A/N: This is it; one more chapter after this and this fanbook will be finished! Don't despair though everyone, you can check back next weekend and start reading Book 2! Please be sure to, I don't wanna lose any readers.
Sorry for the delay guys! I hope you enjoy the penultimate chapter.
Yumi was grounded because of the last Xana attack. She had to rely on a return to stay out of trouble the last few times Xana attacked. It didn't help that school ended within a single week.
-( ( • ) ) -
William was doing homework in his room while watching the Ulrich clone. "Good job, Ulrich. I'm sure if you keep sitting there you'll win the game."
"I hope so. I'm undefeated." the clone chirped from the floor in front of William's bed.
-( ( • ) ) -
Odd was out in the forest hunting. "Here Sissi, Sissi, Sissi." He peeked his head around the corner of the Hermitage. "Where the heck is she?" He pulled out his phone and dialed a number, but there was no answer after a few seconds. "Come on, Sissi, where are you?
-( ( • ) ) -
Aelita and Jeremie were in the Control Room. "We have to destroy one. We need to weaken Xana."
"We've been stopped every time, Aelita. I think we should focus more on making a Super Computer, or finding and freeing your mother."
"We were stopped by Xana before and we never gave up. Xana has won so many times. My materialization, my memories, destroying Lyoko, taking William, surviving our attempts to kill him, tricking me into turning the computer back on, taking Ulrich...We can't stop now. We have an idea of the layout of the compound in Australia. If we send Yumi she'll be able to find it and destroy it."
"And who do we send with her?"
"William. Odd and Alex are needed to defend the Skid, Sissi can heal and I can deactivate a Tower in case Xana attacks."
"I want to make sure that nothing goes wrong. Xana might have enhanced the blockade or made a new Internet monster or a million other things." Jeremie pulled up the Skidbladnir's program, showing an orange wireframe of the ship itself, green wireframes of the pilot's cockpit and the Nav Skids, and a transluscent blue bubble around the whole thing. "I'll make the shields stronger before we go."
"We will make sure the shields are stronger." Aelita corrected as she hugged Jeremie from behind.
"Yes, we." Jeremie turned around in the chair and hugged Aelita back, having learned from past mistakes.
-( ( • ) ) -
Odd finally spotted Sissi near the sewer entrance of the woods. He stealthily snuck up behind her before covering her eyes with his hands. "Guess who!" he exclaimed.
"Uh, who?" Sissi asked airily.
"Someone with two backstage passes to the next Subdigitals concert." Odd proclaimed as Sissi turned around.
"And what does that have to do with me, Odd?" Sissi asked, prompting a smile from him.
"Well, who would I go with? The others got tickets too. All but you." Odd pulled the tickets out. "So if you wanted to go with me I'd be happy to give you the other ticket."
"I... I don't know."
"Why not?"
"Will Ulrich's clone be there?" Sissi asked, to which Odd shook his head. "Why not?"
"He doesn't want to go, plus he'd probably make a scene. And you're one of us now, so why not come?" Odd waved the tickets in front of Sissi. "All you have to do is say yes."
"I...I guess I could. When is it?"
"This Saturday. In Paris."
"I didn't see any advertisements saying tickets were for sale yet."
"It's going to be announced later today. Why I wanted to find you before it was announced. So you wouldn't go out and buy a ticket. But you wouldn't answer your phone."
"I broke it and my father won't buy me a new one. Sorry." Odd smiled, turning the charm on even more.
"That's too bad. But I found you, so it's okay. Although if Xana attacks that could be very bad." Odd put an arm around Sissi's shoulder.
"Um, yeah." Sissi blushed. "Um, the concert. Are we doing anything before it or do you just want to meet there?"
"Well I'd love to get something to eat before the concert. L'endroit de Consommation le Plus Célèbre sound good?"
"Um, that sounds good." Odd continued walking with Sissi, discussing what to do before the concert.
-( ( • ) ) -
Outside of a military base surrounded by snow drifts in Siberia, Ulrich appeared from an ominous black mist. "I must kill her." His sabers appeared in his hands as he slowly stepped toward the base.
-( ( • ) ) -
Aelita and Jeremie had the shields powered up and were about to call the others when the Super Scan appeared on the screen. "We'll have to do it after this." Jeremie sighed. "Lagoon Sector."
