Code Xana Episode 81: Castle In The Sky
Author: James the Lesser/The Bunnyman
Disclaimer: I Do Not Own These Characters! Moonscoop Does! Actually, I own most of these characters, I made them up, but the place and the settings and the back round stuff is Moonscape.
Please read my episodes, 53-119 plus the OVA of Code Lyoko to know what is going on. Oh and Code Xana the Movie and Episode 1-80
Dante is on Lyoko hiding from his friends and feelings. After the last attack Naia was, lost. He couldn't say dead. Sora told them that Xana wouldn't kill just one of them he'd kill all of them at once. But he couldn't find Naia and was starting to doubt what Sora had said. He wants to cry, he wants to feel, but when he was on Earth it hurt too much and he'd go back to Lyoko.
Sanne and Krieger are going to the Factory to check on Dante. Sanne was getting more and more worried about him. She tried making him feel better, brought him chocolate and things but Dante was too depressed. A few times they fought and argued. They take the elevator down to the Control Room. Sanne goes over and sits down in the computer chair. "Dante, are you there?"
"Of course I am here, what do you want?" Dante's reply gets on Sanne's nerves but she stays calm.
"I was wondering if you wanted to come with me Krieger to get something to eat. We could get chocolate milkshakes."
"No, I'm not going to Earth."
"Dante you can't hide on Lyoko forever. If you come and get something to eat then after we could get some work done." Sanne was hoping that Naia had gone wherever Franz had been and was looking for her.
"No. I'm not going to Earth and I've been looking for Naia she's not here! Sora is lying! She's probably working for Xana still and is doing this to keep you from calling your parents!"
"Sora isn't working for Xana! If she was she would have attacked us by now." Sanne and Sora had been working together. Sora had memories, inside information, on Xana and Sector 5. Sora knew Xana's plans and was hoping Sanne could find something useful. Sora had even joined Krieger and Sanne in training and after they would shower. Sanne had been alone enough times with Sora to know Sora was not the enemy anymore. "Naia is there we just have to find her."
"Leave me alone, now!" Sanne takes the headset off.
"Krieger we better go." Sanne and Krieger leave the Factory and go back to Kadic Academy having failed in their plan.
A few minutes later Dante feels pulses. "Xana's attacking, Sanne will know and come." Dante goes to the control panel. "Hmmm, the Super Scan isn't finding it. I better go take a look." Dante leaves the Way Tower in the Forest Sector and sees something forming in the air. "What is he doing?" Dante continues to watch. Stones virtualize then move together until the new addition to Lyoko is complete. The stone sphere hangs in the air over the Forest Sector and Dante can tell the pulses are coming from there. "The Super Scan won't find it. I have to warn the others." Dante runs back into the Way Tower, goes up to the second platform, and then uses it to send himself to Earth. He gets his Jcell out and calls Sanne. "Sanne, Xana has created a new Sector on Lyoko. He has a Tower there and has activated it."
"Dante we'll be right," Dante hangs up on her. "There." Sanne hangs up her phone. "Xana's activated a Tower."
"What? Your Super Scan didn't go off." Krieger closes his math book. "Are you sure?"
"Dante said a Tower was activated so it must have happened." Sanne and Krieger head back to the Factory as they call their friends.
Dante lands back on Lyoko, looks up at the sphere, and then goes into the Way Tower. He was debating what to do. Ever since they lost Naia Dante was unsure of what to do. He hated Sanne and the others. They should have done more to protect Naia. He should have done more. If they hadn't been sick they wouldn't have activated the Way Towers. Xana wouldn't have come ready to destroy all of the Lyoko Warriors. Dante had been sick but he knew he wouldn't die he wasn't all human. Part of him would resist the illness. The others though they were the ones who would die. Franz sacrificed himself for them not Dante. If that hadn't happened maybe Xana would have gone away and Naia wouldn't have tried to posses him. But that hadn't happened and the others didn't protect Naia. They hadn't, he hadn't, and he hated them and himself for it. Now he wonders if he should even go anymore or just send himself to Earth, take some money out of his account that Sanne made for him, and find Naia's parents. Tell them who they were, what had happened, give them the money, and then kill himself. He wanted to die, maybe go to wherever Naia was and be with her again. But he wasn't sure what was after death if anything. Xana had programmed him to believe in nothing. No faith, no religion, no afterlife. But being on Earth he read and learned about the different religions and wondered. Was Naia happy where she was now? If she was dead of course. Sanne still had faith that Naia was alive somewhere in the Super Computer but Dante couldn't find her and knew that if Naia was in the Super Computer somewhere she would have contacted him somehow.
