… friend? No, he didn't know him enough yet, and he could also be a polymorphic spectre by XANA. But yet, they couldn't perfectly emulate human emotion.

"I can show you during P.E" he said. "But for now,

I'm starved. Wanna show me to breakfast?" Keifer asked, standing up.

Jermie, who was lost in thought on what to do, idly said, "Sure" , and the two began walking down towards the Cafeteria.

As the two sat down at Jermie's usual table, he spoke to Keifer, as they were the only two there at the moment.

"Alright, I'll let the group know that you know about XANA, alright?" he cautiously asked Keifer, not wanting him to just begin trying to find out more info related to the program.

"They know about it too?' he asked, shocked that anyone else really knew about it. Jermie nodded as the others began to show up.

"Hello Jermie" said a pink-haired girl, sitting next to him. She looked to Keifer and nearly gasped. So did the others behind her, everyone except…

"William, my friend!" Keifer said, jumping up to greet his long-gone friend.

"Keifer" he said, looking just as shocked as the rest of the group. "Is it really you?" he asked, not sure if it was too good to be true.

"What do I need to do, run to the ocean and back to prove it?" he asked snarkily. "It's been ages" he said, shaking hands with his old friend.

"It sure has" William said, sitting next to him at the table. The others, Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi, where still confused.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Odd asked impulsively. Ulrich kicked him under the table. "Hey sorry, just curious. And your hair, how the heck did you manage that?" he asked.

"It's… you know what, I'll tell you guys, with the exception that William helps explain" he said, looking to his old buddy who nodded whilst biting into a piece of toast.

"So let me get this straight" Ulrich said when Keifer and William concluded a run-down of KEifer's life. "Something happened to you when you were young that cause you to gain super speed and gradually grow blue spikes out of your head, and by ending up in a car crash in which only you survived increased it, and after that you attended the same school as William for a few years until now?" he asked, letting out a mouthful.

"Basically" said Keifer, finished his orange juice. "I can easily run up to five-hundred miles per hour" he added.

Everyone besides William looked at him in utter disbelief.

"You'll see in P.E" said William, giving them his "I swear it on my life it is true" look. The group took one more look at Keifer before they all went their ways.

Keifer was in the same class as Ulrich, Odd, and Jermie, plus Aelita, so he was able to figure out more things.

"What's the furthest you've ever run?" Odd asked him as they walked to their first class of the day, Mrs. Hertz, the breeze spurring them to move slightly faster.

"All the way from here to California in the U.S.A" Keifer said. They all looked shocked. "You see" Keifer said, reaching into his pocket to pull out a special thing. "I have this -" he found the golden ring and showed it to them- "and every 24 hours, I can use it, doubling my max speed" he said.

"Now that, is cool" said Ulrich.

"How can such a thing exist?" Aelita asked as they neared the classroom, multiple people giving them weird looks and commenting on Keifer's hair.

"I don't know. To be perfectly honest, I didn't find it until after the crash, and before that, I could only run at 100 miles per hour" Keifer said. "The first time I used the ring was on that run to the U.S" he told his new-found friends.

"But why'd you need to go over there?" Jermie asked him as they walked in, passing a few people.

"I… I had a dream that I could find my ast family their" Keifer said sadly. "It turned out I was horribly wrong, and I was nearly caught by the F.B.I, as they thought I wasn't human" he concluded, sitting down next to Ulrich and Odd.

Before they could say or do anything else, Jermie's laptop started to go off.

"Oh come on!" he said annoyed. "It's a XANA alert, he's activated 3 towers and is attacking the core in sector 5!" he cried.

"How do we stop him?" Keifer asked. Jermie looked to the others, and they all silently agreed; They needed him.

"We go to Lyoko, with you included" Jermie said. "If what you say about your speed is true, then you can get Aelita to the towers in a matter of seconds" he concluded.

Usually the group voted before doing anything like welcoming a new member to the group, but they didn't have time. Not now.

"So where are we going?" Keifer asked them, knowing what he was about to do.

"The abandoned factory, near th-" Jermie didn't have time to finish his sentence as in a blue blur, Keifer grabbed his friends and took off at the speed of light out of the room, with no time to waste.

A/N; Thanks for reading this! I know it might seem weird, but Keifer's powers will be explained in the coming chapters, and then you won't think he's so lucky after all…

A/N; Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I'm sorry if the ending of it seemed kinda rushed. Eventually, the entire story will get a re-write, like every five chapters, one gets rewritten. But without further ado, let's continue.

Chapter 2; (Episode 101; Friend or Foe 2/2)

"Slow down!" Odd yelled, clinging onto Aelita, who was holding onto Jermie, who was barely able to hang onto Ulrich, who was being pulled forward by Keifer, who was running at one hundred miles per hour at that moment.

"Stop!" Jermie yelled to him, as they where now at the bridge to the factory.

Keifer skidded to a halt, but all the increased weight sent him flying forward, all of his friends in tow.

"Yeowch!" he said as Odd slammed into his lowest spike.

"Oww, sorry!" he said quickly, going to straighten it.

"It… it's fine" Keifer lied. It did hurt, but not too badly. He got back to his feet and helped Aelita and Jermie up.

"Alright, let's get going" he said. They all nodded and ran into the factory. There were enough ropes for everyone except Keifer.

"It's fine" he said quickly, motioning for them to slide down. "But watch this!" He jumped up and somehow began rolling into a blue spikey ball, and landed on the floor.

"How the hell do you manage that?" Ulrich asked, just as shocked as the others as they ran into the elevator.

"Just another trick of mine" Keifer smilled.

"Uh oh, I can't get ahold of William or Yumi" Aelita said as the elevator began descending down to the lab.

"So XANA's up to something more than likely" said Odd, leaning against the side of the elevator, sighing.

William and Yumi were running out of breath as they were being pursued by an entire group of XANAfied students.

"Let's split up" said William, leaning on a tree for a quick moment of support.

"Meet me at the factory though, okay?" Yumi asked him. He nodded and the two went their separate ways right before the group caught up.

"FIND THEM!" the leader yelled, and the group of twenty possesed mortals split up to search, but they were already too late.

"I could kill for Keif's speed" William panted, running to the factory.

He saw Yumi and caught up to her as they began running across the bridge.

"Let's hurry, there are three activated towers" Yumi quickly explained to him as they got inside and slid down the ropes.

They rushed into the elevator and began their descent.

"I was beginning to think you'd never get here" Jermie joked to them as they entered the lab, just above the scanning room.

"So for two and a half years, you've guys kept this a secret?" Keifer asked Aelita. She nodded.

"And it's too bad you'll never remember any of it" said Yumi.

"Erm,actually he will" said Jermie, looking at her. "He wasn't kidding about his speed, and he packs a mean jump" he said.

"But you just met him today!" Yumi said angrily. "How do you know that he isn't possessed by XANA?"

"Yumi, I knew him for several years!" William said angrily. "Just trust him, and don't repeat what you did to me before I could go to Lyoko!" he yelled, sticking up for his friend.

"Look, just go down to the scanners, okay? We can sort this later!" Jermie ordered. This calmed everyone down, even if for only a moment.

The group then hurried down to the scanners and first Ulrich, Odd, and William stepped in, the tubes closing behind them.

"Erm, Yumi, I… I'm sorry if I made you mad" Keifer said, looking at her.

"It's whatever" she said as they all stepped into the scanners. Keifer was a little shocked, but Aelita gave him an "it's all cool" look.

"Scanner Keifer!" he heard Jermie say. He then heard him say the others names then, "Virtualization!"

In Lyoko's fifth sector, Ulrich, Odd, and William stood there, waiting for the others.

"The core first then the towers, right?" Ulrich asked Jermie.

"Yep, and here are the others!" he said as Yumi, Aelita, and Keifer appeared before them. They were shocked by how much he had changed.

For starters, he had a full suit on, similar to Odd, but now he looked more… animal-like, along with the fact he now had near mono eye. (Think of Classic Sonic but Keifer retained his eyes and mouth, along with his nose)

"Wow" he said looking at everyone, including himself. "What is this… some sort of game?"

"No, it isn't. It's a virtual world filled with monsters" William said. "And no matter what you do, you NEED to listen, alright?" he told his friend. He nodded and the others nodded.

"There is no need to get the key, just get straight to the core!" He yelled to them. Everyone nodded and ran off, except for Keifer, who easily out-sped them. (His running is that of the Super-Peel out frames)

"I think I'm faster here than on Earth!" he said to his friends, stopping and waiting for them.

"You're right about that" Odd said to him as he and the rest of the gang caught up.

"Here comes the elevator" Yumi told them quickly. They got ready to jump, but when they did, Keifer missed.

"No!" everyone cried. But before it was too late, Keifer came barreling up the wall curled in a ball, beating the elevator.

"Weph, that was close" said Aelita as they all stepped outside the dome.

"Okay, I'm programming your vehicles!" Jermie said quickly, furiously working at the computer in the real world, while the Lyoko warriors waited patiently.

"So does he have any special attacks like us?" Yumi asked Jermie, who had just materialized the vehicles.

"His skills can suffice for now" Jermie said. "Now hurry to the core, the first shield is about to break!" he panicked. Aelita hopped on with Yumi, whilst Keifer boarded with Odd and William with Ulrich.

"What the heck are those?" Keifer yelled as they sped to the entrance. Behind them where the Mantas.

"Monsters that we need to kill, ASAP!" Odd yelled. Keifer nodded and did something stupid; he jumped, but way higher than he expected.

"Super spin!" he yelled, still spinning but as fast as a saw. He impacted with the first Manta and it died on impact. Luckily below it was the second one, which he landed on. "Try this!" he yelled, running in place, charging his peel-out.

This heated up the Manta so much that when he jumped off, charged up, it exploded. He landed on Odd's overboard as the third one actually retreated.

"Damn, now that's overkill!" said Yumi as they entered the core. They ditched their vehicles and hit the key, causing the stairs to virtualize.

"Hurry guys, the first shield is down and the second one doesn't have much time!" Jermie yelled.

"I've go- AGH!" Keifer yelled as he was shot in the back by the unnoticed Manta.

"Careful you're down… what the heck?" Jermie looked at Keifer's card, and realised one thing; he didn't run on life-points.

"What are these… golden rings?" Ulrich asked cautiously, picking one up.

"They're connected to Keifer" Jermie told them as Aelita shot the Manta. "It turns out that these are his life-points, but it doesn't make sense…" the genius said.

"Here, let me see it" Keifer said, grabbing it, but as soon as he touched it, it disappeared with a few sparkles.

"Unbelievable!" Jermie exclaimed. "Keifer is practically invincible with these. So long as he has one, he can't devirtualize from damage!"

"So I can keep picking this ring up constantly?" Keifer said, beginning to feel useful. "Then let's do it to it!" He yelled, speeding to the top of the core.

"Unbelievable!" William said, awe-struck by how quickly Keifer defeated all the monsters.

"Too ea-" Keifer couldn't finish his sentence as he was hit by two near-consecutive lasers from some creepers, devirtualizing him.

"Guys, you keep going, finish them then fix the towers!" Jermie ordered, running for the scanners. He ran into the room as the tube opened, and Keifer collapsed, exhausted.

"I've never felt… so tired" he moaned, barely managing to stand up. Jermie helped him up, and they went back up the elevator and to the Super Computer.

"Okay, so it turns out that whenever Keifer comes back, he's hit with all the exhaustion he felt" Jermie told the others as he sat back down.

"That's great" Ulrich said sarcastically, watching William run into the tower, which soon deactivated. "So how is he now?" Ulrich asked, worried for him.

"Crappy" Keifer said, pulling his computer out of his bag. He walked to Jermie and sat next to him. "Is there any way you can tap me into the computer?" He asked him.

"Why's that?" Jermie asked him curiously. Keifer whispered to him, and he silently nodded.

"Alright, last one!" Aelita said as they touched down, her and Yumi jumping off the vehicle, Odd following suit. As she walked into it, Yumi and Odd began talking.

"Do you think that Keifer is real?" Odd asked Yumi.

"Well obviously" she said, wanting to smack him. "If he wasn't, he would've probably blown up in the scanners" she said.

"I just don't get it" Odd said. "He's hiding something, something about his gift of speed" he said. As for Aelita, she had just deactivated the tower.

"Return to the past, now!" Jermie said, a white flash enveloping him and the rest of the world.

THAT NIGHT;

"He is definitely a part of our group" Jermie said as they all sat down to eat their dinner, Yumi with them, as she finally decided to get a room at Kadic, which ended up being with Aelita.

"Agreed" William said, biting into a buttered roll.

"The way he smashed those monsters was way past cool" Odd said Ulrich nodded. Then Yumi spoke.

"I apologize for not trusting you" she said, looking down.

"It's fine" he said, smiling it off, biting into his Chilli dog. "Trust me, if I met a blue-haired human with insane speed, I'd be iffy at first - oh wait, that's me!" everyone laughed at his joke, glad to have a new friend, and warrior for Lyoko.

A/N; Another chapter down, another to go. But first, let me clear some things;

-Keifer is the same age as Ulrich, but his birthday is in a few days. (I'll probably plot chapter 3 around that)

-Yumi didn't want to trust Keifer at first as she didn't want a repeat of what happened to William.

-Odd, Ulrich, and William respect Keifer, whilst Aelita is fine with him.

-Keifer is nearly as smart as Jermie and Aelita, and is programming something that could quite possibly save all of their lives when needed, along with Jermie assisting him.

-Things are about to go down, MAJOR things.

Until then, thanks for reading. Please R Hey-o folks! This chapter is going to be longer than the others, only because of plot development. So without further ado, let us begin…

Chapter 3 (Episode 102; Franz Returns and a Super Twist)

"Yumi, look out!" Keifer yelled, jumping in front of her, taking a hit from a mega tank. He was instantly de-virtualized, as he had lost his last ring a few minutes ago.

Keifer re-appeared in the real world to see a spectre tearing apart the scanner cables.

"Oh-oh no you don't!" he said, running at it. Before it could react, he hit it with a hard spin-attack, causing it to vaporize.

"Hurry and help me fix these!" he yelled to Jermie, who was now coming down the ladder.

The wires were strewn everywhere, sparks flying out of most of them. Only a few remained intact.

"This isn't good!" Jermie cried. "If we don't hurry and fix these, Yumi and William will be stuck on Lyoko!" Keifer nodded, remembering how Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita were protecting everyone from the Xana attack.

The two sat to work, repairing the cords as fast as possible.

Within a few minutes, they had fixed two of the three, deciding to fix the other one after the others reunited in the factory.

"Want a lift up the ladder?" Keifer asked Jermie, who reluctantly nodded. He grabbed him and ran up the side of it, having Jermie back in his chair in four seconds.

"We deactivated the tower Jermie" William said as he stepped out of it,reuniting with Yumi.

"Alright, I'm bringing you in" he replied, typing in the virtualization code. As their cards came up, so did a third.

"Who the heck is that?" Keifer asked, shocked by the grey haired man in the card.

"I don't believe this!" Jermie exclaimed, running down to the scanners. "It… it's Franz Hopper!" he yelled, as the three scanners popped open.

Yumi and William struggled out, while in the third one, Franz fell out of. Keifer caught him and sat him down. Yumi and William looked flabbergasted.

"He's got a small pulse" Keifer said, lifting him up, throwing Franz's arm over his shoulder. "Let's get hi-" he was cut off as the scanner Franz came out of exploded, the top flying off and the wires all short-circuiting at once.

Keifer was able to shield Franz, but not himself.

"No!" the others all cried out for their friend as he was hit with the smoldering top of the scanner. He dropped Franz as he was thrown at the wall. He fell down, but when he did, his golden ring slid out of his pocket, landing with a silent thud.

