Disclaimer: I do not own Code: Lyoko, Danny Phantom, or Alan Hopper. Now thanks to Alan Hopper, the task of getting the first two is becoming close to impossible.
A/N: People, in case you didn't already know, this is chapter eleven. A couple of quick notes about the last couple of chapters. First off, the original name for chapter nine was going to be 'No Hary Cary For Me, Thank You Very Much,' but I decided to change it at the last second. In case you don't already know, hary cary is a term for the ritual self-disembowelment of samurai. Secondly, Dusk not actually wanting to be one of GEVI's generals was something that I had decided on a while back. But, I decided not to reveal it until I thought the time was right. What better time than when it is revealed that Damon now has the keys to Nysis just like Aelita had the keys to Lyoko way back in season two. And lastly, that whole Einstein comment might have confused a few of you. Everybody knows that Jeremy is excellent and cracking codes, so I decided that Dusk should hide a little message for him to know that he is trustworthy. I was looking back through Damonic Rapture, and I saw that after a while I had stopped having Damon say Einstein. By having Dusk call Jeremy Einstein, that was a code for 'I am the part of Damon that was lost so long ago. I might be able to help you get him back and stop another end of the world plot.' Now isn't that a long message to get from one little nickname. I told you that Jeremy was good at cracking codes. Alright, now that that's out of the way, let's move on to the chapter. Please R&R, or I will send a pack of deranged psychotropic howler monkeys after you…BEWARE!
Nysis, Niffleheim
"I may not be human, but there are some things that I will still celebrate from the human realm," Ymir hummed to himself as he decorated a mantle in his icy realm. There were various Christmas decorations strewn all over his den. Wreaths were hanging on the walls, a fully decorated Christmas tree was in the center of the room, boughs of holly were hanging from the ceiling, and Ymir was in the process of hanging a Christmas stocking on the mantle. That was when Fierus teleported himself into the room.
"Hey, Frosty! GEVI wants me to make trouble for the humans today, and she told me to bring somebody along. I figured that since you have the most extensive knowledge of the group, and you have a reason to hate them, you would be glad to tag along," Fierus declared.
"The names Ymir, 'Burnout,' and normally, I would help you out, but I have my own matters to attend to today and tomorrow," Ymir retorted.
"To me, it just looks like your pursuing some sort of dream to be a corny interior decorator," Fierus quipped.
"That too," Ymir responded, "But after I'm done here, I've got to discipline Fenris for acting without my direct orders, and then I've got to upgrade more of my forces to combat those humans better."
"What about those rebellious denizens of your realm," Fierus implored.
"Let them be, I've got more pressing matters to attend to," Ymir stated, turning his back on Fierus.
"Just so you know, when I succeed today; don't try to act as though you were a part of this," Fierus proclaimed.
"I wasn't planning on it," Ymir declared, "But you might want to try Dusk. He's always willing to fight."
"I might just give you some credit after all," Fierus smirked as he teleported to the swamp sector.
Nysis, Swamp Sector
"HEY DUSK! WHERE YOU AT," Fierus shouted as soon as he teleported to the bayou within the swamp sector.
Dusk stepped out of the ship and yelled, "I'M RIGHT HERE DIPPY! WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Fierus decided to walk up to Dusk before continuing their conversation.
"GEVI is sending me to Earth to cause trouble for the humans and she ordered me to bring somebody with me. I already tried Ymir but he said that he was busy, but he did tell me that you're usually ready and willing to rumble. So what do you say, wanna come with," Fierus explained.
"Go on ahead without me," Dusk smirked, "I'll be there in a moment."
"Awesome," Fierus declared as digital code circled around him and he disappeared.
"Now just for a little bit of subterfuge," Dusk thought to himself. He walked inside his ship and sent a message to the Nysis group before implementing his plan. He touched a picture of Damon in his original Lyoko form and a copy of himself appeared.
"What is it that you wish of me," the clone inquired.
"I want you to go to Earth and help Fierus out. I'm going to be trying to help out the humans. What I want you to do while on Earth is to act just like I would if I were actually trying to cause trouble," Dusk declared.
"Understood," Dusk's clone replied as he disappeared in a flash of digital code.
"Now, let's just hope that the group will be open-minded about my plan," Dusk thought to himself.
Nysis Headquarters, Computer Lab
"This is bad," Jeremy declared from his chair at the super computer's console.
"What is it," Erethyr inquired.
