Authors note:
Jesus I just realised how close I really am to what I've been working towards for the past 5 years and that to me truly is mental
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Episode 73: Franz Hopper
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The dead of the night had fallen over the city and mostly everyone was asleep, however for the case of Aelita and Yumi they were suddenly awoken by the sound of Yumi's phone ringing, begrudgingly she reached for it groaning at having barely been asleep,
"Huh" she said as she heard Jeremie say "Yumi, its Jeremie we need you and Aelita to head to the factory rn, the super scanner has just picked up an attack from XANA", Yumi was confused as Aelita got out of bed stretching and rubbing her eyes, "Because believe it or not there are 5 activated towers" finished Jeremie whilst behind him as Dallas was getting his shirt on had his phone to his ear, "Yeah get you arses to the factory as soon as possible and wake up William on the way" he said as he pulled on his jacket, "this is a big one" said Jeremie, Dallas loaded the Sawn Off and holstered, "Yeah XANA's pulling out all the tricks this time" responded Dallas as he holstered the Glock 17 ready for trouble.
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Within record time all the warriors had made it to the factory and were standing outside the elevator waiting for it to open,
"I've got a bad feeling about this one" said Jeremie, but the others weren't as worried as he was, except Dallas who was expecting trouble, "No, relax Einstein we'll take out your 5 towers in no time" said Odd, but Jeremie was still getting shaky, Yumi ran over with Ulrich, the two having gone the long way, "Come on we better get moving" said William as he started to run on the spot, "Calm down will ya" said Ulrich as he patted him on the back, Aelita pressed the button and the elevator closed and descended "What's the plan of attack Einstein" asked Yumi, Jeremie looked towards her "No idea, this is gonna be a long night" he said then the elevator stopped, as the doors opened, the warriors were suddenly taken aback, the man who had haunted Aelita's dreams was sitting at the computer terminal typing away calmly "Ah, there you are" said the man as he turned around to face the warriors, his voice a soft English accent, Dallas quickly drew his Glock and held it up, "No need for that, I have been expecting you" added the man, Dallas slowly began to lower his pistol, the man turned around and carried on typing "That XANA, locks the door, but leaves the window wide open" he said coldly as he typed, suddenly the super scan showed the towers deactivating, Jeremie walked forward to look at the screen, "But I mean… what… what…" started Jeremie, then he gulped and asked "What're you doing here", the man smiled through his moustache and beard "I am deactivating the tower" he answered as he returned to his work, "Without going to Lyoko" said Jeremie who was taken aback by the comment, the others walked forward slowly with Dallas taking the most caution towards him, "But who are you" Asked Aelita, the man seemed almost confused by the question as he turned and looked at Aelita "What have you not understood yet, I am Franz Hopper" he responded, the others were again shocked, "But" started William as he was the only one able to speak, "I am the one who created Lyoko, and XANA before I lost control of it" said Hopper as he sounded full of regret, "From the very beginning it was a computer program I designed to counter a Military project" Added Hopper showing signs of glory days, "What… What about me" asked Aelita as Jeremie moved towards her, "I created you to be the guardian of Lyoko" said Hopper as he turned and looked at the younger girl in the same way a man would look at his daughter, "but I never thought I would see you one day in flesh and blood" he said showing signs of joy and happiness, Ulrich however was starting to get sceptical "But where have you been these past few years" he asked, Hopper stopped for a moment as everyone looked at him he turned and face the screen "well let us say I was a prisoner, but I managed to escape" he answered, Yumi was shocked that the man in front of them had been under their noses the entire time, "what now then" asked Yumi, Hopper suddenly had determination on his face as he said "We have to destroy XANA once and for all", Jeremie looked at the screen in an attempt to impress the older gentlemen, "We'd love to but XANA's given Aelita a bug, if we switch the super computer off, Aelita switches off too, I've been trying to free her" Said Jeremie, Hopper ignored him and looked at Aelita "we will find the Antivirus you will see" said Hopper as he carried on typing, "Sure but how" asked Jeremie, Hopper turned to him and placed his hand on Jeremie's shoulder "Well that young man is why I came, I am here to help" said Hopper, but Dallas seemed slightly off as he holstered his Glock 17.
