Chapter 17
Masters of Lyoko

Xervix sat in the middle of a large red room inside a large tower in Sector 5. He sat on a single red block that sat out of the floor. He gazed into a series of 5 holo screens. Each screen showed a single Lyoko warrior from Ulrich to William. It showed the Gang fighting some of the monsters Xervix created when he arrived.

Xervix frowned as he noticed that there was a pattern extremely different from his monsters. The gang worked together, while the monsters didn't. The monsters were remote controlled through a psychic power that Xana used. Xervix knew he had something similar that he used. Only it had a more effective use. It gave the monsters the ability to control other monsters, like the Defenders. They had the power to order lesser monsters around, like a general on the battlefield. Xervix realized he needed more than that. He needed monsters that could think and act for themselves. He needed monsters similar to William before he was released from Xana.

Xervix shut off the Screens and walked towards the middle of the tower. He remembered the program that Estrada gave him. He could use it, but he knew that if he did, he would alert Estrada to his location. And he knew that Estrada was looking for Jeremy and Aelita, and that by now Estrada knew that he had not checked in for a while. Estrada had some idea that the kids were in France. He just didn't know where at, and what they looked like.

Xervix opened a new Holo screen and scrolled down the list. He gazed at all the programs the Super computer had. Suddenly he noticed something. He stared at the file name.

EX//';.TOWER5['/['MOUT._":"P"MUFFIN"o;./;...'.'';

It was a program for a AI. It was stored in a tower in the Mountain Region.

"So that's how they avoided an inquiry?" Xervix said as he walked to the center of the room. He held out his hands as it glowed an eerily purple light. In seconds, a figure stood before him. It was a young boy, in his late teens, with curly black hair. It was William, It was the clone.

Xervix approached it as he held out his hand. He rubbed its hair as he looked at its face. It had its eyes closed and had a silent look to it. He placed his hand on its shoulder. His hand glowed orange as a black mist seeped out of his hand and onto the clone. The Clone started to respond to the mutation. Its face winced in pain as the color in its face went from normal to almost a pale white. It opened its eyes as Xana symbols appeared in them. A strange black cloud appeared around it as it entangled the clone like a tentacle. The cloud attached to its body as volts of electricity came from the clone's body. The Clone screamed in pain as there was a bright flash of light. The light was bright enough to light up the entire area.

Xervix stared at the glow as it faded, the smoke in the room cleared as a single figure stood in the clone's place. It stood up to reveal a short cape behind it, flowing in the wind. It was muscular and tall, about the size of the clone. It held in its hand a long sword that seemed twisted and warped in a black substance, a Xana Symbol in the middle. As the smoke cleared Xervix got a better look at it. It had a dark hood over its face. Xervix couldn't see its face as he stared at the creature. It looked around the room as it rested its sword on the ground. It stared at Xervix as it walked towards him.

"Who am I?" The monster said.

"You are a product of my power, a god among insects. You are my servant." Xervix answered

"Who are you?"

"I am Xervix. I am your creator, and lord of this world." Xervix said as he stretched his arms out to show his world.

"What do you want with me my lord?" The Warrior said as it looked around its terrain.

"What do I want? Well there is an item, and there are two people I need to acquire the item. But they're protected, and I need you and a few others to help me." Xervix said as he sat back down on the stool.

"You see, there are these... protectors. They constantly stand between me and the couple. And I need to find some way around this couple." Xervix said "See, this couple is of interest to you too."

The A.I. looked at Xervix in wonder. What did this Xervix mean? Of interest to him?

"You see, you're an Artificial Intelligence. An A.I. that they created. You were a tool that they used to fill the blank of their old friend who my predecessor used to his advantage. When they found him, they removed you and stored you here on the super computer. You were discarded and tossed to the side as if you were nothing. They preferred their William over you." Xervix said with a sinister tone.

"But why would they do that? If they created me, why would they just throw me to the side like that?" The A.I. said.

"Because they are fools. They treated you like garbage, and replaced you with a mere insect. To them, you're a speck of digital trash. Would you like to see what they were like?" Xervix asked.

The A.I. nodded its head. Xervix walked over to it and placed his hand on the A.I.'s forehead. The A.I. saw its entire history. It saw how it was created, and how it was removed from the world. It also remembered the joys and feelings that it had in that world. It wanted to feel that joy again.

