AN: Code Lyoko belongs to the Moonscoop Corporation. This story was intended to be my very last published (not stories updated, mind you- I still will update the stories I already have published) story on this category of fan fiction and to be partly how I envisioned how Code Lyoko should have ended.
This is a song fic on Herman Martin's Animation game showreel. It does not, however, violate the rules of this site because there aren't any lyrics to the song (an ingenious way to bypass the restriction on posting lyrics in stories here). The parts in this story do not indicate when the songs change; it merely serves as scarcely worded summaries. Yes, this story is very wordy- bear with me, and if constantly staring at a screen starts to hurt your eyes, switch your background color for reading fan fiction to the "dark" setting. It's much more tolerable that way.
Characters are somewhat OOC here, but not to the point where it's just dripping with Mary Sueism/Gary Stuism.
Planning and writing for this story has stemmed back from my vacation in California this August. The first version (most of part 1) was written from 3-5 in the morning one day, after a sudden burst of inspiration.
This story was co-written and beta-read by Beriothien Nenharma. Additional reviewers on the beta/abridged version of this story: Aelita, Aelita Schaeffer, Jeremie Belpois, Aelita Hopper, and Spirit of Code Lyoko from the Code: WIKI forum.
Memento Mori
[Part 1: Genesis]
The dull orange-yellow sun peeked over the multiple lush, grassy hills to shine its first rays upon France. The country's inhabitants still slumbered within their homes, blissfully unaware that at any given moment, if a group of five teenagers were to lose against a mighty Artificial Intelligence program dubbed XANA, their lives would be forfeit.
At the moment, one of the teenagers, the unspoken leader of the group of misfits he had come to know and love, typed away furiously on his desktop computer. A pink purse adorned with flowers lay on his normally obstruction-free floor, partially hidden under the impressive amount of papers strewn about the carpeting. Most of them were ideas for new codes that were undecipherable to anyone other than a seasoned programming expert.
The blonde that had been sitting quite stiffly in his swiveling chair paused, stretching his arms and legs as far as they would allow before emitting a loud yawn. Almost instantly he flinched, remembering his guest. Cautiously, he inched the chair backwards before turning around to face the room's only other occupant, slightly smiling as he observed her.
To outsiders casually spectating the two, it would have appeared to them that a certain boy named Jeremie Belpois had taken in a young stranger- Aelita Schaeffer to a few select people and Aelita Stones to everybody else- and was slowly nursing her back to health after a bizarre and unforeseen event in a random act of goodwill. Those within the group, however, knew that something more sinister was at work. This time, the malevolent, rogue program had managed to drastically and irreversibly alter the life point and re-materialization programs, allowing most damage taken by the Lyoko Warriors' virtual avatars to be transferred to their human bodies, with the exception of superficial damage from the weaker lasers of lesser monsters, such as the Kankrelats, being minor burns- but even those would heal easily.
Aelita had, unfortunately, been the first one to find out after receiving a rather nasty parting shot from the possessed William after she disabled the activated tower. She emerged from the scanner, clutching her abdomen as it bled profusely and nursing a long, deep cut that stretched from one side of her stomach to the other. Luckily, a trip back in time had healed the gash completely and reversed the chaos created by XANA's latest attack in the process. However, Aelita was rendered unconscious for an unexplained reason, leading Jeremie to perform a detailed check on the Return to the Past program's coding.
Offering to keep watch over the pink haired beauty, Jeremie had laid her on his often unused bed; so far, no change was reported- the return trip had all but drained what little energy the warriors had left after the battle, and Aelita still hadn't woken up yet or even given a sign that she was still alive other than her slow, steady breathing and pulse. The question of why she was left in this condition even after the return to the past was still unanswerable, but Jeremie still blamed himself for something that was out of his reach. He was the group's 'master control', warning them of incoming monsters or dangers to their well-being and watching over the systems of Lyoko for the same. He had to make sure that all of them returned to Earth safe and sound.
Sighing resignedly, Jeremie turned back to the innumerable amounts of coded instructions, trying to surmise the last programmable lines of code to complete Project Genesis, a program destined to develop into a living nightmare for a certain pesky AI. In the meantime, he busied himself by creating a minor regeneration program for his friends in case XANA decided to temporarily forget about finding Waldo Schaeffer and instead occupy his time by concentrating his efforts on maintaining his activated tower. He could, of course, create a stronger regeneration program that would heal his team faster and with greater efficiency, but the little borrowed time he had did not allow him such a luxury.
Massaging his temples, the boy genius groaned.
'You can't protect them forever, you idiot.' he chided himself, curling his hands into fists subconsciously. 'Especially her... Even with this little program, it won't prevent them from sustaining damage in the real world once they devirtualize! Why can't I find a way to reverse the damage XANA's done to the devirtualization program!'
Sheets crinkled loudly, and Jeremie whirled around, only to be greeted with soft green eyes clouded over with sleep and the sight of his bedraggled girlfriend.
"Uh... good morning?" Jeremie greeted awkwardly, suddenly self-conscious about his own ragged appearance. "I'm just trying to fill in the spaces in Project Genesis'-"
"Space?" Aelita intoned, staring stupidly at the blonde and trying her best to focus her eyes on him. "What is space?" she slurred, promptly collapsing back onto the bed and falling into a deep sleep before the poor teenager had a chance to respond.
Meanwhile, in the fifth sector, a Manta unique to others of its kind emerged from the outer wall of Sector 5 and floated silently, observing Lyoko. The dark, shadowed form of William Dunbar, who usually stood on the monster's back and clutched the smoke reins, was strangely absent. The Manta gracefully flew around the blue sphere before entering the depths of the digital abode, immediately sensing the cold, calculating presence in the air that could belong to no other inhabitant of this virtual world except for its King, XANA.
