A/N: It's been a long-time coming but the next update is finally here. I was able to create a new outline for this story and although it is going in an ENTIRELY different direction than the original outline, I got it done. I feel that I owe it to myself to finish this story.
If I have lost some faithful readers and reviewers because of my absence, I am very sorry- but I have made a commitment this year to finish this story. I started it and I am damn well going to finish this bad boy. That's a promise!
Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko or any of the show's characters. I do own the plot of this story, for I am its sole creator. So please, NO STEALING MY IDEAS. Please, and thank you.
"We All Falter"
The Sector 5 transporter rushed from the edge of the sector stopping just at the edge of the forest before rotating and revealing William- his sword hoisted on his back. He looked around at his new surroundings, squinting through the trees and foliage as he tried his best to spot the hiatus tower.
"Hey Jeremy, you wouldn't mind pointing me in the right direction would you?" he asked as he looked up at the yellow sky overhead.
Give me a few minutes William. In case you've forgotten, the others have gone after a possessed Sissi and Aelita while you opted to change your course of direction. It's hard to monitor both the forest and Sector Five at the same time.
William rolled his eyes before tightening his grip on the hilt of his sword and jogging down the path. There was a tower that needed investigating and for every second he wasted standing around, he wasn't going to get anywhere. Much to his relief, none of XANA's monsters were within view, but that also meant he was nowhere near the activated hiatus tower.
Just as he rounded a corner, he could hear the cry of a tarantula off in the distance.
Okay William, I've got a lock on your current position and I have the coordinates to the hiatus tower. You're heading in the right direction so far. Keep straight for about a mile then make an abrupt right. Be careful though- XANA has brought out the heavy artillery to protect the tower.
"Let me guess- a group of tarantulas and possibly a few hornets?"
You've got it.
"Don't worry Jeremy. I can handle anything that XANA sends my way."
Sure enough, when William rounded the corner, he could see three tarantulas and four hornets guarding the hiatus tower. He smirked before drawing his arms back and slicing the air in front of him with his sword, unleashing an energy wave that successfully took out two of the tarantulas. The third creature released a barbaric cry before raising its arms and firing. Williams jumped out of the way of the first two shots, but a third shot struck his shoulder. He hissed in pain before running for cover behind a grove of trees.
William, be careful. That laser just cost you twenty life points.
"Don't worry Jeremy. I won't let a few lasers intimidate me."
Just then, the hornets began firing, their lasers striking the side of the tree trunk just beside Williams face. He peered around the others side of the trunk and growled at the sight of two of the hornets approaching him. If only Odd or Yumi had come with them. They could take care of the aerial attack while he did away with the final tarantula. Even though he had a good handle of his sword, he knew the blade was too heavy to lift and fire a blade blast up into the air.
As the hornets fired again, William ran around the side of the tree and raised his sword in front of him to deflect the hornets' lasers as he ran past them towards the tower. As he passed underneath the two hornets, they about-faced and chased after him, open-firing with hopes that they could prevent him from reaching the tower. The remaining hornets and tarantula in front of him also began firing. William jumped out of the way of each shot, mentally cheering for himself as each laser missed- but his small sense of victory quickly faded as one of the hornets tailing him fired getting a direct hit to his back.
William, you're down ten life points. You only have twenty left- get out of there now.
"No Jeremy." William said through gritted teeth as he rolled out of the way of another blast and charged towards the tower a second time. "I have my suspicions about this tower and I'm not going to retreat until I know for sure what XANA's planning to do with it."
William, you are literally running a suicide mission right now. You need to retreat and go back to Sector Five to aid the others in rescuing Aelita. Once you guys manage to get her away from Sissi, she can access the mainframe computer at the edge of Sector Five to find any information on how to deactivate the hiatus towers in both the forest and the ice sectors.
"Jeremy, I'm doing this." William said as he jumped up into the air overtop one of the tarantula's lasers before landing and slicing his blade straight through the top of its head. He smirked as the monster exploded into virtual bits leaving him alone with the four hornets. Deciding against fighting the airborne monsters, he ran into the tower, just missing an onslaught of lasers.