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With the attack having been thwarted by Hopper, the warriors returned to school, Odd and Ulrich had gone back to their room, William back to his and Yumi back to hers as Aelita decided to join Jeremie and Dallas in their room for a moment, Dallas was taking off his holsters and placing them in a hiding spot in his room, Jeremie had been unable to stop smiling after meeting Hopper, and had been singing nothing but praises about him, to the slight annoyance of the others,
"He's very fatherly" said Aelita as she sat on Jeremie's bed, "actually in a way he is my father, he created me" she added, Jeremie folded his arms "That's true, I adore my own father, but he's no genius, this Franz Hopper is a real life Genius" said Jeremie again singing the praises, Aelita stood up and said "That's it for me I'm going to bed", she then blew a kiss that Jeremie failed to noticed, Dallas looked at him like he was an idiot "Really" he said before lying down unable to get back to sleep.
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The Crack of dawn and the school was busy with life; Jeremie had fallen asleep at his desk whilst Dallas had managed to sleep in for once having had no prior issues, Jeremie and Dallas were awoken by the formers phone ringing,
"Hello" said Jeremie quickly answering it, "Jeremie it's me" said a voice, "Franz" said Jeremie who was still half asleep, "no, Michael Your father" said Jeremie's Dad, Dallas chuckled as he grabbed his jacket, but Jeremie felt embarrassed "You know why I'm calling" said Jeremie's Dad, "Happy birthday big guy" he added, Jeremie had been so busy and had been pulling so many late nights that he'd forgotten the big day, then he turned around to see that the others had snuck in and all shouted "HAPPY BIRTHDAY EINSTEIN", Jeremie was caught off guard and taken aback, "bye the way, your mothers worried about you, you should call us more often" said Jeremie's dad, everyone moved up to hug Jeremie, Except Dallas who rubbed his hair and Aelita who gave him a kiss on the face, "Have you thought more about that Prestigious school" asked Jeremie's Dad but Jeremie was too nervous to talk about it, "Listen I have to go, my friends just came in" said Jeremie as he hung up, "Here a present" said Odd as he handed Jeremie a brown package, "What're you waiting for, go on open it" said Ulrich, Odd smiled with joy as Jeremie removed the paper to reveal a drawn photo of the group, "Wow" said Jeremie as he was shocked at the detail and Accuracy of the photo "It's great" he said, "Yeah and I drew it all from memory" said Odd feeling proud of himself, "Hence the constant burning smell" said Dallas as he laughed, Ulrich nodded to Yumi who smiled and stepped forward "the gift from me and Ulrich is we want you to be the godfather of this little guy" said Yumi as she rubbed her belly, Jeremie began to stutter, "Are… Are you sure" he asked scared, Ulrich stepped forward saying "Yeah of course we're sure", Jeremie smiled and a tear began to form in his eye "Thanks you guys" he said putting the framed photo on the side "Hey how about going over to the factory now" added Jeremie with a smile, "I can't wait to see Franz again" he finished excitedly.
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That excited feeling that Jeremie had didn't last, as upon arriving at the factory and after a brief talking with Hopper things had taken a bad turn
"you used the scanners to virtualize human beings" Asked Hopper seemingly unclear on what Jeremie had just said "well Yes, it was the only way we could find and deactivate towers on Lyoko" answered Jeremie, the others looked nervous as overnight Hopper had turned from caring into more ruthless, William stepped forward as Hopper turned the chair back towards the computer screen, "Is that a problem" he asked, Hopper locked his hands together "The virtualization process was not ready for Human beings" he said as he looked almost unfazed, "It's a very dangerous procedure with very serious side effects" said Hopper as he turned back to the warriors who were uncertain of what he was implying, "such as" asked a doubtful Yumi as she held her belly, "Cell Degeneration" said Hopper as he turned away to the screen, the others started to shake but were unsure what it meant "Cell what" asked Odd as he looked at William and Ulrich, Jeremie knew what it meant but he was too scared to speak, "The cells begin to decompose" said Dallas as he looked slightly angry at the thought.
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Ulrich, William, Yumi and Odd had all taken the elevator to the scanner room, as the four humans who had used the scanners the most frequently they were the most at risk, Hopper opened a medical check program, Dallas, Aelita and Jeremie watched as the results opened,
"I didn't know there was a program for that" said Jeremie, Odd was the first to be scanned by the medical program "Odd is clear" said Hopper as he moved onto William "William checks out" he added as he looked at Ulrich "As does Ulrich", then he moved onto Yumi and before it could register as clear an X appeared over the window of her face, "But Yumi" finished Hopper not even looking at the others "No it can't be" said Jeremie as the scan located the issues which was located in Yumi's head.
