Chapter 2.1.2 of 50: A Blessed Mistake, Part 1
"…mmh…"
"Oh, he's so cute! What should I call him?"
"What about Mr. Pück? It means goblin."
"Do you like him?"
"Oh thank you, mommy!"
"…hmmmm…"
Ashley's eyes slowly opened. She found herself staring at a golden ray of sunlight on the floor. Sunlight? God, it must be late morning, close to noon? She groaned, rubbing her eyes to clear her vision. She sat up, blinking. She saw an unmoving lump in the bed across her, and grinned. Looks like she wasn't the only person who had slept in. She sighed as she stood up and shuffled to the wardrobe. She glanced at the digital clock on the desk as she turned towards the wardrobe. 9:18 A.M.. Had she missed breakfast? No idea. Had she unpacked last night? She silently opened the doors, and spotted her toiletries bag next to her shoes. Guess she had unpacked after all.
She turned the knob and hot water poured out. The shower room started to fill with steam. She stepped into the stream of hot bliss, sighing contentedly. She moved her head under the spout, letting the water thunder onto her head. She glanced down at the hair dye sitting on the floor. Light brown. She had been putting it off for a while, but going to Lyoko had sealed the deal. She had REALLY liked the way it looked. She turned around with eyes closed, letting the hot water stream down her back. What an odd dream she had last night, though. Blurry shapes and figures, but sound that was crystal clear. Kind of like a YouTube video. Mr. Pück…who…or what…was that? Definitely not something she remembered from her childhood. And the voices…there was…a young girl's, a man's, and a woman's…a family? How odd. The dream was fading already...she sighed. Oh well. She leant down and picked up the hair dye. She grinned. The time was right.
Ginger stood in front of a bathroom mirror brushing her teeth when she heard Ashley's shower stop.
"It's about time." She called into the shower room, a minty taste filling her mouth from her toothpaste. "I was in after you and out before you! What were you doing, anyways?" Ashley's footsteps squelched slightly on the wet tile as she walked into the changing room, body covered by a fluffy white towel.
"This!" She shook out her hair, now a little below ear level. The color had changed from a dirty blonde to a beautiful light brown, and when she shook it out, a lock fell over her left eye, producing a very stunning image. "Cutting it took a little longer than imagined, and the hair dye was hell for a few minutes. But I like it!" She walked over to a mirror and wiped a spot clean. She smiled, liking what she saw. "I couldn't get it to go into the pixy hairdo I had on Lyoko, but it's close enough, right?"
"Yeah!" Ginger said, very impressed. "I really like it!" She blushed slightly, and tugged at a towel that covered her head. "What about mine?" She let the towel fall to the floor, and her ear-length, jet-black hair fell out. Ashley gasped.
"Oh, it's beautiful!" She brushed it slightly with her fingers. "And so silky!"
"Thanks." Ginger chuckled, shaking her hair around to fluff it out a bit. "I liked my Lyoko hairstyle too. And, honestly, my hair's been brown for too long a time now. Time to let the roots have their fun." Both girls laughed, the sound echoing off the tiled walls.
"That Rosa's a real nice person." Alex mumbled through a mouth full of bacon. Sam, sitting next to him, nodded.
"You only think she's nice because she let us in to have breakfast an hour or so late." Ginger said from across the table, nibbling on some french toast.
"Well, yeah. She's in my good books now. Besides, I don't see you complaining."
"Alex's right." Ashley laughed, sitting across the table from Sam. "Rosa's really nice."
"God, I still can't get over your hair." Sam spoke up now, after swallowing some scrambled eggs. "It's like you're a totally different person! And I mean this in the good way." Sam smiled. Ashley blushed slightly and looked away, a small smile on her face as well.
"So what are we supposed to do today? We still have six days before classes actually start, and nobody's said anything about any sort of activity." Ginger quickly spoke up, expertly steering the conversation away from awkward territory.
"Jim told the boys this morning that all new students were free to go into town to buy supplies for our classes. I, however, have all my things." Alex pulled a rumpled piece of paper out of the pocket of his jeans, and read out his schedule. "Arts Education, Computer Programming, Pre-Calculus, French History, Photography 101, and Chemistry. Yup, everything's been bought. What about you guys?"
"C++ Programming, Computer Programming, Calculus, French History, Music Education, and Physics." Sam recited, without even having to look at his schedule. "I have everything, but I'll need to borrow your laptop occasionally, Alex."
"No problem. It's already screwed up anyways; you cannot possibly make it worse." Alex grinned.
"Oh, we'll see!" Sam laughed.
"Arts Education, Self Study…that's painting, for me, in my room…Calculus, French History, Photography 101, and Physics." Now Ashley spoke up, her schedule on the table in front of her. "I've got all my supplies, even an easel!" Ashley said excitedly.
"She's not lying…she set it up by my bed last night." Ginger said cheerfully.
