Trapped
By SpaceWonder368
At lastly, I started my new Code Lyoko fanfic. Yes, this will be quite suspenseful and creepy like ALIEN. As for where in the canon this fic is, I guess somewhere around mid-season 3, but canon divergent of course. Anyway, huge things are happening in Lyoko, so you'll see what the heroes go through next time.
Prologue
"I-I don't get it... It was supposed to be simple! How-how could it come to this?" - Jeremie.
It was supposed to be easy... Simple... But it turned out to be all wrong.
Very, very wrong.
"Aelita, watch out!"
Aelita lets out a horrified yelp as she escapes from one of the monsters' lasers, with the ray penetrating into the ruby red rock ledge of the Volcano Sector. Specs of ash riddle in the virtual air. Good thing she doesn't have to risk suffocating from that. Her pink, ballet-like shoes dance the moment she ran, heart pummeling in her chest.
"Aelita!" Came Jeremie's frantic shout, racking the black, cloudy sky of Lyoko. "Stay cautious, the Scyphozoa might be anywhere!"
Circuit blue hues are glowering within the girl's face, glistening with terror and petrified breaths forcing out of her mouth. The last thing she needed to be is being wrapped by the mechanical jellyfish's tentacles.
"Princess, I'm coming!"
Racing across the ebony, flat terrain with a yellow trail flowing behind him, Ulrich manages to speed up to Aelita. Seeing her horrified stare, he squeezes her shoulder with assurance. It's the best he can do for now.
"To think we would be heading in another one of Xana's traps..."
Aelita nods in agreement, a downcast hum streams from her lips. Staring of into the distance, there lays a volcano, having the dastardly intention of eruption. That only strengthens their worries... And this was only the beginning.
This was supposed to be child's play; elementary in their books. However, this isn't the case. This wasn't straightforward anymore. Something has happened, and no one, not even Jeremie, can comprehend it.
Aelita deactivated the tower... She stopped Xana's plan. All they had to do was Return to the Past. Yet... it never happened. All warriors are in silence. Whatever this is...
...it can't be good.
"I don't get it..." Jeremie speaks up, flabbergasted with sweat dripping from his temple rapidly. He cannot believe this. "The tower deactivated... We were supposed to do Return to the Past..."
Ulrich didn't like the sound of this. They were able to do this before... Why is this any different? How could it be any different? He wasn't so sure. It could concern anything and everything. The whole world might be in grave danger and they might not even know it.
"Jer... Have you tried sending us back to the scanner room?"
An unexpected jab at the keyboard echoes across the sector, possibly startling the two.
"I've tried, Ulrich! Nothing's working!"
Nothing's working? How? How could it possibly be? This... This just doesn't make any sense. Not at all. They have to think of something... Anything to solve this mess... But nothing comes to mind. Nothing. Not even Einstein himself can configure anything.
The samurai clenches on his katana, gritting his teeth slightly in anxiety. He's going to make the AI pay for this.
"Any word on Odd and Yumi?" Aelita inquires softly, clasping her hands together in hope that maybe... Maybe things can turn out right.
"...You're all separated..." Jeremie faintly replies. How could things come to this? "They're in the Ice Sector. Now, I'm not even sure if the way towers will send you over there..."
"We have to try something..." Ulrich breathly exasperates. "We can't just be standing here like sitting ducks..."
"Ulrich's right, Jeremie..." Aelita proclaims, disliking the nearly uninhabitable sector. Even if they have taken care most of Xana's minions, others may be lurking around... And who knows? There might be new creations in store. "Xana has an advantage over us... We're trappedin Lyoko..."
The prodigy felt as if a blade sliced through his chest... Shock overwhelming him. This can't be. No... He can't believe it... That his friends are stuck in the virtual world.
"We... We have to try... Anything... You can't be stuck in there forever..."
The duo knew of that... But it's plausible. That obviously makes it a horrifying discovery. Aelita knows what it feels like. She spent several years in Lyoko... And she surely doesn't want to do that again... Especially with Xana being extremely powerful.
"Jer, we won't give up," Ulrich states with motivation. Already he has a bad feeling about staying in here too long. Will they lose memories like Aelita once did? He hopes not. "No matter what it takes, we'll always find a way... And we can't do that without our Einstein, right?"
Jeremie nods, starting to feel confidence in himself. They can't give up... Even if this whole adventure is just the beginning.
"Right..."
Ulrich observes the harsh environment around them, trying to find a way out of here. Trying to find that tower. What's terrible about this sector is that there are too many towers in one spot. None of them are sure where they came from. They all look so alike... How could they tell which one they should go to?
