Layla: Hey everyone, it's me, Layla! SecretCodeLyokan wasn't in the mood today, so now me and the gang are going to do the intro.
Aelita: *clears throat and reads aloud from a note* So, first, SecretCodeLyokan would like to announce that, since her latest episodes have lacked of action, she's going to work hard to make sure there would be plenty in future chapters. Unfortunately, she was feeling a little lazy and lacked of many ideas today, so she apologizes if this episode is terrible.
Jeremy: *clears throat* She's proudly announcing that she read a few Jerlita stories and is now inspired to write some fluff. *blushes*
Aelita: Yeah, well, about time…*blushes*
Jeremy: She apologizes for all Jerlita fans out there, for not putting this sooner. She promises that, until further notice, all following chapters will include mostly Jerlita and LaylaxOdd, whilst she'll let you all hanging about what will happen to Ulumi/Yulrich.
Yumi: She might be a fan, but she sure does respect other people's preferences.
Layla: She does her best to please all of the people who ship her Top 3 favorite couples.
Yumi: You're right. Anyway, *reads from paper* the review answers: for Naruto Sakura Uzumaki, SecretCodeLyokan apologizes for the mistake and promises to do better in the future.
About Aelita, she would like to clarify to everyone that, while Warriors were in a bad mood, Aelita tried to cheer them up, but her plan backfired on Jeremy and Odd, so she gave up, thus making the last three even angrier. She apologizes to all readers for forgetting this detail.
SecretCodeLyokan would also like to thank him for the idea and says she would be using the Volcanoids probably towards the last chapters, like the Kolossus. *passes paper to Ulrich*
Ulrich: *reads from it* In response to tomovlada, she thanks him for the suggestion and has already two half-ideas for it.
Odd: *runs in, while fangirls cheer* *pant* Sorry I'm late.
Layla: What took you so long?
Odd: SecretCodeLyokan wanted me to go check Tumblr: they posted some of her Code Lyoko headcanons…
SecretCodeLyokan: *from speaker* ODD! THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS!
Odd: Sorry, sorry…but look on the bright side: I didn't tell which ones are yours.
SecretCodeLyokan: Yeah, you're right. And for readers who have Tumblr and read 'codelyokoheadcanons', if anything with my name on it comes in, do not read it! Spoiler reasons.
Odd: Yeah, 'cause you just had to write the whole plot on a headcanon!
SecretCodeLyokan: *humphs* Whatever. Do your job.
Odd: Yeah yeah…*clears throat* So, this episode is dedicated to Gracekim1, who suggested this idea. Also, SecretCodeLyokan would like to thank all readers, since today's the day she has officially arrived at over 500 VIEWS! *confetti fall in the background, while Odd blows in a blower* Pffff!
Layla: SecretCodeLyokan doesn't own Code Lyoko or its characters. She owns me, the official plot of this Fanfic, Lyoko Reign and yadda yadda. The idea for this episode, as we said before, is inspired by Gracekim1's suggestion.
Code Lyoko: Case Of Delenda
*theme*
Episode 9: The Specter Of Thunder
"Hurry up, Jeremy, or we're going to miss lunch!"
Odd and the rest of the Warriors were in the lab, where Jeremy and Aelita were working on an update of the translation program.
Jeremy was typing, while Aelita was watching the screen and talking to him using so many computer terms that even Waldo Schaeffer would be scratching his head and asking them to repeat it again.
Odd, meanwhile, was sitting near the tamer and holding his grumbling stomach with one hand, while Layla was reading the folders that contained data about her friends; William was keeping his distance to avoid arguing with the hybrid again, and was talking to Ulrich about random stuff, much to Yumi's amazement and delight.
The ninja in question was sitting cross-legged in a corner, reading a book that had been shelved as one of her favorites, but she was hiding the title from everyone. Aelita suspected it was probably a love story or something and she was slightly embarrassed to read it in front of them.
"Odd, be patient" Layla said.
"But I'm hungry and today's meatballs and gravy day!" the hybrid complained.
The tamer sighed. "I can't give you my last chocolate bar, Odd"
"Why?" Odd groaned.
