It was finally here. The day that Leo had been waiting for, the day when, at last, they would venture off to Lyoko for the first time. He rose with an already large bubble of excitement swelling in his chest; they had been training hard under the scrutinizing gazes of the original Lyoko Warriors for nearly a week, and finally the results had paid off. Jeremy, who seemed to Leo to have taken on the role of group leader, had declared only the previous day that it was finally time, meaning that they had undoubtedly impressed him, or he was less patient than he had made it seem in regards to his ignorance of XANA's actions. Leo chose to believe the former.
He joined the line extending outside the boy's bathrooms, where he met William, who was leaning against a wall and looking preoccupied. Sure enough, when Leo approached him, he had to call his name three times, each done with increasing volume, before William jerked out of his reverie and looked up at him.
"You okay?" Leo asked.
"Yeah, fine," William said. "Just thinking. . . ."
"About this evening?"
William nodded. "It'd be my first official trip back to Lyoko since . . . since . . ." He hung his head, his voice trailing away feebly.
"Can you remember anything at all?" Leo asked him, watching him closely.
"Bits and pieces. Most of what I can remember is fuzzy. But I can still feel his — XANA's — like, presence. I don't know how to describe it, but I can feel that something's not right with me. I could since the moment I got back. Like I'm . . . tainted," he finished in a whisper.
Leo clapped him on the back. "Come on, you're not tainted," he said bracingly. "You went through a terrible experience and you're not fully over it, that's all. Perfectly understandable. But I'm sure you'll feel much better after today; nothing helps to clear your head like cracking monster's skulls."
"How would you know? You've never been to Lyoko," William said, smirking.
"I have a vivid imagination. Plus, Odd introduced me to Battle Of Ninja Five a few nights ago. . . ."
The line slowly dwindled as they stood there, talking more enthusiastically as the conversation progressed, with the result that William looked marginally more cheerful by the time they reached inside, and looked perfectly at ease when at last they reached the lunchroom and sat down at the table with the others.
"Ah, now everybody's here," Jeremy said, pleased. "Listen, we're planning to start at 4:00 sharp. That way, if the exploration even takes longer than we'd intended, Yumi can get back home in time and we can be back here for dinner. So try to be there by then, okay?"
"Gotcha," said William. They finished their meal after a light, pleasant discussion in which they speculated what they might find on Xanadu, and then set off for their classes, where Leo and William's mounting excitement took a sudden and dramatic dive as they entered their first lesson. The day had never moved this slowly before. It was as though the clocks had been adjusted to move at half speed. William, Yumi, and Leo had to sit through several tedious hours of History, Italian, Biology, and Math before the final bell for the day rang and they were released at last. It took them some time before they managed to reach the boiler room passage, because quite a few students were lingering in the corridors.
At last, however, the throng cleared away, and they snuck into the boiler room and set off down the sewer tunnels, where the skateboards they had added for themselves the night before were already waiting for them. Several of them were missing, which meant that the others had likely reached the tunnel long before they did.
And sure enough, when they set foot inside the lab room twenty minutes later, it was to find Ulrich, Odd, Aelita, Mila, Gabrielle, and Jeremy already waiting for them. It was 3:59 by Leo's watch.
"Not a minute too soon," Jeremy said briskly, checking his own, and he leaned over the supercomputer keyboard and began typing away. "Hurry down to the Scanner Room."
"Transfer, Ulrich! . . . Transfer, Odd! . . . Transfer, Aelita! . . . Scanner, Ulrich! . . . Scanner, Odd! . . . Scanner, Aelita! . . . Virtualization!"
Jeremy's voice rang out, loud and clear, through the Scanner Room as he launched the process. With the familiar blasts of wind and flashes of light, Aelita, Ulrich, and Odd found themselves hovering in midair in the Arena of Sector Five. Their virtual forms solidified completely, then all three fell into the ring, donning the outfits that Jeremy had programmed for them months before.
"We're here, Jeremy," Ulrich called. "Standing by to welcome the others."
