Code: XANA

by Digitick

Sequel of From the Inside Out. Xana's got a new weapon in his war against our heroes. And this time, he might actually win....

CODE: X.A.N.A

Code: X.A.N.A
Chapter One

3 Months Later...

Midnight, Kadic College. In one of the dorms a computer turns itself on. A red eye
appears on the screen. It disappears and is replaced by black mist tendrils that ooze out of the screen.
Slowly they move into the room. Two beds, both occupied, lie before them.
They veer left, zeroing in on the sleeping form. The person moves a little in their sleep, dreaming. Carefully, cautiously, the tendrils encircle her, so that it look like a insect in a cocoon. The cocoon swirled with motion, rippled then dissolved.
On the bed the sleeper murmured softly, then became quit again.

"So this is a 'Cafe'" Aelita said as she and Jeremy walking in.
"Do humans always come to places like this?" she asked, sitting down at the table.
"Sure" Jeremy replied, sitting down opposite her. "Here you can just relax and enjoy people's company."
"So I see" she said, looking to one of the window tables. Jeremy looked as well, and smiled. Ulrich and Yumi were sitting there, sharing a drink and staring into each others eyes, holding hands and smiling.
They had finally admitted their love for each other and had been dating solid for the last month now.
Yumi saw them and waved. "Hey guys, why don't you come join us?"
She moved over and sat down next to Ulrich. Jeremy and Aelita came over and sat down next to them.
"Having a nice trip to Earth so far, Aelita?" Yumi asked.
"Yes, Jeremy's been showing my some of the city today. I didn't know so many people could live together in one spot".
As the girls chatted about stuff, Jeremy asked Ulrich were Odd was.
"Didn't you know?" Ulrich asked. Jeremy shook his head.
"He's been going out with this girl for the last few weeks. He's really serious about her."
"Odd? Our Odd?" Jeremy said, amazed. "Wasn't he still going out with Sam?"
"No, he broke up with her a while ago. Then he started dating almost all the girls in school. Or tried too."
"Hey, that reminds me" Yumi said. "He said he was going to bring her to the cafe today so we could meet her."
The cafe door's bell rang and they heard Odd say "Hey guys, I'm here!".
They all look over to the door and their mouths dropped open.
"Her?" Yumi gasped.
"Oh boy" said Ulrich.
"Who is she, Jeremy?" Aelita asked, staring wide eyed at the familiar face.
Jeremy gulped.
"It's Taliea"

Chapter 2

Aelita stared at Taliea.
Taliea stared at Aelita.
Everyone else just looked at both of them.
"You remember Taliea, right?" Odd said, breaking the silence. Pointing from left to right he introduced her to the rest of them. "Taliea, meet Yumi, Ulrich, Jeremy and
Aelita."
She was still staring at Aelita, eyes wide in shock. "You look like me" they both said.
"Uh Odd, we need to talk!" Jeremy said, grabbing his arm. As he and Ulrich pulled him away Odd said "Get better acquainted, Ladies! We'll be right back!".
They pulled him to the counter and sat him on one of the seats.
"What were you thinking Odd!" Jeremy asked angrily.
"What? What's the problem?" Odd asked innocently.
"You knew how much she looks like Aelita. Didn't you once think about what would happen if they met?"
"It did cross my mind once, but I didn't think there'd be any worries" he said sheepishly.
"That's right! You didn't think-"
"That's enough Jeremy" Ulrich said, grabbing his shoulder. "Calm down before you say something you'll regret."
"You're right. Sorry Odd" Jeremy said.
"Apology accepted" Odd, putting his arm around Jeremy's shoulder. "Besides, what's the worst thing that could have happened? They would disappear just from being in the same room?" he smirked.
They walked back to the table, then stopped in shock. Yumi was sitting alone, Aelita and Taliea gone.
"Yumi! Where's Aelita?" Jeremy asked, his face white with fear.
"And Taliea? Don't tell she's disappeared into thin air!" Odd moaned.
"Not too worry guys" Yumi smiled, "They just went into the bathroom for a minute"
"We're back!" Taliea and Aelita said as they walked up to the table.
"It's amazing Jeremy! We even have the same black dot on our -" Aelita began.
"Ahem!" Taliea coughed, blushing slightly.
They all sat back down and within minutes were talking and drinking like friends.
"See Jeremy?" Odd said, nudging him. "Nothing to worry about right?"

Chapter 3

They spent most of the day in the cafe, and by the time they left the sun was already going down. "Time for me to go home" Yumi said.
"I'll walk you home" Ulrich said. Hand in hand they walked away.
"Don't get back to late!" Odd teased. Ulrich shot at him.
Laughing, Odd put his arm around Taliea. "See back at school Jeremy" he said.
"Yeah, I just need to take Aelita 'home'" he said.
The two girls hugged. "See you soon?" Taliea asked. "Sure" Aelita smiled.
She and Jeremy walked away, heading towards the factory.
"C'mon. We don't want to worry Jim" Odd said, starting for the college.
"Thanks for introducing me to your friends Odd. They were really nice, especially Aelita. I can't believe how much we look alike" she said.
"Hey, maybe you guys can pretend your twins or something and scare Sissi!"
"Oh Odd!"
Neither one of them saw the shadow of someone spying on them pull back into the alleyway.

Kadic College. The same dorm as before. The computer switched on again, the red eye glowing on the screen. The red light it cast centred on the bed on the left.
The figure sat up, the light too diffused to allow their features to be seen.
"All is going as planned. Soon all will be yours, master" the figure whispered.
With a click the light shut off and the person fell back, fast asleep.

