Wood-be Alone
Harris, Lewis, and Jaden are in Mrs. Hertz's science class learning about biology. Mrs. Hertz is a somewhat old, skinny woman with dark gray, curly hair and large, circular glasses. She is teaching her students about termites; she has a tank with a couple dozen termites and a makeshift mound.
"As you can see, termites are social insects that can communicate by various means. Their main food is wood, which is why they can be dangerous to the foundations of houses and commercial buildings." Mrs. Hertz explained
She drops a small, wooden board into the tank and the termites slowly eat away at it.
"As you can see, this piece of wood is eaten away in mere minutes by only a small amount of termites, if there was another dozen termites, this wood would be eaten away in a matter of seconds" She explains further
"How many termites would it take to eat away at the foundation of this building?" Asked Lewis
"Good question, Lewis. To summarize, it would take at least an entire colony, which is about 60,000 termites."
The bell rings and Harris, Lewis, and Jaden collect their things and go to the door. They are then approached by Elizabeth Delmas, or as she prefers to be called, Sissi. She is a little shorter than Harris, has long, black hair and usually wears wearing a pink t-shirt that cuts off at the mid-section with a yellow heart on it, dark maroon pants with a lighter maroon skirt over it, and large, gold hoop earrings. She has a strong crush on Harris, but is unaware of his feelings towards Yumi. Two boys who act as her lackeys accompany Sissi. These boys are Nicholas Poliakoff and Herb Pichon. Nicholas is a boy of average height with somewhat long, orange-ish hair and normally wears a light blue jersey with a number eight on it and light blue shorts. Herb is shorter, has short, black hair that is buzz-cut at the bottom, and wears a green sweater, blue jeans, and circle glasses.
"Hey Harris, do you want to go on a date tonight?" Asked Sissi
"Let me think…. I would rather be in detention than on a date with you." Harris and Lewis laugh and high-fived
"Lewis, stop telling your brother to keep rejecting me and how to do it." Sissi said to Lewis
"Actually, I came up with that one on the spot." Harris retaliated
"Ha, ha, he got you good, Sissi" Nicholas said humorously
"Come on guys, we are going to be late for Phys. Ed. and I hate being late." Said Lewis
"Are you skipping gym again, Jaden?"
"Yes, I have to work on Aelita's materialization program." Jaden replied
Harris and Lewis head to the track, while Jaden heads back to his room. Harris and Lewis change into their gym clothes. Harris' gym clothes consists of scarlet track pants and a black t-shirt and Lewis' gym clothes are matching navy blue pants and t-shirt. Their gym teacher, Jim walks out. Jim is a tall, large, muscular man with short, spiky, brown hair and he wears a red track jacket with a black collar, black track pants, a bandage on hid left cheek a whistle around his neck, and a white headband.
"Ok, time to get on the track. Ryo brothers and Corvex, on the track." Jim looks around and sees that Jaden is not there
"Where is Corvex, one of you answer me!" He exclaimed at Harris and Lewis
"Uh… he had a sprained ankle and was told by the nurse to rest in his room." Harris said to Jim
"You see, that is what happens when you are in poor shape, your limbs become weak." replied Jim
"Ryos, on your mark, get set…. Go" He signals them to start running
Back in his room, Jaden works on his computer, using a special program. This program shows a model of Aelita, with the color disappearing from the legs. Jaden hits buttons on the keyboard to get the color to be restored, but it continues to disappear until the color is all disappeared. The computer showed a red circle with an exclamation point in it. This is the sign that the program had failed. Jaden gets very frustrated.
"Ugh, why isn't working. It should have worked this time" Jaden complains and Aelita appears on the screen
"Relax, Jaden, Lyoko wasn't built in a day, so don't get down on yourself." Aelita tries to reassure Jaden
"Your right, Aelita, and don't worry, I promise that one day I will bring you to earth" Jaden says with much confidence
"Well, I have to go to lunch and there are serving salami, my favorite"
"Ok Jaden, I guess I will see you later, bye" Aelita disappears from the screen
Jaden heads to the lunchroom and sees Harris, Lewis, and Jaden waiting outside for him. They enter, get their lunch and sit down at a table.
