(=======================================================================)
Episode 74: Betrayal
(=======================================================================)
"The promise you'll one day make to me, this is repayment for the debt I am yet to owe"
(=======================================================================)
Jeremie had been up all night staring at his screen, he'd been practically glued to the screen, and for the past week he'd been alternating between the antivirus and locating Dallas, he wasn't prepared to shut down the computer and loose his friend,
"Jeremie" said Aelita as she entered the room, Jeremie almost jumped out of his seat, "Jesus" he said as he noticed Aelita standing there holding a coffee holder with two cups "I thought you could use this" said Aelita as he placed it on the table, "yeah it's been another long night" said Jeremie as he took a sip he didn't care about the still boiling hot drink, "You need to take a rest" she said, Jeremie shook his head at the idea, "no not till I'm done" said Jeremie as he put down his coffee and returned to his computer, but Aelita sat down on his lap and said "You need to take a rest", Jeremie started to blush at Aelita's actions, although she was unaware at what she was doing, "fine" said a defeated Jeremie, Aelita stood up and led him to his bed making him lay down as she laid next to him cuddling up to him, Jeremie's face turned bright red as she grabbed his arm and fell asleep with it in her arms.
(=======================================================================)
William was knocked back for what felt like the hundredth time that day, he moved back towards the boxing bag that Ulrich was training against,
"God calm down" said William as Ulrich was sweeting buckets, Ulrich looked at him as he wiped his forehead "sorry" said Ulrich as he looked at his bloodied hands, "I know you're angry, but I'm sure we'll find him" said William, but this just set Ulrich off further as he jumped and whilst turning he stretched out his leg kicking the bag, "Jeremie said that Dallas was uploaded to Lyoko, we don't know what's happened to him, either of him" said Ulrich, William grabbed him, "Come on you need some air" he said, Ulrich was still icy towards William, but he was the one he felt closest to who could help at this time.
(=======================================================================)
Yumi walked up to the boys floor, even a single flight of stairs was pure hell for her, at 8 months pregnant Ulrich would have lost his mind knowing she was doing that, she walked up to Ulrich and Odds door and knocked on it
"come in" said Odd as he sat down drawing, "Yumi" he said as he watched her waddle in "Hey Odd" she said as she sat down on Ulrich's bed exhausted, "Ulrich's out training you can wait here for him, although I don't…" started Odd as he turned back to his drawing but Yumi spoke up, "What's going on between you and him" she asked, Odd froze in place "What do you mean" he asked back, Yumi looked towards him, "You two are best friends yet you're barely hanging out with each other" she responded, Odd put down his pencil and moved to his bed sitting down, "he's been angry with me" said Odd as he folded his legs, "Why" asked Yumi, Odd got close to crying "Since I came out to you guys, he's been angry that I didn't tell you guys sooner, he just feels betrayed" said Odd as he looked away, Yumi felt really bad, both had been silent on the matter, and now Odd was fighting the battle all over again, "I… I didn't know" she said, Odd rubbed his eyes, "I want to talk to him about it but I don't know what to say, or if he'll listen" he said standing up and looking out his window, "I'll talk to him" said Yumi, Odd wanted to say something but he knew an argument would be too much for both of them.
(=======================================================================)
Adam sped through the Ice sector he was moving towards an unactivated tower when he pulled up alongside it, Evelyn was already there waiting for him,
"You're late" she said mockingly, Adam flipped her the bird as he walked towards the tower, "Has XANA filled you in on the plan" asked Evelyn, Adam looked at her, "I'm not sure about it, the Scyphozoa is only designed for…" he started but she cut him off saying "Have faith, fight fire with fire", Adam however remained unconvinced, as Evelyn placed her hand on the tower, whilst in the real world the black slime exited a plug socket and moved around unseen in Delmas's office,
"Jim, Kidd here's the detention schedule for the next week" said Delmas as he hand Jim the list "Yes sir" as Jim did a salute leaving Kidd embarrassed, "I bet you're excited Jim" said Delmas as he looked up at the Gym Teacher "About what sir" asked Jim being caught off guard Kidd laughed "The tournament" said Kidd, Jim smiled and said "Indeed I Am I can't wait to see the glory of our boys", it was obvious that Jim was getting over excited, suddenly the Black slime split off and struck Delmas, "Calm down you big lummox" said Kidd when suddenly Jim was struck and like Delmas he collapsed "What on…" said Kidd when he became the third to be struck and he also collapsed.
(=======================================================================)
Jeremie who'd managed to fall asleep suddenly darted awake when he heard the super scan going off, he quickly darted out of bed waking up Aelita in the process,
"Jeremie" she said yawning and rubbing her eyes, "Why now" said Jeremie as he grabbed his now cold coffee and downed in, "What's going on" said the still sleepy Aelita, "XANA's activated a tower" Said Jeremie as he grabbed his Phone, "Yumi, yeah it's me, There's an activated tower" said Jeremie, Yumi quickly stood up which was a bad idea "Okay I'll meet you at the factory" she said, before looking at Odd "There's an activated tower" she said, Odd moved away from his drawing "I thought things were too quiet" said Odd as he rushed to the door, whilst back in Jeremie's room he quickly dialled Ulrich's number, but it simply rang out "Damn it" said Jeremie, Aelita moved over to him, "What's wrong" she asked, Jeremie turned towards the door grabbing his laptop, "We're gonna have to tell Ulrich and William" said Jeremie.
