Chapter 21: The Fight on Two Fronts
"Okay, ready?" Ginny asked, looking around at Taelia, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and Sissi. They all nodded and grabbed her hand tightly. "Good. Now just don't throw up on me." She turned on her heel, feeling the ever-so-familiar tight vacuum collapse on her. The green colors of the computer lab swirled away, only to be immediately replaced by the twinkling lights of Hogsmeade. She sure had missed it.
"Oh gosh," Odd groaned, collapsing to the ground. "I'm never complaining about the ride to Sector 5 ever again!"
Ginny smiled, fondly remembering her first time Disapparating. She looked around for any sign of Aelita. Something beyond the edge of the village caught her attention. It looked like a very large dome of electric charges. She was able to make out the sounds of roars, yells, and explosions in that direction, as well as very sinister laughter.
"She's over there!" she yelled, pointing at the dome.
"And it looks like X.A.N.A. got to her before we did," Taelia observed before running at a break-neck pace. The rest shortly followed suit. Upon reaching its edge, they found that the electricity charges prevented them from seeing what was going on inside. Odd held out his hand against it.
"It doesn't hurt," he reported. "But I can't push through, no matter how hard I try." The others, including Ginny, also tried but to no avail. Taelia tried and found that her hand went through with ease.
"How did you –?" Ulrich began to ask.
"Must be because she's related to Aelita," Jeremie informed them through Yumi. "It seems that the shield is designed to allow only Aelita, and subsequently anyone directly related to her, inside. But it only works one-way. Once you're in, you can't get back out."
"Odd, give me your hand," Taelia urged. He did as instructed. Standing so that the dome split her in half, Taelia pulled Odd's arm towards the edge of the dome. Just like her arm, Odd's went straight through. The rest of Odd's body followed suit.
"The rest of you, now!" Taelia ordered loudly.
"I wish you guys could see this," Odd called back to the others.
"See what?" Ulrich asked as Taelia pulled Sissi through.
"Give me a sec," Ginny said. She waved her wand in the air, and almost instantly the electricity charges began disappearing. Ulrich looked at her. "Turned them invisible," she explained, shrugging slightly.
"You can do that?" Ulrich asked.
"I just did, so yes," Ginny replied blankly before turning to look at the scene before her. Dozens of these strange creatures were shooting red lasers at Aelita. Ginny couldn't exactly tell from where those lasers were coming out but really wasn't all that curious to find out.
"Ginny," Taelia said, pulling Yumi through the shield. "Jeremie is going to relay William's exact location through me. Ready?" Ginny nodded nervously, listened to William's location, and spun on her foot.
"Aaugh!" Aelita yelled as a Creeper hit her squarely in the back. She turned and set it on fire. It roared for a few seconds before exploding.
X.A.N.A.'s laughs began echoing louder as the monsters closed in on her. But, suddenly and strangely, the laughing stopped. The monsters also stopped advancing and looked up towards the sky. Confused, Aelita did the same. To her surprise, the electric charges began disappearing. Then, from out of nowhere, purple arrows, two yellow fans, purple Energy Fields, and black cables flew toward the monsters. Said monsters, completely unprepared for the sudden barrage, roared before exploding.
"No!" she heard X.A.N.A. yell in anger. Turning, Aelita saw Taelia, Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Sissi run to her side.
"You didn't honestly think you'd be handling him alone, did you?" Taelia asked her. Thunder roared as more monsters appeared.
"Let's do this," Aelita responded, grinning. Raising her wand, she yelled, "Confringo!" The ball of fire flew at the center of the monsters. Those that weren't immediately destroyed scurried away from the flames. The six Lyoko Warriors charged forward, yelling out their own personal battle cries, Odd's "Have no fear, Odd the Magnificent is here!" being the loudest.
The front door to the Shrieking Shack opened with a bang as Harry, Ron, and Hermione flew through it. They approached the center of the village, scanning the area for Aelita.
"Where is she?" Ron wondered aloud.
"She should be here by now," Hermione said. Thunder cracked loudly over their heads, but there were no clouds in the sky. "Did you hear that?"
"How could we not?" Harry responded, shaking his head.
"Not that," Hermione said. They were all silent for a second until Harry heard an explosion in the distance.
"You mean that?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," Hermione replied, flying off in the direction of the explosion.
"Aren't we supposed to fly away from explosions?" Ron asked before following suit. Aelita's yell was heard just before another explosion. "Never mind." They flew to the other end of the village, and Harry saw dozens of strange beasts shooting lasers at Aelita and five other people.
"What in Merlin's name is–?" Hermione began.
"I see that purple cat!" Ron yelled. "And the samurai!"
