Chapter Seven

Two Genocidal AI's On A Rampage:

Location Ocean Turtle:

"What is the meaning of this Ryoken?" Higa demanded of his colleague who just stood their stoically as his subordinates and allies who were dragged into the control room by security as soon as they landed stood behind him; sure it may have been a little overkill but after recent events was understandable; "Your guess is as good as mine." Ryoken answered Higa sincerely as he had no idea why his Knight's of Hanoi disobeyed a direct order and came to Ocean Turtle much less why they brought a group they met while on the run from the Japanese authorities; They were a skilled group of Cyber warriors calling themselves The "Lyoko Warriors."

However before anything could be said the group was interrupted by a chime coming from the main screen in the control room it was the communication channel; Higa then pushed a button on the consule which pulled up Kikouka who wasted no time scolding everyone; "I'm trying to coordinate a major mission and it's extremely difficult to do when I keep getting notices of things going on over there." The JSDF officer then noticed the small group of eight people standing behind Ryoken; "who are they and what are they doing there Kikouka demanded as Ryoken chimed in; Everyone these are my associates this Is Biara, Foust, Genome and Spectere behind them are William, Yumi, Ulrich, Odd... "And yes that's really his name..." Then we have Aelieta and Jeremy they're the ones who enhanced your program we're using Kikouka.

Hearing this made the groups heart sink knowing they were too late now. As Ryoken continued; "As for why they're here I haven't the slightest idea maybe they'd be kind enough to explain..."

Aelita gulped as she ran her hand through her long pink hair; "When you sent us the discs to enhance Ryoken we were swamped with work and in the confusion we might of sent back our copy of X.A.N.A.'S source code." The room just continued to remain silent as Aelieta started in; Twenty years ago we defeated X.A.N.A. an AI Multiagent created by my dad that went rogue it wanted to destroy humanity and using the network was able to effect the real world; everything from almost causing a nuclear meltdown to manifesting killer weather, creating real life Monsters, etc... Everytime we were able to thwart him though; After we destroyed it we kept a copy of its source code for research purposes but in theory if it were installed on a powerful enough system he could reconstitute himself.

After hearing this Ryoken, Higa and Kikouka realized what the thirty year old woman was trying tell them but it was Higa who broke the silence; "I heard rumors about XANA but I thought it was all just a myth."

He's very real the dark haired boy continued; "I should know I was his prisoner for years he turned me into "WILLIAM his most dangerous weapon." Resentment of the statement could be felt in his words as he spoke them disgustingly.

"You're telling me that we may have unleashed a genocidal AI into the most advanced Network World ever created; is there any chance he could escape and go on another rampage of terror?" Kikouka asked.

"I suppose if he could find a vessel he could." Jeremy answered which made Kikouka think of only one thing. "Alice or an equal!?"

"That's why we rushed here to stop you before it was too late." Spectre informed Ryoken.

The atmosphere was tense as Higa realized what he needed to do but he would most certainly need help so the blonde asked Aelieta and Jeremy to help him run a search for XANA in Underworld to see if he had indeed gained access the two agreed and hopped on to the two work stations left and right of Higa. As the trio began typing, Spectre turned to the monitor where Kikouka was still visable on the video call; "We also figured out the identity of the kidnapper you're looking for Kikouka; this revelation brought Kikouka's face closer in as Spectre turned to Ryoken. "You won't like this Sir but the kidnapper had the same code and trace signature as the light Ignis!"

"LIGHTNING HE SURVIVED!?" Ryoken yelled out...

"Appears so sir..." Spectre responded as Kikouka asked Ryoken to elaborate he needed to know just what his team was going to be up against.

"Lightning was a cold, calculating, genocidal AI that we fought against in Link VRAINS he was one of six free willed AIs aka Ignis created by my father's project known as "The Lost Incident." He tried to enslave humanity and used brutal tactics to do it he had a terrifying ability to steal a humans "consciousness data" essentially turning people into empty shells.

"So you're telling me we've got another genocidal AI on a rampage." Kikouka asked; "Indeed however it appears his code has become corrupted after the battle with Boman making it extremely unstable which means he's probably looking for a new host to stabilize his data and form." Spectre answered the JSDF officer who was quick to put two and two together. "He's after Alice as well isn't he?" Kikouka asked the man who nodded. "That explains the demands the kidnappers made; Then let's hope he's the only one we have to deal with..."

"Hate to burst your bubble boys but we've got two Genocidal AI's on a Rampage; we've got a return on XANA'S source code it looks likes he's fused with the remnants of a "Dark God VECTA account in underworld..." Aelieta announced to the group as she continued typing.

Despite her and Jeremy's best efforts they couldn't shut him down from here they'd have to do it from inside they both knew that but decided for now to stay quiet. This was truly a nightmare scenario there are two Genocidal AI's on a rampage hellbent on destroying the human race one has a foothold in Underworld and one in the real world with the same goal fusing with an Alice as an escape route to carry out there own agendas.

"On another note Kikouka." Higa announced; The program looks to have succeeded their is a new fluctlight now in development that shares Alice's code which means a new generation ALICE is...

"By God they did it" Kikouka stated the perverted pun not lost on Ryoken or Higa that were quick to roll their eyes at him the others however not getting the context just watched on.

"What's the plan Kikouka?" Ryoken asked; " We continue the mission both this XANA and Lightning want the next generation Alice all we have to do is keep them from it. If XANA can be defeated in underworld first we can then focus all our attention on Lightning and use the next gen Alice to lure him out of his hole with his hostages...

And we can destroy him here in our world while he's weak and unstable Ryoken stated; picking up where Kikouka left off them both seeming to be thinking along the same lines right at the moment.

Ryoken then turned to his allies the Lyoko Warriors; We're going to need help; "we'll need to send you guys to underworld to aid the locals and the Integrity Knight's in fending off XANA you lot have faced him before so your knowledge will be crucial we can give you access to admin accounts to use."

Jeremy looked at his friends and his pink haired wife; "it'll be exactly like when we fought him in Lyoko all those years ago"

The five nodded in agreement who although weren't keen on having to come out of retirement knew they had no choice as Ryoken turned to his Knight's; meanwhile we'll need you to work on a way to stop and disable Lightning so we can rescue his hostages while I and Jeremy here help Higa continue to run the program and operation in Underworld.

"Yes sir Master Ryoken..." The four knights sounded off as they were escorted to the auxiliary control room by the guards to begin carrying out their part of the mission.

"We'll pull this off.' Ryoken assured Kikouka who signed off to continue working on the raid against lightning. While at the same time the Lyoko Warriors were escorted down to the additional STL's they're next stop Underworld.

With the room empty minus Jeremy; Higa decided to ask Ryoken a question that's now eating at him;

"Why are we relying on your team instead of getting Kirito's friends involved?" Higa asked Ryoken who answered with a sigh; "They'd complicate things and while there may be well and good intentions they'd ruin our best chance at making sure everyone goes home safe so it's best to just leave them out of this.

Higa then turned to the screen how do you think we'll explain the whole Kirito and Alice thing to Asuna when this is over?

The question causing a slight smile to dawn on Ryoken's face as it seems Higa who had been nothing but hostile to the leader of The Knights of Hanoi since he joined Rath was starting to warm up to him a little;

"Guess we'll burn that bridge when we come to it..."

To Be Continued: