A/N: Hello, everyone, viewers and reviewers alike! (Especially that latter, hint hint hint.) It took awhile to amass the 25th Chapter [and editing it was a hellish feat. FanFiction and my other documents gave me such a hard time, and anybody who has experienced FanFiction's unreliability can definitely tell you what a nightmare it is when FanFiction is against you.] but I am more than happy to present it. Seriously, when I say I feel bad for not updating for awhile, believe me when I say I MEAN JUST THAT. I am an impatient person by nature, so I also don't to keep other people waiting. A little fun fact for anybody's who interested.
CHAPTER 25: MEGAMAN'S POV
"Mega, any ideas?" Lan asked anxiously, once we were alone in the forest path.
I glanced around at the neat ring of trees around us, making certain that no one else was listening in. My Navi sensors traced nothing, and once our solitude was verified, I replied, "The only thing I can think is of is keeping a low profile. Since every Vision-Burst has a weak point, we just have to find it."
"Oh, I get it!" Lan said, "So we pretend we think we're in the Real World, but what we're really doing is looking out for the Vision-Burst's weak point, right?"
"Exactly," I confirmed. "So, for now, all we need to do is act natural."
Lan nodded in agreement, and we strolled on, until Kadic Academy came into plain view. The sun blazed overhead, and we departed through the gates unhindered, trekking our way towards the school, though we walked slowly, as if at a funeral march. I could feel XANA's power layering around Kadic like a thick, coiled snake, though the energy wasn't as intense as it had been at the factory. It was definitely weaker here, and hopefully, that meant we were off to a good start. The students of Kadic roamed about with their usual routine, paying us little notice, as if we actually belonged here.
We took that as a good sign, and headed straight up to class. Our first mistake: we barged though the door and invoked the wrath of XANA's version of Mrs. Hertz. She was accurate enough, screaming at us for tardiness and bidding us to our seats, and even her lesson on photosynthesis was so convincing that I would've thought she were real had I not sensed XANA's power surging though her and hovering around every square inch. However, even as her lesson persisted on, I noticed something strange: occasionally, for a few seconds, Mrs. Hertz would stop abruptly, frizzle up like a glitch, and then repeat the last thing she had said prior before advancing on like nothing amiss had occurred. Protocol reset, I realized. The Vision-Burst generated and required so much power, it had to momentarily reset itself, causing its digital occupants to be affected by the process for the mild duration.
My brain began whirling. If we found the Vision-Burst's weak point and attacked at the reset interval. . .
Then what? How would I find the Vision-Burst's weak point? That was the key essential here—which was why the search began. During free hours, we split up, not conversing with those around us, trying to find signs of weakness in the Vision-Burst's sphere. A blur, a patch-like fuzzy area-some sort of clue or sign to go on.
It was all in vain. The school showed no such symptoms other than the students suffering from protocol reset, which was a world-wide effect and not the clue we were searching for. And we couldn't scour the factory in fear of provoking the fake Lyoko Warriors' suspicions. Somehow, though, I suspected the factory was the essential part of the picture, reasoning being how XANA was cleverly excluding it from our reach.
Did he actually realize we hadn't been fooled and was merely trying to keep us here long as possible? Then this would a mere prison, and XANA was holding here for hostage purposes.
And, that was the case, then there was no point in pretending we had been tricked since XANA already knew we weren't.
"It's our best bet," I told Lan. "The factory is the most logical energy source for this Vision-Burst. If we pinpoint the source location and attack during protocol reset, we have a pretty good chance at getting out of here."
"You sure about this?" Lan asked nervously. "If our guess is wrong and XANA decides to attack us, we'll never find the real energy point."
"I'm aware of that," I confirmed. "So we have to take a gamble. All or nothing."
"All or nothing," Lan repeated slowly.
I***********************************
At the dead of the night, we rushed to the factory, knowing that we were embarking on a different, risky gamble of a mission. Initially, when I turned my navi senses on to conduct the source-search, we remained uninterrupted, and the source energy guided us to the lower level of the factory, into the computer, where the real Jeremy usually dwelled during a mission.
And it was awkward to enter and find the XANA-version of Jeremy sitting on his usual chair, with such grandeur and arrogance like a king on a throne, turning to face us with a bemused smirk, as if his prediction had just came true.
"My, what a coincidence," laughed Jeremy. "I never thought I'd see you here at this hour."
