Code 19: ENDGAME
Jeremy, Aelita, and Zaber dropped into the arena after being virtualized. They all landed on their feet, but Zaber lost his balance after a moment and
stumbled, the distribution of weight he was used to on Lyoko was off somewhat. He examined himself. His jacket was rather different... it was sleeveless, and the end of it near the back was remarkably tattered. His left arm was completely bare, but his right arm and his entire torso was wrapped in cloth bandage. Several lengths of chain and small leather bindings wrapped around the right arm, and even his hand was completely covered. His pants and boots remained the same as before. His sunglasses were gone, and his old guns were absent from within his jacket. A single sheath was slung over his shoulder, a gun-metal black hilt jutting out from behind his head of long red hair. He reached over his shoulder and drew out the strange new weapon. The hilt was shaped in the manor of a handgun, albeit at a strange angle. This hilt lead to a small black area with unusual curves, and a screen with a blue light. Extending from that was a crimson sword blade that extended for three feet. Above this cutting edge was a long, rifle-like gun barrel. Zaber wrapped his hand around the smooth handle, finding a trigger ideally placed. He aimed at the wall and pulled the trigger, and a bullet shot out of the barrel, piercing a hole in the wall. He fired again, suppressing the trigger, and finding that it emitted a constant, machine-gun like stream of bullets as he held the trigger down.
"Looks like he changed a lot more than my appearance." Zaber muttered as he reached to sheath the weapon. He noticed the word "Achernon" inscribed on the blade. The comlink opened with the terminal.
"Hello?" Bauer's voice rang through the line. "Can you hear me alright?"
"Bauer? Where's my father?"
"He's er... working on something to help you out right now. He's left me in
charge."
"Does he even know how to work it?" Yumi asked Zaber.
"I think he was planning ahead." Zaber said as he held out Achernon. The
blue-screen display had the same touch interface as a Lyoko window, and had access to all of the supercomputer functions that were normally run through the terminal. Zaber interacted with it for a moment. "Seems we don't have to hit the key. The whole sectors in stationary mode. Unfortunately, it's swarming with monsters. Tough ones... Tarantulas, Mantas, Riders, Assassins... we're running the gauntlet here." Zaber held Achernon to his side. "Xana's in the chamber of the core of Lyoko. We've got to get moving." The doors of the arena opened, and the six of them rushed out into the labyrinth. The labyrinth was once again just a large, white-blue room. And there were a small army of monsters guarding the door on the other side of the room.
"This is gonna get vicious." Odd muttered, as he sniped several arrows into the mass of monsters, hoping to hit something, but not making any direct his against the monsters. Zaber held Achernon out and aimed it into the mass, and suppressed the trigger. A constant stream of bullets shot out of the gun,
striking the monsters. He then quickly swung the weapon horizontally, the
veritable beam cutting a horizontal line through the monsters, and a few
exploded as their Xana marks were struck. The gun stopped firing, a small red bar had appeared on Zaber's display.
"OK..." Zaber muttered. "So this thing overheats. So much for the easy way out. Get ready." Zaber said as he checked the display, revealing several dozen enemy icons. The front row of riders rushed out towards them, and everyone attacked. Mantas flew overhead. An unbroken line of Tarantulas slowly crawled from one side of the room to another, firing every few steps. Assassins marched across the room, firing energy blasts from their tails, and waving their bladed arms menacingly. Yumi threw her fans, managing to cut down several tarantulas. Aelita flew about the room, firing energy fields from this high perspective and getting several direct hits. Odd leapt from the backs of each manta, sinking in his claws while firing his arrows. Ulrich, Zaber, and Jeremy rushed in and physically engaged the enemy. Ulrich split into his clones, sliding beneath the riders to strike their weak points. Jeremy stood alone, struggling to bounce the laser shots of an Assassin off his staff, and several of the deflected blasts actually bounced back to strike the Assassin. But he was tiring, and a few of the blasts got past him. He was struck in the chest and knocked down. The Assassin reared up on it's hind legs and bared down on him, but Zaber rushed in and blocked the energy blades with the bladed edge of Achernon. He struggled with the beast for a few seconds, and aligned the barrel with it's head. He suppressed the trigger, and struck the monsters face, the bullets blowing through it's head. The creature cried out in pain and exploded after being bombarded by the stream for a few seconds, and as the blades disappeared, Zaber fell forward as he accidentally continued to exert the pressure with his sword blade. A manta swooped down out of the sky, firing lasers at Zaber. It dropped a flying mine, which was skewered by a flying spear, which then pierced the manta. The mine exploded in the manta, and Jeremy's rod clanged to the ground, it's tip returning to normal with a blue glow. Zaber got up and picked the staff up, throwing it to Jeremy.
