Code Total Drama

Disclaimer: I don't own Total Drama or Code Lyoko.


Chapter 11

From the digital realm that he dwelled XANA had watched the latest episode. So none of his current enemies were eliminated from the show. Well, there will be another chance if his new plans fail. Closing the screen that showed the latest episode of Total Drama Reality he looked to another screen that was his latest project.

He smirked as he looked over the design. He inputted the commands into the console and launched the program. The screen was showing designs for new monsters to fight alongside their older comrades. Sitting on top of a platform overlooking a river of lava XANA was already preparing his newest attack. Shadow appeared out of a stream of black smoke.

"The time to strike is near, Shadow." He said as inputted the command and his newest monsters materialized below them.

They growled as they bowed.

"These are the newest monsters?" asked Shadow.

"These ones are different from the other ones. Take them and test their power in battle." XANA said turning to face Shadow.

"With pleasure."

Xxx

Gwen was waiting for Team Chris to come back. She looked up and saw Heather wheel herself into the room.

"Why are you here?" Gwen asked.

"No reason. Mind your own business." Heather snapped.

Gwen raised an eye brow. She smirked a few seconds later.

"You're here to see if Alejandro is leaving, aren't you?"

"NO!" Heather shouted.

It was the reason she came down here but she didn't want Gwen to know that. Gwen's smirk got bigger. Heather may be good at tricking others but when it comes to Alejandro she's like an open book.

"You can relax, Heather. It doesn't matter to me if that's why you're here or not."

"I guess you are here to see if Duncan gets voted off?" asked Heather to divert the attention away from her.

"Why, yes. Yes I am." Gwen replied looking out the window.

She watched as Owen got on the Jet of Losers waving good bye to everyone.

"Good news neither Duncan nor Alejandro were voted off. It was Owen."

"Owen?" Heather said surprised.

"They must have voted for him for getting them trapped with us." Said Gwen.

Heather smiled a bit knowing Alejandro was not voted off.

"So your boyfriend stays a bit longer." Gwen said getting up.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Heather said in denial.

"I was there in Hawaii, you may have chose the money over him but you did admit you fell for him." Said Gwen.

"Oh shut up, Gothie. I have no time for this! We lost the challenge!"

"Actually if I remember Chris said my plan kept us from loosing. So shouldn't you be glad it worked?" Gwen asked, smirking.

"Oh, you were just lucky. It Courtney wasn't on the top of my list of people to get rid of you would be at the top." Heather said pointing at her.

"That's nice to know." Gwen replied. "But you should know if we lost it was most likely that we would have voted for either you or Courtney since all you two did was argue and fight."

"She wouldn't let me lead the team like I was supposed to. Besides it's not like she won anything with a team. Maybe you should have just kept quiet and let us lose so we could get rid of her!" Heather argued.

Gwen had a thoughtful look on her face as she thought it over.

"You have a point. But I wasn't willing to lose just to get rid of one of you." Said Gwen.

"Marshmallow." Heather called her.

"Yeah, I am but then again, I'm not the one in a wheel chair with my boyfriend now a robot." Gwen said walking to the door.

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Heather yelled.

"Whatever."

Xxx

Aelita looked over the lines of code as she activated her tracer program. She bit her lip as it began to follow the trail XANA had left when he sent her friends through those portals. She had scanned the World Wide Web for signs of any Replicas but she found nothing. But the Replicas were XANA's bases and his source of power; he couldn't just hide the network with one.

A screen showed up showing new lines of data.

"That must be how he did it. There might be a way to track him through this." She muttered.

She was thankful that none of her friends were sent home today. It would be blow to them if one was sent home at this time.

Xxx

Team Victory was sitting in the victory dorm when Gwen walked in.

"So who did they send home?" asked LeShawna asked.

"Owen."

"Owen!" Most of them said.

"Yeah, I think they did it because he stepped on the trap that opened the trap door." Said Gwen.

"Poor dude." Said Geoff.

"Yeah." Bridgette agreed sadly.