Sora answers her phone. "It's good to be back Sanne, I'll be right there." Sora hangs up. "Fighting Xana again, just like before. Well, maybe not just like before." Sora turns into a black mist and goes to the Factory.
Sanne and Krieger get to the Factory and find Sora waiting for them. "Wow, you got here fast. I didn't see your skateboard." Krieger smiles at Sora happy she was back. It was a relief for the group. Ms. Delmas dead, Franz as Xana's host, and Sora freed meant they could focus on getting Naia back.
"I don't need that with my powers. This should be easy since I still have my Xana powers." Sora looks at the monitor. "Where's the Tower at?"
"I'm not sure." The other two give her quizzical looks. "Dante said Xana created something over the Forest Sector, a new Sector. The Tower is there, somewhere." Sanne goes and sits down in the computer chair then looks at the screen. "Dante are you there?" A screen opens. "Dante did you look for the Tower?"
"I told you it is in the Sphere over the Forest Sector. Do you expect me to fly with wings? Wait, I'm not you."
"You could have sent yourself the Overwing and gone up to investigate." Sanne ignores Dante's snippy attitude.
"I'm not going." This surprises Sanne.
"What, why?"
"I'm not going."
"Dante you have to. Let me bring you back then I can send you under your profile."
"No. If you bring me back I won't go back to Lyoko. Leave me alone Sanne." The screen closes.
"Dante!" Sanne yells but doesn't get a response. "What is he thinking? We need him."
"Sanne he might be, messed up, from losing Naia. We need to give him some space. I know I wouldn't be able to go back and fight Xana if it was you who, we lost." Krieger didn't want to say die because Naia wasn't dead. She couldn't be dead. If she was they'd have to call their parents.
"But we need him!" Sanne closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths. "But I can understand. We'll give him some time. Its not like she's dead we just don't know where she is." Sanne and Krieger jump when there is a loud banging noise. "What was that?" Sanne looks around.
"I don't know." Sora closes her eyes and searches with her energy. She feels a presence but it wasn't human or Xana. "Probably an animal that escaped from a collection or something."
"And found its way here?" Sanne isn't so sure a coincidence would be that easy. "It could be Xana."
"It isn't, trust me." Sanne decides to trust Sora and wait for the others.
Soon Ark and Mira make it to the Factory and take the elevator down to the Control Room. Ark and Mira are shocked to see Sora at first. It was taking time for them to believe that Sora was back. "Hey Sora, are you taking the Scanners to Lyoko with the rest of us peasants?"
"I might. I don't need to but I don't like using my powers, much. I start to feel weird when I use my powers too much."
"Well if we have the room, we should. Unless I use the auto transfer with myself and two others instead of using the auto transfer on just myself." Sanne thinks about how to send her friends. "Or I can send you guys now while we wait for Skitz and Barack. Save us time."
"Sure. And I could tell you about this sphere that Dante saw." Krieger walks over to the elevator and gets on it. Ark, Mira, and Sora follow him onto it and take it down to the Scanner Room.
"Transfer Krieger, Transfer Ark, Transfer Mira, Scanner Krieger, Scanner Ark, Scanner Mira, and virtualization." They land on Lyoko in the Forest Sector. Looking up they see the Sphere.
"Wow, it's like a castle in the sky." Mira is awed by the sight.
"Xana's castle. We don't have any siege weapons but we'll get in somehow." Krieger looks around for any other new additions but doesn't see any.