"Two strong streams of data have just left Nysis and are coming to Earth. It has to be two of GEVI's generals, but which ones," Jeremy responded before typing on the keyboard.
"You've got mail," came a message from the computer.
"Who could be sending me a message at a time like this, on Christmas Eve nonetheless," Jeremy proclaimed as he opened the message.
"It looks like Dusk wants us to materialize him so that he can help us out," Aelita proclaimed, reading over Jeremy's shoulder.
"At least we know what's going on know," Jeremy declared, "Fierus and a Dusk clone have just sent themselves to Earth on GEVI's orders. Dusk is wanting to be materialized so that he can help us out."
"TWO GENERALS," Xavier blurted out, "We have enough trouble against one general, and we don't know that much about what all Fierus can do. I think that we should accept Dusk's offer to help us out."
"But why would he send a clone of himself," Erethyr inquired.
"Probably to push away any suspicion as to what his true intentions are," Jeremy stated.
"We are going to need all the help that we can get," Aelita stated.
"Let's call a group meeting, that includes Sam, Tucker, and Danny," Erethyr proclaimed.
"Agreed, this is a big decision, and if we didn't confer with everybody about it; it wouldn't be fair at all," Jeremy proclaimed.
"I still say that we are going to need his help regardless," Xavier sighed before heading upstairs with his friends.
Nysis Headquarters, Living Room, Three Minutes Later
"We've called this group meeting to decide on something very important," Jeremy stated, "Wait, where are Odd, Cassandra, Donjuan, Sam, and Tucker?"
"Sam's busy celebrating Chanukah with her folks out of town; Tucker, Cassandra, and Odd went to a big video game convention yesterday; and as for Donjuan…I have no clue," Danny stated.
"What's this meeting about anyway," Alan inquired.
"Yeah, it's Christmas Break. Why is this meeting being called for the entire group," Ulrich demanded.
"Fierus and a clone of Dusk are staging an attack here in Amity Park," Aelita declared.
"Is nothing sacred to them," Danny proclaimed.
"Wait, why did you specify that it was a clone of Dusk, sis," Alan inquired.
"We know all of this because Dusk sent a message," Aelita explained, "He made a clone of himself to give enough cover to help us out, if we're willing to accept it."
"So you called this meeting to ask us if we should accept his offer," Sahra stated, "Let me guess, this involves materializing him."
"Yes, it does. That's why we called together this joint meeting," Jeremy declared, "Translation without the super computer is a slow process, which is why we haven't seen any signs of an attack yet. But we'd be going up against two generals, one of which we know next to nothing about. We have enough problems battling one general. The last time all of us fought against two generals, we got our asses handed to us. Dusk is offering to help us out, and all he wants in return is to live among us; even if it is for only one day. So what do you say?"
"You already know that I say yes," Xavier declared.
"We can use all the help that we can get, I'm in," Sahra stated.
"He did give us that useful information, and we might be able to talk him into leaving that shard with part of the keys to Nysis here. I'll vouch for him," Alan stated.
"I may not know as much about your fights in the virtual world as the rest of you do, but if we can help save the Earth, I'm all for it," Danny declared.
"I don't know, he could just be tricking us. We have no guarantee that he won't turn on us as soon as he gets here. I'm not willing to risk it," Ulrich proclaimed.
"I agree with Ulrich, you never know what those malevolent AIs are planning," Erethyr stated.
"I'm all for it," Aelita declared, "Against one general and a carbon copy of another one, we are going to need his help."
"And I'm will to put all my trust in his plan," Jeremy stated, "That's six against two; we're going to bring him in, but we'll propose that condition to him."
"I'll start plugging everything in," Xavier declared as he went down into the computer lab.
"Inviting a potential enemy into your own home," Ulrich sighed, "This has disaster written all over it."
Nysis Headquarters, Computer Lab (again)
"I've sent Dusk our reply," Xavier declared, "He has agreed to our one condition and has already talked to the crocodile men of his realm. Apparently, he is well liked in his realm."
"Have you fixed that materialization delay yet," Sahra demanded.
"I couldn't fix it to where the clothes were materialized at the same time, but I did manage to add some more lines of code to make it to where the ring wouldn't drop until the clothes are on the person's body as well," Xavier responded sheepishly.
"As long as you are able to ensure that we won't have another embarrassing accident like last time, let's fire her up," Alan proclaimed enthusiastically.