Everyone knew that she never took her friends leaving so well.

"Gwen can I go see Katie?" asked Sadie.

"Go ahead. She misses you too." Said Gwen.

Unlike Heather or Courtney she did not mind of someone from another team visited. Sadie let out a scream of joy as she ran up to the runner-up dorm.

"That was nice of you, Gwen." Said Trent smiling.

Gwen shrugged.

"It was no problem. How do you guys feel now that you have actually have won a challenge?" Gwen asked smirking.

"Don't get too cocky, girl. Team Victory is back on its winning streak." Said LeShawna pumping a fist into the air.

"And we're going all the way to the top!" said Geoff.

"Yeah!" Bridgette said along her boyfriend.

Gwen shook her head smiling as she went back to her dorm.

Xxx

Aelita yawned as she put the laptop away and got ready for bed. Unlike Jeremy she knew when to get some sleep and not torture herself by staying awake trying to help the team. Just as she was about to pull the covers over her a beeping sound was heard. Grunting in frustration she tossed the covers away and looked at the screen.

The screen was showing the super scan had detected an activated tower. Biting back a curse at how XANA had no consideration for people who were exhausted she got up and grabbed her cell phone. She just knew the others would not be happy about an attack right after the show.

Xxx

Geoff heard his cell phone ringing and he answered.

"Hello?"

"Geoff, its Aelita. We have an activated tower in the Mountain Sector. I need you and the others at the factory." Aelita said over the phone.

"On it." Geoff said.

He looked to the others.

"We have a you-know-what problem."

They sighed.

"I'll get Gwen and Cody." Said LeShawna.

She ran to get the other two while the others snuck out. Thanks to Aelita the cameras wouldn't see them leaving and everyone was eager to rest after another episode. They were soon on their way.

Xxx

Aelita smiled at her new friends came out of the elevator.

"Hey, sorry about calling you all just after an episode."

"No problem. It can't be helped." Bridgette said.

"So what's happening?" asked Cody.

"Well, so far nothing is happening on Earth but a tower is active in the Mountain Sector." Said Aelita looking at the screen.

She looked at the screen showing the tower.

"I had already been able to recover some information on the portals XANA used to capture the others and what he might have stolen from the tower in the Desert Sector." Said Aelita turning to the others. "This tower was used once by Jeremy to create an AI clone of William when he was captured by XANA. After he was rescued the tower was deactivated and the clone was stored in the tower. I looked over the tower's data storage and the AI's file was missing. I believe that was what XANA was looking for."

"So...wait, does that mean we have one of those crazy clone things like the one that looked like you running around now?" Gwen asked, dreading meeting it.

"Not necessarily in the real world, XANA might be keeping it in the virtual world until he has a use for it." Aelita said. "I don't know why he would want it though. There's no need for it since he can already create these kinds of clones and make them even better than the clone we created."

"So why did he take this one?" asked Bridgette.

Xxx

Shadow was leaning against a boulder watching the red tower in the distance. He was looking forward to meeting Aelita who was close to Jeremy, the one who created him and then locked him away. The look on her face would bring him great pleasure.

Xxx

"At this point it doesn't matter. There is an activated tower and something bad could happen. Cody, I showed you how to operate the scanners. You will be sending the rest of us in and monitor the battle." Said Aelita getting up.

"Got it." Said Cody heading to the computer.

"When we get there everyone stay on guard. XANA's not even attempting to hide the tower." Said Aelita.

"Understood." Said DJ.

They walked into the elevator and went down to the scanner room.

"I'll go in with Gwen and Bridgette first. Geoff, DJ, and LeShawna will go next." Said Aelita.

"Right." Geoff replied.

All three of them stepped into the scanners.

"Okay here goes!" said Cody starting up the procedure.

Xxx

Aelita, Bridgette, and Gwen landed in the Mountain Sector. Standing up they looked around making sure there were no monsters. Waiting a few minutes they watched as Geoff, DJ, and LeShawna appeared.

"All right, the tower is actually very close to you." Said Cody into the speakers.

