"Cortez, sorry to interrupt the celebration, but sensors indicate there is a TENTH time crystal waiting to be discovered. Also, there is a huge time-energy signature somewhere in the French city of Paris, near Bolongue-Billiancourt sometime in the early 2000's. We need someone to check it out, and you're the man."

"Yeah! It's time to SPLIT!" "Riiiiight, whatever." Anya rolls her eyes before pulling the lever and sending Cortez-the Space Marine wearing black cargo pants, a holster around his waist, a short-sleeved black shirt with armor on the front and sides and wearing an uplink to the computer on his right arm-to Paris, France-2006.
---
Not on Story:
I'm brain-dead right now. Sorry. More posting tomorrow.
_________________

"Ohhhh, I hate it when this happens," Cortez complains, wringing his hands and looking exasperated. "It's like Quantum Leap or something like that...ever since Cometpedia was hacked back in 2174, I don't know if any information is correct or not..."

"Hey, Ulrich!" calls a girl, and the Cortez'd Ulrich swings his head toward her voice. "Anya, you still there?"
"Yes. I'm still attached to your right arm," Anya reassures him, as the black-haired girl runs up to him.

"Ulrich, it's almost time for class!" Yumi complains, dragging him over. "We have to have a bit of a meeting, about William missing remember?"

"William? Oh-right...William..." 'Ulrich' pretends to muse, following Yumi to the rest of the gang.
"There you are! Honestly, Ulrich, you pick the worst times to wander off, you know?" Jeremie complains. Ulrich folds his arms, not exactly liking to be scolded.

"Anyw-"
"Hi Ulrich! Am I disturbing you in any way?" Sissi asks, walking up to the group with Milly and Tamiya in tow, both of them carrying either a pad or a video camera.
"Well, yes, you're disturbing us and in more ways than one," Odd shoots back, as everyone else laughs.

"Nice one, but did I ask you? Why don't you learn some manners already, it's like a bunch of wild monkeys reared you. I'm right, aren't I?"
"Ouch," Cortez whispers, trying to conceal a smirk.

"Anyway...Yumi, our readers...they'd like to know exactly what's going on between you and William! Come on, admit it! You two like each other, well at least William does."
"Uhh...me and Will? Well, I don't really know what you're talking about..."
"Would you rather ask me the same of William? You know, when WAS the last time I saw him? Around a week ago, right?"

"He's gone abroad..." Aelita speaks up. "Um, I heard it through the principal's office."
"Really now? In the middle of the year? Sounds suspicious..."
"Hey, are you talking about me?" Everyone's head snaps to William. "C'mere! Let's go!" Jeremie grabs him by the arm. "Whoa, Jeremie! Easy, easy!" Will exclaims.

"Cortez! That isn't William!" Anya's voice speaks up. "Shh," Cortez whispers to her. "Your volume needs adjustment. We have to be quieter!" "It's not William," Anya repeats, lowering her voice. "It's some sort of computer program designed to act like the original. I can't recognize the data signature, but it doesn't seem friendly."

"Alright. I'll take precaution."
--
"Cortez-cell phone," Anya warns. Ulrich picks up. "Hello?"
"Ulrich. I checked Aelita's room and she's not here."
"She's not?"
"Also, I can't locate William. I've got a lock on her phone, and she's in the woods. We have to check it out."
"Why are you suspicious about it?" Ulrich asks.
"It's just weird that he didn't fall into the digital sea," Jeremie explains.
"Okay. I'll be with you in a second," Ulrich reassures him, clicking the cell phone off. "Anya, you tracking them as well?"

"Yes. To a factory with a MASSIVE energy residue particles all around it. Let's go, Cortez."
"Yeah! It's time to SPLIT!"
_________________

Good so far!
_________________

I live inside Kadic Forums! I am the ultimate power! I am...The Administrator! Fear my power and tremble! HA HA!

CHAPTER TWO
The Splitters

"Ulrich, William's sent Aelita to Lyoko! Let's go!" Cortez nods, heading into the area where Jeremie was pointing.
"The time signature was completely concentrated in the area where you were standing just a moment ago," Anya reports. "It MUST be below here. And the technology here rivals the ones not widespread until 2173. Amazing."
"But to us now, it's all junk," Cortez concludes, looking annoyed and smug as he steps into the scanner. "Odd's still missing and Yumi's on her way here. Go!"
--
"Ooh!" Cortez hits the ground hard. "It's great to be me again," he exclaims, before noticing the crushed samurai underneath him. "Get off!" Ulrich complains.
"Oops, sorry."
"Who are you and what were you doing inside my body?!" Ulrich demands, grabbing his katanas and pointing them at the intruder.