Chapter 4

"No, no, no Odd!" Jeremy said angrily. "But why?" Odd asked.
They were in the factory's computer room. Jeremy was busy working on the anti-virus program for Aelita when Odd had asked him the question.
"Why! Odd, did you think about it at all? About what could happen if two Aelita's were in Lyoko?"
"Ah, come on Jeremy, Taliea just looks like Aelita. They're not twins or anything."
"The super calculator might not think so" Jeremy said.
Odd snorted and stood up. "I can't believe. I'm just asking for one day, and you won't even allow that. Some friend you are."
"Now hold on-" Jeremy started when Aelita popped up on the screen.
"Do I have a say in this?" she asked. "Uh, of course Aelita" Jeremy said.
"I'd like Taliea to come to Lyoko, Jeremy. The anti-virus will be ready tomorrow, so let her come here for one day, since we'll be deactivating it at the end of tomorrow."
"But your so alike in appearance. Won't that cause a problem?" Jeremy asked concerned. "Not if you reprogram the super calculator slightly. Don't worry, I'll help." Jeremy looked at Odd and Aelita's determined faces, sighed and said:
"All right, I give. She can go"
"Yeah! Thanks Aelita, Jeremy. Oh, this is going to be so great!" Odd shouted, heading for the elevator. "I hope so" Jeremy muttered to himself.

Odd ran out of the factory, fairly bouncing with joy. He made his way back to the school and up to his dorm room. "Oh yeah!" he shouted, bursting into the room.
"ODD!" Yumi and Ulrich cried out, pulling apart from their kiss.
"Oops" Odd said. "Knock next time" Ulrich said. "Yeah yeah" Odd said, smiling again. He started dancing around the room, completely ignoring them.
"I take it Jeremy said yes?" Ulrich asked, grinning at Odd. Odd just grinned back and kept on doing his victory dance.
Yumi stood up, kissed Ulrich once more and headed for the door. "Time I got home" she said, "Call me tonight?". "You have to ask?" Ulrich said, smiling.
Yumi left the room and started for the stairs when suddenly someone called out her name. She turned around and saw a brown haired girl running towards her.
"Can I help you?" she asked. "Um, I, I need to talk to you. But not here, it's not safe. Can I come to your house tomorrow?" she asked, looking around furtively.
"Not safe? What do you mean?" Yumi asked. "Please, I don't have time to explain. Just trust me, please?" she asked desperately, tears in her eyes.
"Um, OK, tomorrow my house" Yumi said. "Thanks, but please don't tell Odd you spoke to me" she said.
"Why?" Yumi asked, but the girl was already running away.
'Weird' Yumi thought, and headed home.
Ulrich rang her later that night and told her why Odd had been so happy.
"So Taliea is going to Lyoko tomorrow, and Aelita's going to leave it? Sounds like it's going to be a nice day tomorrow" she said, lying on her bed.
"Yeah" Ulrich said, Odd shouts of glee still in the background. "See you tomorrow at the factory?"
"I'll be there. Just need to handle something first though"
"Need my help?"
"No, it's fine. I'll be over as soon as possible. Night Ulrich"
"Night Yumi" click
She turned over onto her back and looked up to the ceiling.
"Will I be OK?" she wondered, picturing the frightened girl's face again.

Chapter 5

"Come on already Jeremy, let's get going!" Odd said, practically jumping up and down from excitement. "OK, OK, just let me get all my stuff ready" Jeremy said, grabbing his disks from his desk and putting them in his backpack.
"Next stop, Lyoko!"

Ding dong
"Yumi, door!" Yumi's mum shouted up the stairs.
"Coming Mom!"
Yumi walked downstairs and opened the door.
"Um hello" the girl said. Nervously she shifted from foot to foot, occasionally looking behind her. Yumi saw how red her eyes were, and wondered when last the poor kid had gotten any sleep. "Come in" Yumi said, opening the door.

At the factory Jeremy was busy uploading the information he and Aelita had created for Taliea's trip to Lyoko. "Everything looks OK." he said, "I'll send you guys into Lyoko first, then join you as soon as Yumi arrives."
"Hopefully she'll be here soon" Ulrich said.
He, Odd and Taliea took the elevator down to the scanners. "Oh wow" Taliea said, staring wide eyed at the big machines. "If you think they look cool, wait till you see me in Lyoko" Odd said. "Oh brother" Ulrich groaned.
Taliea eyed the scanner nervously. "Are you sure this is safe?" she asked.
Odd took her hand and said "Trust me, nothing bad's going to happen"
She smiled at him and climbed in. "See you there" Odd said. He and Ulrich climbed into the other two. With a soft hiss the doors slid close.
"Transfer Ulrich, Transfer Odd, Transfer Taliea!" Jeremy said.
Light started flowing over them.
"Scanner Ulrich, Scanner Odd, Scanner Taliea!"
The light started moving faster, swirling over them.
"Virtualisation!"

"Thank you" the girl said, taking the cup of tea from Yumi. She took a small sip, and smiled. "This is really good." "My Mom makes it" Yumi said.
She sat down on her bed next to the girl. "So exactly what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"
The sad look returned to her face, and a small tear ran down her cheek.
"My name is Elizabeth. I was, am, Odd's girlfriend".

"But Odd's been going out with Taliea" Yumi said
Elizabeth shook her head. "Not always. I met him here a while ago. It was love at first sight. We were inseparably. Until a few weeks ago when he suddenly just went for Taliea. I asked him why, but he never could answer me."
"Taliea couldn't understand it either. At first she was mad at Odd for leaving me, but now it's like it never happened, like they've always been together.
Funny thing though, she never liked him in the first place. I just couldn't get it..."
Her shoulders started shaking as more tears fell. Yumi hugged her close as her body was racked with sobs. "Better?" she asked as Elizabeth's crying stopped.
"Yeah, thanks" she sniffed. Yumi offered her a tissue. Elizabeth thanked her again, blew her nose and continued.
"I just couldn't figure it out until one night. I woke up late one night because someone was talking. I turned around and saw Elizabeth sitting upright, whispering while a strange red light was all around. The light was coming from the computer and when she had stopped talking it just disappeared and she went back to sleep."
Yumi felt a cold chill grip her chest. "Did this red light sometimes show an eye?"
Elizabeth nodded. "And Taliea kept talking to it for weeks, always at night. And always about you guys"

"Thank you" Taliea said. She, Odd, Ulrich and Aelita were in the forest region.
She looked around amazed, Odd standing next to her, holding her hand.
"My pleasure" he said. "I wonder what's taking Yumi so long?" Ulrich wondered
"Yeah me too. I don't want her to miss out on all the fun" Taliea said, her eyes becoming xana symbols for a second.

