Code Revenge chapter 19

She took me by surprise, that's the only reason she was able to knock me back. I straightened as Taelia took a fighting stance. Alright, if she wanted to fight, I'd give her the fight of her life. It was about time she was gotten rid of anyway.

I generated a sphere of electricity and hurled it at her. It hit her right in the stomach and she fell back against a tree, slumped, and slid down, static crackling all over her body. I approached her.

"Oh, come now, at least put up a decent fight." I said, she was silent, but then she jumped up and scurried up the tree like some kind of rodent. Once she was up there she ran through the branches from tree to tree.

"Ok Taelia...this is where secret agent training comes in handy..." I could hear her mutter to herself. I glided across the ground with electrical jolts propelling me forward. Once I was in front of her I phased into specter form, and went up to the treetops. I punched her in the jaw and heard a satisfying crack as she fell to the ground. I jumped down, midair I phased back into human form, and landed on the ground next to her.

Taelia swept her leg in a circle, tripping me, but I caught myself and jumped right back up, but then she was up to. I grabbed Taelia by the shoulders and sent electricity coursing through her body. Our eyes met, dark red and green-hazel, she had a trickle of blood coming out of her mouth. She smirked, and somehow, through the electricity, she managed to get a good punch to the gut.

I responded with a series of electrical jabs that were created by charging a massive amount of electricity at the tips of my pointer and middle finger. I made them so fast that she had no time to react, no time to even fall down. She was going to die on her feet. When I was sure she was weak enough that she couldn't get back up I let her fall to the ground. I walked up to her slowly, letting the severity of the situation sink in. Then that human said something that confused me.

"Oh...so that was your plan, Morgan?" she was weak and coughed in between words. "Make me weak and then make me head of your army like your father did to William? Well I've battled monsters...I'm immune!"

Head of my army...? I looked around for an explanation of why she said that, and found it. A specter had appeared, low to the ground...it wasn't one of mine though. It was making it's way towards Taelia...Jeremie!

I shot beam after beam of electricity at it, hoping to have it destroyed. Now it was Taelia that was confused. It didn't work, the specter entered Taelia's body and pixalized her. The hairs on her skin bristled with static. After a moment she stood, sighing with relief.

"Thanks, Jeremie..."she said, looking out, then turned her attention to me. "Now...who isn't putting up a fight?"

She launched herself at me and delivered a kick that probably would have broken a few ribs, had I been human. I tried to jump away but she was right there behind me. Taelia threw punches, uppercuts, and kicks in every direction, she had me backed up to a corner, but then I got tired of it and used an electrical pulse to knock her back. A thought occurred to me.

"Taelia, why haven't you tried shooting me yet? It would certainly make things much easier for you."

"Easy. You were expecting me to bring my emp gun. Why would I give you what you were prepared for."

A growl came from the back of my throat. I charged up powerful compact electric sphere and threw it at her. It was blocked by two glowing blue swords that extended from her arms but knocked her back a good 20 feet. She got up and charged at me again, electric sword fight huh? I was game.

Two red electrical swords extended from my arms. The advice had been thrown around in sword fighting to treat the sword as an extension of one's arm, well ours were literally extensions of our arms. We crossed swords and clashed, blue and red sparks flew, setting small patches of grass on fire. We got closer, each of us trying to get the other to jump away so we could slash and gain the advantage. Our faces were inches apart, then we pushed with the swords and ended up both jumping back. What followed was a series of parries and jabs and swing in a nearly parallel sword fight. I had never realized it wasn't just our looks that were the same, our fighting style was largely the same as well, though I'd never had the opportunity to find out as I'd never had a proper fight with Taelia.

We both charged up energy all around our bodies and charged, the combined energy exploded. Any animal that hadn't already ran away was dead now, vaporized. It was a wonder no other humans hadn't heard us, maybe they had, maybe they were running for their lives, as they should. I fell, severely weakened by the explosion, but it was a fight to the death, and so I got back up, intent on killing my prey. Annoyingly enough, Taelia did the same. However, she swayed...ever so slightly...she was weakening. I was too...but all I had to do was stay stronger than her, and I could do all the recovering I'd need later.

Taelia sent blast after blast of blue electricity at me, some I was able to deflect, some hit me, and some I returned. One of them even knocked me into a large rock, cracking it. After the onslaught she stood with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. I was in no better shape. I charged power into my fingers, then ran and tried to jab her with a jolt which would have rendered her completely paralyzed, despite the specter. It would have hit...that would have been it right there, but she jumped into the tree, and she ran.

I had her on the retreat.

