Hello, hello. My chapters are about to get very dark as they end another climax. And I mean that literally and figuratively. My latest post, not this one but the next, was also probably one of the longest... Some people are going to die, some are going to live. But in the end... well, that would ruin it for you wouldn't it... I'll see you all in 'the end'.

Aelita:

"Guys, you have hundreds of monsters heading your way." Jeremie said. "It looks like blocks, megatanks, wasps, and roachsters aren't the only thing either. There is something that I don't recognize, and the computer doesn't know what it is."

"Uh, Jeremie, they all look the same..." Ulrich said.

"What, that's impossible; the screen shows different monsters..."

"No, seriously, they are all green wolf-like animals, and they look mad." I said.

There was a pause while Sissi and Sam appeared, their Lyoko characters being created for the first time. They fell to the ground, two magic users, and took one look at our enemy. I heard them gasp in shock and fear.

"Oh, no... We are surrounded by Aricitics." Sissi said.

Yumi blinked and looked at the enemy again; she jumped and said, "They are..."

"What?" I asked confused.

"They are Aricitics, an animal which has the ability to morph into whatever it gets a 'sample' from-the sample usually being DNA. The other ability that comes hand in hand is they share their form with what ever they get the DNA from... I am assuming that someone doesn't want us to get to that tower." Sam said.

We looked over the crowed of angry looking Aricitics. They were growling and baring their teeth, a green saliva dripping from their teeth. They looked mean, and I meant worse than anything I had ever seen in Lyoko before.

"So, um, how do they get that DNA?" Odd asked.

"Usually biting you..." Sam said. "And if that happens you become one of them. A lot like vampires or werewolves really, but with the ability to know, do, and look like anything you bite..."

"The traveler did this!" Ulrich said gripping his fists. "I saw one of these things with him earlier today."

"True, but I doubt that he would try to stop us like this, if he even had anything to do with it." Sissi said.

"Besides, the traveler wouldn't put X.A.N.A. symbols on their foreheads..." Sam said.

There was a pause as we all noticed a green X.A.N.A. mark on the foreheads of all of the green moving bodies. That mark was purely a X.A.N.A. mark, and I doubted anyone else would use it. This was likely a plot made by X.A.N.A. himself.

"As I thought," Jeremie said. "These past two months were all fake, created by X.A.N.A. to distract us while he was able to do as he pleased."

"Somehow I doubt that." Sam and Sissi said.

"Well, right now I'd believe almost anything." Ulrich said. "And as soon as we deactivate that tower the sooner we find out what the truth is."

"That would be a really strange ending for this story..." Sam said.

"Yeah," Sissi muttered. "Like one of the one's where a person goes on a great adventure and wakes up at the end..."

"I always hated those..." Sam replied. "But in any case, with any ending, how are we supposed to get past those?"

I looked back at the thousands of Aricitics that loomed on the other floating plateau. I suddenly realized that they had started rushing us, and they were running, jumping, or finding any other means of getting onto our side. It also seemed that every one of them made it...

"Watch out!" Yumi yelled.

The wave hit us a second later and mouth after mouth, claw after claw... stopped three inches in front of us. A green barrier was holding them back, and we each looked around to see who had done it, but no one with us had. I noticed a symbol that looked faintly familiar emanating from the barrier.

The Aricitics, seeing that they couldn't attack us this way, began to change. I saw the shape of a Block forming from one of them. The others became other monsters and they once again began their charge at us. This time they were able to make it past the barrier, but we were ready for them.

Ulrich brought out his sward and Yumi her fan. Odd aimed a few laser arrows at the monsters, Sam created some colored balls of magical energy. Everyone but Sissi and I attacked at once hacking and slashing the monsters as they entered the barrier. Each time one of the monsters died a green ghost escaped the body and disappeared. As our friends got wounded Sissi healed them, and I made sure that we had cover in other ways, pulling up faux cliffs around us except for one point.

Slowly we made progress through the lines of rushing monsters. For some reason Odd didn't seem to run out of arrows, nor me energy to make the faux walls. In fact everyone seemed to have limitless energy, and we showed it as we made our way through X.A.N.A.'s monsters. As we reached the end, virtually unscathed, and saw the tower sitting in plain sight, we made a break for it.

We ran into the tower leaving the last remaining monsters behind. Once inside everyone waited at the bottom as I floated to the top. I stepped on the top platform and walked to the dialogue screen. Placing my hand on the pad, I saw my name appear and I began keying in Lyoko...

"Aelita! Wait!" Jeremie yelled just as I put in the 'k'.

"Jeremie, what is it?" I asked.

"It's a trap..." came the traveler's voice as he suddenly appeared.

"You, why did you set up this trap?" I asked my voice only showing part of the rage that I felt.

"I didn't..." he said. "And X.A.N.A. didn't either. Xanadu isn't simply himself anymore. When I saw the Aricitics I knew it. This has gotten out of hand, my enemy has fused himself with your enemy. And I made him a god... I am so stupid!"

"But, what is the trap then?" I asked.

"If you deactivate this tower, you will start a chain reaction causing all computers to crash, including the one containing this world. That would completely free Xanadu in your earth and he would be able to wreak havoc on your world. What's even worse is that if he is free that makes my enemy free as well, and all the evil that is contained in him would be free to once again roam the universes with the powers that I gave him... it was a bad oversight when I first planned this."

"But, what does this mean?" I asked.

"This tower was activated by the scientists that created Lyoko and you. It was made as a firewall, both into and out of Lyoko. If it was ever deactivated X.A.N.A. would have been able to get back onto the internet."

"But he already was..." I said.

"Not like this. If the firewall was deactivated he would have been able to fully move himself into every other computer on earth and off... There would have been no stopping him," He laughed. "Much like an event in another universe, an insane super-virus takes over the military and nearly kills all humanity..."

"So... what should I do?" I asked.

"None of you are ready for the fight against Xanadu. Wait until then, we can destroy him and I will imprison Antavok once again. At that point I will leave, leaving you all to live your lives as you choose to. I have already done enough damage to this world. For that I am sorry..."

"And what if I don't believe you?" I asked moving my hand back to the panel.

"Have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?" he asked.

"Um..." I said taking my time, watching him squirm.

Suddenly a dark cloud, which X.A.N.A. used to possess things, appeared in the tower. It formed a hand and reached for me. The traveler panicked and pushed me out of the way knocking my hand against the panel. I hit the 'o' finishing Lyoko and suddenly everything became very dark...

On the outside of Lyoko a black smoke came from the factory. A cloud above it began swirling down to meet it forming a tornado. Darkness began emanating from the factory itself breaking through the spell and making it visible once again. The cloud overhead extended outward engulfing the sky over the city and shocks of lightening flashed through the sky.

Over at Kaidac School, Professor Giis, or rather Gwyosis, gathered up the children and brought them into the science building. As they passed the sealed room the door exploded off of it at the children. The professor stopped the door with his body, thinking quickly but not very wisely, and as he got up he yelled for the children to run to his room. The children complied running for their lives as black fog began to seep out of the room.

In the rest of the city gigantic lightening bolts hit the ground everywhere as the black tornado grew larger and larger. It quickly engulfed the entire river, it and the clouds sucking up all the light in the city except for the lightening. As people ran through the streets trying to escape they were incinerated by the bolts of lightening, growing to sizes of busses and buildings. The entire city began to level itself from the lightening strikes, the winds, floods, and seismic activity.

Back in the school, in the science lab which Gwyosis had taught, the teachers, faculty and students cowered in the center of the room. The only one who seemed to know anything about what was going on was Professor Giis himself, and all he was able to do was hold the room together. Darkness engulfed the walls around them threatening to break through the small barrier that he had created.

All life in the city, and within a thirty mile radius around it, was eliminated within half an hour. The only survivors were the people in the one class room, and the people not on earth. Everything, absolutely everything, was leveled to the ground. The rubble burning under a dark green flame.

Within the remainder of Lyoko, the lone tower which had been used as the firewall, the children stood bewildered by what was happening around them. Jeremie had appeared in Lyoko, in his Magician's guise. Everything had become pitch black, except for a small light created by Sam.

The children looked at each other afraid to speak, afraid to even move. They stood in awful silence as they tried to make sense of what was happening around them. No one spoke, at least until finally the two who had been on the top of the tower came down to meet them. Aelita and the traveler had grim looks on their faces, ones that matched Jeremie's. They looked at the others and finally the traveler spoke.

"Well, judgment day has arrived. All hell has broken loose in the city on earth, and Lyoko is being annihilated as we speak. I am doing everything in my power to keep us here, but holding back a dying universe is nearly impossible, even for me..."

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Ulrich asked.

"I will take us out of Lyoko and we will face Xanadu. It is all we can do, but..." he paused. "It's too early, I don't know if we will be able to beat him. He has as much power as I do if Antavok truly has fused with him. I am sorry children, but there is very little I can do now. I didn't really survive our last battle, and if he is a 'god' now... well..."

The children and the traveler were transported to the real world. They looked around them, at the destruction and death they were surrounded with. Death was in the air, hatred, revenge, and pure evil... it was so thick that the children could not only smell it but could taste it as well...

Off in the distance they were able to see one faint light, and this is where they headed. None of them could possibly expect what they were about to find, and none of them would ever forget what they were about to see. The sight would redefine horror as they knew it, haunting them for the rest of their lives...

Things have gotten very dark. The city that the children once knew no longer exists. It is now just a pile of rubble. The only people remaining are held alive by a barrier that a weakening professor is holding up... When that fails... and the professor is at death's door the traveler gets a little strange... See how he reacts and what happens to the children as they continue their quest to bring down X.A.N.A. in the next chapter Shadows of Difficulty.