"Because I know you have a slight hazelnut allergy, that's why" Layla explained, pointing at a document open in front of her: it was Odd's medical file, and 'slight hazelnut allergy' was written in big red letters on it.
Odd groaned again. "I just get a few itches, that's all…"
"A few itches?" Yumi smirked. "Why, when X.A.N.A. attempted yet another food attack and tried to block you with possessed hazelnuts, you were so red from the scratching that someone could've mistaken you for a strawberry with yellow and purple leaves!"
Everyone laughed, even Layla, while Odd frowned.
"There was a whole army of them!" he defended himself, spreading his arms wide.
Layla smirked and opened another folder.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" she scrolled on her track pad. "Looks like someone had a nervous breakdown in sixth grade!"
Everyone stopped laughing. Odd peeked over her shoulder. "Who is it?"
Layla closed the window and looked at the three friends in front of her. "Apparently, one of you got detention in sixth grade for breaking a desk and made such a fuss that he he had to switch schools because his parents felt deadly embarrassed; guess who?"
Yumi and William looked at each other, before turning to the samurai: he was sitting cross-legged on the floor, and was in a state between blushing in shame or killing the orange-haired girl.
"Is there some dirt on Yumi?" Odd asked, a playful smirk on his face.
Layla searched on the folder, avoiding at all costs one which she had renamed 'unknown'.
"Why is that file called 'unknown'?" Odd asked, pointing at it.
Layla blushed slightly. "Uh…no reason".
She quickly clicked on another folder, but-alas!-it was a picture of one of the ninja's diary pages.
"How on Earth did X.A.N.A. got this?" Layla exclaimed.
Odd read a piece of it and smiled. "So, Yumi, you actually enjoyed the Swimming Pool Attack?"
Yumi's face did a really good imitation of a traffic light, while Ulrich started to find the green pavement really interesting. Odd laughed.
Aelita looked at the ninja's face. "You're red…strawberry-red, to be exact…"
"Actually" William retorted. "I think it's sunset-red"
Aelita tapped on Jeremy's shoulder. "Jeremy" she pointed at Yumi's face. "What shade of red do you think her face is?"
Jeremy looked at it and scratched his head, thoughtfully. "Maybe…traffic light-red?" he suggested.
Ulrich raised his head to see if Yumi was really that red, but their eyes had barely locked when he remembered the reason they were tomato imitations in the first place and turned redder.
"What about Ulrich?" Aelita asked, thoughtfully. " Is he traffic light-red?"
Jeremy shook his head. "Now that I think of it, both of them are too dull to be that shade"
"Maybe it's tomato-red" William suggested after a while.
Aelita stared at the ceiling and brought her index finger on the corner of her mouth. "No" she said after a while. "Tomatoes are far too dull in comparison"
"How about heart-red?"
"Hearts are different shades of red, it doesn't make sense"
"Blood-red?"
"Too dark"
"Normal red?"
"Too bright"
"Rainbow-red?"
"Eh…no, too pinkish"
"Pinkish-red?"
"Looks like it, but it doesn't too"
"I'll fetch a wheel color from the Internet"
"Thanks Jeremy"
"Ladybird-red?"
"Uh-uh"
"Ketchup-red?"
"No; but now I'm hungry"
"Raincoat-red?"
"Is that even a color?"
"It is on crayons"
"Anyway, no"
While they were discussing colors, Layla and Odd were rolling on the ground laughing, and Jeremy ran a scan just in case they weren't attacked by N20.
"C-c-c'mon guys" Layla dried her tears. "J'ai faim et nous sommes en retard"
"I'm hungry too!" Odd pointed out. "Plus, she's right: we have less than half an hour left before lunch is over and I don't want to miss the meatballs!"
So Jeremy closed all windows on the Supercomputer, Layla closed her PC, and the seven went inside the elevator, Aelita, Jeremy and William still discussing about the color of Yumi and Ulrich's blush.
"Dark red?" William showed Aelita a color on the chromatic wheel.
She shook her head.
"Sunburn-red?"
"Uh…I don't think so"
"Light red?"
"Nope"
"Orange-red?"