"I read you, Ulrich. Here they come."
"Uh — do these things, you know — hurt?" Mila asked, watching apprehensively as the scanner doors opened again.
"No," Jeremy said. "Well, not particularly."
"That's encouraging," she said sarcastically.
"Hey, don't worry, Mila," Yumi said, placing a hand on her shoulder and smiling at her. "We'll go before you if you want." And she stepped into a cabin, while Leo and William (though with some trepidation) occupied the other two.
The doors closed again, leaving Mila and Gabrielle in near total darkness, and Jeremy's voice boomed out again.
"Transfer, William! . . . Transfer, Yumi! . . . Transfer, Leo! . . . Scanner, and virtualization!"
The sensation was quite strange, though not necessarily unpleasant, Leo thought. With a sudden surge of white light, their digital profiles loaded onscreen, and a moment later, all three had landed in the Arena as well.
Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and Aelita were all staring at William. He was no longer wearing the dark garments that XANA had made specially for him, bearing the AI's crest across his chest, but his original snowy-white suit and dark trousers, with his enormous, gleaming silver sword, free of the taint of XANA. He surveyed himself, remembering his very first day in this same uniform.
Leo, however, was decked out in what seemed to be a kind of Greek armour. A bronze cuirass was strung across his chest, with matching bracers along his arms and knees, over a white tunic. His brown hair was now done in tight, elaborate curls, and a long, bronze cylinder was clutched in his right hand. He examined it closely. The cylinder was quite heavy, but did not seem to have any spikes or jagged edges. "Well, what am I supposed to do with this?" he said irritabily. "Club the monsters to death?"
Behind them, Mila and Gabrielle materialized and landed. Mila was now dressed in a lilac suit, with a short white skirt over knee-length heels, and her dark hair was drawn into a long ponytail. She looked rather like one of the cheerleaders at Kadic, but there was a black whip coiled at her hip, which she now took to examining; it lashed out to its full length, burning bright gold. "Wow," she said delightedly. "I'm definitely keeping this."
Gabrielle, on the other hand, was now dressed in a shimmering blue costume that looked not unlike it was made of fish scales. Her brown hair fell around her head, beaded with what looked like tiny sea shells and pearls, and what looked like oyster shells were positioned at her sides. She now seized these, performing the same examination of what were obviously supposed to be her weapons as Leo and Gabrielle, and opened them. She dropped them with a screech of shock. The moment the shells had been prised open, the large pearls inside had blazed with a bright, blue-green light, and two long sword points had erupted from within, made entirely of that strange, bluish-green energy.
"Wow, not bad," Odd said, as Gabrielle stooped down, grasped the shells, and closed them, so that the energy blades faded.
"If you're all done," Jeremy said, sounding slightly irritated, "please remember that we have some data to collect."
"Right, let's go then," Ulrich said. They hurried off through the footbridge that opened behind them and through a long passageway, then down a wide, sweeping staircase. Everything around them seemed to be made of the same sapphire tiles. At last they came to the end of the passage, emerging into a cavernous room with a high ceiling.
William looked around eagerly. "Okay, now where's the key?"
"There is none, William," Aelita said.
"Hmm? But last time —"
"We got rid of that function when we recreated Lyoko, after — after —"
"After I destroyed it," William finished quietly, his head bowed. Aelita strode over and placed a hand tenderly on his shoulder.
"Don't worry, William, all that is behind you now. This is the second chance you wanted, right? So don't waste it dwelling on the past."
William raised his eyes to her face, then straightened up. "You're right," he said firmly. "Let's go."
They sprinted the length of the huge room, then came up to the elevator, which brought them up to the platform at the Celestial Dome. The Overbike, Overwing, and Overboard were already waiting for them, positioned at the front and each side of the platform respectively, with the access point still burning fiercely ahead of them. Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi darted off for their vehicles, but as Odd touched the Overboard, he noticed something.
