Chapter 25: Attack of the Animals Part 1: Possession

November-A couple weeks later

It had been a couple of weeks since the gang's tag team training on Lyoko, where they found out that XANA had created another new monster, called the Shielder, to try and stop them. Since then, XANA had been unusually quiet. Normally he would attack pretty much on a daily basis, but since the training, he hasn't attacked once. This of course concerned both the old and new warriors greatly, for they had no idea why XANA wasn't attacking nor did they know what he had in store for them next. However, there was one person who didn't really pay attention to the concerns at all, and that was young Matthew.

Since he and his friend's encounter with the new Shielders, Matthew figured that he and the gang had to get a "Lyoko Upgrade" so to speak. Meaning that he would program new abilities for his friends, since he already had his Lightning and Shockwave abilities. The gang all wanted to know what he was planning on giving them, but Matthew kept telling them that it was a surprise and that he didn't want to ruin it. The gang understood this and let him continue to work. However, over the past couple of weeks, they noticed that Matthew had been quite distant from them. He had been working non-stop at trying to program the new abilities and hadn't really hung out with them at all. They decided to go and talk to him about it one dark and gloomy Sunday afternoon.

Kadic Academy-Matthew's Room

The five friends arrived at Matthew's dorm room, but before they could knock on the door, they heard the sound of what could be Matthew slamming his fist on his desk and yelling in absolute frustration.

Matthew: UGH! COME ON! WHY WON'T IT WORK?!

The gang looked at each other, each with a worried look on their face. Now they weren't sure if they wanted to bother Matthew right now, but Natalie thought otherwise. She gently knocked on the door and waited for a reply. A few seconds later, Matthew opened the door and saw all his friends standing there obviously looking concerned.

Matthew: Umm...I'm guessing you guys heard my yelling didn't you...

Gary: Yeah we did. We came to check on you mate. We're all a little worried about you.

Matthew: Worried? Why?

Mariah: Well, you've been keeping yourself distant from us for a while.

Jonah: You've barely hung out with us...

Alexis: And you've barely spoken to us at all.

Natalie: We know that you've been working on the abilities for us, and we appreciate that, but you still have to remember that you have a life and friends out here and not in front of a computer screen.

Matthew looked at his friends, shame written all over his face. They were right, he had been distant from them. He hung his head down in shame.

Matthew: I'm sorry guys. I guess trying to get your new abilities programmed has kept me from being outside of my room and being with you guys.

Gary: It's alright mate, we forgive you. Right guys?

All: Right!

Matthew smiled at his friends.

Matthew: Thanks guys.

Jonah: That reminds me, how is the programming going may I ask?

Matthew: Not too good. For some reason, I'm having trouble just getting the basics of your abilities programmed. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, or if my laptop can't handle it. I just wish I knew.

Mariah: We'll we can see that your obviously frustrated about it.

Natalie: So we wanted to know if you wanted to take a break and come and hang out with us in the recreation room.

Jonah: We're having a Foosball tournament between us. Me vs. Alexis, Gary vs. Mariah, and you vs. Natalie. You wanna play?

Matthew: I'd love to. It would sure beat sitting and starring at my computer screen every hour of the day.

The gang laughed and walked away towards the rec. room.

Odd Della Robbia's House

Odd sat sadly in his front yard starring at a mound of dirt surround by a bed of flowers with a framed picture of him a his dog Kiwi. The gloomy outside atmosphere was a lot like Odd's mood inside, gloomy and sad. Just a few meters away from his house, Jeremy, Aelita, Ulrich, Yumi, and William were walking up towards Odd. They didn't notice him in his front yard though until they reached the driveway. Ulrich was the first to notice. He saw Odd looking at the mound of dirt with a few tears in his eyes. He whispered something to the gang.

Ulrich: *whispering* Oh man, I forgot guys. Today's the anniversary.

Yumi: *whispering* Anniversary for what?

Ulrich pointed over to where Odd was sitting and instantly, the crews faces all frowned. The walked over to Odd.

Jeremy: Hey buddy, you feeling okay?

Odd still had a few tears in his eyes as he looked up at his friends.

Odd: Yeah, I guess.

William: It's that day again isn't it?

Aelita: The anniversary of Kiwi's passing.

Odd: Yeah it is. 4 years ago today, Kiwi passed away...my little diggity-dog.

Odd continued to sod as he remember his old pal. He remembered all the good times he had with him, from the day he first brought him home, to the day of his passing. 4 years ago, Kiwi had passed away in his sleep, but he passed away peacefully. He ended up living to be about 16 years old, but sadly it was his time to go. Odd of course was devastated when he found that out next morning.

Aelita: I'm really sorry about Kiwi, but you have to admit, he lived a long life for a dog.