XANA never took a form on Lyoko with the exception of the exertion of a strong influence upon the monsters he created or the unfortunate victims he possessed. He preferred it that way; the flesh of his human victims and monsters would serve mostly as a shield from any harm that should come his way. While the specters- phantasmal fractions of his being combined with the influence of his will- would receive damage, he would not be harmed in any form, at least in most situations. Although he did not like to admit it, there were a few bothersome spots where he could be easily injured or disabled, along with a pesky Achilles heel he definitely didn't want the warriors to know about.
William sat in a corner, blankly staring at a bright blue column that composed the semi-large room. When he was not needed by XANA at the moment, he had recently taken up passively sitting in one spot and trying his darnedest to concentrate fully on the flashbacks he experienced during a fight with the geisha warrior and piece the short, fuzzy memories together. It was difficult, mainly because he doubted he had had a life before his servitude to a mad AI hell bent on world domination. Plus, it wasn't as if XANA usually ignored him all day, he was forced to go out and do numerous menial tasks that served no purpose. XANA was everywhere- in his head, in Lyoko, in the innumerable monsters he crafted, in the real world, and even in the digital sea.
Why was he fighting five kids even though he personally bore no ill will or any sort of animosity towards them? Why was his master intent on killing them and practically coercing him to do the dirty work? Where was he in this strange new world? Who was he?
'I... am... William... Dunbar' he mused to himself, drawing his legs closer to his body and smiling lightly in glee when the pieces started to come together. 'Yes... I remember that my name is... William... ...They... my challengers called me William... XANA calls me William... so I must be William, then. I like... sunshine and pretty pink ponies... rainbows and birds and the color blue. ...What are sunshine, ponies, rainbows and birds, anyway? I hate the color blue. There's too much blue here. ...Maybe I'll take up liking the color pink and frolicking in flowers and... ...Wait, what flowers? Are there flowers here on Lyoko?'
Not a single thought was hidden from the Artificial Intelligence as the program invaded his systems, scrutinizing his brainwaves almost every second for any chance that he might regain control of his mind. It was a sickening experience, XANA constantly probing his thoughts and forcing him into submission by means of brute force then dousing him with propaganda until he was nothing more than a walking, talking puppet. Sometimes, however, he deliberately thought of nonsense, just to completely annoy the nettlesome AI into thinking his intellect was decently suppressed from information outside of the daily propaganda he was forcibly fed.
XANA busied himself by observing endless streams of data and making notes on them, formulating his latest scheme against the five children that constantly opposed him no matter how many times he threatened their lives. At the moment, Franz Hopper, also known as Waldo Franz Schaeffer, was the only thing that could truly come in between him and the goal of ridding the world of the parasitical race of humanity. It was simple: eliminate his creator, and then claim his sibling's life as well when she mourned the death of her father. Without her, the Lyoko Warriors are unable deactivate the towers, and would then be forced to concede to his will.
Earlier, he had noted that Jeremie was working on a new program of his, but the rogue program couldn't break through the tactical planner's numerous, complex firewalls. Sensing that it was a Multi-agent program quite like itself evoked its curiosity. Angered and desperately trying to find out what it was after countless efforts to steal the data, he pacified himself with the knowledge that Jeremie couldn't figure out the last code combinations and the fact that the damage he had done to the life point and devirtualization system was practically irreversible and would take months to properly eradicate.
The AI sensed the boy thinking outside the set parameters again, and XANA glared at the teenager's form. Though his numerous examinations of the adolescent's mind had made bothersome twit somewhat senile, the teen still always brooded over the possibility of his past life and never ceased thinking about it when he was not fully under his control. Curse that geisha warrior, Yumi Ishiyama, and curse the other Lyoko Warriors as well! XANA snarled angrily and mustered up his powers before shooting towards the boy.
William's eyes widened and he felt his muscles tense as a chillingly cold sensation pierced through his heart. His body was on fire, the pain stemming from XANA's forced entrance into his body would never fail to remind him how helpless he was against the maniacal AI. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and from his gaping mouth came the most dreadful tortured screams ever to not be heard. Gurgled moans of anguish were choked from his throat as his hands clawed at their owner's virtual hair while the AI enforced his control over the boy.
Thoughts flew wildly in William's head as the embodiment of William's resolve clashed with XANA's mentality. Feelings of hatred towards the Lyoko Warriors bubbled within the cauldron of William's mind, stirred and-
'It's their fault...' XANA whispered soothingly in William's head, 'The hurt will go away if they cease to exist… Of course, I can always spare the Ishiyama girl if you prove yourself useful…'
"Get out." William ordered, grimacing in anguish.
'Poor, poor William.' XANA responded, not in his voice, but the voice of a certain Japanese girl the sixteen year old had come to know and love, 'Always last in everything and one to pitied...' XANA sneered, feeling the teenager hesitate after his impersonation and pressed on. 'It figures you'd be second to Ulrich…'
William's eyes widened, "Liar!" he declared, sensing the shreds of his pride and dignity stripped away with every venomous word uttered by the cheating filth.
'Oh, but it's the truth, William.' "Yumi" scoffed 'Can't you see it when it's right in front of you? Don't you know how much easier it would be without you around?'
"Shut up!" William roared.
'I never loved you. You were, and still are, a complete loser that can't sleep at night without his favorite stuffed teddy bear, a nightlight, and your thumb in your mouth. You're a baby. Why don't you leave me alone? You're not one of us. Snivel at your master's feet and hide behind someone else, like you've always done. You're not even worth a second of my time...'
With an inhuman howl, William collapsed upon the floor on all fours, fighting with every ounce of will in his body to resist the dreaded pain, the all consuming darkness that threatened to overcome his entire being. XANA pushed equally as hard to fight for control of William's body, deftly outmaneuvering the teenager's futile attempts to resist his control. William growled loudly, clutching his head tightly and shaking it back and forth slowly, feeling his control slip with every passing second. With a final grunt, the dark haired boy collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily.
