Yumi Ishiyama had been in some fights throughout her life, even before she joined the war against X.A.N.A. They weren't much, and her parents found her interest in Pencak Silat martial arts "weird", but not to the point where they actively opposed it. She was a fast and determined learner, ready and willing to learn from her mistakes and capitalize on her strengths. Gymnastics was also a major talent for Yumi, and her skill had grown to where she had impressed everyone around her with her acrobatics.
Born in Kyoto, Japan, Yumi and her family had immigrated to France when she was young, and she generally enjoyed life. Her years against X.A.N.A. had just made her appreciate her family more and more, especially when she had time to deflect in the Digital Sea about a particularly harsh argument with Hiroki. Yumi had been worried about the A.I. taking the war directly to her home, which X.A.N.A. miraculously had only done once.
Her fighting skills served her well for the past two years, but the only thing that would actually save her from a X.A.N.A. attack was a Tower deactivation. Such was the case with the murderous clone of William Dunbar, known as "the Reaper", attacking and chasing her throughout the abandoned factory. She alternated between actively fighting the Reaper to running away and making him chase after her.
Yumi had taken notes on the supernatural abilities of X.A.N.A.'s possessed victims and their polymorphs, especially their strengths and weaknesses. Jeremie had called the process "pixelization" and gradually surmised how the powers of a Xanafied victim worked. He finished his analysis around the time when attempting to give Odd superpowers went wrong. X.A.N.A.'s specters had modified their victim's physical matter to transform them into spectral beings with electromagnetically based powers.
Yumi saw firsthand that the victims, or the polymorphic specters, were made virtually immune to harm and granted vastly increased strength and speed. They were also given the ability to conduct electrical energy, levitate objects (as Yumi rudely discovered with a possessed gang of bikers), and manipulate electronics. The best the Lyoko Warriors had done against a possessed person was temporarily stun them, usually only for brief periods of time.
Yumi thus knew that no matter what she did to the Reaper, he would not stay down. But she could stall him. Stun him. Keep him away from the lab and prevent him from harming Jeremie further. That was what she was thinking when the Reaper threw a punch at Yumi. Too fast to dodge, Yumi had to block the blow with her arm, which stung like a bee from the impact.
You need to keep his attention on you, but don't stay up close with him for too long.
From the Reaper's earlier speech, Yumi knew that the Reaper was not under X.A.N.A.'s direct control and was more vulnerable to emotions, such as sadism or overconfidence. Yumi was a woman, and women had much less advantages in unarmed combat than men did, but at least some advantages. One such advantage was underestimation of their opponent, and Yumi sought to exploit that. To start, she let out a louder cry than usual at the pain on her arm.
The Reaper's pupils flashed with the Eye of X.A.N.A. as he grinned. "Tired already, Yumi? X.A.N.A. told me how he always targeted you the most, yet you kept surviving. I must admit, I expected a lot more out of-"
Once again, you talk too much.
Yumi's fist jabbing into the Reaper's throat interrupted that taunt. The Reaper grasped at his throat as his body flickered like static, but Yumi didn't stop there and quickly went behind the Reaper. She brought her leg up for a reverse sidekick, hitting the Reaper in the back of the head and knocking him to the ground. Already the static was starting to fade, but Yumi started sprinting down the hallway.
"GET BACK HERE!"
It was about three seconds before the Reaper was back up on his feet and shooting lightning at Yumi. The first attack had missed her completely, the second one missed but was much closer, and the third lightning bolt had to be ducked under by the Japanese girl. Her ability to dodge the lightning this time was helped by the fact that she zig-zagged or ran sideway towards her objective.
The room Yumi ran into was just outside of a small side room in which the possessed bikers had cornered her in. The security room to be exact. Yumi wasn't interested in getting cornered again, although she had lured the Reaper into the room in a remarkably short time thanks to his super speed. She needed weapons to fight him with; attacking him head-on whilst unarmed was certain to result in her death if she did it for too long. The Reaper practically barged in like he was the Flash.
As his eyes scanned the room, Yumi, her back to the wall behind the Reaper, struck him in the back of the head with a crowbar. The Reaper staggered, but this time it's body flickered only for a second before he turned around. Yumi's grip on the crowbar became tighter. The Reaper tilted his head, as if in thought.
Hesitating? Or just trying to size up your prey?
"Hmm...interesting idea. Two can play at this game, little girl."
The Reaper held out his hand.
"Are you expecting me to give you a handshake?" Yumi asked.