Odd: *sniff* Yeah...I just miss him.

Jeremy: Have you thought about getting yourself another dog?

Odd: I have, but I didn't want to. Nobody could replace Kiwi. He may have been a little dumb, but he was the best dog I could have.

He friends all gathered around him and hugged. Odd smiled a bit. He appreciated his friend's condolences. Ulrich then spoke.

Ulrich: Hey, we're taking a walk through town and we were wondering if you wanted to come. It might clear your head about Kiwi.

Odd: Yeah, I'd like that. Thanks guys.

Before Odd stood up, he gave Kiwi's grave one last pat and stood up to join his friends, unaware of events that would later occur.

Lyoko-Desert Sector

XANA was at it once again for the first time in a few weeks. One of the towers in Lyoko turned from blue to red and in the computer lab of the factory, XANA's specter oozed out of the wires and out of the factory towards the city. It made its way over to the local zoo, where many guests and children were admiring the many animals that were there. However, unbeknownst to them, XANA's specter crept its way into the zoo and over to the Lion attraction. The zoo keeper was feeding the 2 lions and 2 lionesses a few raw flanks of steak. He didn't notice that the specter had crept out of the lion's den and slowly made its way over to one of the lions behind him. The large animal was gnawing on the steak when suddenly, the specter entered its body. The lion groaned and roar as it felt XANA begin to possess it. The zoo keeper heard the commotion and looked behind him to see the lion twitching and passing out on the ground. He quickly made his way over to the laying cat and checked to see if the beast was alright.

Suddenly, he heard the lion growl lightly. He shook the lion a few times to try and wake it up. Then out of nowhere, the lion's eyes flashed open but they're weren't normal. The lion's eyes were now a bloody red with XANA's symbol in its eyes. The lion lashed out at the zoo keeper, who luckily missed getting clawed by inches. He stumbled away before the lion could attack again as the beast walked over to the other three cats. They all back away in fear, until suddenly, the XANA possessed lion lunged forward and grabbed a hold of the other lion and held him down as he bit down on his left leg. The lion growled in pain, then started to twitch and pass out, before awakening a few seconds later now possessed by XANA also. The two lions then looked over to the cowering lionesses as they lunged at them also.

Meanwhile, the old warriors were walking through the city streets in an attempt to help Odd forget about Kiwi for the day. For the moment, it seemed to work and Odd felt happy. Then, Odd's stomach started to growl and his friends heard it.

Odd: Wow...I'm hungry.

Ulrich: Heh, well that's no big surprise good buddy.

Odd playfully nudged Ulrich's shoulder and the rest of the warriors chuckled a bit.

Yumi: We're near your favorite restaurant Odd, Café de Martinis.

Odd: Oh boy, yes please! I could go for some of their food right now.

Jeremy: I think we all could. Come on, let's go and get us a table.

The warriors walked across the street over towards the café, when suddenly they heard the growling again.

William: Sheesh Odd, tell your stomach to settle down. We haven't even walked in the building yet.

Odd: Uhhh...that time it wasn't me.

The warriors looked at him confused.

Aelita: It wasn't? But you're always the hungry one.

Odd: I know that, but I'm serious, that time it wasn't my stomach that was making the noise.

Suddenly, they heard the growling noise again, only this time it was much louder. Then they heard the sound of people screaming. They turned around and saw many people and children running for their lives away from something screaming bloody murder.

Yumi: What the heck is going on?!

Jeremy: I don't know, but it looks like those people were coming from the zoo. Let's go and check it out!

So the old warriors took off towards the zoo to try and figure out what was happening. When they arrived, they gasped. The zoo was in complete chaos, with people running and screaming everywhere and all the animals out of the areas attacking the innocent people.

Aelita: What on Earth happened?

Suddenly, the lion from earlier heard Aelita and looked over to where she and the warriors were standing. The lion roared loudly and sprinted towards them. The warriors gasped at the beast coming towards them. And for a split second, they all could see XANA's symbol in the lion's eye.

Ulrich: RUN FOR IT!

The warriors ran for their lives and the lion just missed clawing them but inches. It turned to see the warriors running off down the road and away from the zoo. The lion then turned its head towards the other animals and gave a mighty roar getting the other animals attention. It then motioned its head to half of the animals over to the warriors signaling them to follow them while the rest of the animals followed him. The animals split into their groups and ran off. Meanwhile for the warriors...

Odd: You thinking what I'm thinking?

All: XANA!

Jeremy: I knew I was right to be worried. He hasn't attacked in a few weeks and now he's gone and possessed all the zoo animals.

William: We better get to the factory and fast!

Jeremy: I agree. Are they still behind us?

Aelita looked behind her and saw half of the animals chasing after them, but also saw the other animals head in a different direction.