Xervix removed his hand and stepped back. "Would you like to feel that world again? Would you like revenge?"

The A.I. nodded its head in agreement.

"I will grant you the ability to replace the one called William, the human you're based on. You will posses his body and walk the earth till the end of his body's lifetime. Then we will find you another." Xervix said as he opened several holo panels, revealing the person in question. In one panel, he was fighting the Defender. In another, he was busy trying to save Aelita from Xervix.

"I can already assure you, master, I despise that human." the A.I. said.

"Excellent," Xervix said, "now to work on the other A.I." Xervix said as he sat down on the stool again. "But first, we must go on the offensive."

The gang sat in Jeremy's room. He was busy installing some files on his computer, files about information he found the night before, after the fight with Xervix. Aelita sat on Jeremy's bed, leaning her back up against the wall. Ulrich and Yumi sat on the floor while William stood up against Jeremy's closet. Odd sat on the corner of Jeremy's bed playing his game boy as he tried to finish up a level.

"OK. Last night while most of you guys slept, Aelita and I did a little research into our new friend Xervix and what he is. So far what we know is that he wants Aelita for some reason. He hacked the super computer and knows how to work it, and he is extremely powerful and dangerous." Jeremy said as he brought up a screen shot of Xervix, swinging his scythe at Ulrich.

"We also know that he claims to be the reincarnation of Xana, and definitely has control over Xana's monsters and can mutate them to create new ones even more powerful than the last." William said rubbing his arm as he remembered what it was like to fight the Defender.

"So then what does all this mean? Where did he come from?" Yumi asked as she sat back a little ways.

"Well I think I found some possibilities last night." Jeremy said as he loaded up a program. Two windows popped up on the monitor. They both showed a series of programs and codes floating on the screen. The first code was green and looked very erratic. Some symbols looked smooth and calm. The others looked jagged and sharp. The second screen's codes were red, only these codes where extremely smooth.

"On the left are Xana's old codes that I decoded a long time ago. These are the basic codes that Xana's main program was made up of. Everything, from basic perimeters to deciding certain attacks was decided through these codes." Jeremy said as Odd raised his hand. "Think of these codes as Xana's brain, Odd." Jeremy said as Odd lowered his hand.

"Why are the shapes so distorted and shaped differently?" Ulrich asked.

"Well those are the codes that corrupted Xana. They should be smooth and peaceful looking. But when Xana was first activated, its core program was disfigured and distorted." Aelita answered as she leaned forward a bit.

"Now, on the right are the codes that Xervix has. See how they're smoother than the codes Xana had?" Jeremy asked as he looked around the room. "That's because Xervix's codes are more in tune. They're almost perfect. Perfectly created. But here is something else." Jeremy said as he clicked on one of the codes. The window zoomed in on a code to reveal that parts of the code were red, while the rest was green.
"The Green Data Codes are new. Almost flawless, these are Xervix's codes. And the red ones are Xana's codes." Jeremy said as he panned around the room. William and Odd had a puzzled look on their faces. Ulrich and Yumi stared at the code in question. Aelita had a look of shock on her face.

"I figured you would get it Aelita." Jeremy said as the group looked at her.

"But what does it mean?" Yumi asked as she changed positions, from Indian style to a prone position.

Aelita swallowed hard. She didn't want to admit it, but perhaps one of her worst fears was a reality. "It means some one created Xervix from Xana's remains. And sent it after us?" Aelita said slowly as she tried to comprehend what Jeremy was trying to figure out.

The group stared at Aelita in disbelief. Could she have been right? Was it true?

"So wait. Who would send a crazy A.I. after us? We didn't do anything wrong. Did we?" Ulrich asked as he stood up to stretch his leg. His leg fell asleep from the constant sitting on his leg.

"Not us. Franz Hopper." Yumi said as she looked up at her boyfriend. "They must have sent it after Franz Hopper. And whoever sent it must have figured that we were trying to help him. That's why Xervix had so many monsters. It was waiting for us. It knew we were gonna try and inspect Lyoko."

"Who's Franz Hopper?" William asked. The Gang stared at him for a minute. "I heard the name before but I never knew who he was. Did he build the Supercomputer?"