"How much coffee did he have this morning," Erethyr whispered to Aelita.
"You don't want to know," Aelita replied. The group turned to the scanner as the ring started t lift.
"I'm still not entirely sure about this one," Ulrich sighed.
"There's nothing to worry about," Jeremy declared. The ring had reached the apex of its ascension when Xavier hit the enter key, cueing the first flash of light. A few moments later there was a second flash of light and the ring lowered. Dusk staggered off of the platform. His hair was the same as usual but his eyes were now a warm blue. He was wearing a open black button-up shirt over a white wife beater, black cargo pants, and black tennis shoes with a white flame pattern reaching up from the shoes. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of white sunglasses and put them on.
"You okay, Dusk," Danny inquired.
"I feel, great: but while I'm here, I'd like to be referred to as Raymundo, Raymundo Lerath."
"Why are you wanting your last name to be Lerath," Erethyr inquired.
"With how much I look like Damon, I've got to come up with some reason why I would be here," Raymundo declared.
"You're going for the long lost cousin approach, aren't you," Danny inquired.
"It's the only thing that I could come up with on short notice," Raymundo shrugged.
"Just realize that we weren't able to activate your Nysis form while you were here," Xavier declared.
"That is actually perfect," Raymundo proclaimed, "If I were to go into my Nysis form, my entire cover would be blown."
"When we came over here, Damon made sure to bring some of his weapons with him," Ulrich offered, "The thing he made the biggest fuss about bringing were his spiked fingerless gloves."
"Thanks, I think that that would help greatly," Raymundo declared.
"Why are you and Erethyr acting so kindly towards him," Sahra whispered in Ulrich's ear, "I thought that you two were directly opposed to his coming here in the first place."
"We're still watching him carefully," Ulrich responded, "We don't trust him one bit." The alarm started to go off, signaling a digital anomaly.
"Looks like they've finished translating," Xavier declared, "We have to head to city hall…five minutes ago!"
"If Odd were here, that would be cake," Alan proclaimed, "Mmmm, cake." With that the Nysis group headed towards city hall, Raymundo pauses to grab the spiked fingerless gloves that Ulrich had indicated.
Amity Park, City Hall
Fierus and Dusk came out of a nearby power line as twin streams of data. "Apparently we managed to slip under their radar," Fierus declared, "How about we fix that problem."
"I'm with you," Dusk declared, sharpening his claws against one another. Fierus set his hands ablaze grinning deviously. He punched at the air and shot fireballs out of his hands, exploding a few snow-covered cars.
"That should get their attention," Fierus declared.
"I've been looking over a few files, and I noticed that on this date a fat man in a red suit with a long white beard gives free stuff to all the nice good and boys in the world,: Dusk declared.
"Then we'll just have to kill him to dash this entire planet's hopes," Fierus cackled as he destroyed more cars.
"Not if we stop you, Burnout," Erethyr declared as she and the rest of the Nysis group arrived on the scene.
"That's the second time that I've been called that today. That is starting to get irksome," Fierus stated through gritted teeth. He threw more fireballs at Erethyr only to have them be taken out by blue and pink energy fields.
"Trying to kill Santa; do you have any shame," Alan declared.
"It looks like you have gotten a few more whelps to follow you around," Fierus smirked, "I guess that we'll have to destroy them too."
"I would ask where Cid is, but all of us already know the answer to that," Dusk proclaimed.
"Tell me again, I could enjoy a good laugh," Fierus stated.
"He was killed, thanks to Ymir's pet flea-ridden mutt," Dusk laughed.
"That always cracks me up, no matter how many times that I hear it," Fierus stated, not noticing how much he was pissing off the Nysis group.
"TAKE THIS YOU BASTARD," Xavier shouted, firing numerous arrows at Fierus and Dusk. Fierus just yawned and off-handedly threw up a fire shield to block the incoming projectiles. Sahra rushed at Dusk with her sword and shield drawn out.
"HOW DARE YOU LAUGH AT HIS MISFORTUNE," Sahra shouted, slashing at Dusk furiously.
"How dare you think that you can take me on," Dusk replied, thrusting his claws into her sword arm. Sahra dropped her sword out of pain and was kicked off. She lay on the ground, clutching her bleeding arm.
"No, we are not going to lose another one," Ulrich bellowed in rage, firing his energy arcs at Dusk.