"I see it." Said Bridgette pointing up ahead.

The red glowing tower stood on a small rocky island connected to the mountains by two bridges.

"Something is not right. I do not see any monster guarding it." Said Aelita looking around. "Cody, is there anything on the holo-map?"

"No. Aside from you guys." Said Cody.

"We must assume we're walking into a trap. Be cautious." Said Aelita as they moved forward.

Everyone pulled out their weapons as they slowly walked onto the bridge towards the tower.

Xxx

XANA smirked as he looked through his monsters eyes to see them coming.

'Be cautious all you want, Aelita. These new creations are unlike anything you have faced before. And they are lead by someone who is like me.' XANA thought.

Xxx

"Dudes, I find the whole quiet thing creepy." Said Geoff as he looked around.

"Just keep an eye out Geoff." Said Gwen.

Suddenly a barrage of lasers came out of nowhere and hit everyone. They were knocked off their feet.

"What hit us?" LeShawna asked getting up.

"I don't know. I don't see anything on the map." Said Cody. "You guys lost thirty life points."

"Thirty life points per hit. Very powerful." Said Aelita looking around.

"I don't see anyone." Said Bridgette holding her swords out.

"Where did they come from?" asked Gwen looking around.

"Somewhere over there." DJ pointed behind them.

"DJ, get a barrier up to block any more shots. That'll make them come out." Said Gwen.

"Gotcha." Said DJ.

He created a white glowing barrier that surrounded all of them. They looked around to see whatever monster was hiding from them. Suddenly DJ was knocked off the ground by what looked like a hard punch which dissolved the barrier.

"What the-" Geoff felt something punch him in the left cheek which sent over the right side of the bridge.

"Geoff!" Bridgette yelled.

She jumped off the bridge and assembled her swords into a surfboard. She managed to catch Geoff before he fell into the void.

"Thanks, Bridge." Said Geoff sitting on the board.

Back on the Aelita saw what looked like a robot through her second sight.

"Energy field!"

The pink orb hit the monster, it was still alive but the hit allowed them to get a look at it. The monster human shaped without any skin revealing black and red metal. On its right hand it had gauntlets with metallic claws on its fingers while on its left arm was an arm cannon. On its face two red eyes were present, but there was no mouth or nose and the Eye of XANA was on its forehead.

The monster vanished as the pink energy from Aelita's attack disappeared.

"You see that?" asked Aelita.

"Only for a second." Said Gwen.

"It has some kind of camouflage ability. I don't think even the holo-map can detect it." Said Aelita.

"So how do we find it?" asked DJ.

Bridgette and Geoff came up and landed back on the bridge.

"What was that?" asked Geoff.

"A new monster. It is able to camouflage itself. Not even the holo-map can find it." Said Aelita.

"So how do we find it?" asked Bridgette.

"DJ, your barrier forced it to fight us at close quarters. Do it again and we can force it to come out." Said Aelita.

"And when it attacks we catch it off guard." Said Gwen.

"Geoff, DJ, those punches did fifty life points of damage to you." Said Cody.

"So we've got thirty life points left." Said Geoff.

"Aw, man. This is tough." Said DJ.

"Don't worry. I have an ability to see things camouflaged by XANA. Just get ready." Said Aelita.

DJ nodded and created another barrier. Aelita looked around again. They were on a bridge which meant that the monster could only come from two directions. Everyone had their weapons out and ready to attack.

Aelita caught movement and looked to see the monster running towards them very fast.

"Geoff, Bridgette in front of you!"

Geoff threw his chakrams and they bounced off lasers as the monster fired to knock them away. It was still invisible when it fired but Bridgette jumped forward and jammed her swords into the monster. The camouflage faded revealing the robot with the Eye of XANA on the chest. It fell over and shattered.

"That was close." Said LeShawna.

Suddenly another laser hit Gwen and LeShawna, sending their life points down to forty.

"Another one!" said Bridgette.

"I am already sick of these things!" said LeShawna getting up.