The newly repossessed William slowly picked himself off of the ground and scowled at his surroundings as well as at the Manta that was patiently floating in the air above, waiting for him. Then, an unexpected, sick grin crept across William's visage, and the controlled child levitated a foot from the floor and stretched his arms out forward.
XANA had a surprising amount of power, thanks to the replicas of Lyoko the mad program made from the source codes hidden within Waldo and Aelita's keys of Lyoko. It had already displayed a fraction of what he was capable of by creating a behemoth-like monster and easily wiping out Aelita and Ulrich with one fell swipe of its sword-hand. Concentrating its power, it located one tower ripe and easy for the picking.
In the mountain sector, the way tower's aura changed from a soothing light blue to a bright, angry red. Droves of monsters materialized out of thin air and fell towards the ground like rain, immediately positioning themselves protectively around the tower. XANA then easily manipulated programs from within the tower itself and soon, all other uninfected towers on Lyoko were galvanized into action on his behalf. It was overkill, but these kids had halted his progress for far too long on the absolute annihilation of the human population.
…And out of the digital sea, the water sloshed violently in a large, vacant site before a head imprinted with the terror-inducing symbol and crowned with branch-like matter rose, born from within the digital void.
William's grin inexplicably grew wider. It was done. He was ready for the final assault.
The XANA symbol on the possessed adolescent flashed once, glowing white sinisterly as XANA's raw power coursed through the teen's veins. With an astounding leap of incredible execution, he landed on the Manta's back, summoning his smoke reins and riding triumphantly to battle.
It started with Lyoko. It will end with Lyoko.
Hordes of polymorphic specters discretely oozed out of electrical outlets in the real world in dark waves, seeking out their assigned targets. This was the beginning of the end.
[Part 2: TAAAAAAANK!]
Aelita dashed through the empty corridors of the sewer, eyes tightly shut as she barreled down the sewer walkway, hoping to run fast enough to get away. The waterways flew by her as she continued to dash by, a throbbing pain began to set in her legs, but she ignored it as she kept running. A light was at the end of the tunnel, and Aelita sensed it even with her eyes closed and opened them, squinting her eyes a little from the sudden bright light. Though the end itself was covered by iron bars, it signaled the end of the tunnel, and ultimately the exit or the entrance to the sewers, where she could escape from this place before he came. The twenty four year old Aelita was panting happily as she reached it, her smile slowly sliding into a frown as her husband suddenly leapt from the dirty sewer water on all fours, both of his eyes having the accursed mark of XANA replacing the soft, blue pupils she longed to see.
"Going somewhere, Princess?" he taunted in a darker voice, relishing the look of fear in her eyes.
He grinned evilly and started advancing towards Aelita, the latter giving a small squeal of fear and starting to run back to the factory. XANA-Jeremie paid it no mind; he knew that he would get her alone somehow someday, and that his "destruction" was no more than a minor inconvenience to him. All it took was several years to bide his time and trick them into thinking he was dead, all while he was on another server in another supercomputer in the world, easily evading their virus scanning system as they searched for the mysterious program drawing memory and power from the rest of the computer.
Aelita was heavily panting as she cried out for help, even though it was futile. She silently cursed herself for being so easily tricked into going to the factory once more; even though they had shut it down nearly ten years ago. Everything was just starting out great, too. She had a stable job in technology after majoring in the technological sector. When she got the mysterious message from her husband, Jeremie, she thought it was just another job he needed her to help him with- namely dismantling the supercomputer once and for all. However, when she had got to the factory, she found out that XANA did indeed survive the Multi Agent program, and now possessed her husband.
Aelita let another squeal of fright as she saw Jeremie casually catching up to her, with little or no effort at all. Aelita would have expected him to shoot lightening or some form of electricity at her by now to catch her off guard, stun and capture her, or even kill her, but here they were, playing the cat and mouse game. She started running to the factory, trying to be as quiet as possible while she ran, though to her dismay, her boots still made sounds on the cold concrete. The sounds of her XANAfied husband lessened though, and the thought of him losing track of where she was excited her, though she was careful not to make loud sounds still. XANA was still as big as a threat as it was years ago, and she was sure he was somewhere on the ceiling, watching her every move and silently stalking her, much like a predator does to its prey before the kill.
Aelita squirmed through the sewer entrance after climbing the ladder, looking in despair at the factory. She cautiously made her way over to the entrance of the dilapidated building, sliding down the rope as warily as she could in order to avoid having it suddenly snap and send her plummeting to a merciless landing on the cold floor. Her eyes flitting over the factory floor, she decided to go into the corridor, just in case XANA wanted her to be trapped in the elevator. She crept over to the corridor's entrance, shooting glances around the room to see if her possessed husband was still following her. Something inside of her told her that the factory wasn't as safe and empty as it seemed and Aelita silently agreed.
There was nothing alive in the corridor, and she continued to walk, past the boiler room, past the machines that still looked as threatening as ever as the sharp metal dully reflected the light, glinting in the gloom of the factory. Aelita snuck past the corridor connecting the boiler room, and crept through the series of hallways and catwalks until she reached the top of the supercomputer laboratory, where she climbed down the ladder. She shivered involuntarily as she saw the supercomputer, the malevolent light of the corridor above the lab itself reflecting off the dull surface of the blue-green metal, though there were a few spaces in the room where it was impossible to see the wall, or anything that the shadows encompassed.
Without the light produced by the supercomputer, there was hardly anything that could be seen in the room, making Aelita very wary and suspicious of everything, even the non-living items that were lying motionless on the ground. The giant supercomputer loomed over her like a towering giant; the architecture of the supercomputer itself was enough to be considered frightening. Through the thick silence and the cold room, Aelita shivered again as she felt another presence behind her, the lack of dust on the equipment being enough to raise a few internal red flags in her brain.