"Use… it on him" everyone except Keifer looked over to Franz Hopper, who choked out those four words. William quickly grabbed it and put it in Keifer's hand.

"Please work…" he mumbled, checking the others,who were all fine. That's when Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita entered, taking in the scene.

Keifer was lying near dead in the corner, William leaning over him, while Yumi was sitting on the ground, feeling like a complete failure, and Franz was struggling to get up, a few pieces of debris on his legs.

"DADDY!" Aelita cried, running to her father, who everyone thought was dead. She hugged him while Odd and Ulrich cleared his legs. "I thought…"

"It's okay sweetie, I'm here now" he sobbed back, embracing his daughter for the first time in nearly thirteen years. "Daddy's back" he whispered, hugging her tightly, not wanting to ever lose her again.

But before everyone could relax, they saw William sobbing and Yumi trying to comfort him, pulling him away from…

"Don't die on me!" William cried, trying to revive his friend, whose ring seemingly wasn't working. "YOU DON'T DESERVE THIS!" he yelled, crying harder over his friend's dead body.

Everyone except Jermie gathered around the boy, the fastest thing alive.

"I might be able to do something" said Jermie. Everyone was silenced at once. "Put him into a scanner, and William, go with him" he added, running up to the Super computer. Franz and Aelita followed, while Odd, Yumi and Ulrich stood there, unsure of what to do.

"You should well know by now that a return to the past can't undo death" Franz said grimly as he watched the bespectacled boy sit at his computer, rapidly starting the virtualization process.

"I know that" Jermie said, not looking away. "But what we programmed might save him" he said.

William and Keifer landed in the mountain sector, William catching his friends' limp body right before it hit the ground.

"What do I need to do?" William asked, hoping with every part of his mind his friend could be saved.

"Lay him down, and let me run our program" Jermie said. William did so, and once he did, Jermie started it.

"I hope this works" Jermie said, Aelita and Franz watching him, while unbeknownst to them, the other three warriors were having a conversation.

"It's my fault he died" Yumi said tearfully, falling into Ulrich's arms, Odd patting her on the back.

"No it's not Yum's" he said,trying to comfort his best friend. "He died protecting Franz, the REAL Franz" he said quietly.

"But he still didn't deserve to die, especially with his cool looks and speed" Odd said, his head hung low.

"If I had been faster…" Yumi sobbed, hitting the wall, her head hung low as well.

"Whatever you're planning, it better work" Ulrich thought as he remembered the others rushing off.

Back on Lyoko, William stood over his friend's body, when suddenly, he was blown back. He stood up to find seven, colorful gems floating around his friend.

"So that's what you've been working on" Franz said, sounding impressed with what the teen had accomplished. "But how will this help him?" he asked, Aelita clinging to him. She didn't want him to run back to Lyoko.

"Just watch" Jermie told him, mentally crossing his fingers.

William watched in awe as Keifer's body began to float up, the gems spinning around him even faster, until there was a golden flash in a pillar-like beam, going up as far as the eye could see.

After it faded, their floated Keifer, but he wasn't his normal self anymore. His Spiky Hair stood up, and every part of blue hair or fur on his was glowing yellow. And to top that, his eyes were Red.

"It worked!" Jermie exclaimed. Franz and Aelita gasped. Keifer was alive again.

"Did I actually…?" Keifer didn't finish asking. "Ugh, now I remember" he thought rubbing his side. "What the!?" he noticed how he looked. "So our program worked!" he yelled, fist bumping.

William stood there, happy as could be. But that was suddenly interrupted as three Mega Tanks rolled up, escorting the Skypezoah.

"No!" William backed away, beginning to cry. "GET ME OUTTA HERE JERMIE!" he screamed.

"Done! And here co- No!" Jermie cried, shocking Aelita, who had sat down with Franz.

"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly, a visual popping up on Jermie's screen.

"While Keifer's super, I can't devirtualize him, and th- hold up!" he said, shocked again.

"I've got a score to settle with XANA" Keifer growled. He flew up. The Mega Tanks shot at him, but he easily dodged the shots. As he was dodging, William, Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich walked in, shocked at what they were seeing.

"Did he absorb the sun or something?" Odd asked, watching Keifer fly up a little further.

"Chaos Sphere!" Keifer bellowed, launching a golden light at the middle Mega-Tank, instantly killing it.

"Okay now that is cool!" Yumi said, watching as Keifer obliterated the other two tanks.

"Keifer watch out!" Jermie yelled as the Skypezoah wrapped its' slimy tentacles around him. But before it could finish, Keifer charged up a golden spin dash and slammed into its' head, effectively killing it.

"Done!" he said. Then at once he devirtualized. Everyone, including Franz ran down to the scanners, and Keifer hopped out, filled with excess energy.

"That was…" Ulrich began.

"Absolutely amazing!" Franz Hopper finished. Everyone looked shocked at his statement. "Somehow, those gems brought you back to life!" he said ecastically. "Jermie my boy, you're an absolute genius!" Franz said, shaking hands with him.

"It was nothing!" he chuckled, grabbing Aelita's hand.

"Erm guys" Keifer said, feeling odd.

"What's wrong?" William asked. Before he could be told, he gasped. In the scanner Keifer came out of where the seven gems. Keifer reached down to grab one despite everyone's warnings.

"It could kill you! Again!" Odd shouted. But it was

too late, and as soon as he touched the green one, it zoomed into his body, along with the others.

"This makes no sense!" Jermie said.

"I think I have an explanation" said Franz, who'd

been brainstorming. "You see, the gems you created are now linked to Keifer" he said. "There must've been something special about the program or something to do with Keifer's speed that now links them" he said. But he knew he was lying. Deep down, he knew what REALLY caused it. "As for how it'll affect him here, I have no clue" he concluded. The group nodded, now realising that their friend could become an invincible killing machine at will. At least a controlled one, that was.

"But hey, let's look on the bright side, it's only 10 A.M and it's my fifteenth birthday today!" Keifer exclaimed. "And I know how we should celebrate" he said.

Several hours later of hard work and elbow grease,

They had finally finished cleaning the Hermitage's top and bottom floor. Any of the big stuff Keifer would use his excess gem energy to run to the dump, unnoticed by anyone who didn't know of his speed.

"It's grand to be home" Franz said, sipping a glass of Lemonade he had gotten from the pitcher prepared by Odd and Aelita. "And after so long" he added.

"So what happens now?" Keifer asked, standing by the wall, spinning his ring on his finger tip. "With Franz back, and with my super power" he stated.

"I can go to the school tomorrow and try to get my job back" Franz said. "That way I can educate you all and help with beating XANA. And finding Athena"

"My mother?" Aelita asked. He nodded. So did the others. It was as if their journey was only starting.

"I'll work on restoring the house throughout the week while I re-enter society as a different person" Franz said. "In the mean tim-"

"Make way!" William called, walking out the kitchen, a large cake in his hands. It was the shape of a ring with a 15 at the top.

"Happy birthday!" they all told him.

Keifer almost teared up. "Thank you guys so much!" he cried. The others chuckled and comforted him while they all ate their cake.

While the future may seem uncertain, our heroes always need some sort of break.

A/N; Oh boy, that was a long one!

Before we end let me say a few things;

-The scanner isn't permanently broken, as it can be fixed.

-Keifer was killed by getting smashed by the top of the scanner, and his Lyoko-Exhaustion.

-Franz never really died in episode 94. (More on that soon)

-Sissi and the others will be shown more soon, as the plot will slow down a little.

Until next time my friends, peace!

A/N; Hello everyone! As of late, the story's been getting more attention, which is great. But before we dive in again, I want to state something; chapters that are plot-heavy will be normal length, as for chapters without too much plot, they will be longer and probably end on a cliff-hanger. Without further ado, let's do it to it!

Chapter Four (Episode 103; The Choice 1/3)

(ONE WEEK AFTER PREVIOUS CHAPTER)

Keifer and Odd sat down in the now fully restored Hermitage, ready to take a break from the long week of school they had had.

"Another one bites the dust" Keifer said tiredly to Odd who had just finished summing up his detention from the night prior. "Sounded like hell though" he added.

"Yeah" Odd remarked. "Pulling gum off the gym bleachers while being yelled at by Jim. Probably his most creative one yet" he added, sighing and rolling his eyes. "Hey, aren't the others supposed to be here? He asked Franz Hopper who had just walked in, carrying a tea tray.

"They must've got caught up in something" he said, sitting in a chair across from them. "It still fascinates me how I managed to get back though" he told them.

"Yeah, how did you do it?" Keifer asked, taking a sip of tea from the mug he had grabbed.

"When the mantas had destroyed me, I survived, barely, as a small speck. Your rings are part of the reason I was able to come back. So much condensed energy" he said. "As for the scanner, we should have fixed within the next week" he added, biting into a muffin.

"That's good" said Odd, focusing on his croissant. "Speaking of which, an idea why Keifer's rings drain when he's super?"

"It's the gems. If the rings didn't provide energy for them, then Keifer couldn't use them"

"Which would explain why I can't go super without fifty of them" he said.

"Precisely" said Franz, drinking his tea. He was about to say something more when he was hit with a flashback.

Is it safe to bring him down there?" she asked the man clad in a white trench coat, Franz carrying a small baby in a cradle.

"It is very safe" said Franz Hopper to the girl. "Now then, we only have some time before Athena gets back, so let's hurry" he spoke to the girl as they walked to the back of the house. She nodded and followed him.

"Daddy?" a familiar voice asked. Franz snapped back into reality at the sound of his daughter's voice.

"Oh I - I'm fine" he lied. The truth was, he wasn't. It was a miracle that Keifer didn't remember anything. "Now then, you all know why I probably called you here yes?" he asked them as Ulrich, Yumi, William, and Aelita took their seats. They each nodded.

"Is it about Xana?" Yumi asked cautiously. He nodded.

"Now that I've escaped, Xana can grow stronger" he said. "My Key to Lyoko is destroyed, and that allows him to gain more power every day" he said. The others nodded grimly.

"So we keep fighting then until we win" Ulrich said. "We may not like it, but we're the only ones who can protect the world"

"He's right" William said. "Now that there are more of us, we stand a better chance at beating Xana more than ever" he spoke.

"Together, we can do it" Yumi said. The group nodded.

"That's good" Said Franz, smiling. "I also wanted you to know that I got my job back!" he exclaimed. "I start this Monday as your science and computer teacher" he said. "Mrs. Hertz gladly stepped down to retire, so now I'll be back once more" he concluded. The group cheered but silenced as there was a knock on the door.

"Pizza!" the person shouted.

"Oh, I ordered that" said Jermie. Everyone thanked him as he answered and paid, bringing in two large pepperoni's.

"I haven't eaten this in years, but yet I still love it" said Franz, digging in on it.

"Franz my buddy, I'm going to have to take you to eat everywhere" said Odd. "With twelve years of eating to catch up on" he added. Everyone chuckled at his joke.

After everyone had their fill, they all said their goodbyes, except for Yumi, Aelita, and Franz, who were all staying at the Hermitage.

"You know what this means, right?" Odd asked the remaining boys.

"What?" Jermie asked as they walked out to the city sidewalk, the moon rising as the sun sank in the distance.

"Boys night!" they all yelled, except for Jermie.

"Where we going?" Keifer asked. "Because I can have us their in a split second!"

"The hotdog stand on west third" said Odd happily.

"But you just ate" William said.

"You can't forget that his stomach is as endless as the universe" Ulrich said, causing the others to laugh, even Odd.

"Well, I could go for a Chili dog" Keifer said, motiong for the others to grab on. "I'll pay" he added. The others then agreed and hopped on, linking arms. "Juice time!" Keifer said, zipping off, a large dust cloud rising behind him as the others hung on. It was less than a minute later that they showed up.

"One mozzarella dog" Ulrich said.

"Make that three" said William, patting his stomach.

"I'll take three plain dogs with relish" said Odd, smacking his lips.

"Hmm, a extra salty pretzel sounds nice" said Jermie, deciding he wasn't too hungry.

"And you, spikey boy?" he asked Keifer.

"Two dogies. With the works pal" he said, pulling a twenty and a five out of his pocket. He took it, rang up the change, and sat to work.

"Thanks Keif" William said.

"It was nothing, really" Keifer said. "I'm just really glad to have friends as great as you guys" he said. A few minutes later, the worker handed them their food and waved them goodbye, closing for the night.

"I haven't had these in ages!" Odd exclaimed, downing his second dog. "And I'll save this one for Kiwi" he added, letting the third one drop into the bag.

"Yuck, I hate relish" said Ulrich, finishing his Mozzarella dog. "Now these are the way to go"

"Agreed" said William, finishing his first and downing the second one in two bites.

"Oh you guys are so wrong" Keifer said, finishing his first Chili dog. "A little bit of everything is where it's really at" he said, starting on his second one.

"I really don't like hot dogs" Jermie stated flatly. "Pretzels are good though" he added quickly with the looks he was getting from everyone. The group walked in silence until Keifer spoke up.

"If you guys want, I can tell you about my past, or as much as I remember anyway" he said.

"It's up to you" said Jermie. Keifer nodded.

"Well, back when I was walking and talking, I began to piece together that my parents resented me" he began, taking a deep breath. "I later learned that I was a failed abortion and that my parents tried to put me up for adoption but couldn't" he said. Everyone gasped, but he didn't mind. "It was my sister and someone else who cared for me, I just don't remember them" he continued as the group began to slowly walk back onto Kadic grounds. "When I was around ten, my parents got into an argument on a road trip and they crashed, killing them and my sister. I ran off, too afraid to stay. I eventually ran into William, who took me in" he said quietly, on the verge of tearing up. "He was like a brother to me. When he eventually got kicked out of our normal school, I stayed a little longer, but people there were so harsh. So I eventually made my way over here and hacked my way in, putting in false records so I could attend here" Keifer finished.

"I'm sorry to hear about that" Odd said.

"It's fine" Keifer replied as they began to walk to Jermie's dorm. "I am kinda worn down for the night though, so I'm going to get some rest. Call if Xana tries anything" he added, heading into his room. The others nodded and sat off for Ulrich's room in silence.

As soon as he hit the bead, Keifer was out cold, but that didn't stop the nightmares.

"Why'd we have to bring IT?" Eliza asked her husband, who was driving recklessly along the swerving mountain road.

"Because you're the stupid idiot who caved into our lousy excuse of a daughter!" he yelled, spit flying in her face. In the back seat, Keifer had his head down and his sister was holding his hand.

"It'll pass" she whispered to him. He slightly nodded as so his father wouldn't notice him talking to his sister.

"He's just as human as us you know" she said angrily to her parents, somehow mustering up the courage to talk to the two rage filled, hate-addled adults.

"HE IS A FAILURE!" her father roared, nearly hitting a large suburban next to them. "He's a freak that shouldn't have been born!" he yelled, turning to punch her hard, but Keifer Jumped in the way, having been unbuckled to try to jump out the door to finally end all of his pain and suffering.

"You won't hurt her" he said, staring his father in the eyes. Before anything happened, his sister and mother screamed, his sister's arms locked around him, pulling him in tight as there was a large, white flash.

Minutes later, Keifer sat up groggily, sitting a few feet away from a smashed car and a now overturned Semi-Truck.

"No!" he cried, running over. He saw his sister's hand sticking out from under the wreckage, a small note in it. He picked it up, but before he could read it, he heard a click and booked it as the two vehicles exploded, propelling him forward.

"NO, No, NO!" he screamed, waking up. He then suddenly realised he couldn't breathe.