Chapter 6

"Come on, come on, answer Jeremy" Yumi gasped as she ran down the street.
Her cell phone rang for a few minutes, then Jeremy picked up.
"Yumi? Where are you? Everyone's on Lyoko except you and me!"
"No time to explain. I'm heading for the factory now."
She hung up and looked back. "You holding up Elizabeth?"
"I'm fine" Elizabeth said, running slightly behind her.
"Good. I just hope were not too late" Yumi said.

"Hey, what's that thing?" Taliea asked Odd. "That's a tower" Odd said.
"Cool. Are we going to go in it?"
"Sure. Just as soon as Einstein and Yumi get here"
"Hope they don't take too long" Taliea said, her eyes glowing black for a second.

"Yumi! Finally!" Jeremy said as he heard the elevator door opening.
"Come on, everyone's wait- Hey, whose this?" he asked, staring at Elizabeth.
"She's a friend. Listen Jeremy, we've got a problem. Taliea's under Xana's control.
I think she's trying to lure all of us into trap on Lyoko."
"We've got to warn the others" Jeremy said, reaching for his earpiece.
"No wait!" Yumi said, grabbing his arm. "If she knows were on to her she might spring the trap at once and hurt Ulrich, Odd and Aelita"
"So what's the plan?" Jeremy asked.
"The three of us will try and stop her. Since she doesn't know we know we can get up close to her and take her out."
"All right, but she'll have to remain out of sight until we get Taliea" Jeremy said, nodding to Elizabeth, "Otherwise she'll realise we're on to her"
They headed down towards the scanners. Elizabeth stared at the machines, shaking slightly. "Hey" Yumi said, putting her arm around her, "It's going to be OK"
Elizabeth smiled at Yumi and climbed in. Yumi and Jeremy climbed into theirs.
The doors closed, the scanners glowed white for a instant, and they were gone.

On Lyoko, Aelita suddenly sensed something. She stood up and looked around.
"Anything wrong?" Ulrich asked. Aelita stared at space for a few seconds then smiled. "It's Jeremy! He's here!" she said, pointing at him and Yumi approaching.
"It's about time" Taliea muttered under her breath.
"Come on, let's go meet him" she said, taking Odd's her hand in her own.
"Hey guys, sorry we took so long" Jeremy said, hugging Aelita.
"I'm just glad your here" Aelita said. "You and me both" Taliea thought to herself.
"Hey Ulrich" Yumi said. "Hi Yumi, glad you could make it."
"Me too" she said. She turned towards Odd and Taliea. "Hi you two. How've you liked it here so far Taliea?" she asked.
"It's so amazing here. Too bad it has to be destroyed" Taliea said.
Yumi suddenly stumbled, falling forward. She hit Taliea and they both went down.
"What are you doing?" Taliea shouted as Yumi grabbed her arm and pulled it behind her back, pinning her to the ground.
"Drop the act, we're on to you to you." Yumi said, putting more pressure on her grip. "Let her go!" Odd growled, lunging forward. Jeremy grabbed him from behind and dragged him back. "Ulrich, a little help?" he said, struggling with Odd.
"What's going on?" Aelita asked.
"Taliea here's under Xana's control, and has been for weeks" Yumi said.
"Ridiculous!" Odd shouted, straining against Ulrich and Jeremy.
"Oh yeah? Tell that to her" Yumi said, looking behind Odd.
"Odd?" Elizabeth said, walking up to them.
"E-Elizabeth!" Odd said, staring wide eyed at her. "What are you doing here?"
"I,I came to help you. It's true what Yumi said Odd. I've heard her talk to that virus thing for nights. I was so worried about you." she said, tears forming at her eyes. She stood in front of him and put her hand on his cheek.
"Don't you remember how we were? How you felt about me?"
"I-I.." Odd stammered, looking into her eyes.
A soft low laugh interrupted them. Everyone looked down at Taliea, still underneath Yumi. She started to laugh louder, and louder.
"What's so funny?" Yumi asked, bending her arm a bit more.
"You" Taliea whispered. A wave of black energy surged up around her, flinging Yumi clear off her. Taliea lay on the ground for a few seconds, still laughing.
Slowly she started to float up into the air, black energy crackling like flames around her. The flames enveloped her completely, and when they disappeared she hung in the air before them, changed. Black armour covered her forearms, shin and chest. Dark blue shirt and leggings covered her body. She opened her eyes, pitch black holes with white xana signs in the center.
"Hey Odd" she said, grinning wickedly, "Remember how you promised nothing bad was going to happen? Well, I seem to disagree with that. Looks like your in for a world of trouble."

Chapter 7

"Heads up!" Taliea shouted. She pulled her arms back, cupped her palms together. A black pearl formed between her hands. She grinned wickedly and shot it down towards them. "Look out!" Yumi said, grabbing Elizabeth and ducking for cover.
Everyone were flung off their feet as the sphere struck the ground and exploded.
Odd hit the ground hard. He sat up, coughing, a confused look in his eyes.
"Why Taliea? Why are you doing this?"
"Oh poor Odd" she teased, clasping her hands together. "You still don't get it, do you. All this time I've been using you to get what I wanted, and the best thing is, thanks to XANA, you were so busy falling over me you didn't even realise anything was wrong until it was too late."
"What?" Odd said, stunned. "That's right" she smirked, "It was all fake. I was using hormones and pheromones to make you fall in love with me. Silly, silly boy, I would never go for someone as stupid as you, never"
"N,no it can't be..." he muttered, looking down at the ground.
"Don't worry, I'll put you out of your misery" Taliea said, forming another black ball. "Leave him alone!" Yumi shouted, throwing her fan at Taliea.
Taliea laughed, ducking away from it and flying straight into Jeremy's black staff.
Crack! the pole connected with her head, sending her spinning into the ground.
"OK, that's it. No more ms. nice girl" she snarled, teeth clenched.
"Yaaah!" she shouted, putting both hands flat on the ground. The entire level surged upward as a wave of energy travelled towards them. "See ya losers!" she said. Suddenly she heard singing and watched as a wall materialised in front of the wave, stopping it completely. "Nice move Sister" she said.