"I asked you if I could!"
"And I said I don't mind. I get a front row seat to see an artist at work!" Ashley smiled. "Anyways…French II, Flora and Fauna Studies, Pre-Calculus, French History, Photography 101, and Chemistry. I've got all my things too…so what does that mean we get to do?"
"Jim told us that of we already had our things, then we could finish up our summer assignments…" Sam said, taking a sip of coffee. "…but I've already finished all of mine." This comment was met with a united "Me too." From the other three.
"So…free day?" Alex asked.
"Free day." Sam grinned. "AKA, training on Lyoko day! Let's go." The group stood up, the sound of their chairs scraping against the floor drawing Rosa's attention.
"You kids done?" She asked cheerfully, a ladle in hand. "D'you want anything else? I've got plenty of leftovers." She eyed the group walking towards her, then poked her ladle at Alex. "You look like you could use it too, m'boy. You're too scrawny!"
"I'm not scrawny." Alex said with a small grin as he set his empty plate down in front of Rosa. "I'm svelte."
"Svelte?" Rosa chuckled. "Haven't heard that word in a long time! Last person to use it could eat more than both of you combined." She moved the ladle between Sam and Alex. "Of course, he's left the school now, so you probably don't know who I'm talking about. Anyways, get going now. Let me get ready for lunch, all right?"
"Thanks again, Rosa!" Ashley called over her shoulder as she followed the other three out of the cafeteria.
"Anytime, m'dear!" Rosa cheerfully waved after them, then when the door closed, picked up their plates and put them in the sink with a slight clatter of utensils.
"These woods are so peaceful." Ashley said as they walked through the school park on their way to the manhole near the tool shed. She reached into a small bag that she had slung across her shoulder and took out her camera. She stopped for a second to take a picture of a bird in mid-flight, then hurried to catch up with the other three. "Am I right or am I right?"
"You're right, all right…" Alex muttered, distracted by a beeping sound coming from his murse. He reached inside and pulled his laptop out, the source of the noise. He opened it, bringing the Superscan to the front of the screen. An activated tower.
"Where?" Sam asked, looking over Alex's shoulder.
"The coordinates point towards the Desert Region." Alex said, hurriedly putting away his computer. "Come on, we need to get there before anything serious starts happening here." He took off, the other three following close behind.
*…on Lyoko…*
The pulsations were back, this time in the Desert. A Tarantula walked out from behind a boulder with a whirring of joints. It moved across a large plateau onto a small land bridge connecting the main plateau with the small island that housed the activated Tower. It stopped in front of two other Tarantulas that were already there, and let out a cry. The other two cried back, then all three bent their long spindly legs and lay down on the ground, waiting.
"You three head for the Scanners." Alex said, as the elevator door clanked shut in front of him. Ashley leaned over and pressed the red button to move the elevator downwards. The elevator rumbled upwards slightly, then descended with a steady whirring. Sam tapped his foot impatiently as the elevator made its way downwards, staring impatiently at the elevator's large metal locking mechanism.
"I wonder what the Desert Sector's like?" Ginger mused.
"Probably looks like a desert." Sam said wryly, shooting Ginger a sideways grin.
"No duh. I was talking about if we'll be able to feel heat…or something like it."
"I felt a little something in the Forest Sector." Ashley said, as the elevator started to slow down. "Not literally, but when I was fighting in the Mountain Sector, I felt different. Like the Forest Sector…was better for me. I guess. I'm not explaining this well, am I?"
"No, I understand." Ginger said, as the elevator's lock started to click open. "I felt the same thing you did, only it was reversed. I felt better in the Mountain Sector." The lock ground open with a small puff of steam, blowing their hair back slightly, letting the doors slide slowly open and reveal the Scanner Room.
'I don't know what you're talking about." Sam said as he stepped into his Scanner. "I didn't feel anything when I was in the Forest Sector."
"Maybe it's because you've only been in the Forest Sector." Ashley said from inside her Scanner.
"She's got a point." Ginger said. "What this is starting to sound like is that everyone feels stronger in a certain Sector. Sam, I think you should be better in the Desert, considering that Alex is obviously going to be better in the Ice Sector."
"But again, we don't know if that's true." Sam said, leaning against the inside wall of his Scanner. "We should ask the guy that knows about all this."
'Have you been listening, Alex?" Ashley said aloud, looking up inside her Scanner.
"Yep." Alex's voice echoed inside all three Scanners. "I'll look into it. Right now, though, you three are going to the Desert Sector. I'm still not very good at working with this thing, so bear with me. I'll get better as time goes on, but for now the Virtualization process is gonna be a bit slow." The Scanner doors slid shut with a 'whoosh-thump', and the high-pitched whirring started once more. 'Scanner…Sam. Scanner…Ginger. Scanner…Ashley." Sam felt the ends of his shorts start to flutter around his knees. "Transfer…Sam. Transfer…Ginger. Transfer…Ashley." He felt himself leave the floor, and start slowly spinning around. He could almost feel the scanner peering inside his body. "and…" The whining in the Scanners started increasing once more. "…Virtualization!" Sam felt his hair be violently blown back. The bright light overtook his vision, the sound filling his brain. Then came the whooshing.
Alex stretched out comfortably in the high backed yellow chair, and watched his friends' ID cards show up on his screen, along with small icons on his wire-frame model of the part of the Desert Sector where the Tower was. Three small pops in his ear confirmed the three others' presence on Lyoko via the comm. He spoke up.
"You all there?" A moment's silence in which he nervously tapped his fingers on the keyboard in front of him, then Ashley's voice came back to him.
"We're all here. And we can see the Tower, but there are some monsters guarding it. We're all hiding behind a boulder, so they can't see us."
"Mind telling us what they are?" Sam said curiously. "These look tougher than those Krabs."
"Already on it." Alex radioed back, fingers flying over the keyboard. Several windows flashed by on his screen, then the one he wanted popped up in the bottom left hand corner. He leaned forward a bit to try and read the information on it. "It looks like these guys are called Tarantulas. They can walk on either four legs or two legs, but they're faster on four. They shoot lasers from their front two legs, so be careful. They can shoot off rounds faster than you can move. These suckers have a lot of life points as well, and their lasers do more damage than Krabs, Bloks, or that Kankrelat that took you out, Ginger." Alex heard Ginger swear quietly, and smiled. "A single laser, uncharged, deals a 40-point blow, and if you give it enough time to charge, it'll let loose with a crushing 100-point shot! Be careful!"
"Right-o." Sam said. His symbol on the map of the Desert Sector moved slightly, indicating he was peering around the boulder to get a better look at the Tarantulas surrounding the Tower. "How do you recommend we take them on?"
"Well…"Alex said, typing once more. "…You could take out their legs, like Ginger did with those Krabs, or Sam, your arrows could work wonders here. To kill them, you just have to hit them in the target, like usual. You could theoretically destroy them from a really far distance away, if your aim's that good."
"I'm not that good yet." Sam said disgruntledly. "Looks like it'll be a nice, offensive attack."
"Alex, should I hang back a little?" Ashley's voice now came through. "Since I'm the only one that can deactivate the Tower, I mean. Wouldn't do us any good to have me getting devirtualized."
"Ashley's right." Ginger said. "She needs to hang back or just try to not get hurt until we take out at least two of the Tarantulas. We can't risk her getting hurt, right?"
"Right." Alex said, kneading his brow. "For now, anyways. Once you all get better at fighting, we can be a bit more lenient. But right now, Ashley, you need to try and stay out of harm's way."
"Understood." Ashley said, a bit disappointed. "I'll just float around the edge of the skirmish, then."
"Sorry." Alex said apologetically. "We just can't risk it. Sam and Ginger, it looks like the Tower is cut off from the main plateau by a small land bridge, and the island that the Tower's on isn't very big. Try leading them onto the main plateau to fight them."
"O.K." Ginger turned from her position peering around the boulder, and clapped a hand on Ashley's back. "Don't worry. We'll save that last one for you." She grinned, and Ashley smiled back.
"All right. Good luck out there." Ginger nodded, then followed Sam out from behind the shelter of the boulder. Ashley timidly followed, stopping just far enough so she could dash back behind the boulder if needed, but still had a good view of the fight. Sam and Ginger ran across the small stretch of desert before the land bridge started, and stopped just before crossing. The Tarantulas stood up, cried out, and began to walk over the bridge towards them.
"Shoot." Sam said, backing away slowly. "Those things are a lot bigger up close."
"Scared, are we?" Ginger sneered.
"Me?" Sam looked insulted. "Not at all. In fact, I'll take the first strike! Throwing Stars, go!" He flicked his wrist a few times, letting six or seven throwing stars clatter into the palm of his hand, then flung them at the oncoming Tarantulas. Two of them ricocheted off of the lead Tarantula's metal blaster tips – too low – and fell over the edge of the land bridge, but the others made contact with the first and second Tarantulas. Two of the thrown stars sunk into the lead Tarantula's head, but too far to the right, completely missing the target. It shrieked in pain, but kept moving towards them. The other three stars hit the second Tarantula. It took two of them on the side, and one in the head, this one closer to the target, but not close enough to destroy it. This Tarantula also shrieked, but kept moving as well.
"Sam! Way to go, you idiot, you've got them all riled up now!" Ginger shouted crossly as she started to jog backwards, away from the pissed-off Tarantulas.