"Nice save." They said to each other before splitting again in the chaos of the battle.
This continued for some time, and they regrouped, dashing back into the hallway of the arena as Aelita created a barrier over the door. They all panted for breath as Zaber checked their status.
"Odd: 30. Ulrich: 50. Yumi: 50. Jeremy: 70. Aelita: 90. Me: 80." Zaber recited off his screen. "There's just too many of them..." Zaber began to attempt to count the icons on his display. Ulrich proposed a plan.
"Alright... here's what we'll do. One of us who has the least LP..." Ulrich gestured to Odd, "Will be of least use in the last battle. He can provide a distraction while the rest of us make a break for the passage. He can try and catch up later, while the rest of us move on ahead."
"Aww... I wanted a crack at Xana!" Odd complained.
"You've got the least LP of all of us! He'll just kill you in one shot. Face it Odd, you're more useful as the decoy." Yumi exclaimed. Odd muttered something as he did a motion like kicking up dirt.
"Fine." He muttered.
"Alright... just be careful." Aelita said as she concentrated and made the metal wall in front of them disappear. She spread her wings and flew over the monsters. Zaber got in front of Jeremey and suppressed Achernon, then swung the sword in wide arcs, the rain of bullets acted as an extension of the sword and sliced a clean path for them. They both rushed forward, as Ulrich and Yumi were steps behind them, fending off lasers from behind. Odd leapt from head to head of the creatures, firing arrows every which way. He leapt to try and land on the head of a rider, but it stepped to the side and raised it's blade-like arm. Odd fell onto it, taking damage, and was then shot with several lasers. He was devirtualized, and burst from a scanner, just in time to hear a large explosion which shook the entire factory.
"What the heck is going... AH!" A heavy ceiling tile fell and struck Odd on the head, knocking him unconscious. On Lyoko, the graphics distorted slightly as they felt a massive tremor. Even the monsters glitched for a second, a fact which they all exploited as they dove into the corridor and Aelita raised another wall. Zaber panted for breath. "Bauer! What the hell was that!?!?" Zaber called out.
"I... I don't know!" Bauer said, although he did. "Just stay focused!"
"Don't listen to him! Just give up! We're dead! We're all dead!" They heard Sanderson call.
"SHUT UP AND GO CRY IN YOUR CORNER!" Bauer yelled at him in frustration. Zaber shook his head. What was his father thinking leaving anything up to those two? They could fire guns and... that was about all they were good for. He accessed the panel on Achernon.
"I've got vehicles coming online." Zaber said, as the Overwing, Overbike, and Overboard appeared in front of them. The overstates appeared beneath his feet. Aelita flew out into the open space, as they boarded their respective vehicles, Jeremy on the overboard. They found the space outside unguarded.
"That's weird." Ulrich commented as he hovered next to Zaber, as Zaber skated upside down towards the center of the dome. "I'd expect dozens of mantas after what we saw in there."
"He's baiting us." Zaber said. "Too bad we have no choice but to take that bait." The crushing door was frozen open. "Stay on guard everyone!" Zaber shouted to them as they all entered the passage. Zaber flew off the lip of the tunnel, his skates disappearing as he landed. The others set down gently, disboarding their vehicles. The core had changed. It was not the tall, round room with edges wrapping in a spiral towards the top. The room seemed to have no clear boundaries. The room was a dim white void, with black Xana marks seemingly floating in mid-air in random places. The core of Lyoko was nowhere in sight. The room seemed to be empty.