"It's not my fault, and kids like you shouldn't play with sharp things," Cortez warns, reaching into his holster and drawing out a lazer gun. "I'm from the future."
"Oh yeah?!"
"Yes," Anya replies, as Cortez brings his arm forward. "Anya? You're still here?"
"You're in a VR world, Cortez. Look out-there are some sort of monster things slinking around here. Don't waste your ammo on him. Apparently you're on the same team, so get moving. William's position is further ahead, he's getting an edge on you."

"Ulrich, go. I'll ask the questions for this guy later when he comes out of the scanners," Jeremie warns. Cortez and Ulrich look at each other before shrugging and running down Sector 5's corridors.
"This place looks familiar. It looks like Training Level 27," Cortez remarks.

"Look out! Trouble!" Jeremie and Anya call. "You're surrounded!"
"Not for long!" Cortez and Ulrich answer, as the spaceman takes aim and shoots, hitting either torso or head of Creepers. Ulrich swipes at the ones opposite of the bodysnatcher, killing them.

"Nice aiming," Jeremie compliments the stowaway. "William's lost grip of Aelita, and she's making a run for it."
"You go!" Cortez yells. "I'll cover you!"
Ulrich nods. "Super-sprint!" The boy sprints off in a fury as Cortez hangs back, feeling a sudden burning in his left side. "80 life points!"
"Da-...darn it..." Cortez mutters, reloading and shooting the monsters.

A dark shadow falls over the man. "Cortez! Behind you! William doubled back!"

Cortez leaps forward, avoiding getting his head removed. "Tsk." William smirks. "You're not from here, obviously."
"Obviously is right, you buncha pixels," Cortez shoots back, taking aim and firing. William blocks it easily.

"Here, Cortez-I'm uploading you a new weapon." The Sci-Fi Handgun disappears, being replaced with a Harpoon Gun.

"Well, you seem to like sharp objects," Cortez notes. "So do I!" He shoots the Harpoon at William, impaling the boy's arm.
"Owww!" Xana-William yells, dropping to his knees and growling in pain. Ulrich brings back Aelita.

"We have to find Aelita's materialization code!" Jeremie complains. "Without that, because Xana messed it up-without it means Aelita's stuck here at William's mercy!"

"And we don't want THAT, now do we?!" Xana-William snarls, leaping to his feet and drawing out the harpoon, flinging it at the brown-haired boy. Ulrich dodges, feeling his torso get scraped.

"Look. You take Aelita. I've got a score to settle," Ulrich snarls, getting ready. Cortez nods, as Aelita takes his hand and yanks him in the correct direction.
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Chapter Three:
The Short Run

"Move it Cortez!" Anya demands, as the burly man lurches forward, dodging lazerfire and shooting in response. Aelita joins in, stepping in front and creating a plasma shield.

"Nasty little creatures," Cortez growls, getting hit in the arm and killing the Creeper responsible. "Alright. Let's go." Aelita nods, withdrawing and leading the Space Marine out of the room.

"Three doors on," Jeremie advises. "Ulrich! Look out! Here come some Creepers! Sarge, William's heading your way. Virtualization Yumi!"

The black-haired girl drops to the ground, drawing her tessen fans and opening them. She nods to Cortez and Aelita. "Go on, I'll hold him off." "I think she's got enough firepower to keep him down," Anya agrees. Again, the duo take off as Yumi throws her fans at the approaching darkened warrior.

"Here!" Cortez throws an unpulled plasma grenade at Yumi, who catches it. "Pull!" she yells, yanking the pin out and throwing it. William swipes at the grenade, only to find it sticking to the blade of his zanbato. The boy dissolves it into smoke, jumping back as the plasma detonates.
--
"Two rooms left!" Anya and Jeremie yell. "Keep going!"
"Look out! More Creepers!"
A horrible cybernetic noise echoes through the chamber and Cortez takes note of a health bar on the bottom of the screen. (breaking the fourth wall lulz) "A boss!" he yells angrily.

