Chrono Chaos
Note: Code Lyoko, reincarnated Earth time line. Taking place not too long after the events of "Something Stormy", XANA pinpoints a new weakness in our Warriors. Thinking with his newest "abomination", Chronia, he can regress the Warriors back to their childhood forms will make them less powerful, he underestimates the Warrior's abilities as well as their intelligence.
Chapter 1—Like A Thief in the Night
School was in full swing at Kadic Academy, and the children were quenching their thirst at the water fountain while taking a "half-time" from kickball. Yumi and her friends were the lead team, having 10 points over the opposition. Jeramie, who was on the same team, could kick quite well despite what his friends thought. He had bulked up slightly in past days and wasn't quite the nerd that others had perceived him as.
At least now bullies had begun taking him seriously and had begun leaving him alone. His arch nemesis, Herve, counted on him to save his bacon and Jeramie usually did. On the one hand, they looked like rivals to everyone else, but Jeramie and Herve knew better. They often worked together in science fairs, and in dodge ball, they teamed up and took tactical maneuvers against the opposition. Their defense was incredibly intelligent, not to mention quick.
It was up to Herve to make another home run. Now, he wasn't the fastest runner in Kadic, but when adrenaline kicked in, he could run as well as a track star. Knowing his friends were counting on him, he pumped his legs as fast as he could and made a home run with no trouble. Yumi's team, nicknamed the Streaks had won the game without breaking a sweat (well Herve was sweating profusely). All the while, they shook the losers hands and congratulated them. There were no hard feelings, just plenty of handshakes and encouragement all around.
"Great game, everyone ! Best kickball game in the history of Kadic, I think.", Jim said, grinning.
"You've been keeping count ? Really, Jim...You must get out more.", one of the students said, chuckling. But Jim himself had been just like them and was a tremendous runner, but didn't tout the fact or boast.
Jim sat down to cool down with a bottle of water and sighed deeply. It would be a few minutes until his next PE class begun and he was looking forward to teaching them about nutrition and staying fit. He noticed a praying mantis crawling along the table and saw it was moving slightly slower than usual.
"What in heaven's name ?", he thought. Usually, a mantis moves like a leaf when fooling its prey but mantis never move so deliberately unless they have to. It was strange. He blinked his eyes once then again, and thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. It looked like a woman, dressed in a kind of armor, with an hourglass. He shook his head and then noticed his sleeves were far longer than he remembered.
"What are you doing here, kid ? Don't you know this is Mr. Morales' class ?", a teen, much shorter than him questioned. Now the boy seemed slightly taller for some strange reason.
"I am Coach Morales you realize.", Jim said, in response.
"Better get your head checked, kid.", the boy said, in a slightly arrogant manner. Jim raised his eyebrow. His voice had changed, and his clothes were much looser, even to the point of almost falling off of him. Something had definitely gone wrong and if Jim didn't know XANA, it was probably his doing.
When Jim had come home, Emily noticed her father looked completely different. It wasn't the man she remembered, but she recognized his scent anywhere. It was Old Spice, and she didn't know anyone else who adored that fragrance more than her own father.
"Dad, w-what happened to you ? Your clothes look so big on you, and you look younger !", she said, in a confused tone.
"I'm not sure myself, Lili, but I think it was XANA's doing.", Jim said, noticing the look of his wife was one of bewilderment but calm. All of a sudden, it had begun to rain, and Susanne and Emily had run to the windows to watch.
"Well, we'll figure out what's going on. After all, there must be some sort of logical explanation for this...", Jim said, and strangely felt sleepy. Almost as if he had been put into some sort of spell, he collapsed on the recliner and began to snooze. Emily and Susanne didn't notice, since they were watching a double rainbow outside in the faint sunlight. Emily was taking photographs since she adored the natural phenomenon of the rainbow, let alone the rarity of a double.
Odd whined about not having anything to do to Ulrich, who had been playing a game of Go against Yumi. Sissi was playing Life against Herve, Nicholas, Jeramie, Aelita, William, Naomi and Samantha. They were all enjoying themselves immensely, but Odd was bored out of his skull. If he had had his Tamagotchi, Jean Pierre with him, at least he could've kept himself occupied with that, but someone else had borrowed it.
"Ahhh ! It's so boring we might all just lay down and die !", he over-emoted. Sissi shook her head.
"Poor Odd. Having a bad case of the rainy day blues.", she said, pulling him over to the game tenderly and tickling him slightly. He laughed and grinned at her. She always managed to make even the most mind-numbingly quiet circumstance interesting. Then, they all seemed to notice that the raindrops began to slow down. They could see the shape of the actual drop, which was indeed, a teardrop shape. But, it didn't last long. The only person to notice anything terribly unusual was Jeramie, who thought he saw a silver hourglass from the corner of his eye, and a woman in silver-plated armor.
"So, none of you saw the lady ?", Jeramie said. They all shook their heads, but then reality sat in.
"Oh...my...GOD !", Sissi said, pointing at Odd. The rest of them noticed Odd's appearance, and then their own by the way their clothing fit.
"If I am correct, and I usually am, this is the doing of XANA. But I think perhaps that lady I saw might have something to do with her...", Jeramie began.
"We might as well put our heads together then. We'll have to inform the Moraleses of this. They might've been affected as well.", William added. And without any further dilly-dallying, they were off to speak to the Moraleses and discuss what could be done to stop this process of reverse aging.