"Sorry!" Sam shouted back, starting to run as the Tarantulas picked up speed on the main plateau. "Nothing I can do about it now…except for this!" He dropped to his knees, sliding a bit on the dusty ground. As he slid, he drew his bow, and armed it with a single arrow. Using his foot, he turned 360 and shot it at a coming Tarantula, the original lead one. It stood up on its two back legs, and fired off a few rounds from its two front blasters. Several of them missed completely, singing the ground around Sam, but one lucky shot hit Sam's arrow in mid-flight, stopping it completely. Sam watched his arrow clatter to the ground, mere feet away from the Tarantula. "Damn!" He cursed, hastily standing up and running towards Ginger, who was dueling furiously with the second Tarantula. "Ginger!" He shouted to her as he ran past. "Where's the other Tarantula?"
"Guarding the bridge!" She called back. Ginger turned her attention back to the monster in front of her, who was sitting on its hind leg and shooting round after round of laser fire at her, which she was barely blocking with her Shadow Swords.
Ashley sighed glumly and continued to watch her friends get thrashed by the Tarantulas. Sam was leading the one Tarantula away from the bridge, Ginger was still trying to even get close to hers, and the third one was keeping a close watch over the land bridge. They weren't going to get anything done at this rate. She clenched her fists and angrily kicked the ground. She didn't want to go against her friends' wishes, but there really was no other way. She pushed off of the dusty boulder and began sprinting across the plateau towards Ginger.
On the screen, Ashley's symbol started moving at a rapid clip towards the symbols representing Ginger and the Tarantula she was fighting. Ginger's ID card flashed, and her life points dropped. Alex groaned, then said :"Ginger, 40-point loss!" into the comm, followed by: "Ashley, what are you doing?" Ashley's voice came back to him, slightly out of breath: "Helping, as you can see!" He turned his gaze from the wire-frame map to the ID cards of the battle, and saw the Tarantula facing Ashley and Ginger was losing bursts of life points. Ginger and Ashley's ID cards then moved toward the Tarantula's, combined with it, then moved away, leaving nothing- the Tarantula had been defeated.
"Ashley, Ginger, good job!" He said, surprised. "Ginger, go help Sam. He just lost 80 life points, not good…and Ashley, I think you can take care of the last Tarantula, yes?
"Of course!" Ashley's voice came back.
"Roger." Ginger radioed. On the screen, Ginger's symbol moved towards Sam's and the other Tarantula's, while Ashley's headed towards the land bridge and the last monster.
Sam yelled in pain and thudded to the ground again, his torso crackling.
"Sam, you only have 30 life points left!" Alex's voice came through, sounding a bit panicked. "One more hit, and it's all over!"
"I know!" Sam shouted crossly, scrambling to his feet and starting to run once more. He Drew an arrow and strung it in his bow, then fired blindly behind him. He glanced back in time to see the arrow – lady luck must have been on his side – pierce the center of the symbol on the Tarantula's head. Golden light radiated from around the arrow. The Tarantula screeched in pain. Sam, out of the corner of his eye, saw Ginger running towards him. The Tarantula in front of him thrashed about one final time, letting off a few random blasts of laser fire, then exploded.
Ginger cried out before hitting the ground. She heard her Shadow Sword that she had clutched in her hand clatter away from her as she slid slowly to a halt on the dusty plateau. Looking up, she saw her Shadow Sword a little to her right. In front of her, nothing, the Tarantula must've disappeared…then to her left, she saw Sam's wire-frame alloy flicker and fade away. She cursed, rubbing her crackling side, reached for her sword, and got up. She had been too late.
A floor below Alex, in the Scanner Room, the whirring picked up once more. Light flooded the room as the Scanner closest to the elevator whooshed open, letting a great deal of steam flow out and onto the floor. Sam stumbled out, holding onto the side of the Scanner for support. He cursed violently. What luck.
Ashley drew her staff as she dashed towards the land bridge. The Tarantula in front of her, however, merely shifted its head slightly, not seeming to care how close she got. Ashley frowned, puzzled. As she got closer, however, the Tarantula reared up and turned 180, starting to walk back down the bridge towards the activated Tower. Ashley skidded to a halt in front of the bridge, a small dust cloud dissipating from around her feet.
"Alex, what's it doing?" She spoke, watching the Tarantula stop in front of the Tower for a few seconds, look back at her, then continue to walk around to the rear of the Tower.
"I'm really not sure." Alex's voice came back, puzzled. "If it wanted to devirtualize you, it would have started firing on you when you were running towards it."
"It's almost like…" Ashley frowned. "It's almost like it wants me to follow it."
"Well…" Alex said, a bit of amusement in his voice. "The Tarantula is operating under X.A.N.A.'s orders, so unless it's playing follow the leader with you, it must be defective. Follow it onto the Tower's island, but proceed with caution. We're all still new at this, so we have no idea what X.A.N.A. could be planning."
"Got it." Ashley sheathed her staff and walked onto the land bridge, leaving Ginger and the last Tarantula alone on the main plateau.
The elevator doors clanked open in front of Sam, and he walked into the lab. Alex turned his head to smile condescendingly at him.
