Code Lyoko: XANA's End Game
Episode 1: Arrival
By: Kakeru
IT WAS THREE in the morning at Cadic Academy. All was quiet on the campus until a soft metallic pop disturbed the silence of the woods surrounding the school. A pair of hands came out from one side of the manhole cover and carefully slid it aside. Ulrich climbed out of the sewer, nearly slipping on the wet grass. Yumi was next to appear. As she started to pull herself up Ulrich held his hand out. Yumi smiled as she took his hand. Next came Odd, then Jeremie, then Aelita. Odd quickly replaced the manhole cover and the five headed towards the exit to see Yumi off.
"So, did we get anything?" Odd asked with a yawn.
"I won't know anything till I examine all the data, but the bit I did get to look at didn't seem very promising." Jeremie replied rubbing his eyes. It had been the fifth time this week they'd stayed out late on Lyoko. "I'm really worried. It's been over a week since XANA obtained the Keys to Lyoko and he hasn't tried to escape again. Even worse, he hasn't been putting up much of a fight on Lyoko. It's like he doesn't care what we get from Sector Five anymore."
"Yeah. You'd think he'd try to get out of the Super Calculator as soon as possible after Franz Hopper stopped him." Yumi added.
"Maybe my father managed to trap him again and he's busy trying to find another way out?" Aelita said hopefully.
"I doubt it…" Jeremie's voice trailed off.
The rest of the conversation was unheard by the dark figure hiding in the trees. 'So XANA tried to escape eh?' The figure thought to himself. 'Well perhaps I can keep him entertained enough to keep him from making a second attempt.' He thought with a chuckle. Soon the group was out of site leaving the area clear for him to jump down. Even in the moonlight he could hardly be seen. His entire body was covered in black clothing. He bent down in front of the manhole and gave the area another look. 'Who around here would be awake at this hour anyway?' The mysterious man thought as he lifted the cover and placed it to the side and jumped down.
He bent his knees upon landing, placing his hand on the cold cement floor. He looked around the tunnels. 'Cute.' He thought noticing the three skate boards and two scooters. He then ran through the tunnels and exited at the factory, this time covering the tunnel entrance before entering the building. 'Nothing's changed since I was last here.' He thought as he slid down one of the ropes and entered the elevator. He pressed the button and the elevator came to life as the door closed.
The elevator stopped at the terminal level. He quickly entered the password and the door opened. 'They didn't even change that?' He thought as he sat down at the monitor and powered on the system. He watched as the holomap of Lyoko appeared.
After mere seconds everything was loaded. The profiles for the current 'players', as he called them, were clearly visible. He took his time and examined each one, then viewed other programs and logged users. 'So we've got Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and …Aelita? Couldn't be…' He stopped and thought about it for a moment before moving on. 'And Jeremie for the navigation. No as good a programmer as the old man, but good enough if they've survived this long I suppose.' He checked around the other programs, vehicles, the Super Scan, and a "Code Earth," then he checked the time. It was three thirty in the morning. 'Time to finish up.'
He took a CD-rom from behind under his shirt. He carefully put the disk into the drive. A few key strokes later the CD drive was humming quietly as it read the disk. Soon several windows opened up on the screen as thousands of lines of text began scrolling down. A status bar in the center of the screen showed the progress of what was happening. In 30 seconds all the windows closed as the bar reached then end and displayed the final message: "Installation Complete." The disk ejected as a new profile appeared along with the others. His task complete he shut everything down and left, quickly returning to the school grounds the way he came, recovering the manhole before jumping over the gate. 'Play time is over, XANA.'
THE NEXT DAY, Ulrich, Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita walked out of the cafeteria and sat down at their usual spot to wait for Yumi. Ulrich let is head fall back against the bench. While Odd tried his best not to pass out from lack of sleep. Jeremie sat next to Ulrich and went straight to work on his laptop while Aelita leaned against the back of the bench behind him.
"Hey, check it out." Odd said pointing at the administrative building. There was a black car parked at the entrance, standing next to it was a young man talking with the principal. "New teacher?"
"Couldn't be. If so there would have been an announcement already." Jeremie said without looking. Just then Yumi arrived.
"Hey guys. Who's that talking to the principal?" She asked.
"Dunno." Ulrich replied. "Too tired to care anyway."
