Chapter 12

*Riiiiiing riiiiiiing ring!* The school bell noisily alerted us students that it was time to get to our next class. I grabbed my stuff and ran down the hall with the other students to make it to Science class with Mrs. Morgan.

As I passed the window I noted that the Student Hub was almost complete. It should be opening within the next few weeks if the outer appearance was any guide.

When I had reached my seat, I got my text book out and sat down. Most of the other students had done the same.

Immediately after the lesson started, Tennent tapped me from behind and asked, "Did you find out anything new, Einstein?"

"No," I whispered back. "I didn't even go over to the Factory last night."

"Oh." He sounded a little disappointed.

"I'll probably go tonight. And I needed to go anyway, whether it's about ANAX's monsters or not."

"Why is that?"

"Because I need to map the data for a trip to Sector 5. More work on the Scyphozoa," I told him.

"Ah... OK." He slid back into his seat.

Now I heard whispering going on behind me. Tennent was obviously informing Sean of this tidbit of information.

"Atoms are composed of several subatomic particles," Mrs. Morgan read from the text book. "These subatomic particles consist of protons, electrons, and neutrons. The protons-" At this point she stopped, alerted of the disruption that was Tennent and Sean conversing.

"Sean!" Mrs. Morgan said sharply. She stood with her hands akimbo like she always did when she was aggravated.

"Repeat what I just said," She ordered in an icy tone.

"Um..." Sean stumbled for an answer. After just a few seconds, he knew he couldn't delay any longer. He jabbed, "Good salads consist of croutons."

"Really?" She inquired. "Nice to know. However this is not the subject at hand."

Sean turned red. "If you paid half the attention as your cousin does, Belpois, you'd enjoy much more success."

"Yes ma'am." He muttered.

The whispering behind me ceased. After sitting through the rest of the class, it was a joy for most of us when the bell rang. The classroom dissolved instantly into a flurry of activity. Between kids talking, other kids gathering stuff, and more kids rushing for the door, it was pretty hard to catch Mrs. Morgan's last words, "Make sure you study up for this Friday. You've a quiz coming."

As Sean exited the room, I saw Rachel comment, "Y'know, Sean, if you wanted to study with me, I couldn't refuse." Sean stopped.

"You say that as if you're the star student! You're grades aren't any better than mine!" She looked away, downcast.

Sean continued out the door, wearing the expression that said he didn't want to talk about it.

Normally, I would have offered to help Sean study, but he clearly wasn't in the mood. Tennent was perfectly fine with copying my answers, and for the time being, I let it slide.

After school was over, I made tracks for the Factory. When the elevator door opened before me, ANAX greeted me, "Hey, Sammy. What's up?"

"You've been listening to Tennent talk, haven't you?" I asked dryly.

"Why yes," he said, resuming his normal dignified speech. "I find your lingo fascinating."

"Well... That's nice," I said, not really knowing what else to say.

The awkward moment soon passed, I we got down to business.

"So, ANAX," I began, starting with Sean's question. "My friends and I have noticed something strange about your monsters on Lyoko."

"What's that?"

"Well XANA's monsters show up on radar as red dots. And us Lyoko Warriors show up as green triangles. Your monsters show up as blue dots. Why do you think that is?"

"Hmm..." ANAX said thoughtfully. "I cannot think of a reason right away," he replied. "Perhaps we should take a look at the radar's coding?"

"I think we should."

So we got busy. It was about half an hour later that I pointed out the difference that occurs from human DNA versus monsters.

"In this string right here," I gestured to the appropriate code, "you can see the difference in the DNA. I think it has to do with the materialization differences, but I'm not sure. What do you think?"

"This is somewhat perplexing," ANAX analyzed. "From this coding, we can see that the radar functions on the principals of DNA detection. And yet the mapping of terrain is done differently altogether and there is no sign of how this is accomplished."

"I agree," I answered. "It seems rather odd."

So we did some more digging in this area and found that the map of Lyoko was embedded in the radar's coding. All living things were classified by their DNA. Human DNA results in a triangle. We also found that animal DNA resulted in a rectangle. All DNA fabricated on Lyoko appeared as a circle.

"So now the shape mystery is solved," I said.

"But we still don't know why the color is different. We can see that a dog and Odd Della Robbia were virtualized in the same scanner. From this, we've gathered the rectangle by separating the DNA strings. Both Odd and the dog registered as green."

"And for some reason XANA's color is red, and yours is blue," I said unnecessarily.

"The only thing I can think of is that the color blue is associated with your digital signature and the same for XANA. In the same way, orange is associated with my digital signature." My eyes flared especially bright for a few seconds.

I went on, "Maybe that's why XANA's active Towers are red, and yours are blue."