"This is bad. I think he might have known. He didn't want us to destroy that Super Computer." Aelita murmured.
"It might be tied in to Ulrich's possession. Call Odd and Yumi. I'll call William and Alex."
Odd shoved his phone back into his pocket. "And speaking of the Princess, she just called."
"What did she want?" Sissi asked. "Xana attack?"
"Yep. And she was wondering if you were going to go to the concert and if you wanted to get to talk to Chris for a while."
"I, she, she will let me talk to him?!" Sissi gasped.
"Sure thing...if I ask her kindly enough." Odd kissed Sissi on the cheek. "Now we have to go save the world."
-( ( • ) ) -
Ulrich slowly walked toward a tall barbed wire fence. "Стой!" A guard on the other side raised his rifle.
"I'm sorry, I don't know Russian." Ulrich hissed as he leapt over the fence. "Where is she?" He grabbed the guard by the throat. "Where is she?!" Ulrich shook the guard by the throat, but the latter remained silent.
-( ( • ) ) -
Odd with Sissi was the first to make it to the Factory. They took the elevator down to the Control Room, and as the doors opened Odd piped up. "What is Xana doing?"
"We don't know yet." Aelita glanced at the screen. "We think he's just trying to stop us from destroying a Super Computer."
"Which one?" Sissi asked.
"The one in Australia. It may be tied into Ulrich's possession." Jeremie stated, taking his glasses off and wiping the sweat from his brow.
"Or that's what he wants us to think." Odd rubbed his chin. "If I was Xana I'd try to trick us into thinking it was important, so we wouldn't go after the really important one. Or that is what he wants us to think. Or that is what he wants us to think."
Aelita laughed. "And that might be what he wants us to think. We have to destroy it no matter what, whether it is tied to Ulrich or not."
"Well, we just have to wait for the others." Sissi stated, crossing her arms as she leaned against the Holomap.
-( ( • ) ) -
Ulrich made his way through the snow toward a hangar. Several guards dove out from behind a corner and fired at Ulrich, who effortlessly blocked the bullets with his swords.
"Пожар на воле!" Several more guards began to swarm the area.
"Enough playing, Triplicate!" Ulrich split apart and his clones attacked the guards. "Easy enough. Fusion." He merged with his clones once more before entering the hangar.
-( ( • ) ) -
Yumi and Alex, after sneaking out of the library during their grade's study hall, made it to the Factory next. They leapt, taking hold of the ropes, and swung down to the Factory floor. With that, they boarded the Elevator and took it down.
-( ( • ) ) -
William made it to the Factory last. As he was walking across the bridge, a black mist manifested.
"No, stay back, Xana!" William backed away slowly. "I don't know if you can possess me anymore, and I don't really want to find out." The black mist attacked William, who struggled against it and began to choke.
"William should be here by now." Odd closed his cell phone.
"Maybe Xana attacked him." Yumi bit on a nail. "We need to hurry."
"Get on the elevator and I'll send you." Jeremie pulled up Odd, Sissi and Yumi's ID Cards.
-( ( • ) ) -
William rolled on the bridge trying to fight off the black mist. He screamed and sparked with energy as the black mist started to take control. "No!" He could feel the black mist rip away from him. "You can't possess me any more." He tentatively got up, shaking his head weakly, and stumbled across the bridge.
-( ( • ) ) -
Odd, Sissi and Yumi climbed into the Scanners. "Transfer Yumi, Transfer Odd, Transfer Sissi, Scanner Yumi, Scanner Odd, Scanner Sissi, virtualization." They landed on Lyoko in the Lagoon Sector. "Wait, the elevator is running." Jeremie turned around and saw William step off of it.
"Jeremie, where is everyone else?" William leaned against the wall for support.
"On Lyoko. Are you okay?"
"A bit shaken but not stirred." William laughed a little.
"Just hurry. We don't know what Xana is doing." William stepped back on the elevator and took it down to the Scanner Room. He stepped into the middle Scanner as Alex and Aelita took the remaining two. "Transfer William, Transfer Alex, Transfer Aelita. Scanner William, Scanner Alex, Scanner Aelita. Virtualization." The three landed near the others as the vehicles, minus the Overbike, appeared. "Head north. It isn't far."