"Did we take a wrong turn somewhere?" Yumi questioned Zaber.
"No..." Zaber said as he dragged a few windows around on the screen. "This is it. But Xana's not showing up on the radar anywhere."
"Something's very wrong here..." Aelita said as she backed up into their midst. "I can sense it."
"I feel something too..." Jeremy said. None of them spoke for a moment, as Zaber ran more checks on his screen. After a few minutes passed, Ulrich became fed up. "He's probably running from us. I'm going to go scout outside. Have Bauer call me if he shows up." Ulrich said as he took a step back towards his overbike.
"Ulrich! Wait! We need to stick togeth... Uh!" Yumi called out to him, but was abruptly cut off and devirutalized.
"Yumi!" Ulrich shouted, and everyone suddenly realized what had happened, whipped around. A black tower had appeared soundlessly behind them. "What the heck just... Uh!" Ulrich was struck by another knife which flew out of the tower, and devirtualized him. Another knife flew out, towards Aelita, but Jeremy leaped in front of her and knocked it away with his staff. The scanners opened in the real world, and Ulrich and Yumi stepped out, slightly disoriented.
"Jeez... he just destroyed us..." Ulrich muttered. The lights in the scanner room seemed somewhat dim, and Odd still lay unconscious on the floor, the cracked ceiling tile lay next to his head. "Odd... hey Odd! Wake up!" Ulrich shook him, and he began to stir and awaken. Yumi looked around the room. There seemed to be some structural damage... the elevator door was caved in, rubble poured into the room.
"Something's happened..." Yumi said fearfully. "Get Odd awake and come up. I'm going to get some answers!" Yumi said as she quickly scaled the ladder.
Several more knifes came flying out of the black tower, but by now Zaber and Jeremy were on guard, and knocked the projectiles away with ease. After Jeremy had deflected his seventh, the flow suddenly stopped. Zaber and Jeremy glanced at each other, and as Zaber covered him, Jeremy picked up one of the knives.
"They're his." Jeremy said, as he examined the knife, which was exactly the same as the one that he had been attacked with when Xana had first appeared. The black tower fluctuated for a second, as if someone was entering or leaving it, and a black armored boot stepped out first. The rest of Xana came in the
next stride, his arms crossed, a black leather belt with six more knives around his waist.
"Hmph... you know another superior being on Lyoko with knives?" Xana asked
sarcastically, but Zaber pointed Achernon at him.
"Can it!" He shouted.
"Why? What exactly are you planning to do?"
"We're gonna delete you once and for all." Jeremy said nervously as he brandished his staff shakily. Xana began to laugh insidiously.
"And? I'm waiting for the punchline." Xana said. "Honestly... you think that if you kill me here, anything will change? My missiles have already made impact. 90 % of the world's population is DEAD. And you lack the power to defeat me, even if it did matter! You're only hastening your inevitable
deaths!" He monologued. He was answered by machine-gun fire, as Zaber held Achernon with both hands, moving it to give the bullets the largest possible spread to prevent Xana from dodging. A red field of light had appeared in front of Xana, and all the bullets simply bounced off it. Xana chuckled.
"Damn it!" Zaber said as he held Achernon to his side. They had to get him up close.
"Oh come now Zaber... let's not fight..." Xana mocked him.
"No... lets." Zaber rushed him with Achernon, swinging it over his head and bearing it down on him. Xana flicked his wrist and a knife slid out of his gauntlet. He raised his right arm over his head with the knife and blocked the sword with ease. Zaber's eyes widened slightly, surprised he'd been blocked so easily. He shifted his wait and swung a roundhouse kick at him while still in mid-air, but his heel was caught by Xana's left hand. Xana twisted his arm and Zaber was sent into a spin and hit the ground a few feet away. Zaber hit the ground hard, and looked up just in time to see a black gloved hand in his face, which began to glow. A few seconds later a small blast of smoke and invisible energy waves burst from Xana's hand, and Zaber was sent flying backwards, landing roughly twenty feet away from Jeremy and Aelita. Jeremy and Aelita
were too frightened to move. Xana rested his hands at his sides casually, drawing a second knife from his belt as Zaber struggled to stand. He was in severe pain... but according to Achernon's display, he still had his 80 LP.
