A/N: Here's the next chapter of my story. This chapter is set between episode 23 and 24.

Chapter 2: Shock To the Heart

"Hey Einstein!" Odd yelled as he knocked on Jeremy's door, Ulrich next to him. "Hurry up! It's pancakes for breakfast in the cafeteria! Unless you're gonna spend the morning on your computer, again in which case, can I have your portion?" he asked.

"Sorry Odd. Aelita made me promise to eat breakfast again," Jeremy answered from behind the door. It had been two months since Aelita first made him promise to put some time into eating and sleeping. Since then, he's been eating more and getting more sleep, though he still would rather spend the time working on bringing Aelita to the real world. "I need to put my phone to charge and finish getting dressed, then I'll be out."

Odd looked disappointed, which amused Ulrich. "I'll never understand how someone with your appetite can be so scrawny."

"I'm not scrawny. I'm svelte," Odd corrected. The door opened and Jeremy walked out. "Finally, I'm starved!" The three walked to the cafeteria.

"So how the materialization program going Jeremy?"

"Slow, but I think I'm close." He proceeded to explain what he had accomplished so far and what he still had trouble on, not that Odd and Ulrich understood any of it.

"Anyway to translate that into English?" Odd asked.

Jeremy sighed. "The short and simple version is I solved a lot of problems but there are still a few more I have to deal with, so it'll just be a little longer. So until then, we need to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, in case XANA attacks."

"At least you're finally eating, and sleeping more by the looks of it," Ulrich commented, noting less bags under the young genius's eyes.

"Yeah, the only bad thing about that is less food for me," Odd added.

"And considering how scrawny you are, you may need the food more than I do," Jeremy joked.

I am svelte!" Odd shouted, making his friends laugh.


In a desert area, there stood a tall tower with a blue glow to it. But the color soon turned red.


In Jeremy's phone laid on his desk, connected to his charger. Suddenly, the nearby outlet sparked and released a sort of shadowy specter. The specter travel to the phone and entered it. The phone shook a bit, before settling, the Eye of XANA appearing briefly on the small screen.


"And the duck said, 'Put it on my bill!' Ha!" Odd started cracking up at his bad joke while Jeremy and Ulrich groaned.

"Don't you know any good joke?" Ulrich asked.

"You guys just have no sense of humor." Odd looked over Ulrich's shoulder. "Don't look now but your lady love has arrived."

Ulrich turned to see Yumi talking with one of her classmates and started blushing. "I-it's not like that with us!" Ulrich insisted.

"Then why did you stutter?" Jeremy asked with a smirk matching Odd's.

"Not you too Jeremy." Ulrich complained, turning more red.

"Hey guys," Yumi said as she approached. She noticed Ulrich was blushing. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing," he insisted before sending a glare to the other boys, which didn't faze them at all.

"Ok?" Yumi said, unsure of what was going on. "Anyway, what's been going on?"

Odd answered her. "Aelita did it again. Einstein actually spent breakfast with us."

"She's a miracle worker," Ulrich joked.

"I don't skip breakfast that much!" Jeremy insisted.

"Yeah, because of Aelita," Ulrich pointed out. "I wonder what she does to convince you."

"She doesn't do anything!"

"Really? No promises of what she'll do to you once she's out of Lyoko?" Odd asked with a smirk.

"No!" Jeremy said with a blush. "She just… Well, she's just very convincing alright! There are no promises of that kind or anything."

"Then she really is a miracle worker," Yumi commented. The bell rang. "Well, I've got French. See ya guys." Yumi ran off to her class.

"Come on, we've got P.E. with GI Jim," Ulrich said.

"Um, can you guys cover for me?" Jeremy asked.

"Jim's not gonna be happy you're missing P.E. again," Odd warned.

"I know, but I want to get some more work done on Aelita's materialization program."

"And avoid another humiliating gym lesson," Odd said with a chuckle. Ulrich cracked a smile as he remember the last time Jeremy went to P.E. "Don't worry Einstein, we've got you covered."

"Thanks." Jeremy ran off to the dorms.


"Hello? Aelita? Can you hear me?" Jeremy asked as he adjusted the earpiece.

"Yes Jeremy, I'm here." Aelita answered as she appeared on the screen. "How was breakfast?"

"Alright. Odd was disappoint that he wasn't gonna get my portion though," Jeremy told her.

"Remind me, Odd's appetite is unusual, right?" Aelita asked.

"You'd be hardpressed finding anything about Odd that isn't unusual." The two laughed. "So, ready to get to work?"

"Shouldn't you be in class?" she inquired.

"It's only gym. Odd and Ulrich are covering for me. And my grades in my other classes will make up for it."

"Well, give me a second. The Forest Sector is calm but I want to check other ones, see if there are any pulsations. I'm at a way tower about to head toward the Desert Sector."