"J-Jeremy?!" Lan and I exclaimed in union. "What are you. . .?"
"I would be asking you the same," Jeremy cut in. "I haven't even called a mission, yet you both come here on your own accord. Could you kindly explain that? In fact-" His voice suddenly toned lower, spiked with venom, as if what he were challenging us. "In fact, both of you have been doing things independently, without consulting me or any of the others. Like you don't trust me. . ."
"D-don't trust you?" Lan repeated. "Nah. It's just that Mega and I like our own personal space, that's all."
"Is that so?" Jeremy asked in his threatening voice. "I was under the impression both of you kept away from me-in fear. Could you kindly explain that?"
He knows, I thought desperately. He knows.
"You're just imagining things," Lan said. "You were always kinda paranoid, Jeremy. . ."
"That's nice of you to say, Lan," Jeremy replied sarcastically. "But I notice that you've been the spokesman this entire time. Does Mega have any reason to stay so quiet?"
In a flamboyant manner, we tried to pacify this claim under pretenses of outright paranoia, but to no avail, as our arguments were refuted all to easily; XANA instantly discarded his sugarcoated illusion in favor of thrusting the grim reality back to the fore, as though he, too, was weary from the tedium of convincing us otherwise.
And Jeremy's voice became more smug and threatening with every syllable, fully aware that his facade would be rent in moments, and therefore not bothering to conceal his displeasure. Non-verbally, Lan and I agreed not to venture a rebuttal against his accusations, and waited morbidly for the inevitable. My face visibly contorted once I could feel XANA's power inflate, the pressure around me increasing so drastically I felt as if the air itself was hardening into thick layers. Jeremy's features melted away like wax. His head bulged into a triangular, armored reptilian face; his torso lengthened into a steel-clad lizard-like body, with closed joints and a long, stretchy static-bolted tail; two bulky armor-protected legs protruded from his upper body, signaling the completion of the transformation.
Around him, legions of black-grey Hornets and Krankelats appeared as if from the shadows, but my gaze remained focused where Jeremy once stood, staring into the black beady ideas that peeked from armor, eyes that gleamed with wicked intelligence.
Night MegaMan's memories supplied me with the reptilian monster's name—The Scorpion.
It lunged at us with insane speed, stomping shockwaves as it charged, and Lan and I dived to either side, withdrawing weapons.
The illusion of reality shattered, our humans forms morphing into their full virtual glory, and our weapons took their usual places on our arms.
My own dark sword molded into a black replica of a Z-Saber, and Lan summoned a silver-white katana. The Scorpion reared up, and blew his icy breath like a bee-line ray, striking Lan with painful accuracy.
"No!" Swiftly, I dashed straight at the Scorpion and bashed my Z-Saber to the back of its head. Instinctively, it arched its neck upwards, and the armored part intercepted my sword, rendering my move useless, and the Scorpion whacked me with its shoulder, knocking me away and off balance.
My saber skidded across the floor, striking against the wall with a sickening clang.
The other monsters reared up, an entire division of black-grey Hornets and Krankelats, ready to assist their reptilian master.
The Hornets soared overhead, in proper formation of an aerial fleet, unleashing their round of lasers like poisonous descending hailstones. I wanted to be the one to combat them, but Lan took charge here, summoning his Dash Chip and leaping into the airborne battle, swiping his katana at the dark-colored enemies.
On my side of the field, the Krankelot division marched forward in a horizontal army-styled line, and fired with an alternate pattern, every other Krankelot launching a laser and then retreating back.
I leaped over the laser fire with surprising ease, retaliating with dark-bolted projectiles, slashing a severe gash into enemy lines, and watching the far-off survivors scrambling away and returning fire from their new stations. I put myself into offensive stance, preparing to switch to a sniper weapon, but then the Scorpion itself rushed into battle, trampling the confused Krankelots underfoot and slamming its bulky body into me with full force.
I flew across the room like a bullet, colliding and crumpling against the wall, helplessly disarmed. As if to tease me, my Z-Saber hilt was lying diagonally across from me, barely in arm's reach. It's probably my best bet against the Scorpion, I realized. The Scorpion itself was momentarily paralyzed from throwing that powerful tackle, but I could already see it recovering from the weakened symptoms, with breath collecting around its mouth and electricity sparking at its feet.