"Good job Aelita" Jeremy said.
"Thanks Jeremy. Are you OK?". "Yeah, just a few bumps and bruises. I'm more worried about Odd though" he said, looking over at his friend.
Odd was still sitting there on his knees, staring at the ground. Ulrich and Yumi walked up to him. "Hey Odd, are you OK?" Ulrich asked, kneeling down next to him. Odd just sat there. "Come on Odd, answer me!" Ulrich said, shaking him.
"Ulrich". He looked up at Yumi. "Stop it. You can't help him"
"We can't leave him like this" Ulrich said. Yumi shook her head. "There's nothing you can do. But there's something she can do" she said, looking over at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth looked at her, confused. Yumi gave her a knowing look. Elizabeth's eyes grew wide as she realised what Yumi meant. She nodded and walked up to Odd as Yumi led Ulrich away. "Odd? Can you hear me?" she said, sitting down next to him.
Odd didn't reply. "Odd it's Elizabeth. You remember right?" she asked, touching his shoulder. Silence. "Odd please answer me!" she said, lifting up his head.
They looked at each other, their faces mirroring the pain and lost they had experienced. She stared into his eyes and said "Think back Odd, think back to when we were together. Think of all we did". Tears started to fall down her face.
"That wasn't fake, there wasn't any pretence. We really loved each other"
Odd stared at her, confused, different emotions and memories clashing in him.
"Odd please, come back to me!" she sobbed, hugging him to her, crying in his chest. "E-liz-abeth?" She looked up. "Odd?" He looked down at her, raised his hand and wiped off her tears. "I remember" he said. They smiled at each other and leaned forward to kiss.
BOOM! the wall exploded to pieces, a large dust cloud rolling out.
Elizabeth floated in. "So sorry to break up this touching scene, but romance really makes me want to puke." She held her hands at her sides. A small black sphere appeared at every finger. "You might be able to dodge one, but lets see how you handle ten!" she shouted, preparing to fling them.
Suddenly she stiffened and tilted her head, listening to something.
"Rats" she growled. The pearls disappeared from her fingertips.
"Oh well, so much for my fun. XANA can be such a party pooper. But don't worry, here's a little parting gift for you". She closed her eyes and sang.
The ground cracked in a perfect circle around them. They watched in amazement as the land behind the circle moved away, leaving a massive gap all around.
"There, that should keep you busy" she said. She blew them a kiss, waved and sped off into the sky.
"This is not good" Jeremy said.

Chapter 8

Jeremie stared out over the gap. "Well Aelita, do think you can make a bridge to the over side for us?" he asked.
"I'll try, but it might take some time" she said.
"Better get started then" Jeremie said.
He turned around and headed back to the gang.
"All right Jeremie, what's the plan?" Ulrich asked.
"This isn't going to be easy" Jeremy said. "Xana's made Taliea very powerful"
"Yeah, but last time we were unprepared. This time we're ready"
"So will she"
"Jeremy" Yumi asked, "just how exactly did she do that stunt with the land?
I thought only Aelita could do something like that"
"She didn't. It's all thanks to Xana. You should actually asked what she's planning to do." "OK, what's she going to do?" Yumi asked.
"I don't know" Jeremy said.
"It's doesn't matter" Odd said. Ulrich, Jeremie and Yumi looked at him.
"We know what she can do. Now we just need to stop her"
"Are you sure your going to be up for this?" Jeremie asked.
Odd looked at Elizabeth. "Yeah, I'll be fine" he smiled. "It's she whose going to have to watch it". Elizabeth smiled back at him, still holding his hand.
"Glad to have you back Odd" Ulrich said. Odd grinned back at him.
"Done!" Aelita said. She slumped slightly from exhausted, the bridge spanning almost 60 feet long.
"Great job" Jeremie said, helping her up.
"All right gang let's go"

They ran through the forest, heading towards the tower. Pulsations raced out in front of them. "The activated tower is close" Ulrich said.
"There!" Aelita said, pointing. They stopped in their tracks, breathing hard.
In front of them loomed the tower, the red glow visible at it's peak. And there, sitting in front of it, eyes closed, was Taliea.
"Well, you sure took your time" she said, eyes still closed.
"You did leave us stranded in the middle of nowhere" Yumi said, readying her fans.
Ulrich pulled out his sword, Odd prepared his arrows and Jeremy got his staff.
"Yeah, that was fun" Taliea smiled. She sat there, in a meditative pose, her eyes still closed. "Now to have some more"
Her black void eyes snapped open, and the gang screamed as an intense pain shot through their heads. "Oops, did I do that?" she said, putting on an innocent look.
"You-!" Odd snarled. He aimed and fired 3 arrows at her.
Taliea smirked, winked at him and flew straight up.
"Miss me, miss me, now you gotta kiss me!" she teased, laughing.
"Yahh!" Yumi shouted, throwing a fan at her. Taliea easily dodged it, shaking her head. Yumi smiled at her and looked behind her.
"Huh?" Taliea looked back and saw the fan flying towards her.
"Why you-" she said, zooming off. Yumi sent the fan after her chasing her threw the trees. "Oh no, no!" Taliea said as the fan got closer.
The fan hit, slicing straight threw her. Unfortunately the other two Talieas destroyed the fan, smashing it to bits.
"What?" Odd and Yumi said, .
"She's using Triplicate" Ulrich said, stunned. "Yep" The Talieas said, launching black spheres down at the gang. "Laser Arrows!" Odd shouted.
He destroyed the black balls and managed to hit the other Taliea, leaving only one.
"Aw, and just when we were getting to know each other" she sulked.
"Here, let me put you out of your misery" Odd said, shooting at her.
His arrows hit her dead centre, knocking her back.
She struck the tower, energy surging up and shocking her.
She dropped to the ground, smoking slightly. "Ow" she muttered.
"Hey Jeremie, what happened?" Ulrich asked.
"Of course. The tower!" Jeremie said. Everyone looked at him.
"Xana can't get in the tower. Since Taliea's apart of him, he can't either.
If we pulled her in, the tower will erase him out of her completely, maybe even destroy him."
"Let's do it" Ulrich said. They ran towards the still stunned Taliea, grabbed her arms and pulled her towards the tower. "Hurry" Jeremy said.
He and Aelita entered first, followed by Yumi and Ulrich dragging Taliea and then Odd and Elizabeth. "OK, now what do we do?" Yumi asked.
"Get lost" Taliea said, shocking them with energy. She grabbed them and tossed them out of the tower. "Raarh!" Odd jumped at her. "Pfft!" she snorted, grabbing him with one hand and then casually throwing him out over her shoulder, closely followed by Elizabeth. She dusted off her hands and walked towards Aelita and Jeremie. "Get back!" Jeremy said, swinging his staff at her.
Taliea grabbed it and snapped it. "Good night, hero boy" she said, knocking him out with one punch. "Well sister," she said, turning to Aelita "It's just you and me"
"Why do you keep calling me sister?" Aelita asked.
"Let me show you" Taliea said, grabbing her and flying up to the top platform.
They landed, the screen lighting up.
"Watch" Taliea whispered, putting her hand on the screen.
'Aelita' the screen confirmed. Aelita stared at Taliea in wide eyed shock.
'Code X.A.N.A' the screen flashed
"Now the fun really begins" Taliea said as the tower started shaking.