(=======================================================================)
Ulrich and William were on their 10th lap as they had been sprinting around the school, despite their friendship starting to solidify the rivalry was still burning strong, and they were refusing to stop to see who would win,
"Not gonna let you win Ulrich" said William as was now covered in sweat like Ulrich, "Over my dead body" said Ulrich as he started to pull ahead, "I swear if you're using super sprint" said William as he laughed, but then Jim and Kidd appeared, "Jim, Kidd" said William in a polite way as he was about to pass him, but Jim stopped William, Ulrich stopped and looked back "William" he asked as he started to move back, "Jim" asked William then he noticed the XANA logo in Jim's eyes, "Oh shit" said William, Jim suddenly smacked William with incredible force, "WILLIAM" shouted Ulrich as he rushed over, but Delmas moved into view and grabbed Ulrich, "I've got him" said Delmas, Kidd moved towards William and grabbed him as he tried crawling away, "get off me you dumb fuck" said William, Jeremie and Aelita watched from behind cover, "Ulrich, William" said Aelita with a small whimper, "What're we gonna do" asked Aelita, but a solution presented itself, as Ulrich extended his blade and stabbed Delmas in the leg, with a scream of pain Delmas let go and grabbed his leg, Ulrich smiled as Jim moved towards him, as Jim lunged Ulrich dodged by rolling, Kidd dropped and moved to help, but William was waiting for this and he said "Super smoke" when he disappeared into a puff of black smoke "Right" said Ulrich as he said "Super sprint" and for him everything slowed down as he ran away, but he stopped as he noticed Aelita and Jeremie, he stopped and grabbed them "Sorry about this" he said, Aelita looked at him and asked "about wh…" but she didn't have time to finish as Ulrich shouted "Super sprint".
(=======================================================================)
William was standing by the man hole cover in the forest, he was feeling queasy and out of breath, one of the nastiest side effects of his abilities, suddenly Ulrich appeared with Aelita and Jeremie in his arms,
"…at" finished Aelita as she grabbed the back of her neck suffering from whiplash, "Sorry about that" said Ulrich as he began to take a deep breath himself, "We need to get to the factory" said Jeremie as he struggled to move the cover, "let me" said William as he managed to move it before promptly throwing up down the ladder shaft "sorry" he said as they all looked at him, "okay I'll go first" added William as he began to climb down.
(=======================================================================)
Yumi was sitting in the computer chair exhausted from all the running about, whilst Odd was nervously moving backwards and forwards,
"Where are they" said Odd to himself out loud, Yumi rubbed her belly, suddenly the elevator opened up, Odd's skin armoured up and he got ready in case of trouble but it was the others, "Oh thank god" said Yumi as she watched, William however looked at Odd's armoured up skin, "what the fuck" he asked Odd quickly de armoured, "Yeah I can do that" he said, Jeremie moved towards the chair, "XANA's taken control of three members of staff, for what reason I don't know why" said Jeremie as he began typing, "It's almost too simple" said Ulrich, as he sat down against the wall still out of breath, "I'll send you to Lyoko and lock the elevator, the door to the service hatch has been repaired, that'll give us enough time" said Jeremie, then he looked at the screen "I hope" he added to himself quietly.
(=======================================================================)
The 5 warriors stood in front of the scanners, whilst Jeremie finished locking the elevator off, he then loaded the virtualization program,
"Get ready" said Jeremie, then the scanners opened, "Scanner Aelita, Scanner William, Scanner Ulrich, Scanner Yumi, Scanner Odd" said Jeremie as they each stepped into a scanner which then closed around them, "Transfer Aelita, Transfer William, Transfer Ulrich, Transfer Yumi, Transfer Odd" said Jeremie as they began to spin and rise, "Virtualization" added Jeremie as the 5 squared outlines appeared and gained detail before dropping onto the ground "Vehicles on the way" said Jeremie, Yumi looked at Odd and Ulrich before whispering something to William, he looked confused but nodded, Then the Vehicles spawned Yumi and Aelita hopped onto the Over-Wing, as the Over-Board spawned William hopped on saying to Odd "Hope you don't mind", Odd looked annoyed then as Ulrich got onto the Over-Bike he realised what was happening, shrugging his shoulders he reluctantly got on behind him, Ulrich looked slightly annoyed, "Okay guys the tower is due north" said Jeremie, Odd decided to try and break the ice saying "Onwards noble stead" but Ulrich failed to laugh, suddenly without warning a swarm of hornets flew over heard firing a hail of lasers towards the warriors, "Quick" said Aelita as the vehicles suddenly darted off, with the lasers continuing to reign down towards them, however watching from a distance Adam and Evelyn smiled "are you sure they're shooting to miss" asked Adam, Evelyn nodded as she pointed at the Canyon "They know what to do" she replied.
(=======================================================================)
Jeremie watched the radar, he had never seen so many Hornets before, whilst in the ice sector the lasers failed to let up, the ferocity of the lasers was staggering and the Warriors couldn't move anywhere but forward,
"Jeremie how much further" screamed Aelita as the lasers were coming close enough to scare her, "Not too far" said Jeremie, then he started to pick up on the pattern, "You're nearing a canyon now" he said, Ulrich looked back, "Think you can hit them" he said almost shouting over the noise, Odd smiled and shouted "I THINK SO", Odd turned around and aimed "Laser Arrow" said Odd but it was heavily drowned out by the lasers striking the ground, Odd fired an arrow upwards it hit one of the Hornets but this did little to stop the swarm, then they neared the Canyon, and suddenly the laser fire became more and more accurate, "If we enter the canyon the swarm will be useless" said William as he shot forward and began to lead the convoy, then as they were about to enter the Hornets turned their attention to the vehicles and the barrage struck them, each were destroyed, as if time slowed down, William disappeared in a cloud of smoke and reappeared in front of Yumi and Aelita grabbing them before teleporting again on the ground leaving them skidding whilst Odd grabbed onto Ulrich as he dug his other claw into the ground slowing them down, "Shit keep moving" said Ulrich as the others ran into the canyon, the Hornets stopped their pursuit, "They're unable to follow us" said Odd as they rushed forward, but Ulrich spoke up, "I doubt they want to" he said wearily.