She got her answer when a claymore manifested, seemingly out of nowhere, within the Reaper's hands. It was the same shape of the weapon William used when he was under X.A.N.A.'s control.
Are you kidding me!?
"How about you give me a dance instead?" The Reaper leveled his claymore at her. "Try not to die too quick. I want to see the terror in your eyes grow."
In what was practically a Replika (pun very intended) of the last time she fought X.A.N.A. William, the Reaper swung his claymore and clashed with Yumi. His swings were strong and aggressive, Yumi giving ground quickly in the face of his advance. she had little time to think about what could be done about getting the weapon away from the Reaper. There was always goading him into dropping it, but Yumi got the sense he rather enjoyed clashing with weapons than fists.
Yumi's crowbar and the Reaper's claymore emitted clanging sounds as the warriors clashed. This was not a fight Yumi would win either; her experience was with fans, not blunt weapons. That was Ulrich's specialty. However, while she didn't have his strength, she did have speed and agility. Her only hope was to dodge or deflect the Reaper's attacks, using his momentum against him. She could use his relative lack of mobility to take openings that the Reaper likely didn't know he made.
So as the Reaper swung, his moves fast and strong, she moved faster. The Reaper moved with brutal efficiency, while Yumi was graceful and fluid in the way she moved. Still, sweat appeared on Yumi's forehead. All it would take was one good slice from the Reaper to slice her in half, while her blows would likely only phase him for a few seconds. Yumi pulled every bit of training on her acrobatics and gymnastics classes to keep up with the Reaper.
However, the security center was not big, and the Reaper kept up the pressure. The next time he swung down at Yumi, she met the sword with her crowbar but didn't try to block the swing. Instead, she allowed it to keep moving down while she twisted her body out of the way, using her crowbar to guide the heavier sword. It clanged to the ground and Yumi moved her crowbar and scored a solid hit to the Reaper's head.
It seemed the Reaper got a message that roughly translated to "She may be a much weaker human, but she is far from defenseless". Instead, he reached out with his hand and launched lightning at Yumi. Her crowbar would certainly not block that, and Yumi was sent flying over a table and out of sight. The Reaper grit his teeth as he went to get over the table.
"You got guts, girl. I'll give you that. I see why X.A.N.A. has so much trouble eliminating you. I imagine he'll be quite pleased when I've sliced you in half."
As the Reaper went to where Yumi fell, expecting her to try and hit him with the crowbar again, she leapt up from behind the table. To the Reaper's surprise, what Yumi held in her hands was not the crowbar, but two live wires, which she shoved directly onto the Reaper's body as he screamed in agony.
The one weakness that the pixelization gave to the Xanafied victims was contact with electromagnetic waves. Jeremie had advised his friends to thus use electricity against X.A.N.A.'s pawns when they could, and Odd had once saved Yumi by shoving a live wire onto a polymorphic specter. Yumi had kept this in mind as she led the Reaper into the security room, where there most certainly would be live wires.
Yumi wasted no time afterwards, leaving the live wires on the rapidly flickering Reaper as she picked up the crowbar and fled the room, slamming the door behind her. She quickly picked up her phone and dialed Jeremie's number. The young genius answered her.
"Y-Yumi!" Jeremie started to say. "H-How are you?" Yumi ran past the elevator as she responded "Bad. I'm keeping the Reaper occupied as long as I can but this guy's a terror! And i'm pretty sure I just made him mad. How are things going on Lyoko?"
"Franz H-Hopper gave me the data I n-needed to complete my...my Anti-X.A.N.A. program" Jeremie informed his friend.
Wait, the program is finished? He can...destroy X.A.N.A.?!
"That's great, Jeremie! " Yumi congratulated the young genius. She started to say "Forget the Tower. Focus on running the program. I'll-" before the Reaper burst out of the security room and began closing the distance with his super speed along with a howl of rage, his claymore in hand.
This guy is every bit as annoying as X.A.N.A. William!
"HURRY!" She shouted with terror before hanging up. It seemed that this time the Reaper wasn't interested in hurling lightning, wanting to kill her up close and personal. Yumi ran as fast as her legs could carry her. The two neared the assembly line, where Yumi started down the stairs before the Reaper jumped in front of her, his lips curled into a snarl as Yumi readied her crowbar again.
"Anyone ever tell you that you're an annoying little brat?"
Heh. That sounds like what I tell Hiroki.
"People tell me i'm persistent."
Then the Reaper and Yumi clashed again. This time, the Reaper had a good read on Yumi's strategy and was in no mood to repeat their game in the security room. Using his super speed, the Reaper yanked the crowbar away from Yumi and then snapped it in half.
