As the battle in the school proceeded, the Lyoko Warriors found themselves losing to the seemingly endless army. Although everyone else had made it out safe, half the school had been destroyed in the onslaught.
"So, here's where it ends." William Jr. said.
"We're not giving up." Ulrich said. "We still have a chance."
"What chance do we have?" William Jr. asked. "We've been surrounded by the enemy and we have no other help."
"Don't be too sure." Said a voice from behind him. The three turned around to find one of their closest allies.
"Aelita." Yumi said.
"About time." Ulrich said.
"Sorry I'm late." She said. "Surely you'll let me in this too."
"Of course, but use this." Ulrich said tossing her a pink bracelet with a star on it. "It's the only thing that can kill them."
"Very well." Aelita said waving her hand over the bracelet. Pink wings then sprouted from her back and she flew above the monsters.
Back in the girls' restroom, Dennis was still trying to free Rumiko from the rubble that had fallen on her.
"Come on." Dennis said hauling more rubble off of her. "Just a little more."
"Leave me, Dennis." Rumiko said weakly. "Save yourself."
"I'm not leaving you." Dennis said.
"You have to." She said. "Otherwise they'll get both of us."
"Then I'll make sure they don't." Dennis said.
On Lyoko, William was already lying on the ground, exhausted. XANA then put away his sword and came to him.
"And to think you believed you could redeem yourself so easily." XANA said. "Well, you can't. Because no matter how hard you try, I'll always be a step ahead. I know your moves, your strengths, and your weaknesses."
William then turned his head and saw Antea behind him.
"Which is why now, you will never return." He then raised his sword, preparing to strike. But he then felt a blast of energy go through him. XANA turned around and noticed Antea running up to William.
"Stop her." XANA said to the XANA-fied Calvin who raised his staff and knocked her to the ground next to William.
"Calvin, it's me, Antea." She said. "Remember?"
"Antea?" Calvin said obviously recognizing her.
"It's too late. Your friend can't help you now." XANA said shooting lightning at both her and William.
On Earth, in the crawlspace below the stage, Sammy was already looking to see if it was safe, which it wasn't. She then went back down and noticed Ami crying.
"Hey, what's wrong?" She asked.
"I'm just worried." She said. "My family's out there risking everything. Rumiko's nowhere to be found and could be in trouble, and Calvin, he could be dead already and I'm just sitting here. Not that you would understand, of course."
She just continued crying. Sammy then went up to her.
"I do understand." She said. "Maybe you've forgotten, but I have a brother, too. I also understand, because deep down, I sort of like him. Like 'like like' him."
"Really?" She said looking up. "But then why are you so mean to him?"
"Well long ago, I went to the same school as his sister, Rumiko." She said. "Back when I was in kindergarten, I though she was so cool. I wanted to hang out with her, but she always hit me and insulted me just because I was younger and not as smart as her. Then I met her brother, Calvin. I thought I could take out my frustrations on him because I was unable to do it to Rumiko. And it worked; it made me feel a bit better But over the years, I grew to admire him, but I thought it would be too late because of all the torment I caused, so I just kept on doing it."
"You mean that?" Ami said. "You know, if you really liked him that much, you could have at least said so. Even if he didn't like you back, you could have at least told him why you put him through all that."
"You're right." She said. "I promise, if we survive this, I'll be nicer to all of you."
"Thanks." Ami said.
In the boys' showers. Sam was still having a hard time trying to fend of XANA. As he got into the showers, XANA decided to take things up a notch by blasting the shower heads causing water to cover the entire floor.
"If you recall." XANA said. "My attacks are composed of electricity, which water conducts. So if any of it touches the ground, you'll be fatally shocked."
"Well, so will you." Sam said. "You're touching the ground as well." XANA then floated in midair.
"Oh yeah, I forgot you could do that." Sam said. XANA then blasted the ground. But Sam just jumped up whenever it hit and continued firing laser arrows at him. But his attacks were futile.
Back at the gymnasium, Aelita was flying over the monsters heads throwing energy field by energy field at each of them, taking out a large number in the process. Ulrich, Yumi, and William Jr. managed to score a few hits as well. Just then, Thomas came out of the shadows and shot lightning at Aelita which caused her to fall towards the ground. However, Yumi, using her telekinesis, managed to catch her ad lower her softly (A/N: Just say her concentration and use of her powers increased with age).
"Thanks Yumi." She said.
"No prob..." Yumi said before she was knocked to the ground by Thomas.
"Very clever, Ishiyama." Thomas said. "XANA was right to acknowledge you as a major adversity."