But he coughed up blood. On lyoko. That was something he didn't know could happen. Jeremy certainly remembered... the way the injuries he had sustained from Xana had carried over into the real world... he suspected Xana was using that trick again. Xana saw the stunned looks of disbelief on Jeremy and Zaber's faces.
"It's called the dark edge." Xana said as he held up the knife, the Xana mark on the center of the blade was glowing red. "It damages your body without touching your LP. It packs quite a bit more punch than using the knife normally... and the second you touch down off of Lyoko your wounds will cripple your feeble human bodies." Xana spun the knife in his hand and turned towards Jeremy and Aelita.
Ulrich climbed the ladder beneath a slightly woozy Odd. As they cleared the top, Yumi had just finished receiving an explanation from Bauer. Yumi spun around to Ulrich.
"Hopper's dead and we're caved in here!" Yumi exclaimed to him.
"What!? How'd he die!?"
"Xana had a human part outside of Lyoko... it came here to try and kill us from the real world. Hopper stopped it... he caved the factory in so that we'd be save from the nuclear attacks... but he was outside when it caved in." Yumi explained. Odd was still too dazed to react to this. Ulrich took a moment to absorb this. He knew what they had to do now.
"We have to tell them..." Ulrich said as he stepped towards the console. "Put me on." He said with a nod to Bauer. Bauer turned the speaker back on.
"Guys!" Ulrich shouted into the microphone.
"Ulrich!" Jeremy exclaimed. "What is it?"
"I... I don't know how to say this but..." Ulrich said as he grimaced. He closed his eyes and continued, "Hopper's dead! Xana killed him while trying to get into the factory!" They all gasped in shock.
“No..." Zaber muttered in shock, trembling.
"Oh no..." Jeremy said as he tightened his grip on his staff.
"Da...dad..." Aelita cried out with tears. Her heartbeat quickened... her hands at her sides clenched into fists. She stared at Xana with hatred in her eyes. "DAMN YOU!!! I'LL KILL YOU!" She screamed as energy fields formed over her hands and she flew straight at Xana.
"Aelita!" Both Jeremy and Zaber cried out simultaneously as they rushed after her. Xana stood emotionlessly as he saw Aelita flying at him.
"Hmph... triplicate." Xana said calmly, and two clones blasted out of either side of him diagonally. The two clones collided with and intercepted Zaber and Jeremy. Aelita's fist, completely enclosed within an energy field connected with Xana's face, shattering the bottom half of his mask away, which disintegrated. The energy field disappeared, revealing Aelita's fist planted firmly into Xana's exposed face, her knuckles as well as Xana's face dripping with blood. Xana's left hand shot up and grabbed her by the wrist. Aelita threw a punch with her other hand, which was grabbed with ease by Xana, who now held her by the wrists off the ground. He moved her arms together and held her by her wrists at arm's length, her hands over her head, unable to escape, her breath heavy with rage and fatigue. Xana stared at her. "I still do not understand you humans. One of you dies... and you lose all sense of logic. Emotions..." Xana said as he tightened his grip and Aelita cried out in pain. "The ultimate human weakness." Zaber saw this unfold from behind a saber-lock with the Xana clone opposing him.
"Xana! Let her go NOW!" Zaber shouted.
"Why?" The clone answered for the real Xana. "Why should I?" Jeremy was having too much of a struggle with his opponent to do anything.
"YOU KILLED MY DAD! I'LL KILL YOU!!! I'LL KILL YOU!!!" Aelita screamed at Xana.
