Code Lyoko: 1 Arrival at Kadic, part 3 of 3

by The Belpois Effect

Final part of 'Arrival at Kadic'. Long awaited, I know :3

Chapter 1.3.3: Arrival at Kadic, part 3

"So where are we supposed to meet Ginger, again?" Ashley and Alex walked across the dirt yard outside the dormitory building at Kadic Academy, and paused to glance up at the three story building, shielding their eyes from the glaring sun as they did so. Ashley's shoulder-length dirty-blonde hair rippled in a summer breeze that carried the sounds of laughing teenagers and singing birds. Her fair skin had already begun to turn a slight red in the sunlight despite some looming clouds, and Alex noticed this, pulling her into the shade of the building's covered walkway.

"Sorry, you're starting to turn red..." Alex paused and looked around before continuing with a grin on his face "...again! It really worked!"

"I know!" Ashley said excitedly, trying to keep her voice down. "I doubted it, but it really seemed to work!"

"Sam, and Ginger!" Alex said, excited. "We have to find them!"

"Let's go!" They both dashed for the doorway that led into the lobby of the Dormitory Building. Inside, their steps clacked loudly against the tiled floor as they moved quickly towards the staircase, passing a registration desk. They had almost made it, when a voice called out:

"Hey, you two, hold on a second!" Ashley and Alex stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked around. The voice had come from a middle-aged woman sitting behind another registration desk. "No student is allowed upstairs until he or she is registered with a dorm partner."

"Oh, shoot, we forgot about her." Alex muttered, walking back over to the desk. "Yes, sorry. I'll be registering with Sam." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at Sam, who had just appeared inside the building and was walking towards them, his face plastered with a wide grin.

"And I'll be registering with Ginger…there, right there." Ashley pointed her friend's name out on a list of girls already on the third floor.

"Thank you…here are your keys." The registration woman handed a silver key to Ashley, and two to Alex. "You two guys are just upstairs, farthest room to the right…say, you all seem very cheerful. Excited to be coming to a new school, I suppose?"

"I guess you could say that." Ashley smiled. "Thank you!"

"Have a nice day." The registrar smiled after them as the three started up the staircase.

"So…I guess it worked then!" Sam chuckled, flipping his hair. "This is so excellent."

"Well right now, there are things we have to do." Alex said, stepping on the second floor landing. "For example, right now, I think I have to glare down the hall at Caleb." He stopped and shot a vicious look at the boy with very short brown hair, an athletic build, and a tan body, suggesting he spent much time outside. Ashley and Sam chuckled, and continued on up the staircase.

"I get the feeling they don't get along very well." Ashley giggled, glancing back at Alex, who was now following them up the steps.

"Really?" Sam said, in a voice heavy with sarcasm. "What made you think that?" He groaned. "God, I just remembered that he's gonna stop us in the hallway when we go to unpack our things…and he's going to try and touch my guitar." He grimaced.

"Hey, you can leave it in our room if you want." Ashley suggested. "You can come and get it after orientation. Because that's one thing we don't want to miss this time around."

"Hey, Ginger!" Alex called up to the third floor landing, walking pass Ashley and Sam. "You up there?" In response, Ginger stuck her head over the edge of the railing and waved.

"Get up here already! I don't think it took you guys this long the first time."

"This is a really nice room." Alex commented, throwing his bags down on the floor of the girls' bedroom. "I love how it's the only other one painted on this floor."

"It is quite pretty." Ashley said, gazing around at the soft pink walls. "It'll make for a great place to hang artwork."

"Right, my guitar's going over here, behind the left bed." Sam said, carefully setting his guitar case down. "Who's is this?"

"Mine." Ginger said, throwing stuff from her bags into the large wardrobe. "I won't touch it!" She said, in response to the look on Sam's face.

"You'd better hope you don't. Anyways, when does orientation start?"

"Half an hour." Alex said, checking his mobile. "Can you guys make up an excuse for me? I have to go back to the factory."

"Why?" Ashley asked, puzzled. "Isn't the Supercomputer already on, since we launched a Return to the Past?"

"Oh, it should be. But I still have to link my laptop up to the server, and I have to be in the lab for that. I also want to go ahead and unblock the elevator…the long way around takes too much time."

"Right…we'll just say you're sick? Or, no, what about that you forgot your bag at the Train Station? Yeah, that sounds good." Sam mused.

Whatever works." Alex shrugged, leaning down and grabbing his things off the floor. "Sam, shall we get moving? We actually have time to unpack our things this time around."

"Right, let's go."

"Sam, we'll see you in the Library, all right?" Ashley said from behind them. "That's where orientation is."

"Yeah. Have fun doing whatever it is girls do in their spare time." The boys heard the door close behind them. When they reached the landing, Alex spoke up.

"We activated a tower on Lyoko, defeated three Krabs, and launched a Return to the Past. I wonder why X.A.N.A. hasn't activated a tower yet?"

"Well, maybe it has." Sam said, turning onto the second floor landing. "That Superscan program isn't on your laptop yet, so we have no way of knowing for sure until you go back to the Factory."

