Sithking Zero: Megaman, Code: Lyoko, and all materials and/or merchandise related to these shows/games/manga/stories, including Megaman Star Force, Garage Kids (and all other sequels/side stories created by their parent and affiliate companies) do not belong to me. There are a few exceptions. My portrayal of the character XANA, and the characters Cadence, the Replicons, and a few others that haven't been revealed yet- all these belong to me. If you wish to use them, please ask permission first.

Okay, you know what I'm gonna do different? I'm gonna answer a review.

Myko writes: "Excellent story my friend. I too love Code Lyko. Keep on writing. ^-^ You should include a chapter where Aelita watches as Jeremy FINALLY goes into Lyoko as a different kind of battler. Make him fight Bass, then, XANA attack. XP Just advice. lol."

… Jeremie going to Lyoko? Hmmm… not sure how that'll work out, but I'll see if I can work it in. A battle between Bass and Jeremie? Ummm… that'd last about half a second.

Tops. Bass, XANA, Forte, and Cadence are on a totally different power levels from Lyokoans (Odd, Aelita, Ulrich, and Yumi). Granted, with the upgrade, they are now able to fight on a level approximately equivalent to that of Protoman (under just a bit, actually, but not by much. And remember, they only just got this new power, so their respective skill levels limit them quite a bit.). However, Odd is stronger than them as well, and stronger than Protoman. He's kinda the in-between between the god-level Navis and the Lyokoans and Protoman.

Heart of a Warrior III:
Warrior's Redemption

Chapter 21:

XANA's Blues

SHHHHKKKKKKRRRRRRRRAAAAAANNNNNGGGG!!!!!

The two swords- one the color of glowing blood, the other of noble crimson- slammed into each other. The two combatants, inwardly gauging the other, paused for a moment, then shifted their blades to bring them back into contact with one another with an ear-shattering CLANG. The two danced around one another, slicing and stabbing, hacking and slashing, an intricate dance of death. In the eyes of a trained swordsman, it was absolutely beautiful- two grand swordsmasters in a duel of the highest, finest caliber.

To Aelita, it was nothing more than an all-out brawl, little more than a sideshow on the great plane of battle. It was a NetNavi battle, pure and simple, the largest of its type in Lyoko's ten year history. Forte, Protoman, Bass, and XANA, all locked in titanic combat with one another.

Before she could analyze the fight too closely, or even make a judgement on who was winning, green tracers crisscrossed the sky mere feet from her glowing, angelic wings.

Dropping, she turned to look at her foes, before going into a corkscrew dive as the tracers continued to follow her, black clouds of flak streaming after her in their wake. Hastily, she fired a few of her own energy fields towards the source of the AA fire, only to see- in her horror- that the bullets caught the energy field and tore it to shreds, as though it were paper before a shredder.

Pulling out of her dive low, she sped along the ground, her keen eyes glancing towards any possible enemies. And find them she did, because there were four of them, and they were possibly some of the strangest monsters she had seen on Lyoko.

They were approximately five feet tall, and were shaped like cylinders with rounded bottoms. From this bottom, four Krabe-like legs clutched at the sand of the desert, each gripping tightly in preparation for their next barrage. Their heads were disc-shaped, with a single cyclopean eye. Four spikes rose from the back of their skulls, each glittering in the non-existent sunlight. Their arms extended down almost to their knee joints, but were currently configured into deadly-looking cannons, each pointed towards the skies.

Particularly, they were pointed towards her.

As she got closer, rolling and looping to avoid the near-endless streams of lasers, she was finally able to glimpse the raised insignias on the creature's chests, and that, in and of itself, chilled her to her core almost as much as the lasers did.

It was XANA's symbol on the outside, but everything inside of the bulls-eye in the center of her eye was replaced with a circular skull. A crimson "W" made entirely of what appeared to be slash marks was positioned directly in the center of the forehead of the skull.

"What the-?" she gasped, moments before a blast of light impacted against her stomach, forcing a very painful crash-landing for the Angel of Lyoko. Finally rolling to a stop, she gazed dazedly towards the unchanging sky of the virtual reality, only to find the view blocked by a Krabe-like leg, raising in preparation for Aelita's final cut.

Rolling saved her by a mere inch, and she saw some of her pink hairs flutter to the ground. It didn't save her from a laser that slammed into her arm a moment later, though, as the Replicons swarmed around her.

"Surrender. This will only be offered once," growled the one who had tried to slice Aelita's skull, his arms morphing into twin blades.

Aelita gazed around, eyes widened in shock.

"What, you thought we were XANA's monsters? Dumb beasts? Lady, we're Replicons. We're-" the offending monster suddenly stopped speaking, as it is rather hard to communicate effectively when one is minus their entire upper torso and head.

Spinning on her heel, Aelita sprayed the area with smaller balls of energy to try to take at least some of them with her, but her struggles were to no avail.

