Return way too far to the past

by Hyujix

XANA has taken control over the world. Thus, Aelita has to return to the past, to a past where XANA was not even created. But she came late, the IA's been already formed, trapped in the supercomputer though. Aelita will have to be alone, prepare herself for 10 years, become a Kadic teacher and try to reunite the Lyoko gang again in order to defeat XANA once and for all.

19. Chapter 19: Same plan doesn't work twice

After just three days, Franz had already finished on making XANA resistant to the antivirus created by Jeremy on the past timeline. Even though he was always being watched, in a moment of distraction of the guards, and knowing they didn't know what all the coding meant, he was able to sneak a pen drive and take some information.

- Is it already done? -asked Hannibal- My guest can't wait.

- Yes, there it is. She just needs to install it.

- Good -said XANA firmly while connecting to the computer- Now, I am indestructible.

Coincidentally, that same morning the Lyoko warriors managed at last to get Aelita to the main screen on sector 5. Odd and William protected her while she coded the antivirus into the computer.

- Sissy -shouted Aelita-, I'm almost finishing, how's your part?

- It's already done, sis'.

- Princess, be careful -said Odd while he used his shield to protect Aelita from a manta attack.

Sadly, another Manta hit him from the back and devirtualized him.

- Okay, it's done. Launching the antivirus! -shouted Aelita happier than ever.

Then, thousands of small white lights emerged from the core of Lyoko and spread through all the 5 sectors, searching for every bit of XANA and every monster. It also went into the digital sea, looking for the main part of the AI, until arriving to Green Phoenix's base.

There, XANA felt a shock wave, but after just two seconds it disappeared.

- Was that the attack? -asked Tyron.

- Yes, the program has worked -responded XANA.

- Well, I guess that means we don't need you anymore, Franz -said a happy Hannibal.

- Does that mean you will let me free?

- Ha ha ha. No. That means -Hannibal made a sign to the guards to take him away- we will kill you tomorrow morning. Ask for anything you want for dinner, it's on the house.

The guards took Waldo out of the scene and into his cell again.

- Now, you Tyron already have our virtual worlds created, right?

- Yes. That way we can control the communications and weapons of all the world with the help of XANA.

- Okay, we'll announce it tomorrow! It's been some intense days, let's rest and celebrate.

- I do not think we should wait. Let us attack now, my army of robots is waiting -said the AI.

- Well, they can wait one more day, right? I'm just waiting for all my partners from the Green Phoenix to come here. The ones that have given you the resources, right Tyron? And the ones that have helped you build the robots, right XANA?

- Yes, sir -said Tyron.

- Good -said Hannibal while leaving-. Copy all the information on a hard drive. We'll do the big announcement in the conference room, not here.

Meanwhile, Aelita and William were still celebrating, watching as the antivirus attacked the mantas. However, the monsters managed to overcome the attack and the lights suddenly disappeared.

- Sissy, what's happened? It doesn't work.

- Aelita -replied Jeremy-, something's not right. The antivirus has tried to attack every single monster on Lyoko but it didn't kill any of them. XANA must have done something to neutralize it.

- For god's sake. It has costed us so much to get here -said Aelita while she curled up on the ground.

- Be careful, Aelita. The mantas are still here to attack -said William while protecting Aelita from a laser beam with his sword.

- Aelita, don't give up! -encouraged Yumi from the lab-. There must be something that we still can do from there.

- Yeah, we still need to keep fighting. XANA is still around there on the net, we need to find it and destroy it -said Ulrich.

- Find it… That's brilliant, Ulrich. Jeremy, follow the track of the antivirus, let's see where XANA's hiding. William, let's get out of here, we need to get the skid.

The two of them left the place in order to go to the elevator that took them to the Skidbladnir, while Jeremy followed the trace of the antivirus to a scientific facility in Sweden.

- Aelita, I've found it. There seems to be a supercomputer on Sweden in which XANA's hiding.

- Okay, so there must be a Replika there -said Aelita while taking control of the Skid.

- A what you say? -asked William.

- XANA created small copies of the Lyoko sectors to control other supercomputers around the world. We used to destroy them to take away XANA's power.

- So are we going to destroy the computer?

- Preferably. Our main mission is to figure out what is XANA doing there.

As fast as they could, and fighting XANA's sea monsters, they arrived to the Replika, where Jeremy decoded with Aelita's guidance the key to enter. Once in, they anchored the Skid to a tower.

- Okay, what are we looking for? -asked Sissy.

- One of us needs to stay here to watch over the Skid. The other needs to virtualize into the real world, inside this facility and investigate.