"Good point...oh, damn. There's Caleb." Alex grimaced, as they spotted Caleb standing in the hallway with some bags.

"Do we have to talk to him?" Sam muttered, throwing the athletic boy a withering look.

"There's no way around it." Alex groaned, slowing down. "He'd stop me anyways…Hello there, Caleb. Fancy seeing you here." Caleb turned around, a grin already plastered onto his face.

"Alex, what're you doing here? Can you believe it? We're both Juniors in France! Who would've thought! Oh, who's your friend? Nice to meet you. My name's Caleb." Caleb talked very fast, his hand extended. "Do any sports? Oh, what about music? Play any instruments? Me, I play the guitar." He motioned to a guitar case at his feet, after Sam refused to shake his hand. "I've got to practice some songs for my girlfriend who I left back in the states…Janna, she's called. She's a Senior…hot stuff!" He winked.

"Right, yeah, you do that." Sam chuckled nervously. "Well, we have to get going. We're going to be late for orientation if we don't have enough time to unpack our things…see you around." With that, the two boys squeezed their way past and continued down the hall, leaving Caleb waving after them.

"Christ…no guitar and STILL creepy as ever." Alex groaned, stopping next to their room. "By the way, here's your key." He tossed a small silver key to Sam, who caught it and proceeded to insert it into their room's lock. The door clicked open, and they stepped inside. Alex closed the door behind them and proceeded to throw his things onto the bed on the left side of the room. "Same beds as last time, nothing different."

"You're not going to unpack? We have enough time now." Sam said from his bed, where he was unzipping a duffel bag.

"No, I'm going to go ahead and get to the factory. I don't want to be gone too long. I'll just unpack later tonight." Alex reached into one of his bags and pulled out a European-style shoulder bag. "My stuff's all in here, I'm just going to go. Have fun at orientation." He chuckled, walking out into the hallway.

"Oh, you bet." Sam called after his friend as Alex left the room with a swish of his bag across his shoulder. The door clicked shut behind him once more, leaving Sam alone. He sighed, and began throwing stuff into drawers underneath his bed. His phone buzzed, sound muffled slightly by the mattress. He fished it out from under another bag, checked the caller ID, and answered the call. "Hey, Gingie... I'm just starting to unpack. Caleb stopped us again, albeit for a shorter time…Yeah, Alex just left. He took his murse with him too….Now? We've still got ten minutes…Allright, allright, I'll meet you there." Sam ended the call and tucked the phone into his pocket, sighing. "Christ...girls." He stood up and observed the mess on his bed. "Looks like Alex isn't the only one unpacking tonight." He kicked some clothes out of his way and opened the door. Once out in the hallway, he took his key out of his pocket and locked the door, giving the knob a few rattles to ensure that it had actually locked. He walked down the hall, sprinting past Caleb's room to avoid any surprise attacks. The sound of a guitar being badly tuned briefly met his ears, then he flew past the closed door and skidded to a halt on the second-floor landing. He looked down, and saw Ashley and Ginger staring up at him from the lobby floor, waving. He grinned, and started down the stairs.

Alex's converse-clad feet thudded down the earthen steps. He reached the bottom and jumped the pipe, making sure to brace himself for the impact on the narrow cement passage below. He aced the landing, sliding just a little bit on the damp cement. He looked around, then, spotting the light at the end of the tunnel, dashed off.

"Keep doing what you're doing, I'll be right back." Jim walked out of the gym, leaving his Penkat-Silat class play-sparring. He looked around, then headed into the corridor that led into the boiler room. He could've sworn that he had heard a door slamming shut. He shrugged, then headed back into the gym.

"My name is Jean-Pierre Delmas. I am the principal here at Kadic Academy, and I wish you all the warmest of welcomes." Mr. Delmas smiled around at the room full of new students staring blankly back at him. "Er…I believe that one of you is missing, however. Where is Alex…?"

"He had to go back to the train station." A blonde-haired Junior stood up, close to the back of the room. "He forgot one of his bags there."

"Ah, I see…in that case, he shall be excused…but I must ask you to take notes for him. The material about to be covered is very important. Are you his roommate?"

"Yes sir." They boy said, drawing out a crumpled piece of paper and a pen from his pocket.

"Very good." Delmas walked over to the student and handed another piece of paper to the boy, who took and pocketed it. "That is his schedule. Please give that to him when he returns." The boy nodded and sat back down, pen at the ready. 'Very well...now…" Delmas cleared his throat. "Here at Kadic, we uphold a rigorous academic principle…"

The grate above Alex's head slid open with the dull groan of metal against cement. He clambered out of the tunnel, pausing only to yank his bag up after him, and was greeted by a dull rumble of thunder. He looked up, and saw dark, looming clouds. The rain hadn't started yet, but it would. He slid the grate halfway shut and started along the bridge towards the factory, debating whether he should stop by the factory's control room. Nah, the Supercomputer would probably be wired into the system for security reasons anyways. A drop of water hit his head, causing him to start and look up. Shoot. He dashed along the bridge and disappeared into the gloomy interior of the abandoned building.