"I know what you mean." Yumi said with a yawn. "Anyway I'd better get to class. See ya later." She walked off and headed for the Art's and Literature building.
"We'd better do the same." Jeremie said closing his laptop. Reluctantly the four got up and trudged off to class.
"I HOPE YOUR trip went well." The principal said as he guided the young man into the Administrative building then to his office.
"Quite well actually. The company sent me first class." The young man said following the principal.
"Glad to hear it. Have any housing arrangements been made?" The principal said sitting down at his desk, motioning to a chair directly across. The young man smiled and sat down, folding his hands together in his lap.
"None as of yet. The company has given me complete freedom on that. However, I only arrived just yesterday and haven't had the chance to look for an apartment." He replied.
"Well in the mean time we have a room prepared for you in the building. The floors above us are the staff dorms. Feel free to stay there as long as you like. Now, if you don't mind I'd like to start discussing the new network Mr. Yamata."
"You can call me Puck. Everyone does." Puck said interrupting him.
"Very well, Mister Puck." The principal said as he took out a sheet of paper and handed it to his guest. "This is a description of what we currently have." The principal stared at him for a moment.
"Hmm... I see." Puck said looking it over. "You will find that this new network is much faster and a lot more efficient than your current one. Along with the new network devices you should be receiving a shipment of two new servers and fifty new computers. As per the terms of our contract I will be in charge of installing the new network and act as network manager." Puck said handing the sheet back.
"Of course. However, once the installation is complete I fear there won't be much for you to do. Due to this I have a request; currently the school has no student counselor. At the moment Yolanda, the school physician is performing that task, however, she is kept quite busy with her work as a physician and doesn't have the time required to be an effective counselor. As such, once the new network is in place, would you consider taking the position? We would of course, pay you for the extra work on top of your current company salary."
"I'll have to think about that one a bit, but barring any unforeseen circumstances I believe I will be able to accept your offer." Puck replied.
"Excellent. Very well then. Now if you wouldn't mind I'd like to show you around the school and introduce you to the students. Then I will show you to your room and you can relax until the new hardware is delivered." The principal got up from his chair and led Puck to the Science building.
"AS YOU CAN see, chemistry plays a role in your everyday life." Ms. Hertz was concluding her short lesson when she noticed the principal at the door. "Now class, I would like to turn your attention over to Principal Delmas who has an announcement for you." She said as the principal and Puck entered the room.
"Hey, it's that guy from before." Ulrich said waking Odd from his nap. Up close he could see clearly what he looked like. He had short black hair and blue eyes. He wore black sneakers, khakis, a red shirt, and a blue jacket.
"Good morning students. I'm sure you're all curious about why I've interrupted your class this morning. Well I have a big surprise for you." Principal Delmas smiled. "Very soon we will be receiving new computers throughout the school and along with them, a new network." He waited for it to sink in; delivering good news to the students and watching their faces light up was one of the things that made his job worthwhile. "Installing and managing this network will be our new staff member. Care to introduce yourself?" He gave the floor to Puck, who took a French dictionary out of his pocket.
"My... name… is…" He spoke very carefully... in very poor French. "Raizo Yamata." Puck took some chalk and wrote it on the board.
"Great." Sissy said with an evil looking smile. "He can't speak our language so we can say whatever we want. I can't believe he came without even knowing a little French! What an idiot!" She laughed, getting a few chuckles from the rest of the class.
"Actually," Puck began speaking fluently in French. "I speak the language quite well. I only wanted to find out who the loud mouth in the class was." This caused an uproar in the class, save for Sissy who growled and sunk into her seat.
"This guy is great!" Odd said laughing.
"Yeah haha!" Ulrich agreed. "Hey Sissy, maybe you can help
"Alright children that's enough quiet down." Principal Delmas said. "Now does anyone have any questions for Mr. Yamata?" A few hands were raised. Raizo looked around and picked one randomly.
"Where are you from Mr. Ya...Yamawta?" The student struggled.
"I'm from Japan, and you can refer to me as 'Mister Puck.' It's a nickname I've had since I was your age." Puck explained.
"Hey... doesn't he kind of look like my doll?" Aelita whispered to Jeremie.
"Yeah he does look a bit like it. What a strange coincidence." Jeremie whispered back.
"You don't look Japanese." Another student said covering up the private conversation. "How can you be from Japan?"