"How you doing?"
"Not in the greatest of moods." Sam grumbled. "I took out the Tarantula, and it killed me in a death spasm. Can you believe that? Gah."
"It's going to keep happening, you know. Might as well get used to it."
"Yeah, well." Sam sighed, leaning against the yellow chair. "How goes the fight?"
"Ginger's doing allright, but she's low on life points. She should be able to take out this last Tarantula, though. Ashley…I'm not sure. Her Tarantula retreated onto the Tower's plateau, and still hasn't fired at her. I might have to go in soon…I'm a bit worried."
"Where is she now?" Sam asked, leaning over Alex in order to get a better view of the screen.
"Here." Alex pointed at Ashley's symbol on the wire-frame map. "She's just stepped onto the Tower's plateau."
"Hold on, what's happening?" Sam said, puzzled.
"Move your head."
"Sorry. That, there." Sam jabbed a finger at the part of the map that represented the land bridge connecting the main plateau and the Tower's plateau. It was fading.
"Wait, what…?"
"Alex, something's happening to the bridge!" Ashley's voice buzzed in his ear. She sounded panicked. "It's disappearing…" Onscreen, a small progress bar appeared. It quickly filled up as the bridge disappeared, then vanished, showing that Ashley was now trapped on the Tower island with the Tarantula and no way off. "Alex, I'm cut off from the main plateau!" Ashley sounded scared. "Did you do that?"
"No, I didn't!" Alex said, hands hovering over the keyboard, but at a loss as to what to do. "It just vanished!" A sudden blipping on the screen drove the wire-frame map to the side as another window came up. Alex swore, getting to his feet. "What now?"
"Alex, the Tower!" Ashley gasped, as a ghostly moan resounded through the area. "It deactivated itself!" In front of her, the cruel red aura faded into the calming blue one. "What's happening?"
"It deactivated itself because X.A.N.A. doesn't need it activated anymore." Sam's voice sounded in her ears. "He's already got what he wants. And that's you. Why else would he lead you away from Ginger and trap you in an island with nothing but a useless Tower and a Tarantula?"
"Sam? Where's Alex? And why me? What does X.A.N.A. want with me?" Ashley said, nervously edging towards the Tower.
"He's getting virtualized. You need more help than Ginger can give you right now. And I really don't know. Try to get inside the Tower; you'll be safe there." Ashley nodded, useless because Sam couldn't see her, and took a step forward. Suddenly, she heard a sound, not low enough to be a growl, but not high enough to be a screech. She looked around. Nothing…then she turned around completely to try and peer around the other side of the Tower. She screamed.
Sam sighed worriedly, and leaned back in the yellow chair. Alex's virtualization process was finished and he was on his way to Lyoko. Then Ashley screamed, the sound crackling and popping in his ear through the comm. He cried out, bolting upright. What the hell had just happened? He looked at the screen, and saw that Ashley was no longer alone with the Tarantula on the Tower's island. There was something else. Suddenly, to the right of the map, another screen popped up. This one showed a digital see-through rendering of Ashley's Lyoko warrior's head. The head split into four smaller ones, three at the top of the window and a larger one to the left. Inside the larger one, a pulsating pink sphere appeared. In the space not taken up by the see-through heads, a number appeared- 1000. Then, it started to steadily count down…999, 998, 997, 996…a small pop in his ear indicated that Alex had arrived safely on Lyoko. What the hell was happening?
"Alex!"
"What?" His friend's voice came back. "I'm heading towards the main plateau; you virtualized me too far away."
"Get to Ashley as fast as you can, don't worry about Ginger! We have a major problem!" Sam cried out nervously, as the number onscreen kept counting down.
*…973, 972, 971, 970, 969, 968…*
"Problem?" Alex panted as he ran across the dry wasteland. 'What problem?"
"A monster called the Scyphozoa attacked Ashley, and it…this is gonna sound crazy, but it looks like it's draining her of her memories!"
"Oh, fucking hell!" Alex roared furiously, blindly firing off an Ice Ball in anger. "This is the same thing that happened with that Schaeffer girl a few years ago! Sam, is there a countdown?"
"Yeah, it started at 1000."
"How much is left?"
"It's on 953…952…951…950 and continuing to drop at that rate."
"Tell Ginger what's going on. She needs to try and free Ashley. If that countdown reaches zero, Ashley's going to die!"
"What?"
"Seriously! So tell Ginger, already. I'm almost there." Alex groaned inwardly. What did the Scyphozoa want with Ashley? Unless…he gasped. That must be it. But what were they? Continuing to ponder his new theory, he ran on.
*…938, 937, 936, 935…*
"So you're telling me that she's going to die if we don't free her?" Ginger panted, dodging yet another round of laser fire from the Tarantula. She glanced over at the Tower and saw her friend suspended a few feet off of the ground by a huge jellyfish-looking thing. The Scyphozoa.
