Code Apocalypse: Chapter IV

William Dunbar

He roamed the streets, long dark hair flipped in front of his face as he continued to walk in a sort of a defeated manner of men aged before their time. William Dunbar, now nearing his twenty-seventh birthday, roamed the streets, an empty bottle in hand. A dark, almost ominous looking house stood facing the street, the lawn littered with papers strewn all over the place, and there were some empty bottles that probably came from the teenagers living across the street. William half sighed, half groaned, as he picked up a bottle after another bottle and chucked them into the recycling bin outside of his home. The senior college students that lived off-campus across the street were partying all the time, and it was really getting to his nerves. He couldn't really sleep due to the loud music they were pumping through the speakers almost every night, and after every loud party, there were bottles littering the yards surrounding the home that the party was hosted at.

William growled in anger as he chucked the last bottle in the bin, slowly trudging to his home. Flinging the door open, he barely acknowledged the mountain of papers and items that had been steadily growing in his abode for a long time now as he kicked the door closed behind him. Riffling through the fridge in his small kitchen and finding nothing to his liking, he returned to the family room and plopped down onto the couch in a defeated manner, letting loose a loud belch to break the silence. It wasn't his intention to barely get by, and having a somewhat mediocre job after nearly failing college. William had dreamed of being with a companion in which he could put his trust and love into, with a nice home, and kids even, but those hopes were long crushed. The woman he loved had married years before, and he could not find any other person that fit the description of his love interest as much as Yumi did.

William allowed himself a chuckle. It was ironic that love, though considered to be one of the sweetest things in the world, it was also a thing that could also hurt so much, and it could drove people crazy, insane even. He couldn't understand why people would search all over the place for love, for that one person who compliments them. Sometimes it could take forever, and they could die with a broken heart, not being able to find who they were looking for, or it could be accidental, like how he supposed Jeremie and Aelita met. Love one of the things that used to keep him as energized as that rabbit on one of the American commercials, but now his heart was completely devoid of love, and so he regressed into his miserable state, with hardly anything to get by nowadays. Times were getting tougher than ever, and he knew it. He doubted that he could keep this house any longer, much less make enough money to get a decent meal now and then.

A musical ring tone broke his train of thoughts and he reached into his back pocket and took out a phone. He snorted when he saw the number, reliving the memories temporarily until his small, dark colored Virgin Mobile cell phone rang again, the caller number still appearing on the screen. William hesitated for a moment, but picked it up after winning the battle over himself.

"What do you want?" he all but snarled into the receiver.
"We need some assistance with something" the voice coolly replied from the other end.
"What makes you think I'll be able to help you? I had the payments on my car defaulted and pretty soon my house is going to go too."
"Calm down. Either me or my husband will pick you up."
"You ran off with that Stern kid, and you're asking for my help? Forget it!" William snarled again as he reached for the red button that would end the call.
"… I wouldn't call you about this unless it was of a grave matter" Yumi replied.
"What kind of matter…?" William asked, curious as his hand slowly dropped to his side.
"XANA" was all that Yumi said before William dropped the cell phone, the small object clattering to the floor with a soft thud as William looked out the window in disbelief.

Yumi and Group

Yumi heard the obvious anger evident in his voice, and how his words were tipped in venom and respite from loathing over the years. Although she didn't find it to be totally her fault that he had grown surly and sort-of violent with age, she could not help but feel a twinge of regret from not keeping in contact with him more frequently over the years. As she said the word 'XANA', she could hear a clattering sound, which was most likely the sound of his cell phone dropping in his disbelief. The next few seconds contained nothing but silence before she heard the sound of heavy breathing again before William spoke again, his tone slightly desperate.

"I sure hope you're joking, Yumi, because I'm definitely not going to be sticking my head out to be a slave for that monster again."
"Please, William."
"No, and that's final. I don't want to risk the safety of the world again."
"Please…"
"No!" He yelled. "Why won't you understand this?"
"Because, I'm still the girl that's as stubborn as the day you first met me."
"Yumi…" He whispered; his tone now more apologetic than angry now.
"Listen, Earth is in a terrifying crisis, and I'm sucking up every ounce of my pride to call you. We're doomed, so either get your butt here and fight, or be one of the bystanders watching their world come to an end."
"Yumi, listen…"
"No, listen to me, William." Yumi angrily yelled into her phone. "I have nothing more to say to you. I would have thought you were a bigger man that you were when you first came to Lyoko, but it seems I have been sadly mistaken to have thought a person that was willing to fight when the world was in danger would have called it quits, and lived in a dump after nearly flunking out of school. Goodbye."

