Chapter 15: The Truth
Regular text: 123
Talking: "123"
Thoughts and Masahiro: 123
Aria: 123
Geo Thought Communication:123
[Third Person P.O.V.]
"And in other news, dozens of people have mysteriously died where they stood as of yesterday. We are waiting to get any information on what caused th-"
Geo closed his laptop quickly. He was currently sitting in the cafeteria by himself, an empty plate of food nearby. He wiped his face off with his hands, trying desperately to relax.
Aria… Masahiro… I wish I could ask you guys for some advice right about now…
Geo got no response.
It's all my fault that they're gone…
He put his laptop in his bag and threw away the remains of his food.
Geo exited the cafeteria, heading into the forest. Eventually, he reached the Hermitage, and entered it going into a room that was painted pink. When he entered he got his laptop out again before sitting down on the bed. He opened his before he started typing.
"The Royal Brace… if I can just finish it in time…"
Aelita and Odd were both inside of the Factory, with Aelita at the Supercomputer while Odd was next to her.
"So, any reason why we're here?" Odd asked.
"Yeah, Geo was working on something called the Royal Brace, and I need to look for any information that can help us fully develop it"
"The Royal Brace? What is that?"
"Geo said it was something that could help him increase his power, but he needed more information from Lyoko to make it work. So that's why we're here, to look for more information that could help, such as data that was collected from your guys Key Drives"
"Our Key Drives?"
"The buckles you guys use to transform into your Lyoko forms. Geo didn' tgo fully into details but I think we'll need this in the long run"
"But wait, what about Geo's belt? Jeremy took it away"
"That's where you come in. I need you to steal it"
Odd was taken aback.
"What?! You're asking me to steal from Jeremy? Why?!"
"Because, in order for Geo to be able to use the Royal Brace, we need his X-Omega Driver. This is why you're going to get it for me"
"Aelita, I think you're asking for to much here!" Odd said.
"Come on Odd, ple-"
She was interrupted when the screen suddenly began blinking out, the image constantly being replaced by words and images that vanished too quickly to be made out.
"What's happening?"
Soon the screen stopped, resting on a couple of words before changing back to the regular screen.
"What just happened?" Odd said.
"'Time Is Almost Out?' What in the world does that mean?" Aelita said.
Monica and Jack walked together to the cafeteria, both of them reading a letter.
"It's from the IHLC. They want me back."
"What does that mean?"
"It means… they're coming back to get me. It's quite simple. At least this time around, I have a warning?"
"This time around?"
Monica stopped. "Well that was a massive slip-up"
All of a sudden, May ran up. "Monica, I need to talk to you"
Monica looked between May and Jack. "Well talk about a massive coincidence"
"Monica, what's going on?"
Monica sighed before she started to explain. "Well the truth is…" Monica told May and Jack about how she and Geo were from another dimension.
When she was done, Jack and May were both in shock.
"Then that means… you and Geo… have been lying to us this entire time?" Jack was hurt.
"Would you have believed us? We've been trying to keep it a secret from you guys for your own good, because we can only tell what we can so that everything isn't changed. But I feel like this far down the line I can tell you without worries"
"Well… back in your original timeline, what happened?"
"Geo didn't kill anyone in the original timeline"
May thought about this for a moment.
"Is that why he's so upset?" she asked.
"I… don't think so. Geo may be upset about the deaths of those who died, but he's not upset because he killed them. He's more upset because… he relied so much on his own intellect and strength to get by that that one simple miscalculation that caused dozens of deaths… it started to eat him alive inside, you know?"
May let this sink in for a moment. "Geo…"
She looked up for a moment and turned in a direction before she began running.
Jeremy was in his room, by himself on his laptop.
He stopped however, and moved to the side of his bed, reaching under the mattress and feeling the cold metal of a small object.
His laptop started beeping, causing him to check on it. On the screen, there was a warning. Jeremy packed his things up and prepared to leave the room. He paused before he left and reached under his mattress, grabbing the object and pulling it out. It was a small pocketknife that he placed in his pocket before he left the room.