"Right. She's got about ¾ of her memories left. Alex is on his way."
"Damned Tarantula!" Ginger shouted, her temper suddenly peaking out of exasperation and fear for her friend. "Die already!" She lunged forward, ignoring the warning cry from Sam, both Shadow Swords held above her head. She flung them at the Tarantula, just as the monster released a charged round of laser fire. Three of the shots hit Ginger full on. She cried out. Her body faded into the wire-frame alloy, which disappeared well before hitting the ground.
*…919, 918, 917, 916, 915…*
"Ginger! You idiot!" Sam groaned, slouching in the chair. "Three direct hits from a charged Tarantula cannon! 300 life points, all lost in one go! What were you THINKING?" He moaned. "Poor Ashley…"
*…907, 906, 905, 904…*
"Ginger, no! Goddammit!" Alex rushed onto the main plateau just in time to see the Tarantula's remains fade along with Ginger's wire-frame alloy. "Sam, I need the Overwing to get onto the island!" He shouted as he ran past where Ginger had been just moments before. "Have it ready!"
"Understood." Alex formed two Ice Balls as he ran, and shot them wildly at the Scyphozoa. They missed completely, one smashing into crystalline bits on the higher part of the Tower, and the other one dropping into the Digital Sea.
"Shit!" He ran on.
*…897, 896, 895, 894, 893…*
The Scanner closest to the elevator slid open with a whoosh and a puff of steam once more, revealing a disoriented Ginger. She stumbled out in shock. What had she just done?
*…885, 884, 883, 882, 881, 880…*
Alex leapt up and landed on the Overwing, taking off immediately. He flew over the stretch of now empty space where the land bridge had been, and over to Ashley and the Scyphozoa. He grimaced as he flew over them. The thing really was disgusting. He started to circle the Tower and begin his descent. He was turning around the back of the Tower when he heard a screech from below. He looked down. Oh, damn. No time to waste. He formed an Ice Ball with his right hand and shot it at the Tarantula that had led Ashley into the trap. It hit, and because the Tarantula was too close to the edge, the impact sent it toppling over. Alex grimaced as he heard it cry out, then turned his attention back to his descent. He was heading downwards when something caught him in the right arm and threw him off of the Overboard. He didn't have to go very far, however. Alex hit the side of the Tower with a dull thud and a small cry, then fell to the ground far below.
*...842, 841, 840, 839, 838, 837…*
Ginger ran over to Sam, her footsteps clanking on the floor.
"What's going on? What's happening?"
"Alex just got hit!" Sam gasped. They both watched Alex, or, rather, his symbol, plummet to the ground.
"Oh my god, is he O.K.? That was a really high fall…"
"He's fine! He's fine." Sam said shakily. "He lost 50 life points in total, but he's fine…Alex? Are you O.K.?"
*…829, 828, 827, 826, 825…*
"I'll admit, I've been better…" Alex groaned, rubbing his arm as he picked himself off the ground. "What happened? Where's the Overboard?"
"The Tarantula managed to get a few last shots off as it fell over the edge of the island." Sam said in his ear. "You lost 40 life points from a laser hit, and 10 from the impressive fall you took. The Overwing was hit by three shots; it's gone. Thankfully, you don't need it. Hurry and free Ashley!"
"Way ahead of you." Alex grunted, as he ran around the base of the Tower. When he reached the front, he stumbled and stopped, staring into the Scyphozoa's backside, from where its tentacles led out of. The Scyphozoa was much higher up than he imagined. "Sam, how the hell do I kill this thing? It's at least 6 feet taller than I am!"
"Aim for its tentacles, don't worry about killing it!" Sam cried in his ear. "The tentacles are the things that are draining Ashley's memories!"
"Got it!" Alex sidestepped the terrifying monstrosity, getting a wonderful view of its very short, bug-like arm things on the side of its body, which looked like a perfectly smooth, purple ice-cream cone that ended in a sharp tip at the bottom. The purple cone-body had two yellow circles on it, one where the head connected to the cone and one closer to the bottom. Inside the bubble-looking thing that was its actual head (which was stuck on top of the purple cone, almost like a real ice-cream), there was something that resembled a shrunken torso. It was flashing pink as its tentacles sucked Ashley's memories from her body. Ashley! He turned his attention towards her. She was suspended in midair by two of the Scyphozoa's tentacles, none of which were actually touching her. The parts that wrapped around her glowed an odd shade of red speckled with black spots. Ashley's body hung limp in its grasp, her face staring into the Scyphozoa's, mouth slightly ajar, eyes wide open. Three more tentacles, two on either side of her head and one to her forehead, were moving red pulses of light up into the pink torso in the Scyphozoa's head. Ashley's memories. Alex was suddenly filled with a burning hatred towards the monster in front of him. "Let go of my friend, you fucking overgrown jellyfish!" He shouted, stepping back and firing two Ice Balls directly into the mass of tentacles connecting Ashley to the Scyphozoa. Every tentacle connecting the two broke, small red drops of memories leaking from the sliced appendages. They disappeared before they hit the ground. The tentacles surrounding Ashley vanished with a small whooshing noise, and Ashley thudded to the ground, eyes closed, as the Scyphozoa screamed in pain.
