Jeremy felt like the world had fallen from under his feet when he tried to stand up, wobbling shakily and bumping back onto the door.
How long have I been out? Jeremy wondered. He checked his watch, then remembered he had barely glanced at a clock throughout the entire collapse of the East wing.
Whatever, the watch read 3:15 anyway, probably broken during the whole school fiasco.
Jeremy sighed and brushed off his knees, sitting on his bed to clear his mind. He grabbed his laptop from the bag and found it on, just how he left it. There were a few clips and dents on it's frame but still in working condition.
He immediately put a call through to Ulrich, and after a few useless rings, Jeremy wasn't surprised to hear Odd's voice through the laptop instead.
"Jeremy, where are you?" He demanded.
Jeremy groaned. "I'm still at the school. X.A.N.A's attacked me. He's possessed principal Delmas."
"Yeah, we know Einstein. He's out for the count, as of the moment."
Jeremy stood, walking towards the west wing stairs. "What time is it?" He asked slowly.
"It's...a quarter to four."
Perfect. Jeremy thought. Three forty five. About fifteen minutes in the lab, and about ten minutes conked out.
"I'm on my way." Jeremy said. "Where's Ulrich?"
"He's still trying to help the girls. It's gotta be a record, how long Yumi's been in there without getting devirtualized."
"Yeah, but we'll be of more help when I get there."
"Jeremy? Jeremy can you hear me?" Aelita asked. "Jeremy, things don't look so good, what's going on?"
Aelita turned to Yumi, and she grabbed her fan from the air and shut it closed. "I think that's the last of them."
"Something's not right." Aelita said. "First our communication with Jeremy gets cut and now, there might be a threat we can't even see."
"If it is a threat," Yumi added, "Why won't it attack us?"
"Maybe it's hiding?" Suggested Aelita.
"I doubt it." Responded Yumi. "It almost feel like it's some kind of surprise attack."
"Wait," Aelita hushed, "Do you hear that?"
Yumi stood quiet, ready to furl open her fan at a moments notice. The hiss in the air dropped, and the girls could hear a voice, faintly.
"Yumi? Aeilta? Can you read me?" Ulrich said.
Yumi gasped with joy. "Yes!" she shouted, "We can!"
"Great." Ulrich said. "Jeremy just got back with his laptop, we manage to transfer audio there."
"How's Jeremy?" Aelita asked.
Ulrich chuckled nervously. "A little shaken. X.A.N.A's gotten hold of Delmas and attacked him."
Aelita started. "Is X.A.N.A-"
Before she could finish her question, the girls could hear a large bang come from the area around the computer.
"He's trying to force his way in." Aelita heard Jeremy say.
"Think we can distract him long enough for Jeremy to do his thing?" Odd asked Ulrich.
"Let's hope so." Ulrich replied. The girls waited until the shuffling stopped, sighing with relief when Jeremy spoke into his headset.
"Do the lovely ladies need their vehicles? Or should I say 'A vehicle?'" Jeremy joked.
"Good to see you're okay." Said Yumi as her Overwing materialized beside her.
Aelita took Yumi's hand, and climbed up behind her, taking one last look at the detached ground separated from the rest of the Desert region.
They zipped along the ground, slowly making their way to the activated tower. Aelita looked around for any monsters and was unnerved to find none. She tapped Yumi. "I'm going to get a view from the air."
Yumi nodded. "Ok, you go ahead."
"Be careful, Aelita." Jeremy added. "I may not be able to see anything on my screen so far, but there might be something."
Aelita nodded. "Got it." She said, activating her wings and taking to the skies, closely behind Yumi.
Jeremy was confused. There was no sign of any monsters, but he could still make out some type of thing, it was just so blurred on his screen, he couldn't make out what it was.
"Aelita," Jeremy said, "Did you see what was just beyond that broken edge?"
"Not really," Aelita responded, voice faint, "There wasn't anything there. Just the ground."