"I want to see it! There better be a way in or we won't be able to deactivate the Tower." Sanne is anxious to get to Lyoko and see the Sphere. She wonders what it will look like on the inside. Would it be like Sector 5 or a replica of a previous Sector? Or would it be a completely new Sector?
As they wait Barack and Skitz make it to the Factory. "This will be different. I've been so used to trying to figure out ways around Sora I forgot Xana had other monsters."
"Yeah but Barack I don't know what's worse. One Sora or a bunch of Mega Tanks." Skitz and Barack swing down to the Factory floor and run over to the elevator. They take it down to the Control Room. "Sanne what's going on?"
"Get to the Scanner Room the others are waiting for you." Skitz and Barack get back on the elevator and take it down.
"Hey Sora." Skitz and Barack smile at her. "Taking the old way?"
"Of course, it's great to be back." The three step into the Scanners.
"Transfer Skitz, Transfer Barack, Transfer Sora, Scanner Skitz, Scanner Barack, Scanner Sora, and virtualization." They land on Lyoko as the vehicles appear. "Ok, I'll be there in a few." Sanne sets up the auto transfer and hurries down to the Scanner Room getting in a Scanner just before the doors close.
"Sanne, are we sure the Tower is in there?" Krieger is already on the Overbike staring at the Sphere.
"Yes. Dante said it was there and look at the pulsations." Sanne motions to them. "They seem to move towards the sphere." Sanne goes over and gets on the back of the Overbike wrapping her arms around Krieger's waist. Krieger activates the flight controls and they take off for the Sphere with the others following. Sora had opted for the rocket boots instead of using her powers.
As they fly near the Sphere three Hornets appear. "Skitz, Barack, tackle the Hornets while the rest of us look for an entrance." Krieger gets his shield out ready to block any lasers.
"Why do that when I can do this?" Sora waves her hand and an energy wave comes out destroying two Hornets. The third one flies away when Barack aims and fires his own laser destroying the wings. The Hornet falls from the sky and lands in the Digital Sea.
"Its great to have you back Sora." Sanne turns and looks Sora over. She wasn't completely back to her normal self but she wasn't her Xanafied version either. Her clothes were close to her old style but black and her crossbow was bigger then her original one but smaller then the Gothic Bow she had been using. The group flies around the sphere looking for an entrance. Sora flies to the top and sees an opening. She flies down close to it and looks in.
"Hey guys I found it!" She sees a tunnel the curves almost as soon as someone got in. "Its small I don't think we'll be able to take the vehicles in." The others fly up around her.
"Well, do we knock or is there a doorbell? Hate to be rude." Ark's lame joke gets Sora to laugh.
"I missed that." Sora flies down into the opening. "There's a light at the end of the tunnel. I'll go first ok?"
"Ok." Sanne and the others watch Sora get down on her hands and knees to crawl through the tunnel. "That's dangerous if we have to go one at a time."
"Yeah and I bet that's what Xana wanted." Krieger looks around in case Xana sent more monsters.
A few minutes later Sora comes out. "All clear, follow me." Sora goes back into the tunnel and the others follow her.
When they get out of the tunnel the group drops down to a large blue platform. "Wow, this is, weird." Everyone agrees with Krieger. There were dozens of tunnels and three large doors.
"What do we do?" Ark creates his spear. "Is the Tower in one of the large doors or in a tunnel?"
"I don't know." Sanne looks at the different tunnels hoping for a hint. When she doesn't get any she closes her eyes and concentrates on her energy. It doesn't come out. "Sora, you're the strongest here. You'll lead Skitz and Barack through that door," Sanne points to the one in the middle. "Krieger, Ark, Mira, and I will go through that one," She points to the one on the left. "If we don't find anything we'll meet back here and go through the last one."
"Be careful Sanne." Skitz doesn't want to leave Sanne. Sanne was her best friend and if things got tough she wanted to be there to protect her. "Sora, lets play follow the leader."