"Don't you touch her!" William Jr. said slamming the side of his punching dagger to his face, causing him to hit the wall. The impact against the weakened wall then caused a large part of it to fall. Before Thomas could react, the wall hit him and he was killed instantly as the black spectre flew out of him and into an outlet.
"Oh dear." William Jr. said.
"Come on, we still have plenty..." Ulrich said before he was hit by a laser. The four then turned around to find an army of monsters with Alain and Jean-Claude at the front.
On Lyoko, XANA was still blasting the two with lightning as Calvin just watched.
"Please Calvin." Antea said. "Help us!" But Calvin just stood there. XANA then ceased his attack, but the two were too weak to get up.
"And now, William and Antea." XANA said. "You will die."
He then shot a even larger blast of lightning towards the two. Calvin immediately snapped out of it and jabbed his staff right into XANA's back absorbing all the lightning. Antea then staggered to her feet as she saw what was happening. XANA then walked back so that Calvin was hanging by the edge. Calvin, however, ignored this and knocked XANA's sword out of its sheath and it flew near Antea.
"Go." Calvin said. "Do it." Antea then picked up the sword.
"If you do he'll still die." XANA said.
"If you don't, he'll die for nothing." William said. "Now do it!"
Antea then aimed the sword and threw it towards XANA. It then hit XANA right in the chest and he fell to the ground. However, the shock caused Calvin to lose his grip and he fell of the edge, hitting the side of the Celestial Dome where he disappeared.
"No." Antea said quietly.
"Antea, I have the program set up. Get to the tower." Anthony said. "It just needs one more thing."
"What's that?" Antea asked. Anthony then plucked a hair from his head and went to the scanner room.
"A genetic sample."
She then ran inside the tower and proceeded to activate the program. Anthony then placed the hair in the scanner and set up a virtualization process while setting up the program.
On Earth, the Lyoko Warriors were back on the defensive as the monster army plowed through the defense. A lone Tarantula had spotted the crawlspace and blasted it open, exposing Sammy and Ami. Sammy just held Ami close as the Tarantula charged its laser.
Antea then came to the second floor of the tower.
In the girls' restroom, Rumiko could feel her breath shortening as her body gave in to the pile of rubble and started to suffocate her; Dennis was also struggling to get every last piece off of her. In the boy's showers, Sam was already losing stamina from dodging all of XANA's attacks and just collapsed. XANA then prepared to deliver the final blow.
Antea then placed her hand on the screen:
AELITA
CODE: ANAX
Just then, the monsters all over the world stopped moving and fell to the ground. The spectres inside Alain and Jean-Claude flew out and disappeared, and the XANA-spectre disappeared before it could launch its attack on Sam.
On Lyoko, the Anthony Schaeffer spectre, now imbued with The ANAX Program, came down and approached the 'dying' XANA. The spectre now had the appearance of Anthony's current look, except it was glowing white all over.
"Impossible." XANA said pulling the sword from out of him. "I..If n...neither F...Fr...anz H...Hopper nor J...Jere...mie B...Belpois could stop me this easily. Then h...how c...could you?"
"Because I am you!" ANAX (As I'm calling him to be consistent) spoke. He then shot a blast of white energy at XANA causing the black spectre that had been possessing the virtual envelope to come out. HE then flew the spectre over the edge and it fell into the Core of Lyoko, where it exploded in a blast of lightning that climbed up the walls of the Celestial Dome. ANAX then absorbed the virtual envelope and took the form of a Greek king with a gilded sword rather than a Roman emperor with a rusted sword.
"It's over." Anthony sighed. "Thank God it's finally over."
Antea then stepped out of the scanner and noticed Anthony doing alterations to a program.
"What are you doing?" She said.
"Linking everyone to the Time Reversion program." Anthony said. "Now like us, they'll remember everything."
"But wouldn't that mean...?" Antea said.
"The people have a right to know what happened."
"But you'll be endangering Lyoko if you do that."
"Antea, maybe you've forgotten but I'm a former government agent." He said. "Cover-ups are my specialty." (A/N: Just wait). He then hit a key on the keyboard.
"Return to the Past, now." Anthony said. A bright light then came from the computer and enveloped the entire laboratory; it then made its way to the school.
"Ready for one last return trip?" Ulrich said hugging Yumi.
"Always and forever." Yumi said as the bright light enveloped the two.
The light then proceeded towards Dennis and Rumiko, and Sam. Eventually, the whole world was affected and went back a day. Seconds later, the white light disappeared; all of Earth was back to normal as if nothing had ever happened.
Alright, one more chapter, then it's off to the epilogues and then to my next story, which will be a series of oneshots that take place before, during, and after Project Scipio. I also plan to do a sequel hopefully soon.
Please Review.