"It's so weird." He said. "There's an indicator pointing at something, but the mainframe is so messed up, I can't make out what it is."
"Do you want me to check it out?" Yumi asked.
"No, at any point, our main focus is to get Aelita to the tower as fast as possible, and protect her."
"But," A distorted voice said, "Who's left to protect dear old Jeremy?"
Jeremy jumped from the floor, barely dodging X.A.N.A's swinging arm. As quick as he was, it didn't stop the possessed principal from grabbing him off the ground.
Jeremy shot a glance from the other side of the room as X.A.N.A hoisted him up to his feet, but Ulrich and Odd were nowhere to be seen.
X.A.N.A laughed over Aelita's worried inquiries. "Those brats just love to play hide and seek, don't they? Well, too bad they don't know how stupid they are."
He laughed again, chilling every part of Jeremy to his core. X.A.N.A tilted principal Delmas' head, examining Jeremy with a sneer. "But you know, don't you Jeremy? How infuriating they can be, with their simple minds."
Jeremy stabilized himself against X.A.N.A's grasp, trying to shove his arm away as X.A.N.A pressed him against a wall. "I don't know what you're talking about." He gasped at the A.I.
X.A.N.A raised his arm and crackled the electricity at his fingertips. "Oh, I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. I've heard you sigh in disappointment every time they mess up the most simple procedure, scowl when the others take matters into their own hands. You're like me, desiring total control."
Jeremy shook his head. "No, you're wrong!"
He narrowed his eyes, peering at Jeremy like a cat. "Just admit it, Jeremy. You hate them."
"I hate you." Jeremy spat.
X.A.N.A tsked. "All that malice for someone trying to help you."
The A.I smiled grotesquely before electrocuting the small genius's wound, admiring the soft blue light that, in his twisted mind, complimented the agonized screaming.
Ulrich crept along the beams, listening in on X.A.N.A's leering. He held the crowbar closer to his chest, twisting the rusted metal bits like it was X.A.N.A's throat. He turned to Odd's position, and nodded slowly when he caught the blond's eyes.
Together they jumped from the beams and ran towards the possessed principal, just as he proceeded to electrocute Jeremy.
"Jeremy!" They cried together. X.A.N.A turned to them with a crazed look in his eyes, the symbol of Lyoko dancing erratically.
"I suggest you both stay back! Or I break his ribs!" He yelled. He pressed the wound on Jeremy's chest, eliciting a louder scream from the boy.
Ulrich felt a pang in his gut, watching Jeremy buck and flail against the electric current and pain, and judging by Odd's reaction, he felt the same.
His screams were awful, but X.A.N.A smiled as he drunk in the sound as if it were the most blissful of music. Jeremy waned slowly, and he fell limp under X.A.N.A's pressed hand, finally unconscious. "Good," He said, dropping the boy to the floor.
He turned to Ulrich and Odd. "Now sleep."
Before either of them could jump out of the way, X.A.N.A turned the current onto them.
Aelita could hear Jeremy screaming from the computer, as faint as it was. She swooped from the sky to lower ground, gaining speed as she flew towards the activated tower. It was like a walkway, a narrow field with the tower at the end. It glowed with a lazy red color.
"Aelita watch out!" Cried Yumi.
A sharp pang hit Aelita in the shoulder, knocking her to the ground and de-activating her wings. She rolled to a stop, cursing herself for getting so caught up in her feelings. She turned to the origin of the shot and groaned when she saw a group of Hornets racing towards her.
She gasped, jumping into fighting position. Her shoulder throbbed, and she could feel her life points draining because of the Hornet's poison. The jab only struck her in the shoulder, so her points wouldn't fall greatly, but it was still a bad situation.
"Yumi!" She cried.
"On it!" Yumi yelled. She jumped from her Overwing, unveiling her fan and tossing it towards the first Hornet with a cry. It sliced through the target, leaving four more in it's place.
"Aelita, go! I'll handle them." She said.