"No"
"Yellow-red?"
"That's orange!"
"Right, sorry"
Layla was giggling and Odd was laughing so hard it was a miracle he wasn't chocking.
"You guys still on the shade hunt?" the tamer asked.
"What do you mean 'still'?" Aelita turned towards her.
"Moi, je sais le prènom du couleur" Layla answered. "Direz-moi ce vous voulez savoir ça" (A/N: I know the name of the color; tell me if you want to know it)
Aelita sighed and nodded at William. He nodded back and looked at Layla.
"So, what is it?"
She smirked and crossed her arms. "It doesn't exist: a new type of red; I called it the (finger quote) 'Copains et plus c'est tout' red"
Odd laughed so hard that you'd think he was eventually going to burst or something, while Layla had dropped her fork and was now beginning to laugh too.
Aelita and William were both gritting their teeth in frustration, and Jeremy tried to cheer the pinkette up by offering her some carrots.
Meanwhile, Ulrich and Yumi were eating quietly, face concentrated on their foods and they were eventually giving the Evil Eye to the laughing tamer, who just laughed even more.
Silence. In his world, it was just silence during those times. Then he would start the war again.
She's growing. He thought. Every day. She looks just like…
He sighed and pushed that thought away.
Stop thinking about the past and concentrate on the future!
He needed to bring her back. He needed to restore her memory. He needed to have her by his side again. She needed to know the truth…
He called out for his army of new monsters. I must not fulfill the will of our creator. He thought. I'll get her back and kill them all. Just like last time…
He turned towards a screen and pressed a small button. Meanwhile, in the distance, a tower started to glow red.
"If snowstorm nearly killed the Samurai and the Ninja" He mumbled. "What will this do?"
Aelita and Jeremy were in his room, talking about Lyoko Reign.
"You're saying you're having dreams about you being on Lyoko before the Men In Black?" Jeremy asked her, sitting on his chair.
She sat on the bed and nodded. "They're really faint memories, but it looks like it"
"Well, at least we're collecting more data to find your mum" Jeremy said.
Aelita nodded, but suddenly broke into tears.
"Aelita!" Jeremy went towards her and dried her tears with a handkerchief. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Jeremy, what if this ends like my father?" she sobbed. "What if we save her, but then my mother gets killed by X.A.N.A. too?"
He smiled at her. "Aelita, we'll find your mum, we'll find out about your missing friends, and we'll keep Anthea alive" he hugged her. "I promise"
"You-you-you're serious?" she asks him.
"Never been so serious in my life"
She hugged him back, nearly squeezing the life out of him. "I have faith in you" she murmured. "I know you always keep your promises"
Jeremy didn't say anything. He just shyly hugged her back, blood rising up his cheeks. He wondered if the color was the new type of red Layla had named…what was it again? Ah, yes: 'Copain et plus c' est tout' …
He mentally gasped when he remembered what it meant. No wonder had the two mischievous matchmakers laughed so hard!
"So, Layla, what do you think of Jeremy and Aelita?" Odd asked the tamer.
"They're really cute together; if we could just encourage them to already start dating, they could be voted Saint Valenine's Cutest Couple in the years to come" Layla answered, putting her bag beside her on the bench.
"Do you think we should set them up?" Odd asked.
Layla thought about it. "These two sort of know what's going on between them; they just need a few swans, a romantic walk on the park, a bunch of roses, a little bit of courage and BAM! We've got the next Mrs. Belpois!"
Odd laughed. "Yeah…" he walked towards the dispenser machine to get a drink. "Do you want something?" he shouted over to her.
Layla smiled. "What you're having!" she shouted back.
Odd nodded and grabbed a few Euros from his pocket; he put them in the slot and pressed the button. Nothing happened. Odd pressed the button again. Nothing. He kicked it, but the machine won't do anything.
"Piece of useless metal!" he cried, punching it.
"Having trouble, Odd?"
A familiar voice walked towards him. Odd greeted the raven-haired girl with a smile.
"Hey, Sissi! How was the Italy trip?"
Sissi shrugged. "Good, but a little boring too; are you having trouble with the dispenser machine?"
