Chapter 2:
Corvin stood nervously before the scanner. He could feel Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd's eyes on him from where they stood by the elevator. Their attitude towards him had changed significantly in the past hour. When he first arrived they were very warm towards him and friendly. Then when he arrived again they immediately regarded him with suspicion, practically dragging him back to the factory after Jeremie said he wanted to launch a scan.
"Hey, don't I get a say in this?" He had asked as they led him through the sewer tunnel.
"No!" They said behind him.
Corvin ran his tongue over his dry lips and cleared his throat.
"So uh- Is this going to hurt?" He asked.
"Why? You scared?" Ulrich asked.
Corvin looked at the scanner. The brass colored machine towered above him and the interior was illuminated by a bright, almost alien light.
"A little." He admitted.
Yumi stepped up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It won't hurt." She said.
He turned to thank her for her words of comfort but she shoved him forward into the scanner before he could say a word. He started to protest but the doors to the scanner closed on him and trapped him inside. Up in the computer lab Jeremie prepared the program and Aelita hovered over his shoulder as he worked.
"Do you think he may be a trick by Xana?" Aelita asked. "Maybe he's a specter or a polymorphic clone?"
"I don't know." Jeremie said. "I don't think so. There aren't any towers activated on Lyoko but I guess it's possible. The scan should tell us if anything is wrong."
On the computer screen a window shaped like the face of a cell phone popped up and Yumi's profile slid out of the side.
"Okay. We're ready." She said.
"Scanning Corvin." Jeremie said as he launched the program.
The scanner hummed to life. Corvin winced and closed his eyes as the light inside of the scanner became unbearable. Upstairs Jeremie and Aelita watched anxiously as the computer scanned Corvin at the atomic level.
"That's… odd." Jeremie said slowly.
"What is it?" Aelita asked.
"Nothing." Jeremie said. "There's nothing wrong with him… he's human."
"But if he isn't a specter then why didn't he lose his memory after the return to the past?" Aelita asked.
"I don't know." Jeremie sighed. "Everything checks out guys. Stopping the scan now."
Down in the scanner room the doors to Corvin's scanner slid open and he stumbled out.
"You okay?" Yumi asked.
"Y-Yeah." He said. "Just uh-"
Corvin fumbled in his pocket and pulled out an asthma inhaler. He took a puff out of it and cleared his throat.
"I got this thing against closed spaces." He admitted.
Suddenly the three Lyoko warriors felt ashamed. They were so quick to assume Corvin was a spy sent by Xana they never even considered the alternative. That Corvin was just a boy. Now they could see that Corvin was just that. A confused and frightened kid who had stumbled into something huge, something they weren't sure how to ease him into. Odd stepped forward and patted Corvin's shoulder.
"Hey we're sorry about the third degree Corvin." Odd said with a smile. "We just have to be careful around new people. What we have going on here is kind of a big secret you know?"
"And what is that exactly?" Corvin asked.
-Several hours later-
"So that's it." Jeremie said.
They were all in Jeremie's room. He was sitting at his computer desk facing the others. Odd and Corvin were sitting on the floor. Kiwi was laying in Odd's lap letting his master rub his furry belly while Aelita and Yumi sat on Jeremie's bed. Ulrich leaned against the wall by the door listening to make sure nobody was eavesdropping outside. After they left the factory they had gone straight to the dormitories. When they got there they had locked themselves in Jeremie's room and they told Corvin the story of Lyoko and the super computer and Xana.
"Wow." Corvin said. "That's… wow. So Lyoko, the super computer and Xana were all made by your father to fight some kind of government project?"
Aelita nodded.
"And Xana went rogue and is trying to destroy the planet but nobody knows because you can go back in time and make people forget that it ever even happened?"
"Pretty much." Odd said casually.
Corvin was silent for a minute. All of the Lyoko warriors watched him cautiously waiting for the reaction they dreaded. He'd want them to go to the police for sure. He'd say that the super computer is dangerous, that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of a single girl. What could they do to stop him? The return to the past hadn't worked on him. He remembered everything.
"Okay." Corvin said nodding slowly. "So what can I do to help?"
"What?" Jeremie asked.
"I want to help you guys." Corvin said. "Xana needs to be stopped. We can't take this to the police. They'd contact the government, if they even believed us anyway, you guys would be black bagged or something, and they would take Aelita away and interrogate her! The best thing to do is keep this quiet and fight Xana on our own terms right? If the super computer fell into the wrong hands it could be worse than anything that Xana would do."
"You really feel that way? Aren't you scared?" Aelita asked.
"Of course I'm scared!" Corvin exclaimed. "There's an evil computer program that wants to kill me and enslave humanity but… I can do something about it. I feel kind of obligated to help. I can't just walk away from something like that. I want to help if you'll let me."
"We won't force you to help us." Jeremie said. "It's not too late to walk out that door."
"Are you sure you want to get involved?" Aelita asked.
Corvin was silent. He stood up and nodded.
"I'm sure." He said.
"Well then. Welcome aboard Corvin." Jeremie said.
"So what do we do now?" Corvin asked.
