The New Kids, ch. 8, Upgrade

By: Juria

Author's Note: (See previous chapters.)

Junior couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned until 3 in the morning, and was now wide awake and walking around the control room. "I wonder what this feeling is." he said to himself. "You've had it too?" a voice asked. Junior drew his gun and spun around, but lowered it when he saw MOMO, Chaos, and KOS-MOS all standing there. "I take it you guys are having a hard time sleeping as well?" he asked.

They all nodded their heads. "It's all the same, we feel as though an ancient darkness is reawakening." Chaos said. MOMO sighed. "Do you think it could be him?" she asked. KOS-MOS shook her head. "That's impossible, we killed him centuries ago." she said.

Suddenly, all of the power went out, then came back on. However, all of the computers had an image that was slowly materializing. When the image finally showed itself, MOMO gasped in horror, while Junior simply drew his gun. The image was that of a man, clad in a white, futuristic suit, an outfit that almost made him look like an angel. Had it not been for those sinister eyes and sadistic smile, he may have been one.

"Oh, how interesting. Is that you Rubedo?" he asked, then he looked over at MOMO and KOS-MOS. "Ah, I see Ma Pesch and the blue angel are there as well." he said, smirking at the both of them.

Junior glared at the screen. "What are you doing here Albedo?" he asked firmly. Albedo grinned. "I'm not here, I'm in a new world, and quite a lovely one at that. Tell those kids nice work." he said, a twisted smile on his face. Chaos sighed. "Great, he's in Lyoko." he said. The others looked at him with a confused look. "What's Lyoko?" MOMO asked. Chaos glared at Albedo's image. "It's a virtual world, the one where Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, Jeremie, Aelita, Kane, Edge, Michael, and Anna were given their powers. I've only heard of it." he said, a sad look on his face.

Junior turned back to Albedo, who was laughing like a maniac. "Yes, yes, yes, that's the million dollar answer, hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!" he laughed in their faces. "We won't let you stay there forever." KOS-MOS said. "Ha, like you and those foolish children have a chance in hell at stopping me." he said, smirking. "On the countrary, I think we have a good chance at kicking your ass." Yumi said. Junior and the others turned around and saw both the Lyoko fighters and the Teen Titans standing together.

Albedo glared at them, then grinned. "Well then, little girl, if you can find me, then I'm all yours." he said before fading out. "Who in the heck was that?" Robin asked. Junior sighed. "His name is Albedo, and a long time ago, he and I used to be on the same team during a war. But war does weird things to you. While I just get nightmares, Albedo was driven to death and bloodlust, so much that he thrived on it. The last time we fought him, we were able to beat him, and I was was sure that was the end. Dammit, I should have known better." he said, slamming his fist on the table. MOMO put her arm around him. "It's ok, we can beat him again." she said. "Yeah, he doesn't look so tough." Odd said.

Jeremie sighed. "Um, guys, I hate to spoil the moment, but you're forgetting one thing. We have no way to enter Lyoko." he said. The group's faces slowly turned sad, all but KOS-MOS's. "That not exactly accurate." she said, a smile on her face.

KOS-MOS lead the group to the ship's main science lab. "So, what's the big suprise?" Edge asked. KOS-MOS grinned, then kicked the doors open. "Ta da." she said. Everyone was in complete shock. The entire area was covered with coffin-like pods, and the supercomputer and the scanners were hooked up at the end. Jeremie walked over to the supercomputer and examined it. " This is unbelieveable, you hooked up the entire Lyoko system to these pods, thereby making multiple scanners. I'm really quite impressed." he said, looking the system over.

Several androids were busy making last-minute systems checks. "All systems are stable and ready to go." one of the androids said, giving KOS-MOS the thumbs up. KOS-MOS nodded her head. "Excellent." she said, then she turned to everyone in the room. "I should probably tell you right now, these scanners work a little differently from the ones on Earth." she said. "Oh yeah, and how's that?" Michael asked. "Instead of giving you pre-made weapons and costumes, these scanners either give you a look that is based on your thoughts, or, in the case of the Lyoko fighters, it gives them an upgrade, adding on new weapons, abilities, or even vehicals." she explained.

