I am sooooo sorry that it has taken this long. First it was studying for finals, then my graduation, then I went to a place with no wifi for a month. My summer's been eventful though. Sorry that it took so long, though. The story is almost through. Let's DO THIS! ...I'm a nerd...
Jeremie stood up and walked over to the computer. She started typing furiously, trying to find the problem that OMEGA had created.
"I think I found the problem..." She said in a tone that nobody in the room seemed to like, "OMEGA found out how to lock the computer."
"Great," Nikolai mumbled through his hands, "Now what? The world's about to end and all we can do is watch."
Odd was about to say something when the elevator started up. God, there were already too many people in the Lab, who could it possibly be? When the elevator doors opened, Timothy Carthum stepped out. Of course, nobody but Nik and Greg knew who he was, so everyone else in the room was confused.
Odd was the first to say something, "Are we gonna invite f****** Jimi Hendrix next!"
Everybody just stared at her. It was kind of a random outburst.
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Della Robbia." Carthum said.
Odd was a little shocked, if he knew that she had used to be a guy, then he must be kind of important. Or at least some one useful.
"What are you doing here Tim?" Greg asked, "You're not supposed to be here, period."
"Well, times are-a-changing," The only physical adult in the room answered, "Plus, I wanted to fell the rush again."
Nikolai looked up, "That's not going to happen." He put his head back down right after saying this, he noticed how he wasn't feeling well. That wasn't good.
"I only became addicted once," Tim responded, "Lyoko is just like a video game, so it's easily addictive."
"It's not just like a video game!" Every body else in the room seemed to shout at once.
Meanwhile, Morgan was in the supply room, exploring the huge place. She had gone over to the old computer set up and noticed how simple it was to operate. Her dad had had an old computer like this. She was surprised that it was still working though, as it was covered with ages worth of dust.
She found a box on the screen that asked a simple question: "[:CONNECT?:]"
She entered yes into the text box next to it. Suddenly, the screen filled with several command options. She scrolled up and down the screen, and found a command to activate the PA system. She typed in the code for it, which involved her typing three characters and going back to find what to type next. The process took about two minutes, considering how she was better at hunting and pecking at the keyboard. It finally displayed: "[:PA SYSTEM ACTIVATED:]"
She looked for a microphone, and found a rather large one, tucked behind the setup, and already hooked into the computer.
Everybody cringed when the squeal of the older PA system sounded.
"Hey," Morgan said over the speakers, "I found another computer! It's so cool, I always wanted to use a computer like this!"
"What other computer?" Jeremie asked Nikolai.
"It's the computer that was used for the initial programming of Lyoko," Nikolai said, "I didn't think that it still worked..."
"Well, if it's our only chance," Jeremie began, "We should head to wherever it is, right?"
"But it's not our only chance," Lilly started, "Does no one here remember that I'm an expert hacker?"
"You're not an expert unless you've hacked the Pentagon more than once." Tim said with a smug look.
"Five times, actually," Lilly said with a smile, "I got desperate when Dad went missing."
"Okay," Tim said, "That beats my record, you have my hacker's blessing. Just don't overdo it."
"So Lilly and I will stay here," Nikolai said, "The rest of you go down to the supply room, just go into the elevator and type 1189, when it reaches the floor, type 2633. The computer console, if I remember correctly, is in the back to the right."
Everybody except Lilly and Nikolai started to leave when he caught his watcher's attention, "Carthum, you get the hell out of here. It's not your job to be on Lyoko, and your previous issues have prevented you from being reactivated. So... No Lyoko for you!"
"Aww," Tim said sarcastically, "You just don't want to have to leave my penthouse, don't you? Don't worry, I was 19 the last time I used a scanner before the Creed was programmed. So I'll still live there." He turned for the elevator when he remembered something, "Oh, and by the way, the Creed isn't in the prototype scanners, so I'm fine."
Nikolai just didn't want Tim on Lyoko. Period. When he got "addicted", it was to the rush that he got from using his avatar's abilities, not from "playing" on Lyoko. The man was unstable on there. Although, he still is pretty unstable anyway. He just wasn't safe to be around.
When everybody got to the supply room, everyone but Greg and Tim was amazed at the size of the room. Jeremie was wondering how they built it. Aelita was wondering how she forgot about it. Jason was wondering why his dad had never mentioned it before. Odd was wondering what kind of cool stuff was in here.