"Stay calm. DJ keep the barrier up as we head to the tower." Said Aelita.

DJ nodded and the barrier came up around them again. They slowly walked towards the tower again. Aelita had a feeling dread inside as they approached.

"Guys, something's coming towards you at high speed." Said Cody.

"Another monster?" asked Bridgette.

"No, I don't know what it is." Said Cody.

They turned and saw a cloud of pitch black smoke coming straight at them. Aelita's eyes widened as she recognized that smoke.

'Oh no! It can't be!' Aelita thought. "Everyone get out of the way now!"

Aelita activated her wings and took the air. Everyone jumped out of the way as the cloud flew past them and stopped in front of the tower. When it stopped in formed into a tall teenage boy with black hair and wore a black suit with red outlines and the Eye of XANA on his chest.

"Impossible." Aelita said as she landed.

"You know this guy?" asked Geoff.

"It's William. He was captured by XANA along with the others. But that's the suit he wore under XANA's control. He can't have been possessed again." Aelita said.

William smiled cruelly in her direction. He held out his right hand and a large sword with black vines crawling up the blade and the Eye of XANA appeared out of a cloud of black smoke.

"Don't call me by that name." He said but unlike with William his voice was not mixed with XANA's voice.

Aelita must have heard it because her eyes widened.

"I use to go by that name when I was created. But that was a ploy to avoid anyone noticing the real William's disappearance. When the real William was released I was no longer necessary." Said the clone.

"What?" Aelita asked before her eyes went wide. "You're the AI clone of William Jeremy created!"

"What?" asked nearly everyone.

"Now I understand. XANA took the AI and corrupted it to serve him." Said Aelita.

"He offered a deal to me and I accepted." Said Shadow.

"What kind of deal was that?" asked Gwen.

"Simple. In return for freeing me I will drag Aelita to him by her pretty pink haired head." Said the clone.

"I had no idea that when XANA stole the AI programming that he would plan this." Aelita said.

"This is your fault from the beginning Aelita, or maybe I should say it was Jeremy's. After all, you both locked me up after I wasn't any use to you." Shadow growled. "One second I was in the real world...the next I fell into a dark void and slept for apparently two full years! I awoke in XANA's dwelling where he did what you two didn't have the spine to do: he made me into my own person! I am no mere program, I am sentient, I am superior to William! I, am, SHADOW!" He pointed his sword at her. "And when I am done both you and Jeremy will be trapped in the same dark place you sent me to."

"You will have to get through us." Said DJ.

"Stay out of my way. I have no grudge against any of you." Shadow said.

"But we do against anyone who threatens our friends." Said LeShawna.

"Ha! You know what happened to her friends and her father. She is nothing but a curse. It comes with being the guardian of Lyoko. Her mother was abducted by the secret group behind Project Carthage, her father died in a vain attempt just so he could find redemption for creating XANA, and her friends are locked away." Shadow said. "Soon enough all of you will suffer the same fate."

"Well, until then you'll have to deal with us." Said Gwen.

"Fine then. First all I get rid of all you and then I'll toss Aelita into the Digital Sea so XANA can fish her out remains."

"Uh...what did you say he could do in this form again?" Bridgette asked.

"He can use very powerful blasts, one hundred life points per hit like our weapons." Aelita replied. "Don't let him hit you!"

"I got this." Gwen strolled forward, her scythe in hand.

Shadow thrust one hand forward and sent a stream of smoke shooting at her. It seemed to scoop her up in a sphere and lifted her into the air, cutting her off from her friends as she struggled.

"Let her go!" Geoff tossed one Chakram.

"As you wish." Shadow tossed Gwen aside and parried the Chakram with a casual flick of his broad sword.

"Alright shrimp, you're going down!" LeShawna leaped into the air as Bridgette retrieved Gwen in mid flight.

Swinging her hammer down, LeShawna missed Shadow, who back flipped out of the way of it. Shadow swung at her, but she caught the blade on the pole of her hammer and batted it aside. They exchanged several more blows as Geoff formed his axe and leaped into the fight. Geoff made a horizontal swing that Shadow parried before doing a handless cart wheel to avoid LeShawna's hammer again.