Quickly, my hand grappled forward, flailing in attempt to grab the saber's hilt, and the Scorpion let out a sudden screech and charged, electricity spiraling around it in tornado fashion. With a proud twinge of triumph, my fingers clawed the blade's hand-grasp and the Z-Saber unraveled into its full-fledged glory. Arms trembling with anticipation, I flung the sword in a desperate upward arc, slicing at the Scorpion under-neck plates and flinging the armor off; using that sudden-gained momentum, I knocked my saber against the side of the Scorpion's head, disrupting its move and forcing it aside.
The Scorpion howled, enraged, and brought around its electrified tail for a devastating blow. The direct thrust of a shockwave struck with full fury, shattering my Z-Saber into data shards and forcing me aside, nearly knocking me off balance.
I staggered from the powerful hit, pixels collecting around my body, and the Scorpion charged head-on once more. I reacted, but in pure instinct, the fight becoming a swift blur of actions.
Subconsciously, I realized that my endurance had come to its dire limits. After non-ceasing offshoots of battles, my Hit Points were in their desperation stages, and therefore, I finally activated my desperation move.
My body became shrouded in the dark aura of Chaos Union, and for a moment, I felt as if Night MegaMan were present, smiling contentedly at me for triggering the power he was sacrificed for. My bodysuit toned itself to brown; a purple/yellow trapezoid-shaped breastplate formed around my Navi crest; my helmet, with two triangular ridges on both sides, sprouted a transparent visor; a yellow-rimmed diamond-like shield clasped itself around my wrist, in the manner of a gauntlet; finally, an orange Long-Sword took the place of my right arm, signifying the transformation as a success.
The Scorpion seemed baffled by my sudden transition into Proto Chaos, though confusion did not deter it from action. Its body became cloaked with electricity and the monster charged with its full power. I leaped aside, springing away much swifter thanks to Proto Chaos's speed boost, causing the Scorpion to ram itself head-first into the wall. It snarled, trying to regain its composure, and blew its icy breath, blindly, in random directions.
I dodged the blasts with ease, but I could feel my pixelated wounds getting deeper, dark power gnawing onto my weary frame for energy to prolong the Chaos Union. Both myself and my opponent were in desperation stages, and the time had come for the fight to be concluded. I sped across the battlefield in a hasty blur, and with all the power I could muster, I bashed my dark blade into the Scorpion's vital XANA-emblem. A shrill, high-pitched screech erupted from its mouth, and it froze, body hardening into a grey statue, and then shattering into millions of tiny pieces.
I stood silently, gasping for breath, both of my arms shaking with ebbing strength. The Chaos Union's power drained away, and I reverted back to my normal form.
"It. . .it's gone?" Lan whispered, awed. Around him, the squad of dark-colored hornets who had been his opponents had faded away, dependent on the Scorpion's life for their own.
"Y-yeah," I stammered, placing a careful arm against my side, where the most severe of my pixelated wounds was located. "But the Scorpion's not the only thing that's 'gone'."
That statement, I didn't need to explain. Its meaning was obvious. Fractures began appearing along the walls, spreading across them and forming long, thin crevices; it was like we were inside of a glass dome preparing to shatter.
"MegaMan, what's going on?!" Lan exclaimed. "Is the Vision-Burst. . .?"
"The Vision-Burst's done for," I confirmed. "It can't contain us anymore, now that it's main power benefactor has been destroyed and that I used Chaos Unison."
I nearly flinched back when I took in my own voice. Those words in which I just said seemed to spring from nowhere, as if my own mind had formulated and contributed its own answer. Then, I realized that Night MegaMan's memories, which contained that very answer, were suddenly becoming much clearer in my mind, as if my usage of Chaos Unison made them more accessible.
"Chaos Unison is able to weaken Vision-Bursts?" Lan asked.
"
Yes," I replied. "Too much power. In a place like this, with evenly distributed energy, a sudden outpouring of power can be utterly devastating. Look."
The example was all around us, and the Vision-Burst gave away at last. It exploded inwards, and its ring of destruction arched into the cardinal directions, finally releasing us from its superficial hold. My brain processed freedom at long last; then the world did a three-sixty and consciousness faded away in an instant.
II````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
When my sight cleared, it was revealed that we were still stuck in XANA's base, in an area that had been affected by Night MegaMan's self-destruct. The damaged relics of waxy wires and fractured walls were present, their existence like a painful scar.
I winced as the injury-indicating data pixels formed around my arms and crest, forcing my stance to falter.