"Keifer wh- oh no!" Jermie cried as his friend doubled over on the floor, gasping for air. He quickly yelled for help and Jim came running in.

"C'mon boy, breathe with me!" the gym coach instructed, helping the child regain his composure and let air back into him. "Thata boy" he said, standing up. Several people were standing outside the door, but Jim yelled at them to go back to bed, which he then did himself.

"What happened?" William asked as he, Odd, and Ulrich snuck in. Keifer then went on to tell them what had happened, even his dream. The others then felt even more bad when he mentioned the note.

"I can't believe those vile, wretched…" Ulrich didn't finish his sentence, as he was at a loss for words.

"It doesn't matter anymore" Keifer said. "But what does is that this made me think. We need to help Aelita find her mother, so she can have a complete family, and never try to do what I did" he concluded. The others nodded and then they all just crashed in Jermie's room for the rest of the night.

One thing was for sure; things were about to start getting a lot harder.

A/N; Hey guys, four chapters strong so far! I'm going to have to apologize, but I can't keep up with a chapter a day. School is really starting to smack me in the head. So without further ado, part two of three of the choice!

Chapter 5 (Episode 105; The Choice 2/3)

That morning, the others told the girls of everything that had happened that night over breakfast, even Keifer's recommendation of finding Aelita's mother.

"I just don't want you to feel sad" Keifer reasoned as they talked. "I know you have a great dad, but having your mother would be even better, right?" he asked Aelita, who was nibbling a slice of toast absentmindedly.

"Yeah, it would be" she said. "We know she's alive but who knows where" she sighed, putting the toast down.

"Well here's for a start" said Franz Hopper, sitting down next to her with a bowl of oatmeal and an apple. "The last place she was was in was an F.B.I facility" he said grimly. "We can all go over break, which starts today" he said.

"He's right" Ulrich chipped in. "We just have to get through today, then we can pack up"

"But wait, one question" said Odd, finally breathing after eating three muffins. "What if Xana attacks?"

"He has a point" said William, finishing his orange juice. "If we're going across the country, we can't just turn around at the sight of a Xana attack"

"Yeah we can" Keifer said, finally speaking. Everyone turned to him. "I can take me plus two others with my power ring. One for the tower, one to run the computer, and one as an escort" he finished.

"He's got a fair point" Yumi spoke.

"Then it is settled" said Franz, finishing his meal. "This evening we will set off to find Athena. And if Xana as so bats an eye, we'll fight him" he stated. The group nodded and headed off to class, their first one coincidentally being with Franz, aside from Yumi and WIlliam, who were one grade higher than the rest.

"This ought to be exciting" said Jermie as the group walked to class.

"I might actually be able to see my mother" Aelita said, her excitement finally showing through.

"I'm glad we made the decision to go" Keifer said. "I'll be able to stretch my legs" he added.

"So you won't be riding in the SUV?" Ulrich questioned him as they sat down, Franz behind them walking to his desk and preparing for the day.

"Why would I when I can run as fast as I can? Plus, if I get tired, I can just jump in" he stated. They nodded as they prepared for class, until they were interrupted by Sissi.

"Hey guys" she waved, walking past. This shocked them a little. Sissi, the principal's daughter, wasn't bugging them.

"So you're not gonna make fun of us?" Odd asked as she sat down.

"Why would I do that?" she asked, straightening her hair out of her face. "After all, kindness is better than rudeness" she said to them.

"Looks like what you told her is really having an effect" Keifer noted, remembering what Ulrich had told him.

"You might be right about that" Aelita said. They fell silent as Franz stood up and introduced himself to the class and began his lesson.

"Won't be long now" Odd said as the class passed by rather quickly. That's when they heard a faint, familiar beeping.

"Oh son of a-" Keifer was cut off by Odd raising his hand.

"Go ahead" said Franz, who knew exactly what they were doing. They nodded and ran out of the room and off for the factory, calling Yumi.

"It's Xana isn't it?" she asked them was they ran off into the woods after meeting up.

"Yeah, and he's activated a tower in the mountain sector" Jermie said as they went down to the sewer.

"Watch this!" Keifer yelled, Revving up, then taking off across the water in the tunnel, getting to the ladder in four seconds, his record time.

"What can you NOT run on?" Odd asked as the group ran into the factory and went down the rope.

"Ice" Keifer stated flatly. "I tried one time and twisted my wrist" he said as Jermie hit the elevator button. But before it closed, Franz managed to sprint in, out of breath.

"Class… just... " He didn't need to finish. "Me and Jermie will go to the super computer. For now we'll send in just Keifer and Aelita" he said. They all nodded and went their way to the scanners. Keifer and Aelita stepped in.

As Franz yelled the familiar words, Keifer closed his eyes as his spikes stood up, and before he knew it, he was on Lyoko with Aelita.

"Head North, the tower is there" Franz told them as Jermie pulled up another chair and sat his laptop down, setting to work as well.

"Let's do this!" Keifer said, grabbing Aelita and zooming off, getting to the tower in a single minute. But they weren't alone, as they were ambushed by an army of Bloks, Krabs, and another Skypezoah that managed to grab Aelita.

"Keifer, help her!" Jermie cried.

"Will do!" he said back, closing his eyes. The gems swirled around him, and at once, he was super again. He homed in on the Skypezoah and killed it, causing Aelita to drop on the ground. "Sorry princess" he said, helping her up.

"It's okay, but now we have to worry about them!" she cried, pointing to the other monsters.

"Who wants a piece of me?!" Keifer bellowed, seemingly attacking all the enemies at once.

"Keifer, look out!" Franz yelled. Already, another Skypezoah was grabbing Aelita, leaving Keifer with two choices, as he knew he was down to twelve rings; Save Aelita, or finish the monsters. He went with his gut feeling and killed the other Skypezoah, his super form fading after catching her.

"Don't take another hit, or else it's all over!" Franz warned, looking at Keifer's ring count.

"It's fine, we finished the monsters and Aelita is in the tower" he told them as he watched the red smoke above it disappear.

"We're bringing you back in" Jermie said, his heart on the brink of blowing up after the two consecutive Skypezoahs.

"So how'd it go?" Odd asked Aelita as she and Keifer

re-appeared.

"It went great!" Keifer said, fist-bumping Aelita. "Now then, who's ready for our road trip!"

After several hours of running, and two gas stations, Keifer finally gave in and sat on top of the SUV, tired from running.

"Looks like we finally found your limit, huh?" William asked him at the hotel they were stopping at.

"Yeah, no kidding, you ran nearly 500 miles" Yumi told him as they walked up to the large room, three levels up.

"So? It's just what I do" Keifer said, brushing it off like it was nothing. "Besides, I've ran much further than that" he added, plopping down on the couch. "Also, dibs!" he yelled.

"Fair enough" Odd said, lying in the loveseat, kicking out the legs. "It was nice of your parents to watch Kiwi Yumi" he added, yawning.

"What can I say, they love him" she said, sitting at the table, followed by Ulrich, William and Aelita. Franz was on the phone ordering dinner when Aelita suggested they should go swimming.

"It'd be nice" William said. "A little bit of a stress reliever before tomorrow, when we all go hunting down possibly the only other pink-haired woman in France" he stated.

"Agreed" said Ulrich. Everyone nodded and switched into their swim gear.

"I'll meet you down their in a bit" Franz said, finishing up on the phone. Aelita nodded and she and the others proceeded down to the pool, Keifer beating them.

"Geronimo!" he yelled, jumping in cannonball style, dousing everyone.

"Geez, thanks for not giving us the pleasure" Yumi teased, diving in simultaneously with Aelita, the others just jumped in.

"Oi Vey!" William said. "This is freezing!" he yelled.

"Suck it up, tough boy!" Odd chuckled, splashing him.

"Why you…!" William began playfully chasing him while Ulrich went to talk to Keifer.

"So…" he began. "Any Idea why you don't remember your past?" he asked.

"You mean from when I was way younger? No, I don't sadly" Keifer sighed. "I just wish I knew the man who had helped my sister care for me when I was born" he said. "But hey, race ya!" he said, swimming swiftly to the other end of the pool.

"No fair!" Ulrich called out, chasing right after him. Odd chuckled and swam over to the girls.

"Hey Odd, something wrong?" Aelita asked, popping her head up from under the water.

"Oh, nothing. But Ulrich thinks he can beat the fastest thing alive" he added, causing the girls to chuckle. That's when Franz came out in a grey t-shirt with brown shorts. He took a seat and began to read.

"So do you think we'll find your mother?" Yumi asked Aelita, who had been focused on Ulrich and Keifer's race.

"I don't know" Aelita responded, coming back to their conversation. "I just hope we do. I've been dreaming about being reunited with my parents, and so far it's gone good" she said. Yumi nodded and quickly shielded herself as Keifer ran on the surface of the water, Ulrich failing to keep up.

"Cheater!" he called jokingly.

"I don't cheat, I'm just fast!" he called back. That's when he noticed Jermie on his laptop.

"Xana's activated a tower!" he yelled. Everyone ran over to him as he looked at the screen. "And it's in the Ice sector" he added quickly.

"Okay, who's up for going?" Keifer asked, beginning to rev up.

"How about William and Aelita?" Franz suggested. "Two tower deactivators just in case" he said.

"And we can run the timed virtualization program" William added. Everyone nodded, and Keifer grabbed hands with the two.

"Wait a minute!" he said, he let go of them, and pulled out his ring. He held it up and a golden infinity symbol swirled around him. "Grab on!" he told Aelita and William, who did. "Now you all grab on to something!" he ordered the others to do, which they nodded.

"Let's GO!" he yelled, taking off with a sonic boom, nearly causing his friends to lose their grip on him.

After several minutes of Keifer's near one-thousand mile per hour speed, the factory bridge was in sight.

"Slow down!" William yelled over the wind. Keifer compiled and put his ring back in his pocket, his speed slowing down, allowing them to stop at the ropes.

As they went down the elevator, Aelita got a call from her father telling them he remotely activated the virtualization process.

"The third scanner is also working" he added before hanging up.

As the elevator opened the three ran into the scanners, closing behind them right after their entrance.

"There it is!" Keifer pointed out the tower ahead in the distance.

"Don't go super yet" William said. "We don't know what Xana might be doing" he stated. Keifer nodded, grabbed them, and zoomed off for the tower.

Back at the hotel, the group was sitting down for dinner. Franz had ordered chinese food, which Yumi was thankful for.

"Do you think the others will make it?" Odd asked, biting into some squid.

"They will" Franz said. "Right now Xana is drawing energy from that tower in order to become stronger, as he is still somewhat weak" he added, drinking a small glass of tea.

Back on Lyoko, Keifer halted as two tarantulas came up with a Skypezoah.

"They just don't know how to give up, huh?" Keifer, said, getting into his transformation stance. But before he could go super, he was hit by a laser. "Dammit!" he yelled, managing to pick up a single ring before they disappeared.

"Aelita, no!" William cried as she tried to book it for the tower only to get caught by the Skypezoah.

"NO!" Keifer yelled, spin-jumping at the beast, sawing off its' tentacles.

"Thank you" she said as William snaked to the tower in a cloud of smoke.

"Your welcome, now let's do this!" Keifer said, running at a tarantula before spin dashing into it. Aelita hit the other with an energy bomb as William walked back out of the tower.

"Looks like we gotta bring our-" he was cut off as the three automatically devirtualized.

"Alright" Aelita mumbled as they stumbled out of her scanner. William walked out of his, but Keifer face planted. "We can't go back tonight" she said, helping him up.

"Yeah we can" Keifer said, regaining his composure. "Aelita, go up and run the program, 'Recharge', okay?" he asked the pink haired girl, who nodded.

"What's it going to do?" William asked as Keifer placed his ring in the scanner. It closed a few seconds later and opened within a few moments, his ring now floating there.

"It's a one time use thing" Keifer told him, grabbing the ring and going up to the super computer to get Aelita.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked him as they all three rode the elevator back up.

"You don't have to bud" William said as they left the elevator and walked out onto the moonlit bridge.

"I'll be fine" Keifer lied. "Grab on and let's do this!" he said, holding up his ring, the golden infinity symbol surrounding him once more. And in a blaze of speed, he took off, William and Aelita barely able to hang on.

Within a few minutes they were nearing the hotel when suddenly Keifer tripped on seemingly nothing and collapsed, face first, skidding almost fifty feet, his ring flying ahead and landing in a bush.

"No!" William cried as he stood up, dazed from how Keifer had accidentally dropped him and Aelita. They both ran up to his body and he laid their, unconscious, bruised and battered.

A/N; Lord almighty, this one took a long time. Sorry to keep you guys waiting. But now I hope the chapter title makes sense, as people's choices can affect them.

A/N; Hello everyone! I hope your doing alright. Anyways, the break I took was to write the other story. And I've changed my mind; it does tie into something that is going to happen in the future. So, without further ado, the third and final chapter to this arc.

Chapter Six (Episode 106; The Choice 3/3)

"What happened?" Franz asked William and Aelita, who brought Keifer in and laid him down on the couch.

"He just tripped on nothing" Aelta told him, making sure Keifer was comfortable before sitting down to eat dinner.

"I think I have an idea on what happened" William spoke up from his bowl of rice. "I've completely forgotten about it until now, but if Keifer uses the ring more than one time within a two hour period, it saps every ounce of energy from him, which is what caused him to fall" he said. "He'll be fine, but he won't be running for a good few hours" he added. The others nodded and went back to relaxing and planning on where to look for Athena.

"I say we try to sneak into the F.B.I's headquarters" Odd suggested, turning on the T.V and mindlessly flipping through the channels.

"That's suicide" Yumi said, looking at a map on the wall.

"Why don't we all split up into groups?" Ulrich suggested. "Me, Odd, Jermie, William, and Keifer. And you with Aelita and Franz" he told her.

"I like that idea" said Franz, who had been lying on his bed reading a book. "But now it's getting late, and we have only tomorrow to find Athena" he told them. They all nodded and went their ways to their sleeping places. But little known to them, Keifer was awake, but not moving.

Later that night, with everyone asleep, Keifer snuck out onto the balcony and stood there, looking at the moon for hours before finally speaking..

"I need to quit risking my life" he told himself, looking to the stars. "That effort early nearly killed me" he went on, talking to the night. "I just wish… sometimes I wish I wasn't fast" he whispered. "Maybe then I wouldn't look like such a freak. Maybe then I wouldn't... be such a failure" he sat down and stared down.

"You're none of those" Jermie said, walking out and sitting next to him.

"Why are you saying that?" Keifer asked him, believing his own words, not anyone else's.

"Because you're something amazing" Jermie said to him. "You've come through so many times and done so much for us. In my eyes, that doesn't make you a freak or anything bad, it makes you seem amazing" he told him honestly. "Even your spikes are cool" he added.

"Heh, maybe you're right" Keifer told the bespectacled boy, giving him a hand up. "Seeing as it's almost time to get up, I'll go run and get breakfast from somewhere" Keifer told him. Jermie nodded and watched as Keifer jumped up in a ball and landed on the ground three floors down without getting hurt.

"Rise and shine everyone!" he yelled.

"Five more minutes" Odd mumbled, pulling his pillow over his eyes.

"Agreed" Ulrich muttered, shielding his eyes from the blinding light now in the room.

"It is time to get up children" said Franz, standing up and pulling on his glasses. He walked into the small kitchen and began preparing tea as everyone finally began to wake up.

Keifer couldn't help but feel he was being followed all the way to the small convenience store. He picked up two dozen donuts of mixed variety and payed for them. But before he left, a firm hand grasped his shoulder.

"No!" Keifer yelled, zooming off as he realised who was behind him.

"After him!" the Agent yelled, running into his and his cohorts vehicles, which were parked behind the store.

