Code Lyoko Fan Fiction ❯ Kiko's Story ❯ X.A.N.A's Hardest Strike ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 8

X.A.N.A.'s Hardest Strike

X.A.N.A. sat in his yet to be discovered ice lair in the polar region, fuming over his failed attempt at eliminating Kiko. All of his monsters hated when X.A.N.A. was defeated, he stormed around, trampling anything that got in the way of his great hooves. X.A.N.A. looked like a giant, red, winged horse with a black mane and tail, and horns growing out of his forehead. His most famous feature among his troops was his eyes, which were blood red, with black Lyoko symbols. His eyes could see anything that was happening . . . anywhere. “I can't let that girl find out the truth about her past, it would be dangerous for me. She's already told her friends what she knows, but that won't do her much good. That darn Aelita had to foil everything, by changing Mieko's destiny. If only my essence had been absorbed by both of the sisters, then everything would be perfect . . . but at least I got the darker sister.” X.A.N.A. sat down on his ice throne and continued to rant to himself. “I suppose this isn't all bad . . . Aelita's memory of the whole ordeal was deleted, and I'm the only one who can release Kiko from my control, and that's if I do it willingly! Hah! As if that will ever happen! Kiko is my pawn until she dies!”

Back in room 45-C, at Kadic, Kiko slept restlessly, constantly tossing and turning. Then at exactly 12:00 pm, Kiko sat straight up in bed, her eyes like X.A.N.A.'s “Ah, that's much better,” Kiko/X.A.N.A. said “Now to start my master plan seven years in the making!”

“Jeremie, Jeremie! Wake up! X.A.N.A.'s attacking! The pulsations are so strong, that in some areas . . . the ground is cracking!” Aelita was very scared, nothing like this had ever happened before, at least not that Aelita had remembered. Wait, I seem to vaguely remember something like this that happened about . . . seven years ago! “Jeremie, X.A.N.A.'s going after Kiko! It may be to late already!”

“What are you talking about?” Jeremie asked, trying to get over to his computer, while putting his glasses on. “How is X.A.N.A. going after her, and how do you know?”

“Everything is like the day of X.A.N.A.'s first attack, about seven years ago. He tried to send two red, hot winds, his essences to earth. I knew that something was wrong, so I tried to change the winds into the opposite of what they were. I only had enough time to change one to a cold, blue wind, but the other got away.” Aelita told Jeremie. “I'm almost positive that Kiko got hit by X.A.N.A.'s essence, and that X.A.N.A. has had partial control of her over all these years.”

“If X.A.N.A. has been controlling her, then why hasn't the scan ever picked up an extra activated tower? Unless . . . unless those winds were a direct extension of himself, or the tower is cloaked. We've got to go help her . . . now!” Jeremie exclaimed. “I'll go get the others, and we'll head for the factory. You get in a tower, and stay there until the others come.”

“Okay, Jeremie,” Aelita said, looking very worried, “just remember that Kiko isn't herself right now. She's X.A.N.A., so she may attack you, or anyone else.” Jeremie nodded, and then went to wake the others.

“I don't understand,” Yumi said as the four raced through the sewer tunnels,” X.A.N.A. took a part of himself, and put it in Kiko, and now he's using that part to control her? This doesn't make any sense to me!” Now they were at the ladder.

“Now I know how you guys feel all of the time,” Jeremie said as he climbed up to the street “, none of this makes sense to me either.” The group ran from the manhole, to the factory in record time.

In the lab, Kiko was sitting at the computer. She was setting up the automatic virtualization program to the forest, and changing the settings on her card. Now she was dressed entirely in green camo, and her power was shape-shifting. Knowing that the others would be coming soon, Kiko hurried into the elevator, and down to the scanner room. As soon as she stepped into the scanner, she was transported to the forest region.

“Ha, ha, ha,” Kiko laughed as she dropped to the virtual soil in the forest “, my master plan is coming along perfectly. Soon those goodie-goodies will come to protect that annoying Aelita, so she can deactivate my tower, and foil my plan again. It will be then that I strike!”

No, you can't make me fight against my friends! I won't fight! “I won't!” Kiko thought, and then shouted when her feelings became very intense, intense enough to break X.A.N.A.'s control on her. In a cruel jolt of pain, X.A.N.A took control of her body again.