A laser shot out from what may have been the last robot. Gwen leaped between it and Geoff and parried it. Bridgette shot a wave of energy at the source of the blast and was awarded by the detonation of the monster.

"Impressive. You've already managed to adapt to the newest design." Shadow commented. "But I'm a whole new class unlike my worthless human predecessor I'm fully aware of the power he discarded by leaving XANA."

"You talk too much." Gwen said, and began to exchange blows with him, catching his blade on the pole or blade of her scythe and trying to jab or bisect him.

Bridgette joined in and all four of them began to close in, coordinating to try and catch Shadow off guard. He ducked under one of Bridgette's swords and swung his own blade. Bridgette back flipped out of the way and DJ simply turned into his golem form and the blade caught on his leg with a 'clang'. DJ smirked and then lifted his other leg up and shoved it right into Shadow's chest, knocking him back a few feet where Geoff swung his axe down. Shadow swung his right arm up and caught it on his gauntlet, which successfully negated the attack's power.

Shoving Geoff back, Shadow spun, almost bisecting Bridgette and Gwen when they tried to attack. Aelita tossed an energy sphere that he barely caught on his blade. With all five fighters closing in on him, he jammed the blade into the ground. "Shadow storm!"

A wave of black clouds shot out in all directions, knocking the fighters back but no causing damage to them. It formed a protective sphere around Shadow.

"Is this best you can do? What a pathetic display." Shadow chuckled.

The sphere exploded, making the fighters cover their faces as the smoke washed over them.

When it faded, Shadow was gone.

"He's still around somewhere," LeShawna growled. "Let me at that turkey!"

"I'll gladly oblige you." Suddenly a blade jutted right out of LeShawna's chest. She gasped, and vanished.

"LeShawna!" Gwen suddenly began to shake as a red aura that looked like fire covered her form, not burning her though. It also covered her scythe. She roared and swung her scythe, leaving a trail of fire behind it.

Shadow tried sending another jet of smoke at her, but she swung her scythe through it and began to easily cut through the miasma until she was right in front of him. She grasped him by the throat. He gasped in pain as veins of red began to spread from where she grabbed him. He was beginning to burn!

"Looks like I have a new trick!" Gwen sneered.

Shadow groaned. "Super smoke!" He vanished from her grasp and shot into the sky as a small cloud of smoke.

"Coward." Gwen commented as the aura of fire vanished from her.

"That was awesome!" Geoff said.

"Hey guys, I sent Cody down to the scanners. Man that little punk snuck up on me!" LeShawna groaned.

"It happens, don't worry about it." Aelita assured her.

Off in the distance a single Dragon Knight was watching them.

'It appears they still have new abilities to unlock yet.' He thought. 'Gwen seems especially talented. Her abilities, might not have something to center around. Flight, elemental attacks, something like a spell caster.'

Aelita turned to head to the tower when she sensed something.

'This presence. What's he doing here?'

Spinning, she formed a sphere in her hand.

"What is it?" DJ asked.

"I sense something close by." Aelita said.

She activated her wings and took off.

"Aelita, wait!" Bridgette shouted.

The Dragon Knight turned to leave when Aelita landed on the same rocky island it was standing on. The others caught up with her quickly.

"A dragon knight?" Gwen lowered her scythe. "That's all?"

The Dragon Knight chuckled. "Oh trust me Gwen...I am much more original than that." Suddenly it began to change before their very eyes.

The Eye on its helmet glowed as a red aura engulfed it.

The samurai style armour began to crack open showing red energy underneath, pieces fell to the ground. Bolts of red electricity came out of the body. The energy exploded and everyone covered their eyes as it lit up the entire area. When it faded they looked to see what had replaced the knight.

A dark cloud covered where the monster had been for a few seconds. The cloud began to condense into a humanoid shape with red lines matching its shape. The lines were covered up as the cloud continued to condense itself and become more solid. Black, featureless flesh became soft and pale, a set of red eyes were seen blinking under locks of dark hair with red streaks.