Chapter 9: Endgame p.1

"Why do you keep calling me sister?" Aelita asked.
"Let me show you" Taliea said, grabbing her and flying up to the top platform.
They landed, the screen lighting up.
"Watch" Taliea whispered, putting her hand on the screen.
'Aelita' the screen confirmed. Aelita stared at Taliea in wide eyed shock.
'Code X.A.N.A' the screen flashed
"Now the fun really begins" Taliea said as the tower started shaking.
"What - what's happening?" Aelita asked as tower interior started to change from blue to red.
"Victory" Taliea said.

On the outside the gang watched as the tower's glow started to intensify until it seemed to be burning. "Well that's new" Odd said.
"Look!" Elisabeth gasped, pointing up to the sky.
In the air they could see lots of hazy ghostly objects starting to materialise.
"What is that?" Yumi asked, squinting.
"Not sure" Ulrich said.
The objects came closer, massive square shapes with little oblong shapes floating around them. The group gaped as they realised what they were looking at.
Buildings, cars, people. All sucked in from the real world into Lyoko, all frozen and under xana's control.
"Oh God no. No!" Yumi sobbed as she saw her parents and brother float by, they blank gazes staring out into nothing, the only movement coming the xana symbol pulsing on their forehead. Ulrich's face went white when he saw his.
"Odd, my mom! my dad! what's happened to them?" Elisabeth asked, holding tight on his arm. "They're all under Xana's control. Everyone is. But how?" Odd said, trying hard not too cry.
"That would my doing" Taliea's cheerful voice said.
They looked around, trying to see where her voice was coming from.
A whistling noise drew their eyes up to the top of the tower. Taliea floated there, a satisfied look on her face. "Oh what's the matter? You all look so sad" she said, making a pouting face.
"Die!" Odd roared, firing off arrow after arrow at her. Taliea yawned as the arrows were deflected away from her. "Oops, so sorry. I'd love to play some more with you, but unfortunately I've got things to do, places to enslave, a world to virtualise. Later".
She wiggled her fingers at them and shot up into the sky.
"That b-" Odd swore, hitting his fist against a tree.
"Odd, forget about her. We've got bigger things to worry about" Jeremie said as he and Aelita walked out of the tower.
"Jeremie, are you Ok?" Yumi asked.
"Yeah, just a sore all over"
"So what's the story Jeremie? How's Xana doing this?"
"It's not Xana that did this. It's Taliea" Aelita said. "Somehow she was able to access Lyoko like I do and then gave Xana full control. It recognised her as me.
How? and why does she keep on calling me sister?"
"I don't know. I do know that this" he pointed at the floating scenery above him "Isn't over, not by a long shot"
"How do you figure that? He already has the world here, what more does he want?" Odd asked.
Jeremie shook his head. "No Odd, this isn't the world, just our part of it. He'll need to activate all or most of the Towers to control all the world."
"And with Taliea able to fly so fast it won't take to long" Ulrich said.
"Yes, but there's still one last stop she'll have to make. The same place we have to go to get some answers."
"Where?" Ulrich asked.
"The Fifth Region" Aelita and Jeremie said.

Chapter 10: Endgame p.2

"And just how do you suggest we do that?" Odd asked.
Jeremie didn't answer. Instead he looked to Aelita.
"I, I don't know if I can Jeremie" she said.
"Try Aelita. I think you can. We all do" Jeremie said, holding her hand.
Aelita looked into his eyes, then looked at the faces of her friends, seeing the trust they all held for her. "OK" she said. Jeremie gave her hand a reassuring squeeze then stepped back.
Aelita closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her face furrowed under concentration. 'Come on Aelita, you can do it' Jeremie silently thought.
Suddenly her eyes flew open and she held her hands up. A familiar shining Orb appeared in the sky and floated down. "You did!" Jeremie said, hugging her.
She blushed and hugged him back.
"Good job Aelita. Now let's get going" Odd said, climbing into the orb.
When they were all inside the orb closed over them and vanished.
It disappeared, and they found themselves standing deep within the sphere of the Fifth Region. "Huh, that's strange. Usually the walls and ceiling start moving once we get here" Odd said.
"It's probably because of Xana's messing with the programming of Lyoko." Jeremie said. "Come on. We need to get to the centre of the sphere before it's too late."

