A/N: I'm baaaaack!

I also don't own Code Lyoko.


Chapter 8 – Translation and Transition

Jim, who sat in the co-pilot seat of the chopper, was sorely miffed that he hadn't been let to see Jeremy's new skills in action, and he was further confused when the gang reemerged from the facility with a dark look on their faces, but his patience was rewarded when Jeremy said that they would be paying a visit to the headquarters of the Secret Police to prepare the gang for what Odd cleverly titled as the Fourth Cobra War.

"But why third?" he asked Odd.

"Well, the one Jeremy's grandpa fought in was the first," Odd replied, "the one his dad fought in was the second, so the one Jeremy himself fought in would be the third, right? So then that would make this one the fourth."

"Well, I guess that makes sense," Jim stated, "but I think I speak for us all when I say I hope this will be the last one."

"It will be," Jeremy said out loud, "I swear it." He added the last part with a harsh tone.

Soon enough, the helicopter came to a large complex of buildings, which was in a walled mountainous area, completely secluded from the rest of the city of Sceaux. The others gazed out the window in awe at the scenery, but Jeremy still had his focus on his feet, wondering how they would resolve this rekindled struggle. It was during the descent to the complex that the girls filled Jim in on the current situation.

"So, this place has the tech you need to fight these new mutant soldiers?" Jim asked, trying to piece all of this together.

"Yeah," Aelita said uncertainly.

"What is it?" Jim asked. "Did I miss something here?"

"Well, form what Jeremy said," Sissi explained, "if we use those scanners at headquarters to gain our Lyoko powers and costumes, not that I had any to begin with, that the transformation may not be able to be undone."

"Meaning that we may be stuck in our digital avatars for good," Yumi confirmed.

"Ouch," Jim winced. "That does seem bad."

"You bet it is!" Odd shouted. "How am I supposed to pick up girls with ears and a tail?"

"I said it's a possibility!" Jeremy shot back. "The only reason we don't know the effects is because Aelita's mother disappeared once she was virtualized. I'm sorry I told you guys this."

"Why's that?" Jim asked. "You'd want them to know something like that, right?"

"Yeah," Jeremy sighed, "but I thought that if I did tell them, then they'd never let me use it on them, and I wouldn't have the heart because I care too much about them." He turned to face Aelita. "I'm especially worried about you. If anything were to happen to you because of me… I don't know what I'd do." He looked down at his feet, and the pinkette placed her hand on his shoulder, at which he looked up again.

"I would be a fool not to trust you, Jeremy," she said calmly. "You've earned my utmost trust many times over. You've saved my life and the world more times than I can even count, and you're one of the strongest, smartest, most thoughtful, and most caring guys I've ever known."

He looked into her eyes and smiled. "Why can't I ever be upset when you say anything?"

"I guess it's one of my endearing charms," she replied, smiling herself.

"If you two lovebirds are finished," Ulrich said, "the pilot signaled that we're about to land."

"Right," Jeremy said, and stared out the window at the complex, getting closer with every second, until they made contact with the helipad. Upon landing, they were greeted by two neat rows of armed guards. When Jeremy exited the chopper first, the troops all saluted with their rifles in perfect unison, and the commanding officer shouted out, "We welcome you back to base, Captain Belpois, sir!"

"At ease, Sergeant Palum," Jeremy said, raising his hand. "Is anyone at the research facility today?"

"Affirmative, sir," the sergeant responded. "Lieutenants Belpois and Delmas are in there as we speak, having arrived here at approximately 1600 hours Paris Standard Time along with Commander Della Robia, and Agents Dunbar, Ishiyama, and Stern."

"Lieutenant?" Sissi asked. "Commander? What's going on here?"

"Didn't you hear anything when we said your parents were in the army?" Jeremy asked. "You already could guess from the 'rumors' that Odd's dad was a commander in the army. Well, he is, and your other parents are high up in the army as well."

"Oh," Sissi blushed. "Right, sorry about that."

"No problem," Jeremy waved. With that, they all filed inside the massive complex. At the end of a long, tall hallway was a thick steel door equipped with several different digital locks. Jeremy stepped forward and punched a series of numbers into the first lock, placed his hand on the second lock, placed a card over the third lock, removed his glasses and showed his eyes to the camera in the fourth lock, and finally moved to the fifth, and spoke into a microphone.

"Jeremy Belpois," he said loudly, and the door hissed and creaked, and slowly swung open. Jeremy led the team into a room filled with countless computers and a swath of technicians at each one, making sure everything was on top of its game, and nothing was going badly wrong.

In the middle of the room, where a huge machine filled up almost the entire space of the room itself, sat Jeremy's dad and Sissi's dad in military uniforms, and everyone else's parents in a set of black suits, except for Odd's dad, who was in an International Army Ranger uniform.