With a loud squelching noise, the first of the creatures reduced her to three chunks of meat, then to a wire frame, then to a de-rezzing virtual construct.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Protoman and XANA matched their blades exactly to one another. Each block, jab, and blow was parried expertly by both parties, neither one stepping back, neither one retreating. Each scrap of ground, every change in elevation, each bit of debris from the Bass/Forte battle not far away was an advantage to be used, blurs of black and red streaking across the battlefield. Sparks erupted from each strike, each slice.

Had a professional swordsman been present, he would have wept at the shear beauty of the whole thing.

However, by this point, it was only the four navis that were in witness to the battle, and each had their own concerns.

"As a duly deputized, S-Ranking member of the Net Agents, nggh, I am-" he grunted as he dodged around a devastating slice that bisected the rock he was standing on, "I am authorized to place you under arrest."

"Oh, yes, big motivation. Tell me, how often does that work?"

Protoman growled at the sarcastic reply, swiping his arms and shooting shockwaves across the area. XANA, being proficient in the art of turning oneself into a cloud of smoke, did so and avoided injury.

Suddenly, Protoman hesitated as he felt the tingling connection in his mind of his personal PET being accessed.

"Protoman," intoned Chaud, "The situation has been changed."

This was enough of a distraction that Protoman had to dodge backwards, retreating for the first time.

"Hang on a second, Chaud," Grimmaced Protoman, as he teleported.

XANA's head whipped around, searching desperately for her target. "Wha…"

Suddenly, he was behind her, slashing at her vulnerable backside, then to the side, at a now-exposed plate of armor, then in front, carving a scar into her chest armor. A glowing triangle appeared, surrounding her for a moment, before an explosion knocked her off her feet and to the ground, stunned.

Protoman wasted no time contacting his netop.

"I'm sorry, Chaud, you were saying?"

"I had a talk with the target in the control room-"

"My name is Jeremie-"

"Shut up. I have a plan. Follow my lead."

Protoman nodded as battlechip data flowed through him, immediately comprehending the solution that Chaud had in mind.

The faintest of grins twitched across his mouth for a moment as XANA stumbled to her feet, wounded, tired, but still unimaginably deadly. Thusly did the crimson warrior dash forwards, accessing the first of the battlechip data that was downloaded to him: Electrosword.

XANA's armor was breached this time, data leaking out from the gash as clearly as day. While she was paralyzed from the electrical shock from the sword, Protoman activated the second set of battlechip data downloaded from his partner:

The Piledriver Program advance.

A program advance is what happens when several battlechips are used in combination with one another. For example, the battlechips "Sword-Widesword-Longsword," inserted in order, would activate the program advance "Life Sword," a blade of incredible power and length. This particular advance was the result of Chaud inserting the battlechips "GunDeSol 1-3."

Two massive pillars rose to either side of the paralyzed XANA, thrumming with power and machinery strange and bizarre. Twin emitter dishes pointed directly at the trapped program, who tried desperately to escape.

It did no good.

The pillars unleashed blasts of pure, golden sunlight, blasting the poor girl into a screaming pile of pain, dark power, and rapidly de-rezzing data.

This went on for almost thirty seconds before the pillars sank back into the desert sector, gone as if they had never existed in the first place.

Protoman re-activated his sword, approaching the agonized body of his foe, when he was knocked aside.

Forte, his purple wings fully extended, shot him a look that smoldered with barely-restrained anger. Then, wordlessly, Forte wrapped his wings around himself and the Dark Mistress of Lyoko and vanished.

A soft scraping sound made itself clear to the warrior, and he spun in place, blade singing in the air.

At least, until it was shattered against an equally swift chop of a gauntleted hand.

"We'll talk soon," smirked Bass as the white bubble of the Return to the Past enveloped them both.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"Chaud," gasped Protoman as the five Lyoko Warriors approached their lunch table, "I…"

Chaud discretely turned the volume of his PET to near-mute as the quartet stood before him.

Chaud gave a stare that would make Batman proud.

"Can I help you?"

"That depends," Jeremie asked, opening his laptop to reveal Bass, grinning from the screen.

"Can we take this somewhere more private, and can you keep a secret?"

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"Failure," hissed the soft, ancient figure in an old armchair. "Absolute failure."

From her holo-tank, XANA tried to lift an arm, croaking out, "Father…"

"You were supposed to convince the agents that the Warriors were on our side," he growled, "You were supposed to take care of things!"

"I-I…"

"AND YOU!" he snarled at Forte, in his own separate Holo-tank. "You ruined almost EVERYTHING! The only way you could have screwed up worse is if… Gah, I can't even speak to you right now. So instead," he grinned, and pressed a few keys on his armchair.

The effect was immediate. XANA began to scream, as a pain worse than any other wracked her body and her very soul. She felt as if someone was ripping tiny chunks of her out, leaving something else behind. She could barely move, she was in such pain.