"They're fighting with Aelita," Harry observed. "Those must be Aelita's friends." They flew closer but suddenly crashed into an invisible barrier. Wasting no time at all, Harry sent Bombarda at the barrier. The spell hit and sent out a visible ripple. They watched the ripple as it flew around the battle happening in front of them.
"This barrier has them surrounded," Hermione concluded.
"Hang on," Ron said, pointing at the edge of the fray. "Who's that?" Harry and Hermione followed his gaze and saw a man standing with his arms crossed and scowling at what was taking place.
"He was in King's Cross," Harry said, recognizing the man. "Aelita seemed to be afraid of him. He had gotten nervous when the Elder Wand had twitched in my pocket." That's when it hit him. "Wait, where's the Elder Wand?"
"Relax," Ron quickly said. "It's on your bed back in Gryffindor Tower."
"Great," Harry grumbled. "The one time I want to have it, I leave it behind."
"Why do you need it?" Hermione asked.
"To bring this barrier down," Harry answered. "Do you honestly think that I want to just sit here and watch on the sidelines while our friend could be killed?"
"Friend?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, friend," Harry confessed. "It was wrong of me to jump to conclusions like that. You happy?"
Before Hermione could reply, Harry saw the cat-thing run towards the barrier, not seeming to notice them. A large red creature with four crab-like legs, lasers shooting out of its eyes, chased him. The cat then climbed up the wall of the barrier and flipped backwards over the creature, shooting purple arrows at its back. The arrows hit but didn't seem to do anything. The creature turned around to face the cat and, in doing so, stuck its leg through the barrier.
"There!" Harry shouted. He raised his wand, but Hermione acted first. A dark-purple spark shot out of her wand and hit the creature's leg, which began disintegrating on impact. The disintegration traveled all the way up to the main body of the creature, at which point the creature started to make a noise similar to a roar. The three of them and the cat watched as the creature quivered until it had completely disintegrated. The cat looked at them, smiled, and gave them a thumbs-up. He turned as stranger creatures headed towards him.
William and Ginny crept through the laboratory, keeping an eye out for any strange activity. Ben stayed with the Hring on the replica in case X.A.N.A. would try to disconnect William.
"Take the hall on your left," Jeremie told William, who pointed so Ginny knew as well.
"Now he is going to tell us if we're going to encounter those cider-tick spiders, right?" she asked in a whisper.
"Cybernetic spiders. And he doesn't have the capabilities to do so," William whispered back, trying his best not to laugh. "The only way for us to know where they are is by -" They rounded a corner, only to see nearly thirty of the cybernetic spiders. "- seeing them." The spiders turned to face them.
"Arania Exumai," Ginny said quickly, pointing her stick at them. A bright blue light shot out the end and hit one of the spiders, sending it flying back into many others. William looked at her.
"The time to be sneaky has passed," she stated matter-of-factly before shooting more blue lights at the now advancing spiders. Materializing his Zweihander, William ran forward and began spinning on one foot. The Zweihander sliced through the spiders as if they were made of butter. He jumped up as some converged on him.
"Reducto!" Ginny yelled. Another flash hit the spiders underneath William with a loud bang, leaving only a pile of charred electronic bits. While still in the air, he swung again, this time sending out a circular beam towards the ground, destroying several spiders in the process.
He looked back to Ginny as his feet hit the ground. Many spiders were trying to jump onto her. But she continued to wave and twirl her stick, a spider hitting an invisible wall with a very audible crunch each time. William formed two smoke balls in his hands and threw them at a couple spiders near Ginny. The smoke formed a lasso around them, and William began swinging them about, knocking out some more. Slowly, the spiders' numbers dwindled, only to be suddenly replenished as more came around another corner.
"This is taking too long," Ginny complained, punching another spider trying to jump on her. "Get out of the way, William." William Super-smoked right behind her as she said, "Expecto Patronum Arania Exumai!" The same blue light shot of her stick but in a different fashion. It went outwards, like an ever-expanding dome. All of the spiders were soon flying backwards into the walls. Some tried to jump over the light but to no avail. As the light continued to pulse, the spiders broke into various pieces. Soon, the entire hallway was clear of spiders as the light faded.
"And this is why I wanted to bring you guys in sooner," William stated as the pair ran down the hall, very much in awe of Ginny's powers.
"That last one was an experiment," Ginny admitted. "I wasn't exactly sure what the outcome was going to be."
"Pretty effective if you ask me," William replied.