William looked around the inside of the tower at the data screens covering the walls. He had yet to venture inside of one of Lyoko's many towers and was mesmerized by the sight.
"Okay Jeremy, I finally managed to get inside of the hiatus tower. Now, what should I do?"
Jeremy could be heard sighing before clearing his throat. Approach the center of the platform and you will be guided to the second level where the computer is located. When there, the digital mainframe will appear. I will guide you from there.
William nodded before approaching the circle in the center of the XANA symbol floor. He smirked as his body slowly began to levitate into the air, taking him to a similar platform overhead. Once he stepped foot on the new floor, a digital screen appeared out of thin air. He raised an eyebrow before placing his right hand on the screen. The word "Lyoko" appeared before several windows opened across the screen.
"Alright Jeremy, I have gained access to the mainframe."
Good job William. Now listen very carefully and do exactly as I tell you to. I am going to guide you through the research process.
Yumi revved the engine of her Over Wing as she accelerated towards the core's opening. She could see Odd and Ulrich venturing inside a mile ahead as she trailed slowly behind him. She bit her bottom lip before looking over her shoulder towards the corridor William had disappeared through just minutes ago and sighed before looking ahead.
"What if William is right about all of this?" she wondered aloud as she sifted through her thoughts over the past month since she and the others had originally shut the Super Computer down. "William was right about one thing- Ulrich has always been truthful with us, especially with me. I mean…he doesn't always come right out and say what's on his mind, but when things are important, he would always jump at the chance to tell us. Then there's his distant behavior. Even though he apologized to me for everything…I can't help but to feel hateful towards him for acting in such a way. I mean, he basically dismissed our friendship as though I was some casual acquaintance."
Yumi shook her head quickly, ridding herself of her suspicious thoughts and throwing on her game face. She had no time to develop cold feet all over William's suspicions. XANA had taken control of Sissi who had taken Aelita captive and there was no telling what he had in store for the two girls. Revving her engine another time, Yumi floored her gas pedal and sped through the entrance of the core.
Ulrich and Odd looked over their shoulders as the sound of the Over Wing's motor could be heard behind them. Ulrich smiled at the sight of Yumi hopping off her vehicle and jogging to join them.
"Where's William?" he asked suddenly. "Wasn't he with you?"
Yumi frowned and looked down at the ground. "He's…well…uh…"
"Sissi, stop!" Odd shouted suddenly, gaining both of their attention. Ulrich and Yumi looked up and gasped at the sight of Sissi on the flying manta's back levitating to the top of the core zone. Sissi smirked as she lifted Aelita from the Manta's back and tossed her carelessly onto the top platform.
Odd, Ulrich and Yumi watched in horror as Sissi leaped from the manta's back and landed on the platform right beside Aelita before grabbing an arrow from the quiver on her back and summoning her bow. She smirked down at the three warriors before notching her arrow and aiming at the core. She released one of the arrows and the warriors gasped as it struck the first layer of the core, sending a quake through the core.
"Did you see how much power that arrow had?" Odd asked, his eyes wide with fear. "I estimate that another shot from her arrow and the first protective shield layer will collapse."
"Then we have to stop her before that happens." Yumi said. "Let's go!"
Odd and Yumi took off running up the stairs, leaping every so often to skip a step. Yumi stopped running when she realized that Ulrich wasn't tailing after them. She turned around and raised an eyebrow at the sight of Ulrich standing with both of his sabers drawn as he stared up at Sissi and the core overhead.
"Ulrich, what are you waiting for?" she shouted. "Let's go, we have to protect the core!"
Odd stopped running when he heard Yumi's words and he too was puzzled at the sight of his best friend standing where they had left him moments before. When Ulrich didn't respond to Yumi, his eyes narrowed as he tried to assess the situation. It appeared as though Ulrich were waiting for something.
"Ulrich!" Yumi shouted again, her voice cracking with panic.
Slowly, Ulrich's head moved in her direction and she froze at the sadistic look in his eyes. It was so inhuman, evil, almost as though he despised her very existence. He looked away from her and back towards Sissi.