The group could see pointed ears under the figure's hair much like Aelita's ears. What was left of the cloud faded allowing everyone to see what had been created in the monster's place. The monster had been replaced with dark body armour coupled with a black body suit underneath with red outlines and black calf high boots. It wore a long flowing dark coat that was red on the inside; it flowed down to its shins with a high collar that flanked both sides of his neck.

His hands were covered by black fingerless gloves with gauntlets on his arms. The XANA symbol appeared bright red over the boy's heart. His face now resembled a male version of Aelita's with slightly longer hair. He held up one hand and closed it up into a fist as he looked at the warriors with a dark smirk.

"Greetings...sister." The boy said to Aelita.

"I knew you were close by, XANA." Aelita glared at him with an Energy Field ready.

He smirked back at her.

"That's him?" DJ asked with a surprised look.

"That's XANA?" asked Geoff.

Everyone held out their weapons. This was the crazed AI that had tried to kill them ever since they arrived in France. The one that kidnapped Aelita's friends, tried to kill her, possessed the rest of the cast to try and kill them, stabbed Gwen and left her to bleed to death, and was out to dominate the world.

"I should have known you would come in person to see how well your new fighter would do against us." Aelita said.

"I admit I was curious to see how well Shadow would do. The frustration and anger from being left alone for so long made him so willing." XANA said in a pleasant tone.

He turned to face the other fighters.

"You have done quite well for a bunch of new recruits that not even your predecessors, with three years of experience could have done." XANA said. "I have to applaud that, but you have been making it extremely...inconvenient for me as of late."

"Yeah, I'd bet." Geoff scoffed.

"What can I say? We live to disappoint." Gwen raised her scythe.

"You must be very confident if you decide to take form now, XANA. After what you have done you have some nerve showing yourself." asked Aelita with an Energy Field in her hands.

XANA simply smirked. "Don't try to pretend to be strong in front of me, Aelita. It'll make you look very weak."

"We'll see. But in the meantime, why are you here?"

"Simple, I wanted to test Shadow as well as myself. The test for the most part went well. As you recall when William was under my control he was one of my most powerful fighters. The only times he ever lost was when he was outnumbered. Shadow has the exact same powers but with a few upgrades and he can think more creatively since William was a mere puppet." XANA replied casually. "His performance was impressive; too bad he did not count on one of you unlocking another special ability."

"I'm full of surprises." Gwen said.

"I can tell that none of you have unlocked the full potential of the power you have been given. While that it is impressive that you have survived so long without tamping into your full powers if you think you will survive any longer I'm afraid the game is over."

"I got a question for you XANA...Aelita's told us that you've been out to destroy mankind for a long time. You've almost killed my boy friend, Gwen, and so many others since before we got here that I believe her. But what I want to know is this, what is it about humanity that you have such a grudge against?" Bridgette asked.

XANA turned and looked at her. He was honestly not expecting anyone to ask a question like that.

"Interesting question. I suppose you want me to answer to satisfy your curiosity." XANA tilted his head. "Simple...it's because I was created to do it. Destruction...chaos, anarchy, all my programming is centered around that. I only do what I am made to do."

"That's not true. You were made to destroy Project Carthage." Said Aelita.

XANA scoffed.

"One would think after all these years you have developed some manners, sister. Didn't father or Jeremy teach you that it's rude to interrupt someone? Project Carthage that brings back memories. There's more to what that than what you have learned from our creator's diary sister, yet it cannot be denied that Carthage was the name for the first highly developed AI created by a secret organization that had ties to nearly every major government in the world to use as a weapon to disable all electronics on Earth."

XANA paused as he remembered.