"So Jaden, how is the materialization program for Aelita coming?" Harris asked
"To be honest, not that good, but Aelita reassured me that I will do it one day" Jaden replied
Meanwhile in the science classroom, XANA emerges from an outlet, enters the tank of termites, and goes onto them, possessing them. The termites crawl out from the tank, chew a hole through the wall and escape the science building. The move into the park where a large termite mound is and spread XANA's control to the entire colony.
Harris and Lewis walk back to their dorm room after their classes and hear barking when they are outside the door. They open the door and see that the barking was from their dog, Kiwi. Kiwi is a miniature bull terrier with grayish fur, a long, crooked snout, a reddish nose, and is wearing a collar marked "Ryo".
"What's up, Kiwi, is something wrong?" Lewis asks Kiwi
Kiwi walks over to the wall and barks at a few small, irregular holes in the wall.
"Those are some strange holes in the wall, it must be rats or something." Said Harris
"Yeah, we should go talk to Mr. Delmas about this." suggested Lewis
"Kiwi, stay here and don't make any noise."
Harris and Lewis go to the main office and go into the office of the principal, Jean Pierre Delmas; as well as being the principal, he is also the father of Sissi. Mr. Delmas is an old man with gray hair that extends into a bears and a darker gray mustache. He is wearing a brown suit with a light brown shirt under it with a design of a row of diamond shapes. Harris and Lewis explain their situation.
"So, you see, when we got back to our room, there were a few holes in the wall. We think there might be a pest problem in the dorm building." Harris explains
"I see, thank you for informing me and I will be sure to call an exterminator to handle this problem, for now please go back to your dorm." Mr. Delmas replied
"Sure thing, and thank you for your time." Said Lewis
Harris and Lewis head back to their dorm room and Lewis look concerned about something.
"Is something the matter, bro?" asked Harris
"I don't think it was rats that chewed through the wall, I think it might have been termites." Replied Lewis
"Termites? You mean the ones we were learning about in science class today?"
"Yeah, and I think XANA might be involved."
"Ok, if you think so, we should call Yumi and talk to Jaden" Harris calls Yumi with his cell phone
Yumi is a day student at Kadic and lives within walking distance of the school. She sits in her bedroom reading a book and hears her phone ring. She answers it
"Hello" Yumi answered
"Hey Yumi, it's Harris, we think XANA might be up to no good, meet us at the dormitory building at school." Said Harris
"Ok, see you there." Yumi sneaks out of her house and heads over to meet up with Harris and Lewis.
Harris and Lewis go to Jaden's room and knock on the door
"Who is it?" asked Jaden
"It's Harris, we need to talk." Said Harris
"Ok, come in." Harris and Lewis enter
"What's up guys?" asked Jaden
"We think XANA is attacking, there were some holes in our bedroom wall that look like ones made by termites." Lewis said and Harris' phone rings and the caller I.D. shows Yumi is calling
"What's up Yumi?" asked Harris
"There is a gigantic group of termites on the school grounds. Me and a bunch of other people are hiding in the library, but they look like they are going to eat through the foundation." Yumi said in a panic
"It is XANA, we need to get the factory, ASAP." Said Jaden
They run out of the building and through the park. They arrive at a manhole and enter it into the sewers. At the start of the sewers, there are three skateboards and a scooter against the wall. Harris and Lewis grab two of the skateboards, while Jaden grabs a scooter and they ride them to another passage to the aboveground. They climb up this passage to a bridge that leads to the factory. They enter the elevator and take it down to the computer lab. Jaden activates the supercomputer and contacts Aelita.
"Aelita, can you hear me?" Asked Jaden
"Yes Jaden, I can, I can hear pulsations from an activated tower." Replied Aelita
"We know, XANA has taken control of a colony of termites and Yumi is trapped at the school; I am sending Harris and Lewis to give you a hand."
In the scanner room, Harris and Lewis are in front of two of the scanners, ready to be virtualized. They enter the scanners.