Jeremy leaned forward and folded his hands together in front of him.
"We keep fighting." He said. "We wait for Xana to rear its ugly head and stave him off when he does."
"What I want to know is why the return to the past didn't work on you." Aelita said. "That's never happened before."
"Back in Japan did you never notice anything weird?" Ulrich asked.
"You mean like repeating the same day over and over again?" Corvin asked. "No nothing like that."
"The scan didn't tell us anything useful." Jeremie said. "I ran a full diagnostic and everything. What's important now though is that you swear to us that you will not breathe a word of this anyone Corvin."
"I swear. I want to help you guys anyway that I can." Corvin said.
"We appreciate it." Aelita said smiling at Corvin.
"It's getting late." Yumi said standing up. "I need to be heading home."
"Yeah it's almost time for dinner anyway." Odd said letting Kiwi hop off of his lap. "I'm starving."
"You ate three bags of chips and two candy bars since we've been here!" Ulrich said in disgust.
"Yeah but I need something with sustenance. I'm a growing boy after all." Odd said as they filed out of Jeremie's room.
They said goodbye to Yumi and the five children made their way to the cafeteria. They collected their trays of roast beef sandwiches and sat down at their table. The events of the day had left Corvin drained and he was glad that things had returned to normal for him and his new friends. The relief was mutual. As the children ate and talked the Lyoko warriors felt a soothing calmness wash over them. It felt good to tell someone new their secret and for them to not freak out on them. Their burden had been lessened and they were happy to know that they had a new ally against Xana.
After dinner they went back to the dorms. Aelita left the boys on the second floor and retired to the girl's dorm on the third floor. The boys bid each other goodnight and retired to their respective rooms for the evening. Corvin closed his door behind him and examined his new lodgings. His bedroom was fairly unspectacular. It looked like any other given dorm room at Kadic. There was a bed, a dresser for his clothes, and a desk for doing homework underneath a window.
Corvin took a few minutes to toss his clothes into his dresser and arrange his personal possessions around the room. He tacked posters on the wall, placed his laptop on the desk, and carefully arranged his graphic novels and books on a small shelf over his bed. The last thing he pulled out of the box was a photograph. He smiled at the picture as he remembered the day it was taken. He was ten years old and his family had spent the day at a festival. His brother had him in a headlock and his sisters were rolling their eyes. Even though the picture wasn't what most people would call "respectable" his parents smiled proudly at the cameraman. Corvin's smile became sad as he remembered how things used to be for his family before his siblings "grew up". Corvin sighed and slid the picture into his desk drawer. He changed into his night clothes which consisted of a white t-shirt and black pajama bottoms. He got into bed and drifted off to sleep hoping that he would be able to handle what he was getting himself into.
A week passed and Corvin adjusted well to life at Kadic. He thrilled with the science labs and Ms. Hertz quickly became his favorite teacher. Kadic also had an impressive library and Corvin spent most of his free time reading in the park underneath a tall oak tree.
"Looks like you have a contender for teacher's pet Einstein." Odd joked.
It was a Friday afternoon and the gang was in the cafeteria eating their lunch.
"So there we were in the science lab." Aelita said to Yumi. "Corvin told Jeremie that we accidently spilled water all over his chemistry homework. He got upset and ran back over to his desk and saw that we had stuck post-it notes all over his papers with H2O written on them!"
"Yeah yeah." Jeremie chuckled. "You got me all right."
"If you say so." Odd sighed. "I swear if we aren't careful the egg heads will have us outnumbered."
Yumi and Ulrich laughed as Jeremie, Corvin and Aelita blushed.
"Hey Corvin!" A voice cried.
Hiroki and Johnny walked up to the table and crowded Corvin's chair.
"Uh hey what's up guys?" Corvin asked.
"We have a free period after lunch." Hiroki said. "Can Johnny and I borrow your Gameboy?"
"Hiroki!" Yumi said sternly. "You should know better than to ask someone that!"
"No it's cool." Corvin said pulling his white DS out of his pocket. "Just be careful with it and don't delete the first save file okay?"
"We will! We won't! Thanks!" Hiroki smiled.
The two boys high fived each other and scampered away.
"Ah to be young again." Odd sighed nostalgically.
"So Corvin I was thinking it may be a good idea to virtualize you tomorrow after classes let out." Jeremie said. "It would give you a chance to familiarize yourself with Lyoko and let you get to know your powers."
"Powers?" Corvin asked.
"Yeah it's really cool!" Odd said. "Ulrich has super speed and Yumi has telekinesis."
"What about you?" Corvin asked.
"I used to be able to see the future." Odd huffed sinking into his chair. "But Einstein here felt it was useless."
"How could clairvoyance be useless?" Corvin asked.
"That's what I said! I've saved our skins tons of times with that power!" Odd said.
"Your clairvoyance was helpful occasionally Odd." Jeremie sighed. "But a shield is much more practical."
Odd groaned and muttered something under his breath.
"So anyway." Jeremie said. "Tomorrow after lunch okay?"
"I can't wait!" Corvin smiled.