"A boss? This isn't a game!" Jeremie calls.
"Health bar!" Anya counters, as the Scyphozoa slinks into view. "Cortez, I don't know what this thing can do, and I won't want to find out."

"It drains your memory and inserts a Xana virus into your mind," Jeremie retorts, "that's what happened to William."
"Alright! Stay away from it and we'll be fine!" Cortez aims at the monster's head, shooting rapidly.

"It's very strong," Anya observes. "Here." The Sci-Fi Handgun morphs into a Tactical Twelve-Gauge.
"It's not for the Scyphozoa!" Aelita cries, pointing to a spot behind Cortez. "It's for him!"
Cortez turns. "Crap!"
_________________

Cool! You should continue!
_________________

I live inside Kadic Forums! I am the ultimate power! I am...The Administrator! Fear my power and tremble! HA HA!

"What is it?!" Jeremie yells, panicked.

"It's some sort of a...an orange-ish thing with big teeth...it's disgusting!"
"TIMESPLITTER!!!" Cortez yells, firing rapidly at it before feeling a tentacle caress his neck. "Get off!" he yells, whipping around and shooting the Scyphozoa.

Aelita kills the Timesplitter, taking note of the health bar dropping a notch. "This way!" she yells, as Cortez reloads and kills the Scyphozoa. He follows the elfin girl through a corridor.

"Jeremie? It's some sort of portal!" Aelita gasps. Anya follows her gasp. "Cortez! THAT IS A TIMESPLITTER PORTAL! Shut it down!"

"I would Anya, but I don't know how!" Cortez complains.
"I think your companion can. Aelita, correct?" Aelita nods. "Use those plasma energy fields as soon as you see movement on the other side. The Timesplitters should die quickly. Kill all of them and the portal will disappear. You'll need good reflexes and timing."

Aelita dispatches a Timesplitter but a roar nearly turns her head. "William," Cortez growls.

"He got Yumi and Ulrich! Sarge, watch out!"

Cortez nods, allowing Will into the room. "Me and you! One-on-one! Whoever wins gets control of the Time Portal!"
"Sounds good to me," William snarls, leaping forward with his zanbato to spear the man. Cortez dodges before getting knicked on the side. "60 life points left! You need a good, solid hit on William to send him out!"

"Got it, kid!" Cortez reloads his Tactical. "Six bullets left. Oh well."
William fires off a crescent-shaped energy blast, ripping the man backwards. "Ten left!" Jeremie worries.

"Aaaaah! I AM NOT DYING!" Cortez thunders, shooting at the boy and hitting him thrice in the chest. Will drops to his knees, grasping at his costume. "Pain..." he gasps out, slowly getting up again.

Cortez rushes him and attacks with the butt of the Twelve-Gauge. "Sorry kid, but you've been tainted."
William looks up, his black eyes stained blue. "I know..." he chokes out, before dissolving into black smoke.

Aelita kills another Timesplitter. "When will it end?!" she whines, destroying another one. The portal shrinks as the Health Bar winds down. "Beserker Splitter is approaching. Aelita, let it through. It'll take something like this..." The Injector replaces the Tactical.

The Beserker Splitter screams as it pushes its way through the portal. Cortez shoots a Tranquilizer at the monster's head. The monstrocity explodes, sending beta bits scattering everywhere. Aelita winces. "Ew."

"Aelita, go on. Xana knows he's lost." Aelita nods, dashing out of the room. Cortez sits on the floor. "Devirtualization, Cortez."
The virtual avatar dissolves.

Chapter Four
Leapbody
Cortez rubs his eyes, before stretching and yawning. Jeremie stares at him. "What?" Cortez asks, before realizing an earlier problem. "AGH! I'm in that kid again!"

Jeremie nods. "I don't know how, but I do know that your biological structures almost match perfectly. Odds of that happening are one in 600,000. Though, perhaps once every year there are doppelgangers born that nearly match someone else's molecular structure. It scares me to think if WE had been alike."

"What is THAT supposed to mean?!" Cortez yells, bringing one fist up. Jeremie scowls. "You don't know how to operate a supercomputer."