"And here I thought you would never make it here." a voice rang through the darkness.
"How...?" Aelita's question died on her lips as Jeremie crouched down with a feral smirk and pounced with clawed hands extended and uttering demented screeches.
Aelita's eyes snapped open, and the Princess of Lyoko rubbed her head, thoroughly disoriented. She'd been having these dreams ever since going to Lyoko one day and realizing that she had the Keys to Lyoko. Digital codes that would allow their wielder to have power over the digital land.
Dreams like this usually came in this form now and then. Try as she might to push them out of her mind, they always came back in one form or another.
Looking around, she noticed that she was not in her room; rather, she was in Jeremie's bed, and her benefactor was nowhere to be found. His laptop and its case were gone, probably meaning that he had gone to breakfast after multiple failed attempts to wake her.
Sighing, Aelita resentfully rose from Jeremie's bed and made her way to the girl's bathroom, already unwilling to start the day.
The sun harshly glared onto the world below, making temperatures outside nearly unbearable with the amount of humidity involved. A heavy rainstorm had occurred days ago, and some of the major roads were still closed due to flooding. Female mosquitoes were everywhere, happily laying their eggs on the large amounts of standing water or biting people and animals alike for nutrients for their unborn children.
However, the day progressed normally with countless lives performing their scheduled tasks routinely, unconcerned with tomorrow save for a small fraction of peculiar teenagers. Gathered around their usual lunch table with the other four, Jeremie explained in hushed voices of how XANA's attacks were becoming increasingly more and more brutal, with extra attention being given to the ancillary damage the AI had made.
Though Yumi and, surprisingly, Odd, offered quick-fix solutions to the problem-riddled supercomputer, Jeremie rebuffed their advice with a slight wave of his hand, explaining that it would take an excruciatingly long time for him to debug the supercomputer in overly complex sentences. Aelita, serving as the group's translator, further explained the grim situation, allowing the dour situation to fully penetrate through their optimistic thoughts.
Something felt... strange...
Something was happening...
The copy filling in for the missing William Dunbar could feel it in his programming. It was like acid, burning like fire as it ate through his very being, changing the composition of his body and causing reactions within himself. His jaw clenched; it was as painful to him as multiple fractures would be to a normal human being. Then all of a sudden it stopped, and the clone 'breathed' a sigh of relief.
The clone ran a simple diagnostic check through his systems; now was not the ideal time to contact his creator and inquire what had happened. The results displayed that nothing serious had happened, and only a minor bug had been inserted into his coding. Clone William grimaced; whatever it was, he could not fix himself on his own, and creator would not be pleased at the discovery- he already had too much on his mind.
Speaking of minds, the clone was starting to get what seemed impossible for his kind to have- a migraine- a terrible headache that sent pain splitting across his skull like wildfire and sent him doubling over in agony. However, with the temporary distraction, he did not notice his hands flickering in and out of existence before they solidified again.
The clone William twitched involuntarily, uttered an audible grunt and dropped his spoon into his soup before clutching his head with both hands. Several students, the Lyoko Warriors included, looked curiously in his direction upon the sudden disturbance. He merely apologized and contributed the reaction to a sudden migraine that had mysteriously appeared out of the blue before hastily retreating to his dorm room. Jeremie frowned and looked apprehensive, tapping a finger against his lip before turning around and continuing the conversation.
Sissy leaned ever so close to the group, eyes narrowed suspiciously as she continued to observe them. For years she had been trying to pry their secret from their lips, but they continued to refuse even when she blackmailed them or proffered an assortment of rewards to bribe them into at least saying a tidbit of what their clandestine operations were and where they furtively went whenever they claimed to either require the services of the nurse or use the restroom.
Whatever they were doing, she was sure it was enough to get them into serious trouble if she ever found out about it. Maybe she could use that information specifically against Yumi- she had stolen her loved one's affections. She should be the one that Ulrich would be happy to see every day and treat like a princess! She should be the one within his arms whenever she got hurt. It's all this... Chinese girl's fault! Every time they got into a fight, she'd secretly hoped that he would come to his senses and become her boyfriend, but it always infuriated her to see them together again not a mere 24 hours later! Someday, she'll make them pay... she'll make them all pay.
Odd narrowed his eyes as he felt Sissi's warm breath on the back of his neck and grunted in annoyance at her boorish behavior. 'Why can't she stay out of our business?' he questioned angrily. There was hardly any doubt that she was secretly insulting Yumi, mislabeling her as Chinese, thinking of new ways to harass both Aelita and Jeremie, and once again attempting to force a relationship with Ulrich.
'One day, when she's not looking, I will get her back for all the trouble she's given us. Even the few times she's assisted us against XANA doesn't help matters at all! She just reverts to the same, stupid prick...'
As Odd schemed ways to get around her constant interference, he also was strategically planning new maneuvers to try out on Lyoko against XANA's monsters' attacks. Though thought mostly as a dimwit by others, he actually hid his intellect from others, preferring to look stupid and catch them off guard when he allowed himself the satisfaction of proving their biased thoughts wrong. His favorite victim? XANA. The AI was fun to mess with in terms of battle strategies. Quite simply put, he was the main diversion, being that his agility allowed him to keep the brunt of XANA's attacks from the rest of the group and buy them a few minutes of time.
"Mosquitoes are plentiful today, aren't they?" he asked Ulrich nonchalantly, covertly nudging the German's leg with a foot and rolling his pupils towards Sissi.
"Yeah," Ulrich replied, catching on to Odd's plan, "I bet I can find us a place where they won't dare to bother us." he continued, winking back.
The prankster's foot snaked out and curled around Sissi's chair just as she was slowly creeping another two inches closer. With a herculean effort, he brought the chair, along with the glorified rat, crashing down onto the floor. Sissi shrieked as her palms and knees scraped against the cold, unforgiving floor. Quietly swearing at the Norwegian-Italian boy, she glared daggers at all five members of the group. She could swear that Odd gave her a sidelong derisive smirk as he begun to get up while abruptly pushing his chair backwards with his legs.