"Yeah. He built it." Jeremy said as he glanced at the others, a stern look on his face that the others mirrored. They knew that Yumi never told William about Franz and Aelita. They would have to tell him eventually. But Jeremy and Aelita would tell him when the time was right.

"OK so let me see if I have this so far. A crazy A.I. appears out of nowhere. And it was created by the organization that is after the supercomputer." Odd asked.

"Well there's more than that." Jeremy said as he closed the windows.

"I knew it." Odd said sarcastically.

Jeremy reached into his bag and pulled out a notebook. After flipping through the pages of the notebook, he found the pages he wanted and began to read from them. "OK. After Xervix hacked the supercomputer, he started to download several files which neither me or Aelita knew about. Some of the things he covered were, I guess code names."

"You mean those wired names we saw that day at the lab?" Ulrich said. "I only remember one was named Avatar."

"You mean that weird American cartoon about the guy and the arrow tattoo?" Odd joked.

"Hey! I like that show" Yumi said in defiance. "Ulrich and I watch it when ever it's on. It's ok"

"Anyways. Getting back to subject. Some of the items we saw were the names. There was Avatar, Observer, Keys to Lyoko, Keys to Carthage. And the System." Jeremy said as he placed the note book on the desk.

"What the heck is an Observer? Or even the System?" William asked. "Have you ever heard of those things before?"

"No. We never saw anything like this before. Not even an Avatar or a Key to Carthage." Jeremy said.

"But we know what the Keys to Lyoko are. Don't we?" Yumi asked. Suddenly she realized that Aelita was the Key to Lyoko. She didn't say another word so that William wouldn't jump to conclusions.

"Well yes, there is that, which leads me to wonder what it really means. It's possible that it is entirely different from the keys that we know." Jeremy said as he glanced at Aelita. She wrapped her arms around her knees as she stared at the wall. She was trying to remember if there was anything she could remember about her father or anything that she could think of that remotely related to the current situation.

"Well at least we have a possible advantage." Jeremy said. The gang stared at him in disbelief as they tried to understand what he meant. "When Xervix took control of the supercomputer, he left a part of his program at the core so if the main body was destroyed, he could create a new one. But by doing so, the copy he created holds only half of his power. He needs time to regain that power before he can try another move. But if he unites with that half, he can go on for who knows how long."

"Ok so what about these new sectors? What are they?" Ulrich asked as Jeremy grabbed his notebook again.

"They're not new sectors. They're more like run-ons. A kind of sub sector. But what they do I have no idea." Jeremy said as he brought up a picture of what Lyoko now looked like. Instead of a blue orb with four sections around it, there was a blue orb with four sections, and underneath those sectors were white sectors, almost like a layer underneath them.

"So far there is a Volcano sector that sits underneath the Mountain sector. There is an Ocean sector that sits under the Ice sector. Almost like it's a part of the sector. There appears to be a Sky sector that sits above the Desert sector. And a Cave sector that lies under the Forest sector." Jeremy said as he pointed to the locations on the map.

"Didn't you say there was a fifth new sector?" Yumi asked.

"There is and there is isn't." Jeremy explained. He clicked on the image of Sector 5 and zoomed in on a small section that was white. "It's kinda the memory sector for the entire supercomputer. Every piece of data is stored here and can be retrieved either directly or from Sector 5. The reason I call it a City sector is because it looks like a city. You have these large gray structures that hold the data on the computer. And they're connected by these blue panel-like roads that run underneath the floor. At least I think; we won't know till we explore it." Jeremy said as he pointed at the sector underneath Sector 5.

"Why don't we just shut down the supercomputer? Instead of trying to destroy Xervix. Let's just shut it down?" Ulrich said as Yumi held his hand.

"Because I figured out what has been causing all the power outages, computer problems and more importantly, the surge at the cafeteria. It was him." Jeremy said as he brought up Xervix's code once more. "These red parts of Xana's code act more like the code of a virus. They can allow him to interact with any mainframe or program and alter it in any way. If we shut down the computer, he will just try and get us to turn it back on."

"There goes our trump card." Yumi said as she stood up to stretch her legs. "Is there anything else we can't do?"