-Later-
Hiroki and Johnny were outside of the vending machine shack. Johnny was sitting at the picnic table playing Corvin's DS while Hiroki pounded on the vending machine.
"Come on!" Hiroki groaned. "Give me my candy bar already!"
"Did it take your money?" Johnny asked without glancing up from his game.
"Yeah I don't get it! I thought Jim said they were getting the machines fixed." Hiroki grumbled.
"I'll bet Yumi could fix it. Want me to go find her?" Johnny asked eagerly.
"No way." Hiroki said. "I got this!"
Hiroki stroked his chin thoughtfully and then smiled.
"Prepare to meet your maker snack shack!" He declared.
He crouched into a combat pose and kicked the vending machine. It rattled and Hiroki's candy bar fell from its rack.
"Ha! You know when you've been bested!" Hiroki said collecting his prize.
Suddenly the machine began to hiss and spark as a cloud of dark smoke began to ooze out of the machine's coin slot.
"Ooooh!" You broke it!" Johnny snickered.
"N-no I didn't!" Hiroki gulped. "I-I barely touched it, honest!"
The black smoke pooled to the ground and snaked its way past the two arguing boys. It crawled up the picnic table and slid across the rough wooden surface. It wormed its way into the device's charging slot and the Gameboy began to spark.
"You broke Corvin's DS!" Hiroki declared pointing an accusing figure at Johnny.
"No I didn't!" Johnny said his face paling. "It just uh- uh-"
He picked up the game boy and a red symbol flashed on the screen. The eye of Xana glared up at the two boys.
"What?" Hiroki asked quizzically. "This isn't Mario…"
Jeremie sat in front of his computer typing away at the keys. He spent virtually every free second of his time parked in front of his computer working on the anti-virus that would get rid of the influence Xana had over Aelita. Suddenly his computer screen flashed red and a warning icon popped onto the screen. Xana had activated a tower.
"Now? Oh no!" Jeremie cried.
He grabbed his phone and sandwiched it between his shoulder and ear as he launched a scan on his computer.
"Come on! Come on!" He growled.
"The number you are trying to reach is currently not accepting calls at this time." A cool automated voice said. "To leave a call back number press-"
Jeremie cursed and pressed redial.
Nothing.
He called Yumi's number and she answered on the third ring.
"What is it Jeremie?" She asked.
"Xana's launched an attack! Is Aelita with you? I tried calling her but it went straight to voicemail!"
"Aelita? No I think she's in the library with Corvin. Ulrich and Odd are with me though. We'll get the others and we'll meet you at the factory ok?" She promised.
"Okay just hurry! I'll meet you there!"
Jeremie shut down his computer and ran from his bedroom.
"That was Jeremie." Yumi said. "Xana's launched an attack."
"Awesome!" Odd said. "Finally some excitement. I was beginning to think he had forgotten about us!"
"YUMI!"
The three turned to see Hiroki and Johnny running towards them.
"Yumi! Ulrich! Odd!" Hiroki gasped. "W-we need help! There are monsters after us!"
"Monsters? What do you mean guys?" Odd asked.
The two boys began speaking over each other very rapidly in panicked voices.
"Whoa! Slow down and tell us what happened!" Yumi said.
"We were by the snack machines when suddenly Corvin's DS started acting funny!" Hiroki exclaimed.
"I didn't mean to break it!" Johnny wailed.
"It sparked and this red symbol appeared and- and- and-"
"What?" Ulrich said seriously. "What happened next?"
"Well uh… we were attacked by… Goombas." Hiroki said fidgeting awkwardly.
The three Lyoko warriors were silent.
"Uh… what?" Yumi asked.
"G-goombas!" Johnny said. "You know, the evil mushroom monsters from Super Mario Bros!"
"Oh is that all?" Odd laughed.
"We're serious!" Hiroki said. "They just sort of appeared and tried to get us!"
"Well I'm sure you guys think they were real." Odd said with a shrug. "After all the 3D effects are pretty sweet huh?"
"3D?" Hiroki asked.
"Yeah. Corvin's DS is a new model a friend of his in Japan sent him. You can't get it anywhere else. Pretty neat huh? Those things drive Kiwi crazy!"
The two boys sighed in relief.
"See? I told you!" Hiroki said punching Johnny's arm.
"No you didn't!" Johnny cried.
"Liar!"
"Y-yeah." Ulrich said. "That was it. It can be pretty scary huh?"
"So it's settled then." Yumi said with an annoyed sigh at Odd's ridiculous lie and her brother for falling for said lie. "Why don't you guys go and play in the rec room. We'll go and get the DS for Corvin."
"Yeah okay. See you guys later." Hiroki said.
"Bye Yumi!" Johnny waved.
The two boys ran towards the dorm rooms arguing over who was more frightened.
"We need to get Aelita and Corvin now!" Yumi said quickly.
"Let's go!" Ulrich nodded.
The five Lyoko warriors ran across the schoolyard towards the forest.
"Okay so Xana did what now?" Corvin panted.
"He hijacked your video game and created monsters!" Odd said.
"Really? Cool!" Corvin said.