Yumi responded by jumping down from the stairs and into the assembly room below, only for the Reaper to land right in front of her once more. She found herself backed against a wall, and the Reaper eyed her like a vulture ready to feast upon it's prey.
I have to get him to drop that claymore. I won't last a second longer before he chops me into pieces otherwise.
Yumi entered a Pencak Silat stance. "You say you're X.A.N.A.'s general right? Put that blade away and fight me hand-to-hand!"
The Reaper just laughed at her, responding with "A blatant attempt to taunt me into unarmed combat. What makes you think i'm going to do that?"
"You afraid of a girl, Reaper?" Yumi flicked a sweat-drenched lock of hair out of her field of vision. "William is every bit your superior if your manhood is this pathetic."
He's not a man, but unlike most of X.A.N.A.'s pawns he has emotions. I've seen it before. If I can get him on even ground...
The Reaper snarled and his pupils against flashed with the eye of X.A.N.A. The blade turned into digital dust as the Reaper cracked his knuckles.
"You run, I summon the blade back and slice you in half before you can even take two steps." The Reaper warned.
"Deal."
Yumi knew that the only benefit to getting the Reaper to fight her hand-to-hand was a much slower and more painful death, but she needed to try every route possible to slow him down and keep him away from the lab. If the Reaper went back there, Jeremie would either get another broken arm or be outright murdered. She was no stranger to risking her life and had taken a lot of pain from X.A.N.A.'s pawns in the past. Taunting X.A.N.A's general was probably the worst but most effective thing she could have done to ensure this goal was met.
Live Yumi. For your parents. For Hiroki. For William. And for Ulrich.
Yumi leapt forward and kicked the Reaper directly in the face. His head jerked backwards, but moved back up.
The Reaper rolled his eyes. "Are you going to start trying? Or are you all talk?"
Yumi grabbed the Reaper's shoulders and shoved her knee into his stomach as hard as she could.
The Reaper blinked once. "Cute, you almost made me stagger."
Yumi punched the Reaper across the face and landed a solid jab to the nose.
Again, the Reaper rolled his eyes. "Weak."
"HI-YAH!"
Yumi swung her body around and executed a roundhouse kick across the Reaper's face with as much strength as she could muster. The Reaper let out a groan, but not a particularly pained one, and stepped backwards at the impact. His body flickered for a second before he let out a sadistic grin.
Uh oh.
"Alright, you've had your fun. Now I'll show you what real pain is."
The Reaper punched Yumi right in the gut and she doubled over in pain. He scoffed as he kicked her across the face on the ground.
"Are you learning yet?"
Yumi coughed, trying to climb on a conveyor belt for support to stand up. The Reaper's hands did that for her when one grabbed her by the hair and the other punched her in the face. She cried out.
"How about now?" The Reaper taunted.
"S...Stop..." Yumi plead, pain and desperation in her voice.
"Ah, now you're learning. But the lesson isn't done yet."
The Reaper kicked Yumi in the side so hard that she was sent flying against a wall, crying out as pain washed over her body. The Reaper grinned at her suffering and approached her, his shadow over the Lyoko Warrior.
"How about now?" The Reaper taunted. He moved up his hand to punch her again when X.A.N.A.'s voice suddenly rang out in his head.
The Scyphozoa failed to repossess William. It and the Kolossus are destroyed.
The Reaper was given pause by this report. The Scyphozoa's failure had been anticipated but not it's outright destruction. Certainly not that of the Kolossus either. The Reaper had expected it to effortlessly squash Franz Hopper and his defenders into digital dust. The Reaper's triumphant thoughts quickly turned to concern.
And Franz Hopper? The Reaper telepathically asked.
He has given Jeremie the data needed to complete his Anti-X.A.N.A. program.
The Reaper's eyes widened in horror, and it appeared that the severely beaten Lyoko Warrior on the ground took notice. If the program was run, the Reaper would not be spared it's effects.
Should I head back to the lab and finish Jeremie? He asked his master.
No, Jeremie does not have the power to run a multi-agent system. The program is beyond anything he has tried in the past.
Could Franz Hopper provide the power? Now this development was expected but terrifying. Concern washed over the Reaper's face. If Jeremie ran that program, the Lyoko Warriors would win the war against X.A.N.A. right there, as well as erase the Reaper's existence.
Yes. But I am preparing a trap should he decide to do so. Finish her. William and Ulrich are headed your way.