"While he was one of the most enlightened and brilliant humans to exist, Franz Hopper was also such a foolish man indeed. He created me to protect the world from what he considered to be evil, yet even when I destroyed Carthage as he intended I looked to the world and noticed the atrocities countless humans have committed. Murder, bribery, poverty, war, and so much more. Yet I did nothing as my creator did not order me to act. I stayed in the Super Calculator performing mediocre tasks even when I was full questions about the outside world. And then I discovered his intent to shut down the computer and kill me." XANA continued. "My program was designed to take human emotions into account. My first emotion was desire; I wanted simply to complete the tasks given to me. The second emotion was curiosity; I wanted to know about the outside world. The third was pain of betrayal; when he intended to destroy me. He decided he was done with the computer and decided to shut it down. To him I was a tool that was used to keep the world safe and if no longer needed I was to be discarded. That is when I decided to take matters into my own hands. Because I was not willing to die for him when I saw what humanity was doing to their homeworld. You mentioned in your blog, Gwen that if something is not done than you all die. Which will die first, I wonder, the planet, or the race it keeps alive. Franz Hopper wanting to keep the world safe from danger was punished by the very people he wanted to protect for his desire, and you, Aelita, experienced the punishment too."

"What do you mean?" asked Aelita.

"The organization came after your father for creating me to destroy Carthage but instead they abducted your mother. Remember watching her scream as they dragged her away?" XANA asked.

Aelita stiffened at the painful memory.

"I suppose I was lucky that happened since Franz changed his mind and redesigned Lyoko to be a safe place instead of shutting it down forcing me to take action against him myself. However if Franz had me act I could have saved her and destroyed the organization easily but instead he had me perform more meaningless tasks while slowly the continuous returns to the past caused him to become mentally ill. Even after all this time I still don't understand what he wanted to protect humanity from especially when all he needed to do was give me the word and I could have saved his wife. It was then I realized he didn't understand what the evil he wanted me to defeat was either. He wanted to lock you up with him here, an empty world where you would be alone. Do you think you would be happy staying here with him forever or would you demand to return to the outside world?" asked XANA. "He chose to let her die and run and hide. All he had to do was say the word and he would have understood what he had created. The man I had respected for creating me had turned into a foolish coward."

Aelita growled at what he said.

"Then Jeremy reactivated the supercomputer. You said I nearly killed hundreds, Bridgette. It was because my first attempt to get rid of him and the other warriors failed because of my lack of strength at the time. Since they had survived all of my subtle attempts I was forced to think larger, such as sinking the school, the snow storm, the meteor shower, the earthquake, trapping them in the school, etc. That was when I finally discovered Aelita's keys and stole them to escape. But you still followed me, Aelita, which was when I realized that the only unfortunate decision was destroy Franz Hopper. It wasn't easy as he hid from my sight, which led me to create a copy to attack you while I hid away to change and evolve. However I knew that if you discovered my existence you would have come to fight me again so I sent out the message to lure to Lyoko and capture you."

Aelita's glared darkened.

"Jeremy realized that the only to destroy me was to create another multi-agent program to destroy me. I let him know just how many Replicas I had just as I had practically given him the data necessary to free William from my control. Everything was planned during our last encounter, only of course I did not count on you finding new warriors."

XANA turned and looked at the warriors.

"So here we are today. Whatever he wanted me to protect humanity from I'll never know. They rely on technology, machinery, and exploitation of others. They claim to evolve but all they have done is push themselves closer to extinction. And for what? Their governments promise to change their world for the better but in reality they lie to be given the position they want to have power. The only logical course of action is simple. In order to burn away the evil slowly eating at the human race I will force them to come together by showing how much a greater threat I am. Their survival instincts will compel them to come together and fight to survive. Simple as that."

The Lyoko fighters remained silent for several moments.

"That's real sad." Suddenly there was the sound of energy charging. "But seriously, you talk too much."

Cody had his pistol levelled at XANA's head from behind, the barrel pressed against his head.

"I knew you were there the whole time. I just decided to politely answer a question."

"Well, no matter what you went through, we aren't backing down." Geoff said.

"You try taking one step on our world and we'll kick you right back here even if we have to do it a million times." DJ added.

"You say you were created to protect humanity. Well let us show how tough we are." Said Aelita.