"Uh, hey, Jeremy," he called. "We've got a problem here, we're going to need another —" But he broke off quite abruptly. Something else was appearing at the front of the platform, beside the Overbike. It was flat like the Overboard, but a bright scarlet inlaid with black, and shaped like a rose, with a single, green, thorn-like stalk extending from the front, and rocket thrusters underneath.
"Jeremy, what — what is this?" Aelita said, bemused.
"Do you like it?" Jeremy asked. "I'd started working on it last year, just before we'd defeated XANA. I thought it was about time you got one, but then everything ended before I could finish. I started working on it again over the past few days, thought it would come in handy. I call it the Overrose."
"I — I love it," Aelita breathed, gazing at the new vehicle in awe.
Jeremy smirked rather smugly, grateful that Aelita could not see his face right now.
"Nice one, Einstein!" Odd said.
"About time, too," Ulrich said.
"Well, get on," Yumi said happily, gesturing Aelita forward. Aelita dashed onto the Overrose and grasped the stalk-like handle. The manipulation was much easier than with the Overwing; the Overrose turned at her slightest touch.
"Well?" she said, turning to Mila, and smiling. Mila leapt up behind her, securing her grip on Aelita's waist.
Leo jumped onto the Overbike behind Ulrich, Gabrielle sidled up behind Odd, and William joined Yumi atop the Overwing.
"Now get going," Jeremy said. "But be careful, guys. I'm still not sure what could happen if any of you get devirtualized on Xanadu. We might have to end up sifting for rematerialization codes all over again, and I'd really rather not have to go through that hassle another time."
"Don't worry, Jeremy, 'careful' is my middle name," said Odd, and he sped off so suddenly towards the access that Gabrielle nearly toppled off the Overboard and into the void of Sector Five.
"Yeah right," Ulrich snorted, and he, Yumi, and Aelita surged forward as well.
"The last time, Yumi and I came out of the other side in what looked like a volcanic region," Aelita called to her peers.
"Sweet!" Odd yelled, and they all soared into the deep tunnel. For nearly a whole minute all they could see was the pulsing walls of the entrance, but then the opening swam into view, and they flew out.
"Uh — huh?" Odd said, bewildered.
"But, what's going on?" Aelita said.
They had not, as she had thought they would, emerged into Xanadu's Volcano Sector, but what appeared to be an immense stretch of caves, much like the ones they had often sailed through in Lyoko's other sectors, but much larger and seemingly carved out of some kind of crystal.
"Jeremy, do you see this?" Aelita asked.
"Yes, Aelita. It seems that the access randomizes entry into Xanadu with each trip. Probably a ploy by XANA to make things harder for us to respond whenever he activates a tower. Speaking of which, the last time he did that, we didn't get notified until you entered Xanadu's atmosphere. Try connecting me to a Way Tower, so we can link the Super Scan program to Xanadu and pick them up unsupported from now on."
"Roger, can you guide us?"
"I'm looking now. . . ."
"I thought you said there'd be monsters here?" William said, looking around.
"It's the same as last time, completely empty," Aelita told him.
"Maybe XANA's sleeping," Odd suggested. "Be rude of us to barge into his new home unannounced and wake him up, don't you think? Maybe we should have brought him a virtual housewarming gift."
"Get real, Odd," Ulrich said, rolling his eyes, though he smiled nonetheless.
"Ulrich's right," Jeremy called. "This wouldn't be the first time XANA's pulled something like this on us. Stay on your guard, and that Way Tower is due 45° southeast."
"Here we go!" Odd said. The four vehicles wheeled around in midair and took off in the direction of the tower, their riders' hair whipping around in a virtual breeze as they burst through the air. The Way Tower loomed into view shortly afterwards, and at last they pulled to a halt. Aelita leapt from her new vehicle at once and vanished into the tower.
"All right, Aelita," Jeremy's voice said. "I'm going to activate the tower, and then you can launch the program."
"Standing by, Jeremy."