"Sissi." He said suddenly. Sissi lowered her bow and smirked as Ulrich wound his arm back before chucking his sword with an unbelievably powerful force up into the air. The sword spun several times before striking the outer shell of the core, sending a pulse through the core chamber almost like a high-leveled earthquake. Odd and Yumi were knocked off their feet and onto the ground as the core shook violently from the impact. Yumi looked up and gasped as she spied XANA's symbol flash through Ulrich's eyes.
"No..." she whispered as tears came to her eyes. "No!"
"Jeremy, we have a big problem!" Odd shouted as he looked up towards the sky. "The core of Lyoko just lost its first shield and Ulrich is the culprit. It looks like XANA has taken control of both him and Sissi. Jeremy? Hey Einstein, did you hear what I said?"
Odd looked back towards Yumi who was on all fours struggling to pull herself together. He growled angrily before leaping up the remaining stairs.
"Hey Sissi!" he shouted, gaining the girl's attention. "I hate to tell you this, really I do, but you have never looked uglier. What happened? Did you run out of concealer this morning?"
Sissi snarled as she grabbed and notched an arrow before releasing it. Odd jumped out of the way before aiming and firing two laser arrows. One struck her leg while the other hit the edge of the platform beneath her feat. She hissed in pain as her right hand wound around her ankle before shooting a glare at the purple cat man two stories below her. She stood to her feet, prepared to fire another arrow, but she was once again struck by one of Odd's in her shoulder. Odd continued to leap up the steps, not stopping to take a breath or come up with a mental strategy.
As he reached the flight below Sissi, an arrow came zipping right past him, the arrow head just barely missing his left cheek. His eyes widened and he swallowed hard before slowly looking up at the Xanified diva standing above him, her left hand holding her bow out in front of her and her right hand up in the air having just released the string and the arrow.
Recovering from his shock, Odd aimed and fired another laser arrow, but Sissi kart wheeled out of the way before going into a back handspring off the ledge of the platform, landing just in front of Odd.
Odd laughed nervously as he slowly backed away from Sissi, but she continued to close in on him, reaching behind her back with her right hand to retrieve another arrow.
"About that ugly comment earlier, I was just kidding." He said as he scratched the back of his head. "I mean, in spite of that vicious baboon look on your face and XANA's symbol pulsing in place of your pupils, you look rather lovely for a crazy psychopath."
Sissi growled angrily, dropping the arrow in her hand and striking Odd across the face with the upper limb of her bow. Odd shouted in agony as the blunt object struck him, causing him to see a momentary flash of white as he hit the floor. He groaned and shook his head to clear his swimming vision before looking up to see Sissi standing over him with a newly notched arrow on her string, her arm pulled back, prepared to fire. Odd quickly raised his arm to shoot her down with a laser arrow, but Sissi's boot stomped down on his wrist, pinning his arm to the floor. Odd yelled in pain and was thankful that he couldn't receive any superficial wounds while on Lyoko- otherwise, he was certain the impact of her foot would have snapped his wrist.
"Say goodnight kitty cat." Sissi's monotonic voice traveled through his ears.
Odd closed his eyes, prepared to accept his fate before being rematerialized back on earth- but the sound of Sissi screaming reached his ears. He opened his eyes just in time to see Sissi struck by one of Aelita's energy fields before stumbling away from Odd. Odd used his hands to help push himself off the ground acrobatically before looking up to see Aelita leaning over the platform, her arm outstretched towards him as her shoulders heaved with heavy breaths.
"Aelita!" he called out to her before running away from a recovering Sissi to aid his pixie-haired friend.
"Odd." She said with a weak smile as he reached the platform and crouched down beside her. He helped her to sit up in his arms and smiled down at her.
"Well hey there princess. You sure picked one heck of a time to play damsel in distress."
Aelita smiled, but the smile was quickly replaced with a frown as Aelita gasped in pain. "Odd, I don't know how many life points I have left. I barely have any energy."