"I've gotta step it up!" Keifer yelled, pulling out his ring, his choice being set in stone minutes before. Keifer tucked the donuts under his hand and with the power of the ring, took off with a Sonic boom, temporarily slowing down the F.B.I agents cars.

"Coming though!" Keifer yelled, jumping through the window with a sound clap, landing on the floor.

"Oh boy, donuts!" Odd cheered, reaching for one.

"We've gotta go, NOW!" Keifer yelled, dropping the donuts and grabbing his small bag.

"Why, what's wrong?" Franz asked cautiously.

"The F.B.I, they're after me!" Keifer cried. Everyone nodded and quickly gathered their stuff, and began to book it out the room door, where they were stopped by one man. "Sorry about this!" Keifer yelled as he began to run continuous circles around the guy, making him so dizzy he stumbled into the room and nearly out and off the balcony.

The group ran to the car, but Keifer stayed outside of it.

"What are you doing?" William yelled to him as Franz started up the vehicle.

"Something I should've done yesterday!" Keifer yelled, running towards the now rapidly approaching group. "Hey stupids, over here!" he yelled, only spurring them on more. "Bet you can't catch me!" he yelled, running off.

Luckily, Keifer's plan worked and they disregarded the others and set after Keifer, who was now luring them away. Little did he know that they were prepared for an event like this.

"We can't leave him!" William yelled as he and the others drove off in the other direction, luckily not being followed.

"I believe in him" Ulrich said. "Worst-case scenario, he comes back exhausted" he concluded. William calmed down a bit as they zoomed off further and closer to Paris.

"What the-" Keifer slammed to a halt as there was an entire roadblock of F.B.I cars. But that's not what shocked him. Dead in front of him was a large robot. Before he could turn around, he was surrounded on the lone road, nothing in sight except mountains.

"At long last…" said an all but familiar voice Keifer wished he could forget. The robot's cockpit opened to reveal the lead for the team E.O.O.C (Execution of Odd Creatures) Keifer turned to book it, but a large robotic arm zipped forward and grabbed him and pulled him face-to-face with the evil scientist, who had murdered several born with oddities similar to Keifer's.

"Any last words?" he scowled, now aiming the top gun at him.

"Yeah, actually" Keifer cocked back. He had a desperate hope, but the chance of it working was so miniscule, he was a mad man for believing it would work. He closed his eyes and focused his thoughts. That's when the seven gems popped out and began to swirl around him.

"NO!" the scientist cried, the gun whirring to life. But it was too late, Keifer had gone Super in the real world.

He blasted out of the robotic clutches and zoomed through the robot, shattering it to pieces. He then landed in the center where everyone held their breath.

"You're done for!" he roared, opening a vortex above him with the gems power. Everyone tried to run, but couldn't as they were sucked into a non-existent dimension. "You're finally cracked" he said to the scientist, who was begging to not be taken.

"No!" he cried as he was fully sucked in, the vortex closing behind him. Deep in his mind, Keifer felt he had no control over the choice he had to make, but it felt like the right one, and with the force of ten sonic booms, he flew off for the car, which he caught up to in mere seconds.

"Holy crap!" Odd exclaimed, dropping his Donut as Keifer flew next to the car and waved to them. "He's freaking super in the real world!" he cried, shocked at the golden boy.

"He won't be able to maintain it much longer" Franz warned. "We must tell him, and quickly!" he added, rolling down the windows.

"Keifer!" Yumi yelled to him through the rushing wind. Keifer looked to her to signal he was listening. "Franz says that you can't maintain your super form much longer, so get in!" she yelled to him, opening the door. He nodded and came in, sitting next to her as his super form faded and he became normal once more.

"How'd you do that?" Ulrich asked him as they drove, getting closer to Paris.

"Well, Ovi Kintobor, the leader of that team, had this large robot. I was caught in it's hand and I remembered how I went super on Lyoko and how the gems are within me. So I concentrated and became super" Keifer concluded.

"And the men?" Franz asked as he drove, not wanting to look back.

"I opened up a vortex that sent them to their own, fake, perfect realities" Keifer said, grabbing a lemon-iced donut. "They aren't dead, just in limbo, and even if they do slip out, all of their memories are gone" he added, downing the pastry in four bites.

"That's scary, but cool" William said. "Maybe we should come up with a name for those gems" he added, pulling out his mobile and playing a game.

"How about Chaos Emeralds?" Aelita suggested from the front seat, looking up from her book. "After all, they're extremely powerful and Keifer can use them to do insane things" she stated. Everyone nodded.

"Then that settles it" Keifer said. "I also just figured out how I was able to go super without my health rings" he said, showing the group his ring. It was a faded shade of bronze now.

"But look!" Jermie pointed out that the gold color was slowly returning to it, starting at the bottom.

"That's a relief" Keifer sighed, placing it in the cupholder next to him.

"It won't be long now" Franz said from the front seat. "I might be able to finally see my wife and your mother" he told Aelita, who was nervous and excited.

"But we've gotta find her first" William reminded them.

"She may not remember anything" Franz noted to them. "When she was taken, they might have wiped her memories" he said. Everyone thought this over carefully.

"We also can't go around asking, 'hey, have you see this woman who was taken by some F.B.I men years ago?'" Yumi added.

"Yeah we don't need to draw attention to ourselves" Odd admitted.

"Especially because me and Franz are wanted by the F.B.I" Keifer concluded. "Hey, I'm gonna jump out and stretch my legs" he said. Before anyone could stop him, he jumped out and ran next to the car, now entering the City of Paris.

"It's so wonderful" William said as they began to slow down, traffic in front of them. He looked to the Iron tower in the center, standing out tall and proud.

"We have one mission" Franz told them. "Find Athena. We made the choice to try and find her, so let's make it count!" the group nodded and he pulled onto the side of a sidewalk and everyone got out.

"It feels so g-g-good to stretch again" Jermie said, leaning down to loosen his back. They all nodded to each other one last time as the group split into two and began to search for Athena Hopper.

"Whose hungry?" Keifer asked as they walked around, the hot sun beating down on them.

"I could go for something cold" Jermie said, keeping an eye out for a pink haired female.

"Agreed" Ulrich said blatantly. Keifer checked his wallet and fished out twenty bucks. The group walked up to an ice-cream cart and got their fair share of cold goodness.

"Thanks" Odd said, devouring his cookie-dough cone. "I can pay you back at some point" he added.

"It's fine" Keifer told them. "I don't mind buying things for my friends" he chuckled as they kept searching.

"I wonder how the others are doing" William thought aloud.

As Aelita, Yumi, and Franz walked up the sidewalk, Aelita couldn't help but take in all of the beautiful sights.

"It's so wonderful here" she told Yumi as they rounded a corner, only to be stopped by a Police Officer.

"I haven't seen you around" he said to them, looking him over.

"We're from the south" Franz told him as he looked at Aelita.

"Huh, nice hair" he told her, getting ready to walk away. "I've only seen hair like that once on a lady not too far from here today" he told them as he walked away.

"Let's go find her!" Yumi said. "It's the best lead we've gotten at all" she added. Franz agreed with her and they sat off towards the iron tower.

"Hey, there's the others!" Jermie pointed out as Franz, Aelita, and Yumi bolted past them towards the tower.

"I'll get their attention!" Keifer told them, running after them, catching up in no time flat. "Guys, stop!" he said as the others finally caught up.

"We got a lead that Athena might be around the tower!" Yumi explained to them quickly.

"Juice time!" Keifer yelled, taking off, sending up a large dust cloud.

"Be careful" Franz said to Keifer so quietly, only he could hear it.

Keifer zoomed off towards the large tower, quickly running around the base. No sign of a pink haired woman, so he began to climb the tall, levels of it. It wasn't until he was on the last floor that he saw her.

Athena Hopper was looking towards the sun, leaning on the railing of the tower. Keifer walked up to her, but when she saw him, she gasped.

"Run, it's a trap!" she cried, concern for the boy in her voice.

Sure enough, there was a group of F.B.I men right behind him.

"Then we're gonna jump!" he yelled, grabbing Athea with amazing strength and holding her. He jumped out the side of the tower, hundreds of feet up in the air.

"Ahhh!" Athena yelled as they fell out, fearing it was all over. But Keifer didn't. He only smiled as he closed his eyes.

"Super time!" he yelled, igniting into his super form. He flew after Athena as hundreds of people watched. Once he caught her, they touched down in front of the group, all of whom gasped at the sight.

No one spoke, they just looked at Athena, shocked. And she looked back flabbergasted.

"Mommy!" Aelita cried, rushing forward, breaking the silence. Her mother held her arms out and they hugged, including Franz Hopper. The others including Keifer's faces lit up with smiles until a few moments later.

"ARGH!" Keifer cried as a bunch of hard, metallic ropes swirled around his body lightning fast and slammed him to the ground, tightening themselves.

"What the-?" William was shocked to see five F.B.I men, holding the grappling guns that were holding down Keifer, whose Super form faded.

"He is an abomination with inhuman powers!" a new figure in the middle said. "We'll be taking him with us and we'll execute him and cover up all of what happened here" he said, looking at them.

"Run!" Keifer cried to them as he tried to struggle out of his binds.

"I'm tired of running!" Odd, William, Jermie, and Ulrich barked, all in unison. Yumi joined them and formed a small, protective wall around Athena, Franz, and Aelita. She joined them too.

"I won't let you hurt him or my family!" Aelita yelled at them, getting into a fighting stance.

"What are some dumb kids going to do?" the man in red laughed. That's when the others charged.

"I've gotta get up" Keifer thought to himself mentally. That's when he had a flashback to when he and Jermie had made the Chaos Emeralds.

"Here" said Jermie, hitting enter on the last line of the program. "I've added an overclock feature just in case. We don't know what XANA has up his sleeves" he told Keifer, who was typing away on his own laptop. He nodded, putting that info in the back of his mind.

Until now that was. Keifer closed his eyes as the fighting ensued around him.

"What is he doing?" the leader of the men yelled before getting socked right in the chest by William and Franz together.

"He's overclocking the emeralds!" Jermie exclaimed, ducking to avoid a knuckle punch to the face. He kicked the third man between the leg and watched as the Chaos Emeralds swirled around Keifer.

"AGHHHH!" he roared as a flash of white enveloped the entire area, blowing everyone off of their feet. When the light cleared, Keifer was hovering there, but not super. His spikes stood up even higher, and instead of Yellow, his fur and spikes were now glowing light rainbow colors.

"He's went Hyper…" Ulrich said in awe as he and Yumi stood back to back.

"You guys go to the car!" he yelled to them, getting ready to take the five on at once. "I'll catch up!" they all nodded as he said this and ran for the vehicle.

Keifer put his hands together and in the palms of them, a large, white sphere began to form.

"I'll give you five seconds" he warned them, the sphere growing bigger.

"Now let's be rational about this" the leader of the men chuckled nervously. "Surely you won't hurt us, right?"

"You've tried to kill me my WHOLE life!" Keifer roared, the ball now extremely huge and still growing in his hands. "Now it's my turn to pay. You. BACK!" Keifer roared, slamming the white rift orb down on them so hard, it exploded, enveloping all of Paris, France. Luckily, the group was outside the radius, otherwise the power would've wiped their memories of the past few hours.

Keifer floated down to see that the group of F.B.I men and their leader, Vos Vince, was done for, sent to their own dimensions like the others form earlier that day.

Out of exhaustion, Keifer touched down, but when he did, his power reverted him back to his super form. He took off before anyone noticed, and sped off out of Paris as many people began to wake up, dazed. None of them would remember what had happened, not a single one.

That night, back at the Hermitage, everyone was sitting around the living room, the events of the last few days taking their course on everyone.

"It looks like we made the right choice in the end" Franz spoke up from next to his wife and daughter.

"That's for sure" Jermie said, sipping on some lemonade Athena had poured for everyone. On the way back, she had explained how once she had been held for nearly a month and interrogated, and then how the F.B.I had released her under close watch.

"Every day I went to the Iron Tower in hopes that I'd see you again" she said when she concluded the sad story. Now here they all were, as if they had only went to pick her up.

"I for one, am exhausted" Odd spoke up finally.

"We still have one problem" Ulrich mentioned, pointing to Keifer. For some odd reason, his Super Form hadn't worn off yet.

"How has your ring not drained yet?" William asked him as he sat in the air, rather enjoying himself.

"Maybe it has to do with how he overclocked those gems" Athena suggested.

"That would explain it" Franz spoke.

"Well, we have an entire week to solve it" Keifer said. "And plus, I like being a golden boy" the group laughed at his joke as they turned the T.V on to watch a movie, finally relaxing together.

After the events that transpired, they were all bonded closer together than ever. But little did they know that their bonds were about to be tested, their will to stay together pushed to the limit, but their choices being the most important things to come.

A/N; Holy heck! Another long one done! And at long last, a family reunited. I also want you guys to know that I am now going to take a break for a good while. So until next time, see ya!

A/N; Hello my fellow friends! After a while and some creative writing tutorials, I am back! So without further ado, let's keep this going.

Chapter Seven (Episode 107; A Change of Pace)

The rest of the break passed by slowly. Shockingly enough, XANA didn't rear his ugly head once. But that wasn't a major problem. What was though was the fact that the group couldn't find a way to make Keifer revert back to normal.

He went to Lyoko and even then, his usual ring counter just showed an infinity symbol. The others tried devirtualizing him, and nothing could hurt him.

"I don't mind being Super 24/7" Keifer reassured Franz and Jermie as he walked into the computer room after another one of their programs failed.

"Are you positive?" Franz asked him, taking a break from the machine and sipping on his double shot espresso.

"I'm positive" Keifer told the two. "Plus, I discovered something new last night" he began telling them. "While Super, I can teleport!" he exclaimed. Jermie was taken back by this, but it didn't shock Franz at all, not one bit.

"Think you can take us to the Hermitage?" he asked him, standing up and stretching.

"Pretty sure I can" Keifer said. "But just to be safe, let's grab hands so I don't lose my mental link on you" they did just that and Keifer closed his eyes, focusing on his destination.

With a flash of golden sparkles, they instantly warped out of the Computer lab and to the outside door of the Hermitage.

"How the heck did you do that?" Odd cried out, jumping out of his seat on the porch, Aelita and Athena nearly doing the same.

"Teleportation" Jermie told them, letting go of Keifer's hand and taking a seat next to Aelita, grabbing her hand and holding it, causing her to blush a little.

"So it went unsuccessful again?" Athena asked her husband, who took his seat next to her, noticing that Keifer was still super.

"Sadly, yes" said Franz. "I just don't get it" he added, his train of thought derailing.

"It's like I said - I don't mind it" Keifer reminded him. "We can just make up some excuse at the school" he told Franz, who after a few moments of silence nodded.

"After all, it won't be the weirdest thing we've had to mask" Odd said. "You gotta remember the William clone, and he was a wreck" he chuckled.

"Speaking of which, where are the others?" Aelita asked, seeing as William, Yumi, and Ulrich were gone.

"I can go check" Keifer said. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate.

"To the current place of Ulrich!" he thought in his mind, and with a flash, he was there.

"Ahh!" Ulrich yelled, jumping up.

"Sorry!" Keifer told him, helping him up. "The others were concerned about your guy's whereabouts" he explained to him.

"We were just studying together" he told him, beginning to fume a little.

"Mmm hmm" Keifer teased. "You want me to believe that you were 'just studying'?"

"Look, me and Yumi are just good friends, got it?" he retorted, now annoyed.

"Okay, okay" Keifer chuckled. "I can take a hint" he added, following Ulrich back to his room, where Yumi and William were studying.

