Hacker Baron
Chapter 3: Face-to-face
The gang was hanging out in the schoolyard. They talking about their day at school. "You know this lovely lady walked to me this morning," said Odd. "I know," said Jeremie. "She called you a creep and hit you on the head." The others beside Odd laughed. "Well I might have deserved," he grumbled. "How'd your day go?" asked Aelita. Ursula wasn't talking at all and the question made her blush. "Did you see William?" asked Odd. Ursula blushed even more. "He is charming isn't he?" said Yami. "By the way Jeremie," said Chip. "What made the Skipizoa go rouge?" "I don't know," said Jeremie. "I think something hacked into its system and took control of it, but I don't have any idea who or what." Then Draco ran up and yelled, "Guys we've got trouble!"
Then the group heard the screams coming from the front of the school. They ran to the front and looked for the source. That didn't have to look far. The screams were coming from the people running away from a strange looking machine. Its body was like an upside-down dome with mechanical tentacles on it. It had two projections on the back that resembled speakers. Attached to these speakers were a pair of mechanical arms. On the front of the machine, a computer monitor was mounted. On the screen was a face with two triangles for eyes and a trapezoid for a mouth. The machine was floating three feet in the air and was coming towards the school. When it reached the gate, it simply lifted a hand and the gate swung open. The machine floated in front of the group and spoke in a mechanical monotone. "Team Lyoko, I finally meet you. And Experiments 628 and 629 you are here too. This makes it easier for me. Your small organic brains are probably wondering who I am. I am Virustocron, the Hacker Baron, the Duke of Deletion, the Count of Cybernetics, and the Earl of Erasing. I have been dwelling for hundreds of years in the location you earthlings call Silicon Valley. I have feeding off the power of the technological advances in your society. I have been dormant for a while but now because of 6-2-9 and Project Lyoko I am fully operational and free to roam this planet. My main goal is the deletion of all obsolete things. And the most obsolete thing on this planet is carbon-based life. I will remove all of these life forms and erect a planetary empire where only machines exist. So now I must delete the main obstacles to my plan: you." Then Virustocron fired a bolt of black electricity at the group. The group managed to dive out of the way. "How about some of your own medicine?" said Chixie aiming at Virustocron. Suddenly her arms pinned themselves to her sides. Virustocron smirked and said, "Do you really think I can be destroyed by my own creation?" "You didn't create me. Jumba did." "That is true but I was in reference to your viruses. You see I am the source of all computer viruses on Earth. Humans believe that they created them, but it was really me." Then Odd jumped on Virustocron's back but Virustocron threw him off easily. Draco used his combination of fire and ice to douse Virustocron with water. The Hacker Baron short-circuited for a few minutes and came back online. He looked around and saw that the group had escaped.
The gang was now at the factory and Jeremie was trying to see if there was a way to defeat Virustocron in Lyoko. Suddenly Chip beeped and said, "Just a second, I've got an e-mail." He displayed the e-mail with his hologram power. The Eye of XANA was displayed in the hologram. "XANA! What do you want?" cried Chip. "Your help," said XANA. "You need out help?" asked Aelita incredulously. "Yes, Virustocron has possessed most of my monsters including the Skipizoa. He's controlling them with two towers that are activated in the Desert Region." "Wait a minute," said Ursula. "You're saying that Virustocron is the one who switched me and Yami?" "Yes, though I wish that I had thought of that first." "Why should we help you?" asked Yami. "Because Virustocron will destroy the supercomputer to remove its threat and that will take Aelita with it," said XANA. "Alright, but on four conditions," said Jeremie. "1: You can't have your monsters attack us. 2: You can't use the Skipizoa on Aelita when we free it. 3: You use the Skipizoa to switch Ursula and Yami back. 4: You can't pull off what Virustocron did." "Agreed, but we'll need an outer defense," said XANA. When no one spoke up Chip explained, "We'll need something to protect the supercomputer in the real world." Odd picked up Morph's container and said, "I think this qualifies as an emergency." "Fine, but we're going to have to give him the pudding only in Virustocron's range. Otherwise he'll destroy everything else." Odd, Chip, and Draco ran off with Morph to Virustocron while Aelita, Ursula, and Yami went into Lyoko.