Lord Maximus: I don't own Code: Lyoko.

Summary: What if Xana had managed to destroy Lyoko's Core while possessing Ulrich's body during Nobody in Particular? What if the battle was much harder than they would have guessed?

Aelita and Jeremy sprinted and glanced back to see how many monsters were following them. The dozen monsters that were deactivated sprang to life and chased them. They pelted forward as they tried to to avoid the fire storm of lasers that started put the forest on fire. Their screams were caught off by the sudden movement, activity, and the shrieking sound of laser fire.

Yumi ducked and William's sword missed, wedging itself into the tree behind her with a solid thunk. William growled and charged at her with one fist gathering dark energy as he hauled it back and sent it forward to her face. But this time Yumi was ready for her. She blocked the swing by grabbing William's wrist with her right hand and grabbed William's neck.

Holding William's neck tightly Yumi swung him hard against the tree and kept him pinned there.

"Everyone, go help Jeremy and Aelita! Xana's monsters just went after them!" shouted Yumi.

William's sword suddenly flew out of the tree and into William's left hand. Yumi gasped as William twirled the sword in his hand and the hilt of the sword hit Yumi in the stomach hard. She gasped as the air escaped her lungs and sent her flying.

"Yumi!" shouted Hiroki.

Yumi got up and looked at them with a stern glare.

"Go! Now! It's no good if Xana gets rid of us all here! Go help Jeremy and Aelita!" shouted Yumi.

William ran at her and she was distracted and his foot connected with her skull. Yumi crashed to the ground and William smirked as he raised his sword towards the others.

"I said GO!" shouted Yumi.

Everyone took the message and ran for it. William grunted and turned back to Yumi. She got up trying to ignore pain her head suffered from the blow. She scrambled to her feet before William could attack again . . .

But he didn't.

"What are you waiting for, Xana? Too afraid to fight me? Even though you took Ulrich away three times now and captured William?" asked Yumi as she spat out the AI's name.

William simply glared but did not move. Yumi was having trouble keeping herself calm. She charged and reared back her fist. William smirked and prepared for another all out assault.

Jeremy and Aelita ran for their lives as more and more lasers kept getting closing to them. They gasped desperately for air to keep running and sweat poured down their faces. They soon saw the sewer hatch and opened it. Jeremy held the hatch in front of him that manage to block some lasers but one managed to hit his knee.

The blond boy screamed in pain.

"Jeremy!"

Aelita grabbed Jeremy and they both jumped into the sewer. Several Kankrelats jumped in after them, only to be kicked into the water by Aelita's foot. The monsters headed towards the factory but luckily for the Lyoko Warriors several police cars were on the street with police officers firing their guns off as the monsters came out of the forests. The street was lit up in flames in a battle between the police and Xana's minions.

Jeremy and Aelita climbed up the ladder and they looked to see where the factory once stood. The bridge was still intact but where the factory was nothing but an area covered scrap metal and black soot. They walked into see the floor had gaping holes where they could see all the way down to the supercomputer floor. They looked to see the elevator survived the explosions and entered it.

Pressing a button the elevator took them down to the lab. When the door opened Jeremy and Aelita gasped to see everything was intact.

"Hurry down to the scanners, Aelita. I believe Ulrich has his hands full." said Jeremy.

Aelita nodded to the ladder down to the scanner room. She jumped and landed on the floor. She entered one of the scanners and Jeremy started the virtualization sequence.

Ulrich ran through the Ice Sector now that he finally managed to regain all of his life points. He looked towards the tower to see three Tarantulas and five Mantas guarding it.

"Need a little hand?" asked a voice.

Ulrich whipped his swords out and whipped around to see Aelita. The pink haired girl smiled and put her hands on her hips.

"You'tr looking stressed." said Aelita, amused.

"Sorry, but I've been dealing with Xana's monsters for the last twenty four hours." said Ulrich.

"We better hurry, Ulrich. The others won't last long against Xana's monsters and William." said Aelita.

Aelita took off into the air with her angel wings allowing the monsters to spot her. She fired two energy orbs that destroyed two Mantas already. Ulrich used this opportunity to attack.

"Super Flash!"

He ran forward and jumped into the air. He threw one of his swords that landed right on the back of a Tarantula, successfully piercing the Eye and landed on the back of another one. He stabbed it and both monsters exploded at the same time. Ulrich turned his attention to the last Tarantula and blocked the heavy barrage of lasers with his swords.

He managed to deflect a few shots and several lasers flew back and hit the monster in the underbelly.

"Great work, Ulrich but it's only damaged."

"Energy Field!"

A pink orb flew in and blasted the last Tarantula. Ulrich looked back to see Aelita flying in with the last three Flying Mantas on her tail.

"Super Flash!"

Ulrich ran past Aelita as she landed on jumped onto one of the Mantas. He threw one of his swords that successfully destroyed one of them and stabbed the one he was riding. He jumped onto the last one. Aelita ran into the tower and flew to the upper platform.

Just as she was about to input the code she stopped.

"Jeremy? This tower that was used to transport William into the real world must be connected to the program Xana is using to control him, right?" asked Aelita.

"Yeah, why?"

"If we can hack into the data we might be able to find a way to free William." said Aelita.

"Of course! Aelita, you're a genius."

Aelita quickly hack into the tower's data and then sent the data to Jeremy before placing her hand on the interface.

AELITA

CODE: LYOKO

The tower turned from red to white.

William raised his sword to finish Yumi when he screamed and suddenly vanished. Jeremy pressed the ENTER button.

"Return to the Past now!"

Yumi woke up to her surprise to see her laptop on and Ulrich's face was on it!

"Ulrich!? But I thought . . ."

"It's okay, Yumi. Let me explain."

Ulrich proceeded to explain what happened. When the story was over Yumi allowed a tear to fall down her cheek as she smiled.

"It's good to know you weren't deleted, Ulrich."

"I know the feeling."

They both smiled.