Aelita: Only about half of the animals are behind us, but the rest of them are going somewhere else.

Yumi: But where would they go.

Suddenly it hit them like a ton of bricks.

Odd: Uh oh...

All: THE GANG!

Kadic Academy-Recreation Room

The gang were having their Foosball tournament. Gary had beat Mariah and Alexis had beat Jonah, to which he couldn't believe. Now Matthew and Natalie were playing.

Matthew: Sorry Natalie. I love you, but you're going down.

Natalie smirked back.

Natalie: Oh we shall see about that.

They soon started their match with Gary and Jonah watching them and Alexis and Mariah looking at the phones. Carrie and Casey, the 12 year old Kadic News Reporters were there too looking at magazines. Matthew and Natalie were so focused on the game that they didn't notice someone walking into the rec. room and walking up behind Matthew. However, Natalie, Gary, and Jonah noticed and immediately froze. Matthew was confused.

Matthew: What's wrong guys?

Gary: Look behind you mate.

Matthew slowly turned around and gasped at the sight of Brandon, who had just returned from his 3-week suspension for harassing Natalie.

Brandon: Well if it isn't the Yankee Matthew.

Brandon smirked at him while Matthew just gave him a death glare.

Matthew: If I were you Brandon, I'd step away from me and my friends before I make you.

Brandon: Oh, and is that a threat?

Matthew: Nope, it's a promise.

The gang had their mouth's wide open as Matthew stood up to the biggest bully at Kadic. Brandon just laughed.

Brandon: HA! Is that right? Well why don't you go ahead and do it?

Matthew: I would, but I won't. I got more sense that you do Brandon. I don't go and pick fights and harass everyone on campus. So unless you want to get suspended again, I suggest you leave.

Brandon: Hmph, fine! But this isn't over yet Matthew. You know what I'm after.

Brandon walked away from the gang and sat down on the rec. room's couch. He then grabbed the TV remote and started flipping through the channels.

Natalie: He's got some nerve that boy.

Matthew: You're telling me. Now let's finish our game.

The two lovebirds resumed their Foosball game while Brandon continued to scroll through the channels. As he was looking through them, he came across the local Channel 7 NEWS and something there caught his interest. He turned up the volume to get a good listen.

NEWS Reporter: Good afternoon everyone, we are following breaking news out of the local zoo. Just moments ago, for some strange reason, all of the animals suddenly escaped from their attractions and began attacking innocent people. Thankfully, all of the guests were able to escape with their lives without further injury. We now to our live reporter on the scene.

This got the attention of the gang. They stopped what they were doing and gathered around the couch.

Matthew: Hey Brandon, turn it up a bit.

Brandon did so and the gang listened closely to the live reporter.

Live Reporter: Thank you very much. We're standing by the now empty zoo where just moments ago, all the animals escaped from their pens and ran off into the city. Standing beside me is one of the zoo keepers who was the first victim and witness of the strange attack. Sir, can you tell us what happened?

Zoo Keeper: Well first off, it started out as a regular routine for me. I was tossing some raw steaks at the lions for lunch making sure not to hit them because that could set them off. Luckily I didn't hit them with the meat and so they began to chew of the steaks. Well as I was getting ready to leave, all of the sudden I heard the sound of growling from one of the lions. I turned around and I could see one of the lions twitching violently as if it was having a stroke. I saw it fall on its side and I rush over to help. Well, as I was trying to wake it up, I heard it growl again and then its eyes flashed open, but they weren't their usual color.

Live Reporter: What do you mean by that exactly?

Zoo Keeper: You all might find this crazy, but I saw that the eyes were a bright red color and they had a strange symbol in the middle of their eyes, almost like they were possessed or something.

The gang gasped as the zoo keeper explained what happened. It was then they realized what was going on.

All: XANA.

Brandon heard them and instantly grew curious.

Brandon: What are you morons talking about? Who is this XANA?

Mariah: It's none of your concern you big brute.

Brandon grew defensive. He got up from the couch and grabbed a hold of Mariah, making her shriek loudly.

Brandon: You wanna say that to my face pretty girl?

Jonah: Let her go!

Jonah shoved Brandon away from Mariah. Brandon was angry and so was Jonah. He was about to stand up to Brandon when Gary and Matthew grabbed a hold of his shoulders and held him back.

Matthew: Take it easy buddy.

Gary: Don't do anything you'll regret.

Alexis: Hey guys, listen to the reporter.

The gang turned their attention back to the TV.

Live Reporter: Well certainly a very strange sequence of events over here, and from what the zoo keeper has told us, it seems that half the animals have gone off somewhere unknown, while the rest of them seem to be heading towards the suburbs. Why they are heading that way, I'm not quite sure.