*…764.*
Onscreen, the words 'Memory Recover Failed' flashed in the window showing the countdown. X.A.N.A.'s symbol appeared in the window, pulsed once, then disappeared, taking the whole thing with it.
"Alex!" Sam said breathlessly into the comm. "Is Ashley all right? The Scyphozoa didn't even get down to half of her memories, but I'm worried, is she O.K.?" A few nail biting seconds passed in which Sam and Ginger stared fearfully at the screen. Then, Alex's voice came back.
"She's O.K.!"
"What happened…?" Ashley's voice weakly floated through the comm.. "What was that thing?" Ginger laughed shakily, wiping a cold sweat off her brow. Sam took a calming breath, then spoke into the comm..
"It's over, Ashley. Don't worry, you'll be fine. Alex, I'm bringing you both back to earth. I don't want you two to stay on Lyoko any longer. Where did the Scyphozoa go? Did you manage to finish it off?"
"No, I have no idea where it went." Alex said as Sam began working the keyboard. "I bent over for a few seconds to check on Ashley. As soon as she opened her eyes, I looked around, but it was gone."
"Shit. That means it's still out there."
"Yeah. But it's just another problem for another day."
"So true." Sam hit a few keys. "Devirtualization Ashley. Devirtualization Alex." The two friends' ID cards drained to gray onscreen, then folded in on themselves and disappeared. Their symbols disappeared from the map, leaving the Desert Sector as barren and empty as it had been. Sam breathed a heavy sigh, and placed the mic on the keyboard. He stood up, and headed for the elevator. "Come on." He motioned to Ginger. "Ashley might need help."
In front of him, the Scanner doors slid open. He stumbled out, nearly tripping on the metal rim of the Scanner, and was caught by Ginger.
"Are you O.K.?"
"Peachy keen…" Alex groaned, rubbing his head. "Where's Ashley?" Ginger pointed to the Scanner opposite his. Sam was standing anxiously next to it. He shifted position as the whirring increased. The doors slid open and Ashley fell out amidst a puff of steam, seemingly unconscious, and was caught by Sam who grunted under her dead weight.
"Oh my god… Sam grunted under her dead weight, and Alex, even though he saw spots when he moved, rushed forward to help him.
….
"It's like math! Let me show you…"
" ..."
…..
Blackness. But the voices…? Her friends…
Ashley's eyes slowly opened. Blurry shapes above her slowly merged into the worried faces of Alex and Sam on her sides, and Ginger leaning over her. She groaned slightly, and moved her hand to her head.
"Oh, god…damned headache…what happened to me?" She groggily sat up and, with Alex and Sam's assistance, moved to rest against the wall of the Scanner she had just fallen out of.
"Are you sure you're O.K.?" She heard Ginger asked worriedly. "You don't look too good."
"I'm alive, aren't I?" Ashley smiled. "I'd say that's pretty damn good." Everyone chuckled slightly. "So, come on." Ashley rubbed her eyes a bit, fully clearing up her vision. "What exactly happened to me? I remember…walking onto the Tower island…and trying to get into the Tower. I heard a strange noise…and when I went to the side of the Tower to investigate, everything went…er…everything went black…everything, until I opened my eyes and saw Alex over me." Ashley's eyes shifted slightly as she spoke. Sam and Ginger seemed too concerned for her well-being to notice, but Alex saw. He frowned slightly.
"You were attacked." He said slowly, drawing everyone's attention. "Attacked by something called the Scyphozoa. It was trying to drain you of your memories." Here Alex made eye contact with Ashley, and he knew that something was amiss. "This is what happened to Aelita Schaeffer a few years back. X.A.N.A. used the Scyphozoa to steal Aelita's memories, because they were one of the Keys to Lyoko, and thusly escape the Supercomputer."
"But why is the Scyphozoa going after Ashley?" Ginger asked, looking at Ashley with a worried expression. "She's not Aelita, not even close!"
"I don't know." Alex said, flicking his eyes to look at Ashley once more. "But I will find out." He turned to Sam. "Did you shut off the terminal?" Sam groaned.
"No. I'll go do that." He stood up and walked to the elevator. "Ginger, come with me. It's creepy being in the lab all alone."
"Wimp." She said scornfully, but followed him into the elevator anyways. Sam hit the button to bring the elevator up to the laboratory level, and the doors clanked shut. As soon as he heard the elevator start to grind its way up the shaft, Alex turned to Ashley.
"You're lying." Ashley, realizing she had been caught in her lie, blushed furiously.