"...male and female students both have separate bathrooms each on their respective floors..." Caleb listened to Delmas drone on and on about school policies, his head growing heavier by the second. The blonde-haired boy sitting across from him dropped his pen, and Caleb jerked up, senses on high alert, until he realized that it was just the boy and nothing important. He let his head droop back down, but curiosity got the better of him. He turned his head slightly towards the boy, Sam, he thought he was called. Hadn't he said something about Alex going back to the train station for a lost bag? How odd...Alex had never been the type to forget things like that. But whatever. He stifled a yawn, and turned his head back to Delmas, eyelids drooping already.

Alex groaned, and kicked the door in frustration. The blue metal clanged hollowly back at him, refusing to move. He had forgotten that the door to the turbines room would be locked. He thought for a moment, then reached into his bag and grabbed a small black case. He wasn't as good as Sam, but he could give it a shot. Better than climbing down the elevator shaft, anyways. He pulled a small tool out of the case, put the case away, kneeled down so he was eye-level with the lock, and got to work.

Next to her, Ashley sneezed, causing Ginger to jump slightly. God, this man was boring. What was he droning on about now, cafeteria hours? Gah. Her thoughts drifted to the factory, eyes glazing over. How was Alex doing, she wondered? She secretly hoped that X.A.N.A. would do something to get her out of this torture. Her foot twitched. An itch near the ankle. Most exciting thing that's happened so far, she though, as she bent down to scratch it.

The lock opened with a satisfying clunk. Alex stood up and pocketed the lock picking tool, a small grin on his face. He wasn't as rusty as he had originally thought. He pushed the door open, once more surprised by how silent it was, and started down the stone steps. At the bottom, he was greeted by the hissing of steam. Surely the room hadn't been this fogged up last time he had been here? Or maybe it had, whatever. He grinned, eagerly awaiting what lay ahead, and sprinted into the gloom.

Sam sighed, and shook his hand to try and ease the pain in his hand. Stupid writing cramp. Nobody else was taking notes. Why couldn't he have gone instead of Alex? He jotted down a few more words and sighed once more. Things like Lyoko were Alex's specialty though and, let's face it, he would've probably screwed something up. He sighed yet again, glancing over at Caleb. Whoa, hold on. Had Caleb just been staring at him?

Alex ran over to the terminal, pulling out his laptop as he went. He sat himself down in the large yellow chair after discarding his bag, and powered on his laptop. A few minutes went by as he manually created a link between the Supercomputer and his laptop. A rotating green '+' appeared on his laptop's screen, giving him a sort of virtual thumbs up. Connection was successful. A smile split his face. He tucked his laptop away inside his bag, then turned back to the terminal and started working on the elevator. A diagram of the elevator shaft appeared onscreen and, as Alex typed, green '+' began to replace the red 'x' hovering over the three elevator doors in the lab complex. Once all of the doors were unblocked, Alex removed the elevator from its position at the bottom of the shaft and sent it to the main hallway. He paused and listened to it grind its way past the lab. Suddenly, a window popped up onscreen, accompanied by a frantic beeping. Moments later, the same sound came from his bag. Alex didn't even need to look at either of the screens. He knew the Superscan had picked up an activated tower. Heart racing, he pulled his mobile out of his pocket.

Ashley was pulled back from her daydream by a vibrating in her pocket. She, making sure Delmas wasn't looking, pulled her cell out and read the text just sent by Alex. Her eyes lit up. She whispered frantically to Ginger, who had heard the vibrate, then tapped Sam on the shoulder and relayed the message to him. Sam looked disgruntled, but said nothing. Ashley stood up, her hand raised. "Pardon me, Mr. Delmas, sir?"

"Yes, what is it?" The principal sniffed slightly, and looked at her through his glasses.

"Alex just contacted me and told me that he found one of my bags at the train station as well. May I go to identify it?"

"And may I escort her?" Ginger said hurriedly, standing before Delmas could utter a word. "She might get lost in town, and I've been here before, so I can guide her."

"Yes, yes, of course. Go on, but please don't tardy." He waved his hand at the library door.

"Thank you sir!" The two girls rushed out of the library, leaving Sam to stare jealously after them.

Alex's phone buzzed, clattering loudly against the keyboard. He stopped typing, and swiped his finger across the screen to answer the call. "Yes, hello? Oh Ashley, thank god...yeah, it's real. The Superscan just picked up an activated tower in the Mountain Sector. Where are you now?"

"We're almost there." Ashley said, her foot tapping impatiently on the damp cement. "We took the tunnel in the park...All right, see you soon." She ended the connection, and looked up into the gloom above her head. "Ginger, what are you doing?"

"Sorry, it was a bit tough putting the manhole cover back." Ginger's voice floated down to her along with a few drops of rain. Seconds later Ginger appeared.

"No matter. Let's go!" Ashley took off, leaving Ginger to follow close behind.

Caleb shifted uncomfortably. Delmas wouldn't stop talking, and he really needed to use the bathroom. A rumble of thunder echoed through the building, drowning Delmas out for a few seconds. Ugh. No more. He stood up. "Mr. Delmas, sir?" The principal turned to face him, irked that he had been interrupted twice already.