(=======================================================================)
Jeremie was alternating back between the radar and the security cameras, there was nothing on either, and he was getting curious and more and more concerned, he was expecting the XANA possessed faculty to attack any moment now, but one didn't seem to be coming,
"do you guys see anything" asked Jeremie, on Lyoko the group were running through the canyon "Nothing so far" said Yumi then suddenly they all stopped as a small bit of rubble fell, "What was that" asked Odd as he raised his arm, Jeremie looked at the radar "I can't see anything" said Jeremie as he got concerned, "William you with me at the front" said Ulrich as he drew his Katanna "Odd cover the rear" he added, Odd nodded and moved back to walk behind them, and the group slowly began to move again, suddenly more pebbles fell into the canyon keeping the group on their toes, "Jeremie I think someone's watching us" said Aelita as she grabbed onto the back of Yumi getting really worried, "It's probably Adam or Evelyn" replied Jeremie as he still saw nothing on the security feed, the group continued forward with more pebbles falling, when suddenly Odd was crushed as a figure dropped down impaling him with duel Katanna, dressed in a long brown old fashioned coat, with rolled up sleeves, fingerless gloves, shin high boots, brown trousers, numerous holstered weapons, including two muskets on his right side, and one longer riffle on his back over a cape that showed XANA's logo which also adorned the buckles on the holsters, a mask covered everything below the figures nose as his hair was slicked back into a ponytail and a scar adorned his right eye, the cape went down to his lower back but was draped over his right arm ending at the elbow, "ODD" shouted Jeremie as he finally got a clear trace on the figure, "Jeremie, what is this" asked William, Jeremie frantically typed but he couldn't work it out, "Aelita, Yumi run we'll hold this thing off", then they noticed it had wrist blades that Dallas had designed and built.
(=======================================================================)
Aelita and Yumi rushed off ahead, the figure moved from a fighting stance into more of a calm one his eyes slowly looking at the two, Ulrich looked at William and nodded, William drew his sword and swung at the figure but the figure jumped and Gyver kicked William knocking him away, Ulrich then swung his Katanna but the figure drew his own and blocked Ulrich's swing, Ulrich looked into the figures eyes and saw something he thought looked familiar, William got up grabbing his sword moving in for another attack, but the figure quickly raised his leg kicking away William before shoving his swords forward breaking the block with Ulrich, he then turned his attention to William, seizing the moment Ulrich Grabbed the figure but as William charged at him, the figure raised its legs and kicked William again, Ulrich let go but the figure was quick to get back on his feet as he jumped and swiped Ulrich in the face with his foot before dropping and doing the same with Ulrich's legs, the figure then pulled his muskets and fired both shots into William devirtulizing him,
"What is that thing" asked Jeremie as Odd entered the lab, Ulrich grabbed his sword and swung as fast as he could against the figure but the figure turned pushing Ulrich's arm aside with his left and extending his right wrist blade and stabbing Ulrich in the chest, causing him to devirtulize "Who…" asked Ulrich as he reached and pulled down the mask covering the figures face, "How… could you" said Ulrich as he completely devirtulized, the figure pulled up his mask and began to reload his muskets and carried on after Aelita and Yumi.
(=======================================================================)
William was sitting by his scanner when Ulrich fell out of his, William quickly grabbed him, and helped him up towards the elevator;
"He got you two huh" said William as he pressed the button and the elevator ascended to the computer room, whilst back on Lyoko Yumi and Aelita were running towards the end of the canyon, "Jeremie I can see the tower" said Aelita, then Yumi looked back hoping to see the others but instead she could only See the figure who was running up behind them at en extremely fast rate, "Aelita go" said Yumi as she stopped and drew her fans "Come on then" she said, but the figure drew his riffle and fired a shot, there was no noise but Yumi felt a hit in her leg, and suddenly she felt really faint and keeled over almost like she was gonna pass out, the figure ran up and jumped using her as a diving board and carrying on after Aelita, "Jeremie I feel so" started Yumi but she felt herself unable to speak, the figure carried on after Aelita, he was moving like an unstoppable train, Aelita looked back as the figure caught up to her, he jumped and pinned her down, "AELITA" screamed Jeremie as William and Odd leaned forward to face the screen, the figure looked down at Aelita, when suddenly his eyes raised as he turned and raised his Katanna's to block Yumi's Fans, it looked as Yumi stumbled forward barely able to move as she felt so faint, the figure then stepped forward to raise its riffle again, instead of pulling the trigger he reached for another at the front and pulled that one, suddenly with a small noise Yumi was consumed in an explosion that was so large that her devirtulization wasn't even visible to Aelita, but she was quick and moved into the tower, the figure watched but didn't make a single move, Adam walked up to him, "That was impressive, something I never thought I'd say to you" said Adam as he watched as the tower turn from red to blue.
