Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko or any of it's characters, only any and all OC's.
Chapter 4: The Devil's Hand.
As Drake's eyes opened, a metal ceiling came into his blurry vision. Slowly, he sat up and looked around. He was back in the scanner room of the factory. He stood up, staff in hand, and brushed himself off, quickly walking over to the elevator.
As for the rest of the gang, they were all returned to the school, as usual. Soon after, they all met in the lunch room like they would every day. Yumi was especially surprised to see that Ulrich's arm was uncut.
They were in for a big surprise that morning though... as Drake walked in the door moments later.
He had removed his cape and left his staff behind, so he looked fairly normal, aside from his white hair.
After spotting them, he walked over and pulled up a chair to the table.
"What are you doing here?" Jeremy whispered to him.
"I cannot live in the factory. This way I'll be able to protect you if Xana attacks again." Drake whispered back.
"But your not enrolled in the school, you can't be here! If Jim catches you, we'll be found out for sure!" Ulrich whispered from across the table.
"What would you say if I told you that I-" Drake began to say but was cut off by a beeping from Jeremy's bag.
"An activated tower in the Desert sector? But everything's fine here!" Jeremy said quietly.
"By God... what in the name of Lyoko is that?" Drake said slightly louder, obviously panicked as he looked out the window.
"Holy crap!" A student from outside shouted as he ran to the city.
"Everybody get down and stay hidden if you wish not to be crushed to pieces!" Drake yelled to the whole cafeteria, gaining many awkward glances.
"If you don't believe him you can just look outside and see for yourself!" Aelita shouted at the kids as, one by one, they gazed outside and either ducked underneath a table or ran home.
"Much appreciated, creator." Drake said.
The six ran outside and stopped as they came face to face with Xana's newest pet as it emerged from the woods.
The gigantic metal beast shook the Earth with every step. A shockwave pierced through the air as it unfolded it's wings and roared with all it's might.
"A dragon! A robotic dragon! Are you freaking kidding me!" Odd yelled in shock and awe. "Who makes something like this?"
"I don't know and I don't care to find out." Drake answered.
"We have to deactivate that tower fast!" Yumi said in a panic.
"Look who's riding." Ulrich said, pointing to the head of the dragon... where Lucifer stood proudly, his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.
Drake quickly reached into his belt and pulled out a small rod. He pressed on the end and held it to the side as it extended into his staff.
"Run to the factory... I will fight Lucifer and hold off the dragon for as long as I can." Drake said, turning to face the beast.
"You can't face that thing alone!" Jeremy shouted.
"Someone has to, and I'm not going to let any of you die here today!" Drake shouted back, turning to face Jeremy.
"Who's to say that you won't die?" Jeremy shouted again.
"My life is hardly as Important as yours! I am a program, not a human!" Drake yelled back again.
"I- But-..." Jeremy stuttered, looking for a way to convince him. "...Thank you." Was all that he could muster.
At that, the five warriors ran off into the woods, leaving Drake to face the dragon and it's demon rider alone.
"Lucifer!" Drake yelled to the demon. "I am the one that you are looking for! Leave these people be!"
The Demon jumped, as if in surprise, and snapped his head in Drake's direction.
"Ah, brother!" Lucifer yelled down mockingly. "You are a fool to face me, given my position! Why protect these people? Why not use them as a distraction for me and sneak away to deactivate the tower?"
"Because I am not a coward who hides behind weapons and monsters like this!" Drake shouted loudly, making sure that he could here every word.
"Coward?" Lucifer replied angrily. "I am merely using my resources given to me by Xana! You are the one turning to children for help!"
"These 'Children' destroyed your master, and they will succeed again!"
"Hmm... You refuse to believe for one second that we will defeat you. You are very stubborn Drake!" Lucifer yelled down with a laugh.
"As you are obnoxious and ignorant!" Drake shouted back.
"...Enough of this foolishness! Prepare to die a most gruesome death, brother!" Lucifer replied once more, turning the dragon to face Drake. "Destroy him!" Lucifer jumped from the beast's head and landed softly on the ground.
The dragon roared at Drake with the intensity of a bomb. It opened its mechanical wings widely, flapping them violently, and the force of the gust nearly knocking Drake over.
The group of five finally made it to the factory, having ran all of the way. They hurried down to the computer lab, where Jeremy got off, and the rest continued down to the scanners.
"Alright guys, we have to do this fast! I don't know how long Drake can hold that thing off." Jeremy shouted as Aelita, Yumi and Odd stepped into the scanners.
Soon the three were safely on Lyoko, with Ulrich on the way. As Ulrich arrived, Aelita looked up and said "Which direction is the tower, Jeremy?"
"25 degrees east. In fact, you should be able to see it from there." Jeremy replied.
" I can't see anything." Ulrich said, looking all around him.
"Strange... well, head east just in case. Maybe you're on a hill or something." Jeremy replied again nervously.
Drake sprinted towards the two legged Dragon, quickly rolling behind a rock as the beast began to breath fire. Once the dragon stopped, he ran out as quickly as possible.
As he approached the machine, it swiped horizontally with it's wing, attempting to knock him into the school building. But as the metal wing came slicing through the air towards him, he ducked just in time for the wing to miss his head. He then jumped up and grabbed the edge of the wing. The metal was razor sharp and cut a large gash into his hands.