"Ok, first rub your stomach and pat your head." Sora smiles and laughs. "I'm sorry but I had to say that. I haven't had much chance to make jokes these past few weeks." Sora, Skitz, and Barack walk away from the others.
"I'll lead." Krieger walks towards the other door and the rest follow.
As Sora and the other two walk through the middle door Xana watches. He has left a few tricks and treats in his new Sector. After walking through the door they find themselves in a small hallway. "Stop." Sora puts her hand up and the other two do. "He's watching us."
"Xana? Why is he only watching us?" Barack gets his BFK out.
"He, I think I know but I won't speculate. I won't put ideas in your heads only to find out I am wrong." Sora continues walking and the other two follow.
Krieger is walking down another hall when a spike shoots out from the floor. Krieger backs away barely missing it. "That was close."
"I don't think this is like Sector 5." Sanne hugs Krieger from behind pulling him away from the spike even more. "This is his castle. He probably set up traps everywhere to keep us out."
"Great. As long as we don't find ourselves a dungeon filled with chains and stocks we should be fine." Krieger and the others step around the spike and continue forward through a maze of hallways.
Sora and the other two are lost. "I think we went by here already." Barack looks at the wall. "I've been leaving marks at every turn."
"Well then we'll turn the other way." Sora takes a step and the ceiling comes down! She jumps backwards knocking into the other two. The ceiling goes back into position. Sora puts her foot back on the same spot and the ceiling comes back down. "I guess we're going back and taking a left at the other turn."
The two groups walk through the maze getting more and more lost. Eventually Sanne hears a noise. "Shhh." Everyone stops. "Hear that?"
"Yeah, what do you think it is?" Krieger gets his sword and shield out. "Sounds like footsteps."
"Yeah." Mira pulls her Kodachi out. "I'll go forward. Stealth." Mira disappears then walks by the others. She goes around the corner being as quiet as possible. The footsteps get louder and louder. Mira stops at an intersection and cranes her neck around. She was invisible and didn't need to hide but she was scared. They were lost in a maze, Xana was attacking, and she was getting claustrophobic. What she sees however makes her smile and laugh. "Sora!" Mira drops the stealth and comes out. "Fancy meeting you here. Oh, hi Barack and Skitz, enjoying the sights?"
"What are you doing here?"
"We got lost. I'm guessing you guys haven't got a map do you?" Sora laughs at Mira's joke.
"No we were going to stop and ask for directions but Barack keeps telling us he knows where we are." Sora laughs again. "I haven't been able to laugh, for fun, in a long time. Where are the others?"
"They staid back." Mira looks behind her. "I guess the three doors lead to the same maze."
"I guess." Mira leads the three back to the other group.
"Hey, you brought company." Ark goes over and hugs Mira. He had been getting worried about Mira.
"We're lost." Sanne looks at her friends. "There are traps everywhere and we have no choice but to split up even more. If we are going to find our way to the Tower we need as many people looking in as many different directions as possible." Krieger doesn't like Sanne's orders.
"Sanne I can't leave you alone. It would be too tempting for Xana to get you and make you his host."
"I'll go with her." Sora steps forward. "I should be more than enough to handle any of Xana's monsters."
"Ok, but we have to worry. I don't know what Xana is using the activated Tower for. It could just be to make this or he could be attacking on the outside world." Sanne starts to run down a hall. Sora chases after her as the others go separate ways.
Mira is walking down a hall getting claustrophobic. The walls seem to be getting smaller and smaller. She takes a step and the floor disappears. "Aaaa!" She falls then lands hard. "Where am I?" When the floor reappears Mira is left in the dark. "Hello?" No response. "I'm useless here." Mira shoves a Kodachi into herself and sends herself back to Earth.
Ark is lost, as are the others. He has his spear out like a cane tapping the floor. He taps the floor and five spikes shoot out from the wall. Ark walks around the spikes not expecting another trap so soon when the walls slam in on him crushing him and sending him back to Earth.
Krieger is using his sword to tap the floor when the floor disappears. Krieger jumps over the space.