With that final biting remark, the line went dead as Yumi hung up on him. She could almost have imagined him drop the phone once again from where he was and sit somewhere, with his head in his hands. Yumi sighed after her angry outburst and shoved her phone back into her pocket, the small device making a sharp chirping noise before self-deactivating until it was going to be used again. She turned to look at the others, who were curiously watching her and waiting for her response on the situation. It was not their wholly agreed on idea to have called upon him as the first of the people they would ask for help in combating XANA, though they were desperate for people to help them in their endeavor to finally combat XANA for good.

"Don't bet on William to come to the rescue" Yumi spat; rage still boiling inside because of William's self-pity. "He thinks not helping out would be better than getting himself possessed again simply by declaring war on XANA."
"What he doesn't realize is that he has a better immunity to XANA than the rest of us, since he had dealt with XANA's possession longer than we all have. Logically, his body would have made a natural defense by now to XANA, since it is probable that his body would have recognized the virus and expelled it out of his system, and would have not accepted XANA if XANA would choose to attempt to possess him again." Jeremie explained, getting confused looks from everyone in the room. "In other words, he has a bigger resistance to XANA from being possessed for a long time" Jeremie clarified, getting 'oh's from all over the room.
"Yumi, neither of us likes William, but you've got to give him a break. After all, most of us here know what it's been like to be possessed by XANA… the feeling of the lack of control and the helplessness to do anything…" said Ulrich, gently taking Yumi's hands in his.
"I know Ulrich… but it just frustrates me is that all his fight is gone… it's like he has no will to live, and I'm trying to get him to wake up!" Yumi yelled as she finished.
"Then it's 'Go us' time…" Odd began. "We're going to have to fight as a five man band once again, with probably no help from the government or from armed forces…"
"… because who's going to believe a bunch of adults yelling their head off about an evil maniacal Artificial Intelligence that practically thrives in misery and the planning of humanity's downfall." Jeremie finished with a light chuckle before stopping, realizing there was no humor in the situation.
"Yeah, they'll probably think we're crazy, or we're doing a crazy stint, like in the Terminator movies." Odd quietly replied with a hint of a laugh.

All five of them stood quietly in the silence, pondering upon the upcoming battle that lay ahead. All they knew was that they were certainly in for the ride now, and there was no way of them getting out of it in the end. The light coming through the window cast shadows upon the troubled looks on their faces, some more particular than others. Brows were creased in worry, and their faces were lightly crested with the troubles that seemed to multiply before their eyes. With the exception of the Aelita clone, they had no idea where XANA's new base was located, and they were busy keeping an eye out for the clone, to make sure she did not do anything while their backs were turned.

It was again that 'Aelita' pondered upon the loyalty needed towards her master, and debated on whether to betray him, or to go with his orders and kill the rest of the original Lyoko Warriors in the dead of night, just as a reassurance that the rest of humanity would have no way of knowing how to stop him. She knew that their skills had probably been increased over the years, both Ulrich and Yumi having the speed of a Cheetah and reflexes quick enough to nearly dodge all attacks sent towards them. Odd looked like he was flexible enough to be of great help during high pressure situations, and Jeremie's skills had been increased exponentially over the years, with different situations hardening him into a genius that could compute equations faster than he could do as a mere child. All in all, the rest of the Lyoko Warriors looked as if they were ready to take down XANA once again, but this time for good. 'They would need all of their hardened skills over the years', she mused glancing at them as one of them straightened suddenly, flashed a grin, and flexed his muscles.

"Team Lyoko, let's go! Team Lyoko, let's go!" Odd slowly chanted, his voice rising as the others straightened up as well, and joined him.
"Team Lyoko, let's go!" they roared, their voices slowly gaining pace and lifting to shouts as they yelled their battle cry.
"Tea ye Yoko, let's go!" Aelita's children cried, having no idea what the adults were talking about, utterly confused that one was angry one moment, the group downstairs were sullen another moment, and the next shouting and hooting about something, as if they were cheering themselves on.

The cheering continued for a few minutes, both Antea and Waldo somewhat catching on to the words, though occasionally saying it wrong. The chanting continued for a few minutes before the group separated, running in separate directions in the household to get started on the downfall of XANA. Proudly yelling out the eventual downfall of XANA's system, they assisted Jeremie by getting the necessary things for him as he brought out his newer laptop, and smiled as he started writing a new program, one that would surely track XANA down until he was eventually destroyed.