Ben looked about the interfaces in the cockpit of the Hring. Everything seemed to be fine. He hoped Ginny and William would hurry up so he could get out of there. It wasn't that he hated the forest sector. It was his favorite sector because the view of the sky was blocked by something as opposed to the open and empty sky in the other sectors outside of Sector 5. It was more the fact that he was in a replica of the forest sector. He hated being in X.A.N.A.'s replicas, more so now that he was by himself. He wanted to stay away from X.A.N.A. as much as possible, the previous conversation from several days ago still in his mind. "Little brother."
Suddenly, he felt the entire ship shake. He checked the shields, but they were fine. The ship shook again, forcing Ben to look outside. Fear nearly overwhelmed him at what he saw through the trees. Coming towards the Hring, with an earthquake in every step, was the mountainous form of the Kolossus.
"Jeremie!" Ben shouted.
"I see it!" Jeremie replied. "I'm working on transferring William over to the Skid back in Lyoko. But it will take some time. See if there is anything you can do to slow it down."
"Like what? Ask nicely?!" Ben looked around frantically in the cabin. He glanced at the ladder. Frowning and huffing at the realization of what he must do, he opened the metal shell, quickly left the cockpit, and climbed down to one of the Nav-Hrings. After making sure he was secure, he pressed the release button and floored the rocket engines. He then flew towards the gigantic monster.
"Let's see what some torpedoes will do to you," Ben muttered to himself. He aimed for the Kolossus's head and fired. Two torpedoes rocketed for the symbol. But the giant quickly brought its hand up to block. The torpedoes exploded and barely knocked the arm out of the way. The blade-arm then quickly swung towards Ben. He dove and flew between the Kolossus's legs. Turning sharply, he tried firing more torpedoes, this time at the blade-arm. Unfortunately, three Flying Manti appeared and shot the torpedoes before impact.
Scowling in frustration, Ben glanced at the ground the Kolossus was walking on. It was relatively thin and narrow when compared to the large area around the tower. He looked up just in time to barrel roll out of the way from hitting a tree. Seeing a Manta in front of him, he fired a single torpedo. The Manta dove towards the ground yet pulled up at the last possible second. The rocket hit the ground and exploded. Ben grunted loudly at the miss but then saw cracks in the ground. He flew the Nav-Hring underneath the ground and saw that there were pieces of green land descending towards the Digital Sea.
"Jeremie, how close is the transfer to being complete?" Ben asked with a smirk, hovering in place.
"Thirty seconds," Jeremie replied. "But the Kolossus is bound to get to the Hring beforehand."
"Thirty seconds is all I need," Ben stated, slowing the Nav-Hring to a hover underneath the strip of land. He then began firing round after round of torpedoes at the underside of the ground the Kolossus was walking on. It got the massive monster's attention as it stopped and turned to face him. The Mantas did the same. Ben ceased fire and let the dust clear. Everything seemed to go still as the echoes of the explosions died away. Then, Ben heard it. Large cracking sounds started coming from underneath the Kolossus. Apparently, the Kolossus also heard and began to move quickly, faster than before, towards the plateau-esque ground around the tower. Unfortunately for the monster, the cracking got louder while large chunks of land began to fall towards the Digital Sea. The sudden weight of the Kolossus made the process go faster.
"Transfer complete!" Jeremie yelled, making Ben jump. "Get the Hring out of there!" Ben raced towards the tower. As he passed the Kolossus, he noticed that its legs were landing on ground that was falling. Guessing at what was going to happen next, he steered his ship away from the front of the monster and punched the speed even higher.
As he guided his ship into its docking position, he could hear the cries and small explosions of the Flying Mantas as the falling Kolossus hit them. Just as Ben was climbing out, a large earthquake shook the entire area, the tower, and the Hring. Ben nearly fell off the ladder and hung on for dear life. Looking up, he saw with dismay that the Kolossus hadn't fallen into the Digital Sea but had caught its upper body on the plateau. It lay there dazed for a moment before it began to stir. Ben climbed up to the cabin as fast as possible. He undocked the Hring from the tower and flew to a safe distance out of reach from the Kolossus. He watched as it struggled to pull itself completely onto the plateau. The thing was trying to stand up again. Ben then saw an opportunity. He immediately began to weigh the risks and benefits of this choice.
"Ben," Jeremie said. "William and Ginny seem to be doing fine. It's too risky to stay with the Kolossus still there. You should just head on home now."
"No," Ben responded defiantly. His data structure may consist of X.A.N.A.-like coding, but that didn't mean he was any less creative than the rest of the team. Here was his chance to really show X.A.N.A. that his "little brother" was not as weak and helpless as X.A.N.A. thought.
"What?" Jeremie asked, obviously unsure of what he just heard.