Sissi hurriedly pulled herself backwards and rolled under her table before the splat or the leading rail of the piece of furniture could smash into her face. Quickly beckoning the foursome to follow him, he regretfully dumped the remainder of his lunch into the proper receptacle and ran towards the edge of the forest, where the foliage was sure to throw off most pursuers.
The searing heat blazed through his normal clothing and scorched his now sweaty back. Uncomfortable grunts issuing behind him warned that they too, felt the dreadful weather. Panting laboriously despite the years of running away from the various means of destruction XANA had used against him, he gasped with relief as the trees became denser and more clustered. The lack of Sissi sightings palliated the jokester, and with a sigh of contentment, he collapsed upon the long, wet, weed-riddled grass. By now, they were within a short distance from the Hermitage, decaying with weathering, time, and repeated vandalism at the hands of ill-behaving teenagers and adults.
"You know, you could have chosen the factory as an escape route." Ulrich grumbled, "I'm pretty sure it's much closer."
"But did you honestly want a back-stabber to sing her discovery exploits about the supercomputer to the rest of the world?" Odd countered, making a move to take off his worn sneakers and relieve his feet.
"Please, no, Odd. Don't do that." Yumi complained, pinching her nose and turning away disgustedly as the retched odor invaded her nostrils.
"I tol dew it wuh dis bad!" Ulrich laughed as he too, pinched his nose as Odd stretched his foul-smelling feet towards them with an evil smile on his face.
"Hey man, that's not coo!l" Odd loudly objected, much to the two geniuses' amusement. "They don't smell that bad... I mean, I personally think that they smell like onions and rotten food, but it's not like your feet smell any better!"
Practically gagging, Ulrich clawed his way over to a pond dirtied with runoff and various pieces of dead vegetation. His reflection was a dark shadow within the brown, murky pool, and Ulrich studied it closely, suspiciously noting how unnatural shapes sometimes flew by it before large ripples appeared in the water. What was most disconcerting about this ordeal was that the air was colder than usual, even though they were given shade by the various biological specimens. It was supposed to go up to 29 degrees Celsius today, and the air temperature around them was nowhere near that number.
"Guys, I think-" he began before being cut off by the familiar, shrill beeping sound emitted by Jeremie's laptop's speakers.
"XANA alert, guys!" Jeremie enunciated gravely, after removing the computer from its case and checking the tower scanning program. Only a cursory glance was needed before his mouth hung open in surprise, laptop dropping onto the rocky earth, his breath hitching in his chest.
"What's the matter Jeremie?" Aelita asked concernedly, scanning his apprehensive face for any signs of what XANA's new scheme could be.
"We... we better hurry up guys…" Jeremie managed to stutter, stowing his laptop back into its case at lightning speed with a frown. "There's a massive army of monsters on Lyoko, and XANA's activated all of the-!"
CRUNCH
"What the-" Yumi interjected angrily, trying to regain her balance after the ground shook violently.
Shh!" Ulrich hissed violently, holding up his hand. "Listen!"
The group held their breaths and stood completely still, waiting in overwhelming anxiety.
CRUNCH
"It's getting louder!" Jeremie whispered in a panicked voice. "We should take the route in the-"
"No time!" Yumi whispered back, practically shoving all of them into nearby shrubbery to disguise them before she scaled a tall tree and peered out from between the small, fleshy leaves.
At first, she could see nothing but the expanse of various species of arbor. Then, the loud crunching sound occurred again, but this time, droves of birds took off into the relative safety of the skies as small black shapes against the blinding sunlight. Trees cracked as a rather large object roughly pushed against them, splintering as they crashed into the ground.
Yumi uttered a soft gasp as she saw a large, black form appear over the tree line, crushing the felled trees with ease. Most of its features were indiscernible under the huge amounts of muscle it possessed and the way the sun shone onto it. It was approximately 18 meters tall, not counting the seven large black masses protruding from its massive, flesh-colored, disfigured skull. The 'face' of it was painted with a large eye of XANA and a 'tongue' that lolled out under the skull made it look even more intimidating. It had massive hands the size of three fire trucks piled on top of each other. Fire seemed to spurt from the fissures in its skin, which had the craggy appearance of volcanic rock overflowing with lethal lava. In place of the charred flesh, though, was a dark brown color- the shade of scorched earth. In short, it was a miniature Kolossus, similar to the one that haunted the Lyoko Warriors on the digital battlefield of Lyoko, except for the minor detail of this copy not having a sword for an arm.
Choking back a cry of surprise for fear the monstrosity would be able to somehow hear it, Yumi fell from her perch in the tree and wildly gestured her teammates to flee. Grabbing a fistful of Ulrich's grass-green vest, she all but tore it off as she dragged him behind her, the German stumbling to match her frenzied speed.
"Run!" she cried desperately, pushing her body to go faster. "Run, dammit, before-!"
A loud crash obscured the rest of her speech as the Kolossus noticed its prey and began to move through the wooded land just to crush them into the ground. With an angered grunt, the monster took large, lumbering steps towards them.
"What is that thing?" Jeremie cried out fearfully.
"The Kolossus." Ulrich gravely replied after giving the wretched fiend a cursory glance.
"At least, a polymorphic copy of it." Aelita clarified, noticing how the 'lava' didn't seem to ignite the highly flammable surroundings around it. "I'm pretty sure the entire city would be in flames if it…" Aelita shuddered as the thought crossed her mind, "… was the real Kolossus"
"Doesn't explain… how… this thing… is here!" Ulrich huffed, noting the polymorphic specters closing in.