"Well, when I was born, my mother was in Japan living with a friend and her husband. My father had recently died in a plane crash and her friend was helping her through it. During my mother's stay she went into labor and died at the hospital shortly after I was born. My mom's friend, that is, my foster mother and her husband decided to adopt me. So my nationality is Japanese although my real parents were American." Puck explained. There were a few "ahh"s in the room. Another hand was raised.
"When did you learn French?" The student asked.
"When I was about your age my foster parents sent me here as a border. Apparently my birth mother had often discussed my future with them, so they honored her wishes." A few more "ahh"s.
"Are there any other questions?" Delmas asked taking the floor again. This time almost the entire class had their hands raised. Delmas looked around. "Okay we'll take one more. Go ahead Jeremie." He said making the choice. On cue there was a collective sigh of disappointment.
"The principal said you're here to install and manage a new network, can you tell us a little more about it?" Jeremie asked.
"While I can't tell you all the details, I will say that this new network will be much faster and more efficient than the current network. I'll be replacing everything with the newest available technology. I think you will all be quite pleased." Puck said leaning against the lower part of the chalkboard.
"You look pretty young for someone hired by the school to install a network." Jeremie said.
"I'm not that young. Twenty-two is pretty old if you ask me." Puck replied.
The room gasped… TWENTY-TWO? Was the collective thought. "You must be a genius!" One student exclaimed. "Could you help me with my homework?" Another asked. Soon it was impossible to understand what each person was saying. All of a sudden there was a loud THWAP! Instantly the room was silent, all attention was on Ms. Hertz as she replaced the meter stick she had just smacked against the chalkboard.
"Thank you for coming 'Mister Puck' and Mr. Delmas." Ms. Hertz said calmly.
"Our pleasure. Now if you'll excuse us we have other classes to visit." Principal Delmas said with a nod. Then he guided Puck out of the room and class resumed.
The rest of the visits were mostly the same. Principal Delmas and Puck visited each class until they had covered just about the entire school when finally it was time for lunch. Puck grabbed a couple bags from his car before following the principal to the room the school had prepared for him. Finally he was left alone.
The room was much like the student dorms, only it was a bit larger and included a private bathroom and shower. Puck dropped his bags on the floor next to the bed and went back to move his car into the parking lot behind the school. He quickly returned to his room and fell onto the bed.
'What a way to start the morning...' He thought to himself as he rolled onto his back and looked up at the ceiling. 'So I guess that Jeremie kid is pretty smart. Even so I'm surprised he's been navigating the others on Lyoko.' He looked at his watch and set it to go off in an hour. 'And that girl Aelita... she looks exactly like her... But no... She'd be my age now.' With that thought he fell asleep, the muffled sounds of students headed to lunch could be heard through the walls.
IN THE LUNCHROOM the group was just sitting down at their usual table. Everyone was exhausted, especially Yumi since she had to walk home every night and naturally got to bed later than everyone else. Everyone ate slowly and none of them spoke until Jeremie broke the silence.
"So..." he began cautiously. "I'd like to go back and get some more information from Sector 5 tonight." The others stopped eating and stared at him.
"What's the point?" Ulrich said speaking up. "We'll just get he same thing we've gotten the entire week, nothing."
"Yeah Jeremie, normally I would love to go and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd really like to get to bed early tonight." Odd added. Jeremie looked around disappointed.
"Come on guys... Yumi? Aelita? How about you?" Jeremie pleaded.
"Sorry Jeremie but it's getting harder and harder to explain my fatigue to my parents." Yumi said turning back to her tray.
"And I agree with the others Jeremie." Aelita said reluctantly. "We haven't gotten anything useful and we're all tired. Whatever XANA's up to the answer isn't in Sector 5. If it was he wouldn't let us get in so easily. We're just going to have to wait for him to make his move, and when he does we all need to be ready, that means resting as much as possible."
"Just one more time. Tomorrow is Saturday so if we go tonight then tomorrow you can go to bed early and sleep late on Sunday. Please?" Jeremie begged. The others exchanged worried looks then finally nodded in agreement.
"Fine Jeremie. Tonight is the last night. After that we get as much rest as possible and wait for XANA's next move." Ulrich said as they all went back to their lunches.