"At your orders, X.A.N.A." The Reaper replied without hesitation. Whatever his concerns, X.A.N.A. was the only being that the Reaper trusted. He looked down to see Yumi using whatever was left of her strength to look up at him.
"You've...lost..." She slowly spat out at him. "Jeremie...will run the program..."
The Reaper kicked Yumi again, eliciting a groan from the Japanese girl. "I told you before, Aelita's father will die before he can do that. A pity you won't be there to see it...but..."
He leaned down so that his face was closer to Yumi's and ensure she could hear him. "That doesn't mean I won't get to hear you scream."
The Reaper lifted up his leg and stomped it directly onto Yumi's right knee.
CRACK!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The elevator in the main room opened up to reveal Ulrich and William.
"And that's how powerful a person becomes under X.A.N.A.'s control." Ulrich explained, lecturing William on the dangers of X.A.N.A.'s pawns and how to deal with them. "So we just have to stall him until Jeremie can run the-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"YUMI!" William and Ulrich cried out simultaneously at hearing the shrill scream of a certain Japanese girl echoing throughout the factory.
The two boys raced to the assembly line as fast as they could, reaching the stairs in under a minute. They saw the Reaper stand over the girl of their lives, watching her screams of agony and seeing her right leg bent out of shape. Their faces simultaneously contorted into expressions of fury. Never before had Ulrich and William been united so much as when they both leaped down the stairs and charged at the Reaper.
"Ulrich Stern. William Dunbar." The Reaper turned his head towards them and smiled. "I've been looking forward to this. Now the battle can truly begin."
Ulrich and William let out yells of rage as they both punched the Reaper in the face at the same time. The Reaper was no stranger to pain, however, and for every hit they inflicted the Reaper was sure to hit back. Fists and feet were flying from all three combatants as the battle evolved into a dance of martial arts.
The Reaper alternated between hitting either Ulrich and William, and usually settled on Ulrich. He was the most aggressive of the three, making full use of his Pencak Silat training as he pummeled the Reaper with as much anger behind his blows as the teenager could muster. William fought with fury but was less aggressive than Ulrich, their conversation in the elevator kept in his mind.
While Ulrich and William could not defeat the Reaper, they would certainly slow him down and make him work for his victory. Whenever William thought that the Reaper was focused enough on Ulrich, William landed a punch or kick upon his Clone. The Reaper was starting to realize that fighting two motivated and furious Lyoko Warriors was much different than one relatively calm opponent. He exchanged grins with Ulrich and William, enjoying the head-on challenge.
The Reaper landed a solid punch on Ulrich's gut that sent him sliding backwards. Ulrich retaliated with a punch to the face, and when he threw his hand forward for another punch, the Reaper grabbed it and sent a thousand volts surging through Ulrich's body. He tossed him to the wall where Yumi was lying limp and unconscious. William gulped as the Reaper turned his attention to him next, but nonetheless put up his fists.
"So, you're the human I was based on. The inferior." The Reaper observed.
"The only inferior I see in this room is you, buddy." William retorted.
The Reaper ran forward without hesitation, the pair exchanging blows as their fists and arms clashed. It physically hurt William to have to block the punches of his superpowered clone, so he backed up and dodged whenever he could.
Come on, William. He's not fighting fair and neither should you.
William took off his jacket and tossed it on his Clone's head, taking the opportunity to punch and kick him as many times as he could in the Reaper's confusion. After a few hits, William found his fist flying through the Reaper as it simply phased through his attack and got behind him. Then William found himself the victim of a hard kick to the back that sent him flying backwards.
How in God's name did Yumi and Ulrich survive these kinds of fights for two whole years?!
Although his back hurt quite a bit, William slowly picked himself up and put up his hands, standing between the X.A.N.A.'s general and his downed friends. The Reaper tilted his head at the human he was off on, as if amused.
"You're still holding out hope, William? You do you know that you and your friends are about to die, right?"
"We..." William panted "It's going to take...a lot more than you to kill us."
"More than this?" The Reaper asked as he held up his hand and shot lightning out of it. William ducked behind a conveyor belt as the Reaper next shot lightning at one of the machines above William's position, sending it falling towards him. At the last second, William noticed and rolled out of the way.
"I wonder why, William." The Reaper asked as he momentarily ceased his attacks. "You truly believe that they're going to accept you?"
William did not seem like he needed to have this conversation, but while his faith in the Lyoko Warriors had been completely restored by now and vice versa, it was best to keep the Reaper talking. Ulrich looked to be out of commission alongside Yumi and William alone wasn't going to last long.