"A bad one too." Jeremy said as he turned to face his friends. "The RTTP program has been deactivated. What ever power source it was connected to in the supercomputer has been disconnected."

Ulrich and Odd suddenly jumped to their feet as Aelita's face went pale. Yumi stared at Jeremy in disbelief. William just looked at everyone. He knew that the gang had some kind of mind altering technology but didn't know the extent of it.

"You mean if something happens we can't go back in time?" Aelita said franticly.

"No. I'm gonna try to look at it later and find out why. But till I found out why it's having problems we need to be careful" Jeremy said as the gang started to settle down a little bit. "Now all that's left is the Monsters and how we can counter theses new creepies and anything else Xervix could create. We so far saw that Xervix can control the older monsters and can create newer ones. So in order to combat these new monsters we'll need to update our equipment. And William will need a vehicle as well." Jeremy said as he glanced at William, who was surprised.

"You mean I get a ride?" Will asked as Jeremy nodded.

Ulrich and Yumi smiled at William in approval as Aelita shook her head in approval.

"Wait a minute. Will has the smoke... thing. Doesn't that count?" Odd asked.

"Well it actually can wear William down when he's running. I noticed it when he was carrying Aelita to the tower to regenerate her life points. So he will need some kind of new vehicle, and Yumi's could use some work as well."

"What do you mean?" Yumi asked as she looked at Jeremy.

"When Aelita was using the decoy to lure Xervix away from the Guardians, he easily caught up with it. You're gonna need something a little more faster and sleeker." Jeremy assured her.

"OK so for right now since its Sunday we should take it easy and listen for our new worst friend in the whole wide world." Ulrich said as he wrapped his arm around Yumi who turned around and smiled at him lovingly. "Yumi and I are gonna go catch a movie tonight. We'll keep our phones on vibrate."

"OK, I'm gonna work on your upgrades. Will and I are gonna start designing his vehicle." Jeremy said as he turned to the monitor.

"You guys wanna order a pizza tonight? I'll buy." William said as he looked towards Aelita and Odd.

"Make sure its pineapple and ham. It's not a pizza without pineapple and ham." Odd said as Aelita made a disgusted look.

Yumi and Ulrich bid everyone goodbye as they left the room. Aelita sat for a minute and came to a conclusion.

"You know, I'm gonna go and… make my bed since I'm gonna be so tired tonight." Aelita said as she crept towards the door. Jeremy, William, and Odd looked at her questioningly. "OK Aelita." Jeremy said as she slipped out the door. The three boys stared at each other in confusion.

Yumi and Ulrich had just stepped outside when they heard Aelita call their names. The two stopped as they turned to see a pink haired girl stop next to them and catch her breath.

"Uhh what is it Aelita?" Yumi asked.

"I'm sorry I know you guys want to get to the movie but I need some advice from you two." Aelita said as she gasped for breath.

"You know you can ask us anything Aelita. What is it?" Ulrich asked.

"How did you two ask each other out?" Aelita asked. There was a moment of silence between the three as Ulrich and Yumi tried to place their words correctly.

"Uhh I kinda just asked her out a few days after we shut down the supercomputer. Why?" Ulrich asked.

"Well I know a classmate in P.E. who wants to... know how to ask someone out who won't ask her out and..."

"Is this kid's name Aelita?" Yumi asked.

"Yes… WAIT NO IT'S...." Aelita panicked as her face turned red. Ulrich and Yumi burst into laughter as Aelita's face turned bright red.

"Don't worry we won't tell anyone." Ulrich said. "Just go up to Jeremy and ask him. It's not that hard, he probably feels the same way you do." Ulrich asked.

"I... I don't know. Sometimes I think he does and sometimes I think it's all in my head and that he's just my best friend." Aelita said as she bowed her head a little.

"The guy spent almost a hundred dollars on your shoes the other day. He must be trying to send a message. Besides, Ulrich never does anything like that." Yumi said as she shot Ulrich a joking glance, to which Ulrich frowned at her. It made Aelita laugh a little as she stared at the couple.

"Look, just go up there and ask him out. I'm pretty sure he feels the same way you do." Ulrich said. "Just remember to speak with your mind and not your heart. It's your heart that can get you in trouble when you talk with it." Ulrich said as he pointed towards his heart.

