Despite my best efforts, I do not own Code Lyoko. MoonScoop does and they won't give me the rights even when I ask nicely.
Chapter 1: In Medias Res
"Today is a good day to be alive!" Aelita decided, savoring the sounds and sights of the battlefield before her. She watched in glee as her Roman Legionnaires decimated the inferior French Grande Armée. The sight of the French troops vainly trying to defend themselves as her troops slowly encircled them brought a smirk to her face. However, her smiled quickly faded as she realized her allies were advancing as well; Jeremie from the west and Ulrich and Yumi from the north and east. They all had their sights set on one thing... Odd's capitol tower. She remained the closest to his final stronghold and maintaining that lead was all that mattered. In fact, the final tower that separated her from Carthage was visible just on the horizon. All that was preventing her from reaching it was this minor skirmish.
With the last of the forests at her back she gazed across the lush, green hills separating her from her target. She knew this land better than any of the other Generals but they still held hope that they could beat her. Jeremie might come close but even he would fall prey to her superior tactics. With the entirety of the Roman army backing her, Aelita knew that loosing was not an option. The Empress breathed deeply as the cries of her enemies and clash of swords rang in her ears. "Definitely a good day to be alive." She sighed. A battle had been promised though, and she was eager to meet it. 'just have to overthrow the Napolean wannabe,' her mind reminded.
'Speaking of the purple menace...' she thought, calling for her monocular. The leader of her Praetorian Guard darted forward with the device. Though his features were mostly obscured by his helmet, Aelita couldn't help but notice a tuft of blond hair sticking out. 'Focus! We can find out what he is up to later.' her mind reprimanded.
She hastily accepted the optical device and directed it to the heart of the battle. Sure enough, she spotted Odd fighting with his troops. 'On the front line? Surely he must know I'd be here, why would he not be fleeing for the sanctity of his Fort?' Chalking it up to his foolishness, Aelita spurred her horse to charge at the oversized purple cat, followed closely by her loyal guardsmen. Their orders were simple, to secure the area around the two Generals and make sure nobody interfered.
Fortunately for him, Odd caught sight of the charging beast and waited until she tried to leap over his ditch, his troops last defense, and shot the beast with his last laser arrow. Unfortunately, the wretched creature's momentum was enough to throw its rider over the fortification and to a stop a few feet away from him. Odd quickly aimed at the pink-haired rider, and fired, only to be greeted by the all too familiar "chk" sound notifying him that he was all out of arrows. Before he could do anything Aelita rolled to her feet and fired an energy field at the pathetic excuse for a general.
With a short yelp of dismay, Odd quickly threw himself to the ground, allowing the pink sphere to barely pass over his head. He quickly rolled to the right and rose to all fours trying to scurry away from the Pink Empress. As he started to run, he felt a sharp tug from behind and fell back to the ground. Sputtering out a mouthful of dirt, he turned to see her holding him back by his own tail. With a dry chuckle and quick mutter of "traitor," he sat up on the dusty ground, awaiting his inevitable end.
"I figured you would be closer to my last tower by now," He said after a few seconds of silence, answering her unspoken question. "Especially considering your boyfriend's tro..." Aelita's foot connecting to his stomach forced the air from his lungs before he could finish. As he wheezed into the dirt, doubled up in pain, he felt her boot roll him over then gently press down on his unprotected throat. He glanced up and shuddered at the fury in her emerald eyes, giving up any hope of escape as her mouth formed a devilish smile at the sight of him under her boot.
She couldn't help but to laugh at his suffering as she slowly applied pressure to his trachea. "Look around you Odd, everywhere you turn you will see my Legionnaires crushing all who oppose my rule. And after you're death, there will be nothing between me and your Capital" She leaned down to his ear and hissed, "Jeremie is too slow and cautious, his usefulness will end once we dispose of Yumi and Ulrich."
"You're... wrong... there, Prin... Princess." Odd choked out, piquing Aelita's curiosity. She cautiously straightened up, summoning an energy field in case he tried anything. She released her boot's hold on his neck and asked, "And what does that mean?"
"Why don't you think I'm at my tower now?" Odd coughed out, his lungs no longer screaming out for precious oxygen. "Jeremie has practically conquered Carthage, this side has been cut off from the sector. He just needs to capture my last tower, or have you not been keeping up with your map?"
"You're lying," Aelita barked. "Just trying to stall your inevitable obliteration. Jeremie is still a day behind, with Yumi and Ulrich desperate to even catch up to him. And just to prove it to you..." She typed a few quick commands into her computer armband to bring up a projection of Lyoko. Touching the Carthage icon, she brought up a map of the continent to find that Odd had indeed been telling the truth; Jeremie's troops had conquered most of it and were currently laying siege to the Cat's last Tower.
"NO!" The pinkette howled, her attention drawn to the map as she watched the Macedonian Army slowly subdued the remaining French troops. Odd used the distraction as a chance to flee to his troops. He quickly tripped the Empress, rose to all fours and tried to make a dash for it.
Aelita, brought back to the current battlefield when she hit the ground, summoned another orb of energy and fired at him; at this close of a distance, she couldn't miss. The cat fell to the ground in a cry of pain, pink electricity surging though his body as he curled into the fetal position. The Empress crouched next to him, grabbed him by his neck and dragged him to a hill overlooking the carnage.