Odd's smile disappeared and was replaced with seriousness. "We need to get you to a way tower so you can regenerate."
"There's no time." Aelita said as she pointed over the edge of the platform towards Sissi who had recovered and was running towards them. Odd growled angrily at the sight before turning his attention towards Yumi and Ulrich who had yet to move from their positions since Ulrich through his saber at the shield surrounding the core.
"XANA has taken control of both Sissi and Ulrich." Odd said, his voice heavy. "I'm starting to think that both of the hiatus towers are the cause of this mess."
"Odd, quickly. We have to get out of here." Aelita said. "If XANA is having Sissi and Ulrich attack the core it is more than likely to destroy Lyoko once again. If we stay here and they succeed, Lyoko will disappear and we'll go right along with it."
Odd's eyes widened with shock. "But, we can't just leave Aelita. Sissi and Ulrich are still under XANA's control, we have to do something to free them or they'll disappear!"
Aelita frowned. "The only way to free them is to deactivate the hiatus towers, but I already tried that with no such luck."
"So you're saying we just abandon Sissi and Ulrich- my best friend and our teammate? It's insane Aelita!"
"Odd, what choice do we have?" Aelita shouted.
Just then, Sissi appeared on the platform her hands curled into fists, her bow being held within her left as she glared at the two of them. Odd stood to his feet quickly and aimed at Sissi while Aelita did her best to hold her own and stand up.
"Odd, we have to go now." Aelita pleaded, but Odd shook his head.
He fired off a laser arrow, but Sissi stepped out of the way at lightning speed before grabbing one of her arrows and jabbing it straight through Odd's stomach. Aelita gasped in horror as Odd slowly divirtualized, leaving her on the platform alone with Sissi.
"So XANA, this was your plan all along huh?" Aelita said as she took a cautious step back while Sissi laughed. "You wanted to cause trouble in our group by using Ulrich to bring Sissi into this mess so our friendships and trust in one another would falter. Then, you had Sissi stun and kidnap me before bringing me to Lyoko so you could destroy the core and me along with it. If you succeed in wiping Lyoko out for a second time and me along with it, I won't be around to help Jeremy repair it, nor will I be around to deactivate any more towers."
"Very clever Aelita." Sissi said with a smirk as she began walking towards her. "Without you in my way, I can create as many replicas as I please so my goal of world domination will be completed. I'd like to be able to say that things have been fun- but I'd be lying. Doing away with you will be my greatest victory yet."
Yumi stared at Ulrich as he pulled his attention away from the core to focus on her. His shoulders shook with silent laughs as he took a step towards her and her eye twitched.
"You made everything so easy for me." He spoke with an evil laugh. "You fell into my trap with very little resistance. I thought you and your friends were such clever little brats- but you managed to prove me wrong. One boy was the undoing of your group's entire relationship."
Yumi clenched her fists at her sides. "Shut up…" she whispered through gritted teeth.
"I almost felt bad for you really." Ulrich said as he continued to walk up the stairs towards her. "How many times have you and your friends faced my wrath? Not once did I ever see you cry, not a single tear of anger, sadness, or hatred- but the minute Ulrich said he was bored of you, you wailed like a lost, helpless child."
"I said shut up!" Yumi shouted as she tossed both of her fans at him. Ulrich ducked as the fans flew overhead of where he was standing seconds earlier. Yumi's fans struck the wall a few feet behind him, not bothering to return to their owner. "You shut your filthy mouth XANA!"
"I knew there was something special about the bond you and this boy shared. Such chemistry…such power! I saw how protective the two of you were from the very beginning. It was only natural that I use the two of you as pawns in my scheme. You played the part beautifully my dear- but now, it's time that I close the cover of this book. The game is all over. I have won."
Yumi growled angrily as she charged towards him and swung with all her might, striking him across the face causing his head to snap violently to the right. He remained still for a moment while she stood there, her arm and fist outstretched as she breathed heavily, adrenaline racing through her veins. Suddenly, the sound of Ulrich's laughter reached her ears and her eyes widened as his kneecap met with the center of her stomach. The air was forced out of her lungs as pain seared through her abdomen. Ulrich side stepped before spinning around so he was standing behind her, and he slammed his elbow down on her back. Yumi landed like a plank of wood sprawled out on the floor as she groaned in pain. She lifted her head slowly and froze at the sight of Ulrich's saber aimed right at her.