"Yes, what now?" The corner of his mouth twitched slightly as he stared at Caleb through his glasses.

"May I use the bathroom?"

"Yes, yes, go on." He irritably turned and began talking once more. "Ms. Hertz is the head of the Kadic science department..." Caleb stopped listening and hurriedly walked towards the door. He opened it and stepped outside. As soon as he closed the heavy door behind him, a though struck him - he had no idea where a bathroom was in this building. He bit his lip, weighing his options, then dashed for the front door. He burst outside, determined to make it to the dormitory and back before it started raining, but was met with a flash of lightning and the sound of rain falling all around him. He groaned, dancing lightly from the urge to pee. He had no choice; he had to go back inside. He kicked the stone wall in frustration. Shit.

The sound of the Admin. Building's front door closing echoed around the empty space of the front lobby, accompanied by the pitter-patter of rain on the roof. Outside, Caleb kicked the wall in frustration. Then, a brief light from the wall. A light? The electrical outlet closest to the door popped and sparked menacingly, all the while leaking some sort of black substance. The front door opened. The substance flowed onto the floor. Caleb stepped inside. The electrical socket popped and crackled one last time, drawing his attention. The door closed. Caleb screamed.

Delmas was cut short as the scream echoed around outside. Sam stood up, heart pounding. He, along with Delmas and a few other students, burst through the heavy library doors into the main lobby to find Caleb on the floor, seemingly passed out.

"What has happened here?" Delmas sputtered. "Someone get this boy to the infirmary at once!"

"I'll go." Sam said, pulling Caleb up from the floor, not happy that this had happened, but thankful that he had an excuse to get out of orientation. Delmas came forward and helped hoist Caleb up, so that he was leaning against Sam. Caleb groaned slightly, eyelids palpitating.

"Don't worry, son, you'll be all right." Delmas patted Caleb's back condescendingly. "You're going to the infirmary." He turned to Sam. "Go on, then, before the rain gets any worse." He pushed the front door open for Sam, letting in a damp gust of wind and a small rumble of thunder. Sam slipped out and, watched by some of the new students and Delmas himself, began the trek towards the infirmary. Caleb groaned again, opening his eyes.

"It's O.K., Caleb, you're gonna be fine." Sam smiled at him, then turned his attention back to the long walk he had ahead of him. Caleb suddenly struggled off of Sam's shoulder, and to Sam's surprise, began to walk alongside him. "Caleb, what…?" Next to him, Caleb, head down, seemed to growl at him. "All right, all right. No need to growl." Sam scowled. Try to do something nice for a guy and this is the payback? Geez. They continued to trudge along in the rain, Delmas still staring after them. Sam, looking ahead, missed when Caleb looked up at him. Even through the rain, Caleb's pupils could be seen flickering ominously. They shrunk, leaving behind two rings, one inside the other, surrounding the dot that was originally his pupil. Three short points grew out of the bottom of the outermost ring, each a short distance away from each other, while one point, slightly skinner and longer than the rest, grew out of the top. This formed a symbol, the same one Ashley saw on the floor of the room where the Supercomputer was housed in the lab complex, the same symbol that covered the main power switch for the Supercomputer, the same symbol seen on the red heads of the Krabs. X.A.N.A.'s symbol. Caleb had been possessed.

"Ready to go, ladies?" Alex's voice echoed throughout the Scanner room, reaching Ashley and Ginger's ears with about a two-second delay. Ashley looked over at her friend, and smiled.

"Ready!" Ashley stepped into the Scanner, turning just in time to see Ginger step into the one opposite her.

"All right, I'm starting the procedure." The whirring in the Scanners instantly increased, and the doors slid shut with a whoosh and a dull thud. Ashley shifted excitedly, already knowing what lay ahead. "Transfer...Ashley. Transfer...Ginger." Alex's voice echoed inside the scanner as her hair began to blow around. She wondered what X.A.N.A.'s attack was, and what the malevolent program was hoping to do by carrying it out. "Scanner...Ashley. Scanner...Ginger." She felt herself leave the floor, and she prepared herself for the big plunge. "Virtualization!" The golden light inside the Scanner increased exponentially, blinding her. The high pitched whining deafened her, cutting into her brain, numbing all feeling. She dimly felt her hair get violently thrown back, then she succumbed to the noisy light and relaxed. And then came the whooshing sound.

Sam plodded on through the rain, followed by Caleb. The Admin. Building had just gone out of their sights, and nobody was around. "Caleb, are you sure you're all right?" No response. The vein in his forehead throbbed. This kid was too much. He whirled around, suddenly glad they were out of Delmas's line of sight. "Look, you arrogant little douche, I'm just trying to help-" Sam stopped short, words caught in his throat. Caleb was staring dead on at him, but that wasn't what worried him. He was preoccupied because of the strange symbol flickering where his pupils should have been. Then Caleb raised his fist with a distorted growl. "Caleb, whoa man, slow down-" Sam was cut short as Caleb's fist connected with his gut, which expelled all the air from his lungs. Sam flew back and thudded against the wall of the Dormitory Building. His head lolled to one side. He was stunned, gasping for breath, a sharp pain shooting down his back. He managed to struggle to his feet, and saw Caleb walking towards him with a scowl plastered on his face and the symbol of evil in his eyes. Oh shit. This was not gonna be fun.