Outside, the others waited in silence, the recruits still observing their weapons, Yumi gazing around at the beautiful crystalline structure, Odd absently tossing a crystal shard into the air and catching it, and Ulrich leaning against the Overbike. Still, everything remained eerily quiet.
Aelita returned to them minutes later, bringing the news that the program had been successfully implemented. At Jeremy's orders, they soared into the Way Tower and changed territories, emerging this time into an immense swamp. Thick-trunked trees spread out for miles and miles around, sinking and rising between enormous pools of murky brown water, with great tangles of weed hanging like thick, mossy curtains from the treetops.
"Say what you will about XANA, but you have to admit he's one heck of an architect," Odd said, looking around admiringly.
"Aelita, there's a neutral tower to the west, I want you to send me as much data as you can from it. With a little luck, we might be able to see where XANA's operating from, depending on the data that we recover."
"We're on our way, Jeremy."
They swooped again, picking their way through the vast, rather eerie-looking swamp. They landed before the tower, but just as Aelita made to disembark, a loud roaring noise suddenly rang out somewhere in the distance.
"What was that?" Gabrielle demanded.
"Jeremy?" Ulrich said uncertainly.
"Um, it looks like XANA's finally woken up, you guys. But . . . I don't understand . . . I have no idea what it is . . ."
"Must be some kind of new mons —"
A tremendous, bestial bellow rent the air; the very ground seemed to quake with it. Then a hand pierced through a curtain of weeds hanging before them — a hand the size of a car tyre — ripped the plants aside, and something huge emerged from behind it.
It was nearly twenty feet tall, with shining, golden skin, coated with black, metallic plating, like a kind of armour. Silver-lined bracers covered its massive arms, and in its hands was an enormous, kite-shaped, shield-like object with two protruding handles. It had only one eye, a vivid, almost startling red, perfectly spherical and around the size of a football. It was like a metallic ogre, and that lone, fierce eyeball was glaring right at Ulrich.
"Ugh! What is that?" Mila cried, horrified.
"Jeremy, it's some kind of giant!" Aelita said shrilly.
"Like a mini-Kolossus, but just as ugly!" Odd added helpfully.
"There's another one to your right!" Jeremy yelled.
They turned as one, and sure enough, a second giant was walking towards them, though it seemed quite smaller than the first. It was wearing long, dark-blue robes, and had mottled, pale-white skin, with a ludicrous silver headpiece perched on top of its head; a thick veil fell from around the headpiece, covering its face, but two eyes glowed green through the fabric. In its hands was an enormous, spiky mace, and its face was turned to Yumi.
"And over there!" Gabrielle shrieked. A third had crawled out of the woods on their left, around the same size as the other two, but more lizard-like than either of them. It had an enormous, reptilian tail, green, scaly skin, and three-inch talons, with a head like a dragon's.
"Jeremy!" Ulrich called, his voice quivering, as he drew his katanas. "There's something weird about these things, they look almost humano —"
"Things?" the last monster that had emerged said in a raspy voice of mock-hurt. "Why, Ulrich! How very rude of you! Don't you know monsters are people too?"
Everyone stared, thunderstruck; the designs of the monsters were one thing, but they could speak as well?
"Wow, XANA must have gotten a few updates since he went on vacation. We've never met a monster that could talk before!" Odd said, in a stunned voice.
"You've never met anything like us before!" the gold-skinned cyclops said in a deep, booming, echoing voice.
"Guys, listen: I don't know what those things are, but I don't think today's the day to find out. We still have no idea what'll happen if you're devirtualized on the new world. Forget about them for now and get back to Lyoko!" Jeremy ordered.
"We got the picture, Einstein!" Odd affirmed, and he leapt into the air, landing on the Overboard with a graceful spin. "Come on, guys!"
"I don't think so!" the blue-robed monster roared suddenly. This one spoke in a raspy, metallic voice as well, but it sounded distinctly female. It raised its hand just as Ulrich made to jump onto the Overbike and shot a blast of red energy, which hit him full on and stopped him dead in the air.