At that moment, the Lyoko fighters looked at eachother, than back at KOS-MOS. "Cool." Ulrich said. KOS-MOS motioned everyone over to the scanners. "Um, I've been too close to actually being in one of these things, so I think I'll pass." Odd said nervously. slowly backing away. Raven picked him up and moved him back over to the pod. "Just get in the damn thing." Raven said, rolling her eyes.

Jeremie looked nervously at the pod. "I tried going into Lyoko once on Earth, and I almost got lost forever." he said. "Don't worry, unlike the scanners on Earth, these can suit anyone." KOS-MOS said reassuringly. Once everyone was in, the workers started up the program while KOS-MOS stayed on the communicator. "Um, guys, I probably should have mentioned this at the start, but I haven't actually had the chance to test this yet." she said.

Before anyone could say "What?", they all felt their minds being flooded with information so fast that they had to close their eyes. When they opened their eyes, they found themselves in a vast, green forest. "Where are we?" MOMO asked. "The forest region in Lyoko." Ulrich said. The first thing everyone did was look around to see if they had changed. Aside from the throwing stars that had suddenly appeared by his side, Ulrich's look hadn't changed at all. "Let's see, if what KOS-MOS said is true, then all I have to do is think of a hoverbike and boom." he said to himself. At that moment, a jet-powered bike appeared next to Ulrich. It was silver and black, covered with thick armor and sporting twin missles at it's sides. "Whoa." was all the more he could say.

Both Yumi and Anna stared at eachother, amazed at how they almost looked the same, like Trinity from "The Matrix", except that while Anna carried two guns, Yumi carried two long sword. "Rip-off artist." Anna said. "Whatever" Yumi replied, rolling her eyes. Edge, who looked like Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, except that the yellow was black and the black was white, and Odd just looked at eachother and shook their heads while the two girls argued. "Hey, now that Ulrich's had his chance, it's my turn." Odd said. "Well, what's your new suprise?" Edge asked.

As if on cue, two jet-powered wings sprouted from his back, and two missle launchers appeared over his laser arrow launchers. "Yeah, now that's what I'm talking about." he said, grinning. Michael hadn't changed much either, except for the fact that he now carried two flaming sword instead of one, his Dragoon armor still looked the same, bright orange and black.

Aside from a simple bandanna and a few machine guns, Aelita hadn't changed at all. "Hey guys, I hate to spoil everyone's fun, but where's Jeremie?" she asked. Everyone looked around but saw no trace of him. "Jeremie, where are you?!" she shouted out of desperation. At that moment, the ground began to rumble under their feet and a HUGE black dragon's head appeared from above the trees.

"Oh great, that thing ate Jeremie." Odd said, aiming his missle launchers at the dragon's head. Suddenly, he looked closer, and stopped. "Hey, I think Jeremie's driving that thing." he shouted. "What?" everyone asked in unison, before looking at the dragon's eyes, and almost instantly noticing Jeremie inside, waving.

"Hey, do you guy's need a lift?" Jeremie asked, his voice booming from the loud-speaker. "Yeah, and I need a new set of ears, ya jerk!" Kane shouted up at him. Everyone loaded into the giant dragon, while Cyborg, Ulrich, and Robin drag-raced their vehicles into the hueg ship. "Dang, you think big, huh?" Beastboy asked, grinning. "Yeah, I figured we have no idea what we're up aganist, so I came prepared." Jeremie said.

Once everyone was ready, the giant ship lifted into the air and shot forward. "Where's this thing taking us?" Cyborg asked. "I don't know, it's in auto-pilot." Jeremie replied. Junior just shook his head. "Oh great." he muttered. After a few minutes, the ship landed. Aelita & Kane were the first to exit the ship. They got out, and looked around in shock. The area looked like an abandoned, no, a destroyed city. "Whoa, what happened here?" Micahel asked. Aelita shook her head. "I have no idea." she said sadly.