"A well thought out deduction," ANAX complemented.

Before I could bask in the praise, he continued, "But something isn't consistent."

"What's that?" I asked somewhat irritably.

"You brought up that the color orange is associated with your digital signature. Yet you appear on the radar as a green triangle, not an orange one."

This sank in for a few seconds. "Rats!" I exclaimed. "So we have nothing."

"Well, not nothing," ANAX said. "Forgive the double negative, but we do know that the type of DNA determines the shape of the radar symbol."

"That's true," I muttered.

I couldn't help but wish that we had solved our mystery, but for now the answers we had would be enough. We proceeded to work on the Scyphozoa defense program.

Unknown to us, XANA lurked on Lyoko. He didn't have access to the data displayed on the SuperComputer's screen, but thanks to the ignorance of his enemies, he could hear every word they uttered from Sammy's microphone.

"Fools," XANA thought to himself. "They know so little. They're working with an incomplete record of the SuperComputer's data!"

-Interlude from XANA's memory—

"XANA," Franz spoke into his microphone, reclined in the seat.

"Yes, master?" XANA responded instantly.

"Training time," Franz said. Activate the Tower and materialize 15 agents for me."

"Of course," XANA never questioned his maker. Deep in "Carthage," or "Sector 5," XANA went to work. He sent the proper signal and the Tower's white fog turned to blue. Within a minute, 15 blue circles had appeared on Franz's screen.

"Very good, XANA!" Franz praised. "You're getting more skilled. I think it's time we took your training to another level."

Franz materialized several "agents," (better known as "Creepers") from his screen. 10 green circles appeared opposite of XANA's 15.

"Destroy them," Franz ordered.

"I live to serve you," XANA complied.

-End Interlude—

"Such a long time ago, that was," XANA thought. It would have stayed that way forever had it not been for... NoviEk. The very mention of the name caused XANA to draw himself further into one of the few emotions he felt: Hate.

"Transfer, Brittany," I announced. "Transfer, Alyssa ... Scanner Brittany ... Scanner, Alyssa ... Virtualization!" When I hit the enter key, the magnetic wave's disassembled the girls' atoms and the patterns were stored in the SuperComputer's memory. Recognizing the DNA sequence code, the Computer materialized their Lyoko Avatars with the real Alyssa and Brittany's minds controlling them.

After performing a similar procedure for Tennent, Sean, and myself I soon arrived in the Mountain Sector of Lyoko.

"So do you know what data you're going after?" Brittany asked me. ANAX answered, "Yes, we know the code strings that we need from XANA's memory. We should be able to use this information to piece together a shield for you all."

"Thanks, ANAX," I said dryly.

"Anytime," he replied, not catching my tone.

I shrugged it off and pointed in the direction we needed to travel. "The edge of the sector is that way."

"Would you like an escort?"

Of course we did. So that's why the three SpikeSaurs appeared in the distance before we could answer.

"If you run into more problems, I've got some Ghosts and Disks ready to be materialized."

"Thanks," Sean said.

By now, Vine and the others had arrived. "Are we ready to go?" he asked.

"Whenever you are," Tennent replied. "Let's move!"

And move we did. I'd set us a reasonable distance from our destination so that we'd have ample warning if XANA sent monsters after us. We didn't want to do combat right next to the Digital Sea if it could possibly be avoided.

"Look up ahead," Shadow gestured with his muzzle.

Monsters were just beginning to form. A quick look at the LI confirmed one Slyther and 3 Bloks. Nothing we couldn't handle.

I announced the monsters to our party and we split into battle formation. The SpikeSaurs formed a short arc and we filled in the space between them. An incredibly short skirmish followed and soon all the enemies lay dead. Only Sean had lost Life Points, thanks to the claws of the Slyther.

"It is clear that XANA has his true force waiting in Sector 5 where we cannot assist you," Sky said. "I'm sorry."

"Well I guess it's time for us to get to Sector 5," I said. When we stepped onto the very edge of Lyoko, the LI prompted me to enter the password. I typed quickly on the holo-keys, "Scipio."

The white transport orb swiftly appeared and scooped us up, leaving Vine, Shadow, and Sky behind. Now the real challenge was about to begin.

As soon as the transporter let us out, Tennent stumbled comically across the arena. He moaned and groaned as he usually did, but for once he didn't say any words.

"Right," I said when he had gathered himself. "The wall is open and the timer has begun. We'd better get going."

"I'm not arguing there," Alyssa said. "The faster we get this over with the better."

"Ah, you know me, Alyssa," Tennent chimed. "Quick and slippery as a fish. XANA's got nothing on me!"