"Ok guys, I have spotted the activated tower in the desert region. You ready?" Asked Jaden
"Ready and roaring to go, just say the word." Replied Harris
"Ok, transfer Harris." Jaden says and the transfer process starts
"Transfer, Lewis."
"Scanner Harris. Scanner Lewis."
"Virtualization." Harris and Lewis are virtualized and land in the desert region.
On Lyoko, Harris takes the form of a rogue with a black and red cloak that extends to just above the feet and is in spike-shaped pieces in the lower third of it. Under this cloak he has a white shirt and gray pants and boots. To attack, he has two long, silver blades with handles perpendicular to the blades resting on his forearms that can go onto his hand with a flick of the wrist.
"Aelita, where are you." Harris calls out
"I'm over here." Aelita comes out from behind a large rock
"See any monsters yet?" asked Lewis
"No, not yet" Replied Aelita
"Well keep your head up, you never know when something is going to pop out of nowhere." As Harris said that, a laser came from the distance and hits his shoulder. He holds it in pain.
"Yeah, like that." Harris said and the supercomputer screen shows that his shoulder is damaged.
"Heads up, you have four bloks heading your way." Jaden warned them and sure enough, the bloks approached.
Bloks, as the name suggests, are cube shaped monsters controlled by XANA. They are light orange in color, have grooves on their bodies, six red legs, and a half-spherical shape on each vertical face with a sign of XANA on it.
Harris flicks his wrists and his swords go onto his hands and Lewis draws his sword from its scabbard.
"You ready, bro?" asked Harris
"As I'll ever be." Replied Lewis with confidence and they charge at them while Aelita stays back
Meanwhile on Earth, Yumi and the other students are still trapped in the library. There are a few exterminators who have come to stop the termites but they were all attacked and bitten multiple times and they run away in fear.
On Lyoko, Harris runs to a blok and drives one of his blades dead center into the sign of XANA, the blok explodes and the legs fade away. Lewis destroys another one but just as he destroys it, one that was behind him shoots him in the back.
"Be careful, Lewis, you only have forty life points left." Jaden warns Lewis
"Well sorry, this isn't exactly easy, you know." Lewis replies and destroys the last blok
Aelita regroups with the Ryo brothers and the run straight to the activated tower. Meanwhile, the termites have eaten a few inches through the foundation of the library building and everyone is panicking.
"Ok you guys, the tower should be in sight." Jaden tells them
"Yeah, but before we can get to it, we need to do another round of un-bloking." Lewis said sarcastically
Harris and Lewis are hiding behind two tall, flat rocks with an opening in between them that leads to the tower. They see another wave of four bloks.
"How about you attack from the left and I attack from the right?" Harris asked
"Sounds good, Aelita you stay put." Lewis replied and said to Aelita
"Ready? Go!" Harris and Lewis attack
Harris charges at a blok and drives his blade into it and it explodes. Lewis destroys another one, but just as he does, a blok behind him shoots him and he gets hit.
"Lewis!" Harris exclaimed.
Lewis' virtual body began to break down into many small, blue and white squares and he disappears; he has been de-virtualized. One of the scanners opens and Lewis comes out of it, trying to catch his breath. Harris deflects the shot from the last block and destroys it by doing a cross-slash into the eye of XANA.
"Ok Aelita, go deactivate that tower." Harris said to Aelita and she enters the tower and walks to the center of the platform.
On Earth, the foundation of the library building is getting very weak, the building starts to shake and it looks like it can collapse at any moment. Aelita ascends to the higher platform in the tower and enters the Code: Lyoko on the interface. The building stops shaking and the data panels in the tower go down to the bottom and a white light comes up.
"Return to the past now." Jaden hits a key on the supercomputer and the light engulfs the area.
The Ryo brothers prepare for gym class and see Jaden behind them.
"So, you're actually coming this time?" asked Harris
"Yes, I can work on the materialization program later; if Aelita can wait, so can I." replied Jaden
"Now that is a great way to look at it." Lewis said