At this moment, the Kolossus looked more threatening than anything the Lyoko Warriors had ever seen in their entire lives. It was as if it were a nightmare that had popped out of their dreams and materialized into the real world.
"Ariel, Ookla, ride!" Odd shouted, galvanizing the rest of the group into pushing their limits.
"Dammit, Odd!" Ulrich growled, "Why did you have to pick a spot so far from the factory!"
"I didn't know!" the jokester yelped, nearly tripping as a massive foot smashed into the ground and caused small tremors to form.
"We need to split up!" Yumi panted, feeling the pain in her chest from the exertion growing and anxiety.
"I hate to be negative, but Yumi's right. We can't all be headed in the same direction because in case you haven't noticed, that thing's gaining on us!"
"Alright. Ulrich and Odd, you go to the left and head to the factory via the city. Aelita and Jeremie, since you need to be in good health when you get to the supercomputer, you take the park entrance!"
"What about you?" Aelita questioned angrily. "Do you honestly think we're going to let you die?"
"Don't worry about me!" Yumi retorted, "Right now, the main priority is stopping XANA from taking over the world... No matter what the cost." she finished somberly.
The group nearly stopped in their tracks, looking at their Asian friend with wide eyes. There was no way that she would yield her life so quickly. But the geisha warrior put on a face of brazen determination, looking more older and experienced than the group had ever seen her previously.
"Go. I'll be fine" Yumi ordered, beginning to turn around to face the onslaught. "I'll catch up to you later"
"Yumi!" Ulrich screamed, grabbing her arm and pulling her with him, like she had done a moment ago. "You can't be serious!"
"... I'm sorry Ulrich" she replied as she looked at the ground below, her voice nearly inaudible from the sound of panicked people screaming from the outskirts of the city as they saw the monstrous being clearing a path through the forest. "In case I don't come back, though... I just wanted to say..." here, her voice dropped to no more than a whisper, "I have always loved you. Always. Even though we fought and then declared that we were just friends... I guess we both knew that we were more than that, and that we were too afraid to admit how we felt to each other."
"Yumi..." Ulrich whispered, believing, and yet not quite believing what he was hearing at the same time.
"Yumi!" Aelita called, Jeremie and Odd joining in and voicing their protests.
Yumi gently pulled her arm away from his grip, smiling sadly and looking deep into her friends' eyes as she turned to each and every one of them. A small gust of wind toyed with the charms on the silver bracelet Ulrich had given her as a good luck charm earlier that day, the silver glinting in the sun's light. Time seemed to slow to a standstill as she faced all four of them, calm even in the face of death and utter destruction. She would not go down like a coward, hiding in a hole somewhere and praying that death would never find her; she would bravely stand up and roll with the punches until her very life was torn from her body. That was her motto: live to win until the light faded from her eyes, take it all and keep fighting till the day she would fall, living day by day, kicking all the way, and never, under any circumstances, giving in.
"Jeremie, I wanted to thank you for the support you've given me... Odd, for the jokes you've made in trying to cheer me up... and Aelita, thank you for being the little sister I never had."
"C'mon, please tell me you're joking!" they pleaded, now more urgent as the colossal mass of polymorphic specters was practically on top of them.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry!" she cried, breaking away and practically flying towards the monstrous mass, screaming a multitude of curses.
"Yuuuuuuuumiiiiiiiii!" Ulrich yelled, taking three steps to chase before he was restrained by Odd.
"She knows what she's doing! She's the toughest girl I've ever met! Let her go, man!" Odd grunted, assisting Jeremie and Aelita in pulling him back. "Stop, before you get yourself killed! She wouldn't have wanted it like this!"
"Shut up, Odd!" Ulrich growled angrily, his face contorting in rage. "You don't know what it's like to be in love!"
"Whoa, man" Odd put his hands up in front of his chest, hoping to pacify the irate teenager, "Believe me; I know what it's like to be in a serious relationship. I've practically spent every waking moment of my life with her, but since I've never seen her for over two years now, I've come to accept that she's never going to come back into my life ever again."
Ulrich sorrowfully looked at the direction Yumi went off to before gnashing his teeth angrily, clenching his fists, and turning away, his eyes threatening to spill tears.
"Alright..." He grunted, watching the Kolossus as it slowly turned its grotesque body away from them and presumably started to pursue Yumi. "Let's go."
[Part 3: Pray For Death]
Faster... faster... Leg up, leg down!
Breathe, Yumi, breathe!
Yumi ran through the open fields that bordered seldom-used roads. Her lungs were on fire, she was completely covered in a slick layer of sweat, and her muscles ached for relief. Rainwater and mud splashed into her boots, but she paid it no mind, all that was currently occupying her attention was buying her team enough time to get to Lyoko. The Polymorphic Kolossus didn't seem to mind chasing after her; in fact, it seemed to enjoy wearing its prey out and so that it could crush her when she was defenseless.
Yumi managed to damage it a little by tricking it into smashing into solid objects several times. However, it only seemed to emit an enraged scream after copious amounts of black droplets dripped from its torso and strangely disappeared into the dark recesses of the forest as ethereal wisps. It had turned tail and was going to chase after the other four members of the group, but Yumi managed to distract it once more with a series of powerful kicks and a flurry of punches, causing it restart the chase anew.
In her experience with fighting against polymorphic specters, they didn't seem very bright most of the time, instead relying on brute force attacks to incapacitate or even kill their victims, if they were obviously given enough time or leeway to do so. The minority of the specters were cruel and cunning, devoting their time spent on Earth to devise ways to make the Lyoko Warriors suffer as long as possible and using their senses of hearing and sight to locate their prey faster. Fortunately, XANA was most likely preoccupied with matters other matters concerning his well being- he hadn't bothered to send out specters numbering in the hundreds until today.
Closer... closer... almost... There!
She could see where the ground was completely covered in water. Practically skating on the surface of the brown muck, Yumi warily maintained her balance, keeping one eye on the monstrous being all the while.