"Huh? What's going on?" he yelled, horrified.
"Ulrich!" Odd kicked off on the Overboard, wheeling towards his frozen friend. But the lizard-like giant suddenly burst into a run towards them.
"Shadow Scale!" it screeched. Its mouth opened wide, and a stream of dark gas, rather like William's old Super Smoke ability, burst from its mouth; the gas exploded into dark wisps, which solidified at once into jagged black scales, scattering like pellets across the battlefield.
"Shield!" Odd cried valiantly, as the others dove for cover, and his great violet barrier appeared, deflecting several of the scales, but it didn't last. The impact smashed the shield and the remaining projectiles knocked Odd off the Overboard, sending him flying backwards into the murky water.
"Odd, you just lost fifty life points!" Jeremy said, sounding terrified. "Ulrich, eighty!" For Ulrich, trapped in midair, had taken several hits full force.
The single upside to this was that the impact had mercifully unfrozen Ulrich, and now he stood up, furious, and seized his swords from the floor. Yumi charged out front, her fans drawn and glowing in her hands.
"You okay, Odd?" Ulrich called.
"Yeah, I'm cool," he said, emerging from below the surface of the water. "Man, I got a bang out of —"
With a noise like an explosion, a plume of jade-green gas erupted from the water, and Odd vanished into it with a piercing scream.
"Odd!" Yumi and Ulrich cried in unison.
"Oh, no, Jeremy —" Aelita shrieked.
"He — he's been devirtualized!" Jeremy said, horrified. "I — I can't believe it!"
Ulrich stood for a moment, staring, horrorstruck, at the rippling pool of water where Odd had disappeared. Then a fury such as he had never known broke over him, flushing all thought from his mind, replacing it with a surge of white-hot anger.
"Super Sprint!" he roared, and he hurtled off towards the armoured giant, a blur of gold across an expanse of dark green. He kicked off from the ground so hard that a dent appeared upon the swamp floor as he jumped, and he flung one of his swords, aiming straight for the monster's eye. The blade streaked through the air, burning with a bright blue energy. But the monster suddenly seized both of his weapon's handles and pulled, so that it split neatly down the middle, and he was left standing with two massive silver blades. With speed quite disproportionate to its size, it spun around and cleaved through the air, striking at the descending katana, which shattered under the force, then the second blade whirled out towards Ulrich, pelting straight at him as he fell towards the ground, unable to dodge in midair —
Yumi's fans flew out of nowhere; the first knocked the giant's blade off course, so that it buried itself in one of the trees to Ulrich's right; the second hit the monster directly in its massive chest. With a grunt of pain, it was forced backwards a few feet, but the monster did not topple. As Yumi's fans veered back towards her, another jet of red light came soaring through the air and hit both, so that they froze instantly, quite out of reach.
"No!" Yumi cried, but the blue-robed monster was already swooping down upon her. The spiked mace came cleaving through the air, ready to strike her — but another glint of silver shone through the gloom as William launched himself forward, intercepting the strike with his massive sword. He jumped, spinning in midair using a technique he had learned from Ulrich in Pencak Silat classes, and planted his feet in the monster's chest. But he had as much success as Yumi's fans on the gold-skinned ogre. She did not even stagger; she let out a wicked howl of laughter and her hand flew to his foot. Grabbing him tightly, she flung him into the air, prying his sword from his hands as he zoomed upwards. The monster swung first outwards, and the blade ripped through Yumi's chest, so that she exploded in a storm of digital strips that faded away as the giant turned her attention back to William and launched the blade at him. He vanished with a scream.
"Yumi! William!" Mila screamed, but the lizard-like giant now came slithering towards her. Gabrielle seized her scallop shells and dashed forward, her arms working furiously as she hacked and stabbed with her blades of shimmering bluish-green energy, but every strike missed. The creature bent backwards as she swung downwards, aiming for his head, and his tail launched upwards, from between his legs, embedding itself in her chest. As her virtual form disappeared, he seized her falling scallop and flung it, still open, at Mila, who was too late to draw her whip. The blade sank into her chest before she could even pull the whip from her hip, and she too vanished.