Lan, taking note of this, voiced his concern. "MegaMan. . .your hit points are really low right now, aren't they?"
"Y-yeah," I rasped, "I don't think I can take much more of this. . ."
"Then that makes two of us." Lan stiffly extended his arm, revealing the scarred pixels spiraling around it, and continued, "you've got Night MegaMan's memories, right? Isn't there some sort of back entrance we can use?"
I closed my eyes, trying to verify said fact. Data hordes processed in my brain, but faded into shards, reflecting the present pixelated injuries blurring the shape of my limbs. I opened my eyes once more, my pupils mimicking the sad look of failure.
"Ugh, Night Mega's memories aren't clear," I admitted. "We're going to have to find a back entrance oursel-"
I stopped in mid-sentence, the combined cacophony of marching soldiers and unsheathing weapons taking note in my ears. I perked up in fluid motion, like a cat discovering a new victim of a toy, and turned about abruptly. Lan, body tensing with dread, showed the same signs of hearing the same thing I detected.
Swiftly, as if by magic, an entire round of XANA-fied Heelnavis dashed in and surrounded us in a deadly circle, armed to the teeth, like a full, organized militia.
"XANA's not making this easy," Lan muttered in disdain, releasing a painful grunt as he summoned his buster. I followed suit, and the battle began.
*END OF MEGAMAN'S POV*
Not wanting to be stuck in cross-fire, the red navi brought up his scythe-like sword onto his free arm and unleashed his signature Delta Ray technique, summoning two identical clones of himself and then slicing through enemy lines in a triangle-like impact. Heelnavis disintegrated left and right. collapsing in the manner of dominoes, and reinforcements were quick in arrival.
It was a trial of stamina, at least until the tides turned. Suddenly, a huge energy spike was traced on ProtoMan's visor, and in a great burst of pure, unbridled power, the entire room flashed and thrust itself into a forceful explosion; reflexes dominant, ProtoMan swiftly brought up his shield and the reflective armory piece absorbed most of the impact, which, curiously, seemed to be tamer than he expected, as if the entire blast were emerging from a far distance. When the energy levels turned neutral again, ProtoMan let down his shield, only to see that most of the area was but a mere pile of disintegrating pixels, as well as some unlucky pre-deletion Heelnavis who couldn't erect a Dark Aura in time.
Strange, ProtoMan said mentally, reviewing the readings from his visor, That explosion was filled with Dark Power. If Dr. Regal is really involved in all of this, did he merely lose control over the power or is he setting another trap to catch us off guard?
The sword-wielder whirled around, only to see the remaining Heelnavis turn away and flee, though not by fear; it was as if they were suddenly commanded to switch targets. ProtoMan wanted to pursue, but then involuntarily glanced back, only to see that his comrade TomahawkMan wasn't faring any better than the disintegrating Heelnavis; unlike the sword-wielder, TomahawkMan had been fighting the Heelnavis much longer, and had to the the full force of the sudden explosion as he lacked a shield for protection. Now, he was sprawled across the floor, wallowing in shard-like pixels.
"G-go ahead, ProtoMan!" TomawkMan shouted, seeing the sword-wielder's hesitation. "'Missions first, concerns later!' That's what Colonel always told me!"
"Which is the right method, of course," verified a deep, cringe-worthy voice. From the slanted entrance, both Colonel and SearchMan emerged, each navi clearly rattled by the explosion. Colonel's entire right side had a sea of pixels engulfing it; SearchMan's Scope Gun and helmet were mere stages from shattering. ProtoMan did flinch upon seeing them, yet, if you looked behind his visor, you could his eyes faltering, questioning the sight they were processing.
"How—what—are you two doing here?" ProtoMan asked carefully.
"We got lead right into a trap," Colonel replied darkly. "And if it hadn't been for SearchMan's warning, we both would have been caught in that explosion. When we realized we'd been hoodwinked, we trekked our way back here. And—" The commander navi glanced around at his comrades, as if making a split-second synopsis of each one—"We regroup."
"Regroup?" ProtoMan echoed.
"Exactly. SearchMan, take TomahawkMan and retreat. Neither of you are in any condition to fight."
Despite how blunt that comment was, SearchMan showed no sign of offense and merely nodded, hoisting TomahawkMan up and acting as his support. The two departed without a further exchange of words, and Colonel turned to personally address ProtoMan.
"We both know," the commander began, "That if this is truly a base built by Dr. Regal, a mere explosion won't be enough to destroy it. Were you, perhaps, more successful than we were in discovering something new?"