Skitz walks around a corner and sees Barack. "Barack!" She waves her arm and he sees her.
"Might as well walk together." They join up and walk next to each other through the maze.
Sora and Sanne are walking slowly. Sora uses an arrow she created to tap the floor in front of her. As they walk they see a white light. "I think we might have found the end." They walk to the light and find themselves where they started. "This is getting annoying."
"We walked all that way to end up where we started." Sanne shakes her head. "We need help to get through there."
"Well unless Xana makes us a map we won't have any help." Sora snaps to attention. "This is bad."
"I know who knows what Xana is doing on Earth."
"No, not that." Sora sparks with energy. "Creepers." As Sora says this Creepers come out of the tunnels like bees leaving a hive.
"Crap, Bubble." The shield appears over Sanne.
"Not to worry you're with me." Sora fires an arrow at a Creeper and destroys it. She creates more arrows and destroys more Creepers. Sanne fires energy beams but more Creepers come out.
"Holy crap." Mira was sitting on Ark's lap in the computer chair when they see Sora's and Sanne's profiles come up. Sora loses five, ten, fifteen points as Sanne loses ten, twenty, thirty points. Mira grabs the headset and puts it on. "Sanne, Sora, what's going on?"
"Creepers!" Sora sparks with energy destroying more Creepers but more come out. "Crap I can't stop them all!" Soon Sanne devirtualizes followed by Sora a few hits later.
"Frak it!" Sanne is mad that this happened. She was needed to deactivate the Tower and had been stopped. "Sora are you ok?" Sanne sees a burn on her face from where a laser hit.
"I'm fine. How about you?"
"Pissed. Xana has us beat. We can't get through that damn maze and those Creepers wouldn't stop."
"Don't give up isn't Dante still on Lyoko?"
"Yeah, but he, we need him." Sanne goes over to the ladder and takes it up to see Mira sitting in Ark's lap. "Are you two busy or can I use the chair?"
"Oh uh, yeah." They get out of the computer chair and Sanne sits down and puts the headset on.
"Dante are you there?" The screen comes up.
"Yes Sanne, what are you doing?"
"I was sent back. You need to go and deactivate the Tower."
"I won't go."
"We need you Dante! My countdown won't be over for," Sanne checks. "Four more minutes. Even if I do go we will still need you."
"I told you Sanne I'm not going." The screen closes.
"Damn it Dante we need you! I know you're depressed about Naia but you can't shut down because of it! I'll send the Overwing to you and you can take it up and help us find the Tower."
"That won't work I'll only end up like you." Dante appears in the screen again. "Activate a Tower, send the power to me, and I'll use that power to get to the Tower." Dante waits for a response.
"I, Dante that's dangerous."
"I won't go like this. I'm too weak to do much. I need the power so I can find the Tower and deactivate it."
"Fine, I'll activate a Tower. You'll have ten minutes then I'm sending myself back to Lyoko and deactivating it."
"Ten minutes should be enough." The screen closes and Dante leaves the Tower. Soon Sanne activates a Tower and sends the ghost to Dante. "Yes, more then enough." Dante flies up to the Sphere and enters it through the top.
Krieger is stuck. A wall had closed behind him and a bunch of spikes were in front of him. "Sanne can you hear me?"
"Yes Krieger."
"I'm stuck. Can you bring me back to Earth?"
"I should." Sanne's fingers fly over the keys and brings Krieger back to Earth. "Skitz, Barack, where are you guys?"
"We're together and we're still lost." Skitz was getting bored. At first it was exciting not knowing what would be coming up but after nothing happened they got bored.
"Dante is coming maybe he can pick you up. He should be able to find the Tower pretty easily."
"I'm not getting them." Dante is in the middle of the opening chamber with the three doors and dozens of tunnels. He closes his eyes and focuses on his energy. It comes out feeling through the Sphere. Dante is looking for the activated Tower when he feels something else. "It can't be, not here." Dante turns into a black mist and flies towards the signal that he felt. When he reforms he finds himself in the middle of the Sphere and in front of him is the Core of Lyoko. Dante puts a hand on it and feels the power. "I can find her." Dante uses the Core to bring up a control panel and look for anything that could be Naia.