NEWS Reporter: Thank you for that update.

The gang starred at the TV, fear beginning to settle in. Just then...

*RING RING RING*

Matthew: Mr. Belpois, what's going on?

Jeremy: Matthew, this is an emergency! XANA has possessed all of the animals in the zoo!

Matthew: We know, we just saw it on the NEWS. Where are you all?

Jeremy: We're on our way to the factory, but we may need you help. Get here as fast as you can!

Matthew: Ok sir, we're on our way.

Matthew hung up the call and turned to his friends.

Matthew: Mr. Belpois needs help. Come on guys!

Brandon: Hold it right there.

Brandon blocked the doorway preventing the gang from leaving.

Matthew: Oh for crying out loud dude, can't you just leave us alone for once?!

Brandon: Not this time. You guys are hiding something and you're going to tell me what it is right now!

Gary: Why the heck should we tell you?

Then Matthew had an idea and smirked slyly.

Matthew: You know what guys, I think we should tell him.

The gang looked at Matthew stunned.

All: WHAT?!

Matthew: *whispering* Don't worry, I got this. Brandon come with me for a second and I'll tell you.

So Matthew led Brandon away from the gang. The gang turned around and saw Matthew giving them a thumbs up signaling them to get to the factory.

Brandon: Alright, spit it out.

Matthew: Well you see, those animals are being possessed by a computer virus called XANA and its up to us to go to the old factory and stop him.

Brandon: A evil computer virus possessing the animals? HA! Alright what's the real reason you and your friends are...

Brandon gasped as he say that the rest of the gang was no longer standing there.

Matthew: Like I said, I got more sense that you do.

Brandon: Why you no good, little...

*BANG*

A loud bang was heard outside. Matthew turned around and gasped. The animals had arrived at Kadic. Carrie and Casey went for cover feeling absolutely terrified. Brandon looked at the animals and saw XANA's eye in their eyes. He thought back to what the zoo keeper had said on TV and what Matthew just told him now.

Brandon: Impossible...

Matthew: Now do you believe me?

Brandon: You know what? For once I do.

Abandoned Factory-Computer Room

The gang had arrived at the factory and a few seconds later, the old warriors arrived as well. The gang was able to make it to the sewers before the possessed animals went to Kadic while the old warriors were able to gain some distance between them and the animals.

Jeremy: Where's Matthew?

Natalie: Uhh...he should be on the way sir.

*RING RING RING*

Natalie: Hello?

Matthew: Natalie, we're in big trouble over here. The animals are here at school and their blocking our way out. Brandon is here to, but I can't get to the factory.

Natalie: Matthew's in trouble! The animals are at Kadic!

Gary: Jonah and I will go and help.

Jonah: You guys get to Lyoko and deactivate the tower fast!

Aelita: Be careful you two.

Gary & Jonah: We will

Gary and Jonah raced away backed towards Kadic

Jeremy: The rest of the animals are probably on their way here right now. So we need someone who can hold them off while we deal with the tower.

William: I'll volunteer.

Odd: So will I.

Yumi: Me two

Jeremy: Okay. Natalie, Alexis, Mariah, Ulrich, and Aelita. Get to scanners while I start the virtualization process.

Abandoned Factory-Scanner Room

Jeremy: Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Aelita. Scanner Ulrich. Scanner Aelita. Virtualization.

Ulrich and Aelita dropped down into the Desert Sector and a few seconds later, Ulrich's OverBike was virtualized in front of him.

Jeremy: Transfer Natalie. Transfer Mariah. Transfer Alexis. Scanner Natalie. Scanner Mariah. Scanner Alexis. Virtualization.

The three girls dropped down into the Desert Sector and Jeremy programmed the OverCopter. Ulrich got on his OverBike, while Alexis and Mariah got in the OverCopter.

Natalie: Uhh...don't you need a ride Mrs. Belpois?

Aelita: You must have forgotten about my wings.

Aelita summoned her Angelic Wings and floated in the air.

Aelita: You ride with Ulrich and I'll go from up here.

So Natalie hopped on board the OverBike.

Jeremy: Ok guys, the tower is North Northeast from there. Better hurry.

The warriors took off in the direction of the tower hoping to stop XANA's attack before it was too late.

Boy this chapter took a while to write and I'm still nowhere near done with it. This is the longest chapter I have ever written. So to ease the pain in my wrists and fingers, I've decided that I'm going to split this into two parts. By the way, I just want to mention that I'm going to try and update this story at least once a week. So expect the 2nd part of this chapter to be posted next week around this time. And do I really need to say thank you to this person again for giving me the idea for this XANA attack? I think I should. THANK YOU POKEMONKING0924! YOU ROCK MAN!

Stay tuned for more and as always, FakeACU83 OUT!