"The real question is, why would they?" William asked, to which the Reaper responded, "This was their fault from the beginning you know. Jeremie, Aelita, and her father are nothing more than curses. It comes with being the creators or guardians of Lyoko. Her father is going to die in a vain attempt to find redemption for creating X.A.N.A."
No. I trust Odd and Aelita. They can protect Franz Hopper without us.
"And yet, you know who trusted me and gave me another chance?" William asked. "Aelita! She's risked her life countless times for us all and asked for nothing in return except to live like a human being!" The Reaper snarled, his pupils flashing with the eye of X.A.N.A again, "Except as soon as my usefulness ended, I was cast aside! Tossed into the void to be forgotten! Jeremie never even gave a second thought about it! X.A.N.A. is the only being that ever wanted to help me!"
X.A.N.A. helping someone is the comical thing I have ever heard.
"You think X.A.N.A. wants to 'help' anybody? He wants to destroy the entire race of humanity with an army of robots! He doesn't plan on saving you or anybody else except himself! As soon as X.A.N.A. has won, he'll-" William started to argue before the Reaper interrupted with fury in his voice.
"You say X.A.N.A. wants to destroy humanity? Then it is a deserved fate! Humans are nothing but vile and selfish creatures who can never be trusted! You say that X.A.N.A.'s plan is send every single human into oblivion? Then I say 'Good!'
This is pointless. My Clone is completely consumed by hatred. There's nothing we can do to get him to change his mind.
As William thought that, Ulrich came up from behind and wrapped a large rope around the Reaper's neck, attempting to strangle the "life" out of X.A.N.A.'s new general. The Reaper growled at the surprise attack before phasing through and causing Ulrich to strangle nothing. He then kicked Ulrich in the back and sent him flying again. William raced forward to intervene, only for the Reaper to sidestep with his superspeed and grab William by the collar.
"I think i've toyed with you all long enough."
As Ulrich got up to charge at the Reaper again, X.A.N.A.'s general tossed William onto Ulrich and sent both of them colliding against the wall next to Yumi. As the Reaper approached them, another sudden report by X.A.N.A. gave him pause.
The trap is sprung. Odd is devirtualized. The mantas are firing upon my creator.
The Reaper began to chuckle, and then more words from X.A.N.A. made his chuckling evolve into laughter, then maniacal laughter.
"Hey, what's so funny you creep?" Ulrich snarled as he asked. The Reaper was happy to answer him, savoring the utterly horrified looks on their faces as he announced X.A.N.A.'s victory.
"FRANZ HOPPER IS DEAD!"
No...
It hadn't taken long for Aelita and Odd to make their way through Sector Five this time. Jeremie had surmised that X.A.N.A. exhausted much of his processing power from both itself and the Replika's in it's attempt to strength the Kolossus, hence why hardly any Creepers stood in the path between the two Lyoko Warriors and the Celestial Dome. Not that those creatures could stop them anyway. Odd and Aelita, as it happened, had gone to Sector Five by themselves before and made much progress even without Jeremie's guidance.
"So, Aelita. Today's the big day!" Odd declared, trying to hype Aelita up. "Not only did you finally blow up the Scyphozoa, you get to run the Anti-X.A.N.A. program and end this once and for all!"
"Yeah...we do..." Aelita stated somewhat too calmly as they neared their destination.
"Huh, you don't seem so cheerful princess. Got something on your mind?" Odd asked. "I thought you'd be bursting with energy after killing the jellyfish with William!"
"It's just that...remember that vision I told you about this morning? Well, my father's death in that nightmare took place here. In Sector Five."
Odd pumped up his fist. "Say no more Aelita! I, Odd Della Robbia, the greatest Lyoko Warrior to ever exist, shall crush all opposition towards the princess and the king!"
Aelita smiled at him. There were times when he made bad jokes, but usually his humor had helped to lighten the mood and keep her focused on the fight. This was one of those times. Soon after, they came upon the Celestial Dome.
"Jeremie! We're here!" Aelita declared. The young genius, struggling to type with his non-broken arm, slowly sent them the Anti-X.A.N.A. program as Aelita began to interact with the interface. Suddenly, Odd pointed to his left. Aelita turned her head to see two mantas heading their way.
Just two? Aelita mused. X.A.N.A. is about to destroyed. Can he really not send any more monsters?
"Uh oh, looks like we're in for a flying fish show!" Odd declared as the two monsters flew towards them. "O-Okay." Jeremie interjected. "Try R-running the P-Program right now!" Aelita tapped a few times on the screen before the mantas came too close for comfort. She turned away from the screen, not wanting to be prematurely devirtualized.