"How did you know?"
"I've known you for years. Sam just met you, and Ginger just met you face to face. I'm the only one that can tell. Ashley, listen to me." The elevator clanked to a stop far above them. Alex looked up, then back at Ashley. "You have to tell me what it was you really saw when you were being attacked by the Scyphozoa. I know it wasn't just blackness. Aelita has appeared in some of Belpois's tutorial videos, and she's mentioned some things, one of which was the Scyphozoa. So please, tell me."
"I…I'm not really sure…" She said, a bit ashamed. "For the most part, it was like a move. But it was going too fast for me to see anything. I mean, sometimes. The sound was garbled, but I could see some images here and there."
"Like?" Alex urged her on, hearing the elevator doors start to clank shut high above them.
"One that stood out was a wolf…another was a young girl lying face down in some snow…but that's all, I swear. I wasn't able to see anything else." The whirring started once more, and both friends knew that their time was running out. "Why? Do you know what they are? What they mean?"
"Not a clue." Alex grunted, hoisting Ashley to her feet. "But I have a theory. I feel as if what happened to you on Lyoko is connected to the mysterious program that entered you when you merged with Aelita's old program. This would make sense, because then I could also explain why you suddenly gained Aelita's signature ability." Alex spoke hurriedly as the sound of the elevator grew closer. "I think, though, that it's safe to assume that the program…deposited something inside of you. Something that X.A.N.A. needs. It explains why X.A.N.A. went after you today through the Scyphozoa, instead of Sam, Ginger, or me. I think it might have something to do with the Towers…but Ashley, not a word to Sam or Ginger until I get this figured out. Allright? I don't want them freaking out." The elevator ground to a stop in the shaft outside the Scanner room.
"O.K. But promise you'll figure this out?" Ashley said nervously, leaning down and picking up her bag from where she had put it on the metal floor before getting into the Scanner.
"I promise." Alex smiled at his friend, then helped her to the elevator doors that had just clanked open.
"Hey, how about we go into town and get a smoothie or something?" Sam said, clapping Ashley on the back. "You look like you could use a little pick-me-up."
"That sounds great, actually!" Ashley laughed. "Oh, let's go to that new place by the pool, the one with all the decorations!"
"You've got to be kidding!" Alex groaned. "That's such a chick place. Let's go to the one by the library; at least that one doesn't come with lace and frills." Sam and Ginger laughed as the elevator doors creaked shut once more.
*later that afternoon*
Alex sighed and crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair. His phone chimed twice on the desk in front of him, alerting him that he had one new message. He leant over his slightly warm, quietly humming laptop to read the message on the brightly glowing screen.
"you coming or what? Rosa made really greasy, fattening tacos just for you, she'll be really disappointed that you're not here to adhere to the stereotype and eat them. Besides, lunch is one of the most important meals of the day. Stop messing around on your cpu and come eat already! – S."
Alex chuckled. He typed "allright, give me 5 more mins., max!" as a reply, and sent it to Sam. He put the phone back down on the desk and leant down to slip on his converse that he had kicked off no more than half an hour ago. Today, they were a calming baby blue. After giving the faded white laces a few tugs to assure himself that they were on tight, he turned back to his computer screen.
"Playback." He muttered, and hit a key on the keyboard. The video he had been watching for the past ten minutes reset itself, and started playing once more. 1000…999…998…997…996…995…994…993…992…991…the countdown. Alex stared at the screen, brow furrowed. He knew that the Scyphozoa, and to be more precise, X.A.N.A., wanted something that Ashley now had, something that was probably introduced to her because of the mystery program in the tower. But what? He concentrated his gaze now on the pulsating pink sphere inside the larger of the four see-through heads. And what exactly was that? Ashley's Lyoko incarnation didn't have a shred of pink on it; none of the group's did, in fact. So why pink? He sighed, puzzled, then shook his head. "No more." He said out loud, exiting out of the video. His fingers flew over the keyboard as he slowly got out of his chair, determined to not stay glued to the screen all day. A window popped up, showing the folder in which he had found Belpois's first video, the one they had all watched together. Aside from that video, there were hundreds of other heavily encrypted files in the same folder and its subfolders. He typed in one last command, hit one last key. A window popped up in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, showing a data screen in which lines of binary code flew by, and a progress bar. Alex straightened up, satisfied that the program was operational once he saw the progress bar twitch forward a few pixels. He was certain that these encrypted files contained more video diaries that were made by Jeremie, and, if he was really lucky, he might stumble across some that the mysterious Waldo Schaeffer had made, as Jeremie had so pointedly told him as he rambled on in one of his less useful tutorial videos. He grabbed his phone and his room key off the desk, then strode across the room and pulled the door open. He threw one last look over his shoulder to make sure that the program was indeed functioning, then closed the door and walked off down the hall, already thinking about the tacos that lay waiting for him.
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