Sithking Zero: … yeah. Taking a SLIGHTLY different route this time.

Heart of a Warrior I:

The Forsaken Warrior

Chapter 2:

Explanations

Aelita stared into the blood-colored irises of the being who had identified himself as "Bass."

"Wh-wh-what do you want to talk about?" she gasped, the tremor in her voice revealing her absolute terror.

He raised one hand close to her face, and it began to crackle with barely harnessed energy.

"Information," he growled, and the sheer bass tone in his voice made her own chest rumble slightly as he spoke. "Where am I, and what do you know of the samurai woman?"

He stared at her, waiting for her to speak, when he noticed her turning an unusual shade of blue. Sighing in a manner more befitting a growl, he dropped her to the ground.

Her hands immediately clasped onto her bruising neck, as she greedily sucked air into her lungs. The blueness of her face began to recede slowly, as virtual oxygen seeped back into her digital bloodstream.

"Can you hear it?" the new person asked Aelita, his voice a deadly hiss.

She waited a second or two, gasping. "Hear… hear what?"

"Listen closely," he said, appearing to cock his head to the side, "That's the sound of you not telling me what I asked." His hands began to glow with golden nimbuses of light.

Aelita looked at him worriedly, as if he was slightly off his rocker. "You… don't know where you are?"

Bass' eyes narrowed and began to glow ever so slightly crimson.

"If I knew where I was," he hissed, "Then why would I be asking you?"

Noting his apparent fury, she was quick to reply.

"You're in the virtual world of Lyoko, inside a supercomputer in the basement of a factory in Kadic, France." She blurted, now more than slightly afraid of the cloaked navi.

Said navi, however, had heard only a rushing noise in his ears after the word "Lyoko."

Lyoko… he thought, his breath catching in his throat. Could it really be…?

His eyes were blank, and he appeared to visibly slump, as though drained of energy. Completely lost in thought, he at first missed when Aelita made her dash for freedom. It took him almost ten seconds to begin chasing her, his feet barely touching the ground as he gave chase to the pink-haired native of Lyoko. After chasing for two minutes, he lost track of her.

With a snarl, he slammed a fist into a tree, causing a spiderweb of cracks to wrap themselves up and down the length of the tree. His ruby eyes scanned the surrounding area, narrowing as his gaze did not turn up any sign of the Lyoko Warrior. They widened, however, as his ears picked up a high-pitched female scream. Cross-referencing it with his own internal memory, he identified the shriek as the girl. Smirking to himself, he shot off in the direction of the plea at near maximum velocity.

--- --- --- ---

Aelita faced death for the second time in ten minutes.

This death, however, was not from a psycho with superpowers, but rather, from a giant squid monster.

In her haste to escape from Bass, she had chosen a path that would take her to the closest Way Tower she knew of. However, this had taken her straight into the waiting arms- Tentacles?- of the dreaded, memory-sucking scyphozoa.

As it unleashed it's unearthly cry, it lurched forwards, she dodged backwards. Its tentacles slithered afterwards, wrapping around her ankle and hoisting upper upside down. In a last-ditch effort of escape, she gripped onto a nearby rock, but it was useless as she was pulled closer and closer to the monstrosity. She closed her eyes and…

Suddenly, her leg felt as though it was about to be torn off, but then mercifully free. Her eyes snapped open to find herself being carried, bridal style, in the arms of the very Navi she had been fleeing. His eyes, glowing red with their slit pupils, were glaring at her.

"I still have questions, you stupid program. You cannot answer them DEAD," He growled tonelessly before dropping her unceremoniously on the ground. "and you," he growled, turning to face the Scyphozoa, "wear the symbol of the one who TOOK ME HERE!!! EARTHBREAKER!!!" he roared, hands briefly holding a glistening ball of golden light, before releasing it in a massive wave of power. For a minute, the only thing visible on the path was a wall of golden light, flecked with occasional purple sparks, before four electric-blue tentacles shout through the storm of hyperexcited photons and grabbed his arms and legs, disrupting the attack. The Scyphozoa lurched through the remnants of the waves of electric death, clouds of energy misting off of some sort of shield that covered the squid-monster.