(=======================================================================)
Back at the school, Jim, Kidd and Delmas had collapsed with amnesia, some students had found them one the ground and Delmas had been rushed to the nurses office due to his injury that he had no memory of how he'd sustained,
"So you have no idea what happened" said Dorothy as she stitched up his leg, "No I was in my office and then next thing I know I'm here" Said Delmas as he looked at Jim and Kidd who had ice packs on their heads, "I have no idea either" said Jim, Kidd remained silent as he felt embarrassed.
(=======================================================================)
Odd and William carried the unconscious Ulrich into Jeremie's room, whilst Aelita helped Yumi, the 5 were beat and had never taken such a massacre, Jeremie was shaking his head, as he sat down, Ulrich was placed on Jeremie's bed as Yumi sat next to him,
"Okay what do we know" asked William, Jeremie looked over at him "We'll you were there" he responded, William shook his head, "Whoever it was he was fast and I mean he knew our moves as we were making them" said William, Odd sat on Dallas's bed, "do you Think XANA's got another agent" he asked, Jeremie briefly thought about it "it costs him a lot of resources to make them, I doubt he'd waste so many to create a new one" said Jeremie as he grabbed a notepad and wrote down the idea to cross it out, "Any other ideas" asked Jeremie, Yumi looked at him "A new monster maybe one that's designed to adapt to us" she suggested, Jeremie noted it down "New monster" he said, Aelita moved and sat on Jeremie's lap turning his face red, "wouldn't that be the same as an agent, the resources required and if not why only one" she said, Jeremie nodded slowly in agreement as he was also embarrassed, something the others were chuckling at, he crossed it out "what else" asked Jeremie, William thought for a second before saying "What if its actually XANA", Jeremie wrote it down, "I doubt that why would he show his face now" he said, William chuckled as he sat down "if you could call it a face, he was masked the entire time" he said in response, "So the best idea we have is its XANA" said Jeremie, but then Ulrich spoke saying words that sent shivers down everyone's spines in the room "Its Dallas".
(=======================================================================)
"Ulrich you're still dazed" said Yumi as she moved towards him, she like everyone else was either sceptical or in denial, "I saw his face clearly" said Ulrich as he sat up quickly, this caused a small headache, "I searched Lyoko for ages, I found no trace of him" said Jeremie, Ulrich stood up stumbling "I saw it was him, I couldn't mistake that face" said Ulrich, the others still didn't want to believe it "Ulrich we all miss him, you're probably imagining things" said Yumi as she placed her hand on his shoulder pulling him back onto the bed, Aelita thought back to what she saw on Lyoko, then she realised what she saw "It was him" she said Jeremie and the others looked at her "What" asked Jeremie, Aelita stood up "It was Dallas when he had me pinned down and I looked at his eyes they were his" said Aelita a tear started to form in her eye.
(=======================================================================)
In a wooden room, Adam sat on a chair at the end of a small round table, the table was adorned with a map of Lyoko the room had glass windows, a banister stood in the Corner, Evelyn stood by the door with her arms folded as the figure stepped inside,
"Took you long enough to arrive" said Adam as the figure walked towards the banister removing his mask cape and weapons before moving towards Adam, "they will know it's you now" said Evelyn as Dallas turned to look at her, Adam chuckled and said "I think this worked to our advantage", he stood up and pulled out a chair for Dallas to sit, which he did remaining silent, "so XANA's plan was to turn Dallas to our side" asked Evelyn, Adam shook his head "All this to get one person, I doubt XANA would be that stupid" he said as he looked at Dallas, "You gonna open your pretty little mouth" asked Adam, Dallas looked up and said "I have nothing to say" Adam laughed and said "Fuck me it speaks", Evelyn stepped forward and sat at the table, "Whens the next attack" she asked.
(=======================================================================)
Jeremie laid down in his bed staring at the ceiling, he felt regret and he felt pain, he wanted to be on his computer trying to fix the problems he felt guilty about, but he was too emotional, Dallas was alive, but he was now working for XANA, it was a real nightmare and he couldn't handle it, he shot forward and just sat there watching the sky outside, suddenly he heard a knock at the door, it was silent enough so that Jeremie would hear but not alert an angry and pissed off Jim, "William" Said Jeremie as he opened the door, "Can I come in" asked William, Jeremie nodded and moved to let him in he immediately paced back and forth, he had his own thoughts on what Dallas was doing, he held his faith that Dallas wouldn't willingly betray them but he found that being tested, "I don't know what to think about this mess" said William, Jeremie looked down saying "I dunno either", William sat on Dallas's bed, "You've known him for ages, he always spoke of you, do you think he could have done this" asked William, Jeremie rubbed his head "I don't know William, I really don't" said Jeremie.
(=======================================================================)
Their room Yumi and Aelita were wide awake and sitting next to each other on Aelita's bed,
"Do you really think Dallas has betrayed us" asked Aelita as she looked at Yumi, the older of two didn't have any answers "I dunno, we don't know what's wrong with him, who knows what XANA's done" said Yumi, she then felt Aelita put her arm around her, "its best we don't think about it" said Yumi as she returned the gesture, "Anyway did you see what you did to Jeremie when you sat on his lap" asked Yumi with a small laugh causing Aelita to blush.
(=======================================================================)
Odd and Ulrich despite talking weren't really friendly with each other, Odd was sitting silently drawing, whilst Ulrich just sat on his bed extending his blade back and forth thinking about the attack that day, Odd suddenly screwed up his paper and threw it away, but without him seeing Ulrich grabbed it, and unscrewed it to see that it was of Dallas,
"It's pretty good" said Ulrich, Odd smiled at the compliment but didn't let his friend see it, "do you think he did it".