In the middle of the city, there was a power line that began sparking, causing curiosity among the citizens. Suddenly, the power line begins to shoot out volts of electricity that hit the ground. From the electricity, a monster formed. The monster was animal-like with armor all over it. This was the Eagle monster from Lyoko.
Naturaly, the citizens panicked and began to run away.
The Eagle began moving, walking through the city.
It picked up a running civilian and opened it's "mouth".
"Where is Geo West?"
[Odd's P.O.V.]
I walked into Geo and Jeremy's room, careful that no one was watching. I looked around the room. "Why did I agree to this again? Oh right, for Geo"
The cabinet was locked with a small padlock. I took out a paperclip and began picking the lock.
Eventually, the lock opened. I threw it aside and grabbed the handle, opening the cabinet. Soon enough, I heard footsteps. I paused. The footsteps came closer to the door. I went through the objects in the cabinet, eventually finding the belt. I pulled it out and accidentally grabbed some other things.
I could have sworn I had voices.
Masahiro, could it be?
I think it is. Just like the Kid. One of the six.
Quickly, I hid under the bed.
The footsteps seemed to pause at the door before they opened it. Jeremy and Yumi walked in.
"Let me get this straight, you're saying there's a monster on the loose inside the city and you need me to fight it?"
"Long story short, the Lyoko Driver should be able to work with you and William but I order to get the others I need the X-Omega Driver to…" Jeremy stopped when he noticed the door to his cabinet was open. He entered it, frantically searching through the objects and tossing a few of them aside.
"It's not in here!"
"Where could it be?" Yumi said.
Jeremy looked at Yumi when realization hit him. "Geo" he exited the room, Yumi following after him.
I exited my hiding place, still carrying the belt. I looked at the other objects I was carrying. They were a couple of our Key Drives but I just pocketed them.
"I have to warn Geo, wherever he is" I exited the room.
[Aelita's P.O.V.]
I bit my nails, impatiently pacing around the room and waiting for Odd to come back. Finally, the boy in question entered the room.
"Did you get it?" I asked.
Odd nodded, holding up the deactivated X-Omega Driver. "Now we just need to find Geo"
The two of us left and made it back to the campus. We looked around, asking if anyone had seen Geo. No one had.
We stopped right in front of the dorms. "What now? We can't find Geo anywhere" Odd said.
"You guys are looking for Geo?"
Out of nowhere, May walked in.
"Yeah, we need to get this to him" Odd held out the X-Omega Driver. "Didn't Jeremy take that from Geo?" May asked.
"We don't care; X-Omega is one of our only hopes against these animated Lyoko monsters. Xana isn't going to stop just because Geo's gone." I said.
"Something tells me something is wrong ere… what's your plan?" May asked.
"Well, Geo has a device that could be able to help us but he has to have his X-Omega Driver to activate it. I've seen the data for this thing. It appears that this thing could be strong enough to defeat Xana itself!"
"But… what if someone else could use the X-Omega Driver?" May said.
However, before I could response, I spotted something in the distance flying towards us.
"What is that?"
My question was answered when it landed near us. It was a monster based off of an Eagle.
"Not another one."
The Eagle moved towards us, preparing to fight.
Odd and I pulled out our Key Drives and prepared to fight. However, the Eagle flew over and grabbed the two of us, lifting us up and flying into the forest.
It dropped the two of us onto the ground near the Hermitage. When we landed, we drew our symbols with our Key Drives and transformed. Odd fired two bullets at the Eagle, distracting it before I fired my own attack at it. The Eagle was disoriented, allowing the two of us to attack, sending it to the ground.
We both continued to attack, causing the Eagle to launch further backwards. The Eagle looked between the two of us and fired several blasts at us. We dodged; however, the blast hit the Hermitage leaving a small hole in the side.
We were surprised to see Geo sitting there with his laptop, typing rapidly as if he was ignoring us.
"Geo!?" I said.
The Eagle fired several blasts at Geo. He held his arm out calmly, a green light forming on the back of his hand and the balls of light stopped in their path before they flew back in the other direction. There was small explosion that knocked the three of us over. Odd dropped the belt and several Key Drives fell out of nowhere when he landed.