"I said no," Ben repeated. He warmed up all of the torpedo and rocket launchers on the Hring. He set the trajectories and the final target.
"Ben, what are you doing?" Jeremie asked. But Ben ignored him.
"Fire," he whispered. Every single torpedo and rocket in the Hring shot out of the base of the ship and flew high into the sky. Ben raised the ship up higher as well, but not as high as the weapons he had fired. He then floored the forward propulsions and moved the Hring to directly over the Kolossus, which was now clambering to its feet. The weapons then swooped down and charged towards the Kolossus. Just as it stood up straight, it and the ground it stood on was bombarded. A cloud of dust began to form around the Kolossus as it was knocked off-balance and began to tumble backwards. Ben then saw the unthinkable: the Kolossus's foot was being devirtualized. X.A.N.A. was trying to prevent the destruction of the giant by transporting it elsewhere! There was no way that it would hit the Digital Sea before it was completely gone. Ben took a deep breath and closed the metal shell.
"Ben, don't!" Jeremie ordered, now well aware of what Ben was going to attempt. Again, Ben ignored him.
He took a deep breath and then said, "Diving in 3…2…" A second later, the Hringhorni was plummeting towards the falling and devirtualizing form of the Kolossus. Another second, the shell collided with the middle of its torso, and the whole ship began pushing the Kolossus faster and faster to the Digital Sea. Another second, Ben fired the forward propulsions, moving the ship away from the Kolossus's body and allowing the ship to fall faster. Another second, the Hringhorni and the Kolossus fell into the Digital Sea at the same time. Another second, the submarine raced out of the entrance while a bright, white blast followed closely behind. It faded before it could reach the Hring.
"Never, EVER, do that again," Jeremie said between deep breaths. He must have been holding it.
"I shouldn't have to for a very long time," Ben reassured him. "That Kolossus will be hard to recreate."
Harry watched seemingly helpless from the other side of the barricade as Aelita flipped this way and that around the creatures that were shooting at her. It was no wonder she was good at fighting. She was faring quite well against these things. The pink balls of electricity were very accurate and powerful, destroying every creature they hit instantly. She approached the barrier. Another large crab creature approached her without her acknowledgment, and Harry reflexively shot Expulso at it. The spell hit the barrier with a bang, alerting Aelita to the monster. She dealt with it quickly.
"Jeremie said that whatever he just did," the samurai guy shouted to Aelita in surprisingly good English, "it has weakened the shield slightly!"
Aelita glanced back at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Shooting it from the inside does not weaken it," she told them. "Maybe you three could help with that and foil this thing's plan?" Hermione and Ron looked to Harry.
"Then I suppose you're asking the right people," Harry said with a smile and raised his wand. "We're the best at foiling plans, ours or anyone else's." Aelita smiled and turned to the fight at hand.
"Bombarda Maxima!" he shouted. The barrier rippled with the shock of the strong spell. Hermione and Ron joined in with attempting to weaken the barrier.
Ulrich lunged forward onto the head of a Tarantula. He stabbed its eye before it could shake him off. He continued on while the Tarantula exploded. He stared hard at X.A.N.A.'s specter for a moment before racing towards it, katanas drawn. The specter produced its own blades and clashed them against Ulrich's. Ulrich swung from above and blocked the shot to his side. The specter countered and kicked Ulrich in the chest. He tumbled back onto his back before jumping onto his feet. His blades crossed in the shape of an "X" to stop the above strike. Then, to Ulrich's surprise the specter triplicated itself, one with blades and one without. The one without blades stepped back to the edge of the shield and simply watched with smug satisfaction. The one with blades raced towards Aelita's friends on the outside of the shield.
"Aelita, incoming!" he shouted before dueling against the specter in front of him again.
Aelita turned just in time to duck as katana blades from a specter swiped at her head. The specter continued on past her through the shield. Many other monsters turned to do the same. She pocketed her wand and used both hands to create a large Energy Field. A shot from a nearby Kreeper caused her to roll forward and her hands to come together. Still feeling a large swell of energy between her palms, she thrust them forward. Unexpectedly, numerous regular-sized Energy Fields raced outwards with multiple trajectories. Several of them successfully hit the inbound monsters. Taelia glanced at her, impressed at the display of power. Aelita grinned at this new ability of hers.
The figure that had split from the samurai raced at Harry, Ron, and Hermione through the barrier. Hermione, once again, was quicker than the other two. She blasted the ground directly in front of the figure. The force of the spell knocked him back.