"Ah, so nice of you to join us, kids," Jeremy's dad greeted. "I heard all did not go well in Dijon."

"You heard right, pop," Jeremy stated, "Pynchev was an Agent."

"Well, damn, isn't that just great?" he said, half chuckling. "Things just got a lot more interesting, didn't they, son?"

"You can say that again," Jeremy replied. "But now we have to follow suit, in order for us to regain equal footing."

"Meaning…?" Mr. Delmas trailed off.

"They have to use the scanners to imprint their digital avatars onto themselves in order to successfully combat the Agents of Carthage." Jeremy finished.

"Agents of Carthage?" William asked.

"They're the term we've given to those whom XANA has given a piece of his powers to," Mr. Delmas explained. "We used 'Carthage' because XANA was supposed to be 'Scipio' and destroy 'Carthage', but instead he merged with it and became even more powerful and intelligent than anyone, even Waldo, could have ever imagined."

"Oh," William said. "I see."

"Well, I don't think any of us are too thrilled to be doing this translation thing," Ulrich spouted, "especially after what Jeremy said a few minutes ago."

"What do you mean?" Mr. Delmas inquired.

"I told them that if they went into this scanner," Jeremy said, "that they may never return to their original forms."

"Why did you say that?" Mrs. Dunbar asked. "You'd let them do this, even with that at stake?"

"Hey, we don't know that for sure," Mr. Stern defended. "For all we know, they could go back to normal whenever they wanted."

"Or they could even be deleted for good," Mr. Ishiyama added. "I knew this was a bad idea right from the start."

"Hold on there!" Mr. Stern shouted again. "If Jeremy says it may not be, then I believe him."

"Really?" Ulrich asked, surprised at his dad's sudden outbursts.

"Yes, really," his dad repeated. "It's time I put aside my pride and had faith in you kids. You've had good personnel up to now, why should now be any different?"

Jeremy looked at him. "Thanks, Agent Stern," he said, smiling.

"Heh, no problem, Captain Belpois," he grinned back.

"But if the translation may be permanent," Aelita stepped forward, "then I'll be the first to translate."

"Aelita, you can't!" Yumi shouted. "We can't allow you to be stuck in your own avatar for life!"

"Don't object," Jeremy interrupted. "Her mind's made up, and so is mine. I'm translating right with her."

"Jeremy, not you too!" Yumi pleaded. "This isn't the way to go about this!"

"We don't have a lot of options, Yumi," Jeremy said. "I want to make sure this works for you guys as well, and if being a guinea pig is the way to do it, then so be it."

The adult agents all nodded. "Well said, son," Jeremy's dad said. With that, Aelita and Jeremy stepped forward onto the platform while Michael gave the orders to the computer workers from his command chair. He started to type several intricate keystrokes, and then dwindled down to something much more simplistic so that the others could follow.

"Here goes," he said, cracking his knuckles before resuming the process.

"Transfer Jeremy. Transfer Aelita," he commanded. A strange light emitted from the platform, creating a barrier that started from the top of the scanner and was touching the bottom. The scanner itself was just a platform at the bottom, but an identical platform was hovering over their heads, attached to the ceiling by a metallic frame, with several wires and cables connecting to it. The barrier was a clear but bright white, so everyone could see inside. Lights were rushing up the barrier as Jeremy and Aelita grew brighter themselves.

"Scanner, Jeremy. Scanner, Aelita," Michael continued. The lights suddenly looked like they were sticking onto the twosome's bodies, and they grew even brighter, so bright that they could barely be seen without having to squint to the point where their eyes were closed.

Michael breathed a huge sigh as he hit the large 'enter' key. "Translation."

The barrier flashed for a few seconds, then instantly disappeared. When the crew blinked and steadied themselves, they saw the effects of the translation. Aelita and Jeremy stood before them, but in new, more powerful looking forms. Aelita had a newly altered version of her new Lyoko uniform, but her pink translucent skirt had become a solid dark purple one. Her bracelet also changed into an oval shape, with the star still on the display. Jeremy's outfit, however, was something no one but Aelita had anticipated. He was dressed in a skintight navy blue army suit with black army boots, a long black cape, which was blue on the inside, thick biker's goggles strapped on his forehead, and clips and holsters almost every small weapon imaginable almost covering his entire body. Lastly, the gang noticed three large sticks poking out from his back.

"Whoa," Ulrich said. "I don't remember Einstein looking like that."

"Well, that's because he's Jeremy," Aelita grinned. "He can do things like that."

"Do we get new duds, too?" Odd asked eagerly.

"Wait, what about his theory about translation?" William asked.