"Oh, hey" Yumi said, staring into her history book. William was doing the same.

"You do know that we don't start for another two days, right?" Keifer asked them, sitting down on Odd's bed.

"And on the day we return, we have a quiz" William told him, not looking away from his book. Keifer nodded and then explained to them why he was there.

"So let's stop here for the evening and go see the others" Yumi suggested, finally putting away the battered book.

"Okay, let's do it!" Keifer said. They all grabbed hands in a small circle and he concentrated on the Hermitage. Within a few moments, they warped there.

"Oww!" Ulrich cried, landing face first in the grass.

"Don't let go early next time" Keifer told him, helping him up once more.

"Hey, where'd they go if they were just out here?" William asked his friend, who now too just noticed the once filled seats now vacant.

"Looks like they left a note" Yumi pointed out a small piece of paper,which Keifer picked up and read aloud.

"XANA activated a tower and we went to deal with it. We'll call if we need backup" he read.

"So I guess that means we can relax?" Ulrich asked, getting ready to sit down.

"I guess" William said, taking a seat opposite of him. Yumi sat next to Ulrich and Keifer just floated there.

"Oh, sorry" He said quickly, sitting down in the swing seat that they had just recently built. "I haven't even slept in the past two days. My body just won't let me" he told them.

"It must be those damn Chaos Emeralds" William spoke.

"Hey, no swearing!" Yumi chided. She didn't appreciate hearing those words at all. William apologized and then Yumi spoke again. "He might be right" she added.

"So what have you been doing at night?" Ulrich asked him.

"Not much, just exploring or watching the stars" he told him. "Not much I can do as I'm wanted dead" he added with a sigh.

"How can we convince them that you aren't bad?" Yumi asked.

"I dunno, save the world right in front of their faces" he said sarcastically. Then, as if on cue, they got a phone call.

"What's wrong Jermie?" Yumi asked him worridley.

"It's XANA! He's hurtling a Meteorite at the Earth, and there's nothing we can do about it! We already tried hacking the Military's satellites, but nothing!"

"Yumi!" Keifer yelled, seeing that she was panicking. "Give me the phone!" she obeyed and Keifer took it. "Jermie" Keifer spoke, his voice steely calm. "I need you to overclock the emeralds even more, I have a plan" Keifer told him.

"That's too dangerous!" he yelled on his end, dodging a laser from a creeper, which had been materialized in the real world by XANA.

"It's our only chance" Keifer said calmly. He knew what his plan might cause, but he knew it was the only way to avoid Doomsday.

"Keifer don-" Keifer hung up and looked at the others.

"You coming with me?" He asked them, all of them now looking at the large, dark black meteorite.

"But how?" William asked, but almost immediately got his answer.

Keifer was once more Hyper, but now the gems were swirling around the group.

"What the-?" Ulrich was silenced as he felt a sudden surge of strength go through his body.

"So this is what being super feels like" Yumi said. Her form hadn't changed much. Her Hair was now glowing a light gray, and her eyes were blood red.

"This is so cool!" William yelled, flipping a full 360 degrees in the air. His hair was glowing yellow with a streak of red, and his eyes were glowing black.

Ulrich himself hadn't changed much. His hair was now more down, in a near spike like Odd's, glowing red.

"Okay guys, focus!" Keifer told them. They settled down. "We've gotta stop the meteor, so let's do it!"

As they all sat off for the meteor, Keifer had one plan, and that was to protect them, but not himself.

"How are we going to breath?" Ulrich yelled over the rushing wind in their ears as they were now nearing the end of the atmosphere.

"We're super, so breathing in space will be a breeze!" Keifer yelled back. "I found that out yesterday!" he added. Before he could continue, a small piece the size of him broke off of the meteor and hit him, causing him to fall back.

"No!" William yelled, seeing his friend being pushed back down by the rock. Before he could react thoroughly, Keifer smashed through it, and caught back up.

"We've gotta keep going!" Keifer yelled.

"Watch out!" Yumi yelled, noticing more small pieces of the meteor break off. Another one hit Keifer, but this time, his form flickered.

"We need to hurry!" he yelled, now beginning to lose energy. Keeping himself hyper and the others super was draining his ring.

As they neared the meteor, he finally had a plan.

"We've gotta push it back and destroy it!" he told them. They nodded. "Arrow form!" he cried. They all came close together and began swirling around. The power of it making a seemingly golden arrow.

Back on Earth, many people noticed this, including the others, along with the F.B.I who wanted Keifer dead.

"He's saving the world" one said, dropping his coffee.

"Maybe we shouldn't kill him, but rather, let him live" said a gruff voice.

"And we've gotta help!" another yelled, priming the satellite laser at the group and firing, hoping it would work.

"NOW!" Keifer yelled, the group rushing forward with the combined power of the laser. At impact, there was a loud boom, and then everything went black.

"They did it" Jermie spoke, looking at the night sky. Several tiny pieces of the meteorite fell to Earth, but burnt up into nothing.

"Indeed they did" Athena said, standing behind him with Fanz and Aelita.

"But where are they?" Franz asked. "It was Keifer, Yumi, Ulrich, and William"

"Over there!" Aelita yelled, pointing out some white, large, circular orbs.

"But there's only three…" Jermie pointed out. This made the group gasp.

The three orbs finally landed, and popped to reveal William, Yumi, and Ulrich, all of who, fell down exhausted.

"We did it! We did it Keifer!" he cried, turning to look at his friend who wasn't there.

"Where is he?" Ulrich panicked.

"He was with us back in space, but now he's gone?"

Yumi worried for the safety of their friend.

"Watch out!" Odd yelled, shoving everyone out of the way as a seemingly golden bullet came crashing down to Earth, smashing a hole nearly ten feet into the ground.

Everyone looked over the ledge to see Keifer, nearly dead from exhaustion in the hole. Luckily, he was in his normal form again.

"He was flickering out on his way down" Jermie realised this and thought the worst.

"We've gotta help him!" Athena cried to them, anxious for the child. The others nodded and began looking around for something, anything to help Keifer.

"Here, I found a rope!" William yelled, grabbing a fifteen foot long one from behind a tree.

"Oh I remember that!" Odd exclaimed. The others looked at him like he was crazy, but he reassured him he was using it to practice lassoing.

"I'll go down and get him" Ulrich said. The others nodded and he tied the rope to himself, the others grabbing on and lowering him in slowly.

"G...guys?" Keifer called out weakly, too tired to move his body.

"We're up here!" William called down as Keifer struggled up, but fell back down. He finally realised it - his ankle was sprained, ad his left arm out of place.

"I've gotcha buddy" Ulrich told him, grabbing him. "Bring us up!" he called. The others nodded, and slowly but surely, pulled the two out of the hole.

Once at the top, Keifer collapsed, not able to move.

"Hey, you're not super anymore!" Jermie pointed out. But then he noticed that Keifer wasn't moving. He quickly ran over to him and helped him up.

"I'll help too" Odd said quickly, grabbing Keifer's other arm and slinging it over his shoulder.

As the group proceeded back to the ermitage, they couldn't help but talk about what had happened.

"So you were all able to go Super?" Franz asked them. Yumi nodded. "Fascinating" he said, his mind now whirling with new thoughts.

"That is was" William spoke, having now taken Jermie's place in helping Keifer. "I felt so…"

"Powerful" Ulrich finished his sentence as they neared the Hermitage.

"The power can go to your head" Keifer said groggily. "If you stay Super too long or transform out of rage, it can cause bad things to your mind" he explained to them.

"Note taken" Odd replied, blowing a bubble with some gum he'd been chewing for a while.

After another minute of walking, they reached the house, and the second they stepped in, Keifer collapsed on the couch and passed out from sheer exhaustion.

A/N; And the story continues. One thing's for sure, Keifer won't be running for some time!

A/N; I'm back from the dead, heh. Well, let's keep this going.

Chapter 8 (Episode 108; Never giving up)

As the sun shone through the window, Keifer sat up groggily, his head throbbing with pain.

"What the hell happened?" he muttered, still exhausted. He tried to get up, but his leg flared with pain, reminding him his ankle was sprained. "Son of a gun…" he muttered, looking at the clock above the Piano. "Two P.M!?" he cried, shocked at ow long he slept in.

"There is no need to panic" said Athena in a soothing voice, walking in the room with a tray containing a sandwich and water. "How are you feeling?" she asked, sitting the tray down on a pull-out table in front of him.

"Like I've been through hell and back" Keifer told her honestly, drinking the large glass of water rather quickly. "I've never been through so much pain…" he muttered, suddenly feeling a stabbing pain in his head.

"You'll feel better soon" Athena reassured him, standing back up. "The others will be here in a while, in the meantime, you should finish up and rest a little" she told him. Keifer nodded to her and finished his meal.

"Man, this stinks" Keifer moaned, looking at the cast on his ankle as he pushed the tray onto the couch-side table. "If only I had rolled when I landed"

"Which might have hurt worse" said a familiar voice walking up to him. Keifer smiled as the gang walked up to him. "Here, we got you these" Odd said, handing Keifer a pair of crutches.

"Thanks guys" he told them, hopping up to try them out. "I really do appreciate it" he added, quickly getting the hang of hobbling around with the two metal poles.

"No problem" William said, standing next to Jermie. "After all, you did pretty much save the world" he added.

"In my opinion, we should celebrate" Odd suggested.

"I kinda agree" Aelita said. "School starts up again tomorrow, and we need to get a load off" she admitted.

"Agreed" Yumi said, secretly holding hands with Ulrich behind her back. After the meteorite accident, the two had finally started dating, realizing that life was too short to hide their feelings..

"Then let's get to it!" Jermie said. "What theme should it be?" he asked as everyone took to a spot to sit down and brainstorm.

"Music themed" Keifer suggested. "And I have a song suggestion, one I made myself" he added.

"So let us hear it!" William said to him, wondering what kind of song it was.

"Well, I wrote one" Keifer said. "I thought maybe we could form a band and play it" he said, rolling his fingers together.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to make a band again" Ulrich pitched in. "After all, we did it once, so let's do it again"

"Alright, I'll go get us the gym at the school" Jermie told the others. "Wanna come with me Aelita?" he asked the pink haired girl.

"Of course I do" she told him, lacing her fingers through his as they walked out the door, everyone taking notice.

"Ahh, young love" Keifer sighed and smiled. "Also, here's the song" he added, pulling a small piece of paper out and handed it to them. "I have the lyrics memorized, as I'd be singing it" he added as they looked over it.

"If you're strong, you can fly, you can reach the other side of the rainbow" Odd read aloud. "Keep going" he told to Ulrich.

"It's alright, take a chance, cuz' there is no circumstance, that you can't handle, when you use your mind" he read. "Sounds like something Jermie would say" he joked.

"Sonic boom, sonic boom, SONIC BOOM!" Odd yelled, realising what the song was referring to. "So you wrote this when you started hanging out with us?" he asked, realising how the lyrics ahead read, 'save the planet from disaster', along with, 'trouble keeps you runnin' faster'.

"Yeah, that first day after my first adventure with you guys, I wrote it" he told them as they finished reading it.

"I like it!" William told him happily. "I'll do drums by the way"

"Then we can have Ulrich and Odd guitaring, me as a keyboarder, Aelita as the soundboarder, and Jermie on tech" Yumi planned.

"That sounds about right" Keifer said. "Tonight it is" he said excitedly.

"What about your leg though?" Odd asked him, looking at the cast enclosing his leg.

"I can probably fix that" Keifer admitted. He closed his eyes and the emeralds began swirling around him, including the others.

"Here we go again!" Ulrich yelled, closing his eyes as they were all filled with energy. In a large, bright flash, they were all super.

"What the heck…!" Odd yelled. It was his first time being Super, and such, he was taken aback. He had five spikes instead of one, the middle one's purple streak glowing, and his eyes were glowing a dark blue. "Now this is cool!" he yelled to his friends, flying to the door and going outside.

"Let's make use of the time we have" Keifer told them.

"Let's do it!" Ulrich said as they took off with a soundclap, making it to Kadic in no time flat, zooming into the gym to get the party sat up in a matter of minutes.

"Too easy!" Keifer said as their forms faded and they floated to the ground, having finished setting up the gym a few moments ago. "And my ankle is fixed!" he cheered, running to the wall and back. "I have never been so happy to run such a tiny distance!" he added.

"You guys were awesome!" Aelita called to them from the other side of the Gym with Jermie.

"Yeah, that's for sure!" Jermie said as they walked over to meet up with the others. "So we got some flyers because we might as well invite some other people, right?" he asked.

"I don't see why not" Odd said, running his hand through his hair to make sure it was normal again. "It wouldn't be a party if we didn't" had added.

"Then i'll take these-" Keifer grabbed the papers, "Gotta run!" he said, taking off to set the flyers all over.

"He's a great person" William said. "If it weren't for him, I think we'd all be dead"

"Yeah, especially with how large the meteor was compared to the first one nearly two years ago" Ulrich said, remembering how that day had went. "So, should we start practicing for tonight?" he asked the others, who all nodded.

"Hello everyone!" Keifer spoke over the mic to the massive group who had gathered for the large end of break party. Even jim was there, watching. "Before we start the party, we thought we'd kick it off with a song performed by our band, 'Warriors'! So let's do it!"

Everyone began cheering as the smoke cleared from the stage, revealing everyone in position, besides Jermie, who was hidden and working the lights, smoke, and sparks.

-Begin listening to Crush 40; Sonic Boom-

"If you're strong, you can fly, you can reach the other side, of the rainbow" Keifer sung, his voice changing slightly. "It's alright, take a chance, cuz there is no circumstance that you can't handle, when you use your mind! Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom, Sonic BOOM!" he sung, his voice not faltering.

"Trouble keeps you running faster" the others sang as the chorus, helping the song.

"Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom, SONIC BOOM!" Keifer sung again, and once more, the others took up their lines.

"Save the planet from disaster!"

"Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom, SONIC BOOM!"

"Spinning through the world in motion!"

"SONIC BOOM!" Keifer finished the first phase of the song and took a quick breather. He nodded to the others. "Now for this next one, you're all the chorus!" he yelled out to the many cheering people as the others played their instruments.

"The time is now, he can't hide, find the power deep inside, and make it happen, MAKE IT HAPPEN! Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom, SONIC BOOM!"

"Trouble keeps you runnin' faster!" the crowd sang, everyone's voices clashing making a good tempo.

"Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom, SONIC BOOM!"

"Save the planet from disaster!" the crowd sung once more.

"Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom, SONIC BOOM!" Keifer sung once more.

"Spinning through the world in motion!"

"SONIC BOOM!" Keifer yelled out, going Super to spice things up, turning all the others super with him for the finale, causing the crowd to go wild.

"Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom, SONIC BOOM!"

"Trouble keeps you runnin' faster!"

"Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom, SONIC BOOM!"

"Save the planet from disaster!"

"Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom, SONIC BOOM!"

"Spinning through the world in motion!"

"Sonic Boom!" Keifer sang out, the song ending, causing fireworks and sparks to shoot out from the sides of the stage, each one with a pixel-ish design of everyone winking.

"This is too cool!" Odd yelled, now noticing how he and everyone had went Super, even Aelita, whose Pink Hair was glowing red, and her eyes white.

"Thank you all so much!" Keifer yelled out to the cheering crowd. "Now let's party!" he yelled.

It wasn't until nearly 1 A.M that the party finally ended, everyone being worn down, especially after their super forms had faded.

"I can clean all of this up" Keifer told the others as the last few people filled out, except for Sissi who quickly whispered something in William's ear before running off.

"And leave you here? No way!" Ulrich said. "Especially after tonight. We're friends, so we'll do it together" he said.