"I'll deal with him," Harry said, summoning the broomsticks. "You two get that barrier down!" The brooms hovered behind him as the dust settled. The figure's entire body twitched oddly, like static interference on a television. Harry quickly shot several Stunners at him. The figure either dodged or blocked the spells with his blades. He raced towards Harry and swiped at Harry's side. Harry swiveled out of the way like Aelita had shown him in Defense Against the Dark Arts. The man flew by him only to receive a stab in the abdomen from one of the broomsticks. The interference occurred again before the broom was sliced to pieces. The man turned back to Harry.
"Is that the best you've got, boy?" the man asked. Suddenly and without Harry's doing, the broomsticks glowed for a moment before turning metallic. They raced at the man and began striking against the man's blades effectively and efficiently. A blue spell hit the man in the back, causing the interference again.
"Maybe from him, but not from me," Professor Clevenger said from behind the man. "Mr. Longbottom, I believe we will need that sword after all." From behind Clevenger, Neville handed him the sword of Godric Gryffindor. As the interference faded, Clevenger launched himself forward and struck the sword against the blades. He grabbed one of the now metallic brooms and used it as another sword against the man. Clangs and clashes against metal resounded while Clevenger impressively stood toe to toe against the man, neither gaining the upper hand. Before Harry could strike the man, many of the flying creatures came through the barrier and began to attack Ron and Hermione. A loud bang resounded as the flying creatures fell to the ground and exploded.
"Did you honestly think I was just going to watch this happen so close to my home?" Aberforth Dumbledore asked, appearing next to Neville and gesturing to Seamus, Luna, and Dean. They all raised their wands as more creatures advanced through the barrier. Harry grinned, knowing that backup had arrived.
"Stop!" Jeremie yelled. William skidded to a halt and signaled for Ginny to do the same. "The room to your left is where the Supercomputer is. If you destroy it and George is there, then he should be able to free himself."
"And if George isn't here?" Ginny asked William, who looked through the window of the door.
"I don't think that will be an issue," he replied before Jeremie could. He gestured for Ginny to take a look. She did so and nearly jumped for joy. Behind the Supercomputer, tangled in a massive spider web, was George.
"George! He's still alive!" Ginny shouted with glee.
"There's loads more spiders in there," William warned. "Once Jeremie can unlock this door, our goal is to destroy the Supercomputer as quick as possible."
Ginny snorted and asked, "Do you honestly expect me to wait for Jeremie?" She stepped back from the door.
"Hey Jeremie," William said quickly, also taking a step back. "Have you transferred my origin to the Skid, yet? I think this will last shorter than either of us anticipated."
"You're smarter than you look," Ginny agreed, raising her stick. "Bombarda Maxima!" The door, and much of the surrounding wall, was blasted away, several of the large chunks crushing spiders right and left. George looked up, clearly in alarm. His face lit up when Ginny walked through the doorway, or rather, the giant gaping hole in the wall.
"Ginny!" he yelled happily.
"Relashio!" she replied. A small burst of light hit the web, causing it to release George. Some of the spiders turned to face him as he fell to the ground. It seemed that George had been tied up for so long in the web that he struggled to stand up. William quickly Super-smoked to the decreasing area between George and the spiders. He materialized his Zweihander just as spiders launched themselves at George. He sliced and stabbed at the spiders, all the while keeping George in his vision at all times. Something on a nearby table, however, caught his attention: another long, brown stick like Ginny's. Believing it to be George's, William used a smoke lasso to pull it towards him and handed it to George.
"Thanks," George said, and then pointed the stick. "Aguamenti." A stream of water shot out of the stick and onto the spiders. The spiders began to short circuit and collapse.
"George!" Ginny yelled, running over and hugging George tightly. He smiled in relief before a look of fear quickly replaced it. He pushed Ginny to the side and twirled his stick around, miraculously blocking the shots of the robots that had just emerged into the room. Not wasting another second, William leapt over the redheaded pair and swung his blade. The circular beam decapitated the front row of robots. More soon began climbing through the hole Ginny created.
"Protego!" both Ginny and George shouted. They held their sticks up, shielding the barrage of lasers from the three of them. William raised his blade as spiders crawled around the robots.
"Hey William," Jeremie brought up. "If you're wanting a good time to destroy that Supercomputer, now would be good."
"Not from my perspective, it isn't," William grunted, stabbing at a spider as it came around the Weasley shield.
Aelita shot another Kreeper with an Energy Field. She ducked to avoid a Mantis flying over her head, low to the ground, and through the shield. Knowing that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and many others from Hogwarts were attempting to bring the shield down, she, Sissi, and Yumi had been preventing some monsters from getting through the shield. A wall of ice suddenly formed to Aelita's right as more laser fire from a Tarantula raced towards her. She looked quizzically at Taelia, wondering from where the ice had come.