We laughed briefly, but when we entered the core room, things got serious. It was deadly quiet, and we all knew that meant we were walking into a trap.

The LI ran on auto-pilot, quickly locating the key, but it was not needed. The key lay in plain sight, maybe 10 feet off the ground.

We heard a low growl from behind us and suddenly turned around. Creepers were pouring out from a pit that had formed in the ground.

A machine hiss was heard from the other side of the room, and another one of these pits opened. More Creepers crawled out.

"We're surrounded!" Brittany exclaimed.

"Better be careful," ANAX warned. "If my assumptions are correct, Hannah will be joining you shortly."

I glanced down at my screen and saw that ANAX was right. Digital energy was converging, and it seemed likely that it was Hannah. XANA always knew when I wasn't looking at my LI, but ANAX covered for me.

"Thanks for the warning," Sean said. Just then, a purple lightning bolt ripped from the ceiling. After the supernova of light, Hannah stood in the middle of the room, wreathed in purple smoke and electricity.

"Huh," Tennent said. "That's new."

"It's good to see you all again," she said with an evil smirk. "I know what you want, and you're not getting it today."

"We'll see about that!" Sean shouted.

His mind raced furiously. Six Creepers stood on either side of them and Hannah was a mere meter away. Sean didn't know what to do. He already had the least Life Points of all the Lyoko Warriors, and there were still thirteen enemies to destroy. Normally, without ANAX's help, they could never take on that many and expect to win.

However, if they could use XANA's own toys against himself... Sean sprang into action. Any talking would give away his intentions and they'd lose the element of surprise. He would just have to hope that his friends caught on.

"Fire!" Hannah ordered as her staff materialized. Sean ran to the Creepers in front of him and drew their fire. When he was sure they'd focused on him, he bobbed and weaved his way to the other side of the Core Chamber.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sean noted that Hannah was occupied.

He was nearly the second line of Creepers when he heard someone call out, "Sean! What are you doing? We need you over here!"

As much as he wanted to, he couldn't answer the call. He was nearly finished.

Now dodging lasers from two directions, he leaped over the second line of Creepers. A bolt hit him and he fell to the ground, but the purpose was achieved. He was now using the line of Creepers as a shield from the first ones. Too slow to stop shooting in time, the Creepers ended up halving their number. All six bit the dust.

Sean pumped his fist in victory, but before he had even completed the motion, a claw of purple energy hit him. Hard.

He was thrown backwards, the electric current rushing through his Digital Envelope. He didn't know all the science behind it, but he knew his Life Point total was dropping like a rock. In just a few seconds, he hit zero and disappeared into digital dust.

Brittany and Tennent leaped and whirled around Hannah While Sammy and Alyssa defended them from the Creepers lasers. Hannah had her hands full with two swiftly moving targets, but she was still deadly accurate. Tennent dive-rolled to her side, and quicker than Brittany would have believed possible, Hannah lashed out her staff. Tennent fell away, his shoulder sparking. This was a customary sign that showed a Warrior had just taken damage.

Brittany jumped up high and threw a fan low, aiming for Hannah's feet.

Anticipating the move, Hannah skipped over the weapon, smoothly turned, and blasted Sean from afar.

"Woah!" Tennent said. He was beginning to recover. Where a half-dozen Creepers once stood, there was now nothing but air. Had Sean taken them all out? Tennent wondered. He made a mental note to ask him how he had done it.

Brittany caught her fan and rolled to the side, coming up near her adversary. She struck quick, but Hannah was quicker. She grabbed Brittany's wrist before the blow came down.

"Don't think you can stop me!" She hissed.

"Laser Arrow!" Tennent yelled. His aim was true, striking Hannah directly in the back. Tennent knew it was cowardly, but every goes in the struggle against XANA.

Hannah fell forward, but before Brittany could deliver a finishing blow, she dissolved into a giant purple spark. "SuperSpark!" Hannah's voice said, though she couldn't be seen. Brittany stumbled backwards in surprise as the spark began to fly about.

Looks like XANA's upgraded her programming," Brittany thought.

Tennent was surprised by the transformation to be sure, but his mind didn't stop working. Adrenalin worked differently on Lyoko. Sammy had explained it once, something about their bodies not being all there, scientific jargon. In any case, Tennent knew that instead of dulling the mind, like adrenalin does on earth, it increases critical thinking abilities. This was one of the many times Tennent was glad of that fact.

His eyes followed the purple light, and fired at the precise moment. Hannah materialized at the exact second Tennent hoped she would and the Arrow struck hard. With a cry of agony, Hannah went down. A poof of purple smoke later, she had vanished.

"Nice timing," Brittany congratulated him.

"Piece of cake!" He boasted.