"Yeah, and I still feel I have a little energy in me from being super" Aelita told them as her parents left, having told her goodnight a few moments ago.

"Okay then. You guys can go pick up trash and I'll clean up everything else. After all, it'll be quicker that way" Keifer added. The others nodded and sat to doing their respective jobs.

When it was about to hit 2 A.M, they had finished cleaning the gym, leaving it the way it once was.

"So what're we gonna tell people about us being Super?" Yumi asked as they walked up to Jermie's dorm.

"Oh, we can just pass it off as a special effect" Jermie said, smiling. He hugged Aelita before going into his room. "Goodnight, my angel" he whispered into her ear loud enough for everyone to hear before going to bed.

"See you all tomorrow at breakfast" Keifer told them. "I've got something to go do" he told them. Before anyone could protest, he was gone in a flash.

"I'll be staying with Aelita tonight" Yumi assured the others.

"Well, goodnight then" Odd said to them, going to his room with Ulrich. "See you in the morning my friends!"

"I hope Keifer will be alright" Jermie muttered silently, heading into his room and passing out almost immediately.

As Jermie had hoped, Keifer was fine, almost. He was on the highest building of Kadic, looking at the moon.

"I hope you're doing alright" he spoke to seemingly nothing, even though he knew exactly who he was speaking to, or at least attempting to. "I'll see you again one day" he added, a tear falling out of his eye, remembering what his sister told him the day before she had died.

"Keep on running, always, no matter what" she had said. "No matter how bad things get, I'm always here for you"

Keifer sat down and began crying. It had been so long since he had let any emotion of sadness escape him, and so much had built up.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Keifer heard a familiar voice behind him. He looked to see that Odd and the others were on the roof with him. "Oh, I couldn't sleep" he said, everyone sitting next to him.

"Nothing's wrong" Keifer said, wiping the tears out of his eyes. "Everyone has an emotional breakdown sometimes, ya know?"

"I can relate" Aelita said, sitting on the other side of him, the others doing the same.

"That's why we're here for eachother" Yumi said, smiling.

"After all, we have to keep going, no matter what" William spoke up. "It's our job to defend the planet, so we can't give up" he added.

"You're right" Keifer said, smiling. "I just… wanted to say goodbye to someone" he said, smiling. The others nodded and as they headed back to their dorms, Keifer turned one last time and for a moment, thought he saw his sister's smiling face.

But what he and the others didn't know, is that they wouldn't be able to relax again, not for a long time.

A/N; Well, there's the next chapter. Coming up next is going to be something nice.

A/N; Okay, here goes. I'm warning you, the next long arc is going to be filled with;

-Romance

-Gore

-Swearing

So keep reading at your own risk.

Chapter Nine (Episode 109; The War for Humanity 1/?)

That morning, the sun was shining peacefully through Jermie and Keifer's dorm window, as if it was trying to be nice just for them.

"Rise and shine" Keifer said, shaking Jermie awake.

"Okay, okay, I'm up" he said, looking at his roomate, who was now pulling out his usual outfit from the closet, consisting of a blue shirt and blue shorts.

"That's good" Keifer said, getting changed. "Well, I'm going to get down to breakfast, I'll see you there" he said, zooming out of the room, kicking up a small trail of dust.

As Jermie finished getting ready, he couldn't help but feel that something was going to go wrong.

"Morning Jermie" he heard a familiar, soothing voice come from the entrance to the room. As Aelita walked up to him, his worries washed away.

"Morning, princess" he said, slipping his shoes on. "You're ready early"

"Well, I decided to look good for our first day back" she told him, taking his hand as they walked out of the room and down to the cafeteria, where the others were waiting, except Sissi was sitting with them, specifically next to William.

"Morning guys" Jermie said. "Oh, hello Sissi" he added, sitting down with his tray in his usual place.

"Morning" she replied, eating a banana piece by piece.

"What took you so long?" Keifer teased, biting into his toast.

"Nothing!" Aelita quickly lied, blushing. Truth was, Jermie and her had taken a little longer than usual so they could hold hands longer.

"Okay" Odd teased. "Anyways, I've gotta go meet Sam after class - she wants me to skateboard with her at the new ska-"

"Odd, DUCK!" Keifer yelled, him and Ulrich shoving him down.

"Oww, what the hell was that for?" he asked angrily.

"That's what!" Yumi yelled, ducking under the table as another red hot laser came zapping by, barely missing Keifer.

"What's going on!?" Sissi cried, William holding onto her. The group looked up and gasped. Surrounding the outside of the cafeteria was an army, a literal army of XANA's monsters, the whole variety of them.

"How did he…!" Aelita gasped at the sight, but who was leading the monsters was even worse. Her parent's, XANAfied, were standing out there, having the monsters fire volley after volley of shots.

"We've gotta protect everyone!" Keifer yelled, running out and trying to help the panicked student body.

"I'll g- ARGH!" Jermie was shot by a laser in the back of his leg when he tried to get up and help Keifer.

"Jermie!" Aelita cried, catching him.

"Keifer!" Ulrich yelled to him as he got the last few younger students secured under the few other overturned tables.

"Yeah, i know!" he yelled, closing his eyes as several more lasers were fired. "Let's DO THIS!" he yelled, the Chaos Emeralds swirling around him and the others. "SUPER STYLE!" he roared, his form changing to his super one.

"Even as Super, I don't think we can take them!" Aelita said worriedly as they flew out of the broken windows, everyone watching.

"Just go HAM!" Odd yelled, shooting a glowing white ball at a huge group of Kankerlots, causing them to explode.

"There's too many!" Jermie yelled, throwing a few volley's of golden orbs at the enemy.

"He's right!" Sissi yelled. Everyone turned to look at her. She was super with them, and her hair was flowing like a river, her eyes glowing orange.

"I swore I'd never do this again…" Keifer sighed and closed his eyes.

"No, don't go Hyper!" William yelled, trying to get over to him, but was too busy with a bunch of Megatanks.

"No, not Hyper" Keifer said, closing his eyes. "But even… FURTHER BEYOND!" he roared, screaming in agony as he forced every ounce of power from the emeralds as he could into his body. "AGGGGH!" he roared, his form lighting up in a white ball of energy.

"No!" Yumi yelled, dodging almost forty lasers at once.

"GO!" Keifer yelled, his form flickering, he was holding a blast that looked the size of the moon in his hands. "GET EVERYONE AWAY FROM HERE, NOW!" he yelled, barely able to contain the power of his fourth form much longer.

No one wanted to leave him, but he was right. Everyone was trapped in the cafeteria and needed their help.

"You'll have to use Chaos CONTROL!" he yelled to them. They nodded and flew back into the building, where everyone was watching in awe.

"Now!" Ulrich yelled.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" everyone yelled, sending them and everyone in the cafeteria away from the blast and Keifer unleashed it, the force of it so huge it shook the entire planet.

When the smoke settled, only a few monsters remained, but the rest were already reforming from smashed pieces.

As for everyone else, they had landed at the Hermitage, with literally everyone in the school.

"We've gotta go back for him!" Ulrich demanded, him and the others trying to calm everyone down.

That's suicide, we don't know if all the monsters are gone or not, there was an army of thousands of them!" Yumi retorted. "And I don't want to lose any of you" she yelled, walking off to help her brother, who had been injured during the previous events.

"I'm sure he managed to get himself out of there" Aelita said, still baffled. "But my parents…"

"The real ones are more than likely being kept somewhere" Jermie reassured her. "More than likely being forced to bring XANA's monsters in" he added.

"But how were there so many…" Odd was at a loss for words, just the thought of thousands of monsters.

"They must've over-clocked the scanners or built new ones" William spoke up, holding onto Sissi. "That's the only logical explanation for this" he choked out, his arm being badly grazed, blood slowly coming out.

"I'll help William" Sissi told them. "You guys just go help the others" she said, walking off with him to a different room of the Hermitage.

"I'm gonna go find Sam" Odd told Ulrich, heading off.

"You know" Jermie spoke up, looking around at the wounded being tended to, some people still panicking. "You should apologize to Yumi"

"Yeah, you're right" Ulrich responded distantly, worried for the future. He walked off into the kitchen where he found Yumi talking to her brother.

"And it's XANA who cause all of this" she was telling him as Ulrich sat down next to her.

"I'm sorry for getting mad at you" he told her. "I had no right to"

"It's fine" she told him, finishing putting the last bandage on her brother. "But you are right, he might be gone for who knows how long. The two sat there until Delmas came up to them.

"I don't know what's happening" he admitted. "But you few seem to have control of what's happening" he said.

"Look, go gather everyone in here, it's time we explain some things" Ulrich said to him.

"Will do" said Mr. Delmas, going to gather everyone.

Nearly three hours later, the gang had finished explaining everything to everyone.

"And now, XANA has managed to make a full-scale takeover" Jermie concluded. "He's also moved the Super Computer to who knows where, so as of now, we have no way of getting to Lyoko to try and stop him"

"The best we can do now is stay here and make a plan on how to" Odd concluded. Everyone looked at him and the others grimly, acknowledging the situation.

"In that case" Jim was the first to break the silence. "It's time I teach all of you how to fight, so you can protect yourselves from this… XANA thing"

"Thanks Jim" Ulrich said, looking to the others. "And we've gotta find Keifer" he said to his friends, who nodded.

As the sun set, everyone was tired and scared. In just the course of eight hours, XANA had managed to take over the whole world, and was still bringing in more monsters.

As for the people of Kadic, the Hermitage was now their safe haven. There were several tent-like structures outside to house people, as no one wanted to chance going back to the school.

And to top that, Keifer was still missing

"There's no way he can be dead" Odd said to the group, which now had the addition of Sam, Jim, and Hiroki.

"Well from the sounds of it, that amount of power might've toasted him" Jim said, eating a sandwich that Rosa had prepared. Earlier that day, they had found at least a month's supply of food for hundreds of people under the rug in the living room, contained in a hidden bunker-like room.

"He can't be dead" William spoke, his eyes bloodshot. "He's cheated death twice, there's no way he'd die, maybe he's just… in hiding" even William couldn't cheer himself up.

"Well, one thing's for sure" Hiroki began, for once sounding serious in his life. "We fight, and we rescue mine and Yumi's parents, and your guy's too" he added, looking grim. His hair had a few streaks of blood, but aside from that, he was doing okay.

"We've gotta find a way to Lyoko" Jermie said. "All of us, so we can defeat XANA"

"But how are we going to manage that?" Aelita spoke up in a barely audible voice.

"It's like Hiroki said, we fight until we win" Sam said.

"Agreed" Sissi said. "And we've gotta make a plan" she added.

Somewhere, in a distant corner of the world, a teenage boy was scouting around for supplies.

"Did you hear that crash earlier?" he asked his friend quietly as they walked up the gravel sodded path.

"Yeah, but it was probably just one of those… things" he cringed.

"Wait, who's that?" the smaller one asked, getting behind the tall one. The two slowly proceeded up to a motionless body lying on the ground.

"He's badly injured" the tall one pointed out. "Help me carry him back" he told the small one, who nodded.

"He looks like us" the small one pointed to the blue quills protruding from the boy's body.

"Then he must be a failed mutation, like we were" the tall one sighed, grabbing the near-dead boy by the arms. As they proceeded back to their hideout, the boy they were carrying began to move.

"Guys, NO!" he yelled, falling out of their arms, as if waking up from a nightmare. He quickly regained his composure and saw who he was with. "Who the hell are you?" he cried, jumping back in shock at the two people's appearances.

The small one had teo fox-like ears, and white whiskers coming off of his face. But that wasn't the weird part. He had two tails.

As for the tall one, he had large fists gloved in white, with a few deadly looking spikes sticking out of them, and he had red spines going from his head down.

"We should be asking you the same question!" the small one panicked, somehow using his tails to fly off the ground and hide behind the taller one.

"I'm sorry" the boy said, relaxing a little. "I'm Keifer" he added, holding a hand out to the tall one.

"I'm Zach, and this little guy is Miles" he said, motioning to the fox-like boy.

"So are you a failed mutation?" Miles blurted out, not able to contain his anxiousness.

"A failed what?" Keifer asked, slightly offended.

"It's what happened to us" Zach said, looking at the blue boy. "You see, we were kidnapped by this large, weird squiddy monster thing and taken to this weird, huge tower somewhere far from here. We were then put in some weird tubes and after that, everything went black" he said to Keifer.

"This has got to be XANA's doing" he said angrily in response. "Look, I don't have time to explain, so are you guys coming or not?" he asked, charging up his speed.

"It's better than having to fight monsters, so let's do it!" Miles said, grabbing Keifer's left hand while Zach took his right.

"So it's settled" Ulrich nodded as Jermie concluded the plan. "We go to the heart of the country, and investigate" he concluded.

"We roll out in two hours" Yumi said confidently.

"But we can't drive!" Odd protested, having finished his fourth glass of water.

"We can" Jim and Mrz. Hertz said in unison.

"This is our world, so let's take it back!" Jim yelled, pumping his fists.

"Easy Jim" Mrs. Hertz said, trying to calm down the man.

"Are you sure that you guys want to take us?" William asked them cautiously. "We have no clue what we're up against, and for all we know, XANA might already know we're planning against him" he added gravely.

"We've got no other choice" Jermie said. "We either figure out now what XANA is planning, or we're done for" he stated. It was true. If they didn't try now, it was all over.

"Then let's get ready" Yumi concluded. Everyone nodded and went their separate ways to prepare for their mission.

It was nearing Midnight and the group rolled out without being noticed. The girls plus Hiroki were in one van with Mrz. Hertz, and the boys in another with Jim.

"I hope Keifer's alright…" William sighed, hoping that his closest friend had lived through the blast, but even he was having doubts.

"We'll get him back" Odd said. "Somehow, we'll get him back" he said.

It wasn't until nearly Eight A.M the next morning that they could see the center of Paris, France in the near distance.

"Hot damn we're in for it now" Mrs. Hertz said, seeing the entire army of monsters flooding the city and outskirts.

"We can handle it, hopefully" Sissi said from the very back, next to Sam who was taking in the sight.

"Guys, LOOK OUT!" Jim yelled as a huger than normal Megatank came rolling up behind them. They slowed down enough for the girls to unbuckle and get out, all enough except for Mrs. Hertz, whose seat belt locked up.

"No!" everyone cried as the mega tank fired, blasting through the van as though it was nothing, taking the life of the old science teacher.

"I HATE YOU XANA!" Odd roared over the sound of the burning van. He then pulled a gun out of his back pocket and shot at the Megatank's exposed eye, killing it.

"Where the hell did you learn to use a gun?" William asked him, shocked at the events that had transpired.

"Luck" he growled, putting it away. "Now are we going to continue our mission?" he asked in a low voice. For once, Odd wasn't smiling. His voice wasn't high pitch either. XANA had broken him by making him see death take the soul of an innocent person trying to fight for their life.

"We've got no choice" Jim spoke, a tear falling out of his eye. "We need to figure out how that cruel fiend is bringing in monsters" he said.

Everyone agreed with him and they all loaded into his van, except for Odd, who got on the top, just in case he needed to kill any other monsters. On his watch, no one was going to die again.

"S...low down!" Miles cried, desperately clinging onto Keifer.

"We're nearly there!" he told him, stopping on a tall cliff, overlooking Paris. "So that's how XANA managed to take over"

"And this is where we were mutated" Zach said. "That sick, twisted, son of a-"

"Save it" Keifer cut him off. "We've gotta get down there, and now!" he yelled, grabbing them and zooming off to the city, where his friends were severely underpowered.

"I'm out of ammo!" Odd yelled angrily, throwing his gun like a boomerang at a kankerlot, who had shot at him, just missing by micrometers.