"Alex, I can see the tower!" Ginger's voice came through Alex's headset.

"X.A.N.A.'s sent us a welcoming committee, however. What are these monsters?" Ashley's voice rang through, sounding curious.

"Hold on, give me a second." Alex typed furiously, new windows appearing on the main screen. "Er...all right, these are apparently called Bloks. They have four targets and six sides, hence the name 'Blok'. They can shoot lasers and some sort of heat rings, you can jump through those if you're careful, though. Be sure to avoid their Ice Beams, however. They don't hurt, but they freeze whatever they hit."

Ashley stared at the three Bloks in front of the tower radiating a red aura, then ducked back behind the boulder she and Ginger were hiding behind. "How do we kill them?"

"Same with the Krabs." Alex's voice came back almost instantly. "Aim for the symbol." Ashley turned to Ginger, who nodded back at her.

"Guess it's time to try out my power! Ashley, head for the tower. I can take care of these blockheads." Ginger winked. "Right, then...concentrate...and...Teleportation!" Ginger vanished instantly in a small poof of what looked like the substance her Shadow Swords were made of, and when Ashley looked around the boulder, she saw the Bloks firing off lasers at Ginger, who had appeared mere feet away from them. She had fused her Shadow Swords and was deflecting the laser fire with the staff, twirling it frantically. Ashley dashed out from behind the protective barrier and ran along the narrow path, drawing three throwing knives as she went. The Blok closest to her noticed, stopped firing at Ginger, and with a furious 360-degree spin of its body, shot a beam of ice at her from one of its targets. It hit, catching her dead on in the leg.

"Damnit!" She cried, furiously trying to yank her leg out of the ice, but to no avail. The Blok that froze her paid no heed, and fired off a few rounds of laser fire at her. Ashley managed to dodge most of them, but two rounds caught her in the chest, causing her to let out a cry of pain and drop a knife. Ginger looked over, alarmed, just in time to see Ashley clutch her chest, which was crackling with electricity.

"Ashley, 30 point loss!" Alex cried over the comm channel as Ashley winced.

"Ashley, no!" Unfortunately for Ginger, the brief moment of distraction was all the two Bloks needed to overpower her. With the help of a combined Fire-Rings attack, her Shadow Staff flew out of her hands and clattered uselessly against the ground near Ashley. "Shit! OW, damnit!"

"Ginger, 15 point loss!" Alex's voice shouted as Ginger reeled from being hit in the arm by laser fire. "Be careful!"

Ashley looked up at this, and saw Ginger's staff near her. She instantly launched the two remaining knives at the Blok in front of her, then slid her other leg out awkwardly under her and kicked the staff back to Ginger.

"Ginger, catch!" The staff soared into the air just as the two knives pierced the Blok in front of Ashley. Ginger jumped, avoiding an Ice Beam from one of the other Bloks, and caught the staff. She lunged forward and drove it into the center of a Blok's target, then withdrew as Ashley's Blok exploded, throwing sandy-colored pieces of Blok around, before they flickered and vanished. The Blok that Ginger stabbed whirled around madly, golden light pouring from the hole in a target, then followed Ashley's Blok into oblivion. "Ginger, take care of the last Blok! I can free myself from this!" Ashley shouted over to Ginger, who was struggling to her feet after a crushing 50-life point blow from the remaining monster's Fire Ring attack.

"Will do, just get to the tower!" Ginger lunged forward and started dueling with the Blok, while Ashley drew her staff from the sheath on her back. This was gonna cost her some life points, but it was the only way out. She twirled the staff above her head, then brought it down on the ice. It shattered, as expected, but also left a nasty electrical tingling that, as Alex stated, cost her 10 life points. Ashley looked over at Ginger, decided she was doing fine, then started running down the final stretch of path before the tower.

Sam's footsteps echoed loudly in the empty lobby of the Dormitory Building as he dashed for the stairs. He looked behind him, and was slightly pleased to see Caleb still on the ground. At first, when his roundhouse kick had passed straight his possessed body, Sam thought that it hadn't affected Caleb at all. But, when the part of Caleb's body that was hit contorted madly and fizzed black and white, Sam took his chance and made a dash for it, satisfied only when he heard the thud of his body against the floor, and a distorted groan. He reached the stairs and started climbing. Near the doorway, Caleb, still fizzing like the static on an old T.V. show, slowly got to his feet. He let out a distorted yell, looking up at his fleeing target.

Ashley gasped as her body slipped into the Tower. Still not used to the sensation, she shuddered slightly. As she hurried onto the middle of the platform, an unnoticed-until-now pattern on the floor below her feet lit up as she stepped on it with a slight "ping". Ashley's eyebrows rose involuntarily. The pattern on the floor was the same as the one on the Supercomputer and X.A.N.A.'s monsters. This Hopper fellow had really done a great job integrating everything together. As she stepped onto the dot in the middle of the platform, the third "ping" sounded. She spoke up. "Alex, I'm in the middle of the platform. Now what?"