The hybrid frowned. "No, I'm just kicking it 'cause I broke up with Heidi" he said, sarcastically.
Layla ran towards them. "Hey, Odd, the machine…" she stopped when she saw a girl she thought gone forever in front of her.
Odd introduced them: "Layla, remember Sissi Delmas, the principal's daughter? Sissi, this is Layla Carthago: she's a recent student and our new friend"
Layla waved. "So, we finally meet face to face" she said. "The others told me about you; they said you left for a student exchange in Italy a few days after the whole Kadic News thing".
Sissi looked at her. "Is that your natural hair color?" she asked.
Layla nodded, pushing back a lock. "Yeah, my mum's genes"
"It's very…unusual" Sissi remarked. "But I like it"
"What about Aelita's hair?"
"Yeah, that's more unusual than yours, but it's…"
A loud rumble interrupted the teen.
"What was that?" she asked, looking upwards.
Layla winced in pain and grabbed her head.
"This was really interesting"
Layla saw a girl moving photos and status bars on a screen with curious eyes.
"The blizzard attack didn't kill anyone, thank goodness, but I discovered more things about the real world and..." She bit her lip, as a photo passed in front of her: two people nearly buried alive in the snow.
Layla swore she saw them somewhere, but where?
The girl gathered a bit of photos and pulled them towards a small slot. "He says he might use the attack again…" she murmured. "Mais pourquoi? Why kill people? He killed the Lyoko Warriors already, except Aelita; what does he want with the others? À moins que…"
Layla and the girl both gasped. Lyoko Warriors? The tamer asked herself. Does she mean Erica and the others from my dream?
"Layla, watch out!"
A lightning bolt nearly hit Layla, but she avoided it just in time.
"Odd, we must get the others! C'est X.A.N.A.!" she yelled over the noise of the wind.
"What's happening?" Sissi was scared out of her mind.
"Sissi, you must get your father and tell him to evacuate the school immediately!" Odd told the scared girl.
Sissi nodded and ran towards the office.
"What are we going to do?" Layla asked. "This isn't an innocent storm for sure!"
Odd walked towards her and noticed that she was shaking a little. He walked over and hugged her.
Layla gasped silently, but sank in his arms and hugged him back.
"Ok, here's what we're going to do!" Odd told her. "You get Ulrich, Yumi and William, which are probably still in the cafeteria; I'll get Aelita and Jeremy and take them to the factory; go, quick!"
Layla parted from him, and they stared in each other's eyes for a few minutes. The wind was flapping her hair on his face, but he didn't mind; actually, he enjoyed feeling her soft locks brushing his face...
"Odd, be careful" Layla told him, breaking the silence between them and placing him back in reality. "Or else, who would play with me on Mario Kart?"
Odd smirked. "Tamer, if no one is careful, than you wouldn't even live to play Mario Kart with someone else"
Layla chuckled and they parted ways.
She barged in the cafeteria, running towards the table where she knew the teens were.
"X.A.N.A." Layla whispered, pointing at the window.
They nodded and headed for the door, but a violent blast of wind knocked it out of its hinges and hit William.
Layla and Yumi screamed his name, rushing towards him.
"It's not safe here!" a student yelled to the others. "Come on, let's find a teacher!"
Everyone but the three Lyoko Warriors went out, where it was starting to rain.
From the open space left from the door, wind smacked their faces with cold drops of rain, stinging their skin as they moved the door from William's body.
Layla bent down, brushing a lock of her hair, and felt his pulse. "He's fine, but I think he broke something" she said. "You two go to Lyoko, I'm staying here"
"But…"
"Lovebirds, this is an order!" she yelled over the wind.
The two hesitated again, so Layla did something she regretted about five seconds later: she hit them with a small electric beam strong enough to kick them out of the door.
Now I have to get out of here. She thought. Putting her unconscious friend's arm over her neck, she carried him out of the cafeteria and into the storm, as Ulrich and Yumi regained consciousness.
Odd had searched half of Kadic looking for the two geniuses without luck. He burst into Eistein's room, but still no one.