"Just a second, Jeremie. Energy field!" Aelita held out her hand and fired an accurate energy field that missed both mantas.
"Laser Arrow!"
Odd corrected the error by firing an accurate laser arrow that blew up a manta. The second manta, on the other hand, was able to shoot Odd in the stomach and send him to his knees. "ACH! Gut punches are NOT cool X.A.N.A!" Odd complained.
Aelita, however, remedied that by firing an energy field that caused the second manta to explode.
It's going to take a lot more than just two mantas to stop us, X.A.N.A.
"Running the program now!" Aelita declared as she went back onto the screen. Odd took the opportunity to yell at the sky, unable to resist the chance to taunt his nemesis.
"Hey, X.A.N.A! For all of your claims of being smarter than us humans, you sure were dumb to only send two mantas at us! You get an F for effort!"
But then the screen suddenly began to glitch out, and Odd started to eat his words as he took notice. "Einstein, I think we got a problem here!" Odd alerted the young genius, who quickly took a look.
"Oh, no! We haven't got e-enough power to run the p-program! And we're only a s-step away from-ACH!" Jeremie screamed in pain and frustration, the latter coming from the fact that they were literally a step away from beating X.A.N.A. for good and ending their two-year war. The young genius struggled to think, trying to figure out what could give more power.
Odd and Aelita paced on the Celestial Dome, trying to think when they saw a familiar pink orb surface and float in front of them.
"Daddy?" Aelita muttered.
At that point, eight more mantas emerged from the walls and all dove down at the trio.
"Me and my big mouth." Odd remarked in self-criticism for his earlier taunt before the monsters fired a hail of lasers upon them.
Aelita braced for impact but had no cover. That is, had cover not arrived in the form of a certain braggart. Standing in front of Aelita with his arms stretched out, Odd took blow after blow until his form could take no more and he was devirtualized. Nonetheless, Aelita took a devastating laser impact to her stomach and dropped to her knees, gasping in pain.
She looked up to see all eight mantas seemingly forgetting all about her and opening fire on her father.
"LEAVE MY FATHER ALONE!" The pink-haired princess cried out, her rage emerging once more.
Aelita fired an energy field at one manta, destroying it, but the other seven paid no attention to her, instead focusing all their lasers upon Franz Hopper. The Orb twitched and started to crack as X.A.N.A. unleashed it's wrath upon it's creator. Meanwhile, Jeremie was absolutely bewildered to what was going on, especially the point of Hopper going out into the open like this. Soon, however, the young genius got his answer.
"The power!" Hopper was supplying Jeremie the power it needed to run his Anti-X.A.N.A. program, even though X.A.N.A. was taking that lying down. Then he realized the purpose of the two mantas: to catch Aelita off-guard, making her think that X.A.N.A. was only sending token opposition. As soon as it's creator showed up, X.A.N.A. sent everything it had their way. To end it's creator right there and prevent Jeremie from ever getting the power he needed to destroy X.A.N.A.
"Aelita, t-try running the p-program again right now!" Jeremie urged.
Aelita took one look at her dying father and cried out as she fired another energy field, destroying a second manta. The other six mantas were not deterred in the slightest.
This can't be happening. This can't be happening.
"But my father!" Aelita tried to argue, but Jeremie fought through the pain to argue "Your father is supplying the energy n-needed to run the program! Try to run it n-ARGH!"
Jeremie had no choice but to stop talking for a moment as the pain of his broken arm surged again.
I can't let him die! I have to stop the mantas!
Aelita took out a third manta with an energy field, at which point a different manta shot her in the leg and quickly turned it's attention back to firing upon Hopper.
"NO! STOP!" She cried out to the five remaining mantas. Franz Hopper and Aelita's life points were rapidly deteriorating; at the pace things were going, the mantas would break through in no time at all. Jeremie slammed his good hand against his chair to force himself to speak.
"Aelita, if you don't run that program right n-now, your father's sacrifice will be for n-nothing!"
But...I can't let him die for nothing...
"DO IT AELITA!"
Aelita stood up and considered firing another energy field instead. At this point, Jeremie pulled up the cameras again and saw what was happening in the assembly line. Jeremie hated to use emotional manipulation but dang it, he had no choice.
"DO IT OR THE REAPER WILL KILL WILLIAM AND THEN THE REST OF US!"
You first, X.A.N.A.