"Uhhh, excuse us? We're from the future. 2401. Stuff like this is very much obsolete by now, Jeremie Belpois," Anya states. Jeremie stares at the uplink. "Lemme guess, some sort of advance AI?"
"No. I'm human enough. Anya. Scientist. Easy to keep track through the ages with this. Though nobody has ever made anything quite like this virtual world just encountered."

"It's named Lyoko," Yumi gasps out, climbing up from the Scanner room. Odd follows, looking wiped out. Aelita is the last one, and she looks almost dead.
"William, of course, isn't going to materialize with the rest of us," Jeremie sighs. "Xana did get into his head."
"That was not the real William," Anya restates.
"It wasn't?"
"Program. You can kill it as many times as you'd like."

Aelita looks thoughtful. "We'd better get back to school. I'm exhausted." Jeremie agrees, yawning.
_________________

Next morning...

"Cortez. Get up," Anya calls. "It's a Sunday. Here, that means no school for the day."
"Sweet." Cortez/Ulrich sits up in bed. "Yo, kid." Odd answers with a snore.

/Is he always like this?/ Cortez wonders mentally.
/Aahhh...yep,/ Ulrich answers back.
/Whoa! Who are you?!/
/The original inhabitant of this body! I HONESTLY wish you hadn't stolen me,/ Ulrich complains.

/It wasn't my fault,/ Cortez counters, before snapping back to reality to see Odd staring at him. "You arguing with yourself?"
"Sort of," Cortez admits.
"Odd get me out of here!" Ulrich forces.

"Whoa! What was that?!" Odd yells, crawling away to the door. Cortez cringes before suddenly on the floor.
"Wait, huh? I-I'm me again!" he growls, before standing on two feet. "But I'm not here all the way."

"Uuugh," Ulrich shudders. "I hated that! It felt so...so, well, AWFUL. I can just imagine how Jeremie felt when Xana possessed him."
Odd shrugs. "Glad to have you back, though!"

Cortez looks around. "Cortez? Are you still there?" "Yeah." "You're not showing up on the screen. Apparently there was an incompatibility factor in you and Ulrich. You need to find another host."

"But who? That blonde kid said one in 600,000!"
"Cortez, the logic of this time is very flawed. They believed Andromeda was on a collision course with the Milky Way, and that proved incorrect. You should try someone else."

Cortez nods, before speeding out of the room and looking around for a suitable body. His eyes-red pinpoints in black goggles-dance around the hallway.

"Maybe I'll show that kid we can do more than he thinks," Cortez smirks, walking up to Jeremie and allowing the boy to pass through him.

Jeremie drops to his knees, bringing his hands onto the floor before faceplanting. "I don't know who you are, BUT GET OUT!" he bellows. Students peer at him from their rooms.

"Sorry..." Cortez apologizes. "It was a bird."
Students nod. Birds are annoying inside buildings. Heads retreat to their rooms as Ulrich and Odd throw their door open.
"Cortez?" Odd asks.

Cortez/Jeremie nods. "I really don't like this idea, but better him than you." The boy points at Odd. "Or the girls."
"Heeeey! What's wrong with my body?!" Odd snaps.
"Not compact enough."
"I AM SVELTE, DUDE!"

"Anyway, we'd better get down for something to eat," Aelita interrupts. "Ready to go?"
Odd, Ulrich, and Cortez follow her to the cafeteria.
--
"Look, Jeremie. We need to find some sort of program to track William," Aelita sighs, propping her head up with her elbows on the table. Ulrich casts a glance at the imposter and Odd shakes his head.

"What's wrong, you guys?"
"Aelita, it's halfway me!" Jeremie growls, also breaking halfway.
"You mean, the sergeant is with you too?" Aelita asks fearfully. "There isn't anything to be worried about," Cortez reassures her. "I just need to find someone who will tolerate me long enough for the job to get done."

Chapter Five
Weakened and In Possession

"What do you mean, 'get the job done'?" Ulrich growls angrily. Anya sighs. "There is a tenth Time Crystal embedded inside the supercomputer, allowing things such as controlled jumps in time. Yours works differently from the rest, but somehow it actually escaped our detection-until now. We need to extract that Time Crystal."

"Well..." Aelita begins to speak, only to be interrupted by a rapid beeping. "Xana alert! We'd better get to the factory.
--
"Cortez, go join them in the scanners. And for goodness' sake, don't take anyone."
"Got it." Cortez slips out of Jeremie and heads into the scanner room, entering one of the scanners and being virtualized.