"This isn't a video game Corvin!" Yumi snapped. "They almost attacked my brother and his friend!"
"They're okay right?" Corvin asked.
"They're fine Corvin let's just get to the tower!" Yumi said.
"What were you guys doing in the library on a Friday anyway?" Odd asked with a sly grin on his face.
"We were studying." Aelita said blushing.
"Suuure!" Odd laughed.
"No really. We were studying." Corvin said his face reddening.
"Uh guys? Those goomba things are giant mushrooms right?" Ulrich asked.
"Yeah?" Corvin said.
"Uh…"
Ulrich pointed ahead of them to the forest where a trio of squat, ugly brown creatures was moving towards them. They had angry looks on their ugly little faces and stood just under a foot off of the ground.
"Wow. You guys weren't kidding. I guess it's a good thing I didn't loan him mutant monster madness." Corvin said.
"Oh man Xana must be running out of ideas." Odd laughed. "Goombas? Really? That's rich!"
Ulrich chuckled.
"You know when Hiroki said "giant mushroom monsters" I was thinking they'd be, well, giant!" He laughed.
He approached one of the mushrooms and it glared up at him angrily.
"Ulrich wait!" Aelita warned. "We don't know what those things are capable of!"
"What's it going to do? Mold me to death?" Ulrich called back.
He smirked and hiked back his right leg.
"I hate mushrooms!" He said wickedly.
He swung out his foot and his shoe collided with the Goomba. There was a spark of electricity and Ulrich cried out in pain as the surge of energy sent him flying through the air.
"Ulrich!" Yumi cried as Ulrich slid across the ground.
"Are you alright?" Yumi asked dropping down to his side.
"Y-yeah!" Ulrich groaned as he sat up. "Oh man what the heck was that?"
"Huh." Odd said thoughtfully. "Apparently that's what happens when you touch them."
"Yeah." Corvin said trying to sound calm. "They cause moderate electrical burns. Who knew?"
"How do we stop these things?" Aelita asked.
"Well if it's anything like the game then we need to jump on them." Corvin said nervously. "But that may not be the case…"
The ferocious fungi stepped closer to the warriors.
"Well you are the new guy." Odd said smiling at Corvin.
"I'll rochambeau you for it." Corvin offered with a dry laugh.
"You're on!"
The two boys faced each other.
"Rock paper scissors!" They said in unison.
Odd played rock and Corvin held his hand up in the Vulcan salute.
"What's that supposed to be?" Odd asked.
"It's Spock." Corvin replied.
"What do you mean it's Spock?" Odd asked.
"That's how you play!"
"What does Spock even do?"
"Look its simple." Corvin said. He began making hand gestures with his hands to illustrate his point. "Scissors cuts paper, paper covers rock, rock crushes lizard-"
"There's a lizard now?" Odd asked incredulously.
"Lizard poisons Spock." Corvin continued. "Spock smashes scissors, paper disproves Spock, Spock vaporizes rock, lizard eats paper, scissors decapitate lizard and naturally rock crushes scissors."
"What?" Odd asked. "You made that up!"
"No I didn't! Look it up!" Corvin insisted.
"We don't have time for this!" Yumi snapped.
She handed Ulrich off to Aelita and shoved her way through the two boys. She stormed over to the three goombas, raised a booted foot and brought it down on the middle mushroom. There was a pop of white light and the goomba disappeared in a shower of sparks leaving only a dark scorch mark on the stonework of Kadic's courtyard.
"Well okay then." Corvin said as the two remaining goomba's took a nervous step backwards.
"I really hate mushrooms!" Yumi growled raising a boot.
The goombas gulped nervously.
The five Lyoko warriors ran through the forest. Odd and Corvin supported Ulrich on their shoulders as the five children hastily ran through the trees.
"The manholes just up ahead." Aelita said as their secret door came into view. "Come on!"
"Hey what's that?" Yumi asked pointing to a strange plant in front of the manhole cover.
"That wasn't there before." Aelita said walking up to it.
"Aelita wait!" Corvin warned.
A red budded flower burst out of the ground and bared a pair of razor sharp teeth at Aelita. She screamed as the plant licked its lips and attempted to take a bite out of the girl. Corvin reacted quickly. He dropped Ulrich and ran forward, tackling Aelita the ground and shoving her out of the plant's reach. The plant nipped furiously at their heels and snapped its jaws in annoyance.
"You okay?" Corvin asked pulling Aelita to her feet.
"Y-yeah. Thanks." She said still shaking. "What in the world is that thing?"
"Piranha plant." Corvin said as they backed away from the monster. "I hate those things."
It sniffed the air and then slid back into the ground becoming almost invisible amongst the underbrush of the forest.
"What do we do now?" Ulrich asked flinching in pain as he tried to keep pressure off of his injured leg.
"Well, my fire flower is back in my dorm so I guess all we can do is try and jump it before the flower monster eats us." Odd said. "I'll go first."
He handed Ulrich to Corvin and Aelita and took several steps backwards to get a good running start. He rubbed his hands together and broke into a sprint. He jumped over the piranha plant and laughed as it burst from the ground to bite him.