"I have to integrate you into the program that deactivates the Towers. Hold on for a second, Belpois is guiding me through it."

Sam ran down the second floor hall. He could hear Caleb's distorted breathing on the landing. He reached his room, and rummaged in his pocket for the silver key that would let him inside. Caleb appeared inside the hallway. Sam started, surprised, and dropped the key. It clattered to the ground. He bent to retrieve it. Caleb snarled, and ran down the hallway at inhuman speeds. Sam stood up, key in hand. He moved it towards the lock. Caleb slammed into him, throwing him onto the floor. His key flew from his grip and slid farther down the hall, completely out of reach even after sliding a few feet on the smooth wood below him. Sam groaned weakly as Caleb stood up and started to walk towards him. It was all over.

Ginger struggled up from the ground, her leg crackling painfully. "Alex…how many life points?"

"Ten!" Alex said miserably. "One more hit, and it's back to earth for you…be careful."

"I'll try." Ginger said, panting slightly. "No promises. This Blok is proving to be a real pain. It won't even let me get close!" She dashed ahead of the Blok, running farther away from the tower, and went to hide behind a large boulder to catch her breath while the Blok caught up to her. "Any suggestions?" Ginger sighed, her chest heaving, while the faint sound of clacking keys came over the comm.

"Sorry for the delay…I'm almost done integrating Ashley into the Tower Disactivation program…I'm on a bit of a time crunch seeing as X.A.N.A.'s attack is still ongoing …have you tried jumping on top of the Blok? It can't hit you if you're on top of it. From there, you can take it out with your Shadow Swords. One in a single target; that's all it takes."

"All right. I'll try." Ginger peeked around the boulder and saw the Blok creeping towards her, head spinning slightly in confusion. She breathed a heavy sigh, then ran out from behind the boulder and drew her Shadow Swords, leaping into the air above the Blok with a fierce cry.

Ashley tapped her foot impatiently, the sound echoing around her and intertwining itself with the sounds from the data screens that made up the tower walls. "Alex are you done yet?"

"Yes, I think so…" Alex's voice came back hesitatingly.

"You think so?" Ashley frowned.

"Yeah, I think so." He snapped back. A brief moment of silence, then he spoke up. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. Belpois wasn't very clear on how to it, and I'm not exactly a whiz with this machine yet. But I think it's ready, yeah." He sighed. Ashley smiled.

"It's fine, whatever. We're all a little stressed out. What do I need to do?"

"Simply step off and step back onto the center circle. You'll...er...float up to another platform higher in the tower, where you can deactivate the whole thing."

"Excuse me, did you say float?" Ashley said skeptically. "Float how, exactly?"

"I dunno. I can't do it. The program only allowed for one person to be integrated, and, since you went into the Tower first, I chose you. You're the only one who can deactivate Towers that X.A.N.A. activates from now on." Ashley sighed.

"Super. And how do I deactivate the Tower?"

"When you step onto the upper platform, an identification screen will appear. You identify yourself with a handprint, then it prompts you for a code. The code you have to input is 'Lyoko'. There is another code, but that one is for emergencies only. So 'Lyoko'. Your integration into the Tower program will be complete as soon as you put your hand onto the identification screen. You'll feel a bit of a tingle, but it's just the program accepting you."

"A tingle?"

"It'll feel like when your foot goes numb in class, and you get pins and needles when you move. Nothing more, I promise you."

"All right." Ashley took two steps backwards, swallowed nervously, and re-stepped onto the center circle. At first nothing happened, but a soft white light enveloped her body and she felt herself leave the floor. "Oh...oh! Whoo!" Ashley giggled softly as she rose upwards. Suddenly, she felt herself do a backflip in midair, and laughed out loud, the sound echoing slightly in the Tower.

"Having fun?" Alex chuckled. "That flip was so you don't stick yourself onto the bottom of the platform a few feet above you."

"Whoo! That was fun…eheh…" Ashley chuckled as she gracefully touched down on the second platform in the Tower. When she stepped on it, the entire symbol lit up with one "ping". She looked over the edge for a few terrifying, vertigo-inducing seconds, then decided that it was probably better if she didn't fall back down to the platform far below her.

"Are you going to deactivate tower anytime soon?" Alex asked impatiently. "You can't wait when doing this. Someone could be in real trouble."

"Sorry, sorry. On it." Ashley stepped forward, closer to the middle of the platform, and a screen blinked into existence in front of her with an electronic "pwing-thip!".

"Place your hand on the screen. Go on, don't be afraid." Alex's voice ran in her ears.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Ashley said nervously, but placed her hand on the screen anyways. As soon as her hand made contact with the rolling blue screen, It turned pink. The space around her hand crackled with pink electricity. Ashley frantically tried to pull back, but found herself unable to. "Alex, what's going on?" She whimpered.