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What was meant to have been a day of happiness for the warriors had soured and turned into one of misery, the warriors had returned to school and Yumi was on the brink of tears as she sat down with Ulrich placing his arm around her for comfort, he was seething with anger
"I can't believe it what a nightmare" said Yumi starting to cry, Ulrich held her tighter "Nice work Einstein, Dr Shriek transplants animal limbs onto human beings but compared to you, he's small time" Said Odd, Jeremie folded his arms as he struggled to speak, "I… I couldn't have known" he said, but they didn't want to hear it, "I'm sorry" he added, but Ulrich was beyond annoyed at this point "You sorry" he said under his breath before standing up and was close to shouting as he said "tell that to mine and Yumi's kid, have you even thought about how that could compromise it", Jeremie stepped back scared at his friends outburst, "Yumi…" started Jeremie, but she closed her eyes not even wanting to see him, "Leave me alone Jeremie, I want to be alone" she said as she stood up and walked towards the dorm room, Dallas looked at them, "How was he meant to know" Said Dallas, but his words fell on ears that didn't want to listen.
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Yumi hadn't even come down for dinner, and Ulrich had decided to check up on her and stay with her to make sure she was okay, William and Odd sat looking at Jeremie with looks that showed how angry they were,
"I'm sure there's a way to cure Yumi" Said Jeremie trying to break the silence but this didn't help "we don't even know exactly what's wrong with her" said Odd as he put down his food, "I'll work it out promise I will" said Jeremie trying to fix things, "I think you've done enough damage as is" said William as he slammed his fist into the table, "What do you mean by that, that everything's been my fault right from the start" said Jeremie starting to lose his own temper, William lent forward "if you hadn't turned on that fucking computer, Dallas wouldn't be a machine and one half of him lost on Lyoko and Yumi wouldn't be ill" he said, Dallas looked at him as he stood up saying "I can't deal with this shit" as he walked out of the cafeteria, Jeremie looked down angry before getting upset and standing up walking away, Aelita stood up getting frustrated at the two, "You know William, if it weren't for the scanners I wouldn't be here" she said as she followed after Jeremie.
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Adam and Evelyn listened from outside the cafeteria, they slowly hid as Dallas had left and moved towards the dorm building,
"okay what's going on" asked Evelyn as she looked at Adam, but he remained silent, "Come on you usually have an idea" she added, Adam turned around looked at her "I have no idea" he said, this left Evelyn shocked "XANA hasn't told me anything apart from where to be tomorrow" said Adam then he noticed Dallas walking out of the dorm building with his holsters on and zipping up his jacket, "Best get a move on then" said Evelyn as she moved to keep an eye on the others inside the cafeteria.
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After lights out Jeremie looked at the empty bed next to him, he was thinking everything over as he knew that everything was his fault, he'd set of a chain reaction over nearly 2 years, he laid down to try and get some sleep, whilst at the factory Dallas drove out in the Interceptor looking back at the factory before setting off to ends unknown, whilst back at the school, both Yumi and Aelita laid awake but remained in silence, William sat on his bed cross legged as he couldn't sleep at what had occurred, he felt like he'd found something that allowed him to be accepted but it was now being torn apart, Odd and Ulrich were laying down, Ulrich had managed to fall asleep but Odd was still upset at all the day's events, back in there room Yumi heard her phone ring and she quickly picked it up "Hello" she said, and it was a voice that she wasn't expecting "Yumi its Franz, I have some good news, Tell the others and meet me first thing tomorrow at the factory" Said Franz, Yumi looked over at the sleeping Aelita and smiled "Okay we'll be there" she responded as Franz hung up.