“You horrid little brat, why do you keep resisting me, I've been a part of you for half of your life! My essence chose you because you had more dark energy than your sister . . . don't you see? You were chosen by me, and you can be released only by me when I wish to release you. Don't bother trying to fight it . . . it will be much less painful that way.” To punctuate his message, X.A.N.A sent another jolt of pain through her body causing Kiko to mentally crumble.

About 5 feet away from the spot where Kiko was standing, Od, Ulrich, and Yumi dropped to the mossy ground. “Okay, Jeremie, what's going on around us? How far to the tower that Aelita's in?” Od asked, keeping everything strictly business. This is officially the worst trip to Lyoko ever . . . I wish Kiko was here with us.

“We've got a problem,” Jeremie said, interrupting Od's thoughts “Kiko's on Lyoko with you, and her card has changed. Now she's nearly invisible, and she can shape-shift. In other words, she could look and fight like anyone from Aelita to X.A.N.A himself, so watch out.”

“Well now that my surprise is ruined, there's no reason to shout `surprise' now . . . is there?” Kiko asked, walking out from behind a tree that had hidden her from view before. Then Kiko transformed into a mega-tank, fired at her friends, and then she returned to her human form. “What's wrong, can't take me on? Augh . . . NO YOU WON'T TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR BODY!” Kiko collapsed in a heap, and then slowly stood again. “I'm sorry guys, I can't shake X.A.N.A.'s control on me, and I just can't stand to fight you.” Then Kiko ran, and jumped off of the virtual ground . . . and into the digital void.

Everyone ran to the edge in time to see the last few ripples in the water fade away, and to see a red cloud race away in the direction of the polar region screaming “I'll be back . . . and I'll win!”

Back in the factory, Jeremie was freaking out “What just happened? Why am I not getting any stats on Kiko anymore?” Jeremie had an idea of what might've happened, but he didn't want to think about it . . . his suspicions were confirmed by a sobbing Od. Kiko had committed suicide to save her friends. “Aelita, do you hear me?” Jeremie asked, trying to contain his tears “Everyone's on Lyoko, and there are no monsters appearing on the map . . . it's safe to come out of the tower now.”

“Okay, Jeremie, I heard you. Why do you look about ready to cry? What happened?” This innocent question that Aelita asked was all the more it took to start Jeremie's water-works as he relayed the information he had received from Od.

Aelita reacted the same way that Jeremie had, first she was still with shock, and then when her brain had time to react to the severity of the news, she became devastated. “So what you're telling me is that Kiko sacrificed herself to keep us safe from X.A.N.A's plan? I can't believe that it came to that!”

In the forest, Aelita joined her grieving friends near the area where Kiko had jumped, when a single, large hornet came zooming out of the hole. Od was about to shoot it, when it turned into Kiko. “Why all the sad faces,” Kiko asked “, I wouldn't leave you guys without saying goodbye. Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?” Her friends were surprised that she was acting like nothing had happened, and that she was staying her normal friendly self.

Od was the first one to recover “Kiko!” He shouted as he ran up to her, and gave her a giant hug. “Don't ever do that again, do you know how scared we were?”

“I'm sorry you guys, but I had to scare everyone to make X.A.N.A believe that I was really killing myself so he'd abandon me.”

“Why?” Ulrich asked “Why did he have to let you go willingly? You seemed able to regain control on your own.”

“Yah, I could regain control, but not permanently. The only way I could truly be freed of X.A.N.A's control was for him to willingly let me go. I figured if I fell into the void, he wouldn't want part of him to be stuck with me, so he'd ditch me. Then I could turn into a hornet then fly back up here.”

“Well, now what do we do? The pulsations have stopped here in the forest, where is the tower, Jeremie?” Yumi asked.

“I don't know the scan can't pick anything up.” Jeremie was confused, there had to be an activated tower somewhere, but the scans couldn't locate it.

“The tower's in the polar region, along with X.A.N.A,” Kiko informed everyone “X.A.N.A kept going on about his secret lair that nobody could find with a tower in it that no scan could pick up.” Everyone looked at her in wonder “He kept teasing me in my head, talking about his hidden lair, and where it was located.”

“Then what do we do? We need to deactivate that tower to get back to earth.” Yumi said.

“I know what we have to do,” Kiko said with a vengeful gleam in her eyes “We've got to take the fight to X.A.N.A, now we're on the offensive. Let's go to the polar region.”