"Woo hoo!" Odd cried as he passed over it.
The piranha plant missed by several inches and Odd landed on the other side unscathed. He looked over at the manhole cover and smiled.
"Hold on! I have an idea!" He called back to the others.
He lifted the lid out of the ground with a groan of effort and slowly made his way over to the piranha plant. Its red bud popped out of the ground and it sniffed the air greedily.
"Hungry?" Odd asked. "How about a little pound cake you little creep?"
He dropped the manhole cover onto the plant and squashed it flat.
"Odd you glorious Italian genius!" Corvin laughed giving Odd a high five.
"Let's keep moving. Jeremie's probably waiting for us." Aelita said.
The five of them climbed down the ladder. As Odd descended he made the sound that is made whenever Mario slides down a pipe.
"Ah you beat me to it!" Corvin laughed.
"Glad you guys are enjoying yourselves!" Ulrich grunted.
"Aw come on. Like most Xana attacks this would be awesome if they weren't trying to kill us." Odd said as they ran through the tunnels.
"It's kind of awesome anyway." Corvin said.
"It's all fun and games until you run out of lives." Odd joked.
Corvin chuckled at the joke but gulped nervously.
They came to their cache of skateboards and they paused to catch their breath. Corvin unfolded the white scooter he had purchased just a few days ago and adjusted the handle.
"There's no way I can ride this thing." Ulrich growled as he picked up his skateboard.
Yumi frowned sadly at Ulrich.
"What if we-"
"Just go." Ulrich said angrily. "I'll catch up."
"Are you sure?" Aelita asked.
"Yeah. Just go." Ulrich grumbled.
The remaining Lyoko warriors nodded and mounted their preferred means of transport. Ulrich gritted his teeth in frustration and hobbled along the wall after them. In moments Odd, Aelita, Yumi and Corvin reached the ladder and began climbing.
"Should we wait for him?" Corvin asked.
"If he wanted us to wait he wouldn't have sent us ahead. Come on we're running out of time." Yumi said bitterly.
They reached the top, left the manhole open for their friend and ran down the bridge. They slid down the chain and landed on the factory floor below. They ran into the elevator and rode it down to computer lab below. The doors slid open and Jeremie wheeled his chair around to face them.
"It's about time!" He cried. "Where have you been?"
"Sorry the warp pipe was down for maintenance." Odd said. "Warm the scanners up for us would ya?"
They took the elevator down to the scanner room and stepped out as soon as the door slid open.
"The activated tower is in the forest sector." Jeremie said. "Yumi and Odd will go first and then I'll send in Corvin and Aelita."
"See you guys on the other side." Odd said with a wink as the scanner doors closed.
"Is this going to hurt?" Corvin asked Aelita as the scanners powered up.
"It doesn't hurt but it's kind of hard to describe." Aelita said. "Don't worry she said gently placing a hand on Corvin's shoulder. "You'll be fine."
The scanner doors opened and Corvin gasped.
"They're gone?" He asked.
"Yep. They're on Lyoko now." Aelita said.
She stepped into her scanner and Corvin stepped into his. The doors slid shut and Corvin took a breath from his inhaler.
"Try and keep still." Jeremie said.
"Sorry." Corvin said.
"Scanning Aelita!" Jeremie's voice rang out. "Scanning Corvin."
Corvin nervously clenched his eyes shut as the scanner flooded with light. He began to feel himself getting lighter, like he was floating.
"Virtualization!"
Suddenly Corvin felt himself falling. He gasped and opened his eyes in time to see the world rush past him in a blur as he plummeted to the ground. He landed on his back with an oomph as the air was forced out of his lungs. Stars circled around his vision and he had to blink several times before the world came back into focus.
"What the-"
He could see trees towering above him except they didn't look like proper trees. More like trees out of a video game. Digital.
"Nice landing Corvy. You should consider a career in gymnastics." A voice chuckled.
"Huh?" The trees were blocked out as a large purple cat creature leaned over Corvin and smirked at him.
"Odd?" Corvin asked in confusion. "Is that you?"
"The one and only!" Odd laughed. "Oh man the look on your face right now!"
"Is this… Lyoko?" Corvin asked.
"Yeah culture shock I know." Odd said.
He extended a pawed hand towards Corvin and pulled him to his feet.
Corvin could see Aelita and Yumi standing behind Odd. Yumi looked like a ninja clad in a maroon jumpsuit. Aelita was wearing a similar jumpsuit colored light and dark pink with a transparent skirt. Their outfits seemed fitting for them and Odd's was, well, Odd.
"Odd?" Corvin asked. "Why are you a giant purple cat?"
"It's not like I had a say in it." Odd grumbled. "Why is everyone hung up on the cat thing?"
Odd stepped back and looked Corvin up and down.
"Yeah I think you'll fit in just fine." Odd said folding his arms over his chest and stroking his chin.
Corvin looked down at himself and gasped. He was wearing a white tunic over a chainmail shirt, black trousers, leather boots and leather arm guards. His ears were pointed like Aelita's and his glasses were missing. On his right cheek was a black crescent moon. Hanging from a sheath on his belt was a longsword with a double edged blade and strapped to his left arm was a white round shield with a crescent moon like the one on his cheek.