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The warriors minus Dallas all met at the factory, to the annoyance of most of them Aelita had told Jeremie, and as such they were silent towards him, the doors opened and without even missing a beat Hopper said
"I now know how to program the anti-virus which will free Aelita", Jeremie held back as the others walked up, whilst it was good news they were heavily sceptical "all I need now is the Data from sector 5" said Hopper as he remained focused on the screen "Great we'll go and get it then" said Aelita, the others smiled knowing the fight was soon over, but speaking with a voice of reason and scepticism Jeremie stepped forward saying "I thought the scanners were too dangerous", Hopper immediately responded "If we want to get to sector 5 then we have no choice" his tone seemed determined if flat and monotone, "It'll be our final mission" said Odd, William raised his fist in joy "Yeah let's make XANA our bitch" he said, Jeremie however seemed to be sceptical, "Then what am I supposed to do" asked Jeremie, Hopper finally showed some emotion "if I were you I would stay out of my way" he said with a slightly angry tone, Jeremie finally snapped "It's not fair, everyone blames me for everything after me and Dallas both turned the supercomputer back on together" he said lashing out at everyone, Aelita got slightly scared as the others mostly ignored him, Hopper turned around to face Jeremie, "Perhaps, but you are the one who played the sorcerer's apprentice, you are the one who put your friends lives at risk, and you are the one who let XANA destroy my diary" said Hopper as he turned back coldly towards the computer screen, "fine I get it" said Jeremie as he turned around and stormed off back into the elevator slamming his hand against the button "Jeremie" said Aelita as she rushed towards him but the doors shut between them, "Right shall we" said Hopper as his tone changed significantly to one of more joy.
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Jeremie sat in his room looking at the sketch that Odd had made of them all he was deeply hurt by the sudden turning on by his friends he put the photo down and sank into his chair, he was barely holding it together as was close to crying, he slammed down the picture frame causing it to crack, immediately he picked it up regretting his action, but it was too late the glass was cracked across Dallas's and Aelita's section of the drawing.
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Hopper typed onto the computer and had started the virtualization program, he selected the ID cards
"Transfer Ulrich, Transfer William, Transfer Yumi, Transfer Odd" said Hopper as the scanners closed and the warriors began to spin and rise, "Scanner Ulrich, Scanner William, Scanner Yumi, Scanner Odd" said Hopper as he hit enter giving them the blast of air, "Virtualization" said Hopper, the four squared outlines appeared but not where they expected, instead they appeared inside the dome of Sector 5, "What the fuck" said William as he realised, "You gotta be shittin me" said Odd, Ulrich smiled as he said "We've arrived in Sector 5", Yumi chimed in saying "Unreal", Hopper spoke up saying "of course its direct access, the transporter is a little, Antiquated", the spinning stopped inside the dome as the wall opened up.
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Back in his room Jeremie was still sunk in his chair but something was bothering him, as what Franz said to him was playing in his mind
"And you are the one who let XANA destroy my diary", the words wouldn't leave him alone as he grabbed the CV radio mike, he quickly tuned it and pressed down "Dallas" he said hoping for a response, there was static before he heard back "Yeah" he responded Dallas, he'd laid in his car all night with his feet hanging out the window as he'd parked over the nearest mountain "Where did you put Hoppers Destroyed Diary" asked Jeremie as he stood up looking at the room, "I hid it under the floor in case Adam or Evelyn tried to claim it" said Dallas then he thought to himself, "You on to something" he asked, Jeremie didn't know yet as he managed to pry up the floor board, and looking at it "And you're the one who let XANA destroy my diary", the words played out again "How could he know" asked Jeremie to himself briefly forgetting that Dallas was on the CV radio, "How could who know what" asked Dallas as he bolted up right into the car seat, "How did Hopper know that his Diary had been destroyed" said Jeremie, Dallas thought for a second, "we didn't make a log of it did we?" he asked, then it dawned on Jeremie, as he rushed back to the desk "Dallas get to the factory as quickly as possible" said Jeremie, Dallas smiled as he turned the key saying "Say no more" he cut the connection as he reversed onto the road and pulling up the red button and thrusting the gear stick forward the V8 Engine let out a deafening roar as he slammed down his foot and the interceptor moved at an impressive speed.