With every ounce of willpower she could muster, Aelita returned to the screen and began tapping it again to run the program as the remaining five mantas continued firing. Finally, Franz Hopper, the creator of Lyoko, father of Aelita, and a bright pink orb, could endure the manta's attacks no more and exploded into digital dust.
"NO!"
Aelita tapped the screen one more time and launched the Anti-X.A.N.A. program.
"He's dead!" The Reaper laughed hysterically. "Franz Hopper is dead!"
"The...the program will..." William tried to argue, and the Reaper just laughed further.
"Jeremie doesn't have the power to run a program like that! Only Franz Hopper could give it to him. And now he is dead. X.A.N.A. HAS WON! AND YOU HAVE ALL LOST!"
No...
The sound of the Reaper's laughter blocked off X.A.N.A.'s voice in his head as he raised his hand to electrocute Ulrich, William, and the unconscious Yumi.
Hear their screams and rejoice. I know I will. The Reaper promised to X.A.N.A.
It's not logical...
At this, the Reaper was given pause. There was...concern in his master's voice?
You said he's dead. Is there something wro-?
A scream of pain interrupted the question, and it took a moment for the Reaper to realize that scream was coming from him. He fell to his knees and opened his mouth wide as a massive black specter came out of his mouth and his body flickered more than ever before. The specter resembled a giant entity with the eye of X.A.N.A. symbol on it's chest and floated around in the air, contorting. The Reaper felt pain. True pain.
What is happening!?
Aelita ran the program...
The plan had been to devirtualize Odd and make Aelita watch as she tried in vain to save her father. Both X.A.N.A. and the Reaper agreed that she did not have the strength of character to stop her vain attempts to aid her father and instead focus on running the program. Humans were so vulnerable and illogical, that Aelita would have to make the wrong choice and try to take out the mantas. In doing so, she would waste the power Hopper gave Jeremie and not use it to run the program.
Except that didn't happen. At first Aelita did focus on the mantas, but Jeremie's yells had convinced her to turn her attention to starting the Anti-X.A.N.A. program. At the last second before the power Franz Hopper gave went away, Aelita did so. And thus, even though X.A.N.A. had at long last destroyed it's creator, Franz Hopper had the last laugh. And X.A.N.A. made the ultimate mistake: underestimating his daughter.
The program was by now spreading to all the Replikas. X.A.N.A. had no way to hide from Jeremie's final attack nor survive. The Reaper's body rapidly slicked in and out as the mutli-agent system struck true.
"What's happening?!" William shouted in terror and bewilderment.
"Jeremie...he ran the program! X.A.N.A. is dying! Hopper must not be dead after all!" Ulrich shouted as he deduced the situation.
As the Reaper knelt there, dying, rage had washed over him. Rage like he had never felt. He was the mighty Reaper. The general of X.A.N.A. He was vengeance incarnate. X.A.N.A. did not drag him from the void just for him to die here, moments away from his revenge. He had not even killed a single Lyoko Warrior yet.
"NO! NO!"
The Reaper manifested his claymore again.
"NOT NOW! NOT LIKE THIS! I WON'T REST UNTIL I'VE KILLED YOU ALL!"
The Reaper took a step forward before he dropped to his knees, his claymore sliding away towards William and Ulrich. They glanced at each other, then at the claymore. Then both teenagers picked up the massive weapon in their hands and held it before the Reaper. The general of X.A.N.A. got up again despite severely glitching out along with the specter above him.
"X.A.N.A. CANNOT DIE! I CANNOT DIE! MY VENGEANCE CANNOT DIE!"
The Reaper lunged, his hands outstretched and murder within it's eyes.
"MY HATRED CANNOT-"
"Yeah! Yeah! We know the rest!" William stated as he and Ulrich both charged back at him with the claymore. And then they both shouted together as they finished the Reaper's sentence.
"DIE!"
William and Ulrich thrust the Reaper's own claymore through his chest. The Reaper let out one last scream of rage, disbelief, and agony as it flickered out of existence alongside the claymore.
As X.A.N.A. watched the demise of it's newest and most dangerous weapon, it's specter form continuing to glitch out, X.A.N.A's thoughts were utter disbelief of how it could have been so wrong. So utterly bested. Failed so completely. It's miscalculation that Aelita would have chosen her father and her emotions having cost it the war against humanity.
All because of that single miscalculation, X.A.N.A. had only succeeded in killing one human, who quite literally threw himself to the wolves to deny X.A.N.A. it's victory. The Reaper had succeeded in nothing except breaking a couple limbs, which were most certainly not fatal injuries for it's victims. The Kolossus had achieved nothing except destroying the Skid, which was irrelevant to X.A.N.A's destruction. And the Scyphozoa had failed to retake William, who could have stopped Aelita.