"Very strapping." Aelita said. "You're a regular knight in shining armor."
"Thanks but I'm still trying to work out why you're a cat…" Corvin said raising an eyebrow at Odd.
"The super computer taps into your subconscious and projects it onto Lyoko." Jeremie's voice rang out.
"Jeremie?" Corvin asked looking around. "Where are you?"
"Back on earth. I'm monitoring everything from the computer lab above the scanner room." Jeremie said. "Corvin the virtualization went off without a hitch. Once I have some time I'll have to upgrade your equipment so it will be up to date with everyone else's."
"This is good enough for me." Corvin said admiring his gear. "Why don't you come down here with us?"
"Jeremie can keep track of our life points and keep an eye out for monsters from the lab." Aelita said.
"Yeah plus Einstein is afraid of being virtualized." Odd said.
"Okay so now what do we do?" Corvin asked. "You said something about a tower right?"
"Yes. Xana has activated a tower in this area. You have to make sure Aelita gets there so she can deactivate the tower." Jeremie said.
"Speaking of which we need to get moving." Yumi said. "Jeremie our vehicles?"
"Way ahead of you." Jeremie said as the Overwing, Overbike and Overboard appeared. "Corvin I don't have a vehicle for you yet so you'll have to make due with Ulrich's Overbike for now."
"Fine by me." Corvin said as everyone mounted their vehicles.
Odd hoped onto the overboard as Aelita and Yumi climbed onto the Overwing. Corvin sheathed his sword and threw a leg over the Overbike.
"Let's go!" Odd said taking off through the air.
"The tower isn't that far from your current location." Jeremie said. "Just keep heading north."
Down in the sewers Ulrich gasped for breath as he hung onto the ladder that led to the bridge. His leg felt like it was on fire. He hoped it wasn't going to get infected by being exposed to the foul filth of the sewer. He heard something behind him. He jerked around and peered into the darkness of the sewer tunnel searching for signs of movement. Suddenly a light clicked on and shined into his face.
"Hey!" A gruff voice exclaimed. "What the heck are you doing down here? This isn't a place for children!"
It was a sewer worker wearing a reflective vest and hard hat. His face was scruffy and his gut oozed over his utility belt.
"I uh- I was just-" Ulrich stammered.
"Are you the one who blew up that tunnel? Huh?!" The man shouted angrily.
"Blew up?" Ulrich asked. "What are you-"
Suddenly a winding noise came from down the tunnel followed by a soft patter of tiny feet.
"What's that?" Ulrich asked.
The man whirled around and shined his light down the tunnel.
"Hm?" He said looking into the shadows. "There's nothing-"
He looked down. Standing at his feet was what looked like a bomb with two tiny feet and a pair of eyes on its front. It looked up at the sewer worker and the eye of Xana appeared in its eyes. The eyes narrowed menacingly and the bomb began to hop up and down.
"What the heck is that thing?"
BOOM!
Ulrich screamed and covered his ears as the tunnel lit up with a powerful explosion. Chunks of brick and broken pipes flew by him and as the tunnel filled with dust and debris. The hard hat rolled towards him and bumped into his legs.
"Oh god!" He cried.
He could hear more of those winding monsters coming towards him in the darkness. He grabbed the ladder and began climbing as fast as he could. He reached the top and gasped. A large group of walking bombs and turtles were walking across the bridge towards the factory.
"Oh no!" He exclaimed.
Back on Lyoko the four warriors saw the tower appear in the distance. It was perched on top of a large hill with only a single narrow path leading up to it.
"Jeremie! We're almost there!" Aelita said.
"I was told there would be monsters." Corvin said.
A laser bolt struck the side of the Overbike and the vehicle devirtualized sending Corvin rolling on the forest floor.
"You walked right into that one." Odd said flying down next to him.
"Yeah." Corvin sputtered as he pulled himself to his feet.
Aelita and Yumi landed next to the boys as a pair of Tarantulas, five Kankrelats, and pair of bloks descended the path leading up to the tower.
"Whoa!" Corvin said gazing at the Tarantulas. "Those things are huge!"
The tarantulas roared and knelt down on their rear legs setting up a blockade at the base of the path. The Kankrelats clattered towards them and a trio of Hornets appeared from behind the trees.
"Ambush!" Aelita cried.
The tarantulas opened fire with their lasers and sent a volley of red energy bolts towards the warriors. Several bolts hit the Overwing and destroyed it sending the girls falling to ground. Odd evaded the lasers aimed at him and flew overhead.
"Aelita! We're sitting ducks here!" Yumi said a series of Kankrelat's bolts with her fans.
"Okay!" Aelita nodded.
She touched her right hand to her head and concentrated as hard as she could. A soothing song escaped her lips and the digital outline of a log appeared in front of them. Corvin watched in awe as the log took full form.
"That's amazing!" Corvin exclaimed.
"Focus!" Yumi snapped. "We have to take care of these monsters! Odd can you draw their fire?"