In the polar region Taliea dropped down from the sky unto the tower. She sinked down through the roof and landed on the platform.
The screen appeared. She placed her hand on it. "Aelita - Code Xana" it flashed.
She walked out and watched as another part of the world manifested into Lyoko.
"Hmm, I do believe that's the Statue of Liberty. It's not so big" she said.
She tilted her head and listened to something. "On it" she said.
Taliea grinned and started to rise up into the air.
"Ready or not sister, here I come"

"See, I knew getting in like that was too easy!" Odd shouted over the hail of lasers flying at them. Wave after wave of Kankrelat and Creepers were standing between them and the central section. Odd jumped out from behind his covering, shot a few down and ducked back. "This is insane. How are we suppose to get past them?" he asked.
"I don't - Aelita, what's wrong?" Jeremie asked.
Aelita was holding her head between her hands, eyes closed.
"It's Taliea, she's coming"
"Oh great, just great" Odd groaned. "Now what do we do?"
Aelita looked at Yumi. "Yumi, I think I've got a plan but I need your help"
"Sure. What do you need?"
"Give me your hand"
Yumi held out her hand. Aelita grabbed it, stood up and focused.
The rest watched in amazement as every monster rose up into the air and was crushed. Aelita let go of Yumi's hand, breathing hard.
"How did you do that?" Yumi asked. "I, I don't know" Aelita said.
"Who cares how she did it, she just did. Let's go" Jeremie said.
As the gang moved out he walked up to Aelita. "You OK?" he asked.
"Yeah, it just took a lot out of me. But Jeremie, I don't know how I did that. It just came to me"
"It's OK. Look, there's the panel. All you worry about is getting that info. Leave the rest to us OK?"
Aelita smiled at him, nodded and ran to the panel. She accessed it and started moving through the files. "Jeremie I think I've found something"
"What?" he asked, walking up to the screen. He started reading, his eyes growing bigger by the minute. "Aelita, do you know what this is?"
"Yes" she said "these are my memories"
She pressed enter. And remembered.
Her father and mother, both scientist working for the government.
Their house, her room, her doll.
The vacation they took. The walk through the forest she took.
The wolf attacking her.
Her dad chasing it away. Too late.
Her Father, Franz Hopper. Everything will be fine he says.
The Scanner, bright light, Lyoko. No pain, happiness.
Xana, infected, attacking.
Two Aelita's.
"I remember" she said.
"Well good for you" Taliea said.

Chapter 11: Endgame pt.3

"Well, well, well. Looks like the gang's all here" Taliea sneered as she floated down.
She landed on the platform and grinned at Aelita.
"Hello Sister. My, haven't you been a busy bee"
"I am not your sister" Aelita growled, balling her fists.
"Are you sure? We look the same, sound the same, have the same abilities. In my book that makes us even, just like twin sisters"
"Stop it. Leave her alone" Jeremie said, stepping up to Aelita.
"Oh no. A hero. I'm sooo scared." Taliea snorted "Not"
Suddenly a flash struck her in the side. Snarling she turned around.
"What about now?" Odd asked, readying his arrows. Yumi stood on his left, both fans unfurled, Ulrich to his right, blade held in attack mode.
"As much as I'd like to pull you apart right now, I've got other stuff to deal with.
However, I will leave you with some playmates." She put her hands together.
A red glow enveloped them. She pulled them apart and three round black orbs drifted down in front of the three heroes.
The balls turned into black goo that transformed into three exact copies of them.
"Big deal" Odd said. "We've taken on shape shifters before. They're not so tough"
"Oh?" Taliea said, feigning surprise. "And what about now?"
Behind the clones three monsters materialised. Behind the Odd Clone a Tarantula, behind Ulrich Clone a Krabe and behind Yumi Clone a Megatank.
The clones turned and became goo again, flowing over the monsters. The beast disappeared under the black wave, melting and changing. The dark liquid reformed, revealing the clones's new upgraded forms.
The Odd clone sported two of the Tarantula's cannons where his hands use to be. His face looked like the tarantula's, six eyed with no mouth.
Ulrich clone's one arm had been replaced by the Krabe's claw while the three main lasers could be seen on his normal forearm. Krabe armour covered his left shoulder as well as his chest. Between his eyes a big Xana symbol pulsed.
Yumi clone had the two black shells on her forearms, the massive epiliptical laser eyes visible on both. Similar black armour covered her arms and lower part of her face with one of the outer eyes covering her one eye.
"You have fun now, and play nice, OK?" Taliea grinned, walking towards Aelita and Jeremie.

With out a word the clones surged forward, aiming for their counterparts.
"Laser Arrows!" Odd shouted, jumping back.
"Laser Blast!" His copy said, shooting red bolts from his cannons
The two Ulrichs battled with blades, the clone's articulated arm proving quite capable of deflecting any of Ulrich's lunges.
"Yah!" Yumi cried out, throwing a fan at her double. "Right back at you" her reflection said, forming a laser fan from the eye on her arm and throwing it at the incoming weapon.

"Now then, time to settle a little sibling rivalry" Taliea said, strolling up to Jeremie and Aelita. "Aelita, get behind me" Jeremie said, jumping in front of her.
"You know, this heroism thing is really, really getting boring" Taliea said.
She rushed up to him, and before he could act slapped him off his feet.
"Jeremie!" Aelita cried out as he hit the ground.
She started to move to him when Taliea grabbed her arm.
"Uh uh uh. You're not going anywhere" she said, squeezing hard.
"Aargh!" Aelita gasped, going down on one knee.
"Oh, poor Aelita. It must be so frustrating being so weak" Taliea said.
Aelita muttered something.
"I'm sorry. What did you?" Taliea said in sing song voice, squeezing a bit more.
"Let... Me... Go!" Aelita roared, eyes glowing white. She reared up and delivered a massive uppercut to Taliea's face. Taken by surprise Taliea was flung back.
She flew through the air, striking the wall of the Fifth Region's dome, cracking it.
Everyone, even the clones, stopped and stared at the hole left in her wake.
Dust flew out in a cloud as she erupted out of it, eyes blazing darkness.
She roared and dived at Aelita. Aelita soared up to meet her, light streaming from her eyes. They struck in mid air, punching, grappling, trying to beat the other down.
Taliea threw a fast punch, but Aelita ducked under it. She flew up behind her and grabbed in an arm lock before flying up and out threw an opening in the roof.
The moment they were gone the other battle started up again.
"Hey, you're not half bad" Odd said, shooting off another volley of arrows at his clone. "Thanks. Can't say the same about you" the clone replied.
"Triangulate!" Ulrich said as he formed a triangle around his double.
"Not this time" the double grinned, and spun in a circle, shooting lasers from his forearm. He took out the two copies, the real Ulrich diving out of trouble.
Yumi somersaulted back, the energy fan missing her barely.
"Missed again" she said. "Not for long" her duplicate said, powering up another fan.
Yumi ducked away from it and landed next to Ulrich.
"Any idea how we take them out?" Yumi asked.
"Not yet" Ulrich said.