"Got it. Standing by." Jeremy waited as Aelita used the way tower to travel. Suddenly his phone rang. "Hmm?" He unplugged his phone and checked the number, but he didn't recognize it. 'Wonder who it could be.' "Hello?" he asked as he put the phone to his ear. The answer came in the form of a strong electrical shock that surged through his body. Jeremy cried out in pain and clutched his chest before falling to the ground unconscious.


"Jeremy," Aelita called out. "I've arrived at the Desert Sector, and I can sense pulsations from an activated tower! XANA's launching an attack!" She waited for Jeremy to respond, but heard nothing. "Jeremy?" she called again with worry in her voice. "Jeremy please answer!" Still no response. "Jeremy!"


Jim moved down the hall. His class had ended and now he was headed to the dorm of Jeremy Belpois.

"He got a something real bad, Jim." Della Robbia had told him. "He's, uh, been having muscle spasms. Yeah. Nurse Yolanda said he needed to rest in his room until they go away.'

'What do they take me for, an idiot? Belpois is most likely hiding in his room.' Jim sighed and shook his head. 'I bet he's working on whatever plot he and his little gang of troublemakers have been plotting. And one day, I'll find out what it is.' He reached Jeremy's room. "Belpois! I know you're in there! Get outta there! The dorms are off limits during the day and I know you're not sick like your friends Stern and Della Robbia claim." No answer. Jim banged his fist against the door. "Open up this instant or I'm coming in!" he threatened. He waited about a minute before reaching for the key ring at his side. As the monitor for the boys dorm, he had a key for each of the rooms. Unlocking the door, he barged right in. "Belpois, you…" He didn't finish as he saw Jeremy on the ground. He was twitching erratically and a strained look on his face, but didn't look conscious. Jim kneeled down next to him, his face showing worry. "This looks serious. I guess your friends were telling the truth. I'll take you to the infirmary." He picked Jeremy up and ran off.


"Where's Jeremy?" Yumi asked as she joined her friends in the cafeteria.

"Einstein skipped class to spend time with his virtual love," Odd said with a snicker.

"That sounds like him," Yumi commented. "So, how are you Ulrich?"

"Well, I'm certain to pass gym. Science, math, history, not so much. My dad's gonna give me a lot of grief when he finds out."

"I know what you mean. Because of all these XANA attacks, my grades have been slipping and my parents are getting worried."

"Hope Jeremy finishes materializing Aelita soon so we can finally end this."

"I don't know," Odd commented. "I like being a hero. And blasting XANA's monsters is a lot of fun."

"Hey, you guys hear sirens?" Ulrich asked. The other perked their ears and they heard it too. Some of the students started to leave out of curiosity. The three Lyoko warriors followed and saw an ambulance. They pushed through the crowd in time to see paramedics load Jeremy in it.

"Oh god, Jeremy!" Yumi exclaimed as she and the others rushed to Jim and the principal Mr. Delmas. "What happened?"

"He got a bad electrical shock," Mr. Delmas explained. "Jim found him unconscious in his room, twitching uncontrollably. He took him to Yolanda, who found electrical burns."

The three Lyoko warriors looked at each other and had the same though. 'XANA.'

"Unfortunately, there's more," Delmas continued. "The electrical shock seems to have damaged Jeremy's heart, lowering his heart rate."

"What?" Ulrich said.

"Jeremy's heart is slowing down and if something isn't done, it'll stop altogether. But not to worry, the doctors will do all they can for him."

"Don't worry too much. He'll be fine," Jim assured them. "I was electrocuted once. When I was struck by lightning, and I ended up fine."

"You were struck by lightning?" Mr. Delmas asked in surprise.

"Yeah, but I'd rather not talk about it. Mostly because I can't remember much about it."

The ambulance doors closed and it drove away, taking Jeremy with it. The crowd started to disperse, but Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi were already rushing to the factory. "No doubt about it. XANA's behind this," Yumi said.

"We need to hurry! Before Jeremy's heart stops!" Odd and Yumi agreed. They skated through the sewers and arrived at the factory.

Taking the elevator down, they arrived at the lab. Yumi sat down and picked up the earpiece. "Aelita? Aelita, can you hear me?"

"Yumi?" Aelita's voice came. "Where's Jeremy?"

"In trouble. XANA attacked him earlier. We need to deactivate the tower and launch a Return to the Past."

"Right. I'm already near the tower, but XANA has it well-guarded. I see four Bloks patrolling the area. I'll help you lock onto my coordinates and virtualize Odd and Ulrich."

"Got it." Yumi turned her attention to the boys. "You two, head to the scanners."

"Roger that!" Odd said as the elevator doors closed. Once they arrived at the floor below, they stepped into the scanners.