"On it, Einstein." Odd leapt on the Overboard with Sissi as Aelita took the Overcycle with Alex. "Yumi and William sitting on an Overwing, K-I-S-S-I-N-G."
"Shut up Odd!" Yumi pulled out a fan and flung it at Odd, narrowly missing his tail.
"You two do make a cute couple." Aelita laughed, stopping when Yumi waved the fan at her threateningly. "Sorry."
"We need to deactivate this Tower." Yumi activated the Overwing and took off.
-( ( • ) ) -
Ulrich sliced through the door blocking his way and stepped into the hangar. "Where is Antea Schaeffer?" The guards didn't reply. "You don't understand Français? I don't understand Russe. I'm going to have to do this the hard way." He drew his sabers.
-( ( • ) ) -
The Lyoko Warriors made it to the activated Tower easily, but getting Aelita to deactivate it would be a lot harder. "He sent the Scorpion and Dark Angel." William pulled his Zweihander out.
"Ulrich must be busy doing something else." Yumi readied a fan. "Something that doesn't benefit us."
"Then let's play without him." Odd dove at the Scorpion. "You guys play with Sharpie." Odd dodged a laser from the Scorpion. "Laser Arrow!" He fired back but missed.
-( ( • ) ) -
Ulrich shifted through a wall. "A computer...where is she?" He began to type on the computer, narrowing his eyes angrily.
-( ( • ) ) -
"Hiya!" Yumi threw a fan but the Dark Angel dodged. "Aelita, Alex, try for the Tower!" Yumi called as she caught the fan.
"Watch out!" Jeremie watched something form on the screen. "There's something coming from behind you!" Odd dodged a laser from the Scorpion, Sissi clinging to his waist and saw the Volcanoid.
"It's not Ulrich...unless he had a weight gain." Odd joked as he and Sissi dodged another laser. "Einstein, what do we do?"
"Be careful guys. I don't know what to do."
-( ( • ) ) -
Ulrich smirked at the computer and closed the file he was looking at. "Time to die." He slashed the computer with his sword, leaving the screen a sparking mess, then turned and shifted through the wall to start the hunt.
-( ( • ) ) -
"Energy Field!" Aelita threw an energy orb at the Dark Angel as the Volcanoid came closer. Alex could do little more than glare at it and try firing off a few bullets, but they bounced off the large beast's shell.
"Hai!" Yumi threw her fan but missed the Dark Angel.
"Guys, destroy one of the monsters before the Volcanoid gets there!" Jeremie cried, feeling helpless.
"Well then help, Jeremie!" Sissi whined as she jumped off of the Overboard and dodged a laser from the Scorpion.
"I have an idea. I'm sending the Overbike."
"Got it. Well, I don't...do you, Yumi?" William asked.
"Not really." Yumi said with a frown.
-( ( • ) ) -
Ulrich shifted through the floor and into a room. It was bare except for a cot, toilet, and sink. But his target accented the blandness: a woman, her hair pink but dyed blonde about a third of the way from her vividly-colored roots, in a white lab coat laying on the cot. "Hello Antea." She didn't move. "Get up."
"The next experiment isn't for at least another hour. Please leave me alone." Ulrich pulled his katanas out.
"Get up so I may see the face of the person I am about to kill." Antea turned over and saw Ulrich.
"What are you supposed to be, one of Tyron's ninjas?"
"Close. A samurai. And I don't work for Tyron." Ulrich waved a sword in front of her face. "I have been sent here to kill you."
"Why?" Antea asked calmly.
"You are a threat to Xana."
"So Franz finally got that thing to work, huh?" She smiled. "I am kidnapped by the government and forced to marry a maniac and help him with his mad schemes, then sent to Siberia and locked away when his plans don't work. But instead of helping to save me, he works on that stupid computer. And his precious Xana seems to have gained some new powers."
"Franz is nothing. He is hiding from Xana. But there is something about you that threatens Xana."
"Franz's back up plan just in case he lost control of Xana." Antea tapped her temple. "I never thought he would get it to work. So, what has happened?"
"You are not afraid to die?"
"We are born, we live, and then we die. If now is the time then I die. Who knows, maybe I'll go to an afterlife far away from this cell."