Chapter 12: Endgame pt.4

High above the Fifth Region sphere, among the floating people and buildings Aelita and Taliea fought. Throwing beams of darkness and light to and fro, flying at each other in head on collisions, punching, kicking. There seemed to be no end to it.

Ulrich and Yumi stood back to back, watching as their clones came closer step by step. "Ready to be destroyed?" Ulrich clone said, powering up his laser cannons.
"Don't worry, we promise it'll be painful" Yumi cloned said, forming her power fans.
"Die!" They shouted, firing their weapons at their helpless victims.
"Now!" Ulrich said, holding Yumi tight to him. She closed her eyes, body glowing, and telekinetically pulled them up into the air.
"What!" the two clones stared up in amazement. Big mistake.
With a crack their energy blast struck each other, smashing them to bits.
Yumi and Ulrich floated down. They landed, and Yumi pitch forward, totally exhausted. Ulrich grabbed her and gently carried her down to the ground.
"Rest Yumi. You did great" he said, holding her in his arms.
"Ah, isn't that great?" Odd said, dodging the last clone's laser bolts.
"Hold still!" Odd clone growled, growing angrier by the minute.
Suddenly Odd tripped and fell flat on his face.
"Hah! Got you now!" The clone smirked, running up to finish him off, cannons charged.
"Oops" Odd said, sweeping his leg underneath the clone's.
The clone fell forward. Instinctively he held out his hands to stop his fall.
Unfortunately he didn't have any. "Ugh!" he grunted as the cannons went off, shooting him into the air. He spun around in mid air and found himself looking into Odd laser arrow shooter. "Laser Arrows" Odd said, shooting at point blank range.
"Whew, these guys weren't have bad" he said, walking up to Ulrich.
Ulrich. "Odd!" Elizabeth ran up and hugged him fiercely.
"Oh Odd, thank goodness you're all right" she said.
"Hey, we're the good guys. And the good guys always win right?" He grinned at her. "Odd, could you and Elizabeth go and see if Jeremie's OK?" Ulrich asked.
As they walked off he looked down at Yumi's sleeping face.
A suddenly flash of light made him look up. The sky above him seemed like the 4th of July, blast and explosions peppering it left and right.
"Aelita" Ulrich said, wondering how she was doing

"Give it up 'little' sister, you know you can't win" Taliea said, firing a black sphere at Aelita. Aelita formed her own white one. The two impacted, exploding.
Aelita flew thru the smoke and hit Taliea in the stomach with a two fisted punch.
Taliea was flung back into a nearby floating building. Aelita formed a sphere between her hands, but before she could throw it the entire side of the building
cracked and shattered. Taliea floated out, hair flying all around her face, black flames flowing around her body. "Rargh!" she roared, pointing at Aelita.
Some of the blackness shot from her, engulfing some of the floating debris.
With a whistling sound the debris flew at Aelita.
Taliea laughed as the concrete blocks slammed together.
"Told ya" she said, sticking out her tongue.
Frack! The stones cracked apart, turning into dust. Aelita floated there as though nothing had happened, white flames flowing around her body, hair behaving like it had a life of its own.
"Why won't you die?" Taliea screamed. The flames around her seemed to feed of her rage, flaring higher. She gave a guttural roar and flew at Aelita.
Aelita's flames intensified as well as she flew towards Taliea.
Like to blazing comets they seemed as they rushed towards each other.
They struck, hands clasped, jaws clenched, trying to push the other down into submission. The dark and light around them fought as well, swirling in and out of each other, flaring out behind them like tails.
On the ground the gang watched the battle raging.
"Go Aelita go, you can do it" Jeremie said.
Inside the raging bubble of light and dark the two sisters were still locked in their grip, neither one giving in. "Why? Why don't you give up?" Taliea snarled, her face a mask of rage. Aelita looked her in the eyes. "For my friends" she said, suddenly flipping backwards, her grip on Taliea's hands dragging her forward and into Aelita's knee. "Ngh" she grunted, her head snapping back.
"For my home" Aelita said, hitting her on the back of her head with both fists.
"For everyone in the world. That's why" she said, firing a massive beam of energy at Taliea's falling form.
"NNOOO!" Taliea screamed as the beam forced her down. With a boom she was smashed into the ground. The gang walked to the smoking crater as Aelita floated down. Taliea lay in the center, eyes glazed, twitching slightly.
"Aelita, are you all right?" Jeremie asked
Aelita looked at him and smiled. "Yes" she said.
"So, what now?" Odd asked, his arm around Elizabeth.
ROOAAARGH! something monstrous bellowed.
"You had to ask" Ulrich said.