- Into the real world? But what if they have guns? -asked Ulrich worried.

- We're virtualizing in our Lyoko forms. XANA's not the only one that can launch attacks.

- I think I should go -said William-. With my smoke I can infiltrate more easily.

- That's probably the best. Jeremy, you've already heard.

- As you wish. Teleporting William.

William appeared into Green Phoenix base. He immediately saw people on his way so he used his supersmoke to disappear into the air. Searching room by room, he found the main lab with the supercomputer. There, he also found Hannibal, Tyron and XANA.

- What do you think we should eat to celebrate world domination? -asked Hannibal while eating a biscuit.

- What about burritos? -answered Tyron.

- I like that.

- They are here -said XANA firmly.

- Who's here? -said Hannibal.

- Waldo's daughter and her crew.

- How the hell did they find us? -asked angrily Hannibal.

- This must be Waldo's work -said Tyron-. He must have made something to you XANA.

- Aelita's father's here? And that woman is XANA? I always thought it was a guy -said William to himself- I must find Franz now.

William then started to search room by room, hoping to find Hopper. Suddenly, a red light surrounded everything accompanied by a very loud noise of alarm.

- There! Look at that smoke! Shoot!

They starting shooting William, with the bad luck of getting hit and making him leave his smoke form. He then decided to fight back, so he grabbed his sword and used it as a shield from the bullets. The moment it charged from the energy of the attacks, he swinged it and send all the surrounding guards flying.

Then, he retook his smoke form until he found an unnourished Franz Hopper curled up on the ground sleeping.

- Mr. Hopper, I'm here to rescue you -said William waking him up in his Lyoko form again.

- Are you William? No, no you need to get out. They sure know you're here.

- They do, that's why I need to take you with me. I don't know how I'll do it but we'll figure it out. They think it's you who has helped us find XANA.

- And that's absolutely right!

- Wait, how?

- They made me make XANA immune to the antivirus, but that didn't mean that you couldn't use it to find XANA. Now that you're here, take this pen drive with you, it contains the main code of XANA. You can unify it with the antivirus and with some improvements you may not be able to destroy XANA, but at least return it to its original state and make it lose its memories. But do it fast!

- Emm, okay I think I've understood it. But how am I supposed to take this back to Lyoko? It will disappear.

- It's information and it'll virtualize into numbers. I'm sure Jeremy can retrieve it.

Suddenly, some key movement was heard on the door.

- You need to go, now. Tell Aelita I love her. And don't come back for me!

With that said, William left the room and the guards entered the cell. They grabbed Hopper and slammed him against the wall.

- What have you done Schaeffer? How has your daughter entered my lab?

- What are you talking about? I don't know.

- Do not act innocent, master -said XANA-. You did something when you were upgrading me.

- How could I? I was surveilled 24/7. They probably traced the antivirus route until arriving to you.

- I must leave -said XANA- They have found my location.

- No! You can't! -shouted Hannibal-. If you do they'll sure follow you with that program. You better stay here and help us defend ourselves against them in case they attack. Have you seen the size of that sword?

- He's right, XANA -said Tyron-. They've already found you and this lab; and they will again. We better prepare.

- Okay, I'll stay.

- Good. Secretary, let all the guests know the announcement of our world domination attack will commence this night. Tell them to hurry.

On the Replika again, Jeremy had revirtualized William into the Skid. Once they were ready, Aelita grabbed the controls and went back to Lyoko.

- Jeremy, do you have the information I've brought with me?

- Is this yours? It popped once you were virtualized, what is it?

- It's from Aelita's father.

- MY FATHER?

- Yes, it's XANA's original code base. He said that we can use it mixed with an improved antivirus to convert XANA back to its original self.

- That way it would forget everything, even the Lyoko keys -said happily Yumi.

- And so it'll be trapped on Lyoko again! -shouted Odd.

- By the way, I saw it with Tyron and some other dude. They seemed to be allied to take over the world and they intended to do it tonight.

- So that's why Tyron left without no clue. He's allied with XANA -commented Aelita-. But if we manage to erase XANA's memories, it will forget it was allied with him and the other guy and they won't be able to use its power.

- So there's no time to lose. Aelita, get as fast as you can here. You, Sissy and I will finish this new antivirus before they can act.

- And what about the rest? -asked Odd.

- Why don't you practise for the concert? -told him Sissy-. If the world's not ending, then the show must go on.

- Well said, sweetheart -said Ulrich kissing her on the forehead-. Good luck with that. Call us when it's ready.

NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR: Be ready for the last chapter THIS WEEK!