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"the countdown has begun, clean up and I will send Aelita over" said Hopper as he watched the screen, Ulrich and William had moved ahead, they stopped as they entered the main room, numerous Creepers sat defending the key, with Evelyn standing there her rapier in hand, "Franz I don't mind cleaning up but there are a shit of creepers in here" said Odd, Hopper was all too quick to reply "No problem I've programed you some new weapons", the warriors were confused as they looked at their weapons, "Uh Franz I don't see what's new about this" said William, as he nor any of the others noticed anything different, the Creepers lined up and were about to spit out a laser, Odd on instinct fired a laser arrow, the arrow pierced the head of one of the creepers but it carried on moving as it suddenly boomeranged towards another creeper destroying it followed by another, each at different points of the room, Evelyn looked at the destroyed monsters, "what the…" she started, as she looked towards the warriors, "Homing Darts" said Odd as he fired another arrow, it struck its target before flying towards another two creatures leaving them with the same fate, Ulrich swung his sword and two energy beams emitted which destroyed another two of the monsters, Evelyn quickly hid as she said "You have got to be shitting me", William ran up and jumped he flipped his sword around and slammed it into the ground causing a shock wave which knocked several of the creatures off balance destroy 4 of them, "This is awesome" said William, Yumi threw her fans, they moved faster than normal and sliced through the throats of the Creepers "Don't get cocky" said Yumi with a laugh, then Ulrich looked around the room, "I've spotted the key" said Ulrich pointing towards it, due to the destruction of several of the creepers it was now barely guarded, Evelyn noticed and ran to defend it, "Hey Ulrich, Race ya" said William, Ulrich laughed and said "You're on" followed by him shouting "Super Sprint" and darting off at an incredible pace "Cheeky bastard" Laughed William, he then said "Super smoke" and disappeared in his cloud of smoke and following after Ulrich, the last two Creepers tried to hit both of them but both failed to hit either of them due to their speed, Evelyn tried to intercept Ulrich, but William exited his super smoke and jumped up and slammed his sword into the ground, the shockwave knocked her back into the wall, Ulrich jumped up onto a ledge and moved towards the key quickly jumping to activate it, a section of the wall then began to descend allowing the warriors to move forward "Well done Ulrich" said Hopper, whilst further back in the room, two creepers opened fire on Yumi, but she effortlessly blocked the shots with her fan, "Oh right" she said as Odd moved and quickly fired a laser arrow destroying both creatures, "This is too easy, I want more creepers" said Odd with a laugh, "Do not worry it is not over yet, there are still more surprises" said Hopper to himself strangely.
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The Interceptor was barrelling down the street and had entered the city, moving at a speed of 80MPH it had attracted the attention of law enforcement, Dallas was ignoring them as he knew he had a job to do, and the sirens were drowned out by the V8 engine, he quickly turned into a street, Dallas smiled as he knew that the police were unable to keep up with him, the two police officers in the pursing car watched as the strange car was out running them, the younger officer who sat in the passenger seat grabbed the CV Mike
"this is patrol car number 16 we need back up, in pursuit of black car has two oil drums, need help in taking it out" said the officer but then as if by request the Interceptor seemingly exploded, the oil drums exploded shooting a fireball into the inside of the car and downwards launching the car into a nose dive causing it too skid violently until crashed into a building finally causing it to stop moving, the police officers screamed as they grabbed the CV mike, "This is patrol car 16, we need an ambulance" said the older officer as the younger one stepped out, Adam watched from the top of an adjacent building, he threw down a smoking missile launcher, he grinned as he turned into electricity and flew down to the crash site, the interceptor had been turned into a burning wreckage, all of Dallas's skin had been burnt off thanks to the initial explosion and now all that remained in the driver's seat was the endo Skeleton remains along with a number of burnt organs, "you always were attached to this car" said Adam as he snapped Dallas's right arm off, leaving it still gripping the steering wheel, he then tore the upper body from the lower section and dragged the remains from the car, "come on time to go home" said Adam sadistically as the police watched scared at what they were seeing.
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In the factory Hopper began to launch the Virtualization program again, he seemed all too happy about it,
"Aelita are you ready for virtualization" asked Hopper, whilst down in the scanner room Aelita stepped towards one of the vacant scanners ready to step inside, "Yes" she replied but behind her the elevator door opened, she turned around to see Jeremie running up behind her going "Shhh" Aelita was confused but went along with it, "Here we go" said Hopper as he selected Aelita's ID, "Transfer Aelita" said Hopper as he filled in the rest of the code "Scanner" he added before hitting enter and saying "Virtualization", Aelita's blue squared outline appeared but not in sector 5 as she expected but in fact the desert sector on a lone Plato that was separated from the main one "Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, William" she called out, "Franz I am Not in sector 5" she said trying to make sense of the situation "What is going on" she added but Hopper remained silent, Jeremie entered the computer room, Hopper looked back to see him, "Jeremie what are you doing here" he asked confused as to Jeremie's presence, "I just came to see how you're managing, XANA" said Jeremie, the game was up and XANA's logo appeared on Hoppers glasses, Jeremie moved to attack, but XANA shocked him backwards using a small electricity blast, "Give up" said Jeremie as he coughed from the blow, "Dallas will be here any minute" he added trying to stand up, "I'm counting on it" said XANA, the Voice that was Hoppers was now more digitised, "What?" asked Jeremie, then the elevator opened again, "Special Delivery" said Adam as he threw the remains of Dallas onto the ground "Good" said XANA as he turned back to the computer screen.