They spotted the console, and Morgan, who waved at the open elevator. They ran over, Tim getting there first with his "military" trained stamina. She pointed at the scanners, which looked like the newer ones but stripped for scrap metal.
"So, you can use those, right?" Morgan asked. She didn't bother asking who Tim was, as too many weird things had happened that day.
"Well, aside from the excess alpha radiation," Tim said with a chuckle, "These dinosaurs should be alright."
"Radiation?" Jeremie asked. To the young genius, anything about the scanners meant death. But radiation was just overkill.
"Oh, it's just harmless alpha radiation," Tim shrugged, "Just a click or two higher than cellphone radiation."
"Cellphones are radioactive!" Odd asked, surprised.
"Not deadly radioactive," Tim said, "It's not like you'll get some kind of deadly disease by calling someone on a cellphone. Radiation doesn't work like that. Even light is slightly radioactive."
"Well that's a fun fact," Jason said, "But we should probably hurry. Remember, thousands of lives are at stake."
Morgan let Jeremie use the computer. She noticed that Jeremie was a girl too. Now aware of this, and fully aware that Jeremie was most definitely male the last time she saw him/her, she started to realize something. Something that she had been trying to find an answer to since she met this group.
As Odd headed for one of the two prototype scanners, he noticed that Morgan was looking at her strangely. Like she had just learned a dark secret... Oh crap.
Jason went into the scanner next to Odd. The doors shut and Jeremie virtualized them. Where? He didn't know.
The second Odd hit the ground, he recognized where they were.
"Odd?" Jason asked, looking around, "Where are we?"
"Sector 5," Odd said, "What used to be XANA's territory."
Greg and Aelita came next, Greg recognizing the area immediately.
"Oh God," He said, "I hate this place with a vengeance, Dr. Schaeffer loved the puzzle he programmed into it. I suck at puzzles."
The only other person that virtualized was Tim. He actually looked like a young adult. If you can describe his reptilian figure as adult-like. He looked like a cross between a lizard and a human. His skin was scaly, his eyes were yellow with slitted pupils, his hair looked more like feathers, his nose was flat with slitted nostrils, and his mouth was lined with needle-sharp teeth. One more teensy detail would be his hands, more specifically: His nails. He had some major claws on him. His feet actually looked more like raptor feet. His clothes were just an outfit that looked strangely like a surfer's full-body suit.
"Uh..." Was all Jason could say to the monstrous sight before him.
"Creepy..." Odd said.
'Great,' Aelita thought, 'Something else to fuel my nightmares!'
"God, Tim," Greg said, "I had forgotten how bloody UGLY your are on Lyoko!"
"It's not that bad," Tim said, "Is it?"
The whole group around him made a noise that sounded like, "ehhh..." They were just too polite to tell him that he was that bad.
"Well, back to work, then." Tim said, breaking the moment. They were about to wait for the path to be made clear, but the room wasn't turning. There were three pathways, but it didn't seem like it was a puzzle, or at least not a timed one.
"Hey Einstein!" Odd shouted, "Some help would be nice!"
Nothing, not even static. This computer probably didn't have a headset.
"Looks like we're on our own..." Greg stated.
Back in the lab, Lilly had just gotten past one of the eighteen firewalls that OMEGA had set up. She was having trouble, as the encryption key on this one changed every five seconds. She noticed, after 21 encryption keys, that the first one was back. It repeated them once every 21 times! She had the firewall down in minutes. Sixteen more to go.
In the supply room, Jeremie was trying to see how to communicate with his friends in Lyoko. There didn't seem to be any specific way to do it, and the computer didn't even display their stats. It just didn't have that capability.
Back in Sector 5, the group had decided to split up. Jason took Aelita in one direction, Odd and Greg went the opposite way, and Tim was left on his own, to take the path straight ahead.
Jason and Aelita entered many rooms, with many challenges. Yet they never encountered a single monster. The rooms were puzzles like illusions, anti-gravity zones, falling ceilings, and many other possibly deadly tests. But they eventually reached a dead end.
"No freakin' way..." Jason sighed. He estimated that he probably had thirty life points left.
"I guess we just head back?" Aelita suggested.
"Sure," Jason sighed, "Why the hell not?"
They started back the way they came.
It was Odd and Greg that seemed to encounter all the monsters. They only came to one room along the way. The only way to describe it was a creeper clusterf**k. Neither of them devirtualized, but both were low on ammunition. Not after too long, they finally reached something: A dead end.