"Graaagh!" Drake shouted in pain as he let go of the wing and fell... landing hard on the beast's back.
As the four warriors raced toward their destination on their vehicles, still no tower came into view.
"Jeremy... are you sure we're going the right way?" Yumi asked, beginning to think that there was no tower.
"Yes! You'll be right on top of it right about... Now!" Jeremy exclaimed.
"No tower, Einstein." Odd replied
"There must be something wrong with-" Aelita began but was cut off by the sound of Odd hitting the ground.
"Odd! What happened?" Ulrich shouted to his friend.
"I think I hit something." Odd said, standing up and walking over to whatever it was that he hit. "Hold on. There's something here!" Odd shouted, knocking on the invisible surface.
"Well, It's round and hollow." Odd said. "Does that mean anything to you princess?"
"Of course Odd! It's the Tower!" Aelita exclaimed as she landed and ran over next to him.
Drake stumbled as he attempted to stand up on the beast's back, writhing in pain from his fall.
"I must admit, brother," Lucifer called up to him from the steps of the school. "I didn't think you'd last this long!"
"Underestimation is the first step to failure!" Drake tried to laugh, but found himself clutching his stomach from a broken rib.
Drake finally pulled himself together with the dragon thrashing about, with no way of getting him off of its back.
Drake took step by step towards the head of the beast, readying his staff... but stopped suddenly.
"Why not stop me?" Drake yelled down to Lucifer, who was merely watching the scene before him. "Why not save your pet and kill me?"
"Well where's the fun in that?" Lucifer replied with a maniacal laugh. "I think I'll just clean up afterwards!"
"Coward!" Drake yelled back, but The Demon merely smirked.
Drake shook his head and readied himself. He raised his staff to the air... and plunged it straight through the behemoth's head.
"Wait a second!" Yumi yelled out from above. "Are we really going to fall for this again? This has to be a trap!"
"Why would Xana put defenses around an invisible tower?" Jeremy asked mockingly.
"Something isn't fitting together right. If this is the tower, then we're fine. But what if the tower is rigged to trap Aelita? Drake did say that Xana was smarter than before." Ulrich said.
"But why would he make a trap invisible? Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?" Odd asked, leaning on the tower. "He couldn't have been counting on me running into it. I'm not that clumsy."
"Go ahead and tell yourself that, Odd." Ulrich said with a smile.
"Well, while we sit here, Drake is probably getting killed out there!" Aelita yelled.
The dragon reared his head, jerking back and forth as it attempted to dislodge the staff, along with Drake, from its skull.
Drake held fast with an iron grip, knuckles white and head throbbing.
At last, the metal beast let out a low cry... and fell hard to the ground. Drake just barely jumped off in time to roll as he hit the ground, not making the fall any better. He managed to rip his staff out off the dragon's head at the last second.
He rolled over onto his knees, coughed, and spat out blood from a cut lip. He grunted at the stinging of his cut hands, which were now bleeding terribly and staining his white clothes.
"Congratulations, brother!" Lucifer said, walking over and clapping. "You have earned yourself the right to die by my hand, instead!"
"I'm going to try."Aelita said, walking towards the tower.
"What if it's a trap!" Yumi yelled after her.
"I have to try!" Aelita retaliated, running into the tower.
"Wow!" Lucifer said, laughing as he squatted down and looked Drake, who was now on his back, right in the eye. "Who would have thought that the all powerful master of the light would end up like this, half dead in front of a school! You know... I think that I'm going to enjoy this."
Lucifer reached over and pulled out his sword. He looked at it, his face in the reflection... and quickly flicked his wrist to cut a gash in Drake's arm.
"Gaaagh!" Drake screamed as he reached over and covered the wound.
"I will not be the last! There will be more of my kind!" Drake yelled through clenched teeth.
"You thought that I was unaware of this?" Lucifer laughed, staring at his bloodstained sword. "How naive. What I do know is that the others will be weaker, they will not have been created by Franz, and will be easily crushed." He slowly cut a large gash in Drake's leg.
As Aelita entered the tower, she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the normal blue interior. She ran up to the Xana symbol on the ground and hoped with all of her heart that Drake was still alive.
Lucifer held the tip of his sword up to Drake's neck, puncturing it the slightest bit, and drawing blood.
Aelita softly landed on the higher platform and walked to the center, where a small panel was waiting for her.
As Lucifer drew his arm back to deliver a finishing slice... Drake kneed him in the chest, using his feet to flip the Demon over him, grabbing his sword as he went tumbling overhead.
Quickly, Drake stood, spun, and threw the curved blade in Lucifer's direction.
But, as he staggered from the pain of standing... Drake's aim was set off slightly... and the blade merely cut into Lucifer's arm.
Aelita watched in relief as the words...
Code: Lyoko
...appeared on the panel.
"Tower Deactivated." She whispered as the white screens began to fall around her.
As Drake looked off into the distance and saw the white light emanating from the factory, he turned towards Lucifer, who was clutching his arm and staring in hate at his counterpart.
"Enjoy your pitiful life, brother. It will end soon... I promise you." Lucifer threatened as the white light engulfed the two.
