He Who Calls
Chapter 20
"All right," said Jeremy. They were in the Factory. Odd and Yumi were still fighting off the Polymorphic Ulrich. Real Ulrich, Milo, and Aelita had just gone down to the scanners. Sam and Emily were standing on either side of Jeremy, trembling. "Scanner, Aelita, Ulrich, Milo. Transfer, Aelita, Ulrich, Milo. Virtualization." Three figures dropped on to Carthage, commonly known as Sector 5.
"Oh, great," said Ulrich. "Where's the tower this time?"
"The room right outside the Core Chamber," said Jeremy. "Get there quick. William is waiting for you, and there's no Digital Sea here."
"That sounds ominous," said Milo as they were running. "What will William do if he can't push us into the Digital Sea?"
"I'm guessing set the Scyphozoa on you, but I'm not sure. As far as I know he has reasons for preferring all of you dead."
"That makes me feel so much better," said Milo. He saw the tower coming up now. William stood in front of it with his usual guards, a Black Manta and two Tarantulas. "Hi, William. What are you up too?" he said, in the most cheerful and annoying voice he could muster.
"You die this time," said William. "All of you. The Specter will kill Odd and Yumi, and I will devirtualize you. You won't be able to return to Lyoko for twenty-four hours. And the Specter will kill you too."
"Not this time, William," said Ulrich, pulling out his swords. "And not ever." William threw his humongous sword at Ulrich easily, devirtualizing him.
"One down," he said casually, as his sword flew back to his hand. "One as good as dead." He charged at Milo and swung. Milo brought his wrist up, and they slashed back and forth, never hitting. And then William pushed Milo into the tower, and followed him in. Aelita ran forward and tried to enter the tower, finding that she couldn't.
"I hope Milo can handle this," she muttered. Then to Jeremy she said, "William and Milo are in the tower, and I've been sealed out."
"I know," said Jeremy. "I'm working on the force field, but there's nothing I can do to help Milo."
Milo and William were rising up to the top floor of the tower. The panel was there, waiting for Aelita to palm it. William shoved Milo to the edge of the platform. Milo reached out, putting his one hand on William and the other on the panel. Time seemed to slow down as the words MILO: CODE SPLIT appeared on the screen. Energy flowed through his arm. A blue and white suited figure burst out of the black and red suited William. The original William, before the Scyphozoa, was back. But the evil William stayed too. Milo grabbed harder then ever, and they fell off the platform, into the Abyss. The good William sadly palmed the panel, prompting the words WILLIAM: CODE LYOKO.
"Tower deactivated," he said, and the data around him flowed down to the bottom. The white energy appeared. And the good William cried and kneeled down.
Aelita suddenly fell through the tower wall. She promptly floated up and found him crying.
"What's going on?" she asked. "Where's Milo, and why are you in your old suit?"
"Milo split William into two halves," said William. "I'm the good half. Milo and the evil half went over the edge. And I deactivated the tower."
"Then what happens to Milo and the other half of you over the edge?" asked Aelita. "This isn't a way tower."
"I'm not sure," said William. "But I don't think they're coming back."