Sithking Zero: ‘Sup? HOAW is mine. Cadence, Replicons, plot, basic design of XANA, mine. Inspiration for XANA’s design, Sylentnite on Deviantart. Most characters and things in the story: Property of Moonscoop and Capcom, when it really boils down to it, you know?

Well, Things are gearing up to a huge climax. And though it’s been a long time, the whole reason behind the entire story is coming soon.

New Chapter.

Same Heart.

10:45 PM, SECTOR FIVE:

            XANA sat in her comfortable control room, fuming quietly. Not brooding, as that would be a sort of controlled anger mixed with sadness, but this was fuming, a low-level, simmering rage that threatened to bubble over. She had already vaporized several Kankrelots that had happened to get in her way at the time, and more than one Replicon was making use of its healing powers by this point.

“Boss get you down?”

That voice, so similar to that of her most ancient foe, caused her to start slightly, before she realized its identity.

“CAN IT, Forte, I’m not in the mood!” she snarled, turning her chair away from the dark navi.

A soft chuckle caused the hairs on the back of her neck to raise slightly.

“But of course you’re not. Things aren’t progressing on schedule, are they?”

She remained silent, while a distinctly sibilant smile slid across Forte’s shadowed face.

“I guess ‘Daddy Dearest,’ isn’t afraid to reprimand you, is he?”

For any normal man, the aura of hatred now surrounding XANA would have been a clear sign to stop, but Forte continued.

“Awww… are you gonna cry? You couldn’t even keep a simple line secure,” his voice was like a whip, gouging with each crack, “So you deserved whatever it was that you-”

With a snarl, XANA vaulted over the back of her seat, katana drawn mid-jump, and she slammed a fist into the center of his chest, knocking the dark navi to the wall with a grunt of pain escaping from the taller program.

She glared rage into his eyes as he stared down at her.

“Just remember, FORTE,” she hissed, emphasizing his name, “That without MY Darkchips, you wouldn’t even EXIST right now!”

“And you,” he snapped, “Would do well to remember who exactly is the one who’s making sure that Belpois doesn’t catch on and ruin everything? Or perhaps you should remember who is the one gathering the necessary information on every single one of them? Maybe you’ve forgotten-”

“ENOUGH!” she cried angrily, her katana’s tip scratching his throat.

Forte’s insane smile crept further up his face. “Or maybe, you don’t even know why you’re doing this anymore…”

The Katana flickered down, and there was a slight twinge of pain from Forte as the blade entered his side. He glanced at it momentarily, before turning his blood-colored eyes to her aquamarine gaze.

“You are out of order.” He hissed, hands grabbing hold of the blade. With barely a hint of effort, he wrenched the razor-sharp metal from his side, tossing it away from himself. He did this all without removing his gaze from hers, and followed by spinning and slamming her into the wall, hand covered in purple lightning.

“You can’t do this,” she breathed.

“I can. The Doctor may be patient; I am not.”

“You don’t understand. Father needs confirmation of the Spore project, and we still don’t have enough energy-”

“We have more than enough energy to finish it!” he snarled.

“We don’t. If you even knew what we were doing-”

“Your project to turn the Warriors to Darkloids? Or about the Regenesis project?”

XANA’s eyes widened. “H-how-” She stuttered.

“I am the most powerful NetNavi in existence. I think the firewall you put up was more an insult than anything else, personally. And such information! You really shouldn’t put all your data in one place, dear XANA.” He reached out to condescendingly pat the top of her armored head. “Or perhaps I should call you by your true name, Ir-”

Her hand whistled through the air, swatting away the offending appendage.

“Get out.” She growled.

“Oh, I’m not going anywhere, Zanny,” He whispered, black lightning racing up and down his form. His wound was already healed, and his fins were starting to gain purple streaks that flickered like fire. “In fact, I think I’m gonna stay here a lot more from now on. No more pretending…”

Her virtual blood turned to ice. “What?”

“I’ve just received confirmation from the Doctor. We’re moving out on the final plan for the extermination of the Warriors.”

“You can’t be serious! The cloaks haven’t been tested fully yet, and the siphons are still in need of recalibration!”

“Than you have twelve hours,” he said nastily, “And after that, we go ahead anyway.”

“You’re a fool. He intercepted the transmission, and he knows that I’m still alive. How much longer before he senses your power and finishes you off like the rest of your brethren?”

“By then it won’t matter. Aelita will be dead and we can take him easily.”

“Can you even HEAR yourself?” she gasped, “You can’t beat him. It’s impossible. He’ll take everything you are, and even than…”

“You assume much, Darkling,” he hissed. “You have twelve hours.”

He appeared to burst into black flames, and was gone.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

2:00 PM, KADIC ACCADEMY

Ulrich Stern was probably one of the most “Normal” boys in the group of children that called themselves “The Lyoko Warriors.”

He wasn’t a geek (Jeremie), a weirdo Casanova (Odd), or a dark god of destruction (Bass).

As such, he seemed to be plagued with more of the normal sort of problems, such as low grades or inability to admit his true feelings about a certain black-haired Japanese girl.

However, because he was more “Normal,” than his friends, he also had a great advantage: Ulrich Stern was a far more capable people-watcher. He could sense the mood in a crowd, or read a person’s problems, or show/feel far more empathy than they could.

As such, he could feel that something in the air was utterly, and completely, wrong. It wasn’t something that he- or any of the other students, for that matter- could positively identify, but there was a definite sense of unease flowing through the school.

It was currently lunchtime, and the sky was a fairly even gray. Utterly featureless, and perfectly smooth, it was positively depressing. Suddenly, something flitted at the edge of his vision.

His senses already on high alert, he tried to casually glance towards the source of the disturbance without drawing suspicion.

There was nothing there. Suddenly, he saw it again- this time, closer to the cafeteria.

He saw… something. But than it was gone again. Slowly, discretely, Ulrich began to ease his cell phone out of his pocket, carefully trying to turn it on without raising suspicion.

Even as he did this, the flicker returned, and this time from the top of a building. Ulrich pivoted quickly, and this time, even the swift motions of the monster couldn’t save it: A cube-shaped form with a bulls-eye mark in the center was ducking down below the building’s edge.

Throwing caution to the winds, Ulrich ripped his phone from his pocket, slamming one finger down on the speed-dial button. Immiediately, a dial tone could be heard, and Ulrich pressed another button.

Across the school, Jeremie picked up his cell, glancing at the caller ID. His expression turned to stone as he saw the Eye of XANA staring back at him from his cell, Ulrich’s voice in the caller ID box.

He moved his hands to try to activate the Superscan, but it was too late.

A loud whining screech reached Jeremie’s ears from the courtyard, and he paused in horror.

He had heard that sound before, just after he had used “Code Earth,” on Aelita for the first time. It was XANA’s first attack involving the materialization of monsters.

It was the sound of laser fire.

To be continued…

Sithking Zero: Sorry for the short chapter. Just felt like it.

So, as a summary, Forte returns! Sort of. You’ll understand later. Also, no signs of Bass in this chapter. The secret, having laid dormant for so very long, is close to being revealed…

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