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On Lyoko the warriors entered into the next room having been able to take their time, they were blissfully unaware that it was XANA behind the wheel; they heard a creeper behind them and they turned around to see it,
"Wanna make it a contest, whoever destroys the most wins" said Odd as he raised his arm, but he heard a clicking noise, he was out of arrows, Ulrich and William drew their swords but they devirtulized out of their hands, as did Yumi's fans "What's going on" asked Ulrich, William turned around to see many more Creepers, "Franz" asked Yumi, then the creeper fired and struck Ulrich, the hit was clean in the chest and he felt an immense amount of pain "Ulrich" said William as he turned back, "Something's wrong" sad Odd then he jumped down to the next platform but he nearly lost his footing and almost fell down "Let's get out of here" said Odd, the others jumped down and followed after him, Evelyn emerged into the room, "the tables have turned" she said as she pulled out her musket and fired, the shot hit Yumi's shoulder but she didn't feel as much pain as Ulrich did, "What that's not fair" said Ulrich, they kept moving but the Creepers were now giving chase towards them, they quickly found the exit of the room and jumped up to exit, "Bye" said Odd before William grabbed him causing him to get hit by a laser "Shit that hurts" he said as he limped after the others.
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"your friends are in a little trouble, I have fixed the vitalization program so they cannot devirtulize" said XANA as he finished typing he turned to Adam, "Hook up the machine and begin step 2" he added, Adam smiled and moved to grab a cable, Jeremie quickly grabbed one of the tools that had been left on the floor and charged at XANA, but Adam turned around and drew his anaconda firing a single shot striking Jeremie in the shoulder knocking him down, Jeremie let out a whaling scream, he'd never felt such pain, XANA looked at Adam angrily "you fool it is too early" it said before looking back at the screen "And now for the grand finale" said XANA as on Lyoko the Scyphozoa moved towards Aelita, with nowhere to run and with no one to defend her she was trapped, she started to step backwards but found herself against the edge of the plato, whilst in the factory Adam grabbed a cable from the computer screen and pulled it towards the remains of Dallas, he plugged it into Dallas's head "What're you doing" asked Jeremie as he held his shoulder as it gushed out blood, "Rectifying a mistake" said Hopper as another window appeared showing a data transfer.
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The four warriors either ran or hobbled into the next room,
"What do we do now" asked William as Ulrich looked back to see they'd built up some ground "there's only one thing to do" said Odd, Ulrich looked at him "and what's that" he asked, Odd then looked up and yelled "FRANZ WE NEED HELP", then Yumi spotted it "No not Franz, XANA" she said as she pointed towards a tower floating away from the platform, the first one they'd ever seen in sector 5 and what was worse, it was activated, "This must be the surprise" said Odd, but they'd forgotten about the creatures behind them, whilst in the desert sector, the Scyphozoa grabbed Aelita and began to drain her memory, whilst in sector 5 finding themselves cornered the warriors looked at the Creepers as they moved towards them, Odd began to start shadow boxing on the spot, which made William look at him weird, "that's completely wrong" he said folding his arms, the creature in front of Odd fired a laser, but Odd was able to dodge it, it fired another but again Odd dodged it, Odd then threw a left hook punching the creature in the head, he then threw another punch followed by another left, before he consistently punched the creature before grabbing it and head butting the creeper, the creeper was now dazed by the blows before Odd grabbed it and threw one last punch, this succeeded in stunning the creature "That worked" said William, Yumi ran towards the next creeper, it fired at her but she flipped to dodge its lasers, then it fired another one forcing her back to back with Ulrich, but the creature then turned its attention to Ulrich and it fired a laser striking him in the chest knocking him off his feet, Yumi quickly flipped and jumped kicking the creature in the head.