Half an hour later they headed outside. They had another half hour left of lunch during which they spent mostly sitting around Jeremie at the bench. They were just getting ready to go back to class when Jeremie's laptop started beeping.
"Change of plans guys." Jeremie said after opening his laptop. "Activated Tower in the Forest. Let's take care of it before XANA has a chance to attack." Everyone groaned as they headed for the sewer entrance in the woods.
IN PUCK'S ROOM his cell phone was making an annoying chirp. Puck moaned as he picked up his phone and looked at the time. Lunch was just ending. He sat up and flipped open his phone found he had a new text message. "Forest Tower Activated." He smiled as he got up and left his room heading outside at a relaxed pace. 'Don't rush.' He told himself. 'If you get there too soon you won't be able to introduce yourself properly.' He thought walking into the woods.
JEREMIE, ULRICH, YUMI, Odd, and Aelita had already arrived at the factory. Jeremie stepped off the elevator at the terminal level while the others headed for the scanners. He was just about to launch the transfer program we he noticed a new profile in with the others. 'What the… How did this get here?'
"Hey Jeremie! What's the hold up?" Ulrich called from the scanner room.
"There's something weird on the monitor…" He shook his head. "Don't worry about it right now. I'm starting the transfer." He called back.
"Something weird?" Ulrich said, exchanging looks with the others. "Are you sure it's safe?" He called back to Jeremie.
"Yeah I checked the transfer protocols and nothing's been changed. Now let's hurry before XANA attacks!" Jeremie yelled back.
IN THE SCANNER room the others reluctantly entered the scanners. First Ulrich and Yumi.
"TRANSFER ULRICH, TRANSFER Yumi. Scanner Ulrich, Scanner Yumi… Virtualization!"
ON LYOKO ULRICH and Yumi arrived safely, dropping down to the floor of the forest. The three vehicles appeared a second later. "I've programmed your vehicles for you and I'm sending Odd and Aelita now." Jeremie said from the real world.
"TRANSFER ODD, TRANSFER Aelita. Scanner Odd, Scanner Aelita… Virtualization!"
ODD AND AELITA dropped down behind Ulrich and Yumi. "How do you feel guys?" They all heard Jeremie's voice. Ulrich looked around.
"We're all fine." Ulrich said.
"I thought so. This is still really weird though." Jeremie said.
"What is?" Yumi asked.
"There's a new profile. 'Puck.' That's what it says." Jeremie replied.
"Puck… isn't that the name of that new computer guy the Principle was introducing today?"
"Yeah… it may just be a coincidence though. Anyway, the tower is south east of your location. Be careful, with XANA's new power there's no telling what to expect." Jeremie warned as the group got on the vehicles. Aelita and Yumi shared the overboard as usual.
OUTSIDE PUCK WAS just arriving at the factory. He quietly slid down one of the ropes and got into the elevator. He headed directly for the scanners.
IN THE TERMINAL room, Jeremie was watching the display nervously. 'Why now?' He thought to himself. He was so busy he didn't notice the security feed from the elevator showing Puck enter the scanner room. Just then Jeremie heard Ulrich yell.
"AHHH! Jeremie? What are you doing? We're being attacked by Krabs... lots of them! Why didn't you warn us!" Ulrich demanded as he avoided the laser blasts from the Krabs. He couldn't believe how many there were as he drew his sword and sped forward with Odd following closely behind him in the air. Yumi and Aelita turned and headed behind one of the tree trunks for cover.
"What Krabs? They aren't on my screen! Ulrich! XANA has found a way to hide his monsters from me. I'll see what I can do to get it back but it will take some time!" Jeremie said as he began typing furiously.
DOWN IN THE scanner room Puck was awestruck by the scanners. 'It's been so long…' He thought putting his hand on one of them. 'Not a spec of dust… Just like I remember.'
ON LYOKO ULRICH was speeding past most of the Krabs, swinging his katana, trying to take out as many as he could. As he made a turn to the right one of the Krabs shot Ulrich in the shoulder. Ulrich shouted in pain and nearly lost control of his bike. "Jeremie, I just got hit how many life points do I have left?"
"This can't be right!" Jeremie exclaimed. "Ulrich you just lost half your life points how many times did you get hit!"
"ONCE!" Ulrich shouted.
"This can't be... How could XANA make them so powerful?" Jeremie was stunned... He just stopped moving, stopped talking, he barely even breathed.