"Where could they be?" he asked aloud, when he heard his phone ringing.
"Is that you, Einstein?" he asked on the phone. "...Yeah, I'm still at school...Looking for you…SAY WHAT! You made me search half of Kadic and now you tell me you're at the factory!" he hanged up.
"Talk about being a good friend" he mumbled. A lightning bolt came crashing a few inches in front of him and he jumped, scared.
"Lousy aim, X.A.N.A.!" he cried towards the hole in the ceiling.
"Aelita, are you sure you want to go all alone on Lyoko? What if you get devirtualized?" Jeremy asked the pinkette.
She smiled. "I know you're worried, Jeremy, but we must do something: it's an inferno outside, with wind, rain and lightning trying to strike everything and everyone. If we don't hurry up, Layla and the others will probably get struck before we can do anything!"
Jeremy scratched his head. "Are you sure you'll manage on your own?"
She planted a sweet kiss on his cheek. "Don't worry; don't forget the others will be arriving too"
"Hopefully" he murmured, blushing, while Aelita walked towards the elevator.
Layla's eyes were half closed because of the rain and she could hardly see where she was going.
"Help!" she screamed over the storm. "Anyone, help! Somebody!" she sank to her knees, and watched as lightning struck everything but her…Everything but her…
"That's it!" she exclaimed, and kept William close to her. "Let's hope X.A.N.A. isn't a good sniper…"
She saw a few shadows approaching her. Finally some help! She thought, smiling. But her smile dropped when those figures came closer and she recognized them…
With a scream, Layla ran as fast as the extra weight of William's body and her legs could carry her.
Yumi and Ulrich were running towards the bridge, when something stopped them: there, right near the entrance of the factory, an army of nine-feet-tall men dressed in black were occupying the whole bridge.
"Specters" Yumi hissed. Ulrich looked at them with a frown. "They're blocking our way; what shall we do?"
One of the men noticed the two Lyoko Warriors and pointed his palm in their direction, electric sparks forming on it.
"Ulrich, look out!" yelled Yumi, pushing him right as Ulrich was pulling her forward to get her out of the way. In the end, the beam didn't hit the two teens, but a slight blush attack did, when they ended up for the millionth timeon the ground, Yumi on top of him.
"How come we always end up like this?" she asked, smiling.
"Maybe…it's fate which is pushing us too much?" Ulrich suggested, standing up and scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment.
Yumi smirked. "That's a bad joke, Ulrich" she said.
Ulrich shrugged. "Odd would've said the same; speaking of Odd, he must be arriving soon"
Yumi grabbed her phone. "I'll call Jeremy: maybe he knows how to get us in"
"And he'd better make it quick!" Ulrich exclaimed, as he dodged another electric beam.
Meanwhile, in the factory, Aelita was in the Scanner Room, ready for the virtualization. That was when Yumi called.
"Hang on, Aelita, I'm getting a call" Jeremy told the pinkette, as he answered.
"Jeremy, we have another problem!" Yumi said over the noise of the wind.
"What is it?" Jeremy asked.
"Well, to cut a long story short, X.A.N.A. gave you free bodyguards who are currently occupying the whole bridge"
"What!" Jeremy exclaimed.
"You heard me; we need help, and quick! Ulrich can't hold them much longer…" she said these words as the brunette slashed a specter with a an old piece of metal which the wind must have carried there.
"Try and reach the factory using the river" Jeremy suggested.
Yumi turned towards it, hair flipping over her face and one eye closed because of the rain. The river was a bit higher than usual and the water looked really scary because of all the wind creating waves and small tsunamis.
"Are you crazy or what? We would never make it to the other side, let alone live to tell the tale!"
Ulrich walked towards her. "Yumi, there's no other way"
Yumi covered the phone with her hand. "But what if we don't make it…"
"We will, don't worry" he said, squeezing her hand. That was when Odd arrived.
"Odd, DUCK!" Yumi and Ulrich yelled, as Odd quickly flatted himself on the ground while a giant electric beam hit an abandoned shop not far away.
"So, what's the plan?" he asked, standing up.
Yumi pointed at the river. Then she removed her hand over the phone when Odd nodded in agreement.