"Well, let's see about that," Jeremy said. With that, he punched a few keys on his wrist computer, and his and Aelita's costumes instantly disappeared, revealing their military uniforms.

"From what I can see," he said after a second, "there's no danger here. By the way, that was part of my powers. I could have used the main computer, but this was more fun."

"Then me next!" Odd jumped up.

"Hold on there, Mr. Impatient," Jeremy said. "Everyone can get on the platform without having to take turns. That's why this was built in the first place."

"Sweet!" Yumi said. "Let's go!"

"With pleasure," Jeremy smiled, and they all climbed onto the platform. "We're ready, dad!"

"Okay, here goes!" he said, grinning himself. "Transfer, Odd. Transfer, Ulrich. Transfer, Yumi. Transfer, Aelita. Transfer, William. Transfer, Sissi. Transfer, Jeremy." The lights returned, and the rest of the gang breathed in. "Scanner, Odd. Scanner, Ulrich. Scanner, Yumi. Scanner, Aelita. Scanner, William. Scanner, Sissi. Scanner, Jeremy."

"Translation."

When the lights disappeared, the Lyoko Warriors found their appearance had changed like Jeremy's and Aelita's. Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd had minor changes in their suits, but the real changes were remarked by each warrior to the other.

"Hey, Odd," Yumi snickered, "you lost your ears."

"Huh? Man, that's kind of lame," Odd commented, reaching up to his head. "Hey, looks like you've got a new toy strapped to your back, Yumi."

Yumi reached to her back, and grasped the hold of a long fuchsia Bo staff, which she pulled out and examined amazingly.

"Cool," she said, and then looked at the others. "Whoa, William! Your face is so… pale!"

William looked at himself in the reflection from the screen, and noticed he was in a suit which resembled his XANA-slave uniform, but with a triangle in place of the eye of XANA, but his face was a deadly white, as white as salt.

"I look like a Tim Burton extra!" he exclaimed. "Hey, Sissi, you look great!"

Sissi was dressed in a black skintight sleeveless jacket, with a matching skirt and leggings, black sneakers and black leather gloves.

"I look like Tifa Lockhart!" she said interestedly.

"You watched Advent Children?" Odd asked.

"My big brother got me into it," Sissi shrugged. "It was a good movie. Tifa's my favorite character from the game and movie."

"Maybe that had something to do with your look," Ulrich said.

"Maybe so," she agreed. "So, what's next, captain? No pun intended!"

"No pun taken," Jeremy smiled, "and the next step is to find their stronghold and take them down for good."

"How do we do that?" Aelita asked.

"We use these captured data packs," Jeremy said, pointing to the tray of flash drives, "to track their codes, and find the location of their headquarters."

"That's genius," Ulrich said, "but what happens when we get them?"

"Simple," Jeremy said, drawing his massive mechanical sword. "We bust their skulls."

"I like the way you think, Einstein!" Odd cheered. Just then, a series of alarms rang, and the screen in front of them showed a video feed of a group of armed men outside the French Military Academy and Museum.

"It's the Cobras!" Michael shouted.

"They must be going after the armory!" Mr. Delmas added.

"Then let's stop them!" Yumi exclaimed.

"Right," Jeremy replied. "Guys, follow me. We've got work to do."

With that, they charged out the R&D doors into the garage, which showed a machine that the gang had never seen before.

"What's that?" Sissi asked Ulrich.

"You've got me," he replied.

"It's the Megapod," Jeremy answered. "Our newest machine from the digital world of Lyoko. Four seats, bulletproof, able to travel land, sea, and air. Ulrich, you and Odd, Yumi, and Aelita will take this."

"What about us?" William asked, pointing to himself, Jeremy, and Sissi.

"You and Sissi take the Overbike and Overwing over there," Jeremy responded, pointing to the aforementioned Lyoko vehicles, materialized next to the Megapod, "and I take this." He pointed to a motorcycle with heavy armor, various holsters for weapons, and the eye of Lyoko on the hood.

"Nice bike," William grinned.

"It looks like Cloud's," Sissi added.

"I'll take that as a compliment, then," Jeremy said, climbing into his bike. "Just don't wreck the Overbike, William," he added, "or else Ulrich may have to kill you."

"No problem, Einstein," he said playfully.

"And now," Jeremy cheered, "let's rock and roll!" As he said this, he shot out of the garage, and raced down the streets of France, with the others catching up with him soon after. With a look of determination on his face, Jeremy squeezed the throttle on his bike, and the whole gang zoomed down the street, ready more than anything for what lied ahead.


Ready for the next part? Well, sorry, I'm not that far yet... Just wait, it gets good!

BTW, I based the gang's new looks from Code Lyoko Evolution, which (I REALLY HOPE) comes out in France early this fall.

-JeremyX signing off!