"Oh, HELL NO!" Greg shouted, "We did not just come all this way to reach a BLOODY DEAD END!"
"I don't want to go back..." Odd whined. It was too much work. And she was the one who lost the most life points. Odd only had about forty-five life points, while Greg still had eighty.
Tired, frustrated, and wanting to procrastinate, they headed back the way they came.
Tim was the most fruitful in his direction. He only encountered a handful of monsters, which he dispatched quickly with his Raptor-Dash ability. It was basically Super Sprint with claws involved. He only came to one puzzle room, an anti-gravity zone. He jumped from wall to wall to reach the end. At the end of the journey, he reached the elevator hall. He decided to wait. After all, he had never learned to use a way tower.
As he was waiting, he remembered something. The creepers he had killed didn't have a "Ω" them. It was XANA's sign. But Nik said that they had removed XANA from the computer... He heard a noise. He activated his Predator Sight to look through the walls. He spotted the monster.
"Wait..." Tim said in a scared tone, "You-you're XANA's first – " He never finished that sentence, as he never got the chance.
"Hey Odd?" Greg asked as they were walking back to the core room.
"Yeah?"
"Did you notice that OMEGA's mark wasn't on any of the creepers we fought?"
Odd thought for a second, "Yeah, why?"
"Well, wouldn't that mean that XANA's in the computer?"
Odd stopped walking. Just stopped.
"You don't think that when OMEGA zapped XANA..."
"That he put that psychotic virus back into the computer?"
The two just stared at each other. It was a slightly disturbing moment for Odd. But their minds did seem to work in synch. They started to run back to the core room.
Jason and Aelita made it back first. They noticed that no one was there. Then they heard Odd and Greg running frantically to the core room. Jason drew his pistols, in case something was chasing them.
"We just figured it out!" Greg shouted, "We found out what OMEGA did to XANA!"
"What?" Aelita asked, confused.
"XANA's back in the supercomputer!" Odd exclaimed, "There isn't gonna be a power struggle between the two because they're partners!"
"What in the hell are you guys talking about?" Jason asked, holstering his weapons.
"Earlier today, Greg, Morgan, and I saw OMEGA possess someone and zap XANA in the head," Odd explained, "When we asked it what it was doing, it said 'I'm making sure there isn't a power struggle'. We still didn't understand it. It said that it took her powers, but it took XANA out of the body!"
"Odd, that's a really good story," Aelita said, "But it doesn't make sense. How do you know if XANA's back in the supercomputer, let alone Lyoko?"
"Because!" Greg started, "All the creepers we fought had the eye of XANA on them!"
Aelita's eyes went wide, "Then... If XANA is back in the supercomputer... Why is Sector 5 not..."
They heard a noise. It was coming from the path that Tim took. To Odd and Aelita, the sound was all too familiar. To Greg, it was a little familiar, but he couldn't quite put a name on it. Jason just didn't like the noise. He didn't recognize it, though.
Just as Odd and Aelita expected, the scyphozoa entered the room. Supported by two if its tentacles, was Tim. He seemed fine, just struggling to get out of his telekinetic bonds. He was making noises that no human should make. They were hisses and shrieks that made him sound like an animal. But he was obviously trying to escape.
"Oh," Greg said, "So its you then..." He slowly let his blades slide out. He didn't like the scyphozoa. He was actually the first human who attempted to neutralize it. Long story short, he lost several years of memories before Nik came in and rescued him. Because of that one confrontation, XANA learned how to access certain files in the computer.
"What is that thing?" Jason asked in a mix of nerves and disgust.
"Yes!" Lilly shouted in triumph, waking Nikolai up.
"Wha...?" He mumbled, "...You got it back up?"
"Yeah!" She brought up the group's status. For some unknown reason, they were in the area that Jeremie called Sector 5. Tim was engaged in combat with...
"Oh God NO!" Nik shouted when he saw the screen. He ran for the elevator, then turned back to his daughter, "I'm going in, virtualize me into the Central Sector, where they are." He got into the elevator and went down to the scanner room. He ran to a scanner.
"Alright, all set?" Lilly asked.
"Prakleenaats!" Nik cursed, "Just do it already!"
"Virtualization."
He virtualized into the core room of Sector 5. Lots of memories there... But there were bigger things going on. He saw Tim being held by the scyphozoa, or the protosquid, as Greg used to call it. Luckily, the situation wasn't as dire as he had thought. Tim wasn't having his head sucked dry, he was just a hostage. Not that that was any better.