"Then we're gonna have to plow through them!" Jim yelled, slamming on the gas, causing the others to lurch forward.

"Jimbo, STOP!" Yumi yelled, seeing the two Skypezhoas move right up next to them, dropping two people on the ground. They then began wrapping themselves around the truck.

"Son of a gun!" Odd yelled, jumping into the side window. "It looks like we're going to meet XANA up close and personal" he growled.

"We're screwed" Jermie muttered.

"Then if we are…" Aelita forced herself onto him, kissing him. "Then I want you to know I've always loved you" she told him, making out with him.

"Guys, we don't have time for this!" William barked.

"They've stopped carrying us…" Ulrich whispered, his voice quiet. They noticed they were at the top floor of the tower, and they go out to see a horrid sight before them.

The Supercomputer was there, whirring with several evil programs, and there was a large, oversized scanner in front of it, letting a batch of monsters out every few seconds. But the people at the computer were Franz and Athena, both possessed by XANA.

"You won't win XANA!" Jermie said bravely, the others standing with him. "We've beat you before, and we'll do it again!" he said.

"Brave words" said XANA Franz. "But you've already lost. We have complete control of the world"

"But not us!" Odd yelled, jumping at him, causing XANA Franz to fall. "That was for Mrs. Hertz!" he said, avenging his favorite teacher.

"You'll pay for that…" he said, slanking back up. "My mighty Skypezoah's will teach you a lesson…" he said darkly as the squid-like monsters proceeded towards them, grabbing Jim and Aelita.

"NO!" everyone stopped, even the Skypezoah's dropped their victims, only for a moment. "You won't hurt another person, EVER" said a rage filled Keifer, his two new friends behind him.

"So I see you brought my failed experiments" XANA Athena said, laughing in a cruel way.

"We aren't failed!" Miles cried out, somehow mustering up the courage to speak to the evil being.

"In fact, you only made us more powerful!" Zach yelled, lunging at the left Skypezoah and smashing through it with his knuckles.

"Miles, take my ring!" Keifer yelled, tossing it to him. "Use it to fly the others outta here!" he yelled, running at the second Skypezoah, jumping at it like a saw.

"AFTER THEM!" XANA Franz bellowed at an entire army of monsters as they spilled out of the scanner.

"We've gotta jump!" Keifer yelled to Zach, who was already standing on the ledge.

"I can glide!" he yelled back. "You just run down the side, I'll be fine!" Keifer nodded and took off, but as he did, he instantly regretted it.

"ACK!" Zach yelled in pain as he was hit by multiple lasers at once, causing him to fall and lose his gliding balance.

"I've got you!" Keifer yelled, catching him at the bottom of the tower and running off out of Paris after Miles. , who was being powered up by the ring, allowing him to fly the others away at an insane speed.

"Keifer!" everyone yelled to him as he finally caught up to Miles, Zach hanging onto his back.

"Long time no see!" he chuckled as Miles sat down, everyone taking it in turns to let go of their monkey chain they had formed, starting with Jim and ending at Jermie.

"Here's your ring" Miles said, handing it to him. "Without it, I don't think I could've carried any of them" he said truthfully.

"Glad you're back" Ulrich said. "But who are they?" he gestured to Miles and Zach

"Friends" Keifer smilled. "So how are we getting back, and to where exactly?" he asked.

"XANA destroyed the school" Aelita told him.

"And now we've taken refugee at the Hermitage, as it's our only safe haven" Odd concluded, still in his darkened tone.

"I can take back two at once, and Miles can fly one at a time" Keifer said. "So who's going first?" he asked them.

"I'll go back with Odd" Sam spoke up from her silence. Odd acknowledged this and grabbed onto Keifer, who sped off, Miles not too far behind with Jim.

"Geez, you're heavy!" he complained, straining to keep the coach in the air.

"Excuse me!" he yelled as they flew off.

"Which leaves us to wait" said Sissi, sitting down next to William.

"I guess we got lucky" Jermie said. "Had it not been for Keifer, we'd have been doomed, and for good"

"But what are we gonna do now?" Ulrich asked. "Already one person has died, and we can't return to the past"

"Yes we can" Zach said, standing up. "With the Time Stones"

"And what might those be?" Aelita asked, not letting go of Jermie's hand.

"They're seven mystical gems with the ability to return several years in time, effectively reversing anything bad, but anything on any person who returns with them is kept intact, and the person who so uses them can choose where exactly to return to" he explained. "But they've been missing for centuries, lost when my great times eleven grandfather died"

"Who's to say they don't exist anymore?" Yumi asked him.

"Not ALL of them were lost" he said, pulling out a small, green stone the size of a chaos emerald from a small bag on his side. "This is one of the seven, but it doesn't have enough power to even be awakened" he told them.

"So what'll happen when and if we find the others?" Ulrich asked.

"We pray to whatever god you believe in that they'll reawaken, allowing us to reverse the effects of that monster" he concluded as Keifer came zooming back up with Miles.

"God, that Jim is huge!" he said, sitting down to relax for a moment, Keifer's ring still in hand.

"I've got bad news" Keifer said, not resting even for a second. "The Hermitage is under attack!"

"Then we all need to go back!" Jermie cried.

"I can take you and the pink-haired girl" Miles said quickly, whirling his two tails together before grabbing them and zooming off.

"Which leaves me, Sissi, William, Zach, and Yumi" Ulrich said. "Are you sure you can take us all at once?" he asked.

"If Miles can carry Jim, then I can you four at once, but only if you all hang on tight" he added, revving up.

"Let's do it to it!" William yelled as they bolted off towards the rising sun.

Even if the war had only begun, there was still a glimmer of hope on the horizon for the young heroes.

A/N; Well, things are starting to get interesting. I just wanted to say thanks for the support so far guys, I really appreciate it.

Chapter 10 (Episode 110; The War for Humanity 2/?)

"We'll never make it!" Zach cried, desperately clinging to Keifer, who was booking it as fast as possible. Miles was already back, having left before them.

"Yes… we WILL!" Keifer yelled, pulling out his ring, which somehow, hadn't lost any energy. He held it up and his speed went over it's usual limit, allowing him to easily cover the rest of the distance to the Hermitage.

It was total chaos as Keifer stopped. There were several Krabes and Bloks firing on innocent people, who were trying to protect themselves.

"Hi-yaaa!" they ducked as Nicholas came swinging over them in Mile's hands, dropping some sort of makeshift bomb on a group of Bloks, causing them to blow up.

"Since when did good ole' Nick wise up?" Ulrich cocked out.

"It was Herb, actually" he said, landing next to them, Miles behind him. "But enough chit-chat, you're needed in the front lines!" he told them quickly.

"Thanks" William told him before he and the others took off for the defending line whilst dodging heavy laser fire.

By the time they got there, it was too late, the entire front line of defending students had been taken down, all of them now being dragged to safety by…

"BRING IT ON!" Jim roared, his right hand holding one student and in the other his weapon of choice, a nail gun which he was holding the trigger on like his life depended on it, which it did.

"Guys, we figured out how to kill the monsters all at once!" Jermie called to them, he and Aelita running towards them.

"Guys, look out!" Sissi cried as a Krabe fell on top of them.

"NO!" Zach cried, running over to them. He barely knew them, but no one was going to die on his watch. "HNHH!" he roared, managing to lift the one ton monster off of the two teens under it.

"Thank god you're okay" he said to them, helping them up.

"Had it not been for you or Aelita's fast thinking, we would've died" Jermie said, catching his breath. "She slammed a rock the size of a Kankerlot next to us, barely holding the monster up" he explained.

"That's great, but we've got company!" Yumi yelled as a large group of Krabes advanced on them.

"You guys help Jermie with his plan!" Keifer said, grabbing Mile's hands as he flew into the air. They watched as the two began spinning and Keifer was thrown faster than his own spindash through the first few, shattering them on impact.

"So what's your plan Einstein?" Ulrich asked, ducking with the rest of the group.

"Odd and Sam are already working on it. The goal is to override the electrical circuits, as the monsters must be tied into it somehow" he explained.

"Now Miles!" they looked over to see Keifer and him spin dashing as one through dozens of monsters.

"Any second now…" Jermie crossed his fingers and heard a loud zap, followed by the sound of hundreds of monsters exploding.

"We did it!" they heard two familiar voices call in unison. Sam and Odd came running up tp the group, both covered in a few burns here and there, but nothing too major.

"Great job guys" Jermie told them as they sat down. "Also, did you bring them with you?" he asked them.

"Yep, they should be over here any second…"

"Mom, dad!" Yumi cried out, running over to her parents open arms. "I thought I lost you"

"It's alright" her father said, reassuring her. "We found out what was happening, but we had a problem getting over here" he explained to her. "But now we're here, and not without backup" he added, gesturing to a bag his wife was holding. It contained several swords and a large, golden katana.

"Under normal circumstances, I'd think you crazy for giving children weapons" Jim said, struggling over. "But this isn't anything normal" he said, taking one for himself.

"The steel is sharp enough to cut through trees, but tamer than a dog" Yumi's father said, handing everyone a sword, and Ulrich the golden Katana. "Take good care of it" he added to him. Ulrich nodded and looked the weapon over.

"These will definitely help, a lot" Sissi said. "I'll be back in a while, there are some people who could really use my help" she said before taking off, William in tow.

"Guys… I don't feel so good…" Miles murmured before collapsing.

"It's just the rings backlash" Keifer said. "If you use it several times without being use to the power, it can exhaust your whole body" he explained to them while picking up the small half-human half fox boy.

"So that's why we didn't pass out" Ulrich thought aloud, looking over the wickedly sharp golden katana once more.

"Exactly" Keifer replied to him, pocketing his ring. "Anyways, I'm going to plan a mission to find the red timestone, anyone wanna come with?"

"I will" Odd said, speaking up.

"As will I" Aelita said.

"Miles can bring me" Zach added.

"Then it's settled" Yumi said, standing with her family. "The rest of us will stay and fix things up, while you guys and go find the second Time Stone" she concluded.

After a hard day, things are finally looking up for our heroes.

A/N; Hey guys, I've been pretty busy as of lately, so the schedule will be off.

Chapter 11 (Episode 111; The War for humanity 3/?)

A few hours had passed since Keifer had left with his team, and yet they had had no luck so far finding the second Timestone.

"That map of your's Zach" Keifer began asking him as they were making a quick pit-stop at an abandoned gas station, having just beaten up a few monsters. "Does it actually show their locations?"

"Not exactly" he said. "You see, it shows us where we have to go, and once we get near the stone, it'll start glowing. At least, that's what the legend says" he told the group, putting away the sacred map.

"It can't be legend if we already have one" Aelita said, dusting off her shorts. Instead of her usual outfit, she now wore grey shorts and a long sleeved red hoodie.

"So we've just gotta keep going then" Odd said. He too had changed his outfit in the past few days, and it was similar to Aelita's, except for his purple hoodie, which he refused to take off.

"Let's keep going then" Miles said, grabbing Zach's huge hands and flying in place. "But where do we have to go?"

"The Red Timestone is in those mountains somewhere" Zach said, handing Keifer the map. "It must be towards the center" he added, now noticing the faint glow the middle of the map was giving off.

"You guys ready?" he asked them, reaching to grab Aelita and Odd.

"More than ready" Odd said. Aelita nodded to him and they zoomed off to the large mountains looming before them.

"Easy does it" Sissi said to a young boy, who she had just finished bandaging up. She sighed and walked over to William, who had been talking with Jermie.

"Any idea when another attack will be launched at us?" she asked the boys while grabbing a bottle of water.

"Mo, and that's not the worst part" Jermie said.

"With how everyone is now, we've got no chance" William told her, his head down in shame. He felt as though it was his fault, even though it wasn't.

"Then let's take back the school" Sissi said to them encouragingly. "Things will be way easier if we do, and you know it" she added.

"She's right, you know" Yumi said, walking in with Ulrich, whose left leg was bandaged. "With the school we stand a way better chance"

"True dat" Ulrich said, sitting down. "And once we have all of the Timestones, we can fix everything"

"If we can find them all" Jermie replied. "For all we know, XANA could be looking for them too"

"Odd, look out!" Miles yelled, shoving him out of the way and taking a laster to the side. "ARGH!"

"Miles, no!" Odd cried as the half-human fell off the cliff-side. "I'll get you!" he yelled to the group of Tarantulas', jumping at them, his katana in hand.

"Miles!" Zach cried, barely catching him on a lower cliff.

"I… I'll be fine…" he lied, struggling to stand up, unable to regain his composure. His side was searing red, little drops of blood falling onto the ground.

"Guys, I've got it!" Keifer yelled, jumping out of the small cavern entrance from even lower in the mountain ravine. In his hand was the red Timestone, glowing brightly.

"Then let's get out of here!" Aelita yelled, helping Odd fend off the onslaught of monsters. Keifer nodded and pulled out his ring.

"Let's do it!" he yelled, managing to go Super, flying around and grabbing his friends before slamming back to the Hermitage.

"Here they come!" Yumi pointed out to the golden ball descending to the front yard. Some others also gathered to watch as Keifer and his group gently touched down, his Super form flickering out.

"We got the second stone!" Odd cheered, holding it high for everyone to see as they marveled it's beauty.

"Two down, five left to go" Yumi said, her mood changing just a bit.

Chapter 11 (Episode 111; The War for Humanity 3/?)

As the rest of the evening passed, Keifer was seemingly missing again, even from Dinner.

"You think he's alright?" Ulrich asked William, who just shrugged.

"Maybe he's just tired. We can go look for him" he added. Everyone nodded as they finished and left the mess area, which was the backyard.

"You stupid hunk of junk…" they all stopped as they heard a familiar voice from above them.

"Jim, what the heck are you doing up there?" Odd called to him, shocked at what the man was trying to install.

"And where did you get that from?" Ulrich called up, seeing the large sentry gun.

"Oh this baby? I've had it since I left the military, but I'd rather not talk about it" he told them as they began to keep looking for their friend.

"You don't think he and Zach went looking for the third Timestone do you?" Miles spoke up from his silence at long last.

"If they did, then that was suicide" Odd said. "We don't know what XANA has in store and t-" before they could finish yelling, they heard the clattering of metal against metal and yelling.

"Zach, snap out of it!" Keifer pleaded to his friend who was mercilessly punching at him at full speed, KEifer barely managing to dodge the hits.

"Join us Blue one" the Xanafied voice of Zach stung through the air like a hive of wasps. "And you'll have power beyond measure, and you won't have to suffer the fate that your friends will!"

"I'd never join you!" Keifer bellowed. He noticed his friends but when Zach saw this, he took advantage of the distraction and upper-cutted Keifer.

"NO!" everyone cried out at once, rushing forward. William threw himself at Zach, Ulrich and Odd following in tow while Jermie took to helping Keifer.

"W… we were just talking about the stones… when suddenly… a … XANA cloud appeared…" Keifer choked up before passing out from pain and sadness.

"ENOUGH!" Xana-Zach roared as he threw the boys off of him and sent them sailing into the girls. "I got what I came for!" he held up Zach's map and laughed evilly. Before he could leave however, Keifer snapped awake.

"Zach… I know you're in there…" he managed, getting the attention of the half-human. "You have to fight XANA! Shake him from your mind!" At those words, Zach walked over to Keifer and fell on his knees, tears streaming out of his eyes.

"H… HELP ME!" he screamed out in agony as XANA took his mind again, but did something even worse than possession. Zach continued screaming in pain as his body began turning into metal and steel from the legs up. Everyone could only watch and listen in utter horror as Zach spoke his last words on his own free will. "Stop XANA…" he whispered before his head was roboticized.