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Evelyn moved into the room, William noticed her and started to charge towards her,
"You again" said Evelyn as she drew her sword and slashed at William, the later managed to dodge the swings, whilst the creature Odd had been fighting had recovered and whilst Odd threw another punch, the creature fired a laser striking Odd and knocking him off his feet, Ulrich quickly jumped kicking the creature in the head, before he landed, the creature got ready to fire, but Ulrich spun his body and stretched out his leg kicking the creepers head with enough force to knock it off the platform "Chow" said Odd but then he and Ulrich turned around to see that there were still 3 creepers who were surrounding Yumi.
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In the desert sector the Scyphozoa was nearly finished draining Aelita's memory XANA watched as the number neared 0000, it looked over towards Jeremie and said
"Admit you are defeated Jeremie", Jeremie looked at Dallas as he was hooked up to the computer then at the screen, "No not this time" said Jeremie, XANA and Adam were confused, XANA turned back to the screen as the count reached the end, The Scyphozoa let go of Aelita and she fell lifeless to the ground, however the creature suddenly went berserk and began to move erratically its dome suddenly exploded as a window opened showing the red exclamation mark, "What is the meaning of this" asked XANA furious as he looked at Jeremie, "A decoy" said Jeremie smiling defiantly, whilst down in the scanner room, Aelita sat with a cable plugged into Jeremie's laptop, she had been controlling a digital copy, XANA turned, it was seething with anger as it screamed "NOOOOOOO" but Adam grabbed it, "We've still got Dallas the timeline can wait" he said, they turned around to watch the Data upload, as it reached its completion "We've got him, now we can move on with stage 2" said Adam, XANA nodded in agreement but then a voice echoed through the speakers, "Sorry to be a pain but thanks for the present" the voice was almost similar to that of Hoppers but it sounded more American than English, XANA quickly typed onto the screen to look for the upload, "What, What" it said getting close to screaming, "Where is he" screamed XANA as it turned to Jeremie, "What did you, What did you" it screamed before it completely destabilized and devolved into a black goo and ascended into the ceiling, Adam looked stunned as he looked at the screen, however he'd underestimated Jeremie as whilst he had his back turned Jeremie grabbed one of the tools and smacked it as hard as he could into Adam's head, blood erupted from his face and mouth as Adam slumped onto the floor dead.
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On Lyoko the warriors were now backed against a massive drop if they fell they were gone, the Creepers and Evelyn moved forward
"I Always wondered how this was going to end" said Yumi, then she looked at the others "And now I know" she said, The Creepers like a firing squad waited for Evelyn to raise her Rapier and lower it before they opened fire at the warriors, they each dodged the barrage of lasers, whilst in the lab Jeremie quickly typed and fixed the devirtulization program, he hit enter as quickly as he could with his injured shoulder, the Creepers fired another laser and Ulrich was devirtulized and thrown backwards by a laser, "NO" screamed Yumi as Ulrich lost texture and disappeared, "it can't be" said Odd as he looked heartbroken at the loss of his friend, "You bastards" said William as he looked at the creatures, "Don't be so pessimistic Odd" said Jeremie as he managed to get the Microphone into his ear, "Jeremie" said William as he looked up, Jeremie smiled through the pain and said "Yes I'm back, come on let's start over", on Lyoko the remaining Warriors weapons reformed and Odd quickly turned and fired an arrow, it struck Evelyn in the chest knocking her backwards, whilst Yumi threw her fans destroying one of the creatures, Whilst William ran up and jumped slicing into another Creeper, the creatures were now destroyed, but Evelyn remained as she stood up ready to fight "What about Ulrich" asked Yumi still deeply concerned "he's okay I managed to reprogram the Materlization just in time" said Jeremie, as in the scanner room Aelita ran up to help an exhausted Ulrich before he collapsed, "He's home" said Jeremie as she helped Ulrich into the elevator, "Ready Aelita" said Jeremie as he selected her ID Card, "Yes Jeremie" she replied as she stepped into the scanner, "All we have to do now is deactivate the tower" said Jeremie as he grabbed his shoulder in immense pain, "Virtualization" he said as Aelita appeared on Lyoko.