The lizard creature turned its attention upon Aelita, who looked both shocked and defiant. Her hand flew upwards and a ball of crackling, pink energy blossomed from her hands. "Energy field!" The ball burst from her hand and shot towards him, but another jet of red light collided with it, stopping it in midair. The lizard giant's tail whipped out, curled around Aelita's leg, and pulled her off her feet, launching her in front of her own attack. The scarlet aura faded from around the orb and it unfroze, streaking through the air. Aelita was struck point-blank by her own attack, disappearing from the field.
Now, only Ulrich and Leo remained. Ulrich was grappling with the cyclops, barely dodging its great swipes, even with his enhanced speed. But just as the monster came bearing down upon him again, lightning — an actual bolt of lightning, star-bright and golden — ripped through the air and struck it, coursing along its massive body, incapacitating him like nothing else had. It was Leo, who had been beating his metal cylinder against his palm, desperately trying to make it work as he ran from the other two giants. He stared, looking both shocked and impressed, and the other giants stared too. Ulrich seized his chance to thrust one more sword at the cyclops, and as it staggered away, Ulrich darted off, his movement boosted by his virtual speed. He grabbed Leo just as the blue-robed monster's mace swung down again, narrowly avoiding the strike, flung him onto the Overbike, seated himself before him and seized the handle, then soared away, back towards the Way Tower.
As they flew off in the direction they had come, they heard the monstrous voices of the creatures ringing behind them, howling with derisive laughter.
"Jeremy . . . is — are they —"
"It's okay, Ulrich," said Jeremy, who sounded hugely relieved. "The materialization took much longer than normal, but they're here, all of them. Pull over and I'll rematerialize you."
"Roger that, Jeremy," Ulrich said. As they flew out of the tunnel, emerging once again in the expanse of caves that they had first appeared in, Ulrich skidded to a halt, and moments later, both were rematerialized.
The scanner doors opened again, and both Ulrich and Leo stepped out, panting, to see the others leaning against the walls or sprawled on the floor, looking as shocked and defeated as both Ulrich and Leo felt.
"Well that was a bust," William said after a moment. "What were those things?"
"No idea," said Odd. "But we've got a real problem. Let's hear what Einstein thinks."
"What I think? What I think is that XANA is as devious and as crafty as ever. No doubt he led us on throughout this week, not attacking so that we would lower our guard, think he was too weak to do anything, while really he was there creating whatever those things were, just so he could spring them on us at the very last moment."
"It was terrifying," Aelita said. "How they fought, their weapons and powers, how they talked —"
"I might have a theory," Jeremy said. "I think, after possessing William for so long, XANA realized just how much more effective a sentient, humanoid figure is than simple monsters. I think that after studying the four of you fighting against his forces on Lyoko for so long, he was able to implement everything he learned into his own creations, combining both the strengths of his own monsters and the strengths he saw in our group. And something else too. The designs you described to me, and their powers, it's too much of a coincidence. From what I've heard, it sounds as though these three monsters were created specifically to oppose Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi."
"That would make sense. That female monster had a power that nullified movement. If what you're saying is true, it sounds like that was designed to negate Yumi's telekinesis," Aelita said.
"Well now what are we going to do then?" Yumi said. "We all saw that fiasco just now, how are we supposed to fight against XANA with them rolling around on Lyoko?"
"Come on, Yumi," Odd said airily. "XANA's summoned all sorts of super-powerful monsters before, and we took them all down. Even the Kolossus. We'll get them too."
"Odd's right," Jeremy said. "For now, we'll just have to keep working."
"Oh, don't tell me —" Ulrich groaned.
"That's right!" Jeremy said cheerfully. "More training!"
[Just a little author's note here: So, the fight might have been a bit underwhelming, but I had to rush this chapter a bit because I'm so busy and just wanted to get it over with. I can assure you that they'll be better in future :)]