"Ok you two, looking like you're headed to the Desert Sector." Yumi started typing in the commands, following Aelita's instructions. "Transfer: Ulrich. Transfer: Odd." The scanner doors closed. "Scanner: Ulrich. Scanner: Odd." She hit the final key. "Virtualization!"


The two of them appeared in the air briefly before a short drop to the ground. Aelita waved that them and joined her behind a large boulder. "The tower is over there." She pointed at the red tower in a canyon surrounded by blocks on legs with the Eye of XANA symbol on each side.

"Bloks huh? I love those guys! Always fun to beat," Odd commented.

"Just wait here princess. We'll be done in no time." Ulrich drew his katana. Aelita nodded and stayed hidden behind the boulder while Ulrich and Odd engaged them.

Once the Bloks saw them, they opened fire on the two Lyoko warriors. Odd started jumping around to avoid the lasers while Ulrich blocked with his blade. "Laser Arrow!" Odd shouted as he launched an arrowhead from his over-sized pawed gloves. The arrow hit the upper corner of the Blok, who retaliated with a barrage of lasers, one of which hit Odd in the shoulder. Odd launched two more laser arrows that actually hit the Eye of XANA symbol on the front side. The Blok's head spun before it exploded and disappeared. "One down."

Ulrich kept blocking the lasers being shot at him. "Super Sprint!" Using a brief break in attacks, Ulrich used his enhanced speed to close the gap, dodging as he did. He jumped on top of one of the Bloks. "Impact!" He jabbed his sword into the Eye of XANA symbol on the Blok and jumped off as it blew up.


"Heart rate at 30 and dropping!" one of the medics said as Jeremy was rushed into the hospital.


"Laser Arrow!" Odd shot three more times, but missed the Blok he was aiming for. Ulrich was held up as the other Blok was sending a large barrage of laser fire his way. He blocked most of the, but two made their way past his guard and he was knocked back.

"Ulrich, according to this you've lost 30 life points!" Yumi's voice seemed to come from nowhere.

"Still got 70 points left."

"Wow, you can do basic math!" Odd said with fake shock.

"Ha ha, very funny," Ulrich said sarcastically as he ducked under an ice beam.

"Hurry! Jeremy's heart may stop at any moment!" Yumi shouted at them.

"What!" Aelita shouted from her hiding space.

"Don't worry princess. He'll be alright. We'll make sure of it," Ulrich assured as he threw his sword at the Blok and destroyed it. "Right Odd?"

"No sweat!" Odd nimbly avoided the last Blok's lasers and shot it at point blank. "All-clear princess. Do your thing."

"Alright." Aelita ran out into the open toward the tower. However, when she was halfway there, she was shot by a laser and knocked down.

"Aelita!" Odd and Ulrich shouted as they rushed to her side and looked up. Up on the ridge at the top of the canyon they saw two Krabs, one on each side.

"Yumi, why didn't you warn us about the Krabs?" Ulrich asked as he started deflecting their lasers.

"Hey, I'm not Jeremy! I barely know how to work this thing!" she shot back. "Odd, remember to conserve your ammo! I don't know how to reload your arrows."

"Now you tell me," Odd said, having just shot off two more arrows after taking cover with Aelita. "How many arrows do I have left?"

"Um, let me see. Two. You have two arrows left."

"For a guy like me, that's plenty!" Odd boasted. Looking to the canyon, he started climbing up. Unfortunately, he was halfway up when one of the Krabs saw this and opened fire on him. Odd got shot in the back and lost his grip but managed to grab a lower ledge. It was slow going since Odd had to dodge the Krab's lasers, but he managed to reach the top and the other Krab. The first Krab ceased it's fire and focused on Ulrich while the one near Odd backed away in order to shoot him. But Odd didn't let him as he quickly got under him. "Ha! Can't get me now!" Odd was about to maneuver himself on top of the Krab when the underside opened up and a pulse beam devirtualized him.


Odd leaned against the wall of the scanner. "Guess he could get me."


"Heart rate at 15 and dropping!"

"Nothing's working!"

"It doesn't make any sense! It's like something in his body is actively resisting everything we try!"


"Ulrich, Odd's been devirtualized," Yumi informed him.

"Great," he remarked sarcastically as he deflected more laser fire. The two Krabs were both shooting at him and sometimes a laser got past his guard.

"Hurry! I don't know how much time we have left!"

"These Krabs won't let up!"

"Yumi, is the Return to the Past ready?' Aelita asked.

"Yeah, I followed your instructions and it's all set up. As soon as the tower is deactivated, we can go back."

"Good. I'll make a break for the tower."

"What! Aelita, it's too dangerous!"

"You said it yourself. We don't know how long Jeremy has. We have to save him and right now, this is the only way," she argued.

She heard Yumi sigh. "Ok, fine," she begrudgingly agreed. "Ulrich, Aelita's gonna make a run for the tower. Cover her as best you can!"