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In sector 5 a manta appeared behind the warriors and fired a laser which struck Yumi in the back knocking her down, William moved up to face Evelyn as Odd turned around to fire an arrow at the creature, but it moved out of his range, Evelyn drew her musket and fired at Odd knocking him to ground, But William swung his sword giving her barely any time to react as she barely dodged,
"Aelita, I'm entering the code now" said Jeremie as Aelita stood at the end of the Ice Sector, he hit the enter key and Aelita was absorbed by the transporter and sent to sector 5, whilst in the computer room, the black ooze returned and moved towards Jeremie entering his nose, mouth and ears, Ulrich stumbled out of the elevator as Jeremie collapsed to the floor choking, the transporter deposited Aelita and she waited for the wall to open, Ulrich rushed over towards Jeremie, as he struggled to breath, then he heard Aelita's voice over the mike saying "Jeremie I'm in the core zone", Ulrich grabbed the mike saying "Deactivate the tower hurry up", further up near the tower, The manta came back into view with Yumi throwing her fans at it, and Odd firing a laser, Evelyn noticed Aelita running up to the tower, "Oh no you don't" said Evelyn as knocked William to the ground by kicking out his legs, she turned to block Aelita, but William recovered and impaled her with his sword, she screamed as the blade erupted through her chest, Aelita quickly ran towards the tower, the gap was too far, "Jeremie" said Ulrich as Jeremie began to turn purple from the lack of air, whilst on Lyoko the Manta moved in for another attack but Aelita decided to use this to her advantage she jumped onto the creature and again jumped off that and landed inside the tower, the Manta was confused long enough for Odd to fire another arrow destroying it, "She's become a little daredevil" said William as he walked up to the others, "Hang in there Jeremie" said Ulrich as Jeremie was struggling to hold onto his life, in the tower Aelita placed her hand on the blue screen the word AELITA typed out followed by CODE LYOKO, "Tower deactivated" she said as the blue screens descended into the black void, suddenly there was a flash of white light as the return to the past activated.
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Earlier that day, the warriors except Dallas, Ulrich and Odd were in Jeremie's room, they'd been searching for him as they had numerous questions,
"We can't find him" said Odd as he and Ulrich entered the room, "we searched the factory, his car's still there" said Ulrich, the others looked concerned "I've scanned Lyoko, and he's not there despite what XANA did" said Jeremie, then he smiled a bit "It's a good thing you activated the return to the past, any longer and I would have choked to death long before I could bleed out" said Jeremie, Aelita looked at him confused "what do you mean, I didn't activate the return to the past" she said, this left them all in a state of shock, "If you didn't then who the hell did" asked William, Yumi sat down getting worried, "So Dallas has gone missing again" she said, then the printer started up, causing Jeremie to jump out of his chair, "Scaredy cat" said Ulrich as he grabbed it "well what does it say" asked Aelita, Ulrich handed the note to Jeremie, "sorry about the return to the past, will explain in due time, have to go before XANA can find me, yours sincerely F H" said Jeremie as he finished reading the note, "Hopper started the return to the past" asked William, Yumi began to worry, "I thought XANA was against us" she said, Jeremie began to chuckle, "I don't think it was XANA who activated it" he said.
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The warriors moved outside so they could catch some air considering the events,
"Jeremie listen we're sorry" said Yumi as she placed her arm around Jeremie, "Its fine, it was XANA trying to tear us apart" he said, then he stood up excitedly "oh that reminds me I did a check of all of your bio signs, and there's no trace of Bio Degradation" said Jeremie, Yumi smiled at the good news, "That's some hope at least" she said, Ulrich smiled as well as she looked at Jeremie "You know Jeremie we still want you to be the god father" he said, Jeremie got worried "I dunno" he said starting to sweat, Aelita then scorched up next to him saying "You know I'm the god mother", walking her finger along his chest, this caused Jeremie to really sweet, and in turn caused William and Odd to laugh themselves to the ground "it's not funny you guys" said Jeremie, but William through all the laughter said "then why are we laughing".
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Authors note
Oh god this was one was actually too easy to right, like I had a single idea for it and I just went full steam ahead, one scene changed from the original idea as I felt that I'd already resolved Dallas's and Jeremie's relationship with the X-800 arc, so I didn't want to go down the original route and I just changed the scene and everything else followed suit, the next chapter will be an original one, but I'm out of practice so I have no idea how long this one will take.