"I'm surprised that you can last as long as you do in your sword matches with Achatka, given your low skill level with a sword," Dusk sneered. Dusk easily cleaved Ulrich's attacks in two, not getting hit by a single one.
"Then how about we even the playing field," Ulrich proclaimed as he split into three and encircled his black-clad foe, firing energy arcs at him constantly.
Fierus was likewise getting surrounded by Jeremy, Aelita, and Xavier. Both he and Dusk were lazily batting away every attack that came their way. Alan ran up to Sahra and was trying to staunch her bleeding. "Come on, don't die on us," Alan cried out, "You're the healer, come over here and help me heal her!" Erethyr was frozen to the spot at the sight of Sahra's blood. Alan had no clue about her hemophobia.
"I…can't," Erethyr cried out, trying to make herself move towards her hurt friend, but couldn't find the strength to do so.
"What, are you afraid of blood," Alan called out, looking visibly surprised at Erethyr nodding to his question. "Great, we've got a doctor that is afraid of the sight of blood. Just great!"
"Erethyr," Xavier shouted, "It's long past time that you overcome your fear! Remember what happened last time you let your fear dictate your actions?!" Erethyr scowled at Xavier. She felt as though his comment was completely uncalled for.
"Oh, no; we're losing her," Alan declared as Sahra's breathing became shallower. Erethyr found her resolve at this point and rushed over to Sahra. Her hands started glowing a warm pink as she put her healing powers to use.
"I am NOT going to lose a friend for the third time because I was too scared too help him out," Erethyr stated as she closed Sahra's wound and tried to regenerate her blood to make up for what she had already lost. "Alan, I want you to take her to a hospital where she can get proper medical attention. I couldn't heal her completely, but the hospital here in town should be able too. After all, they patched me up after my fight with Damon. She should go out of her Nysis form by the time that you get there."
"But what about you guys," Alan inquired.
"Just do it! We don't want to have to see another friend of ours die," Erethyr proclaimed, tears streaming from her eyes, "RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!" Alan picked up Sahra and ran towards the hospital, reverting to his normal form as he ran.
"DUSK, YOU SON OF A BITCH! YOU ARE GOING TO PAY DEARLY FOR THAT," Erethyr shouted as she activated the first stage of her rage power. By the time that she got over to Dusk, Ulrich got thrown into the smoking remains of a car, apparently knocked out by the impact.
"If you say so, Queen of the Bitchy," Dusk responded, activating his own rage power.
"I bore of this," Fierus declared. He made an explosion, knocking away his three attackers. Jeremy was knocked into one of the marble pillars outside of city hall, being embedded within it. Aelita was knocked into the air, but quickly recovered after passing her hand over her star-shaped bracelet, activating her wings. Xavier was knocked into a nearby dumpster, becoming buried in the trash.
"JEREMY," Aelita cried out, flying to Jeremy. She attempted to pry him out of the pillar, but to no avail.
"You guys need any help," Raymundo called out from underneath a nearby streetlamp, pulling his sunglasses down slightly.
"Any help would be appreciated," Xavier sputtered as he dug himself out of the dumpster.
"Alright," Raymundo declared, running up to Fierus and punching him. Surprised by this newcomer, Fierus suddenly found himself sporting four new holes in his chest.
"This is going to be a pleasure," Fierus declared, cracking his knuckles.
"Fuck me," Raymundo declared as Fierus created a sword out of fire.
Erethyr and Dusk were engaged in a fierce battle to see whose fury was superior. They were countering each others energy arcs with their own, but it was getting them no closer to defeating the other. Dusk jumped high into the air and Erethyr responded by activating the second stage of her rage form.
"I bore of this," Dusk declared, "DEATH CYCLONE!" Dusk started spinning at high speed, forcing his black aura to spin around him at the same speed making him look like a black twister.
"MAIDEN'S FURY," Erethyr shouted, launching a ball made of her own near-black shade of pink aura crackling with dark pink electricity. When the two attacks met, they stopped in midair, each vying to overpower the other. Erethyr sent more energy arcs at Dusk in an attempt to slow down his attack. Nobody had noticed a news helicopter flying above them on this night, filming their fight silently.
Erethyr's energy arcs managed to slow down Dusk's attack just enough for her own powerful rage attack to overcome him. His vortex of black energy caved in on the spot where it had collided with Erethyr's attack and eventually imploded on Dusk. He was sent flying through the air as he was forced out of his rage state.