Aelita helped along, speculating on which one they should enter. It's frustrating... She didn't think she would see so many towers all at once. Just... Which one is the one they came from?
"You're all separated..." Jeremie's words rang in their heads, giving them trepidation. He's not wrong... All of them have been split apart, without any communication to one another.
"Maybe it's this one..." Ulrich suggests, resting his palm on one of the towers. Before he could react, the building sucks him right in.
"Ulrich!" Aelita shouts in panic, reaching her arms through the tower, hoping she would grab him.
Ulrich has his legs dangling, tightly and firmly gripping onto Aelita's hands. Gazing down below is nothing but darkness... A pit with no confirmation of where to go. It must be a bottomless pit... There is no data floating within the tower.
"Princess... I don't think... I can hold on much longer..."
Looking at his anxious-filled amber eyes, Aelita can tell that he is afraid too. He hides it under a stern, stoic mask... But it's still there. She knows that they're all petrified about this... About them being trapped in Lyoko.
"I got you!"
With a heave, she yanks him back into the Volcano Sector. Both watch the black, anvil-shaped clouds and the rumbling volcano out in the distance. To their worst luck, it might erupt soon. They have to find a tower that won't send them to oblivion.
"Jeremie... Can you locate which tower we should go into?" Aelita wonders, not sure how much she could take in this forlorn atmosphere. Already she can feel her knees shaking and buckling.
No response.
"Jeremie..."
Again, no response.
The warriors both exchange worried glances.
"Jeremie!"
"I... I don't believe it..." The sky shakes with Jeremie's voice of disbelief. "I... I can't detect anything on my radar... The only thing is you guys and the monsters..."
"You're... Joking, right?" Ulrich hoped so. This has to be a joke... This has to be a joke. Fearing the worst, he knows this is the harsh truth.
"...Unfortunately no..."
Exhaling anxiously... They knew Jeremie had to be right... And this time, learning the information of it is bad enough. The only thing they're wondering about now is Xana... What's he going to plan for them? Is he going to hunt them down? Do a devastating attack on Earth? What is it? What could the AI plan to further break them down? To win?
Rumbles start to bounce off the duo's ears... Alerting them. They began to increase, along with the ground vibrating. Visible hairline cracks are spreading all over the ground like webs.
"Princess, run!"
With panic riding them, they charge out of their way... Away from the volcano as fast as they can. If they can't be sent back to the scanners, who knows what could happen if they devirtualize?
The effervescent, sizzling lava scrabbles behind them, coating just about any shred of matter in its path. Fissures appear on the ground, just enough for the whole entire terrain to split. If they fall, they'll go to the Digital Sea... And be wiped straight out of existence.
Yanking Aelita in his arms, Ulrich blasts across the walkway... Unfortunately, there's a gap between this platform and the one next to it. He almost thinks of Aelita using her creativity... But they don't have much time.
"We have to jump..."
He hates this decision, but does it look like they have a choice? Not with all this lava around... One mishap... And then... Who knows what could happen to them?
Jeremie feels sweat drip from his brows... Hands clenching on the keyboard and hoping... Hoping they would make it across. The danger of it alone is spine-tingling enough. They have to be careful... And if they're not, then it's all over.
With a leap of crumbling faith, the warriors glide through the gap... A determined samurai holding an elfin princess. Aelita lets out a scream, hiding her face in her friend's shoulder. Ulrich, on the other hand, keeps her close... Eyes flaring with the confidence that they can make it.
The rocky earth becomes closer and closer in his view, giving him relief... Until he met face to face with it. Tumbling against the black powdery, flaky substance of amorphous carbon and incomplete burning of organic matter, they made it to the other side... Only, they bump straight into a tower.
Jeremie clenches the sides of his head, fingers curling into his blonde hair... Fearing what could possibly happen next.
Everything came so fast in their eyes. Blue data streaming throughout the tower with them plummeting to the very depths of it. It spits them right out, sending them into the next sector.
Eyes widening in shock... They can easily glimpse to notice... This isn't like the regular sectors. This wasn't the Volcano, Ice, Desert, Mountain, or Sector 5 sectors.
The ground is violet purple... And the sky is wonderful hues of blue, pink, and red... Shimmering within a starry sky. Crystals of multiple colors are sticking from the ground, glimmering within the light.
"Jeremie... Where are we?" Aelita breathlessly questions.
Jeremie can't believe it. "You're in a new sector..."
Far off in the distance and into the shadows, glowing crimson eyes locks onto them.