Opening Moves

Chapter 17

Brian's Fall - Brian

I watched Ulrich with interest as he told me about the Galatos's powers. However, I didn't allow myself to get carried away with it. X.A.N.A. obviously was not very happy with my betrayal, and would probably attack soon.

Sure enough, the sky turned the reddish-black color that surrounds the Main Lyoko Tower. Slowly, a shape formed from the darkness, one that I had only seen in his signal transfer mode. It was a huge dragon, one with the Lyoko eye on it's forehead. It was X.A.N.A. He had gained full power.

"So, Brian. After everything I did for you, you betray me. Now, it's time to die." the dragon said, smirking darkly.

"I won't let you!" Ulrich exclaimed, drawing his katana and entering his stance. At the same time, I drew my own katana, and assumed my own stance.

The dragon started showering us with fireballs, which we dodged akwardly. They seemed to home in to us, so I decided to block instead of dodge. But one fireball struck me in the chest, sending me crashing into a tree.

"Last chance, Brian. Give up. You won't devirtualize if you die, because I put a security program on your avatar. If you were devirtualized by me, it will be as though you really were killed." X.A.N.A. said, laughing maniacally.

I charged the dragon, my sword out and ready, but it quickly batted me down with pinpoint accuracy and high speed, sending me back down to the ground. I coughed out... Blood. That's strange... I guess that what he said was true. So it really was the end for me...

Jumping up, I threw six shuriken at the dragon, and they embedded themselves in the monster's flesh. It then whipped it's tail down, sending me back to the ground with a bang. I felt several bones shatter.

"Brian, it is futile." the dragon said, and Ulrich moved in front of me protectively, but I waved for him to stop.

"This is between him and myself, Ulrich. Your friends need you. Go to them." I said sternly, and the boy, who had been my enemy for so long, complied. He stabbed himself in the stomach, devirtualizing himself. "Now, it's just you and me, X.A.N.A. You and me."

At this, the dragon smirked, before showering me with fire once more. Unable to dodge, they all hit me, causing me to cough up more blood. My vision started getting fuzzier and fuzzier, but I realized the only way to defeat him. I would have to merge my data with his own. Because we were incompatible, his code would break apart.

I drew my katana, and stabbed myself in the eye. At the same time, I yelled "Code Merger!" Immediately, my body started to reformat, flowing into the powerful monster. It's scales started glowing... And then the monster exploded in a shower of pixels.

I found myself in an empty, white area of Lyoko. The void. I knew that soon my hour of deletion would come, as the computer was very punctual in it's maintenance procedure. Soon I would be gone forever. Frantically, I began to back up my data onto an unaccessible part of the supercomputer's hard drive. I then bundled it so that I would retain my memories, and, when all of the Lyoko fighters' data was accessed simultaneously, I would activate and tell them everything about X.A.N.A.'s plans.

Eventually, I began to be deleted. First, my arms vanished, then my legs, then my torso, and finally my head. All I could do is watch my body turn into pixels... And then watch them vanish. But I did not delude myself into believing that the war was over.

X.A.N.A. was still alive, that much I knew for certain. He would be terribly weakened for some time, but he would be back. All I could do was wait... And hope.

A/N: I apologize for the lack of updates here as well, but I've been having trouble figuring out how to end Opening Moves.

Anyway, this is the last chapter of this particular installment. The next one will focus on what happens as the story reaches it's conclusion.

Note, however, that the next one will be very tragic towards the end. While I'm not going to spoil it, there will be the permanent death of one of the main characters, and the story will not end with all four of the heroes being rewarded.