Chapter 2—Small in Stature, But Not In Mind Nor Body
The kids, due to their now small stature, had to be cautious not to trip over their clothing on approaching the Morales residence. Susanne, seeing the children arriving, opened the door and let them in. It was still rainy, but the rain was beginning to let up a bit. Jim had slowly started to come out of the sleeping spell he had been put under and wondered what had happened. When he saw his friends, in their current form, he didn't have to ask.
The friends began to discuss what should be done, considering their current state.
"As far as I know I'm still as strong as I ever was.", Jim said.
"The spell didn't affect me, and I can only surmise it is because of my current age.", Emily added.
"She's right, but what about that woman ? Jim and I saw her, both at different times. I'm deducing her hourglass might be the cause of the spell.", Jeramie stated, his hand under his chin in a thoughtful pose.
"Can we be sure that she's the real culprit though ?", Susanne offered.
"None of us are sure of that, but if all else fails, destroying the hourglass should return us to normal.", Jeramie replied.
"Well, what are we waiting for then ? We're not getting any younger !", Odd said, trying to stifle a giggle. Sissi gently broad handed him upside the back of the head.
"Yes, and let's be grateful we're not. Come on, we have no more time to lose !", Sissi said, taking a hold of his hand. All of them together then raised their arms and teleported into Lyoko.
The Warriors were greeted by a barrage of monsters when they first arrived, and then saw Chronia approaching them. Thinking they would be weak as her Master said they would be, she began her attacks.
But they had no effect whatsoever.
"This isn't how it was supposed to be !", she thought to herself. In the midst of his grotto somewhere, she could hear her Master's anguish and irritation. She had to make this battle count to impress him, or else her creation was pointless.
One by one the Warriors began fighting back, but Chronia had been a formidable enemy. She had left herself open to having her hourglass struck, though. Jim saw a perfect chance to attack and threw one of his thunderbolts at it, but it only nicked the glass.
"Looks like the hourglass is stronger than we calculated.", Jim said.
"I'll try hitting it.", Susanne said, striking it with a Terra bullet. Then came Sissi's Gravi Arrows and Odd's Lazer Arrows.
"You call those hits ?", Chronia taunted, laughing. Before she could retaliate, she began to become younger. Thinking nothing of it, she tried fighting back but Jim held her in place with the palm of his hand.
She swung her arms around madly and yelled.
"This isn't fair !", she whined, pouting at him, until she shrunk into nothingness.
"Guess your idea about the hourglass was right, Jeramie !", Aelita said, having been very impressed.
She hugged him quite unexpectedly, which caused him to blush. The teens were still kids in their stature, but the spell was slowly wearing off. All the while, they could hear the anguished screams of XANA who decided to go "back to the drawing board" as it were with a plan that would not, could not fail.
Chapter 3—Such Stamina
Back in Lyoko...
Chronia had merely disappeared after she had been "destroyed" by the Warriors, still in her regressed state. XANA merely glared at her, unable to freeze her in time as he had with Revenia. She was so darned cute he simply let her go. He sighed heavily, and got back to his "master plan".
Another sunny, somewhat chilly day at Kadic Academy...
The majorettes were practicing for the big soccer game that was going to take place in only a few hours. William was on the team and happened to be one of the best players the Kadic Gryffons had. Ulrich was also another incredible player and made an unbeatable team with William. Though the two sometimes butted heads over playing techniques, they were really good friends.
The game was quite a nail-biter but the Gryffons had kept the ball in their court throughout the entire bout against the Lions. Both teams had shaken each other's hands and offered each other a meal at the local pizza parlor for their efforts. The Lions had wondered why the two main footballers hadn't gotten tired or even broken much of a sweat. William and Ulrich would never tell, but it had a bit to do with the after effects of going through the reversing spell. At least, like their predecessors Ponce d'Leon, they had actually experienced a little bit of a Fountain of Youth.
Epilogue
After the Lions and the Gryffons said their farewells after their shared victory meal, the Lions took their bus back to their academy and the celebration continued for another game won with a small party that Jim and Susanne helped furnish as soon as the players had returned from the pizza parlor. The party had been energetic, as well as completely enjoyable. But it had gone by all too quickly. By the time everything had been cleaned up, all the party-goers had left and Jean-Pierre had been indulging himself on the last piece of cake and punch.
All the friends had said goodnight to each other and quickly went to their quarters to begin studying for the oncoming midterms. The party had been a welcomed release from the stress they had been facing, as well as the recent soccer game. They studied what they could in the hours before bed and some of them fell asleep at their desks. Jim, who had been wandering the halls before going home, made certain that each teen was snug and secure in bed to assure their sleep was peaceful. One by one, he put Jeramie, Aelita, Herve, Sissi, Ulrich, William, Samantha, Naomi, Nicholas, and Odd to bed, mussing up their hair a little as an added sign of affection.
When Jim had arrived home, Susanne and Emily were snuggled up on the couch fast asleep. He turned off the TV as quietly as he could and put his daughter and wife both to bed. Then, snuggling in close to Susanne and kissing her cheek sweetly, he turned off the lights and fell into a deep, peaceful slumber.
All the Warriors, sleeping peacefully in their warm beds, knew this wouldn't be the last battle with XANA plotting his next course of action. They were aware of this, but they would come to that when it was time. For now, school and everyday life concerned them and this was all that really matter. Besides, even after becoming like children for only a day, they had realized something important. They would always be family to their friends, and more importantly to their mentors, namely Jim and Susanne. This was something they would have in their beings for as long as they existed. And that was what true, unconditional love was all about.
The End