The Kolossus didn't seem to be doing so well on the muddy ground, finding that maintaining its equilibrium was proving quite difficult due to its large size and small foot surface. Complicating matters, its feet sunk deep into the muddy ground, forcing it to spend valuable time to wrench itself out of the awkward predicament.
Yumi slowed to a stop, hyperventilating, thoroughly exhausted, and grateful for the chance to let her poor muscles overcome overexertion. Though it was a bad idea to wait for the monster to regain its footing, the teenager breathed easier and was quite happy for the hiatus, no matter how short it was.
By the time the Kolossus had cleared the swamp-like ground, its primary target was already far away, and the mud-splattered specter was thoroughly pissed off. Waves of anger emanated from its very being and it was increasing its walking speed by twofold, meaty hands reaching for the girl. Yumi watched the specter approach, mentally running calculations based on its speed and the distance it was closing between them.
Expertly executing back-flips from the clumsy hotdog-like fingers, the Japanese girl smirked as she saw the thin, black colored forms of telephone and power lines that were not too far away pass into her sight, along with a large pond formed from the heavy rains France experienced three days prior. The common sight of power lines may be insignificant to the normal person, but to Yumi, it was her salvation, and she sped toward them with glee. The Kolossus, however, paid it little mind, instead focusing most of its attention of the small human that had suddenly begun to decrease speed.
Suspicious? Yes. Worried? No.
The tunnels were poorly lit and seemed to go on for thousands of Kilometers, yet the two prodigies knew their way to their secret meeting place by heart.
Jeremie and Aelita raced through the sewers on their respective scooters, not stopping to look behind them or notice the unfamiliar, strange shadows that seemed to follow them wherever they went.
...Shadows with claws and teeth, in fact.
Pushing with all their might on their trailing legs that provided momentum, they practically flew through the confusing tunnels, their minds worrying them all the while on Yumi's fate. Who knew what had happened or what could happen to their young friend as of now? That being said, their sole focus was just to get to the factory and virtualize Aelita as soon as possible.
Though they certainly weren't the most athletic persons on the team, their legs were stiff and sore from running, and it seemed that they were going to collapse at any moment, they pressed on valiantly; determination overcoming fatigue and all thoughts of stopping for even one sixteenth of a picosecond.
Yumi sacrificed herself for them.
Yumi needed them.
The world's very existence depended on them.
50 meters... 40 meters... 35... 27... Almost there... almost there...
With another powerful swipe of its over-muscled arms, it missed killing Yumi by mere feet, but the attack wasn't a total loss. The Japanese girl yelped in terror as she felt the mighty gust of wind blow right past her, and the small claws of the Kolossus rake her back. She cried in pain as three parallel cuts formed on her lower back and started to bleed. Thinking quickly, the sixteen year old then started to dart to and fro, confusing the mass of polymorphic specters greatly; so well in fact, that it stepped right into the power lines.
Loud, crisp crackling sounds occurred as the power lines neatly snapped from the Kolossus pushing its weight onto them. Electricity coursed through its body, racing through its torso and shooting through its arms and legs, which convulsed madly. Though the blue-whitish light of electricity shocking everything it touched was blinding, and the sharp popping sounds of the electricity deafening, it was the most beautiful thing Yumi had ever seen.
Its form shimmered as the Kolossus' coding was scrambled. Letting out a tortured, gurgled screech of anguish that rung in Yumi's ears even after it had stopped, the Kolossus collapsed to its knees and then rolled into the pool of water like a puppet with its strings cut.
Copious amounts of water rose and fell to the ground like a tidal wave, sloshing around and drenching everything it touched. Bit by bit, the Kolossus started to disintegrate, its limbs and crown of branches starting to detach themselves from the head and torso with minimal force. Black, shapeless figures oozed out of the Kolossus as it pixilated before the monster itself was no more than liquid floating on top of the water.
"Yes!" Yumi cheered.
Meanwhile, Ulrich and Odd had just reached the outskirts of the city and were plowing through traffic and pedestrians alike, ignoring the multiple disapproving glares and blaring horns that were sent their way. Ulrich's hands were tightly clenched into fists, and every so often he would look back as if that action would somehow reassure him that his love interest was still alive.
"Kid in the green clothing!" barked a burly man in a business suit, angrily glaring at Ulrich's retreating back while brushing dust off of him. "Watch where you're going, punk!"
Ulrich's eye twitched as his ears picked up the man's distinctively loud voice above the normal chatter and noise of the city. Losing his best friend and love interest would be enough to make a normal person insane- getting insulted with a name he did not deserve made him snap. How dare they accuse him of being a lowlife when he was trying to rush to save billions of ungrateful, ignorant peoples' lives!
That did it. Ulrich turned around and rushed towards the man with his fists out, not caring who saw him. Odd yelped in terror when he no longer heard his friend's thudding footsteps nearby and restrained him by encircling his arms around Ulrich's waist and pulling him backwards, frantically shouting apologies to the irate businessman. The suited man snorted in derision and bent over to reach for his suitcase, eager to go on with his day. After all, his presentation was today, and he wanted a raise, especially in the economic state the world was in now, and a teenager heedlessly rushing into traffic was not going to change anything.
Ulrich glared at Odd angrily and struggled against his grip, but soon remembered Yumi's sacrifice and forcibly pushed the incident with the businessman to the back of his mind. Mumbling to himself, he quickly stuck his tongue out at the man's retreating back and blew raspberries before predictably bumping into yet another person.
Standing before him was a middle-aged woman in her mid-fifties with a scowl on her face and flaring nostrils. Her eyes were black as the night and cold as winter's snow. Her nails were long and most likely sharp enough to draw blood with a powerful swipe if she so chose to scratch people whether or not they were innocent. Her attire consisted of black and white clothing, with some bright red thrown in to highlight her shirt.