"Silence." Xana said as he held his open palm in front of Aelita's face while still gripping her by the wrists. The shockwave attack which had knocked Zaber away before struck Aelita, but she was hit much more severely, as Xana did not release her, causing her body to take the full force of the blow as her body was forced to resist the motion. Dozens of feathers dropped off her wings as Aelita's body swung back down, coughing up blood in severe pain.
"NO!" Jeremy cried out in rage as he managed to overcome the clone for an instant and tried to rush towards Xana, but was quickly knocked back by a swift kick in the head with the spiked boot of his clone opponent. Zaber broke from his clone for an instant and fired a hail of bullets at Xana, but they bounced off an invisible force-field Xana had erected around the two of them. Before Zaber could try anything else he once again found himself fending off the clone.
Xana saw their passionate effort to get near him and save Aelita fail quickly.
"Those two..." Xana said emotionlessly. "Seem intent on saving you." His blood-shot eyes locked with Aelita's. "So... I shall continue to exploit the fundamental human weakness." He spun his knife in his hand again. Aelita screamed out in pain like never before an instant later. The fighting outside the force field ground to a startling halt instantly, Zaber and Jeremy staring in terror at what they saw. Xana's knife was covered in blood... and a furiously bleeding mass jutted from Aelita's back. One of her wings lay on the floor, blood dripping from her back onto it's white feathers. She continued to scream out in pain as Xana glanced at the two mockingly. "What are you waiting for? Aren't you going to save her?" He called in a sing-song voice. Zaber's entire body shook with absolute rage.
"XANA!!!!!!!!!" Zaber dashed forward and ran the clone through with Achernon with ease, the clone's knife shattering on contact. The clone disintegrated as Zaber passed right through him as Zaber dashed forward like a vengeful ghost, preparing a massive swing against Xana, but he struck the force field, separated from Xana and Aelita by roughly 20 ft. His strike left a large red slash mark in the air, which faded after a few seconds. Zaber screamed with rage as he repeatedly pummeled the barrier, the slashes overlapping to form a huge red screen in the air. Jeremy had ran his clone through in a similar way, and joined Zaber in trying to break the shield, both of them screaming their curses at Xana. Aelita was still screaming in pain, bleeding severely. Xana grinned as he turned from them to Aelita.
"It seems a still need more motivation..." Xana smiled maliciously as he swung again. Aelita's other wing hit the floor with a renewed round of screaming, but more faint this time... she was simply out of strength... she had lost nearly half of her blood already... all of her blood vessels had been routed through her wings in someway. Jeremy and Zaber screamed as they hammered the shield even harder. Aelita continued to cry out in pain for another minute, but their constant hammering finally cracked the barrier, a massive crack formed in the middle of the invisible wall, which Zaber and Jeremy began to concentrate their strikes on. Xana frowned. "Oh well... it is too late." Xana held up his knife. "Dark edge... down." The red Xana mark faded to black. "There is one thing you ought to know before I kill you." Xana pulled her ear close to his mouth, and whispered in her ear. "It's not just your father I've killed... ten years ago... I killed your mother as well!" Xana said with murderous glee as his eyes bulged and Aelita felt a ripple of shock ripple through her mind. "Now..." Xana started again, holding Aelita at arms length again. "The laws of Lyoko allow you to withstand the pain and stay alive... but in the real world..." Xana thrust the knife into Aelita's heart. "You will die." Aelita devirtualized as Xana voluntarily lowered the barrier. Zaber collapsed to his knees in tears. They were too late. Jeremy was even worse off... but his emotions were even more wrathful than Zaber's. All of his memories of Aelita flashed through his mind... her voice ringing in his ears as he was on his knees, clutching his staff, it's form morphing randomly as his emotions lost control of his ability to change the staff's shape.
"Well well..." Xana said slyly. "It would seem you were both too late." Off of Lyoko, Yumi warily approached Aelita in the scanner as Ulrich and Odd stood back in shock... Aelita's wings were gone... blood dripped from her mouth. She felt Aelita ‘s neck... searching for a pulse or sign of breathing, but there were none.
"Jeremy... Zaber... Aelita is... dead." Yumi said tearfully into the headset.
Code 19: ENDGAME... END