Aelita nodded as she thanked them and walked inside. Yumi and Ulrich turned around as they made their way to Yumi's house. "Jeremy asked you something similar, didn't he?" Yumi asked.

"Oh yeah. Almost the same words." Ulrich said as they turned around and started to walk out the gate. "I bet Aelita has more guts then Jeremy and asks him out first."

Yumi looked at Ulrich for a second. "What? No way. Aelita's a little to shy at times. Jeremy will ask her out first." Yumi said in Jeremy's defense.

"Ooh no I would bet on Aelita asking Jer. If you notice, he does almost whatever she says." Ulrich said in defiance.

"Wanna put a bet on it?" Yumi asked.

"What kind of bet?" Ulrich asked as they left the school grounds.

"If Jeremy asks Aelita out first, I'll... make you some dango dessert that you liked the time you had dinner with my folks."

Ulrich rubbed his chin as he thought about the Japanese dumplings Yumi's mom prepared the first time he had dinner with her parents. At first they looked like wax balls. But when he tried them, they tasted like doughnuts. He ate about three that night.

"Deal.... But what do you get if you win, which you won't." Ulrich asked.

"You have to do whatever I say for a day. Even if it means shaping your hair like Odd's" Yumi said with a smile.

"EWWW!!! OK deal, since I know Aelita will ask out Jer." Ulrich said as he shuddered at the thought of having his hair like Odd's.

Yumi and Ulrich walked to their house as Yumi wrapped her left arm around his waist and Ulrich wrapped his arm around hers.

Odd stepped out of his room as Aelita had just sat down and passed out some sodas she just bought. William had ordered a pizza since they were going to hang out in Jeremy's room. He was gonna sneak to his room to grab Kiwi since he hadn't seen the dog all day. For the past two years, Kiwi had hid in the school and he hide very well. Jim came close a couple times but never really found out about the sneaky pouch. Some of the kids knew about the dog while others still had no idea what was making the random barking noises.

Odd opened the door as he saw Kiwi sleeping on Ulrich's bed, chewing on a pair of Ulrich's socks. The dog sat up and wagged his tail in joy at the sight of his master.

"Hello little puppy doggy." Odd said as the dog jumped into his arms. He grabbed his leash and snuck the dog down the stairs and out to the forest behind the woods, pausing every few seconds to make sure Jim or any other teacher wasn't following him. Kiwi instinctively stopped whenever Odd did. The dog was trained well to stop and hide if Odd ever made a slight grunt. It had worked several times before and still worked to this day.

Odd was on his way back to the dorms from giving Kiwi his bathroom break. The sun was still high in the sky as a flock of birds flew overhead. The air was hot and stagnant, the humidity was unbearable. Odd sneaked towards the dorm when he heard someone speak to him in a low voice.

"Hey Odd. Hey dog."

It was Sissi. She was sitting on the bench looking out towards the trees. She seemed kinda sad about something; she just looked up towards the sky with a sorrowful, lonely look on her face. At first Odd thought about ignoring her and walking by. But even Odd felt sorry for her. Here she was trying to change, and Herve and Nicholas had left her for Tanell. She was all alone.

"Wait. Why aren't you trying to get me or Kiwi in trouble?" Odd said as he picked up the dog.

"I... I guess I just don't wanna do it anymore." Sissi said as she rested her hands on her chin.

Odd slowly approached Sissi as he tried to figure out what exactly he would say. For the past two years, Sissi and Odd never really got along that well. They did have their moments where they helped each other out, but those were extremely scarce.

Odd knew that Herve and Nicholas had left Sissi for Tanell, and she hadn't had much luck making new friends. She had spent most of her time alone, and Yumi and Aelita had been too busy to work out that much this week so she had been left out in the cold for a little too long.

Odd walked up to Sissi and looked her in the eye. Sissi finally noticed as she also made eye contact. At first there was a cold silence, even in the heat. Finally Odd broke the silence.

"That look on your face... you look like my cousin when she hasn't gotten enough sleep." Odd joked.

"What you doing?" Odd asked.

Sissi stared at him for a few seconds as she tried to comprehend what Odd was trying to say. Was he trying to make fun of her like he always did or was he being serious?