Startled at the intimidating looking woman's gaze, he stuttered out an apology before hurrying off after Odd, who had gotten out of the scene as quickly as possible. The woman smirked to herself as she followed the young German boy with her eyes before slinking back into the shadows and disappearing into a pile of Polymorphic specter goop that melted into the cement and traveled after both teenagers as a shadow.
Too preoccupied with their own troubles during the rush and panic of the day, nobody had even noticed the polymorphic specter- they only had taken note of two hooligans shoving everybody out of the way and disrupting the daily routine.
Yumi panted in relief as she gazed upon the Kolossus' body and nearly collapsed to the ground on her back from the effort it took to force herself to intake the precious Oxygen in the air. It had been a five minutes since she had defeated the monster, and though her body was toned due to XANA's constant attacks, she was still winded.
Observing her surroundings with a cursory glance, she tried to recall what she had learned from pouring over maps of various countries in Geography class, frowning when she realized that she was probably about two miles away from the factory, if not more. Slightly bending over to catch her breath, she made a move to walk back to the factory, but stopped when the ground starred to shake violently.
"No way..." she thought, fearfully turning her gaze back to the pond."It's... impossible! It's... improbable!"
The ground split in several places, large cracks running from the pond to the surroundings around it. Yumi stepped away from a particularly threatening fissure that grew in her direction. Water splashed as it ran through the gaps, followed soon after by the inky darkness. Blackness shot up from the pool of water like it was a fountain before splitting into two, smaller jets that slammed into the ground and began to reform, the blackness wavering and shifting into different colors as it solidified. The liquid polymorphic specters pooling within the cracks reversed their flow and shot towards the jets in a blink of an eye.
Stepping backwards in terror, Yumi could only gasp and look on as not only one, but two Kolossus formed right in front of her, and they were not pleased with her little stunt. Though they were exactly half the size and they could cover less distance in the same amount of time in comparison to the original, they were still, very dangerous.
One roared as loud as a horde of bellowing bulls and bashed its thick tree-trunk like arms against its chest before knuckle walking towards her, increasing its speed with every step. The ground shook and moved under its unnatural presence, but the Kolossus paid little attention to it. Tunnel vision was employed against the Lyoko Warrior who had wasted its time in eliminating the other four members of the group, and had weakened it with the electric shock. Yumi groaned and was forced to turn tail, hoping the mass of trees in the forest she fled to would help disguise her.
Once safely in the branches of a tall Oak tree, Yumi peered in between the leaves and observed as the polymorphic Kolossus smashed through the forest in frustration. ...Wait... Kolossus?
Her mind raced and her breathing hitched as she came to a realization. Scrambling to the top of the tree, she could faintly make out the dark shape of the other Kolossus' back, eyes widening as she saw it head in the direction of the factory.
'Oh no...'
Yumi screamed as a crisp, snapping sound filled the air, and she found herself clutching at the tree for dear life as the Kolossus smashed it into splinters with one swing of its mighty fist. The sensation of freefall was the last thing her mind registered before everything faded into black.
A small, metal lid lay perfectly still in the middle of an abyss of concrete- that is, until it was jostled out of its resting place. Bright sapphire eyes peeked out from under the sewer exit, narrowed in concentration and sweeping over the landscape.
Satisfied, Jeremie pushed the lid off of his hands and tossed it onto the bridge before exiting out of the dark, cramped space. A familiar pink head followed him soon afterward.
Both bolted towards the aging, ragged ropes that served as the means of transportation between the perilous distance of the factory floor and the decrepit building's entrance. Wasting no time, they each grabbed one and swung to the factory floor below, sprinting into the open elevator and slamming a fist into the button.
With a loud, wrenching, nails-on-a-chalkboard screech of metal against metal, the elevator creaked into life and slowly lowered its two passengers below sea level.
"Come on, come on" Jeremie pleaded, shifting his weight nervously; the ride was never this slow before.
Aelita took his hand in hers and allowed him to squeeze it. Something was wrong, very wrong.
As if reading both of their minds, the elevator stopped, screeching to a halt just as the two made the halfway mark to the supercomputer lab.
Aelita bit her bottom lip anxiously as her mind raced through possibilities. What could be wrong now?
Dark shadows gathered near the steel cables of the elevator, wicked smiles stretching across the blank surfaces that made up their faces. Coming to a rest, they coiled themselves around the tightly wound steel and began to rhythmically slice through them halfway before moving on to the next cables. Satisfied with their work, they melted into the wall and disappeared.
Jeremie punched a wall before recoiling and hissing loudly in pain and uttering a loud stream of obscene words that would have normally not been said. He clutched his throbbing knuckles with his other hand, shutting his eyes tightly in agony.
In what seemed like an orchestrated response to the violent motion, the elevator suddenly jostled and shook violently, stirring its two occupants into a frenzied panic. It rocked back and forth, the sound of steel striking steel clanging and banging as deafening as thunder issuing after lightning's entrance. How it worried even the steeliest of nerves, perilously leaning towards the verge of disaster and causing the most terrified shrieks and screams to be issued from our heroes' mouths before it abruptly stilled. The resulting quiet was simply unnerving.
Then all of a sudden, loud snapping sounds echoed throughout the shaft as the damaged cables gave way. Plunged into the dark depths below, the long elevator shaft echoing the horrified, panicked cries of both the daughter of the mysterious Mr. Waldo Schaeffer and the young Mr. Belpois resounded prior to the deafening crash marking the horrendous collision with the foundation below.
To be continued...
AN: I am not sure of Odd's nationality, though Code: WIKI states: "Odd's family is seemingly Norwegian and Italian".
There are a LOT of L4D references here, along with a few other references from other media.
Concept art for the Tank/Kolossus (Tankalankalossus?) is on my DA page.
Please review if you think there are things that I need to fix within this chapter.