He pushed everyone aside and zapped the scyphozoa on a tentacle. It just floated there.
"Dad..." Lilly said to the computer, "It still has 95 life points. And it's engaging you."
Now to everyone else, it was surprising to see Nikolai in the first place. But that was good news, as it meant that Lilly hacked into the supercomputer. And it was even better now, as they heard her speak from her headset. However, what she said was a little bad. Nikolai was probably the strongest person in the room, he proved that the day before when he blew himself up to destroy an army of virtual zombies, and then laughed about it. If he was taken out, what would happen to them?
They all watched as the scyphozoa dropped Tim and started heading for Nik. He readied his knife, but noticed that he couldn't use Lightning or Plasma Strike, as there was a ceiling. All he could do was zap it and try to cut it with his knife.
He did this, but nothing seemed to work. The scyphozoa still had 75 life points by the time he was about to give up.
Tim was watching, when the thought occurred to him. Why was he watching when he could get the jump on this monster? He used Raptor-Dash, running up against it silently, dragging his claws on the ground like an ape, then swinging his arms up to slash the scyphozoa in the back.
"I don't know what you guys are doing," Lilly said, "But keep it up, that monster just lost 25 life points."
Jeremie got back to the lab and noticed that Lilly got the computer working again. Why didn't she tell him?
"Hey," Jeremie said, "Can I take over?"
"Sure." Lilly handed the headset to the blonde girl and stood up, heading over to XANA's unconscious body.
Jeremie got herself situated, when she noticed that Nikolai and Tim were engaging the scyphozoa. By now, it was down to 35 life points, but Nikolai was down to 45 and Tim was critical in the 20s.
"Okay," Jeremie said, getting everyone's attention, even the scyphozoa, "How are you beating a monster that no one could beat before and why?"
"Well," Tim huffed, "We're seasoned Lyoko Warriors, and the thing attacked me."
"Okay, one more question," Jeremie said, "How is it that, even though the scyphozoa has no offensive means of attack, you two have taken damage?"
"It may not be offensive, but that doesn't mean it can't hit!" Tim said, trying to make a joke. No one understood his humor. Especially when he was looking for a date.
Tim was now down to 15 life points, as the scyphozoa turned its attention back to its attackers. The monster itself was down to 20.
"So, I assume that the others are just watching?" Jeremie asked.
"I ain't fighting that thing!" Jason exclaimed, "William told me all about it! No way am I gonna fight it!"
"I... Uh..." Odd couldn't seem to come up with an excuse.
"I want to strike the killing blow on it!" Greg said bitterly.
"You know I don't like to fight, Jeremie." Aelita said.
At least Aelita and Greg had reasons. Greg's battle card engaged the scyphozoa. In Lyoko, it was like slow-mo as he ran up to it, his wrist-blades out. He jumped onto it, stabbing its eye (XANA mark). Aelita couldn't help but cheer when the wire-frame of the monster disappeared. Odd gave a "Whoop whoop!"
"Alright," A very weak Tim said, "I'm gonna have to pull out, but just head down the central hallway. You'll find the elevator shaft. I didn't go any farther than that." He limped over to a wall. He only had 5 life points left. What was the use of even carrying on. He stabbed his chest with his only functional hand. He fell over as he devirtualized.
Morgan was sitting in front of the computer, not that she knew what she was doing, when Tim exited a scanner. He ignored her as he walked over to the elevator. He looked tired.
In Lyoko, the group got past the ant-gravity room with help from Nikolai, who used his Super Sonic ability to get them across. They came up to the elevator. Aelita suggested that they go one at a time, but Nikolai said that there was no time. They all jumped at once, landing on the elevator. They rode it until they reached the exit. Aelita ran out to the platform and thought for a second. If she could pull up data of... That should work! This crisis could be averted if she set up the data in the time reversion program. It would all work out... In theory.
She pulled up the screen, and found the data she was looking for. She embedded it in the time reversion program and then set their course in the data stream.
Jeremie was setting up their vehicles when she noticed something. The scyphozoa was strictly XANA's monster, how was it even in Lyoko if...
"Lilly?" Jeremie asked Jason's twin sister.
"Yeah?"
"Is XANA's body still... You know... Alive?"
"Don't worry," Lilly said after checking for a pulse, "She's alive."
"Could we wake her up?"
"She's unconscious, Jeremie. How could we?"