William and Ulrich stood up and stared at X.A.N.A. in it's final moments. Just like that, two years of constant conflict was over for Ulrich. But for William, it was barely a couple of days. William had dreamed ever since his freedom from X.A.N.A.'s control of his chance to play his part in killing X.A.N.A, and he had done that. Destroyed all three of his greatest weapons in a single day, and now he got to watch as the evil A.I. faded out of existence.
As X.A.N.A. floated, his specter morphed into that of a human face. It's mouth opening as it screamed. A scream of pain, rage, despair, horror, and most of all, confusion. Even as it looked down upon it's destroyers, X.A.N.A. could not understand how everything could have gone so wrong in such a short period of time. That a single miscalculation could have cost it everything. All of it's weapons, it's Replikas, it's general, and finally the A.I.'s very existence. X.A.N.A. made one last thought to itself:
I am a flawless program, and they are only human...
...How could I have failed so utterly?
And with that, the last specter of X.A.N.A. faded from existence at the same time as it's last Replika.
William and Ulrich stood in silence, waiting for something, anything, to happen. Any indication that X.A.N.A. and/or the Reaper would come back. That maybe something had gone wrong with Jeremie's program.
Nothing. All that greeted them was the silence. Unceremonious silence.
It's over. It's really over. X.A.N.A. is dead. The Reaper died with him. Just like that.
Ulrich was the first to snap out of his shock as he looked over Yumi and kneeled before her. "Her leg is out of shape. She's hurt bad. She needs a hospital!"
Right. Celebrate later, William. Unlike X.A.N.A., you actually care about others.
"Let's head back to the scanner room and get Jeremie too. After all, the specter broke his arm too." William suggested. Ulrich had no objections as he put Yumi over his shoulder and carried her to the elevator with the aid of William. William pressed the elevator button as Yumi was gently laid down on the floor.
Oh, wait. There's still something else we gotta do.
"So...how are we going to explain this?" William asked.
Ulrich lifted an eyebrow "What?", to which William pointed out "The injuries. We'd have to explain to the police how Yumi got her leg broke and Jeremie broke his arm without exposing the supercomputer." Ulrich stared at him, stupefied by the relevant question.
Well we're in a big mess now aren't we?
As if right on sync with William's thought, the elevator opened up and showed Ulrich and William a horrifying sight. What they saw in the scanner room drove them into silence. Aelita was weeping in Jeremie's arms, as if consumed by grief.
No...
William and Ulrich looked over to see tears falling out Odd's eyes. Odd had never cried. His jokes and humor always hid any trauma or grief that the braggart had within him. To see tears out of his eyes was unprecedented to Ulrich and everyone else in the room. That could only mean one thing.
Franz Hopper really is dead.
Aelita fell to her knees and sobbed her eyes out in Jeremie's arms.
I couldn't save him...
William had failed to repay his debt to Aelita. After they had destroyed the Scyphozoa together, he had thought to celebrate with her once X.A.N.A. was eliminated. That defeating the A.I. once and for all would be a grand and glorious affair. That afterwards perhaps Aelita's father would assume a human form, come to Earth, and join Aelita in the celebrations. That they would all share tears of joy and yells of celebration.
Instead what they had was a bittersweet victory. One with tears of sadness instead of rejoicing. There would be no celebration for what was to come. Yumi's leg was broken, Jeremie was fighting dire pain from his broken arm to remain standing, and Aelita had lost her father. Physically, Ulrich and William were battered but not greatly injured. William did suffer an injury, however. He had taken his revenge on X.A.N.A. and helped his friends destroy the A.I., but he could not save Aelita's father.
From the beginning, William's desire to join the Lyoko Warriors was his path to redemption. He just wanted a solid victory over X.A.N.A. to stop the sadness and trauma that lingered within him. But instead, everyone around him had suffered that trauma. Physically like Yumi, or emotionally like Aelita. William's eyes watered with tears as he joined the group in their grief.
Aelita...I failed you. I'm sorry.
A/N: My only real problem with Fight to the Finish (besides William getting possessed again) was Franz Hopper dying to just two mantas, a scenario in which Odd and Aelita should have easily been able to take them out by themselves. Here I decided to increase their numbers, realistically leaving Aelita no time to take them all out and save her father even if she decided not to run the program. But regardless, Franz Hopper, X.A.N.A. and the Reaper are all dead. And the Lyoko Warriors are left to pick up the pieces in the aftermath with William.