Xana and Riya: The Hunt for Mizu

Chapter 5

A little time off and I'm back again and will hopefully be able to finish this story before the end of the year so he we go with the next chapter.

The teams sat with their respective people all around the city, Ulrich and Yumi were chatting with John who was getting some tips on how to fight, Andy was with Kelly chatting with Emily about the old days whilst William was recovering while Riya sat with Odd while they both watched over Jeremy.

"about your mother…" Odd started but wasn't sure how to finish

"she seemed pretty cool when she was here" Riya said and then added "what was she like" helping Odd along with his own sentence.

"Aelita was amazing she was always happy and smiled a lot, I remember when you were born she watched over you and never let you out of her site, that was a little worrying but we all knew why" Odd said smiling lightly.

Odd's own hatred of what Jeremy's plan was for Riya would have made him act very differently were he alone but in front of Riya there was a calming presence similar to Aelita, it felt good to Odd to be near anything that reminded him of her.

"so what happened in the old days" Andy asked wanting to know about how the old team fought, "well…" Emily said thinking back to days that were quite long ago "it wasn't to different to what you do now, we had to keep it secret and be careful and it caused all hell of problems with our lives but it wasn't something you'd just give up"

Kelly had been quiet throughout the trip back from the factory along with Andy who had been glancing at her then back at the floor or away from Kelly all together, paining both of them but knowing that neither knew what to say to each other meant that they both kept the conversation off themselves and onto other things.

Inside Lyoko Xana sat and meditated inside a tower looking back towards the days before Mizu had combined and taken over him and his problems had begun, he remembered the joy from coming to life and talking for hours on end with Franz Hopper. Then learning of Aelita and Franz's plans to leave the real world despite Xana's warnings that Lyoko did not seem safe compared to their world.

Xana went a little closer to the present and remembered why he had gone against Franz, angry and frustrated Xana ventured out into the close reaches of the internet and ended up pulling some data in Lyoko accidently which brought Mizu into the world. Mizu began combining with Xana which he soon decided was fine as Mizu was the other side that Xana wanted but after they were one it left Xana unable to control anything.

If Xana hadn't of been inside of Lyoko he was sure he would be crying to destroy a trust like he had done and now people who he had separated and tried to destroy we actually trying to help him. It seemed like everything he had done wrong was being reversed and now he had to pay them back before he left, but the question was how to stop Mizu; with no see able weakness and no way to make him separate parts that they could just destroy.

Xana thought long and hard coming up with several ways o stop Mizu but each in turn had it's problems some left gaps where Mizu could slip through and others had parts where a sneaky trick from Mizu could turn everything around. Only one stood out with the best chances and only Xana would be hurt if the plan went wrong which was exactly what he wanted to keep his friends safe. The only other thing now was to figure out where Aelita was being held, once he knew the plan could begin.

Back with Riya and Odd, Riya had left for a few minutes to get a drink while Odd was reliving the last few moments of their last trip into Lyoko when they originally destroyed Xana. There had been a chill all through the mission and during the final few seconds they all knew what it was; Xana had played a trump card and made it so that if he died one would go with him. William sacrificed himself during those moments he didn't have as much to lose no ne expected much, but Odd at that time wanted to go himself instead but William stepped in so quickly that it made it impossible for Odd to go.

Odd began thinking of his battle with Jeremy and if he did see Aelita, he was saved by something but he didn't really see it, it was a pink light or was it white. Odd's memory of the event seemed to be hazy and with the amount he had been smacked around before it happened it could have been a dream and one of the rest could have saved him. He didn't even really remember how he got out he was sure of movement and barely moving as he left but if someone had been holding him he wouldn't of known, it wasn't until he'd been able to leave the room that he had enough energy to move around properly.

As Kelly and Andy left Emily who wanted to go and speak to Ulrich and Yumi it meant that the pair had to come to terms with what had happened. "I…er…" Kelly started "I don't want you going back in to Lyoko" Andy said quietly which didn't surprise Kelly as she had guessed he might say that.

"I understand but I'm sure Grace can remove it and leave me with just the first level" Kelly said hoping that Andy would understand, "I'm sorry but if you do and end up like that again I don't want to be there and I don't want to risk everyone else in the process". The room fell silent and after a few minutes Grace left the room and despite trying to hide them Andy heard her crying even when she was far away and felt worse than he had before they spoke.