Instead of chasing after her, I stood there for a few seconds, recovering. Taelia would no doubt try to run from this fight, as running away from problems was in her nature. I would let her run, run all she liked, it still wouldn't stop the inevitable. I would not let her leave while one of us were still alive. There could be only one Morgan X.

I created an electric fence around the forest that would disrupt a specter, and since she was specter, not human, right now, it was at her disadvantage. I phased into specter form and went into the shadows. This was where the fun began, where it became not a fight, but a hunt.

For now I would wait, wait for her to realize there was no escape. She would come back, she wouldn't find me. I would hide in the shadows, play with that unstable paranoia of hers that killed Sissi...It would have killed Ulrich too, if she hadn't recognized the Lyoko warriors. Then there was Sissi's clone...I rolled my eyes at the warriors' stupidity. Did they really think I wouldn't see the clone, sense the activated Tower, and not take advantage of it? Theo Gauthier...I'd have the clone kill him next. I smirked and sent Sissi's clone the command. As soon as he was alone, the clone would phase into specter form, go into his throat, and stop him from breathing, just as it had done to all the others.

After a few minutes of sitting there Taelia tromped into the clearing of scorched earth the explosion had made.

"OK MORGAN, COME OUT HERE SO I CAN KILL YOU AND WE CAN GET ON WITH OUR LIVES!" Taelia yelled at the sky as though she were on Lyoko, since she had no idea where I was. I answered her but I threw my voice so that it came from the opposite direction.

"Get on with your life? Taelia, are you listening to yourself? You've never moved on with your life. You are still running, still worrying about things that happened nearly 30 years ago!" Taelia whirled around, and darted off in the direction she thought I was hiding. I followed her, gliding just above the ground, going from shadow to shadow. The Lyoko warriors, from time to time, had called specters "Xana's ghosts." I suppose if someone were to look at me, they might think I was some sort of ghost...

I would take the shape of my human form in her peripheral vision and then quickly dart away and do it again. She quickly became completely paranoid, started jerking her head around even if I wasn't there, she let her fear build upon itself. Then finally she stopped, took a breath, and looked up at the sky.

"You're a coward, Morgan."

"I'm no coward." I said, walking out of the shadows in human form. She tensed up but tried not to jump, and then slowly turned towards me. "I just prefer to exact my revenge psychologically as well as physically."

"...You'll never win." Taelia grabbed my arm and sent electricity coursing through my body. She was using all the energy she had...trying to overload me...and it was working. I tensed and felt the fringes of my from start to...for lack of a better term, frizz up. My vision started to go white, so I closed my eyes. Still, I felt the energy come, the horrible energy, volt after volt, wave after wave, it seemed ceaseless. Was this...it?

No. I couldn't let my father down!

I opened my eyes and grabbed Taelia's arm. This broke her concentration, so I could move more easily. I spun her around and grabbed the other arm so that her hands were behind her back. Then I took both wrists with one hand. I jabbed her in the back with my free hand, but instead of releasing energy, I absorbed it. It was time for this to end, I would suck out all the energy Jeremie's specter had to offer, and then her life force.

Only a minute had passed, but it seemed much longer. Taelia had a lot of will to live, I had to give her that. She probably would have made an excellent ally, but we had opposing opinions, and I had no time to worry about trying to possess, control, and keep a permanent "ally." Finally, I could feel her weakening, her knees buckled but I kept her standing. Her whole body shuddered but still I absorbed energy from her.

"...I'm sorry Franz..." Taelia whispered, then spoke no more. A mere 15 seconds later, her pulse stopped. I let go and she hit the ground with a hollow thud. It was done.

I walked out of the forest, dusted myself off, and started heading back to Kadic. It was strange though...she hadn't brought the one sure thing that could kill me. Granted, I had a plan for that, but still, why hadn't she brought it? She said it was to throw me off somehow, not give me what I was expecting...but still...to go up against me without having something that could kill me seemed foolish and...suicidal.

It hit me...she hadn't expected to beat me, she'd been prepared for death. What purpose did it serve, though....Why fight me unless she wanted to kill...It hit me again. She had been trying to protect. Jeremie, Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and William were still out there. I closed my eyes and concentrated...but could not trace them to a location. Taelia or Jeremie must have put a block...some sort of protection or something...Oh well, either I'd find them or they'd have to come out of hiding sometime.

Hmmm...So Taelia had been prepared to die...but...before she did, she apologized to Franz Hopper. Franz...he'd helped kill my father too...but he was killed in the process. However...my father...there were still bits and pieces of him left...so...why wouldn't Franz have survived as well? He was a weak human, that's why! Nevertheless, it wouldn't be a bad idea to look into it...Franz Hopper...Franz Hopper...