"Happily!" Odd grinned. "Peekaboo, here I am!"
He fired a few arrows at the monsters below and the two bloks exploded from his attack. The remaining Kankrelats looked around in confusion as the trio of Hornets pulled a U turn and began to fire their lasers at Odd. Corvin seized his chance and broke cover, brandishing his sword he ran out onto the battle field.
"Corvin wait!" Yumi shouted.
Corvin swung his sword and slashed the nearest Kankrelat in half. It exploded in a burst of digital code and Corvin raised his shield as the rest of the Kankrelats opened fire on him. The lasers bounced harmlessly off of his shield and one of the Kankrelats was destroyed by the ricochet.
"That's all you got?" Corvin laughed.
Suddenly a charged bolt from one of the Tarantulas hit Corvin in the side. He flinched from the bolt but managed to stay on his feet. Up above Odd pulled a quick U turn, descended a few feet and fired an arrow up at the middle Hornet and destroying it.
"Huh that's weird." Odd said dodging a poisonous shot from one of the two remaining hornets. "Usually a charged shot sends us flying."
"It's one of Corvin's powers." Jeremie said. "His armor absorbs the impact of the lasers and reduces the knock back."
"Cool!" Corvin said.
"That doesn't make you invincible though!" Jeremie warned. "You just lost fifty life points from that hit!"
"How many do I have left?" Corvin asked uneasily.
"You have fif- uh no, you have one hundred?" Jeremie gasped.
"What? He has more health too?" Odd whined. "I call hacks!"
The tarantulas grunted to each other and sent a barrage of lasers down range at Corvin. Corvin felt a hand on his shoulder and was jerked back behind the log.
"Hey what gives?" He asked.
"Look just because you're tough don't think you can just run out there like you're John Wayne!" Yumi snapped. "If you get devirtualized then you're out of the fight got it?"
"Sorry." Corvin said sheepishly.
Odd zoomed towards a tree and quickly pulled upwards. One of the hornets crashed into the tree and exploded. Odd smirked and swerved around the face the last Hornet. Its numerous wings fluttered as it charged towards Odd and charged up a laser. Odd jumped off of his Overboard and avoided the Hornet's charge.
"Laser arrow!"
The final Hornet exploded and Odd landed back on his Overboard.
"Odd!" Yumi yelled up to him. "Draw the fire of those Tarantulas!"
"Yeah yeah." Odd said waving a paw.
"When I give the signal you go right and we'll go left. Take out those Kankrelats and we'll handle the Tarantulas." Yumi said.
"Right." Corvin nodded.
Odd flew over the Tarantulas and shook his tail at them.
"Yoo hoo!" He called.
The tarantulas roared in annoyance and focused their fire on the purple target above.
"Now!" Yumi cried.
The three warriors broke cover and charged. Corvin brought his sword down and sliced a Kankrelat in half. The last two fired their lasers but Corvin blocked them with his shield. He thrust his sword into one of the Kankrelats and stomped the other one into the ground.
"Energy field!" Aelita cried.
She sent a pink ball of energy from her hand as Yumi hurled a tessen fan.
Their attack struck the tarantulas and both of the monsters fell to the ground in defeat before exploding.
"Nice one ladies!" Odd said flying down to meet them.
"Come on we have to get to the tower!" Aelita said.
Suddenly a laser bolt struck Aelita in the chest and sent her rolling along the ground. Another laser bolt hit Odd's Overboard and devirtualized it.
"Aelita!" Yumi cried as Odd fell to the ground.
"Ow!" Odd said pulling himself to his feet. "What was that?"
The three warriors turned around and saw three more tarantulas clambering towards them. Riding on the middle tarantula was William Dunbar.
"Oh no! Jeremie, its William!" Yumi cried.
The tarantulas that flanked William positioned themselves on their hind legs and opened fire with their cannons. The three warriors sprang into action. Corvin planted himself in front of Aelita and raised his shield to protect her from the storm of laser bolts. Odd flipped and dodged out of the line of fire and Yumi hurled her fans. The cruel saw like blades cut into a leg of each of the tarantulas and they fell to the ground. Odd seized his chance and fired an arrow at each of the tarantula's now exposed weak spot. They exploded and William growled in anger at the Lyoko warriors.
"Hey there William long time no see." Odd said.
William jumped off of the tarantula and glared at the warriors. The tarantula prepared its cannons but William held up a hand. The tarantula lowered its weapons and William raised his sword.
"Who is he supposed to be huh?" Corvin asked as Aelita stood up behind him. "Cloud's angry brother?"
Jeremie watched the battle anxiously on his computer. Yumi hurled her fans while Odd fired arrow after arrow at William. Behind him the door to the elevator opened and Ulrich stumbled out.
"Jeremie! We have a problem." Ulrich gasped. "Some kind of walking bombs and turtles are on their way to the factory!"
"Guys did you get that?" Jeremie cried.
"Kind of busy here Einstein! Call a plumber!" Odd replied.
Odd fired a laser arrow at William who blocked it with his sword and charged forward towards Corvin. William swung his sword in a wide arc and Corvin raised his shield in defense. When the sword hit it there was an explosion of white energy that sent both parties flying.