The Eagle got up and flew towards Geo. Geo quickly typed in one last code before he moved it to the side when the Eagle grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the room.
Odd fired at the Eagle, causing it to drop Geo.
Geo landed on the ground and groaned in pain.
[Third Person P.O.V.]
The Eagle flew around the trio, planning its next move.
Odd grabbed the X-Omega Driver and carried it over to Geo. "Here, use this!" Odd gave it to Geo, shoving the belt so that the cobalt slots met the gems on his gloves.
Access, Aria's voice was heard as the belt enlarged. Geo got up, looking at the belt in his hands. The boy's breath caught in his throat and he threw the belt aside and began to stare at his hands in horror.
"Geo?" Aelita said.
"I… I can't! I'm not going to Henshin again!" Geo shouted.
Geo began to hallucinate, seeing that there was blood on his hands.
From the side, May ran in, seeing the three and the Eagle circling above them.
The Eagle swooped towards Geo, with the intent to kill. May ran in and tackled Geo out of the way, saving him.
"Are you okay?" May asked Geo.
Geo looked the girl in the eyes and nodded lightly.
May got off of Geo and picked up the X-Omega Driver and one of the Key Drives. "This should be mine" she said before she placed the Driver on her waist, a belt wrapping around her.
The Eagle landed in front of her.
"You are not Geo West" it said.
"I know… I'm not. My name is May, and I'm going to do whatever I can to protect Geo so he can return back to his home?"
"May, what are you…" Geo realized what she was talking about.
"Monica told me and Jack your guys story and about the "Apocalypse" and… I want to help" May said.
Geo looked up at the girl before him. May turned back to the Eagle, and held up her Key Drive.
"Henshin!" May slid the Key Drive into the X-Omega Driver and spun the disc.
Insert, Energize!
From the Driver, a line of energy shot out and hit the Eagle, disorienting it before circling around May. An X-Omega suit formed with the line; however, it appeared to be designed for a female rather then a male. The line formed an "E" before it flew onto her chest and completed her suit design.
The suit was a light blue color with darker blue armor across her arms and legs. She also had the E on her chest. Her helmet was computer based, but it was also dark blue and her visor was rounder and thinner along with it being colored gold.
E-Striker, Engaged!
"May…" Geo looked at X-Omega in awe.
X-Omega looked over her new suit.
Wow, the girl transformed. Aria's voice could be heard inside X-Omega's head. X-Omega's reaction was reasonable.
She jumped, prompting her response of: "Who said that!?"
"Who said what?" Geo asked.
I thought you were the Kid for a second! Masahiro said.
Well, it's nice to meet you, I'm Aria.
I'm Masahiro; tell the Kid we said high. By Kid I mean the previous user of this belt.
X-Omega turned to Geo hesitantly. "Um, Geo… Masahiro and Aria said hi"
Geo sighed and began to massage his temples.
"Those two idiots again. Just ignore them unless they give helpful advice"
X-Omega nodded but suddenly, she ducked out of the way of an attack from the Eagle and punched at it, sending it backwards.
X-Omega punched at the Eagle and knocked it back further before she jumped up and kicked it across the head. She reached into the pouch at her belt and pulled out a key before she put it into her belt and twisted the key before spinning the disc.
Key #08: E-Lancer, Engaged!
In front of X-Omega, a staff with a trident-like tip appeared in front of her. X-Omega grabbed the staff and swung it in front of her before she charged. She swung at the Eagle and caught it across the chest before she dodged an attack and blocked another attack with her staff. She kicked outwards and slammed her weapon into it once more.
The Eagle stood up and began to fly away.
Hey, change into A-Hope; you could catch up to it there!
X-Omega was startled again but nodded and took another set of keys out of her pouch before she activated them into her belt.
Key #11 & #12: A-Hope, A-Winger, Engaged!
Within seconds, X-Omega was now equipped in the A-Hope suit with the A-Winger equipped onto her back.
X-Omega flew into the air and swung the E-Lancer around before flying towards the Eagle and swinging, missing once but immediately slashing at its chest, disorienting it.