The Space-Marine hits the ground with one fist, knees bent. "Nice landing," Aelita comments. "Look! William!"
"Where?" Cortez looks around, before glancing at his hands. "Yo, computer kid!"
"It's JEREMIE."
"Jeremie, I'm still transparent! You got a lock on me?" "No, you aren't on my screen." "Da-...dang it!"

Xana-William approaches, eyes narrowed. Ulrich, Yumi and Odd take a step forward. "You escort Aelita to the tower. Be careful though, it's easy to fall off a Desert Ledge!" Odd demands. Cortez nods, drawing his Sci-Fi Handgun.

"Wait a sec! I'm still in transparent form right? Jeremie, get a tracer on me. I'm standing directly left-next to the elf girl with wings." "AELITA," Aelita snaps.
"Okay! I got a lock on you! But why?"

"I'm goin' in!"
"Cortez, don't!" Anya warns, as Cortez barrels toward the black-haired boy, invading him.

Who are you?
Cortez. Sergeant Cortez.
That 'tough man'? Ah. You. Why are you inside my servant?
Who are YOU?
Xana. Your executioner.
Maybe later. I just wanted a name. Cortez plants the tracer inside William's head before escaping.

"I have a lock!" Jeremie cries. "William won't escape even if he gets into the digital sea!"
"That's good, now could you get him off our tails?"
_________________

"Don't worry! I can handle this!" Ulrich yells, leaping forward and grabbing his dual katanas. Cortez nods, before noticing a group of approaching monsters.

"Don't shoot!" Odd yells. "They're mercenaries," he adds, whispering to Cortez. The transparent Space Marine nods once more, lowering his weapon.

"It's attempting to communicate with you. Here." Anya turns on a translator.

..."We need help! Xana's found some of us out, he's torturing the other members! Can someone come along with us?!" Khristy gasps, before tucking her legs in protectively, panting.

"Cortez, you go. We can take care of everything else." "I'll go with him," Yumi volunteers. Jeremie nods. "Scipio."
The Transport Orb appears, but Cortez shakes his head. "Nope. Not for me."
"Well...alright..."
The transparent Space Marine dissolves into a white beam of energy, shooting off the platform and zipping over the Digital Sea.
--
Not on Story:
-braindead-
_________________

Chapter Six
The Scrapyard

William swings his zanbato once, before grabbing the trail of energy Cortez had left behind. The white trail turns red as he slings it about, apparently having transformed it into a sort of whip.

"Look out!" Aelita yelps, backing into Odd and Ulrich. William smirks, slinging all three with the whip and devirtualizing them...or maybe not.
--
"Ow!" Odd cries, faceplanting onto the ground. "Lots of dirt..." Ulrich dusts himself off. "Where are we?!"

Aelita looks around. "We're in the middle of an old rocket-ship scrapyard," she observes, "and we're standing on a rock platform. Except for Odd-he's over there." She points at his figure.

A horrible laugh echoes through the scrapyard, along with the clang of machinery. Odd rushes over to the Warriors, scampering on all fours. Ulrich gets in front of Aelita, who pivots to face behind.

"Hahaha...AHAHAHA!!!" William howls, emerging from the side of the scrapyard. "You know your position, but do you know the terrain?"
"What?" Aelita looks down to see wires curling around her feet. "Shoot! There's too much machinery here!"

"Aaaaaaaahhh!!" Ulrich screams, being electrocuted. Odd skillfully dodges the underground wires reaching for him and snaps the one shocking Ulrich with his claws. "That's twice I've saved you from electrical wires!" Odd complains.

"Not so fast," William roars, swinging his zanbato at them and charging up an energy blast. Aelita catches it with twin Energy Fields. "Jeremie! Where are we?!"
"You're in a rocketship scrapyard somewhere in Russia!" "No wonder it's so friggn' cold!" Ulrich complains.

An awful, screeching, whining sound echoes across the landscape. Every head turns toward the sound-a mechanical snake with red panel eyes forged from the scrap metal in the Yard slithers up to the group, its shadow falling menacingly over the trio of Warriors.

William's riding it, too.
"That's so unfair!" Odd complains, folding his arms. William smirks. "Unfair? It's two versus three! You're darn right it's unfair!"

---

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