"Jeremy, Odd's with us and we're going to try the river, but I don't know if we can make it" Yumi said to the phone.
"I'm sure you'll make it in time" Jeremy reassured her. "I'm sending Aelita straight away. Good luck" he hanged up.
"Ok, Aelita, Yumi, Ulrich and Odd might be able to reach you, but It's not certain; until then, try and reach the tower"
"I won't let you guys down" Aelita said.
"You never let us down" the genius smiled. Aelita entered the scanner and waited, as the doors closed behind her.
"Transfer Aelita; Scanner Aelita; Virtualization!"
Aelita landed in the Forest Sector with a light thump on the hard ground and ran towards the newly-virtualized Overwing.
"The tower's 30 degrees north from your position" Jeremy said. "And beware of monsters"
"I will" promised Aelita, as she flew towards the right direction.
William was still out cold, and even though he woke up, Layla doubted that he'd be able to run.
"Of everything that X.A.N.A. could think of, it had to be Specters" the tamer mumbled, panting as she ran from her enemies.
Layla ran towards the manhole in the forest and climbed down the sewers, after a little bit of difficulties because of the unconscious boy.
After running towards the Hermitage shortcut towards the sewage, she hid in a corner, shivering, William lying on the ground beside her.
She dialed a number on her phone and waited for the caller to pick up.
"Jeremy, Dépêche-vous! I was able to get away from the Specters, but there's no telling when or if they might find me"
"Don't worry, Aelita's getting near the tower; hang in there"
Layla hanged up and curled up in a ball. She silently started to cry, and a phrase she never expected popped out of her mouth:
"Dad, don't do this, I'm scared"
Yumi, Ulrich and Odd were swimming in the river, their clothes drenched and their hair wet from the rain; but they were alive, even if waves kept trying to drown them and the Specters would fire a beam every once in a while.
"Are we there yet?" Odd asked, swimming close to his friends.
"Nearly…there…" Yumi answered.
Suddenly, a big wave popped out of nowhere, and was about to thrash itself towards the three Lyoko Warriors…
"Odd!" Yumi yelled. "GO! GO!"
Odd immediately quicken up his pace, passed over the wave and managed to arrive to dry land.
The others were soaked once again by a wave. They swam towards him, when Yumi felt herself being pushed away.
"Help!" she yelled, as Ulrich grabbed her hand and Odd grabbed his before they both got carried away. The hybrid looked behind Yumi and gasped.
"There's a vortex behind you!" he yelled, as he pulled Ulrich safely on the island.
Yumi was about to do the same, when a blast of wind pulled her back in the water, Odd and Ulrich clutching both of her arms.
"The wind…the current…" Odd said, as he tried to pull the ninja onto dry land. "Ulrich, we can't…"
"Nonsense; you go to Lyoko if you want, but I'm staying here" Ulrich retorted.
"Don't be an airhead!" Odd shouted at him. "Aelita needs our help!"
"But…"
"Ulrich" Yumi said. "You go with Odd, I'll stay here and try to hold on" she grabbed the edge of the island with one hand.
"But…"
"No buts: the sooner you get Aelita to the tower, the better" Yumi snapped, as Odd wished her luck and ran towards the entrance.
Ulrich won't let go. "Are you sure you'll be ok?" he asked.
Yumi nodded. "Now go!"
He let her hand go and she used it to grab the edge. The brunette walked for at least five steps, before he stopped and turned around.
"Yumi…"
"Yes?" she asked, fighting the current.
"I…" Ulrich paused before he could say anymore. He shook his head, as if to fight the millions of voices in his head scolding him, and smiled sadly.
"Be careful" he said, before following Odd. Yumi watched him disappear, before a wave made her hit the edge of the island sharply. Another wave followed, then another and another.
X.A.N.A. was using brutal force to make her let go.
Ulrich and Odd managed to reach the elevator and press the button, before the Specters could hit them.
The doors open, and they announced their presence to Jeremy.
"Great, you're here…" Jeremy said, looking from the monitor, but he stopped when he saw only two Warriors out of three. "Where's Yumi?"