X-Omega flew higher then the Eagle and activated a key in her belt before she placed it in her lance.
Key Charge! A-Hope, Lancer Crash, Stab Engaged! / Stab Engaged!
X-Omega flew downwards towards the Eagle, her lance glowing with pink and light blue energy.
"Double Lancer Stab!"
X-Omega stabbed downwards, driving her lance into the Eagle.
The symbol appeared at the point of impact, causing an explosion that enveloped X-Omega.
"May!" Geo shouted.
Seconds later, X-Omega flew out of the center of the explosion, landing in front of Geo, Odd, and Aelita.
She took the Key Drive from her belt, changing back into May.
May walked towards the three. "Sorry I used your belt Geo" she said.
"Are you kidding me? This was just what I needed" he said.
Geo ran back into the Hermitage and came back seconds later with his laptop. "My laptop is set to automatically collect data on the X-Omega system depending on whatever happens, such as a new form. And because you activated the last form I needed, I can finally use the data I collected to start putting the finishing touches on the Royal Brace."
He sat down and began typing. On the left side of the screen, there was a program that was open with coding while the one on the opposite side was an image of a device with a wrist strap and a small handle.
"Is that the Royal Brace I've been hearing about?" Odd asked.
Geo nodded. "Odd, May, let me see those Key Drives"
May pulled out her Key Drive and passed it to Geo while Odd hastily grabbed the other Key Drives and brought them over.
Geo reached into the pile and pulled out his own Key Drive before he plugged it into the laptop. He began typing quickly.
"Using the data I've collected from the six forms of X-Omega, I should be able to finish the programming b-"
His laptop suddenly stated sparking. Geo covered his eyes. When it started sparking, he looked back at the screen, only to be subject to complete shock.
On the screen, there were lines of code that was constantly changing and shifting around.
"Geo, what is that?" May asked.
Geo looked down in thought but he looked back up at the screen in shock. Then his expression changed to complete horror when he read some of the code. He shut off his laptop and shoved it into his bag before he began running towards the school.
"We have to warn the others!"
He shouted.
The four made it back to the school and saw the others standing in the courtyard.
"Guys! We have to get out of here right-" Geo was interrupted by Jeremy appearing in front of him.
Before he could say anything, he spotted a small glint of metal.
"GUH!"
Everyone in the group (especially May) watched in pure horror. Geo looked at Jeremy with his mouth wide open in shock. He grabbed Jeremy by the shoulder as a small red line of blood formed from the corner of his mouth.
Geo saw a small black symbol that resembled a bulls-eye symbol with three "legs" out of the bottom and a long dash at the top. Upon Geo realizing what happened, Jeremy reared back, revealing the bloody pocketknife, and stabbed into Geo's stomach again and again and again. He finally stopped, Geo barely standing on his own two feet as he began speaking.
"I see… so it's been you this whole time… Xana" he began collapsing.
"GEO!" May and Monica ran in to catch the boy.
The wounds on Geo's stomach quickly began to bleed, seeping over his clothes and forming a small puddle of blood around him.
The group (minus Jeremy) all circled around him, with May putting his head in her lap.
Geo panted and looked at all of them individually and opened his mouth.
"Everyone… you have to… you have to get… out…" he began drifting off.
"Geo, come on, stay with us!" Monica shouted.
Suddenly everyone's phone began ringing. Odd pulled out his phone and checked it.
"It's a text message. It says 'Time Is Up'."
Monica's eyes widened and she looked up at Odd in horror.
Geo looked up into the sky. "No… Get down" he managed to get out.
May looked confused at this when all of a sudden, an explosion happened nearby. Monica covered her eyes and, in horror, stood up. "It's starting." She turned to everyone.
"Quickly! We have to get out of here! May, Max, get Geo out of here, go!" she shouted.
The group all got up when another explosion happened and a small group of Men In Black appeared, and they began chasing after the group.
Jeremy was the only one who remained, the Xana symbol still in his eyes. He suddenly gained a demented grin and began sadistically laughing as the Men In Black ran past him.