While John was off practicing the sets of moves Ulrich had been going over with him Emily came over and quickly motioned to both him and Yumi, keeping her voice low so that John wouldn't be able to hear unless he got close enough to be noticed by one of the group.

"this groups going to fall apart soon, if not already" Emily said quickly, the others nodded in agreement "we barely lasted towards the end and they are going the same way".

"so what do we do" Yumi asked worried about the kids safety

"Kelly and Andy have already had problems due to their powers and Riya has become extremely different in the last few days" Emily said. "where is she by the way" Ulrich asked. "with Odd, it felt better to put her with her…" Emily said stopping slightly on the last word not sure whether the word was actually correct.

Grace had split from the rest of the groups and had been working in the lab since the battle, she had been conversing with Xana and looking over plans to free Xana without Mizu being able to stop it; grace leaned back yawning tired from working without stopping.

"I've come up with a plan but it's going to be difficult" Grace said to Xana letting him see the blue prints and the full description of the steps. Xana looked it over and then put his own plan over the top of it, it worked out with a few minor changes that were easily placed in an allowed him to convince Grace. He decided not to tell her the plan since he had to make sure he could go through with it him self.

"okay so should we call the team" Xana asked

"no, not yet, we have to make sure everything is down and Mizu is unable to stop it with any tricks" Grace said tapping a few keys and gong over the plan a few more times.

The lab fell silent and all of the team sighed in their respective predicaments and knew that something was happening and nothing was going to be the same, and it would be soon, very soon.

Inside Lyoko deep in the sector that Mizu had given birth to, so that he could create and control things including prisoners and the power drainer that Mizu created in an attempt to prevent the team growing stronger especially with the reinforcements his enemy's now had.

Mizu had an upper hand still due to Jeremy and William as well as Aelita, if they tried to re-enter Lyoko they would be partially under his control, and Aelita had managed to escape for only a few moments. This let the team know she was still alive; Mizu knew he could use that to his advantage and began to plan, the same way that Xana and Grace had done. But it came down to which plan could be adapted and where the stronger points were, Mizu knew that they would just try to destroy him and that they had far superior numbers compared to him, but he had seen the rise and fall of the originals and he would witness the same with the newest group.

The plan that Mizu had been following from the beginning was falling into place: the traitor, the rival, the lost, the burdened all four he needed to put the final plan into motion and next time they stepped into Lyoko, Mizu would have his glory.

The next day the teams felt broken and separated, the old team having lost one member yet being able to retrieve two that they thought they had lost forever gave them a small amount of hope.

The other team however was beginning to break down, Riya wanted to go back into Lyoko and ring her mother out as quickly as possible, while Grace and Xana wanted to put their plan into action but they needed more time to go over all of it. John hadn't been focusing on the separation of the group which without his way of keeping the groups spirits up. And keeping things together had left him oblivious of the things that were happening, Kelly had disappeared angry at Andy and herself which left a more than hollow feeling inside her, she needed to know how to control the power inside her which appeared to flow out without warning with no way to channel it.

Grace called a meeting of the teams, though only a few showed up, the old team appeared but most of her team didn't, John and Riya were the only ones who made an appearance while Andy and Kelly weren't answering, due to her not being around what was happening Grace assumed they were just off some where messing around.

Grace went over the plan with the few who were there, they all seemed pleased with the plan even Riya who was listening intently to make sure she knew her part in rescuing her mother. With everyone filled in on the plan the last thing was to make sure everyone was there as it would take them all the set things in motion.

Andy was still upset about what he had said to Kelly and went to her room to try and talk to her guessing that was where she had gone to, after arriving he noticed that she hadn't returned but had left a note on her side of the room addressed to everyone in the team. "Dear friends, it would seem that I am becoming too dangerous to fight by your sides so I will try to weaken Mizu for the upcoming battle and hopefully be of some help to you by sacrificing my own power". Andy read this in fear and quickly rushed away heading for the factory, if he had understood correctly Kelly was going to wipe herself out fighting Mizu and hopefully weaken him, but he knew that Mizu would be too strong to defeat on her own.

Andy tried ringing Kelly's phone but didn't get an answer all he heard was the sound of a scanner activating and Kelly still crying.

As Kelly's virtualization went through and Grace noticed that one of the scanners had been activated her phone rang and Andy told her of what was happening, it seemed that the plan had been stepped up from a few hours away to right now.

This took a long time to do cause I stopped writing it mid way through and didn't keep going, hopefully I can get the next one done quicker, so be prepared for the next chapter "Kelly's power from within"