"Dancing the samba with some waves and trying to avoid a vortex" Odd said.
"Alright; Layla is hidden, but she's scared stiff, so I doubt that she might be able to survive if someone found her. Get in the scanners ASAP"
Ulrich pressed the elevator button before the genius had even finished.
"Ok, the tower's in the Forest Sector; I'll virtualize you near Aelita's current position".
The two Warriors entered the scanners and waited for the virtualization process to start.
"Transfer Ulrich; Transfer Odd; Scanner Ulrich; Scanner Odd; Virtualization!"
They landed on the Forest Sector near their vehicles and Aelita.
"So, had a few problems arriving here?" she asked.
"A few, Princess" Odd answered, pouncing on the Overboard. "So, what's on the menu?"
Aelita shrugged. "Sorry, Odd, you'll have to remain with an empty stomach: there's not even a single monster" she pointed at the tower.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Ulrich said.
Aelita sighed. "There is something not right about the tower" she explained. "I've noticed it before on other ones, but I wasn't one hundred percent sure it was true…until now"
"What?"
Aelita took a deep breath before answering:
"The towers; they seem to be calling the missing kids' names"
Jeremy's eyes were wide as plates. "They're calling their names?"
Aelita nodded. "I've always noticed, but I thought my father just made a mistake or something; now I'm sure it's not a coincidence" she pointed at the tower again. "It's like as if they're calling for help or, maybe, someone is calling for help…"
"Are you saying you think someone is asking them for help?" Jeremy asked, still wide-eyed.
"Maybe Delenda, whatever or whoever that is, needs help"
Odd thought about it. "What if it was a trap instead?"
Aelita shook her head. "No, it isn't, I'm sure; but now we must hurry, before X.A.N.A. kills someone"
Ulrich went silent all of a sudden. He motioned for his friends to do the same.
"Did you hear that?" he whispered.
The angel and the hybrid listened. That's when they heard it: a large and familiar roar.
"Aelita, Odd, get to the tower, fast!" Ulrich yelled, as pulsations of another activated tower rang in Aelita's mind.
Yumi was bruised all over; still, somehow, she kept her grip.
"X.A.N.A., if you think I give up so quickly, you're wrong" she murmured, as another wave soaked her.
Odd and Aelita were running towards the tower, when three Krabes approached them.
"Aelita, take cover!" Odd yelled, as he fired a Laser Arrow to one of the monsters. It missed the target and only damaged its life points.
Aelita looked from the tree she was hiding, and saw a Blok creeping behind the unsuspecting hybrid.
"Energy Field" she whispered, firing her weapon and the Blok burst in a thousand of virtual pieces.
"Thanks Aelita!" Odd said, as he avoided another laser. Alita used her star bracelet to fire from above.
"One step after another, my dear" a man was saying to a young girl. Coming closer, the tamer saw an orange-haired girl about her age, wearing her same clothes, walking unsteadily on the factory floor.
"It's so weird" she said. "The ground's not hard, the wind is cool, and breathing is so…unnatural"
The man smiled. "My dear, it's normal for someone like you to feel strange in this world" he explained. "Now, would you like to eat something?"
The girl looked at him with curious and twinkling eyes. "You think I can eat?" she asked.
He nodded. "You're in a human form right now, so you need to eat" he gave her a bar of chocolate. "Here, try this"
The girl examined the brown bar, curiously. Then, she slowly brought it to her mouth and bit it.
Layla woke up from her dream. She looked around and remembered she was in the sewers, waiting for the Return To The Past. She prayed it would come soon.
The Skorpion roared and shot more lasers. Ulrich avoided them and mounted on his Overbike, starting the engine and driving away, the monster following him.
"How much do I have to hold this thing for?" he asked.
"Until Aelita gets into the activated tower"
"And when is that going to be?" the samurai snapped.
"Soon…I hope"
"Great" he turned towards the Skorpion. "Just wait until I manage to bend your armor, and then you'll know how it feels to have nightmares!"
Odd, meanwhile, was in a really sticky situation: he was firing Laser Arrows in all possible directions, because of the Krabes surrounding him. But those were smarter and kept avoiding all of his arrows.