"When an unstoppable force meets and unmovable object." Odd said as Corvin pulled himself up to his feet.
"Corvin! Get Aelita to the tower! Odd and I will handle this!" Yumi said.
"I got him!" Corvin said as William stood up.
"Super smoke!" William roared.
He turned into a thick cloud of smoke and sped towards Corvin.
"What the-"
William went between Corvin's legs and reformed behind him. He growled like a wild animal and brought his sword down on Corvin. Corvin side stepped the blow and the sword dug into the ground with an earth shaking crash. Corvin slammed his shield into William and knocked him away from the weapon. Corvin slashed his sword at William and William grabbed the blade with his left hand. With a smirk William raised his right hand and gestured towards his weapon. His sword pulled itself from the ground and flew towards the two like a saw blade. It sliced through Corvin at an angle and William caught it in his free hand. Corvin cursed as he fell to his knees and began to devirtualize. He glared up at William who only stood there and smirked.
In the scanner room Corvin stumbled out of his scanner in a pant. He held himself up on the side of the scanner and pushed up his glasses.
"That sucked!" He gasped as he fumbled for his inhaler.
"Corvin!" Jeremie called from the ladder shaft. "We need your help up here!"
Corvin climbed the ladder to the computer lab. Jeremie was sitting at the computer and typing at the keys.
"Ulrich is upstairs on the factory floor handling monsters! Get up there and help him!" Jeremie said.
Corvin nodded and ran towards the elevator.
"Come on guys!" Jeremie said desperately.
William swung his sword angrily and roared at Odd in frustration.
"Stay! Still!" He bellowed with each swing.
He gasped as one of Yumi's fans hit his shoulder. Yumi caught her fan and back flipped out of the way missing an attack by William by less than an inch. William slammed the dull end of his sword into Yumi and knocked her two the ground. He raised his sword above his head and prepared to deliver the killing blow.
"Laser arrow!"
Odd fired a pair of arrows into William's back. William snarled and whirled around slicing Odd in half at the waste.
"Gotcha." Odd smiled as he devirtualized.
William grunted in confusion and turned back to Yumi. She had placed her hand against her forehead and her expression was strained. A shadow fell over the two of them as the log that Aelita created slowly floated over them. William roared in anger as the log fell and devirtualized both of them.
Aelita seized her chance. She sprouted her angelic wings from her back and flew up the hill to the tower. The final tarantula opened fire at Aelita who easily evaded the laser bolts. She reached the tower and waved flirtatiously at the tarantula as she stepped inside. She felt herself rise into the air and she floated gracefully to the top of the tower. She approached the terminal and placed her hand against the digital screen.
Code… Lyoko
"Jeremie! It's done!" She said.
"You did great Aelita! Return to the past now!"
Upstairs Ulrich and Corvin were fighting a small army of turtles, Bob-Ombs, and Goombas. Ulrich stomped on a turtle and kicked it when it flipped upside down causing it to explode in a shower of sparks. Corvin jumped on a pair of Goombas and crushed them underneath is shoes. Ulrich kicked a Bob-omb into a group of green shelled turtles causing them to explode in a surge of electricity. Suddenly a bright white light stretched through the factory and enveloped the two boys.
"That was close." Corvin sighed.
They were standing outside of the cafeteria about to walk in.
"Too close." Ulrich said flexing his healed leg.
Yumi turned on Corvin and scowled at him.
"Just what the heck did you think you were doing back there?" She said angrily.
"What do you mean?" Corvin asked.
"I told you to leave William to us, to get Aelita to the tower!" Yumi said.
"Hey I'm sorry okay?" Corvin said. "She got to the tower all right in the end though right? No big deal."
"No big deal?" Yumi repeated in disgust. "We just barely won that fight! If we had lost then the entire factory would have been destroyed, all of us would have died and Xana would have won!"
"I said I was sorry." Corvin said his gaze falling to the ground.
"This isn't some kind of a game okay?" Yumi said. "Lives are on the line here!"
With that Yumi stormed off.
"Hey don't take it personally." Aelita said placing a hand on Corvin's shoulder.
"William? Who is that anyway?" Corvin asked.
The warriors exchanged dismal looks.
"William was another member of our group." Jeremie said. "On his first trip into Lyoko he got possessed by Xana and he was the one you fought today. Yumi still blames herself for what happened and the way you acted today must have reminded her of him."
"William got careless and now we're paying for it." Ulrich said.
"Oh." Corvin said. "But I've seen that guy here before haven't I?"
"A clone I created so that no one would get suspicious of his absence." Jeremie explained.
"Oh." Corvin said.
Normally Corvin would have gushed over something like a polymorphic specter but his face was distant as he watched Yumi walk towards the park.
"I guess she pretty much hates me now huh?"
"Just give her some time to cool off." Aelita said. "She'll come around."
"In the meantime, whatever you do, try and stay on her good side." Ulrich warned.
Corvin nodded. Odd's stomach rumbled and Ulrich sighed in irritation.
"What?" Odd said. "I'm hungry!"