ProtoMan hesitated with his answer. Stating his fight with a vein-coiled MegaMan would seem to finalize the cobalt navi's negative status, something in which ProtoMan was reluctant to accept.
"Yes," ProtoMan said at last. "But this isn't the time nor place to discuss it." The sword-wielder turned aside, towards the exit in which the remaining Heelnavis used to escape, and continued, "And the enemy switched targets."
"Meaning we pursue," Colonel said conclusively, marching over to the disintegrating exit, leading the way like all high-ranking leaders do. "I understand."
ProtoMan unsheathed his double swords and followed.
III~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The taxing sounds of battle echoed throughout the halls. ProtoMan heard the mixed cacophony of busters firing, swords in parry motions, and raised voices stocked in battle-cry. Finding the arena field was a simple task; it was in an open location with walls eaten by fractures and cracks, with wires boiled down into goo, and with splinters of disintegrating rafters. A ring of Heelnavis surrounded two individuals who had the appearance of customized twins. One, with his navy bodysuit and emerald eyes was unmistakably MegaMan, without any veins coiled around his structure; the second of the duo mimicked MegaMan's size and shape perfectly, only with the mere pallet-swap of a turquoise bodysuit and chocolate-brown eyes.
The two stood in the middle of the Heelnavi circle, struggling to parry shots, yet also trying to return blows. MegaMan's arms were enveloped by data pixels, to the extent it seemed to blur his features; the turquoise navi, too, had symptoms of weakness evident on his body, but they were much less severe, not nearly as bad as MegaMan's.
ProtoMan had no idea where his sudden initiative to strike came from, but the moment he saw that MegaMan lacked the spidery bulls-eye symbol and the facts that the cobalt navi was under attack and badly injured, the sword-wielder leaped into the fray with his own hasty action.
"Sonicboom!"
"Screen Divide!"
Colonel followed up in perfect formation. His Screen Divide shockwave matched ProtoMan's own rhythm perfectly, and the two deadly projectiles met their marks with upmost accuracy. Heelnavis toppled, and with a few more rinse and repeats of the simultaneous shockwave trend, the Heelnavi division disintegrated into oblivion.
ProtoMan, however, did not unsheathe his sword and cautiously approached the two navis, Colonel following suit. MegaMan stared back at them, with a surprising mix of fear and astonishment present on his features. The turquoise navi looked more unnerved, and swiftly clenched his fingers around his forrest-green buster.
"Well, you always seem to get yourself caught into things, MegaMan," Colonel commented dryly, his tone establishing that he was not merely stating the fact as a joke. "So, if I may ask, how did you get here?"
"It's a long story, but that doesn't matter!" MegaMan replied, voice layered in anxiety, as if suddenly a catastrophe were about to strike. "You two shouldn't be here! This base is a trap!"
"We've noticed," ProtoMan said coldly.
"No, that's not what I meant," MegaMan insisted, "Dr. Regal is planning an attack on SciLab!"
"What?!" the turquoise navi cut in. "MegaMan, you never-"
"I saw LaserMan while under the Darkloids' control. He, and XANA, they were talking at one point, but a bit later, Regal appeared and mentioned activating a Tower against SciLab! Everyone, everyone there is in danger!"
"You remember being under their control?!" ProtoMan said sharply, suddenly recalling the final point during the fight, when the symbol in MegaMan's eyes seemed to falter into a human gaze.
"Y-yes. Bits and pieces of it," MegaMan answered back. "Look, I'm sorry I fought you-"
"-You fought ProtoMan while XANA-fied?!" the turquoise navi intervened.
"Yes," MegaMan confirmed, "That's why I was weakened before, remember? But XANA-"
"'XANA'?" Colonel repeated. "This is at least the third time you've mentioned that name. Would you mind telling us who this XANA is? And for that matter-" Colonel turned to face the turquoise navi, "Who are you?"
The turquoise navi hesitated, knowing that his answer would undoubtedly be reported to SciLab. He knew Colonel and ProtoMan would definitely report their encounter with MegaMan to the net-savors, which would ultimately lead to his father, Yuichiro Hikari, also hearing the news as well. And Lan didn't want to antagonize his father with the fact that he gained a virtual form. ProtoMan and Colonel didn't know about the Scanners. If Lan was reported as virtual, than Yuichiro would think it was a permanent status and blame, that his own failure of an experiment had caused it.
