The megatank finally halted a few yards away from the boys. Sang watched it with trepidation. Silas watched it as well but still went towards Luke's block in order to help out. Turning his back slightly, he readied his sword to strike at the now familiar symbol.

Suddenly the black sphere split in half each side extending away from the center to reveal a metal pole on the middle of which sat a familiar symbol. Sang watched as red flashes began concentrating on the center of the symbol. She didn't even have time to yell before a red wall was projected directing in front and behind the monster.

The red wall hit Silas in the back immediately devirtualizing him. Kota and Luke were stunned but they couldn't allow it to distract them. Now they were a man down. They had to take care of the blocks first and then they could take down this new monster together.

"If you guys could speed things up it would be appreciated," Victor's voice stated from the outside world.

"We're trying," Luke told him throwing yet another ninja star. Fortunately this one hit its mark. The block teetered and finally exploded disappearing into nothingness. He looked over just in time to see Kota finish off his block as well.

Seeing a red flash out of the corner of his eye, Kota immediately jumped and rolled away. Sang breathed a sigh of relief as Kota managed to dodge the tank's latest attack.

"What's wrong?" Kota asked loudly to Victor.

"We are having a bit of a pest problem," Victor stated sounding out of breath and farther away than usual. His words were vague but it was all the boys needed to realize that their family was in danger. They needed to get into that tower which meant stopping whatever this is.

Luke threw two ninja stars at it but all they did was bounce right off.

"This thing is definitely built like a tank," Luke stated. Kota had to agree with the statement. Surveying the field, he realized that Luke was on the tower side of the clearing with the tank in between the two boys.

"Luke, run for the tower," Kota told him. "I'll take care of the tank." Luke nodded immediately following his team lead's plan. He sprinted toward the tower as Kota distracted the tank. Sang felt like cheering as she watched Luke get closer and closer to the tower.

Kota readied another arrow as the tank concentrated its power again. Luke was steps away from the tower as the arrow was let loose flying the air. The red wall shot from the tank heading straight for Kota. His arrow flew straight but it bounced off of the protective shell of the tank as it closed. Kota didn't have time to dodge as the attack hit him.

He disappeared just as Luke reached the tower. But instead of entering the tower, he was bounced off rolling away on the ground. He couldn't enter the tower. His mind raced as he realized what that meant. Sang was the only one who could enter the activated towers. He glanced back at the boulder where he could just barely see her blonde hair peeking out from behind. He had to get her to the tower. It was all up to him now.

Kota exited the scanner into a world of chaos. Silas, North, and Gabriel were scattered around the scanner room fighting back the horde of rats that didn't seem to have an end. Things were much worse than he and Luke had thought.

"I told you fuckers!" Gabriel shouted swiping at the rats with what looked to be a metal trashcan lid. North and Silas had similar weapons. "Fucking demon rat army seems pretty appropriate now!"

North was the first to notice Kota's presence clearing a way immediately so that Kota could join their protective circle in the middle of the room. Before he could blink a metal pipe was tossed his way.

"Luke is by himself now?" Silas asked him. Kota nodded but it was Gabriel that responded.

"No fucker. He's got Sang."

"Sang, you have to get to the tower!" Luke shouted dodging yet another blast from the tank. It was relentless and a lost faster than he expected. Sang had watched Luke be unable to enter the tower in shock. The activated tower had let her in before. When she heard his shout, she realized that she must be the only one able to enter it. Maybe it had to do with her connection to this virtual world.

Another thought to ponder at a later data. She waited for the tank to turn away from her before she took off running as fast as her feet could carry her toward the tower. Luke saw Sang take off moving slowly the tank tracking his movements. He tried not to look Sang's way. He didn't know how intelligent this monster was but his eyes slid behind the creature to watch Sang' movements without his permission.

The tank whirled around spotting Sang heading for the tower. Instantly it opened preparing another attack. This one aimed directly at Sang's retreating figure. Luke moved quickly surging around the tank losing one of his daggers.

The red wall blasted from the symbol just before the dagger hit home. Purposefully walking into its path, Luke took the attack turning to look at Sang walking into the tower. The tank exploded just as Luke disappeared.

Sang quickly walked up the path to the center of the platform. The screen popped up just like last time. She placed her hand on it. Her name scrolled across the screen before it asked for the code again. She typed as fast as she could while still being accurate. She watched in relief as the data disappeared from the tower before surging just like before.

"Tower deactivated."

Victor was quick to execute the code as soon as Sang had deactivated the tower. Mr. B, Doc, and Nathan were currently trying to stop any of the rodents from getting to him and the computer. For some reason, VOLTO seemed to be targeting the supercomputer. His family and he were just in the way. It didn't make any sense to Victor. He would have to look into it.

"Return to the past now," he stated hitting the last key. A bright light erupted from the factory enveloping everything.

Everyone was running early that morning. A drastic improvement from before. Gabriel had Sang on his phone recounting the entire horror story of the invasion of the rats. Most of the others within hearing distance just rolled their eyes at his dramatics. Though everyone was in agreement that if they never saw another rat again it would be too soon.

Owen and Sean had managed to formulate an excuse and wouldn't have to attend the all-day teacher meeting. Instead they would research some of the new questions this last encounter with VOLTO had created. Why were the rats targeting the supercomputer and the factory? Why was VOLTO attacking them at all? What was its goal?

There were also questions now concerning the girl the entire team had become infatuated with. Why was she the only one able to enter and deactivate an activated tower? How did she become trapped in Lyoko in the first place? Where did Lyoko even come from?

The last question was one that Owen really wanted an answer to. Lyoko had to have been created by someone. Why did they create it? What was its original purpose?

Once Gabriel was done recounting his story, he prodded Sang into telling hers. She told them about how the cockroaches had chased her. Victor was particularly interested in what happened to the one she had kicked over the edge.

"It just disappeared when it hit that weird sea thing?" he asked while typing away on his computer.

"Yeah, it kind of looked similar to how you guys devirtualize but not identical." Reading the code, Victor found out why it looked different. Because it was.

"It didn't get devirtualized. It got erased," he stated.

"Okay, so note so self, don't fall off the path in Lyoko," Luke stated in a pretentious voice making everyone laugh. Everyone took the information seriously though. Lyoko was not just some interactive video game. It could have serious, permanent effects on all of them. They had to be careful.

"Hey Sugar, we have to go to class," Luke told her prompting everyone to say goodbye.

"We'll be by the factory later this afternoon in order to start training," Kota told her as he said goodbye. She nodded her head looking very excited at their impending visit. They only ever came to Lyoko when there were monsters to fight and a tower to deactivate. Gabriel finished up the goodbyes before ultimately hanging up the phone.

Every free chance Victor got, he worked away on Sang's code. He was still a long way from being done but he was at least making noticeable progress now. They needed to be able to shut down VOLTO as soon as possible. Who knew what else that sentient machine had in store for them? 

***Bit of a shorter chapter but I hope you guys liked it!! As always please comment, vote, etc. and tell me what you think!!