(=======================================================================)
"The promise you'll one day make to me, this is repayment for the debt I am yet to owe" said a strangely familiar voice, awoken by the noise of a fire crackling a snow storm, Dallas slowly moved forward he looked down at himself he was wearing his regular attire, not what he'd been wearing for the past 4 months, then he looked to his right to see Franz Hopper, "ah you're awake" he said as he rubbed his hands together, Dallas moved towards the fire "Who are you" he asked as he looked at Hopper, his clothing that he'd seen several times before looked ragged and rough, almost to the point they looked like they were falling apart, a noticeable hole was visible on the right shoulder, "I think you know the answer to that question" said Hopper as he looked at the fire, Dallas was confused as to what was going on, "sorry about the storm, when I'm not hiding within the data streams this is the only way to mask my signature" said Hopper, Dallas moved and sat near him cross legged, "I managed to save you from XANA, I guess that's one debt repaid" said Hopper with a chuckle, Dallas was about to ask but Hopper quickly added "Ignore that", Dallas looked at Hopper, "Can you send me back to earth" asked Dallas, Hopper looked down and shook his head "I tried, but your code is incomplete, I tried to access it but XANA…" he started, Dallas knew where this was going, "You've got to get the corrupted code back" added Hopper as he looked towards Dallas, "I'm planning to send you back out there with the necessary capabilities to achieve the task" said Hopper as he stood up looking out into the storm, "You're gonna forget all of this of course" said Hopper as he turned back to face Dallas, "Typical" said Dallas as he laid back down, "don't take it personally" said Hopper as he moved over to Dallas as held out a small object that resembled a 3D 8 pointed star.
(=======================================================================)
The night fizzled out and the sun arose signalling a new day, and with barely any sleep the warriors stumbled into their class, Science was as usual going to be a long day in itself, they sat down as they usually would when Hertz smacked her ruler onto the desk in front of Jeremie, and being sleep deprived he jumped in his chair causing most of the class to laugh,
"Mr Belpois, if you could be so kind to explain where Dallas is" she asked angrily, Jeremie looked towards the empty seat in the class when he noticed Adam grinning at him, then the ruler was again slammed with so much force that it was a wonder that it didn't snap "Well I'm waiting" she said, Jeremie looked back at her still shocked by her temper "I don't know Ma'am" he replied wirily, this response didn't sit well with Hertz, "So for the second week your roommate is absent and you have no idea where he is" she asked, Jeremie could do nothing but nod, Hertz turned around with a loud sigh, Adam simply laughed, before Nicholas nudged him "What's so funny" he asked, Adam smiled and said "Oh nothing" .
(=======================================================================)
Sitting in her maths class, Evelyn watched Yumi and William as they sat close to the front as usual; she returned her attention to her work to make the ruse more believable, suddenly she heard a small noise, and her eyes shot open,
"Now" she said to herself quietly, she stood up the teacher Fumet looked at her "Miss Scylla what're you doing" he asked, but Evelyn ignored him as she walked out of the room, Yumi and William watched as she did, Fumet looked baffled as he returned to his desk, "Detention for her" he said to himself as he made a note of it, "William" whispered Yumi trying to not draw attention to herself, he darted his eyes towards her "Text Jeremie, get him to check for a tower" she whispered before looking back at her work, William managed to slip out his phone and without looking began to text, "I hope I got the right number" said William to himself, he quickly looked down and sighed in relief as he carried on texting.
(=======================================================================)
On Lyoko Evelyn Virtualized as she moved towards one of the unactivated towers on the edge of the desert sector, she was confused as to what XANA's plan was and she was only needed to activate and guard the tower, she placed her hand on it as Dallas walked up behind her in his full attire minus the face mask as that was around his neck,
"do you have your orders" she asked, Dallas looked towards the desert in front of him, "I'll bring him out" he said as he walked away, the tower was quickly activated, as Dallas moved from view she smiled, feeling a strange form of attraction to this now darker personality that he was displaying.
(=======================================================================)
Jeremie was barely able to see William's text, as Hertz was on a warpath angry with Dallas's absence and for whatever reason she seemed to have it out for Jeremie, she was about to slam her ruler down onto the desk again when Adam raised his arm and she turned and looked at him,
"Yes Adam" she said, Adam grinned and said "May I be excused", since Hertz didn't have a bone to pick with him she rolled her eyes and said "Oh go on then", Adam stood up but as he passed Ulrich with a sudden grin Adam grabbed him and with immense strength threw Ulrich through the window, "What on earth" said Hertz as she moved towards Adam who turned and smacked her down, he then made a move towards Aelita, "Come here" said Adam as he was about to grab her but suddenly in the puff of black smoke William appeared with Ulrich and the two as if still in a free fall dropped onto Adam, "Ah shit" said Ulrich grabbing his back William stood up saying "That makes one", then he noticed the genuinely stunned students as they sat jaws open looking at him, "Ta-da" said William sarcastically as he grabbed Ulrich, "Factory" asked Odd, Jeremie nodded as he grabbed his laptop and the group rushed to the door.
(=======================================================================)
Yumi stood at the bottom of the science building having slipped out with the initial panic caused by Williams magic trick, her heart was racing as she'd seen Ulrich falling to his death, she then noticed Adam jumped out of the window before shooting electricity to the ground break his fall, she hadn't noticed him,
"Oh crap" she said but she knew that a distraction was needed as the building only had the main entrance, then she looked at the fire alarm, she pulled down on at suddenly the ringing of the fire alarm sent the class room doors opening as the entire school exited into the courtyard Adam looked around "What the fuck" he screamed as he was caught up in the crowd, "Yumi" said Ulrich as he hobbled over to her, she quickly gripped him in the tightest hug possible, "Come on" said Jeremie as he was unable to wait, Odd and Aelita ran after him as William helped Ulrich again.