And Lan didn't want to antagonize his father with the fact that he gained a virtual form. ProtoMan and Colonel didn't know about the Scanners. If Lan was reported as virtual, than Yuichiro would think it was a permanent status and blame, that his own failure of an experiment had caused it.
Lan therefore tried to keep silent during the conversation, hoping that his digitally filtered voice wouldn't strike ProtoMan or Colonel as familiar. Now, however, he was thrust into the spotlight with the one question that he couldn't answer. MegaMan, too, comprehended those same circumstances, and came to Lan's assistance.
"XANA's the program who's responsible for anything related to these"-MegaMan gestured towards an unconscious Heelnavi who wore a XANA-emblem upon his chest like a badge-"These symbols called the Eye of XANA."
"Eye of-" ProtoMan's voice came to a screeching halt. An incoming energy spike was evident on his visor, and suddenly, a hurricane of black and red smoke descended into the room, with a tall, black-clad caped warrior stepping out from the haze, tightly gripping a scythe in his long, spidery fingers.
"And speaking of which, here he is," MegaMan said, half aggravated, half joking. However, what caught the cobalt navi's attention was something in which he immediately realized-XANA's lack of wounds. He had fled, kept the Hikari twins in a Vision-Burst, and sent Heelnavis after them so that his self-regeneration, a skill he had once bestowed upon the vein-coiled XANA-MegaMan, would be complete and uninterrupted. Now, he was back to resume the battle.
MegaMan tried to summon his buster, but the gnawing injuries along his arm were too severe; he flinched as his buster recoiled back into his hand, full aware that his weapons and hit points were at their bleakest brink-he was powerless now. Lan bravely stood in front of him, prepared to defend his twin, and his diamond-shaped buster replaced his right hand. ProtoMan and Colonel, upon seeing a ready enemy, gained the first strike.
"Delta Ray Edge!"
"Neo Screen Divide!"
Three ProtoMan clones dashed at XANA and slashed him in triangle formation, as Colonel acted with a zig-zag Screen Divide in perfect rhythm. XANA took the attacks full force, and quickly warped into haze, propelling his teleportation smoke at bullet-speed, reappearing behind the Hikari twins faster than reaction time. His black scythe flared with an intense aura, and he violently swiped the sickle in mid-air, sending a lightning-fast black shockwave soaring towards his opponents.
A slash, a swish, a scream.
It was over before it even began. The blast hit MegaMan blankly, sending him toppling down like an enemy Heelnavi, his pupils shrunk like tiny emerald specks in his eyes. He just realized what had transpired, and pixels flooded from him like ocean water. His body became traced with grids, and his form faded away, as if it was never there.
Emotion stunned the entire room. Lan felt the burning desire to scream, but his voice was jammed down his throat. His body was frozen with shock, as all will to move drained away from his limbs.
"What a shame," XANA taunted. "He went down so easily."
He laughed with hollow mirth, as XANA knew that MegaMan wasn't so easy to kill. The cobalt navi had already revived from death twice, once as a human and again as a program. He knew MegaMan would find another way to cheat death. However, now all that XANA cared about was keeping his enemies scattered in two separate parties, rather than as one united entity. XANA had gotten careless before, self-regenartaion taking longer than expected, and already the two separate parties had made contact and exchanged information. He would have to prevent such meetings from occurring in the future.
XANA lifted his scythe once more, only to receive a C-Cannon to the face. Colonel had angrily fired at the super-virus with his bulky rifle, landing a critical mark. ProtoMan moved in with StepSword, and slashed XANA's weapon-arm, knocking away the sickle.
"Disarming has already been tried," XANA laughed, summoning the scythe back to his hands. He feinted, pretending to bash his scythe into ProtoMan, forcing the sword-wielder to involuntarily bring up his sword to parry, and then warped aside, pelting his adversaries with downward-striking thunderbolts.
XANA himself kept his body in smoke form, gaining automatic invincibility, and resurfaced onto the battlefield once his next intended victim had been stunned. Lan was helpless now, and XANA decided to honor him by destroying the Hikari with the same attack that had felled MegaMan. His sickle swipe became an extended shockwave, and Lan's entire body was flung aside, rolling over from the mere force of the projectile, and fell face-first onto the ground, helmet swung off from his head, exposing his full face. He was gasping, trying to hang on despite his hit points rapidly dropping, and looked up at XANA with nothing but pure hate seething in his brown eyes.