"I…I don't know! I can't stop the program!" Alex stuttered, sounding panicked. "I-" Alex was cut short as the pink tendrils of electricity shot up Ashley's arm and enveloped her whole body, causing her to let out a terrible scream that echoed around the Tower. Ashley shook, convulsing. Her eyes rolled back into her head. The pink screen faded to a calming blue, and the electricity stopped. Ashley crumpled to the floor, very unmoving despite Alex's panicked shouts over the comm.

Sam rolled to the side as Caleb's fist swung downwards. He heard his fist connect with the floor, and heard the wood where his head had been make a sort of crunching sound. He gulped, frantically backpedaling to get out of Caleb's way. This managed to earn him a few more seconds on Earth, as another one of Caleb's punches missed and cracked the wooden floor. What the hell were the others doing? Why wasn't the Tower deactivated yet? In front of him, Caleb let out a distorted snarl and raised his fist once more.

Ginger leapt to the ground as the Blok exploded behind her. She sheathed her Shadow Swords and looked around just in time to see the Blok's shattered remains flicker and disappear. She smiled. Then Alex's voice, panicked and cracked, came over the comm.

"Ginger, get inside the Tower, it's Ashley! I tried to integrate her into the Tower program, but something went wrong, a calculation error I suppose, because an unknown variable entered the Tower as she fused with the program-"

"Alex, calm down." Ginger said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. "What happened to Ashley?" She heard Alex take a few deep breaths before he spoke again.

"When she tried to integrate herself into the Tower program by touching her hand to the Identification Screen, an unknown variable entered the Tower. It came in through through the Data Stream, that's all I could figure out, but it entered Ashley, and something happened to her because she's not responding, and I don't know what it is, and I need you to get inside the Tower so you can teleport yourself up to where she is and see what's wrong, O.K.?" Alex heaved a heavy sigh.

"All right, I'm on my way. Don't worry, She'll be O.K." Ginger said, turning and starting to run towards the Tower still radiating a red aura at the end of the path. She didn't get more than a few steps before she felt a sharp pain in her lower back, and cried out. She turned around, and was able to see a small, cockroach-like monster scuttling towards her before her vision left her and the rushing, whooshing sound overtook her once more.

Alex let out an audible gasp as he saw Ginger's I.D. card fade to black and white, twirl, and disappear from his screen. She had gotten devirtualized. By what, though? Some sort of cockroach. He pounded his fist on the screen in frustration. Now there was nothing he could do for Ashley except hope she woke up soon.

A floor below Alex, the whine in the Scanner room increased once more. Suddenly a Scanner whooshed open, and Ginger stumbled out, along with some steam. She groaned, and pounded her fist on the outside of the Scanner. What luck.

Upstairs, a frantic beeping began on Alex's screen. He looked up, and saw that Ashley's I.D. card had been pulled to the front. It was losing its color, like she was having her life points sucked out of her.

"No…!" The card blipped empty, showing that Ashley was totally out of life points. "No…"

"What's wrong?" Ginger asked frantically, climbing out of the hatch in the floor and running over to Alex. "Ashley?"

"She…" Alex pointed helplessly at the screen showing Ashley's black-and-white I.D. card. "…the program drained her of life points…and she's not back in the Scanner room…which…which means…"

"She's…she can't be…" Ginger was paralyzed, unable to move. She felt numb. A few seconds of dead silence passed by. Suddenly, Ashley's black-and-white I.D. card beeped, and flashed a brilliant pink onscreen. Alex and Ginger looked up, stunned. The I.D. card was regenerating itself, but in an odd pink color. The I.D. card seemed to now hold a 3-D model of another Lyoko Warrior design – someone with pink hair – then the card beeped once more, and the pink color faded, taking the 3-D model with it, and leaving behind Ashley's personal I.D. card, life points fully regenerated.

"What just happened?" Alex asked, stunned.

Ashley's hand twitched. She groaned softly, shifting on the platform. Her eyes opened. If anyone had been looking into them, they would have seen them fade from a brilliant pink color to their normal green. She sat up.

"Alex…what just happened?"

"Ashley!"

"Ashley, you're O.K.!" The two voices intermingled over the comm.

"Ginger? Did you get devirtualized?" Ashley stood up shakily.

"Yeah, by something called a Kankrelat. Looks like a cockroach. But, more importantly, are you O.K.? What happened?"

"I don't know. The last thing I remember before waking up is seeing pink electricity shoot up my arm. Then, nothing more."

"I'm really glad you're alive, Ashley, I really am…" Alex sounded relieved over the comm., which brought a smile to Ashley's lips. "…but you need to deactivate the Tower now!"

"Right." Ashley hurried forward to the blue Identification Screen, and placed her hand – the fear of the screen seemed to be gone – in the center. When she removed her hand, the imprint stayed on the screen for a few seconds, then was replaced by a blinking cursor to the left of where it had been. With six digital beeps, the cursor moved to the right, each beep bringing up a new letter.