Bass snarled, and whipped his arms and legs in a futile attempt to escape its grasp, but there was too much slack in the lines to snap them free. The creature began to raise three slightly-swollen tendrils to his head…

And then the Messenger of Darkness smirked, as he darted backwards. He'd seen the beast attempt to do the same thing to the girl, but there were two major differences between the girl and himself. First off, he was Bass, the Ultimate Undefeated Net Navi.

Second off, he could fly.

The monster hadn't expected this, and shrieked as it was dragged backwards, its attack on him interrupted. It had only dealt with an Asian girl and a pink elf, mere humans with slight gifts and powers. Neither could fly. And thusly, it was completely unprepared for the experience of being dragged along like a waterskier as Bass threaded his way through the trees, altering his course so that inertia would bash the creature against nearly every single tree. Finally, it was forced to let go of the Messenger of Darkness, wobbling woozily.

This was the all that Bass needed. He darted above the squid-like horror, before diving down with the force of a meteor. At first he met slight resistance from the shield, and then he continued on, plowing straight through the metallic flesh, goo, and plasmids that made up the horror. The two halves of what was once XANA's pride and joy fell away and vanished beneath the waves of the digital sea.

--- --- --- --- ---

Aelita was feeling panicked.

This was quite unusual for the Lyoko elf, as she was normally quite calm and collected, if slightly naive. However, as the program whirled around her, transforming her into a human being, she felt pure, icy talons of fear clawing their way through her, and she willed the program to go faster and faster.

She finally stumbled out of the golden, pillar-like scanner, where she landed on her hands and knees, gasping for air. Inwardly, she tried to compose herself; you're safe, she thought, they can't hurt you here.

Then why am I so scared?

Her thoughts were interrupted by two arms wrapping around her. She saw the color of the shirt (powder-blue) and buried her face into the chest of her best friend, Jeremie Belpois, her back shaking with sobs.

"Aelita, you're okay now, they can't hurt you…" he whispered soothingly, rubbing her back with one hand, trying desperately to soothe her. Her three other friends, Ulrich Stern, Yumi Ishiyama, and crouched around her, wincing as they did so; their accumulated wounds from Lyoko, though nonexistent in the real world, were nonetheless painful "phantom pains" that they had grown used to.

"H… he tr-tried to kill me, a-and the Scyphozoa, and…" she was babbling incoherently.

The four warriors comforted their princess, as something from here subconscious flitted forwards and made her speak without thinking.

"He's Back…"

--- --- --- --- --- ---

The Samurai woman, XANA, began to tap keys seemingly at random. To the truly trained eye, however, it would reveal that multiple programs were born with every single keystroke. She grinned as she worked.

Without warning, she stood up, grinning brightly as she strode back towards a giant monitor. On the screen was a huge chart, with tiny green and red lines connecting each item. A large, glowing "3" shone out over the entire room.

"And so it begins…"

--- --- --- --- --- ---

The remains of several monsters twitched spasmodically, mere impulses left over from when they were alive.

Their executor, the Net Navi Bass, glared at their remains.

"This is where it ends…"

--- --- --- --- --- ---

Sithking Zero: Okay, this chapter is the primary reasons why I wanted to re-write Heart of a Warrior, but there are other reasons. The reason? Duh. Bass wouldn't calmly ask for information from a captive audience, he'd freaking BEAT IT OUT OF THEM!!! He'd go Kara Thrace on Leoban in season one of Battlestar Galactica on them! He's done it before, and he'd do it again. No asking, just sheer badassery.

As to why Bass can't hurt Scyphozoa with normal attacks, come on. Let's be serious for a moment, if he could instantly kill everything on Lyoko, it makes for a much less exciting story. I found that having him able to kill everything far too easily to be boring earlier. That's why, in HOAW I, at the battle for the tower, I brought in Scuttlists and the Bass clone, 'cause they could present a challenge. For HOAW II, the Replicons had a degree of immunity against his powers with their Wolverine-esque regeneration. And HOAW III, we have Forte, XANA, and a crapload of new stuff to give him a fair fight. So give me a break; they're invincible in the show and they're… uhhh…. Well, they can't be killed via normal means, ya know? It still goes "splat," just not as easily, and is a whole lot meaner than the original. I mean, come on! The original had so much potential as a weapons platform. Have the tentacles able to fire lasers, coupled with invincibility, and the Scyphozoa would have the firepower of at least three or four tarantulas.

The review button may be in a new spot, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't still push it!