"Look around you Odd," she said, releasing her hold enough for him to twist his head. "Everywhere you look you see my Legion crushing everything in front of them, You and your troops are finished, but you don't have to die like this. Surrender! Give me full control of your troops and I'll let you live... as one of my servants." Aelita grinned at her disgraced captive and awaited his response.
"Thanks, but I'd rather go out with some dignity" The disgraced general replied. "Besides, my money's on Einstein to win, you don't know what he is planning."
"Au contraire Odd, he and I know exactly what the other is up to." Aelita chuckled under her breath, summoning up an Energy Field in her free hand.
"So the rumor is true." Odd's eyes widening in comprehension. "You two are..."
Aelita quickly slammed the sphere of energy into the former general's heart before he could finish that realization. Last thing she needed was for one of Yumi's spies or Ulrich's informants to hear her little secret. 'Though it would hardly change anything if they did' she thought, 'They are still going to die.' Odd flickered into nothing as his digital code unraveled, sending him into the oblivion that awaited beyond.
Overhead a disembodied voice announced "General Odd has been slain, four more remain."
Far off in the Desert, the Shogun stopped, catching her fans as they flew back to her. 'So the cat's lives ran out first, how fitting for him.' She thought before focusing on the front line of invading samurais. The French troops were one thing to fight, but now she had to face Jeremie's forces? Though they continued advancing, he was making them earn each inch. At the present pace it would take two days to reach Carthage, two days to give her opponents time to marshal their defenses.
A tap on her shoulder brought her back to the battlefield. "Shogun Yumi," spoke a messenger, kneeling in her presence. "The Czar sends word, he requests a meeting tonight to revise the invasion plan. He wants to meet at sundown in the western Way Tower."
Yumi smiled before beckoning the messenger to rise. "Does anyone else know of this?" She asked, helping him to his feet.
"No, my lady," he replied. "I thought it best to come straight here."
"Good" The shogun muttered, tilting the messenger's head to meet her eyes. "And I'm sorry for this, but you know too much already." The last thing he felt was a sharp pain in his abdomen as he flickered out of existence. Yumi continued to stare at where the man's eyes once were while she snapped her fan shut. A cry from below shook her out of her trance and she gazed at the battlefield below to see the remnants of the French troops begin to retreat only to find they had nowhere to run.
Turning away, she began the trek to her Way Tower in the east. If Ulrich wanted to meet face to face then he must have found out something important... they would need an edge if either of them wanted to win this war.
The Czar watched his breath come out in misty puffs as he savored the victory before him. His streltsy were finishing up the last of Odd's troops, and now Carthage was a day's march from his position. Still, Ulrich felt like something was off. 'Why hasn't Jer sent any resistance?' he briefly contemplated while staring out over the frozen wastes. While he felt confident that his Russians could withstand any assault in this eternal plane of winter, time was not on his side and every day his enemies were getting stronger.
'and my ally,' Ulrich's brain chided. 'if she even is an ally.' No scout or messenger had returned from the Shogun's camps, but she always met him when requested.
He quickly silenced the thoughts of doubts and turned away from the majority of his army to summon his Leib Guard for the journey to the Way Tower. It would be a long trek from the front lines but he had requested the meeting. He would give the order for his troops to rest for the night and leave his Oprichnina in charge before riding out. After all, it was not nice to keep a lady (a very lethal lady, his mind added) waiting.
Jeremie watched from his perch on an overhanging block formation as the late Odd's last tower turned from the neutral white to the winter blue of his control. The symphonic sounds of Mozart's Requiem I: Introitus played overhead, a fitting song for his victory here, or so he imagined. A single red rose appeared in his hand as he stood. Looking at the rose, Jeremie walked to the edge of his overhang.
"For you Odd," he said, tossing the rose over the side. "You were never a real threat to begin with and with your passing, the real game begins."
He turned to look at his elite guard, the Hypaspist. They were the best his army had to offer and were sworn to protect his life at any cost. He selected ten from their ranks and gave them his commands.
"Go to the troops, tell them to rest and celebrate our victory tonight." he ordered. "And prepare for the new recruits, they will need to be properly trained. Should any show signs of disobedience, or should you suspect them to be informants... you know what to do." The ten knelt and lowered their heads before setting out to complete their assigned tasks.
After they had departed, Jeremie turned back to the edge and watched as the first movement finished and Kyrie began. He allowed himself a small smile, everything was going perfectly according to his plan. His hands moved back and forth along with the music, conducting an imaginary orchestra while he considered the next course of action. Just as the crescendo came to its peak, a sudden thought bust into his mind.
'Jeremie,' the familiar feminine voice said. 'We need to talk.'
Reluctantly, he silenced the music and start walking back from the edge. As he headed towards his destination, he addressed his remaining guards, "I'm going into my tent. You are to make sure nobody, under any circumstance, disturbs me."
As he opened the flap to his tent, his smile returned. 'The entirety of the great Macedonian army is under my control.' he thought. 'It's good to be the king.'
Translations (loose):
Streltsy – foot soldiers
Leib Guard – Imperial Guard
Oprichnina – private court
Hypaspist – Elite Guard of Alexander the Great
So what is going on and why are the Lyoko gang fighting? What was Odd's final revelation? And why are histories greatest armies fighting it out on Lyoko? Spoilers. The next chapter will answer many, possibly all, of your questions. Though updates will probably be rare and more situated around break times. C'est la vie. (The more reviews I get, the more likely I am to update)