"I think it's similar to your Creation power or whatever-you-call-it," Taelia quickly explained, expanding the wall around them in a semi-circle. "I just can't do anything that isn't ice- or water-based. I was a little concerned that I wouldn't have been able to do it outside of Lyoko. Seeing our Energy Fields at work, I figured I'd give it a try."
"Obviously it works. Have you tried moving it?" Aelita asked, recalling how she had once moved a rock with her mind. Taelia looked at her sister for a moment and then faced the wall. She held out her hands, and large spikes appeared on the exterior part of the wall. She shared a grin with Aelita. Together, they thrust their open palms forward, and the spikes raced out in all directions. The smaller and more agile monsters were able to avoid the spikes, but the larger and slower ones weren't so lucky. The girls ran forward, an Energy Field in each palm. They threw their Energy Fields at any monster they could see. Aelita slid on the ground, dodging fire circles from a Blok. Taelia jumped over her sister and through the circles with ease and shot the monster with an Energy Field.
"Aelita," Ulrich called, finally getting the upper hand against the specter and slicing its head clean off. "I think it's time we went after him." He pointed to the last remaining specter still standing on the sidelines.
"Agreed," Aelita replied. She motioned for Sissi and Yumi to follow them as they ran towards X.A.N.A. Each making a large Energy Field in their hands, Aelita and Taelia threw both at the same time. But X.A.N.A. was quick. Yellow lightning came from the specter's hands and destroyed the Energy Fields. Odd began shooting laser arrows, and Sissi whipped her cables out at the specter. It simply held up a hand, and the laser arrows disintegrated before they reached it. It grabbed Sissi's cables with the other hand. Purple electricity traveled up the cables and into Sissi. She tensed up, unable to move despite being electrocuted, and dissolved into thin air. A Tarantula appeared next to Odd, forcing his attention away from the specter. Yumi threw her fans and began using Telekinesis to make them harder to block. Despite her best efforts, the specter caught the fans, charged them with electricity and threw them at such a speed that Yumi was unable to get out of the way. The fans hit her square in the chest, and she flew backwards and dematerialized. Aelita and Taelia made more Energy Fields, but X.A.N.A., clearly having enough, used silver lightning to grip their throats and raise them in the air. All fighting inside and outside the shield ceased, and everyone, monsters and humans alike, turned to look at the suspended pair.
"I've had enough of these games!" X.A.N.A. bellowed loud enough for all to hear.
Harry watched as Aelita and who he guessed to be her sister rise higher into the air, choking on the lightning. They were dying and he couldn't do anything about it. Unless…
"Please let this work," he begged quietly. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. He held up an open hand and concentrated on the object he so desperately wanted.
"Elder Wand," he said firmly. Above his open hand, a thin column of bright, golden dust or smoke began to circle. This regained the unwanted attention of the slug-like creature closest to him. The smoke materialized into the Elder Wand. But before Harry could do anything with it, the creature reared back. It opened its mouth, its tongue began glowing red, and…
The laser wasn't fired. Instead, the creature was immediately covered in a green glow with electric charges running up and down it. It was, save for the color, exactly the same as what Aelita used on Ron in the Astronomy Tower and on the creatures inside the barrier. Harry looked around just in time to see the other creatures outside the shield follow suit in a likewise fashion. The blade-wielding man still dueling against Clevenger was hit in the side with the same green, electric ball. Instead of interference, the man froze for a moment. Clevenger took the chance to stab him with the sword of Gryffindor. The man disappeared. Wind rushed past Harry as a figure on a broom flew past and through the shield with ease.
"Who the bloody hell was that?!" Ron asked. Harry shrugged and watched the figure approach the lightning-wielding man.
Aelita could barely breathe and clutched at her throat, trying without success to find a way to block the lightning. She glared down at the specter, which smiled back at her. She saw Ulrich and Odd attempt to come to the rescue out of the corner of her eye, but the remaining monsters engaged them in fighting once again.
"And now I will finally kill Franz Hopper's children!" X.A.N.A. announced as the pain around Aelita's throat intensified. "Say hello to your dad for me, okay girls?"
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, two green Energy Fields hit the specter in the side. It turned to static, causing Aelita and Taelia to fall to the ground. They lay there gasping for breath. Aelita looked up just in time to see a figure jump off a broom and land between the specter and her. A coughing fit caused her to look at the ground again.
"I'm afraid your message will be delayed," the figure spoke. Aelita froze. She knew that voice. She forced herself to look up at her savior, hoping beyond all hope that it wasn't true.