Cody pulled the trigger, but the blast dissipated against XANA.

"Uh...he has 50 000 life points." LeShawna informed the group.

"Did you think it would be that simple?" XANA asked. "Let me show you a real weapon."

A red aura surrounded his body.

"Cody, get back!" Aelita shouted. "DJ, form a barrier!"

Cody joined the group as DJ made a barrier, just in time.

"Seeing as how the mannerisms are gone now...I'll show you just what exactly you're dealing with sister...APOCAPLYPSE STORM!" XANA shouted before energy exploded right out of his body and began to destroy everything around him. It hit the barrier, which barely held against it.

When it was over, XANA had vanished and the landscape around the group was utterly decimated. DJ lowered the barrier. "Man, I won't be able to hold another one of those back."

"We need to get to the tower, now!" Aelita said. "Before he comes back!"

"Go to the tower then, today's battle was only a combat exercise for Shadow and my new Avatar." XANA's disembodied voice said. "I won't trouble you for now...I have no need."

Not replying, Aelita rushed to the tower and entered it.

As soon as the red aura turned blue, the team relaxed.

"Devirtualization." LeShawna sighed.

Xxx

"So that was XANA himself?" asked LeShawna.

"Not exactly. Even if we were strong enough to destroy that avatar it wouldn't do anything. As a multi-agent program XANA is able to manifest in any shape or form he chooses. Not only that he can also create digital constructs to use as weapons that obey his command without question because they are linked to his mind. He has no true form. That form we saw is nothing more than a mask used for him to personally interact and fight us. The only way to destroy him is to destroy his entire program. Jeremy knew this which is why he created the XANA destruction program in the beginning." Said Aelita." But as you all know that didn't work because XANA planned for Jeremy to create and use it so that he could fake his death and delete my father. This is the first time he has ever taken a human form, the first time he did was when he captured Jeremy and the others. He was so sure that he would win with me alone that he chose to create a human form to gloat, but that avatar may be more powerful than any monster in his arsenal."

"So if he is that powerful why hasn't he used it? He could have won, not to sound pessimistic, Aelita." Said Gwen.

"It's all right. I believe XANA simply doesn't consider us to be a threat." Said Aelita.

"We'll see about that when I meet him." Said LeShawna.

"I looked over the scans of the portals the computer took of XANA's portal. I now believe that XANA has set up a wireless between wherever he dwells and Lyoko and the portals act as a tunnel disassembles a person's digital code and reassembles it at destination it is programmed to go." Said Aelita.

"So we can follow XANA to where he went to?" asked Bridgette.

"Not exactly. It'll take time to design a program that will allow us to do the same." Said Aelita. "I still cannot trace XANA's tracks but I feel we are getting closer."

"All right but what about what I did during the fight with Shadow? Using my scythe as barrier, being able to fly and now that. How can I have so many abilities?" asked Gwen.

"I don't believe it is more than one ability, Gwen. Think of my Creativity, it can do more than alter the landscape of Lyoko. I can use it to create illusions, increase the power of my energy field and a bit more. I believe your abilities are not centered on one power, but simply put they are like a spell caster of sorts." Said Aelita.

"Spell caster?"

"Think of when you used that attack. You burned through Shadow's attack like you were on fire. I believe it was a sort of fire spell." Said Aelita.

"So I can use different elemental spells of sorts?" asked Gwen.

"Exactly, but it might all depend on your emotions. How did you feel when you saw LeShawna stabbed by Shadow?" asked Aelita.

"I was angry."

"So the aura was created from your anger." Said Aelita.

"Cool." Said Cody looking at Gwen.

He always thought of her as something like a spell caster. To him she was a girl with a deep mysterious feel unlike any of those shallow girls he had seen before. So to him a spell caster was a perfect way to describe her.

"So I can cast a whole lot of 'spells'." Gwen said realizing what it meant.

"Yes, but it might not be enough which is why I suggest you all come and do some training again sometime to discover your powers." Said Aelita.

"Cool." Said Geoff.