"This isn't over, XANA. Not by a long shot."
Pixels began clouded Lan's sight, his virtual form fading from the Net, and he wondered, with a mixed feeling of curiosity fear, and disgust, if all Netnavis, before deletion, saw the glimpse of the hated enemy who caused it, and then a sea of their own decaying pixels before life spirited away.
ProtoMan was aghast, disgusted by his own ineptness in preventing the deletion of the two navis. And one of them, the turquoise one, had a face that exactly resembled MegaMan's, though ProtoMan only caught a glimpse of it before the navi disintegrated into deletion. The sword-wielder, though, would not permit this XANA to leave before extracting vengeance.
Colonel was also thinking along those same lines, and fired his C-Cannon straight at XANA, who dodged and caused the blast the collide with the already disintegrating wall.
Now was ProtoMan's action. As XANA levitated aside to avoid Colonel's C-Cannon, ProtoMan leaped at the virus, initiating the four-bladed move Bloody Quartet. Quickly, XANA's sickle molded into a double-edged sword, and he parried ProtoMan's quad scimitars right before impact was made.
The strain of battle made itself clear on his face, as the struggling crease lines of fatigue contorted the virus's face into stressed wrinkles. XANA barely had time to draw breath. Even as he blocked ProtoMan's blades, he could feel the curved scimitars biting into his wrist, and the power inside of him, the energy dedicated to corrupting one of Lyoko's Towers, began to suddenly gnaw at him, as if one of his specters were struggling to execute forced possession.
XANA knew he had to retreat. He couldn't afford to waste so much power, especially when throwing his grand plans into the mix.
The virus did not break eye contact with ProtoMan, but gave his double-sword a sudden push, and burst back, pixels collecting at his wrist.
"Forgive me for leaving you so soon," XANA said with gusto, body transforming into black mist, "But I have other matters to attend to. However, as your host, I did leave you some friends to play with. Enjoy."
XANA completely vanished, but his friends were evident, rearing in from the disintegrating doorway. Several eel-like viruses, with two front legs protruding from their upper body, hunchbacked brown torsos and sleek, silver snake-like tails approached the sword duo, the Eye of XANA evident upon their heads.
Colonel fought to control his own expression, restraining dismay with visible effort. Keeping his voice low-pitched, he muttered, "They're toying with us now. When I give the signal, attack, and bolt for the exit."
"Understood," ProtoMan confirmed, quad-swords molding into twin blades.
Colonel gave the sword-wielder a curt navi of approval, and lifted his thick blade into the air, roaring with a vigorous battle-cry before launching the sword swipe that would send a Screen Divide hurtling at his opponents. ProtoMan followed suit, finishing off the enemy with a quick double-sword slash, the aftermath in which he joined Colonel in escape.
IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The silhouette of the Skidbladnir quickly sped free from the Undernet, once Lan's virtual signature had disappeared from the ship's radar. His Life Point bar was downed at zero, signaling his defeat. That, in a nutshell, was the final fact that proved to Aelita it was time to retreat, regardless of failure or success; Ulrich and Odd's Life Points were direly low, and the Skid's shields couldn't endure another barrage of fire. She had guided the Skid to the Undernet's edge, erected a firewall to protect the ship from damage, sent Odd and Ulrich into battle with XANA's Heelnavis, and even fired some missiles at the enemy side for good measure. Now, Aelita concluded the mission; she recalled her allies into the Skid and sped the ship away, into the Net, reversing the directions of Lyoko to the Undernet thanks to the Skid's memory banks, and flew a crash course to Lyoko's welcoming sphere.
it had his energy signature, a silent, miserable message that verified said explosion was a sacrifice attack, a route in which Aelita's own father had been willing to take when he revived her and restored her memory.
The significance and resemblance between the two situations stopped there, however, and the tear that had been threatening to fall did not.
Tears would cloud the sight she needed to guide the Skidbladnir to Lyoko, after all.
A/N: Yep, one last note before I close off: reviews. I know that every fanfic/writer on FanFiction stresses the importance of(and perhaps pleads for) REVIEWS, but this is all we get for our writing and hard work. I am not a mind-reader. I do not know you all think about my story and chapters, and I seriously just want a little feedback on my progress. I know I might sound wimpy/cliche/etc., but any writer can tell you a writer's greatest pleasure is acknowledgement of their work. -Pearl Hikari