Odd groaned. "I really hate you, you orange-colored…" he stopped in mid-sentence: did he just say 'orange'? He looked at the Krabes and they were indeed said color.
He saw them bend their legs…
"AELITA! GET IN THE TOWER NOW!" he screamed, as the Krabes fired an Energy Wave which knocked out all of his life points.
He came out of the scanner, clutching his stomach. "Ow ow…" he mumbled. "That was worse than the Megatanks…"
Aelita ran to the tower, before the orange creatures could catch her. She stopped at the center, where she levitated towards the top.
Ulrich was running around in circles, avoiding the Skorpion's beams.
"I'm sick of this!" he exclaimed, throwing one of his katanas to the monster. It hit him on the leg, and the thing winced in pain.
"Huh?" Ulrich watched the sword still stuck on the leg, before Jeremy materialized him back.
Aelita reached the second platform.
Loud footsteps echoed through the sewers. Layla started shaking like a leaf, trying to make her powers work.
The screen appeared. Aelita put her hand on it.
AELITA
Then, she started to download a few files. "Jeremy, I'm getting a bit of information on the tower" the pinkette explained.
"Ok, but be quick, or Yumi and Layla would be joining your dad!" he said, as Odd and Ulrich entered the Lab.
"Jeremy, there's something weird you should know about the Skorpion…" Ulrich started.
A few tears dropped from Yumi's cheeks. She couldn't hold any longer, every single part of her body hurt and she was not going to last long.
"Help" she murmured, as a Specter tried to hit her.
Great. Now X.A.N.A.'s trying to electrocute me again.
Aelita was doing her best, but the files were encrypted, and she couldn't tell which was which.
"Jeremy, they're all mixed up! I don't understand the difference between one and another!" she said, worried.
"Then type the code, Aelita, there's not much time!" Jeremy pleaded.
A few sparks twinkled in her hand, but that was all. Layla came closer to William, to protect him from the Specters.
Aelita closed the data packs and typed in the code.
CODE
"Come on, come on!" Ulrich said impatiently, as Odd watched ten Specters coming towards them, fists sparkling with electricity.
LYOKO
The waves stopped, the vortex disappeared; Yumi sighed, as the Specters turned into smoke and flew away. She let go of the edges and sank in the water.
"Quick, Jeremy, the Return To The Past!" Odd exclaimed. Jeremy typed quickly and pressed the last key.
"Return To The Past Now!"
A white bubble engulfed the whole world, and Yumi was relieved to feel it coming towards her and saving her from sudden death.
"X.A.N.A. is getting more and more powerful, those Krabes you told me about are the proof" Jeremy sighed. "And those voices you hear from the towers…another mystery"
Aelita patted his back. "Well, we saved lives today, so cheer up"
Jeremy smiled. After all, she was right.
Ulrich, Yumi and William walked out of the cafeteria, and were greeted by Odd.
"Where's Layla?" William asked. He wanted to thank her for protecting him.
Odd pointed at two figures in the distance, one was a black-haired girl with stylish clothes, the other one was the tamer.
"I re-introduced her to our 'friend'" he said. "She's back from Italy"
William raised an eyebrow, Yumi's eyes were wide as plates and Ulrich…Ulrich slapped himself. But when he saw that this girl didn't even bother to look at him, he smiled.
Maybe having Sissi back won't be bad after all.
Layla: SecretCodeLyokan included Sissi in this episode because she thought the girl had to have a role in this story; so she put the Italy exchange as an excuse of her absence and the rest you know.
Ulrich: So, she doesn't like me anymore? What a relief!
Yumi: Don't count your chickens before they hatch, Ulrich; suppose now she thinks you have to be her best pal?
Layla: I'm guessing you're going to still be a bit skeptical about her…anyway, readers, this will be probably the last chapter for this week and the week after, since SecretCodeLyokan is going to a school trip soon.
Odd: Guess where? Hint: Jeremy lives in the same nation…
Jeremy: ODD!
Aelita: Let him be; until the next episode, everyone!
Lyoko Warriors: Ciao!