The monsters around them roared in anger at the figure. He created two green Energy Fields, one in each hand, and clapped his hands together. The Energy Fields disappeared. He then spun on his foot and thrust his hands outward. A giant, green Energy Field, no, Energy Shockwave erupted from his hands and went out in all directions. It hit the monsters and instantly destroyed them but did not harm Ulrich or Odd.
"William! What are you waiting for, a personal invitation? Destroy it!" Jeremie barked again, causing William to wince. The numerous waves of spiders and robots continued to prevent him from approaching the supercomputer.
"We need to destroy it now!" he yelled to Ginny and George.
"Why didn't you say so sooner?" George asked, pointing his stick. "Expulso!" Instead of a flash of light, the supercomputer just burst into sparks as its lights went dim. The spiders immediately collapsed, no longer having power. The robots stopped firing and turned to leave. The walls of the lab began to rumble, signaling for the three of them to follow suit.
The green shockwave destroyed every creature inside the shield. It hit the inside of the shield, and the green glow remained there. White electricity then erupted all over it.
"The Shield's weakened, Harry!" Hermione yelled. "If you're going to do anything, do it now!"
Harry raised the Elder Wand, already feeling its power. It twitched in his hands slightly before shooting out the red and golden wave at the shield. As soon as the wave hit, the electricity began to fade out with sparks of fire rippling out in their wake. Harry rushed forward. The shield had fallen.
Aelita watched as the now visible electric charges disappeared again, this time with fire. She knew it was gone for good this time. The figure turned and knelt down next to her. She looked up into his face in bewilderment.
"You okay?" Draco asked, his brown eyes twinkling as he spoke.
"How can you make Energy Fields? And how'd you know that you could?" Aelita asked incredulously. Suddenly, X.A.N.A. roared as his specter solidified.
"It just sort of came to me," Draco said, helping her up.
"I guess you're full of surprises, aren't you?" X.A.N.A. yelled at Draco.
"There's more where that came from, X.A.N.A.," Draco taunted.
"Okay, boy," X.A.N.A. snarled. "Do your best." He sped at Draco and made to grip his throat. Draco near effortlessly blocked the specter's arm with his wrist. Aelita felt that she could not be surprised any further by Draco. She was wrong. Draco spun on his foot and vanished with a crack. He appeared where the specter had originally stood and threw two more green Energy Fields. He whipped his wand about, and the Energy Fields exploded into green electric flames. The specter shot out lightning to stop the flames. It sped back over to Draco, or at least, where Draco had been. He had already Disapparated to another place in the circle.
"Enough!" X.A.N.A. shouted. His voice echoed throughout the clearing as new monsters appeared, even more than before. Aelita drew in her breath sharply, and Draco clutched his wand tighter. There was no way they could fight them all off, even with Draco's newfound abilities.
Suddenly, several of the Flying Manti in the air exploded. Aelita turned to see Harry running forward, the Elder Wand flying along beside him. Ron and Hermione were close behind as well as the rest of the members of Dumbledore's Army that had arrived. The monsters turned and converged on the incoming wizards. Harry did not slow down. The Elder Wand fired a white laser beam out and spun around. The beam destroyed any monster that came in contact with it. Harry whipped a fire lasso around the neck of a Tarantula and spun it around. The Tarantula flew in a circle into other monsters. Aberforth Dumbledore and Professor Clevenger shot disintegration spells onto the pile. Harry raised a Shield Charm strong enough to deflect the lasers from some Krabs back at them. The Elder Wand formed a whirlpool of water around him as Bloks shot fire circles at him.
Out of the corner of her eye, Aelita saw a Megatank turn and take aim. With one look to Taelia, she ran forward. An icy surfboard appeared in the whirlpool, and Aelita jumped on it. The Megatank fired at Harry. The whirlpool shot out in all directions, flipping Aelita into the air and destroying the Bloks. Aelita somersaulted, landed on her feet right in front of Harry, and threw multiple Energy Fields at the Megatank's beam. The Energy Fields made contact and shattered the beam. To her left, a Hornet flew low and sprayed its venom. She quickly drew her wand from her pocket and cast Depulso on the venom, sending it back to the Hornet. Harry shot a spell into the Megatank's target and instantly destroyed it. She flashed him a smile, one that was reciprocated back to her.