"Dante? Did you find the Tower?" Dante doesn't respond. "Dante?" Sanne starts to get worried. "Skitz, Barack, do you have any clue of where you are?" Sanne hopes they could find Dante but her hopes are crushed.
"No idea. Can we come back?"
"I guess." Sanne brings them back to Earth worrying more and more about Dante.
Dante is scanning for any Digital DNA that would be Naia when Xana forms behind him. "Hello Son."
"Xana!" Dante turns around and sparks with energy. Dante is confused at first when he sees Franz Hopper then remembers that Xana had taken Franz and killed Ms. Delmas. "Where's Naia!"
"She's dead. If you want a body to bury though I can't help you with that. If you would like to join her that will have to wait however. I can't let you die." Xana reaches towards Dante but Dante knocks his hand away. "Rude little boy."
"Shut up!" Dante attacks Xana. Xana strikes back and soon the two are using physical and energy attacks on each other.
"Dante!" Sanne screams when she sees his profile flash and his life points start to go down. "What are you doing!? Get to the Tower!"
"I have to do this!" Dante strikes Xana across the face. "You didn't kill Naia she wouldn't die that easily!"
"Oh but she was a mere human. She really thought she could posses me. I admit it was strange and it took me a few seconds to realize what had happened but once I did I crushed her and took back control." Xana strikes Dante across the chest. "She is dead Dante."
"No she isn't!" Dante punches Xana so hard in the chest his hand penetrates his body. Dante tries to grab an energy orb but Xana pulls back.
"Bad boy!" Xana sparks with more energy then it disappears. "Deactivate the Tower boy or I will use it to kill more of your friends!" Xana backs away from Dante. He had new powers but he had been hurt. Losing his energy orb and when Naia exploded him Xana lost power. If he hadn't lost that power he wouldn't have needed a Tower to form his new home.
"I'll kill you!" Dante doesn't go to deactivate the Tower and continues after Xana.
On Earth Sanne is getting worried. "Dante you only have two more minutes before I deactivate the Tower."
"You can't! I'm going to kill Xana!" Dante continues to attack Xana. "I'll make him pay for what he did to Naia!"
"Foolish boy even with the Tower's power I am stronger than you!" Xana punches Dante hard in the stomach. "She won't care if you are fighting me. She will deactivate the Tower."
"I'll just have to kill you before then!" Dante goes for Xana's eyes hoping to blind him but Xana blocks the attack.
"Dante I'm going now. Deactivate Xana's Tower before I deactivate ours!" Sanne sets up the auto transfer and hurries down to the Scanner Room. She gets in the Scanner just in time.
"You hear that Dante? She's going to let me tear you apart once you lose your power."
"Aaaa!" Dante lets out a primal scream sending more energy at Xana. Xana creates an energy shield blocking it. Dante flies away from Xana and uses his energy to look for the activated Tower. He feels the pulses and follows them into a tunnel that leads to the activated Tower. He flies towards it and is nearly there when his powers disappear. He lands hard in front of the Tower. He gets up and runs in. He goes up to the second platform and goes over to the control panel. "The Tower is deactivated." The screens fall around him. "How do I get back to the Forest Sector?" Dante gets his answer soon after Sanne goes back to Earth and materializes him.
"Dante as long as you're on Earth how about we get something to eat?" Sanne hopes Dante would go.
"No, send me back." Dante steps back into the Scanner. Dante! Please see me! Dante shakes his head. "Send me back now!" The Scanner doors close and soon Dante lands back on Lyoko.
"Dante if you want we can talk, alone." Sanne looks at the others and motions them towards the elevator.
"I, I guess." Dante sighs. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."
"It's ok Dante I know you're upset." Sanne and Dante continue to talk.
A/N Another song turned attack. Techno song, good song. Next episode should be on the 15th