Forte simply felt as though the symptoms of his Darkchip withdrawl were ramped up to the maximum. While this was not considered torture in the classic definition, it was basically withdrawl from the most addictive drug ever created by man.

Wily grinned as his servants writhed in absolute, soul-deep agony.

Finally, he withdrew his fingers from the button.

"I want a full report tomorrow, and the shipments of energy resumed by Monday. Am I clear?"

"Crystal," snapped Forte, and was rewarded by an extra five seconds of Withdrawl.

XANA nodded her head soundlessly, tears streaking her face… and her now green-flecked eyes.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"So let me get this straight…" began the dual-haired official, as he sat at the kitchen table of the Hermitage.

"You four were once five."

"Yes."

"You five fought this… XANA… who was trying to take over the world, but now works for Wily, alongside the clone of Bass-"

"Forte," growled the program.

"Who are trying to do things now, but you don't know what, or why, or even if there's an overall plan."

"Unfortunately, yes." Intoned Franz Hopper.

"To add to this confusion," continued Chaud, "Bass, the most wanted-"

"THEY KNOW." As others looked at his screen, Bass shrugged. "I see no need to list all my crimes again. I can do that myself, if need be."

"Right… well, Bass was originally designed as a defense program for this Lyoko?"

"Correct."

"And now he's back, but has been influenced by your ways and doesn't want to destroy humanity anymore."

"For all intents and purposes, no."

"… do you have any idea how weird this sounds?"

"Yes," came the simultaneous group response, to varying degrees of groans and boredom.

Chaud gazed around the room, startled at what he found. While on the outside, they were but seventh and eighth graders, these were people who were very much accustomed to fighting for not only their lives, but for the very world itself. They had eyes that were far more suited being in the heads of people far older, wiser, and more experienced than them.

He leaned back in his chair slightly.

"I believe you."

Yumi's eyebrows raised a bit.

"Why?" she asked, caution seeping into her voice.

"What you've told me matches evidence that you couldn't possibly know about, and is classified, before you ask, so you can't know it. Also, it matches certain details that Protoman told me about the fights."

Protoman nodded from his screen, still not entirely comfortable with the revelations that had taken place, but accepting them.

He spoke up at this point, "Chaud, we will have to report them to the Net Agents. Like it or not, they are still breaking the law…"

Chaud sighed as the rest of them stiffened in their seats.

"While I agree with Protoman, it would seem to me that the six of you, seven including your friend Odd, are the ones with the most experience with this incarnation of Wily and his minions."

"We could send off an e-mail to Commander Cossack and ask him about it…"

"Hold on a second!" cried Ulrich, "You can't just… blurt our secrets out!"

Franz placed a hand on Ulrich's shoulder. "Ulrich, they already know our secrets."

"All they'd be doing is making sure that their interpretation of our secrets doesn't get us locked up in jail," chimed Yumi.

Ulrich grumbled, but agreed. The other two warriors, Aelita and Jeremie, agreed as well.

"Commander Cossack," asked Bass suddenly, "Is he related to Doctor Cossack?"

"No, he isn't. He's one of the most successful deep-cover agents the Officials have, and he's my superior officer while I'm in the field here at Kadic."

Ulrich stood up at that moment, facing the boy that was in some ways, so very like him, while in others, so vastly different.

"Can you keep our secret? Can we trust you?"

Chaud grimaced.

"Unfortunately, I do need to tell others about your secret." He raised a hand to forestall questioning. "This is because if I do not, they will send someone else to replace me, and that person will either arrest you, tell them your secret anyway, or some combination of the two. I will make a recommendation that the five of you be deputized."

He shot a look at Bass. "You'll be lucky to avoid deletion, even with the extenuating circumstances surrounding your recent actions."

"Screw you."

"Just stating the facts."

Aelita hesitantly spoke up at this point.

"Is there any way to lessen his punishment?"

Chaud looked Aelita in the eye and spoke clearly.

"There's only one thing that you and your group need to concern yourselves with right now, and that's stopping Wily. If Bass was to help, that might help his case. Possibly."

--- ---- --- --- --- --- ---- ---- ----

In a darkened area of the cyberworld, a girl cried.

She cried at how her father treated her, how she was now the weakest of the three members of the group fighting the Lyoko Warriors (except Odd), how she could not defeat the Warriors, and for so many other reasons.

Replicons and monsters would stop to check up on her, their own little favors to her, their creator, but being of lesser AI's, they could not understand her pain.

She cried for a long, long time.

SITHKING ZERO: Sorry for the delay. My bad. Rushed so I could get some important stuff out.

Screw Michael Jackson! I want coverage over the death of Billy Maes!

Oh, and I avoided the Bass/Forte fight because, honestly, if you want to see it, watch DBZ and fast-forward through the filler. The fighting sequence filler, I mean. (skip the charging powers and stuff like that, just go to the energy and punching).

Bleh. Not feeling so hot…