Aelita nodded and started running towards the tower, just as a wisp of dark smoke sped along the ground past her, forming into a black pillar.
"Oh, no." Aelita said to herself. "Just what I need."
William stood in the distance blocking the way to the tower, readying his sword as Aelita drew near. He jumped in the air, and swung his sword full arc, dark power ripping the ground in front of Aelita's feet, separating her from the tower.
He chuckled, dropping to the separated ground, and raising his sword towards Aelita, challenging her to cross.
She activated her wings and flew to the separated section of the ground, landing gracefully on her feet. The surprise to her was how he waited, patiently.
She bent into fighting stance. What is he doing? She thought.
X.A.N.A chuckled as he carried Jeremy's unconscious body to the scanner room.
The boy was very stubborn, and he just had to admire that resilience. Of course per his research (and heaven help, his programming), the humans were just disgusting, vile creatures that needed to be wiped out.
But with the boy...
X.A.N.A chuckled again as he opened the scanner, placing Jeremy almost gently inside.
The boy could be useful, but all that talent would go to waste, he'd just be a mindless puppet. No, he wanted something better, something that would prove to those infernal children that he was not to be messed with.
Such a tragedy to befall the young boy. Thought X.A.N.A. He smiled again as the doors closed on Jeremy.
But what fun it's going to be.
He made his way back up the ladder, making sure the two males weren't stirring from their...temporary nap.
He grabbed the laptop and disconnected it from the supercomputer, closing it, and tossing it onto the chair. He turned to the back of the supercomputer and viewed a wisp of his essence infecting the mainframe. He called it back, and the inky smoke reconnecting with him.
The computer was no longer glitched. The screens restored themselves to their proper settings, and X.A.N.A took his time typing in coordinates, and virtualization sequence, again throwing the laptop away from him. It was okay, it landed on one of the males.
The boy's status popped into view, and X.A.N.A purred in delight. Such a lovely time, today. He thought.
X.A.N.A replugged the earpiece to the supercomputer, recoiling as the Hopper offspring started talking.
"Jeremy? Jeremy! Come on, wake up!" She said.
Perfect, the boy made it safely, for now. Now for William to pull through for the next part of the plan.
Aelita began to charge towards William, when she saw the virtualization sequence happening in front of her, and she stopped.
Odd and Ulrich's thirty minutes hadn't finished yet, and Yumi had just destroyed the Hornets. So who...
At first when the blonde hair appeared, she thought it was Odd, but the she saw the green sweater and corduroy pants, she abandoned the thought of William altogether.
Jeremy fell from sky, crashing to the ground with a sickening thud. He didn't move.
Aelita ran towards him, near panic. She skid by his side and shook him. No response. She pushed him slightly.
"Jeremy? Jeremy! Come on, wake up!"
"How sweet." Said X.A.N.A. "The poor helpless princess, desperately trying to save her poor helpless prince."
Aelita held Jeremy close, glaring angrily at William. "What do you want!?" She yelled.
X.A.N.A cackled. "Just a small gift from me to you." He said.
A blue crystalline hemisphere rose from the void under, rising to reveal blue fleshy tentacles, and the Lyoko symbol.
Jeremy stirred, and blinked hazily at William. "Aelita, w-what?"
Aelita rose, pulling Jeremy up to his feet. "Stay behind me." She instructed.
Jeremy blinked slowly behind Aelita, disoriented, fatigued, and in what he could explain as agony. He fell to his knees, and looked at his arms, the electrical burns looking worse every second.
"I want him to understand what it means to be truly helpless, under me." X.A.N.A finished.
Aelita readied an energy sheild, as William and the Scyphozoa slowly made their way to them.
Wow! I am so GLAD I can post this. Like I'vebeen slaving over it for the past few days. Ok, thank you for waiting, and I'M SO SORRY for making you guys wait that long, I swear. Things haven't been going good lately but i wanted to make sure I still had time write.
Thanks for reading!