"Zach…" Keifer whispered. But Zach was no more than a robot slave now, his body being made of metal and steel, his flesh and blood being replaced with wires and circuitry.

"ZACH IS NO MORE" a voice spoke from the robot, sharper than knives. "ALL THERE IS NOW IS ME" the Robot cackled evilly as he looked over his body, map in hand. "As for you all…" the robot rushed forward and grabbed Jermie.

"Hey, what ar- ARGH!" Jermie began sobbing in pain as the robot broke his arm.

"LET THIS BE A LESSON" the Robot spoke, rising up from his rocket propelled legs. "ANYONE WHO DARE DEFIES XANA WILL BE DESTROYED!" it took off faster than Keifer with a sonic boom.

Chapter 12 (Episode 112; The War for Humanity 4/?)

A few, silent days passed before Keifer had fully recovered from the heavy pain Zach had put him through, and now, they had no leads on the remaining 5 Time Stones.

"It's no use" Keifer was sitting with the now large friend group on the front lawn on the Hermitage. "Without that map, we won't be able to find the remaining stones"

"Then let's get the map back" Ulrich suggested as a few snowflakes fell to the ground.

"We can try" Miles said. "But what about those scary squid things?"

"We just have to avoid them" William spoke up, his voice sounding dreadfully tired.

"Then let's go" Keifer said. The group nodded and they all went and piled up into the same van. But unbeknownst to them, they would be stopped.

As Sissi drove down the dusty moon-lit road to Paris, no one spoke. That was, until they heard the sickening crunch of metal.

"Oh CRAP!" Odd ducked as the roof of the van sunk in for a moment above his head, only for the whole thing to be ripped off.

"What, WHO did that!?" Sam was freaking out as the figure revealed itself.

"But how…!" in front of them was some sort of Metallic version of Keifer.

"You guys go! I'll deal with this steel-plated faker!" without saying anything else, Keifer jumped into the robot, causing them both to tumble into the road.

"CHALLENGER DETECTED!" the robot droned. "XANA'S ORDERS; EXTERMINATE!" the robot lurched forward and punched Keifer across the jaw.

"Is that all you got?" he asked. Keifer then spin-dashed into the robot, causing it to be blown back nearly sixty feet. "Catch me if you can!" Keifer yelled at it, zooming off in the direction Sissi drove as he began hearing screams.

"YOU CAN NOT HOPE TO BEAT ME" the robot screeched as it used its' jet thruster to catch up to Keifer. It then charged into a purple bullet of electricity.

"NOT TODAY!" Keifer dashed to the side as he noticed Ulrich body slam into the robot, as they were now mere inches behind the van, which was being attacked by Zach. Keifer watched in shock as the robot began imploding.

"Ulrich, JUMP!" he yelled as the robot exploded, but not before ulrich jumped off last second.

"Zach - he's attacking the van!" he screamed over the howling early morning wind. Keifer nodded and jumped into the middle, only to see Odd trying to avoid getting punched to death.

"Sorry about this old friend!" Keifer pulled out his ring and used the surplus of strength to grab the Robotic Zach and throw him out of the now over 100 mile per hour speed van. He didn't look back as they were now getting closer to Paris.

"That was close…" Aelita shivered as they stopped about 500 feet out of the City of Love.

"Yeah, that was" Jeremie agreed with her as they hid the van behind a small rock spire.

"Alright. Chances are, XANA has the map hidden somewhere" William began speaking out loud. "So let's try to get to the top of the tower"

It was quiet, too quiet as the group snuck around in the city.

"I hope no one else is here…" Odd shuddered at the thought of anyone else who might have been left at the mercy of XANA.

"Let's just keep moving" Yumi was ahead of everyone as they got closer to the Eiffel Tower.

"Look, they have more of those tubes" Miles was flying towards the rooftops and pointed towards the final floor of the tower. Keifer ran up to the top of the nearest building and sure enough, there were now five scanners.

"We need to hurry!" he jumped down and looked to the others. "I can get up there and look, but I'll need a distraction"

Everything went bad instantly. As soon as Ulrich, William and Jeremie stepped out of the alley, they were surrounded by monsters. But they didn't give up, that was until three Skypezoahs showed up.

"NOT AGAIN!" William began running but then he remembered he was surrounded. Simultaneously, the three monsters wrapped their tentacles around the boys and begun working their evil power.

"CERTAINLY NOT!" before the three were possessed, Keifer had destroyed the monsters, now in his Super form. "CHAOS SPHERE!" he summoned a large golden ball and used to to incinerate the small army around his friends. "I'll try to find the map - you guys go!"

"Good luck!" Aelita waved him goodbye as he teleported.

"I'm gonna need it" Keifer was hidden in between the large scanners at the top of the tower, and lucky for him, he was unnoticed.

"We just need to find one more sir" Keifer cringed as he heard the robotic voice of Zach.

"Excellent" said the dark voice of XANA-Franz. "Were you able to stop the Warriors?"

"No your evilness. The blue one destroyed Metal 001" he said.

"Then prepare Mecha Metal 002" he said, his voice sounding worse than before. "Once he is dead, we can steal the Warrior's Time Stones and find the last one"

"There's the map!" Keifer suddenly noticed the magical parchment just sitting on a command table, and with it were four more Time Stones. Before he could act, the scanners re-opened all at once, but what came out shocked him.

"Excellent!" said XANA-Athena as five, evil looking versions of his friends came out in their Lyoko outfits. "I knew fighting those brats would pay off!"

"What are your orders?" the voice that droned out of XANA-William scared Keifer.

"Find your goodie-two shoe counter-parts, and KILL them" said XANA-Franz. As he said this, Keifer focused on the table and teleported to it. Right as he grabbed the last Time Stone, Metal Zach gasped.

"IT'S HIM!" his voice screamed through his robotic

Mouth.

"Too late!" Keifer laughed, but then had an idea. As the evil XANA Warriors charged him, he surged forward and grabbed Zach before warping out of the tower, much to the boiling rage of XANA's anger.

"LET GO OF ME!" Robotic Zach was thrashing as Keifer appeared next to the Van, much to the happiness of everyone else.

"No, you have to fight it!" Keifer had tears coming out of his eyes. "Fight it man, FIGHT IT! Fight XANA! You said you would beat him!"

"AGH!" Zach begun screaming in pain as he doubled over, his mind going haywire.

"Keifer - your ring!" Jeremie was next to him, watching the scene unfold. Keifer nodded and stopped his Super Form. He quickly handed it to Zach who was still screaming.

"You PROMISED!" Keifer stared him down as the Robot stopped screaming. Everyone watched in worry as Robotic Zach's eyes stopped glowing a menacing red and turned to an emerald green.

"G… guys…" he whispered, the voice coming out being Zach's. He looked around at everyone then at himself. "I…" before he could say anything, everyone slammed him into a group hug.

"I thought we lost you!" Miles was hugging his legs as they all finally let go.

"It was terrible" he begun speaking as they all loaded up in the trashed van and begun driving back. "I could see what I was doing but I couldn't…"

"Do anything?" William asked him. He knew what Zach was feeling, as it hit home with him.

"How do you know?" the robotic mutant asked him.

"I was put under XANA's control once myself. I could only watch as he controlled all of my movements and tortured me. I wanted to fight back, but I wasn't strong enough…" William just sighed as Zach looked at him.

"But hey, we're all fine now, for now…" Jeremie said this but then Keifer told them what happened on the Tower.

Chapter 13 (Episode 113; The War for Humanity 5/?)

"STEP ON IT!" Sam yelled to Sissi as soon as Keifer had explained what had happened. But right when he finished, a Skypezoah appeared behind them, carrying the five evil warriors.

"No, we have to fight them HERE" Keifer jumped out as the Van stopped. "We won't chicken out THAT easily XANA"

"Oh really?" the evil Yumi spoke with XANA's voice.

"We've beat you once, so help me we'll do it again!" Odd said, standing next to Keifer.

"You can count on that!" Yumi said as she and Ulrich walked up to the group, the rest of them forming a sort of wall against XANA's pawns. Last came Zach.

"Well well well" said the evil Odd in XANA's voice. "Looks like you got your will back. Too bad I'll have to take it away!" suddenly, weird blue cords shot out of the Skypezoah and attached themselves to Zach's back, who begun writhing in pain.

"CHARGE!" William yelled as they surged forward. He and Sissi went for his clone while Odd and Sam went for the Odd clone.

"Help me…" Zach's voice choked out through the metal as he became the Skypezoah's puppet. Keifer jumped to the side as the squid forced the robot to fight.

"I've gotta cut those DAMN tentacles!" Keifer internalized as he ducked to avoid the Ulrich clones' Katana.

"This is the end for you all" XANA said through the Aelita clone as it fired Energy Fields at Jeremie and Aelita, who were desperately trying to dodge them.

"Stop now and maybe we won't strip you of your mind again" XANA-William said as he sung his blade at William, who ducked under it. He was doing his best to distract his clone as Sissi snuck around it with the blade Yumi's parents gave her.

"Ha, you're only half as good as me!" Odd yelled with glee as he smashed a rock through his clone, causing it to explode in a shower of red pixels.

"Zach, I'm gonna need your help!" Keifer tried to get through the robot as the Skypezoah threw the robot at him.

"No… promises" Zach muttered out. Keifer then threw him the ring as a way to distract the Monster controlling him. Zach caught it right as Keifer slashed the Monster's tentacles, causing the blue cords to vanish.

"DIE XANA, DIE!" Zach lunged himself with renewed strength at the Skypezoah, killing it with a large flash, temporarily disrupting the clones.

"NOW!" Ulrich yelled as he upper-cutted his clone with his own Sword, whilst the others finished the rest of them off.

"Good god…" Keifer collapsed as the rest looked around them.

"Man…" Odd sat down next to him. "This is almost over…"

"Just one more Time Stone" Zach sighed, looking at the recovered map. "And from the looks of it, XANA just got it"

Chapter; FINALE 1/4 (Final Episode Part 1)

"We need to go back and regroup" Odd suggested, the group unsure of what to do. "We won't make it otherwise"

"He's right" Miles said tiredly. "We can't do it on our own!"

"This is it!" Ulrich spoke up from the gang as they stood in front of everyone.

"When we get the final stone, we can END this!" Zach held the map up for everyone to see, and it showed a rough drawing of the Iron Tower, and at the top was where it was glowing.

"Then let's DO IT!" many people shouted this at once.

"Right to the top!" Keifer turned Super and everyone begun linking hands.

"Are you sure you can warp us all there?" Jeremie asked worriedly.

"It's better than not trying" Keifer muttered as he closed his eyes. And in a few moments, everyone was on top of the tower.

"WHAT!?" XANA stared at them all through Franz before screaming at his monster army.

Then all hell broke loose.

"HEEYA!" Nicholas threw himself at a large group of Kankerlots as Herve started throwing his weird makeshift bombs at some Bloks.

"TAKE THIS!" Yumi ducked as Hiroki and his best friend begun kicking another group of monsters as everyone took to fighting something.

"Sorry about this mom!" Aelita body-slammed her possessed mother as William clocked Franz. Jeremie ducked under lazer fire and ran for the large Supercomputer. His goal was to shut off the scanners as more monsters poured out. As he begun typing away Keifer and Zach were fighting a model 3 of Keifer's metallic clone.

"Twister spin!" Miles cried out as he and Odd begun rapidly spinning together, Odd holding his Katana out as they ripped through a large group of Bloks, ending with Odd jumping up and killing three Krabes.

"HEYA!" Yumi threw her blade into the eye of a Megatank and ducked as it exploded.

"There it is!" Sissi pointed to the Purple stone shining in a glass dome on the head table. Keifer then realized all the other Time Stones he had were glowing.

"IT'S TIME TO END THIS!" Keifer begun summoning a large, golden blast much like he had when the war started.

"NOOO!" Xana-Franz and Athena begun screaming as Keifer launched the blast, and seemingly, time stopped.

Zach looked around him in Disbelief as everything stopped. He looked over and saw that the only other people who weren't frozen were Miles, Keifer, William, Aelita, Odd, Yumi, Ulrich and Jeremie.

"Did we…"

"The Time Stones!" Keifer pointed to the seven gems as they swirled slowly in a circle, the purple one having shattered the dome it was in.

"They're awake" Zach was awe-struck as the Stones begun slowly floating around the group. "But not fully… they don't have enough power"

"What do we do…" Aelita whispered this as a drop of blood fell out of her mouth.

"I power them" Keifer said, stepping into the center. He was still in his Hyper form as the Emeralds begun swirling around him, now floating out towards the Time Stones, the fourteen gems swirling even faster.

"Wait, what if it kills you!?" Yumi was worried for their friend. But Keifer couldn't respond, he was focusing on drawing all the power he could.

"Goodbye guys…" he said with one final smile before a large, white flash ignited the world, absorbing the planet.

Chapter 17; Finale 2/4 (Episode Final 2)

The sun shone through the trees as the gang, now with Miles and a de-roboticized Zach stood outside the Hermitage. But Keifer wasn't anywhere in sight.

"We did it…" Odd collapsed and bursted into tears. It was over. At long last it was over.

"You all did it!" Franz said with a large smile as he hugged his daughter, Athena joining them.

"But Keifer…" Jeremie looked down in realization. Their friend was gone.

"He made the ultimate sacrifice" Ulrich sat down sadly on the porch step.

"Is that… a shooting star?" William looked up in a small clearing and saw something… something fast speeding towards the ground.

"Could it be…!"

"Keifer!" Miles yelled out his name and begun flying up as hard as he could. He intercepted the speeding being, but was slammed back. At the last second, he regained his composure as they touched the ground.

"Oww…" Keifer collapsed to the ground, too tired to speak. He just gave his friends a goofy smile as he looked up. "We did it! XANA's gone!"

"How about we all go shut off the Super Computer then? Once and for all?" William suggested. Everyone nodded.

"Keifer, I think you should do the honors" Ulrich joked.

"You did risk your life several times and technically you are the one who landed the final blow" Odd said with a smile. Keifer nodded to them all. He walked up to the large machine and pressed the small button, revealing the switch.

"Well XANA, I honestly thought you could beat me for a second, with your robotic knock-offs and all. But it's time you fall into an endless slumber, because no copy-write law in the Universe is gonna stop me!"

"And so it ends" Franz said with a smile as the room went dark and the returned to the surface.

"And so do these" Keifer chuckled as the Emeralds,all of which where now extremely dull, floated away from him. Everyone watched as the seven of them shattered into a shower of sparkles.

Chapter 18; Finale 3/4 (Episode Final 3)

"Too bad Summer is gonna end soon" Ulrich Yumi and William had been hanging out with Keifer for a while as he had seen if anyone had wanted to go to the arcade.

"Hey, look at it like this - it's your last year" William said to him.

"And your Uncle teaches Math" Yumi added. Keifer smiled at the thought of his Uncle Chuck giving him an easy year. He had found him in the U.S, the man didn't even know he had a nephew.

"And who knows, maybe you can get a girlfriend this year" Ulrich joked as he laced hands with Yumi.

"Ha ha, very funny" Keifer joked as they walked into the Pizza PArlour connected to the arcade, when suddenly a song started playing.

"Why does this sound so familiar?" Ulrich wondered aloud as they sat down.

"Wait, Keifer, aren't these the lyrics you submitted to the Sub Sonics?" Odd asked him, taking everyone off guard as the rest of their friends joined them.

"Yeah, it's the lighter theme of City Escape" Aelita noted.

"After everything we've been through, I'm shocked the lyrics survived!" Keifer joked,happy that he was with his friends and everything was over. So many years of their lives ahead.