(=======================================================================)
Having moved to the tower the warriors entered the elevator, Ulrich felt his back, as he huffed
"what is it with XANA and attacking me today" he said with a laugh, Jeremie shook his head "why is it being so upfront though, usually its some grand scheme" he said then the elevator opened, "Head to the scanners" said Jeremie, William walked towards Jeremie "You're gonna need guarding" he said, Jeremie looked at William and smiled "Okay" he said as the elevator closed, Aelita began to shake scared "What if we run into…" she started, but Odd cut her off "you mean when we run into" he said, Yumi looked down scared at what to say "what if we have to stop him" said Ulrich then the door opened and he hobbled over to the scanner, "Ulrich you don't mean" asked Aelita, but Ulrich didn't want to answer the question, "Get Ready guys" said Jeremie over the speaker, "Scanner Aelita, Scanner Ulrich, Scanner Yumi, Scanner Odd" said Jeremie as the four stepped into their scanners and he selected their ID Cards "Transfer Aelita, Transfer Ulrich, Transfer Yumi, Transfer Odd" said Jeremie as they began to spin and Rise "Virtualization" said Jeremie, their blue squared outlines appeared in the dessert sector, the four looked around getting worried about what they would encounter, "he's not in sight" said Aelita, then the vehicles appeared in front of them, "Okay guys the tower is due north" said Jeremie, Aelita joined Ulrich on the Over-Bike as they rode off.
(=======================================================================)
Jeremie sat nervously in his chair, William was jogging on the spot at the same time he was shadow boxing, a technique that he'd learned to practice with due to being unable to have a boxing bag in his room,
"ready for trouble" asked Jeremie as he looked back at him, "Always" said William as he carried on, whilst on Lyoko the small convoy was moving slowly so as to not get caught off guard, "Jeremie the lack of monsters is worrying" said Odd as he moved towards the front of convoy looking around, Jeremie remained fixated on the monitor, then suddenly Adam sped forward on his cycle, "Guys heads up" said Jeremie but before he could finish Adam slammed into the Over-Bike knocking Ulrich and Aelita down as they skidded to a halt, "Keep going" shouted Aelita, Yumi and Odd looked back and reluctantly did so, Adam jumped off his bike and landed on Ulrich pinning him down, he curled his fist and punched him down, Aelita ran towards Adam to try and stop him but he grabbed and threw her down, Ulrich tried to move and help her but Adam punched him again, Aelita screamed "ULRICH" but her scream stopped as a white hooded figure dressed in what appeared to be pure rags, the hood had holes in it around the top section, the figures muscular arms were exposed except for two vambraces which both differed drastically, numerous sashes were around the waist, with a yellow one draping down the most, along with a pouch his trousers looked rough and brown and his feet adorned with sandals that dragged into the sands, a band around his right arm, numerous weapons were holstered, a bow sat on his back with a large golden hilted sword with a long silver blade sat on his side as a massive gold and black shield in his hand, both weapons looked very out of place, "what the…" said Aelita as she noticed a steed nearby, Adam turned but this was a bad idea on his part as he felt the shield smashed with the force of a car crash into his face sending him backwards into the ground with enough force to cause him to crash into the ground, Adam stood up seeing the figure "Come on then you prick" said Adam as he drew his sword and charged at the figure, but the figure drew his own and blocked the swing whilst dodging at the same time, Adam looked angered as he charged again but the figure jumped and turned kicking him in the chest, then the figure with his shield in the right hand turned and smacked Adam down whilst spinning with the sword held in the left and stabbing Adam, the blade went through his chest and pinned into the ground "Jeremie" said Ulrich as he watched Adam devirtulize "Who is that" he asked, Jeremie and William looked at each other stunned but neither remained question it for long as the figure put his shield onto his back and pulling down his hood, Dallas was back.
(=======================================================================)
Yumi and Odd had wanted to turn back but they knew that there was a good chance of another threat further up in the sector,
"Should we go back" asked Odd, but Jeremie barely gave an answer "if you did you wouldn't believe what you'd see" he replied, Yumi looked at Odd as she moved alongside him "What does he mean by that" she asked, whilst near the tower watching from a distance Evelyn watched the two warriors moving towards them and then further back she saw the previous scuffle and they were now moving after them although at a slower pace, "He's lured out, you know what to do" said Evelyn as he moved back towards the tower.
(=======================================================================)
Ulrich rode slowly on the Over-Bike as luckily it hadn't been destroyed in the crash; Dallas was riding his steed with Aelita fascinated by the creature sat behind Dallas,
"Last thing I know, the Over-Rider explodes and I'm falling to my certain doom, then I woke up here dressed like this and with this thing" said Dallas as he rubbed the horses head whilst holding onto the reigns, the others remained sceptical though, they believed it was another trap by XANA, "Really" said Aelita as she began to loosen her grip in case she needed to escape, "Yeah why" asked Dallas, Ulrich moved his out of sight hand to his sword, "last time we encountered you, you attacked us and devirtulized Ulrich and the others" said Jeremie, Dallas looked taken aback, "Einstein this is no time for one of your jokes" said Dallas as he looked up, "well you kicked our arses" said William, Dallas halted the steed, "William" he said genuinely confused, Aelita looked at him as Ulrich turned around to regroup with him, "you don't remember" asked Ulrich as he moved his hand back to the handles, "Jeremie I think he's safe" said Aelita, Jeremie and William looked at each other, Jeremie blocked his mic "Do we trust him" he asked, William looked at the screen "Aelita seems to think so" said William, Jeremie again turned red in the face, "Okay, trust him" said Jeremie, Ulrich nodded as he circled around again, "okay only because Aelita's vouching for you" said Ulrich then before he sped off he added "You need to stop doing that", Dallas looked back and asked Aelita "What's he on about", before he flicked the reigns of the Horse and the steed galloped off after Ulrich.