In the centre floated the Scipiozoa. Around it appeared 3 Tarantulas, 4 hornets,
1 megatank, 2 blocks, 4 mantas, 4 creepers and 6 kankrelats.
They shattered into bits.
"Uh, what are they doing?" Odd asked.
Before he got an answer the individual bits and pieces started moving, floating.
They started to connect together like pieces of puzzle, forming one huge being.
"It's Xana" Aelita said.
Finished, the machine demon roared. It's lower body was one long tail, made up from the creepers and mantas. The upper part had the circle body of the megatank with the scipiozoa in the centre, two tarantula arms ending in blocks with three krabe legs as claws. For a head it had the three tarantulas heads merged as one.
It turned it's gaze down, glaring at it's hated enemies. With a muffled whoomp it fired the epiliptical cannon on it's chest in a horizontal beam.
"Get back!" Odd shouted, pushing Elizabeth out of harms way.
"Elizabeth, go hide in the tunnel. We'll take care of this"
"OK. Be carefull" she said, kissing him.
"Only if you promise me another kiss when I get back" he grinned, running to catch up to his friends.
"Well guys, this looks like it's going to be a dozy of a fight" Odd said.
"Scared Odd?" Yumi asked.
"Pfft, in your dreams" Odd said.
"Right, so what's the plan?" Jeremie asked. "Hit him high, hit him low?" Odd asked.
"Works for me" Ulrich said.
"I've got one" Aelita said. She closed her eyes and held out her hands.
A white glow flowed from her palms and covered each of them.
"There, that should do it" she said.
"Do what?" Odd asked. "You'll see" Aelita smiled.
"Ok guys, ready for the fight of your lives?" Jeremie said.
"Yaaah!" they charged forward, shadowy after-images floating behind them.
"Laser Arrows" Odd shot off a couple of volleys at Xana's chest.
"Wow" he said as they exploded in big blasts of fire.
Yumi threw her fans at the Scipiozoa on Xana's back. The beast used tentacles to bash them aside then reached out to grab her.
"Get back!" Yumi cried out, instinctively throwing out her hands. The tentacles shattered as her telekinesis blew them apart.
Ulrich used triplicate and found himself with four duplicates instead of two.
Together they attack Xana head on, hoping to distract him and give the others a chance to find a weak point.
"Black Beam!" Jeremie shouted, swinging his weapon down on Xana's head.
The impact was so strong it actually smashed his head down into the ground.
With a roar Xana retaliated. Laser fire shot from the creepers on his tail, freeze beams criss crossed from his hands, energy waves surged from his chest.
The gang bobbed and weaved, dodging one blast then another.
"Aargh!" Yumi cried out as Xana's claws wrapped around her.
"Leave her alone!" Ulrich shouted, slicing the clawed hand off at the wrist.
He pulled Yumi free and dragged her away.
Odd jumped past him, peppering Xana's chest, arms and face with explosions.
Jeremie's staff had managed to crack his armour in several places.
Still Xana didn't stop fighting.
Odd and Jeremie stood side by side, panting. "Ok, Aelita's telling me it's almost time. When I say now, jump."
"Ready" Odd said.
In front of them Xana hissed, dragging itself together for another assault.
"Now!" Jeremie said. He and Odd turned and ran.
Xana stood there, confused when a bright light started to shine down on him.
He looked up and saw Aelita floating high in the air, a giant orb hovering in front of her. She opened her eyes and flung her hands down. The orb started moving slowly, picking up speed bit by bit.
Xana seemed scared. With a squeal it turned, trying to find an exit.
Aelita held him back with bursts of power. The orb fell on Xana and everyone held theirs ears in pain as the monster roared. They could see his silhouette through the glowing ball until it vanished. The orb changed shape, growing oblong and tall.
The base grew out roots, adhering to the ground. The top flattened out, and as the glow faded the gang found themselves staring at a tower.
It was white top to bottom, glowing a solid blue all over.
Their heard Xana roar one more time, trapped forever within a tower with no escape.

Code X.A.N.A: Epilogue

Aelita and Jereme were walking down the street back to school.
After they'd defeated Xana Aelita used the Towers to put everything back the way it was. She also used the return trip to erase everyone's memories of what had happened.
Well, not everyone.
"Hi Aelita, hi Jeremie" Elizabeth waved at them, walking hand in hand with Odd.
Aelita smiled and waved back. They walked up to the school and met up with Ulrich and Yumi in Jeremie's room.
"I can't believe it's over" Yumi said.
"Not quite" Aelita said. "There's still one more thing you need to know"
and she told them:
"My name's Aelita Hopper. My parents were Franz and Amelia Hopper. My dad was a scientist working for the government on Project: Carthage, the program that developed and created Lyoko.
We moved here because of their work. Thanks to my dad they were able to create a stable virtual environment that people could go to. The military wanted to use it as a training ground, one that was challenging yet safe, no injuries or death.
Xana was created as a guardian, made to protect Lyoko against anyone who would harm it. One day my parents and I went on a picnic in the forest.
I decided to go exploring so I grab a beef sandwich and went off.
A little way I ran into a wolf looking for food. I should have dropped the sandwich and ran but I was too afraid. The wolf thought I was keeping it away from it's food and attack.
My Dad heard my screams and rescued me, but it was too late, even for a hospital.
So he took me to Lyoko. Since I was virtual he was able to heal me in one of the towers. I had to stay there until I was fully healed. After a long time I was Ok, and it was decide that I could be devirtualised
But then everything went wrong. Xana became out of control, infected with a virus that warped it's protector protocol. It began attacking everyone. The devirtualisation was interrupted which caused Taliea to be born and me still stuck on Lyoko.
Before I lost contact with my dad he told me to turn the super calculator off, so I used my power and turned everything off."
"And then we found you" Jeremie said.
"Yes. But because off the shut down I couldn't remember anything, only my name."
"And of course Xana got woke up. And he did remember everything" Jeremie said.
"Well, at least it's all over now. Any one feel like pizza to celebrate?" Odd said.
Everyone groaned and laughed.
Aelita smiled and looked down at the picture of her parents she had gotten from the memory file on the Fifth Region.

Meanwhile, in a mental institute just outside the city, the latest admittance was having a strange conversation.
"Don't worry, I'll get it done"
"It might not be easy, but just leave everything to me"
The patient shuffled to the window, the straight jacket's sleeves dragging.
"I'll set you and me free soon Xana" Taliea said, looking up at the sky.

"Soon"

--THE END--

(for now)