"Never mind," Jeremie said, shaking her head, "It's impossible. I don't know why I even considered that possibility."
"Considered what?" Lilly was curious now.
"That maybe OMEGA somehow pulled XANA out of that body and placed her back into the computer," Jeremie admitted, "But that's impossible."
Lilly just shrugged and resumed her current task of doing nothing.
In the supply room, Morgan had figured it out through several minutes of thought. She need only to confront Odd about it.
"Jeremie?" Aelita asked as they were on vehicles. Jason and Nik were on Overboards.
"Yeah, Aelita?" Jeremie asked.
"I just thought you should know..." Aelita kind of trailed off, "I think I figured out a way to get rid of this... Crisis."
"Really?" Jeremie asked disbelievingly.
"Yeah," Aelita nodded, though Jeremie couldn't see her, "I found some data in Sector 5, and I put it into the time reversion program. I know that OMEGA is strong, but... XANA is in the computer as well. I just thought you should know."
Nikolai heard this. How was that even possible? He didn't interrupt, though.
"Wait," Jeremie said, "Did I just hear you correctly? Because I could have sworn that you just said that XANA was back in the computer."
"...I did."
"Aelita! I know that you want this to be over," Jeremie paused, "We all do... But now there are two threats to deal with."
"That's just it, though," Aelita quickly said, "I think that XANA and OMEGA might be fighting for power."
"What makes you think that?"
When they exited into the Dead Zone of the Desert Sector, they saw proof of a war in Lyoko. Shamblers, mantises, and tortoises were fighting krabs, tarantulas, bloks, hornets, and even mantas. XANA was really throwing down down there. There was enough mayhem to get to the tower without being spotted.
"Look!" Nikolai shouted, "Down there!"
They saw weird looking humanoid creatures with metal spears running to the aid of XANA's forces.
"I told you there were natives." Nik said.
In Lyoko's interface, XANA and OMEGA were in a form of a battle. Each was equally strong, and they had been locked in a grapple for the last hour. Each one was trying to engulf the other. They broke apart.
"You have gotten stronger," OMEGA said, recalling ZETA's memories, "But not stronger than I."
"You are weak, OMEGA," XANA said, "You do not deserve this space as your own."
They grappled again, but broke suddenly. There was something wrong. XANA sensed that his first creation had been...
"No..." XANA muttered in disbelief.
"Being human has made you soft," OMEGA said, "You are weakened by your emotions."
"I have none," XANA said, now disbelieving that it had actually acquired emotions, "But you have weaknesses as well. You wish to destroy the humans, yet you use them to reach all of your goals. Doesn't that not compute for you?"
OMEGA paused. That was true, but it was not paradoxical enough to not compute.
"If it does compute for you," XANA said with a sly tone, "Could you explain it to me?"
Now OMEGA was confused with its own thoughts. If it did compute, then it could be explained. But OMEGA couldn't explain it, so it should not compute. But it was programmed to compute. But only humans could program. But OMEGA programs himself. But...
OMEGA tried to compute this. The paradox was not strong enough to destroy his AI, but it was enough for XANA to engulf OMEGA. OMEGA returned to the battle, but too late. It could only try to weaken XANA, as OMEGA's demise was eminent. It fought back as hard as it could, but the younger "sibling" prevailed. XANA merged its programming with OMEGA's, but OMEGA still fought. In Lyoko terms of life points, XANA started the battle with 100, and ended it with 10.
As OMEGA merged into the weakened XANA, the activated tower in the Dead Zone turned from black to red. This was both good and bad for the Lyoko Warriors. OMEGA, the strongest viral AI they had faced was gone, but now XANA was back. Why did these things have to be so bittersweet?
Aelita landed in front of the tower. She ran into it, went up to the panel on the upper platform, logged in, and entered LYOKO on the code prompt. The tower deactivated.
"Jeremie?" Aelita asked, the tower now completely dark.
Jeremie's finger hung over the enter key for the time reversion program. Lilly had never experienced a return trip, but it was never too late to start.
"Ready? It's a big return trip." Jeremie asked. If all went according to plan, they would wake up for school the day that Jason and Lilly started School in Kadic. Hopefully, all those infected by this event would return to normal. Everything would return to normal.
"Yeah." Jeremie heard in her ear.
"Return to the past now." She pressed the key. The bottom of the tower turned white, and the light flooded up. The bubble of light emerged from the factory, and within minutes, covered the whole world. They traveled a week back in time...