"I'm just sitting here is all. Thinking." Sissi said in a low voice.

"What about?" Odd asked as he sat down next to her with Kiwi sitting on the ground looking at them.

"If I have changed at all, or if I have changed and I am no better than I was originally." Sissi said as she lowered her head.

"I heard that Tanell embarrassed you in front of Herve and Nicolas. Why do they hang out with her and not you?" Odd asked as he scratched Kiwi.

Sissi looked at Odd for a minute. She didn't know if Odd was looking for a possible chance to make fun of her, but then again, Odd was trying to be sincerer and nice. She had fought with Odd for two years. Maybe he was trying to change.

"Well... I think it's because I have neglected them so much. I think I spent so much time trying to change and be more of a friend to you guys that I neglected to try and better my relationship with them. Maybe Tanell's right. I am a baby."

Odd almost said an insult till he stopped himself and decided to forget about it. "Well I think that maybe you should confront them and apologize to them." Odd said as he sat back on the bench.

"It's not that simple. Herve had a crush on me and I turned him down almost as much as Ulrich did to me. I felt horrible when he did that, and sometimes I even cried because of it. And now I have done the exact same thing to Herve for the past few years."

"Ooh. You had a serious crush on Ulrich huh?" Odd said as he looked at her.

"I have ever since elementary school. And when he started to hang out with you guys and left me behind, I felt almost alone and sad. I guess that's when I turned to trying to break you guys up. And now that I stand back and look at myself, I was horrible to you guys." Sissi said as she lowered her head.

"Well I hate to admit it, but yeah you were kind of a nuisance. That's also why I made fun of you so much." Odd said.

"Well at least you're honest." Sissi said as she stood up and stretched.

"You shouldn't take anything that Tanell girl says seriously. She's more like Toenail anyways" Odd said as Sissi laughed a little.

"And that horrible white dress she's always wearing? She looks like a ghost or something. And then she has that ridiculously large head, I mean you could seriously land an airplane on that thing." Sissi remarked as Odd burst into laughter.

"Oh oh oh. What about those ridiculous looking shoes. I mean she has some huge feet. Almost like a clown or something. I'm waiting for her to put on a red nose and honk a horn or something." Odd smirked as Sissi sat down laughing.

"Oh no. I'll tell you what it is. It's that squeaky mouse voice she has. She tries to act all mean but she sounds like some stupid Mickey Mouse character."

Odd and Sissi laughed for a few seconds till Odd's phone went off. Odd answered it as Sissi petted Kiwi.

"OK I'll be there in a minute. Just save me a slice." Odd said as he hung up his phone. He looked at Sissi as she stopped petting Kiwi and looked at him.

"I guess you gotta go huh?" Sissi said.

"Yeah, me and the others ordered pizza. And it's here."

"I better get going too." Sissi said as she got up.

"Gonna go hang out with your dad?" Odd said.

"No he is gonna be at a board meeting tonight. He won't be back till later. So I guess I'm gonna go and listen to some music in my room." Sissi said as she started to walk off. Kiwi began whining as the tall girl walked off. The dog looked back at Odd and gave the boy a look straight into his eye.

"OK I'll ask her." Odd said as he gave Kiwi a frown. "I hope I don't regret this" Odd muttered as he called for Sissi. "Hey Sissi. Do you wanna hang out with us tonight?" Odd shouted as Sissi turned and gave him a puzzled look.

"Huh? No that's OK Odd. I wouldn't want to impose." Sissi said before Odd cut her off.

"No no it will be fine. I'll call the others and let them know. Besides Kiwi kinda forced me into it." Odd said as he pulled out his cell phone.

"What do you mean he forced you into it?" Sissi asked as Odd texted Jeremy that he was gonna bring Sissi to hang out with them. Jeremy texted him back to go ahead, that William and Aelita had hid most of the stuff they didn't want Sissi to see that pertained to Lyoko.

"Well last time he left a little surprise in my old shoes. And it's when he gave me the exact same look." Odd said as he looked down at Kiwi. Kiwi was sitting and wagging his tail with a look of almost innocence on his face.

"Well. I guess I could hang with you guys for a few minutes." Sissi finally admitted as Odd led her to Jeremy's room, the small dog lagging behind, wagging his tail at the same time.