"Oh dear Geisha…" he said with an arrogant smirk. "You were strong. If only your heart could have been stronger."
Ulrich quickly stabbed Yumi straight through her back with his saber and laughed as she was divirtualized leaving nothing but an emptied space below him.
"Now, there is no one left to stand in my way."
William's eyes scanned over the screen in front of him thoroughly as he tried to make sense of the information being displayed before him. He could only understand small portions of the information being fed between the monitor and the Super Computer- being that most of the data was in the form of mathematical equations. Just as he prepared to switch to a different window per Jeremy's instruction, the tower shook, knocking him off his feet and onto the floor. William shook his head and looked around him in shock as the data screens swimming in the current of the tower's walls blurred away in a blurb of static before becoming solid images once again. He raised an eyebrow as he slowly stood back to his feet.
"Hey Jeremy, something weird just happened."
Weird? Elaborate William.
"There was…an earthquake of some sorts. It only lasted for like a second, but all of the data screens here in the tower faded away, almost like their signal was being cut off."
That can't be good. Hold on a second while I check my monitor here in the lab.
William waited patiently for Jeremy to respond, but after a minute of waiting, the blonde-haired genius had yet to get back to him. With a sigh, William walked back to the mainframe and began sliding his hands across the screen like he had been doing for almost twenty minutes. His eyes scanned over the information when finally, he found a folder with a warning label on its outer casing. He clicked and opened the file and was shocked to learn that all of XANA's attacks were listed in the file- XANA's possession of Milly's teddy bear that almost destroyed the academy, the swarm of hornets, the zombie apocalypse, the possessed bus that almost crashed into the toxic waste dump, and even records of when he was under XANA's control for almost five months.
"Why would XANA's attacks be recorded in this mainframe?" he wondered as he continued to scroll through the opened file. Just then, a particular attack caught William's attention. "The Scipizoa was commanded to take Aelita into its grasp. XANA then had complete control of Aelita and ordered her to enter the way tower in the forest sector where she entered the code: XANA, destroying the way-tower and the entire forest sector. Aelita was relieved of XANA's control being that the tower controlling her was destroyed and she was rematerialized on earth before she could fall into the digital…sea…"
William's eyes widened as an idea slowly dawned on him. "Jeremy? Hey Jeremy!"
When Jeremy didn't answer, William leaped from the platform and down the main floor. Deciding against facing the minions outside the tower, he jumped over the edge of the platform and smiled as a feeling of weightlessness overcame him as he flowed through the digital sea before leaping out onto another platform. As he exited the new tower, he found himself just a mere mile away from the edge of the Desert Sector. He jogged over to the ledge and tapped his foot impatiently.
"Come on, come on!"
As if on cue, the transporter to sector five emerged from the digital sea, swallowing him whole and transporting him to Sector Five. As he landed in the entrance, the room spinning around him, Jeremy finally made an auditory appearance.
William, we have big trouble! It turns out you were right. XANA has managed to take control of both Sissi and Ulrich and they have already succeeded in destroying the first shield layer surrounding the core of Lyoko. Odd and Yumi have already been divirtualized but Aelita is awake and holding her own. I don't know what XANA has planned, but you'd better-
"I understand Jeremy, I need to hurry. Thankfully, the triggers are still flipped from when the others and I came through here earlier, so I don't have to worry about making my way through the maze. I'm about a minute from the edge of the sector, can you load a vehicle for me?"
"Sure thing. The Over Bike will be waiting for you when you get there."
William nodded as he rounded a corner and made his way into the main chamber of sector five. The Over Bike was just where Jeremy said it would be and he hopped onto the seat, revving the engine twice before taking off at full speed towards the core's opening.
"Jeremy, I have a plan and it's going to be pretty risky given the fact that Odd and Yumi have been divirtualized."