'A S H L E Y'. "Alex, it works." She said, as her name disappeared and was replaced by

'C O DE', and another blinking cursor below it. Ashley instantly went ahead and input the code to deactivate the tower: 'L Y O K O'. Around her, the Data Panels making up the walls of the tower began to fall into the Data Stream far below.She gasped, amazed at the sight. More and more began to fall, and finally, the last one, a Data Screen located near the middle of the Tower, fell into oblivion, leaving the Tower in near darkness.

Sam gasped. Caleb groaned distortedly. Only a few feet away, Sam could see Caleb's pupils magnify, enveloping X.A.N.A.'s symbol, then shrink rapidly, leaving nothing behind except for a normal human eye. Caleb groaned once more, this time without distortion, then toppled forward, his once raised fist thudding to the ground next to Sam's head. Sam crawled over to him, and checked to see if he was still alive. He was. Sam sighed shakily, and smiled. They had done it. Then he stood up and hoisted Caleb onto his shoulder, and began to drag him to the Infirmary, hoping that Delmas wasn't wondering where he was.

The Kankrelat turned its head slightly, looking at the Tower. The aura had just changed into a calming blue once more with a ghostly moan. Master had failed. It turned, and quickly scuttled away.

Ashley climbed into the Lab, and was instantly attacked by Ginger with a ferocious hug.

"Thank god you're O.K."

"I'm fine now, really." Ashley smiled, walking over to Alex. "So, did you figure out what happened?"

"I'm still not sure, really…" Alex said, turning the chair around to face the two girls. "All I know is that a foreign program entered the Tower via the Data Stream, and then entered you when you touched the identification panel. I did, however, run a scan on you when I brought you back from inside the Tower, and I have some good news." Alex smiled before continuing. "The program did some good as well – you now have a new power. I don't know how it got there – presumably the mystery program injected you with it while you fused with it – but I do know what it does." He winked, and turned the chair back around to face the terminal. Ashley and Ginger walked to either side of the chair, looking curiously at the screen, where Alex had pulled up a 3-D hologram of a piece of the Mountain Sector. "Watch this." Alex hit a key, and a virtual model of a girl with pink hair appeared. The girl got down onto her knees and opened her mouth a bit. If there had been sound, Ashley guessed it would have sounded like some sort of melodic chant or prayer. Suddenly, in front of the girl, a wire alloy appeared, but not one of a person. The color filled in, and it was revealed that the pink-haired girl had just materialized a boulder out of nowhere.

"Is that was I can do?" Ashley asked, stunned. "And who is that?"

"That, my friends, is Aelita Schaeffer. She was originally the only one who could deactivate the towers, and this was her special power – Creativity, Belpois called it. Aelita could make things, like that boulder, appear out of thin air, along with a few other things. Basically, the Creativity power allows you to temporarily modify Lyoko's terrain, no matter what Sector you're in. There is an exception, though. Creativity doesn't work in Sector 5. And yeah, Ashley, that's what the mystery program gave you. Cool, huh?"

"You can say that again…" Ashley murmured, watching the simulation of Aelita using her Creativity play over and over again.

* Later that night, back in the Dormitory Building*

"…then Delmas walked in to check on him, as soon as I arrived. It was a pretty close call." Sam finished speaking and flopped back down on his now clean bed. "So yeah. I'm going with you next time." Sam groaned. "My back still hurts."

"Suck it up, you baby." Ginger scoffed from her position leaning against the wardrobe. "It can't have been that bad."

"No, it actually was that bad." Alex spoke up from where he was sitting on his bed, hunched over his laptop. "Apparently Caleb was possessed by what Belpois calls a Polymorphic Specter, A.K.A. one of X.A.N.A.'s ghosts. The specter takes over a person's mind. It replaces the pupils with X.A.N.A.'s symbol, and gives the possessed person superhuman-like abilities. So Sam, your punch really did hurt, sorry."

"Well, at least we know that next time we'll be faster." Ashley smiled from next to Alex. "Now that I have to be possessed by pink electricity, I mean." Everyone laughed.

"Hey, it's getting late." Ginger said, glancing at her mobile. "I'm gonna turn in for the night." She stood up, walked to the door, and opened it, letting light from the hallway pour in. "Coming, Ashley?"

"Yeah." Ashley got off Alex's bed, and followed Ginger out the door. "See you two tomorrow!" Alex sighed, and closed his laptop as the girls closed the door behind them.

"Today was exhausting."

"You're telling me." Sam groaned. "Right, lights out. Maybe I can sleep off this bruise on my spine." Alex slid under the covers as Sam walked over to the desk to flick of the light.

Outside the Dormitory Building, all was quiet. Jim walked through the space in between the two Mess Halls, then doubled back for another round of surveillance before turning in. He saw a light on the second floor go out, the last one in the whole building. He yawned. Maybe he could scrimp his way out of the last round. He was tired, after all. He walked back to the Dormitory Building and let himself inside. The door closed behind him, the sound echoing across the empty schoolyard.

Alex gazed out the window from his bed. Sam was breathing softly, already asleep. Alex heard an owl hoot outside. He smiled. They had sort of saved Caleb today, and that made him happy. He rolled over, a small smile still on his face, and closed his eyes. Tomorrow was a new day.

~Fin~

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