Suddenly, a familar figure jumped out from behind the rubble. "Well, well, well, hello Robin." he said. Robin glared at the man. "Slade, what in the hell happened to this place?" he asked. Slade chuckled. "I did, well, me and a few of my friends." he said, snapping his fingers. At that moment, an army of crabs, blocks, and megatanks rampaged towards them. "This is just fantastic." Ulrich said, unsheathing his swords and charging into the fray.

Everyone else followed his lead. Everyone but the Titans. Terra stood firm, her eyes locked on Slade. "What's the matter Terra, suprised to see me alive?" he asked. "Terra doesn't need you anymore, she's one of us now." Robin said. Slade smirked under his mask. "Robin, much like your friends, you're so young and nieve. I guess Terra never did tell you our little secret." he said. Cyborg's eyes focused on Slade. "What secret?" he asked.

Terra covered her ears and fell to the ground. "No, it's a lie!" she shouted. Raven walked over to her and placed her hand on Terra's shoulder. "Let me guess, Slade is your father, right?" she asked. Terra slowly nodded her head. "It's true." she said, sighing. "And now, you can cut the act, my dear. We have them right where we want them." Slade said. Tears fell from Terra's eyes. Raven looked down at her. "Traitor." she said, calmly walking away.

While Terra stayed on the ground, Slade quickly drew a gun from his side and aimed it at Terra. "And now, you've outlived your usefulness." he said, before squeezing the trigger. Terra looked up just in time to see the bullet hit her in the chest, then she fell on her back. "NO!" Beastboy shouted, quickly rushing to her side.

The other Titans ran to her, but Slade had his gun pointed at each of them. Before Slade could fire another shot, Junior shot his own bullet right down Slade's barrel, causing the gun to blow up in his hand. Meanwhile, Beastboy held Terra in his arms. "Terra, please wake up." he said.

Terra opened her eyes and slowly looked around at all of the Titans. "Beastboy?" she asked weakly. "I'm here." he said, holding her hand. "Raven?" she asked. "I'm sorry. Save your strength." Raven said, turning away from her. "Starfire?" she asked next. "Do not speak." Starfire said, tears in her eyes as well. "Cyborg?" Terra asked, breathing slowly. "Just hang in there." he said, turning away. Robin knelt down next to her. "Robin?" she asked weakly. "Just remember, you're one of us." he said.

Terra took one last look around at all of the people she had known. "I'm glad I could meet all of you." she said, a slight smile on her face. Beastboy cradled her in his arms. "Just stay with me." he said. Terra smiled at him. "I will, forever." she said. Than, Terra gasped her last breath, and died, a smile on her face.

Beastboy looked down at Terra's limp body. "Terra, terra?" he asked slowly, tears slowly forming in his eyes. Then, reality set in, and he held Terra's body close to him. "TERRA!" he screamed. Robin turn to Slade and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Slade, I knew you were evil, but this is going too far." he said. Slade laughed at him. Robin, on the other hand, wasn't laughing, and neither was anyone else. "You die this day." Starfire said, her eyes glowing. "

Wait." Beastboy said. "Huh, Beastboy?" Raven asked. Beastboy's eyes were as serious as the tone of his voice, which was unusual to say the least. "I want you guys to help the others and stop Albedo. Slade is mine." he said coldly. "Look, are you sure you don't want us to..." Cyborg started to speak before Beastboy interrupted. "NOW!" he shouted. Robin and the others nodded, then ran off to help the others, while Starfire gave him a quick "Good luck." before leaving.

Slade looked at Beastboy and laughed. "Please, Beastboy, you are no fighter, and I'm an expert martial artist, what can you possibly do?" he asked. "This." Beastboy said firmly. With that, Beastboy's body molded, twisted, and changed. When he was done, fear was the only thing left in Slade's eyes. Beastboy had morphed into a 15ft tall dragon.

(So, how's that)
To be continued in the next chapter...