"On it." He sprinted over to the boulder Aelita was taking cover behind. "Ready princess?"

"Yeah," she replied with a nod and the two rushed to the two rushed to the tower, with Ulrich ahead of Aelita. The Krabs opened fire and Ulrich used his sword to do what he could to keep Aelita from being hit. The Krabs weren't letting up and Ulrich was shot in the head and devirtualized. Aelita just kept running toward the tower, but the Krabs weren't making it easy. Ducking and jumping over lasers, she finally made it to the activated tower. The Krabs stomped in frustration and left.

She walked to the center of the platform, then levitated to the the second platform above, where an interface was located. She put her hand on it and her name flashed on the screen before being replaced by the word 'CODE'.


"He's flatlining!"


Aelita typed 'LYOKO'. "Tower deactivated."

Yumi hit a key, Odd and Ulrich next to her. "Return to the Past, now." A white light enveloped everything.


Aelita sat in the tower she just deactivated. The Return to the Past didn't affect Lyoko. "Jeremy?" she called out as she connected with his computer. It was morning again in the real world, before XANA's attack on Jeremy. Which meant he should be alright. However, there was no answer. 'Was I too late? Is Jeremy…' Aelita brought her head to her knees as despair washed over her. She wanted to cry, though she couldn't. "Jeremy," she whispered.

"You called princess?"

Aelita's head went up. "Jeremy? Is that you?"


"Yeah, it's me Aelita," Jeremy answered. Aelita popped into his computer screen. "Yumi called and told me what happened. Sorry to worry you."

"I'm just glad you're alright," she responded. "You are alright, aren't you? How's your heart?"

"Still beating, unless I'm a zombie."

Aelita chuckled at his attempt at humor. "Leave the bad jokes to Odd, ok?"

"My bad," Jeremy said, rubbing the back of his head.

"But seriously," Aelita said with a sad look on her face. "I was really worried. And for a moment, I thought… I thought I had lost you. And it hurt, a lot. Not physically. That's impossible here, but… I can't really describe it."

"I know what you mean, Aelita," Jeremy said with his head down. "When I screwed up the materialization program and you got devirtualized, I felt the same way."

"You're not still blaming yourself for that, are you?" Aelita asked. His silence was all the answer she need. "Jeremy, it wasn't your fault. How could you have known I'd get bugged up? Something like that has yet to be attempted. Mistakes are bound to happen."

"But that mistake nearly cost you your life," he argued.

"Nearly, but you managed to fix it and bring me back," she reminded him. "Now go get breakfast."

"I'm fine, I can work on materializing you."

"But you promised, remember?" Jeremy looked at her confused. "Because of the Return to the Past, it's still the morning you promised to eat breakfast."

Jeremy realised she was right. Sighing, he conceded. "Fine." He looked at his clock. "Well I guess Odd should be banging on my door any second now."

"See you later Jeremy." The connection cut, Jeremy got ready for breakfast again.


Aelita smiled, glad to know Jeremy was alright. She still wondered about that feeling earlier though. It was never like that. Even when Yumi fell into the Digital Sea, while she was greatly saddened, it didn't feel as intense. 'Maybe it's because me and Jeremy are closer? I mean, I don't exactly get to spend time alone with her or the others. Even on Lyoko, Jeremy is looking out for us from the lab, warning us of incoming monsters and helping any way he can. I guess it's just natural that I'm more attached to him than the others.'


Odd closed the door before Jeremy turned around after speaking with Aelita. "What do ya know? Einstien wasn't lying. I'm feeling a little disappointed."

"Really?" Ulrich asked.

"Yeah, and worse, I won't get his potion again."

"Your a bottomless pit."

"Thank you," Odd said. "I wonder if Yumi has that power over you?"

Ulrich blushed. "Would you stop saying stuff like that!"

"Don't deny it. You love her," Odd mocked.

"That's none of your business!" Ulrich blushed harder.

"See, you didn't deny it. I gotta get this to Milly. She'd love this scoop. And maybe if Yumi read this in the paper..."

"Odd, don't you dare!" Odd flashed a mischievous smile before running off. "Odd!"

Jeremy look out his door and saw Odd round the corner with Ulrich chasing him. He shrugged his shoulders and got out, heading for the cafeteria.


Alpha: Another chapter finished.

Sissi: Finally! Let me use the computer!

Alpha: For what?

Sissi: To find a story that's actually interesting.

Alpha: Hey! My story is great!

Sissi: Yeah, not really.

Odd: She's just upset that she and Ulrich aren't gonna be together.

Alpha: Whatever. No Sissi you can't use my computer.

Sissi: Why not?

Alpha: Besides the fact that you insulted my work, I've got other stories to work on.

Sissi: Hmph! Fine! I'll just borrow Daddy's! (Storms off)