From behind, Aelita could hear the remaining Lyoko Warriors fighting alongside Dumbledore's Army. Hermione, Luna, and Taelia fought the numerous Hornets and Flying Manti. Taelia formed large ice picks while Hermione and Luna would direct them into the flying monsters. Odd, Seamus, and Ron dealt with the Tarantulas. Ron and Seamus held strong shield charms, and Odd shot laser arrows directly into the eye of X.A.N.A. on the Tarantulas. Professor Clevenger, wielding a glittering, red sword, followed Ulrich's lead against the Krabs. For reasons unknown to Ulrich, once that sword came in contact with any part of a Krab, a greenish color would consume and destroy the Krab without exploding it. Aberforth, Dean, and Neville began destroying any monster within reach, assisting with the other groups as needed. Harry shot numerous Confringo fireballs at the Bloks trying to freeze him and Aelita. Aelita created an Energy Field shield around them when some Kreepers began firing at Harry. Draco, from seemingly nowhere grabbed the shield with his bare hand, turning it green. He thrust his hands out, and the shield became a smaller form of his shockwave, destroying the closest monsters. The monsters' numbers began steadily dwindling.
The remaining eight Megatanks turned their attentions to Harry, Aelita, and Draco. Aelita shared a quick look with the other two before preparing her rapid-fire Energy Fields. The Megatanks opened their shells and immediately fired without charging. Aelita released her Energy Fields. Draco threw some of his. The Elder Wand blasted a gold and red wave into two of the beams. Six of the beams were destroyed. There was a rush of wind as Ulrich sped by Aelita and used his katanas to block one of the beams. Clevenger appeared and likewise held up his sword to successfully block the beam. The beam slowly became infected with the similar greenish color. The color approached the Megatank. Not wasting precious time, Harry, Aelita, and Draco shot at the Megatanks. Three of the Megatanks were hit, and the remaining non-firing three Megatanks shut their shells to avoid damage. Ulrich and Clevenger slid backwards on the ground slightly as the Megatanks pushed harder against them, the greenish color slowing its progress. The surviving Megatanks waited for the proper moment. Aelita and Draco turned to destroy the beams when the Megatanks opened fire. Black smoke flew around the Megatanks. Aelita formed a beam with Energy Fields and held one Megatank beam in place, the Elder Wand, and Draco doing similar tasks. The black smoke formed into William. He stabbed Ulrich's Megatank with his blade, disintegrating the beam. The greenish color finally reached Clevenger's Megatank and consumed it. From over her shoulder, Harry shot Reducto at Aelita's Megatank. He hit the target and destroyed the monster and the beam. William had successfully stabbed Draco's Megatank while Ulrich had raced forward and destroyed the Elder Wand's Megatank.
"Getting tired yet?" Draco taunted, turning to the specter.
"Not hardly," X.A.N.A. replied. A giant ball of fire flew out at X.A.N.A. from behind, but he sidestepped it and turned to the offender.
"Good," George Weasley said, pointing his wand at X.A.N.A. "I'd hate for them to wear you out before it was my turn."
"I'd like to see you try," X.A.N.A. responded, sparks forming in his hands. Clevenger and Harry together shot a spell at X.A.N.A., inducing the static. By the time he solidified, thirteen wands, two katanas, one sword, three Energy Fields, and one full set of laser arrows were ready to be launched at him. Without another word X.A.N.A. thrust his hands down, turned into large lightning bolts that flew high into the sky, and disappeared. X.A.N.A. had gone.
"George!" Ron yelled and ran to his brother's side.
"Jeremie," Taelia whispered low enough that only Aelita could hear. "Where's Ginny? Shouldn't she be with them?" So that must be how they got here, Aelita surmised. "She what?! Well, did she sound certain she knew the combination?" Taelia was silent. "And where is he heading exactly?
"She didn't," Aelita said concerned, looking worriedly at Taelia. Her sister returned her expression.
Draco looked at Aelita and asked, "What's wrong?"
She shook her head and said, "We just need to get to Ginny and fast."
"Why?" Harry asked, overhearing their conversation.
"He's heading right for her," she replied, not willing to look Harry in the eye.
"Where at?" Draco asked.
"My house," she answered. "It's called the Hermitage." As soon as she finished speaking, Draco grabbed hold of both Harry and Aelita and spun on the spot. Aelita felt the familiar vacuum of Apparating and soon saw the Hermitage less than a hundred yards away. Without saying anything to the other two, she took off for the house, pocketing her wand as she did so. She opened the gate and ran in. She heard two grunts behind her. She turned and saw that Draco and Harry had stopped moving. They appeared to be pressing against some kind of invisible barrier. It wasn't giving way to them. She shared a look with Draco before turning to run to the front door.
A/N: Greetings from the abyss. I realize it has been quite some time since I last updated this labor of love. In that time I had retconned some of the elements of this chapter and the proceeding chapters. There are different elements that have been added and modified to fit in with the overall story.