Seeing their leader vanquished, the Creepers slunk off.

Tennent turned to Alyssa and I, "Thanks for covering us," he said.

"Don't mention it," Alyssa told him.

After hitting the key just in time, we sprinted full speed down the hallway that had opened. We rode the elevator and arrived promptly at the Celestial Dome.

Every time I walked out there it took my breath away.

With no time to waste, I swiftly opened the Interface and began to work. I had set my LI so that we would have notice of any uninvited visitors. I also read from the device and called out everyone's life point totals.

"Hey, Sammy," Tennent intoned.

"What's that?" I asked back.

"Are you forgetting something?"

"Rats!" I said closing the Interface. I entered the commands for the OverBoard, OverGlide, and the OverWing.

"Finally," Tennent muttered.

"You're welcome."

I resumed my work. The Mantas soon arrived to put up a fight and my friends took off, weaving in a defensive position.

My finger hovered over a button, and before I pressed it, ANAX called out, "Not the A string! We need the B string!"

"Sorry," I said as I made the proper adjustments.

With the help of ANAX's excellent memory, we were done in record time. Three Mantas still remained, but it hardly mattered. Closing the Interface, I was now able to navigate the LI again.

"All finished?" Brittany said pulling up next to me.

"Yup."

"Hop on," she said gesturing.

I did so, holding onto her shoulders for balance. With the LI now functioning properly, my voice echoed throughout the Dome when I said, "Tennent, Alyssa, we're all done here. I'm opening the north-most tunnel."

"Gotcha," Alyssa said.

I entered the command from the LI and Brittany zoomed north-wards. I was glad that Lyoko enhanced your sense of direction in that way, it made direction giving much easier.

We flew by a pair of Mantas and they screeched as we got away. There was nothing they could do; we were safe.

After rematerializing us, we reconvened in the Lab. I sat in my chair, reviewing the data we had collected and the rest of the group was scattered throughout the room.

"Did we get what we needed?" Tennent asked.

"We sure did," I informed him.

"Now we should be able to make a defense program against the Scyphozoa," ANAX inserted. "If it works, this will be a great step forward."

"So Sammy," Sean began. "Did you find any info on why ANAX's monsters are different?"

"Yes I did," I answered him. "I've got some pretty good guesses, but nothing definitive. For now, it's all I can get."

"Ok, shoot," he said.

I began explaining, "Essentially, the circle we see is because the monsters' DNA was created on Lyoko. The radar is coded to display these life forms as circles. Human DNA in like manner is portrayed as a triangle."

Alyssa stopped me, "Wait, monsters have DNA?"

"Yeah," I said. "It's too complicated for me to describe, especially because of the differences of our DNA, and digital DNA. So the monsters very nearly qualify as being alive by the scientific standard, which is a little strange."

"What are they missing to be able to be considered alive?" Brittany asked.

"Well they can't reproduce in any way, shape, or form," I said, "so that disqualifies them."

"So what's up with the color difference?" Sean asked.

"I really don't know. I thought for a little bit that it had something to do with digital signatures, but ANAX disproved that idea by pointing out that our radar dots' color does not coincide with our digital signature's color.

"So I think it has something to do with the way Lyoko recognizes ANAX as opposed to XANA. The radar coding doesn't help much, but it suggests that XANA is foreign for some reason, while ANAX is not."

"But that's completely backwards!" Brittany interjected. "XANA was created with Lyoko, right? And ANAX came afterwards – No offense, ANAX," she added.

"None taken."

"Like I said," I repeated, "I don't know how to explain it."

"In that case, it seems kinda wrong to call ANAX's creatures 'monsters,'" Sean said.

"Because ANAX isn't foreign to Lyoko, right?" I asked.

"Yeah," Sean told me. "It just doesn't seem right to refer to ANAX in the same way we do XANA, does it."

"You're right," I agreed.

A chorus of agreement sounded from the rest of our group as well.

"So what are you going to call them instead?" ANAX asked.

We thought about that for a few seconds, and Tennent was the first one to speak up.

"Since your monsters are so mechanical, why don't we call them 'Droids'?"

"It's a good distinction," Sean said.

"I agree," Brittany said.

"And so do I," Alyssa added.

"What do you think, ANAX?" I asked.

"Sounds good to me," he said.

And so from then on, we called ANAX's monsters, Droids.

Author's Notes: First of all, I have to say that the name of "Droids" is subject to change, as it's from Star Wars... But I really can't think of a better name. Any suggestions are welcome, leave them in the reviews please!

Also, the mysterious entity "NoviEk" has had its first mention. This is critical to the story, but I can't tell you anything more about it. You'll be seeing a whole lot concerning this, but no spoilers! Any theories are welcome!