What plan? William, what's going on?"
"There's no time to explain Jeremy, you just have to trust me on this one. When I give the signal, you have to divirtualized me and Aelita, understood?"
There was a brief pause before Jeremy relayed that he understood. William then leaned forward on the Over Bike and made his way into the core.
The scanner doors opened and Yumi took a wobbling step out of the scanner as she took a shaky breath. She collapsed on all fours as her body shook with silent sobs. She could hear Odd groaning a few feet away and lifted her head suddenly to find him lying on his back taking deep breaths to try and calm himself.
"Damn him…" Yumi cursed, gaining Odd's attention. "Damn that XANA, damn him!"
Odd jumped as Yumi slammed her fist against the metal floor beneath them. He sat up slowly and crawled over to her as she leaned back to sit on her feet as she wrapped her arms around herself and cried. Odd had never seen her in such a state and he was worried for his older friend.
"Yumi…"
"Don't you dare tell me that everything is going to be fine when it is more than obvious that things are never going to be okay! I allowed myself to fall victim to XANA's evil schemes and look what happened? Now Aelita is all alone on Lyoko at XANA's mercy. Even worse…Ulrich and Sissi are still under his control. God…why didn't I listen to William?"
Odd raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Yumi sighed as she wiped away the tears staining her cheeks before she and Odd stood to their feet.
"William had suspicions about Ulrich's behavior and apparently, he's known something was amiss all along. The reason he didn't come help us in the core zone is because he went to investigate the hiatus tower in the forest sector. He had a feeling that the hiatus towers were responsible for both Sissi and Ulrich's behaviors…but I didn't believe him."
Odd was prepared to comfort Yumi when suddenly, a thought hit him. He grabbed Yumi's hand and tugged her towards the elevator. She asked no questions and simply followed him as he shut the elevator doors and they made their ascent to the Super Computer room. Jeremy was seated at the keyboard, his hair a disheveled mess, his glasses crooked, and a look of pure panic on his face as he shouted instructions to William through his headset.
"Jeremy, what's going on?" Yumi asked, already knowing the answer.
Jeremy looked over the top of the computer before looking back at the screen. "Aelita is trying her best to defend herself against Sissi. Ulrich is making his way up to join them so he and Sissi can finish off the core."
"I can't believe I was so careless." Yumi said, silently cursing herself as she folded her arms across her chest. "I could have divirtualized Ulrich easily, but I allowed XANA to get into my head. Now…Aelita, Ulrich, Sissi and the entire fate of Lyoko are doomed."
"Don't sound so defeated Yumi, we aren't out of the game yet." Odd said as he walked over to Jeremy and rested his arm on the back of his chair. "William is still on Lyoko."
"Yeah, but William only has twenty life points left after a run-in with a group of monsters in the forest region." Jeremy informed them as his fingers moved hurriedly across the keyboard. "There's no telling how long he'll be able to last against the two of them, especially since they are both under XANA's control. He's going to need help- but unfortunately, I can't send either of you back to Lyoko for another twelve hours, and I sincerely doubt there will be a virtual world to go to in that amount of time."
"So what do we do?" Yumi asked as she raised a hand to her mouth and bit down hard on the sleeve of her sweater.
Jeremy pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and spared the nervous teen a glance out the corner of his eye. "William said he has a plan, but he won't clue me in. I don't know what he has planned, but I hope it's enough to save both him and Aelita from Lyoko's destruction."
Odd and Yumi exchanged a glance before turning their attention back towards the monitor where a lone yellow triangle could be seen entering the core zone.
Odd sighed before crossing his fingers behind his back. "Well William…it's all up to you."
A/N: And so ends my long-awaited comeback chapter. I know that it's been a long time coming, but I hope this update satisfies some of you. This story was originally supposed to be fifteen chapters long and I am so close to meeting that goal- so I WILL finish it no matter what.
So, if you feel compelled to do so, leave me a review. If not, that's okay. I'll still be posting the next update soon. See you shortly everyone!
-KairiAngel13