"Jeremie? JEREMIE! What should we do?" Odd shouted as he weaved through the trees managing to avoid all the shots aimed at him. He fired back calling out "Laser Arrow!" hitting one of them dead center in the weak spot… But nothing happened. It just kept firing. "Oh man." Odd said to himself. "XANA must have given you guys a big upgrade. Too bad he forgot to upgrade your looks!" Odd said just as he managed to dodge another volley of laser shots.
"Okay Aelita, you should be safe here." Yumi said dropping Aelita off away from the monsters before heading back. She took out one of her fans and threw it at a Krab only for the Krab to duck down completely avoiding it. It bent its head up and began firing at Yumi. "Wha?" Yumi said startled. "When did they learn to do that!"
BACK IN THE factory Jeremie was still just sitting there staring blankly at the screen. The others were still shouting for support. "Jeremie what should we do?" "Jeremie I need more arrows!" "Jeremie they're not going down how do we take them out?" Finally a horrible thought crept into his mind. 'There's nothing I can do…' He thought to himself… That's when he heard a new voice... Not from Lyoko, from below him, from the scanner room.
"Hey!" The voice shouted. "Hey you up there! Hurry and send me there's no time!"
That snapped Jeremie back to reality. "Who are you!" He shouted back.
"Who do you think!" Puck shouted back. He took a deep breath before shouting again. "I promise I'm not one of XANA's creations. I'm here to help."
Jeremie was having trouble deciding. The guys were in trouble… But this could also be one of XANA's tricks. Even so none of XANA's creations had ever made a promise. Mostly they had been seductive, trying to get him to take them willingly to the factory to send them to Lyoko. Then again, XANA has gotten a lot smarter and a lot stronger. Jeremie grabbed his head and shut his eyes tight. 'What should I do!' Just then he heard a scream through his earpiece… It was Aelita!
AELITA PRESSED HER back against the virtual tree trunk. A Krab had virtualized behind her. She'd noticed just in time to avoid its first shot, but now it was approaching her slowly, a heavy thud with each step it took. "Jeremie… help….." Aelita pleaded.
JEREMIE'S EYES WENT wide. 'No… Not Aelita!' That was it. He made his decision, for better or worse, he had to do something. "Okay." He called down. "Get into the scanner. I'll transfer you."
"About time!" Puck shouted stepping into one of the scanners. It had been a long time since he'd been inside. The feeling was almost nostalgic as he turned to face the closing scanner doors. He closed his eyes as Jeremie started up the process...
"Transfer..." On the screen Puck's profile was selected. "Puck." Next a window opened up displaying Puck's body outlined in green. "Scanner Puck."
Inside the scanner Puck felt lighter, loose ends of his clothing began to float, his hair flowing upwards as the scanner started humming gently.
Jeremie took a deep breath and finally… "VIRTUALIZATION!"
A gust of wind from below, Puck's hair stood on end as his body was taken apart and transformed into digital data…
ON LYOKO PUCK'S body formed and dropped to the ground.
END
Next Episode:
PUCK WASTED NO time. He quickly bent his knees and jumped into the sky, going high and higher until he landed safely at the top of one of the trees. He turned to face south east and then began jumping from treetop to treetop as fast as he could. 'I hope no one gets devirtualized before I get to make my grand re-entrance.' Puck thought with a smile.
Jeremie: What's this?
Odd: A preview of the next episode.
Ulrich: What? We're giving it away?
Yumi: No I think it's just supposed to be a teaser so they'll read the next part.
Aelita: Well that's O.K. isn't it?
Ulrich: NO WAY! It's embarrassing enough to need saving! Now I have to sit here and watch it happen not once but TWICE in the preview?
Yumi: umm.. Ulrich you weren't supposed to tell them that... It's not in the preview.
Ulrich(blushing): oops... my bad...
Jeremie: Ugh... Thanks a LOT Ulrich. Well if you're going to go and give everything away I'm leaving. (exits stage left)
Odd, Yumie, Aelita: See-ya later. (exits stage right)
Ulrich: Wait! Don't leave me all alone out here! Aw man.. Hey. Readers. Yeah you guys. Do me a favor and read the next episode like you didn't hear what I said earlier okay? Promise? Great. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go apologize to Yumi before she makes me sleep on the couch again.