Yay! Here's chapter 16! There's some action, and stuff, so enjoy! Something happens at the end. It…well…I'll just let you find out for yourself. I'll try to update within the next week, okay?
Anyway, on to the legal stuff…
Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko
Claimer: I own Kirsten, the kids, and the plot for this story.
This chapter is dedicated Rymac91, my 200th reviewer! Congrats! This chapter is also semi-dedicated to everybody who regularly reviews this story. After all, without you guys, I never would have made it all the way to chapter 17! And don't worry, I have many more chapters to go, though I have a bit of writer's block for the moment.
I'll continue to post new chapters until I reach the chapter I'm stuck on, which is probably 20 or 21 or something. By then, I'll probably come up with something and be writing steadily again.
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Chapter 17 – An Unexpected Development
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She was falling, falling through a maelstrom of snow, ice, and debris. Small shards of ice cut at her face and tore her clothes. She quickly encased herself in a shield of ice.
Now she was safe, or as safe as you can be when you are in an ice cocoon in an avalanche. Suddenly, she realized that she had made a mistake.
She had blocked herself away from the avalanche's power, but now the avalanche's power was blocked from her. She couldn't stop it unless she dropped her shield.
She sighed and took a deep breath, still safe in the relative calm. Finally, she let the shield go, and dropped back into the chaos. She tumbled head-over-heels, gravity pulling her down along with the avalanche. If she tried to stop herself, she would just be buried by the snow.
She closed her eyes and focused on the snow and ice around her. After all, it was just water, and she was good with water. She blocked out everything else, and the rumbling sound disappeared. The pain that the avalanche was causing faded, to be replaced by another, as her veins filled with a cold, blue fire.
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The village was empty now. It was all up to Amy at this point. The others saw the avalanche hit her and held their breath, safe up in the air. Occasionally, they saw an arm or leg poke out of the churning snow for a moment, then quickly disappear. They all held their breaths and crossed their fingers.
Several minutes later, the snow shot out in all directions, then was sucked back in as if there was a black hole in the center. The last of the churning snow and ice disappeared with a bang, as a bright blue flame shot up into the air. It fell and landed roughly on the snow-covered ground.
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"Amy? Amy! AMY!"
Amy slowly opened her eyes, then quickly snapped them shut as blinding blue light pierced her pupils. Her head felt like it was being repeatedly smashed by a sledgehammer, and her bones felt like they were being ground into powder.
However, all of that combined still didn't equal the burn of the blue fire flowing through her veins.
"Ooohhh…owwww…"
She opened her eyes again and rode out the new wave of pain, letting her eyes get used to the light. The splitting headache slowly became just a dull pain, and she was able to sit up.
Rena smiled from where she was sitting in front of Amy. "There, now you know how I felt, except I think you had it worse, since I never blacked out. Don't worry, most of the pain will be gone soon."
Amy nodded and stood up, the last vestiges of her headache already draining away, and that cold blue fire beginning to ache, rather than burn. She looked around and saw that she was in the scanner room.
"How'd I get here?"
John stepped into her vision. "I took you on my rock-board."
She smiled at him. "Thanks. I'll go help on Lyoko now."
John raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? What happened to you doesn't seem like something you can just shrug off. Maybe you should sit this one out."
She shook her head. "No, I'm fine now. I think the power of the avalanche is giving me some energy to go on. I'll be fi–" She stopped suddenly and looked around, just noticing the blue light in the room. It didn't seem to have a source. She looked down and gasped.
She was glowing a blindingly bright blue. She shook her head in wonder. That day was getting weirder and weirder…
She shrugged and looked back up. "So, who's left on Lyoko?"
John smiled sheepishly. "There was this huge army of hornets, crabs, and tarantulas, so everybody except you was virtualized. Everybody has already been devirtualized except Aelita, Nina, and Ulrich."
She stepped into the scanner and the doors shut. When it scanned her, the usual yellow light was completely drowned out by the blue light coming from her.
She felt the familiar blast of air, then her sense of touch disappeared. She landed on Lyoko just as Ulrich was devirtualized. The only ones left now were her, Aelita, and Nina. Everybody else was probably in the lab by now.
Her body felt wrong. It felt strangely…fluid, and had felt that way since she had woken up, but hadn't noticed it because of the pain. She felt like her body was flowing whenever she moved.
Actually, it felt great!
She created her ice-board and was surprised when it appeared with almost no effort. She was in the desert sector, so it should have taken more energy.
She looked down and noticed that she was still glowing, which means that the power of the avalanche was still stored in her.
She flew off towards the tower.
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Amy came upon a large plateau and saw Nina, who was jumping and flipping around to dodge attacks, shooting arrows as she flipped in mid-air. Aelita was constantly singing, creating rocks to provide cover from the army of crabs and hornets that were left from earlier.
Amy joined in and made short work of the crabs, freezing them and slicing them open with her extendable claws.
Aelita ran for the tower, then stopped when she heard Jeremie's voice.
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Jeremie virtualized Amy, then glanced at another screen to see that XANA was trying to hack into the scanning protocol. Then the keyboard stopped responding.
He watched, unable to do anything, as XANA opened the scanner information and accessed the profiles. Then the computer went back to normal and Jeremie ran a full scan of the supercomputer. He gasped and contacted the three left on Lyoko.
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"XANA copied the vDNA from the profiles! I don't know why, but…" He trailed off and the three warriors on Lyoko heard a gasp.
Aelita stopped and looked up. "Yes?" she asked quietly.
"Don't go in the tower! There's something in it, but I can't tell what it is!"
"Is it an enemy?"
"Yes! I mean…I think so…"
A small patch of the tower started to shimmer as something came through it. It looked at Aelita, and she gasped. Amy ran up to her and saw it.
The figure was completely black. Its eyes were entirely red, with a black XANA symbol in the place of the pupil.
Amy gasped when she saw its outline, with a characteristic spike on top of its head.
"D…Dad?"
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DUN DUN DUN…
Okay, that's it for this chapter. Once again, I'll try to post the next one some time this week. Please PLEASE review, kay?
Oh, here's a quote-of-the-day…er…I mean…quote-of-the-chapter. (I should really do these more often…)
"Lastly, in the 'here we go again' category, Rockstar is being sued for the umpteenth time…yeah, take a number." –Official PlayStation Magazine, Issue # 103 (April 2006)
Don't forget to review!