"Then you are braver than Xana. He does not want to die. You have the Key to Xana, a heavily encrypted chip implanted by Franz. An encryption that Xana was specifically programmed to be unable to break no matter what."
"And Aelita has the Keys to Lyoko. He'll need those before he can do anything himself. A puppet like yourself, sure, but Xana? He's trapped as much as I am." Antea stood up and spread her arms. "Come on, do it."
"I guess it's a good thing Xana has already gotten the Key from Aelita."
Antea gasped. "Aelita, no, is she okay? I, I saw her a few months ago..."
"She's fine, for now." Ulrich kicked Antea in the stomach, and she fell back, into the sink. "But Xana might change that." He laughed and pointed his sword at her. "Are you sure you're ready to die?"
"I... before I die, tell me, do you know my daughter?"
"Yes. We used to be friends."
"But you, you can't be much more than sixteen, and she'd be in her twenties."
"One doesn't age on Lyoko. She's younger than I am."
"But that would mean she was on Lyoko for at close to a decade at least. Why would Franz do that? Please, tell me about my daughter. I won't fight you or try to run. As you can see I can't leave this room, and there are no weapons. I just want to know what's happened to my daughter."
"I can do that."
-( ( • ) ) -
On Lyoko, William jumped off of the Overwing and charged the Dark Angel. He leapt forward and tried to spear it with his Zweihander, but the Dark Angel dodged it as Yumi threw her fans.
"Keep distracting him." Aelita focused on an energy orb. It grew larger and larger between her hands as Alex steered the Overbike.
"Hiya!" Yumi threw her fans again, but the Dark Angel dodged both and swatted William away in the middle of a backflip.
"Einstein, what's your plan? The Volcanoid is here!" Odd dodged a laser from the Scorpion then dodged a swing from the Volcanoid. Fortunately for him, Sissi leapt atop it and began to sap its Life Points.
"Almost ready to load the Overbike."
"Why didn't you send it before?" Odd demanded as he slid between the legs of the Volcanoid then turned and tried to leap on its back as Sissi had done. "Whoa!" He couldn't get a grip and fell off.
"This is why." Jeremie smiled as he sent the Overbike.
Above the Scorpion the Overbike formed. When it fell, it landed on the Scorpion, hitting the Eye and destroying it.
"Great move, Jeremie, but we still have the Volcanoid and Dark Angel." William held his Zweihander up to shield himself from the Dark Angel's attacks.
"Energy Field!" Aelita threw her massive energy orb at the Dark Angel. It sprung out of the way just as Alex disengaged the Overcycle and sprung off. He soared through the air and planted his foot firmly in the Dark Angel's head, sending both through a hole in the Lagoon Sector's floor.
"Bye bye." he snarled sinisterly as he pressed his pistols to his own stomach and fired, the bullets causing his body to twist and recoil in air as he devirtualized. The Dark Angel could do nothing but growl before landing in the Digital Sea.
"Princess, get to the Tower!" Odd rolled out of the way of the massive foot of the Volcanoid. "Shield!" he cried, blocking lasers just as the Volcanoid finally exploded and Sissi's wireframe disappeared behind it.
-( ( • ) ) -
In Siberia, Ulrich sparked with energy. "Enough talking. It is time to die." He placed the point of his sword right over Antea's heart.
"As long as Aelita is still doing well," Antea pressed herself against the sword and it pierced through the lab coat, "then I have done what I can." She winced as Ulrich pushed the sword and it pierced her skin.
-( ( • ) ) -
"Tower deactivated." The screens fell around Aelita. "Jeremie, do we do a return?"
"I don't know. Ulrich did something, but we don't know what. Xana may be trying to trick us."
"I know, and we can't be making him stronger. Bring us back."
"But we can't risk letting him do whatever Ulrich did. We need a return."
-( ( • ) ) -
After the return Odd found Sissi near the woods again. He still snuck up behind her. "Guess who?"
"Odd Della Robbia with two backstage passes to the upcoming Subdigitals concert?" He pulled away from her.
"Yeah...it's no fun if I can't surprise you."
"I'm psychic." Sissi turned around and Odd laughed. He put his arm around her shoulder and the two began walking, discussing their plans.