(=======================================================================)
Yumi and Odd stopped as they spotted the activated tower, Odd placed his hand over his eyes and looked at the area,
"Jeremie any monsters or something worse" he asked, Jeremie looked at the map, "Nothing at the moment, Proceed with caution" replied Jeremie, William moved towards the elevator "where are you going" asked William, he turned back as he pressed the button "Might as well join em, no threat here" he responded as he entered the crate and pressed the button, Yumi and Odd moved forward again slowly, "Typical" said Yumi as she spotted it, a single bridge led to the Plato where the tower was located, suddenly William virtualized behind them, "I miss anything" he asked as he jumped onto the overboard causing Odd to lose his balance slightly "nothing yet" said Yumi, but then irony struck as they noticed the Brown cloaked Dallas standing on the bridge, his weapons holstered, "Great looks like he was waiting for a challenge" said Yumi, then Odd looked up "Jeremie we might need some help, where are the others" he asked, but Jeremie smiled as he replied "I've got a surprise for you", Odd and Yumi looked at each other then suddenly an arrow flew past them towards Dallas, who quickly dodged by side stepping, then another fired he side stepped again, Odd and Yumi looked back to see Ulrich, Aelita and the other Dallas who was firing arrows, he fired a third which the cloaked Dallas grabbed and stopped before it struck him, "What the hell is that" asked Dallas as he jumped off his stead, Odd and Yumi looked shocked at him, "You two look like you've seen a ghost" he responded, William quickly said "They have" then Dallas grabbed three arrows and fired them in a spread, the cloaked Dallas jumped and twisted in mid-air before landing on his feet successfully dodging the arrows, "Ulrich is he…" asked Yumi, Ulrich nodded in response, "Okay follow my lead" said Dallas as he holstered his bow and drew his sword and shield and suddenly charged at his double, who in turn drew his Katannas and rushed towards him the two jumped and their blades clashed, "He's bought us a window" said Yumi, she then helped Aelita onto the Over-Wing and she moved forward, Ulrich followed on the Over-Bike and then Odd and William on the Over-Board, the cloaked Dallas turned and began to move after the warriors as they passed him, but Dallas ducked and swung swiping the legs out from under his double, "Too slow" said the hooded Dallas, then his double stood up and his mask had fallen, the two Dallas's looked at each other "hello beautiful" said the hooded Dallas but his twin didn't waste an opportunity and jumped kneeing him in the face before running off after the others, Dallas was knocked off the edge as he gripped on to the side.
(=======================================================================)
The Warriors moved forward as fast as they could to try and keep distance from the danger behind them, but with XANA enhancements he was quickly gaining up on them, Odd looked back
"William get ready" said Odd, William looked down at him and was about to speak but Odd slammed on the breaks, the Over-Board ground to halt, Dallas quickly dropped and skidded on his legs and back as he extended his blade as the Over-Board moved over him, the board suddenly exploded sending Odd and William to the sides, Dallas stood up, "What's with this guy" said William as he grabbed his sword, "Laser arrow" said Odd as he raised his arm and fired, but Dallas drew his Katanna and slice the arrow away, William swung his sword but Dallas spun his leg up dodging the blade but he slammed his foot down pinning it to the floor, smiling through the mask Dallas went to swing his Katannas but he'd underestimated William as he lifted the sword up, but Dallas turned the flip around and managed to land on his feet and had kicked Odd down to the ground stomping on his tail and drawing his Musket and about to fire when he dodged with his neck muscles as William lunged his sword forward , the blade only barely catching Dallas but it only caught his mask causing it to tear, Dallas angered by this wrapped his arm around the blade and pulling it forward, William lost his footing and found his face meeting Dallas's elbow and then the ground, Dallas grabbed the blade and stabbed William through devirtulizing him, Odd in the chaos had gotten free and was running away, Dallas drew his riffle but he lowered it and grinned before moving in the opposite direction.
(=======================================================================)
The Other Dallas was still holding onto the side of the Plato, but due to the thin Plato, he couldn't pull himself up,
"Jeremie need some help here" he said, Jeremie quickly typed as he said "Hang on I'll think of something", Dallas yelled "THE THOUGHT HAD OCCURRED TO ME DAG", Jeremie gulped as William walked into the computer room, "Back so soon" said Jeremie sarcastically, Dallas looked around thinking what he could do then suddenly he got a thought and letting go with one of his hands and whistled, his steed came running along and with the reigns hanging from its side, Dallas quickly swung himself back up and grabbed the reigns and was pulled back onto the Plato, he flicked the reigns as he got back on the saddle "Jeremie where are the others" said Dallas as he rushed forward.