"Damn it! I was right, we are going to have to watch her closely," Dusk cursed as he turned into a stream of data and flew back into the power line that he had come out of.
"One general down, one more to go," Erethyr stated as she stalked towards Fierus.
"Damn Dusk," Fierus cursed as he tried to hit Raymundo, only to hit pavement instead, "He was supposed to keep her occupied for longer so that I could kill more of these meddlesome humans!" He grunted in pain as an ectoplasmic blast hit him in the back.
"You mean like me," Danny declared as he fired more blasts at Fierus. Raymundo took the opening and landed a few more hits on Fierus. Fierus responded by blasting Raymundo into the smoking remains of another car with a fireball and throwing a fire arc at Danny.
"Yes, just like you," Fierus stated as Danny flew around the arc, continuing to blast away at Fierus.
"You really are just an overgrown matchstick, you know that," Danny quipped as he threw his most powerful energy blast at Fierus.
"ENOUGH," Fierus shouted as he activated his Nysis power, his muscles growing to five times their normal size. He shrugged off Danny's attack and threw a fireball of his own at the surprised ghost boy. It hit him, and he landed on top of Xavier, who had almost finished pulling himself out of the dumpster.
"Welcome to the dumpster," Xavier quipped, "The special today is apple cores."
"Let's see you shrug me off," Erethyr proclaimed as she swiped at Fierus. He blocked with his own sword, but the impact made his whole arm go numb.
"This is going to be fun," Fierus declared, slashing at her with his firebrand. She blocked every attack and punched Fierus in the gut, knocking the wind out of him.
"MAIDEN'S FURY," Erethyr shouted as she launched a ball of her aura at Fierus. It hit him square in the gut and exploded. The blast sent him flying thirty feet away. While he was tumbling through the air, Erethyr sent energy arcs flying at him. When Fierus landed, he was covered in cuts and gashes with blood coming from them.
"Don't think that I'll forget about this little encounter," Fierus declared as he turned into a stream of data and flew into a nearby power line. Erethyr deactivated her rage power and ran over to help Danny and Xavier out of the dumpster.
"Man do you guys reek," Erethyr proclaimed, covering her nose.
"Gee, I wonder why," Xavier declared sarcastically.
"We need to get out of here, fast," Danny declared.
"And why is that," Erethyr inquired.
"Because I think that news copter has been watching this entire fight," Danny replied pointing up to the object in question.
"Shit," Xavier stated, "I'll get Ulrich; Erethyr, you get Raymundo; and Danny, you get Jeremy and Aelita." The three nodded in ascent and picked up their friends and disappeared into the night. Danny dropped Jeremy off at the hospital saying that he fell out of his window. Aelita decided to stay with him, while the rest of the group went home to lick their wounds.
Amity Park Hospital, Christmas Day
The entire group, including Raymundo, went to the hospital on Christmas day to share Christmas with their two hospitalized friends. They had even brought over all of the presents.
"Wow, that is really thoughtful guys," Jeremy proclaimed as he reached for the nearest gift.
"After last night's fight, this was just the pick-me-up that we needed," Sahra stated. She also reached for the nearest present.
"Sorry for thinking that you were up to no good," Ulrich apologized to Raymundo.
"No problem, in your shoes I would have been just as suspicious," Raymundo replied.
"But there is one thing that we were mystified about," Erethyr declared.
"Besides the fact that you single-handedly defeated both of those generals," Raymundo implored.
"Yeah, we didn't have enough time to get a Christmas present for you, yet we found one under the tree this morning," Erethyr replied.
"Now that is weird," Raymundo stated as Erethyr handed him the gift. Raymundo examined it strangely as if he didn't know what to do with it, getting laughs from the rest of the group.
"You're supposed to open it, Ray," Alan laughed. Raymundo blushed and opened the gift. He pulled out a wide-brimmed white hat with a black band on it and a letter saying 'Keep up the good work being nice. -Santa.'
"Wow! You actually got something from Santa," Alan declared.
"I guess that you really have been a good boy for the short amount over time that you have existed," Aelita stated.
"Stop it, you're going to make me blush…again," Raymundo declared. The group laughed with their newfound friend on Christmas Day. They were happy, because being with your friends and family is what Christmas is all about.
Nysis, Niffleheim
"Wow, I actually got something in my stocking," Ymir exclaimed, obviously surprised, "I wonder what it is." He reached into it and pulled out a lump of coal and a note. The note simply said 'Traitor. –Santa.'