(=======================================================================)
Ulrich, Aelita and Yumi rushed forward towards the tower,
"Nearly there" said Ulrich but he spoke to soon as Evelyn shot the wheel of his bike and he toppled over and crashed again, "Ulrich" said Yumi as she swerved to avoid any attack, "Oh no" said Aelita as Evelyn stepped towards Ulrich, she reloaded her musket and pointed it at him, but he raised his leg and kicked her arm away drawing his Katanna, Evelyn drew her Rapier, the two stances were different, Ulrich stood with both hands on the blade with it raised above his head, whilst Evelyn held her Rapier forward in a fencing manor, she then moved forward with a lunge, Ulrich lowered his blade and blocked but Evelyn had played him into her trap as she raised her musket with her other arm and pulled the trigger, Ulrich was thrown back and devirtulized, "LASER ARROW" shouted Odd as he ran up firing rapidly at Evelyn, however he was shooting to erratically and his shots were too wide to hit her, Evelyn grinned as Odd heard a clicking noise "Jeremie going to need a reload" said Odd as he jumped and extended his claws at Evelyn, she dodged the feline movement, "too slow" she said as she swung with her sword, Odd jumped back, Yumi quickly threw her fans which Evelyn swung her sword blocking them, "Go in low use me as bait" said Aelita, but Yumi wasn't having any of it "no its too dangerous", Odd went in for another attack but Evelyn kicked him down, she raised her sword but before she could strike him it was thrown from her hand, she looked up to see an arrow had moved through one of the gaps in the hilt and had pinned the sword to the tower, the Stunned Evelyn looked down to see Odd kicking her away, Dallas rode up on his stead lowering his bow, "Exceptionally fine shot" said Yumi as she moved down for Aelita to enter the tower, "I'd hope so" said Dallas as he raised the bow again and fired his last Arrow into Evelyn causing her to devirtulize.
(=======================================================================)
Aelita deactivated the tower, Jeremie looked at the devirtulization process, and he slammed his fist down onto the chair,
"What's wrong Einstein" asked Ulrich as he walked up with his hand on his back "I can't devirtulize Dallas" said Jeremie, Ulrich and William looked at the screen "You're kidding" said William, Jeremie shook his head and grabbed the Mic "Dallas you're gonna have to wait on Lyoko for a while" said Jeremie, Dallas looked up and threw his head back in frustration, suddenly there was a loud noise "What was that" asked Odd, but they didn't have long to wait as suddenly Odd, Yumi and the Over-wing were consumed in a massive explosion, Dallas moved into cover with his horse behind him, he peaked his head out and said "Oh shit" as he noticed in the sky an old frigate gliding through like the sky was its waves, "Jeremie please tell me you're seeing this" said Dallas as he hid from view, "Yeah, what the hell is that" asked Jeremie, Dallas peaked out again as Aelita moved into the clearing, for Dallas to grab her, "get down" he said, he peaked out again only to see his twin at the wheel of the vessel with several of the silver warriors manning the operations, "Jeremie what are we gonna do" asked Aelita, Jeremie quickly typed and said "You need to get to the way tower", Aelita poked her head out, "Do you think we can escape that thing" she asked, Dallas however looked at the horse and said "Right", Aelita looked at him "What're you thinking" she asked but he grabbed her and put her on the back, "Hang on this is gonna get ugly" said Dallas as he quickly flicked the reigns, the horse reared and shot off, The cloaked Dallas looked as he spotted the horse moving off, "READY" he said as he raised his arm, "FIRE" followed from his mouth then the starboard cannons erupted with fire, the large steel balls struck into the ground as hooded Dallas managed to dodge with the horse, "Jeremie you've got to do something" said Yumi as she grabbed him, "I can't it's up to him now" said Jeremie as they all watched with anticipation and fear, "FIRE" shouted the cloaked Dallas as his twin flicked the reigns again, the explosions went off all around, Aelita was screaming but Dallas managed to keep his concentration as the pursuing turned and began to give chase, sitting at the front were two forward cannons, "Come on" said Dallas as he flicked the reigns again, "The tower is straight ahead" said Jeremie, more steel shells rocketed out of the canons, the explosions were getting dangerously close, but Dallas refused to give up, "Come on, come on" he said then as the next shot was fired Dallas rode into the way tower, his twin lowered his arm again but no shot reigned out, "We return to base" he said to one of the silver warriors as he let go of the wheel and walked to the lower deck.
(=======================================================================)
Aelita had returned to earth and was sitting in the computer room once again on Jeremie's lap causing Dallas to have to hold in his laughter seeing Jeremie's red face,
"So what are we gonna do about this situation" asked Dallas as he sat in the way tower his only company his horse, "I dunno, you're lacking some code, and it'll take too long to reconstruct it" said Jeremie, Dallas stood up and paced back and forth, "what can we do" asked Yumi, Jeremie looked at the screen "any more work and Einstein will blow a gasket" said Odd, then Jeremie leant back again, Aelita placed her arm around him sending him bright red, "We have to capture the other Dallas and try and fuse them together" said Jeremie, the others looked at him "Einstein you've just blown that gasket" said Ulrich, Jeremie looked at them "it's the only chance we got" he said, Yumi stepped forward "We'll do it" she said, Jeremie smiled as did Aelita, and once again Jeremie's face turned bright head as his heart raced.
(=======================================================================)
Authors note
So I thought I was out of touch but I had lots of fun with this chapter, out of practice my arse, I'm happy with a lot of what I've written in this chapter, I actually had no idea what the main theme of this one was going in, the next two I've got a clear idea, but this one I was really unsure of what I wanted to do, but like I said I'm happy with how it turned out, and yes I managed to finish a full chapter within a couple of days which amazes me as I had to do a lot of restructuring, I even removed a few fully written scenes and reorganised even more.