Code Lyoko © Moonscoop/Toowam/Antefilms/Taffy
Cassidy McGuire © Me. NO STEALING unless I give permission. Right now, the answer is NO!
At five o'clock in the morning, Cassidy was up with her things for the shower.
"Come on," Cassidy whispered to Aelita, her red Amigos shirt she was wearing was wrinkled.
Aelita let out a scream and woke up.
"You okay?" Cassidy asked her eyes filled with sympathy.
The pink-haired girl recited her dream. A pack of wolves was chasing an elf through a forest. Soon the elf found shelter in the tree and the alpha wolf found him.
Aelita shook in fear, and Cassidy hugged her. "It's okay," Cassidy said. "I'm here."
Soon the shaking stopped and Cassidy recited her plan. "OK, this is a good one, so listen close…ok at seven, Sissi, the most untrustworthy girl in this school, will hog the shower. Long line forms and I don't think we—" She pointed to her friend and then back to her—"would like to wait all day in night-before sweat. So, we go in the shower at this time—" she checked her clock: it was five-thirty—"And we get our shower in first. That way, we don't end up waiting. And Sissi will trick you into the boys' bathroom if we don't initiate this plan."
"Okay," Aelita was confused, but gathered her materials.
Soon both girls were showered and refreshed before Sissi could wake up.
-Let's go to Jeremie's room, shall we?-
Jeremie had done research on the Hermitage. Something caught his eye and he sent it to the printer. "Now, let's see." Right away, the document came out. "WOW! Unbelievable!"
"Come on, Jeremie," Ulrich opened his door. "Let's get a move on! Otherwise there won't be any hot water left!" Ulrich wasn't going to let the cold water be his enemy this morning. Heck, any morning. (A/N: As do I.) He hated freezing cold water. It was like receiving an electric shock from XANA.
"Hey, remember the Hermitage?" Jeremie asked.
"You mean the house where Aelita had those visions? Bad memory, Jeremie!" Ulrich said.
"Right," Jeremie turned to his computer screen. "Well, I wanted to check it out a little closer, and I found out something amazing!"
"What would really be amazing is that there's still some eggs left when we get down to breakfast," Odd said. He was hungry…scratch that…he was hungry all the time.
"Odd, you're a real walking stomach, you know that?" Jeremie typed a bit on the computer.
"And you're a walking brain," Odd smiled. "You see, we compliment each other."
Cassidy and Aelita walked up, both clad in their day-clothes. "And what are we?" Cassidy raised a brow.
"Cassidy, you're the nervous system," Odd said.
"I can't help it if I'm jittery sometimes!" Cassidy said.
"Aelita, you are the heart because you are sensitive and kind," Odd smiled.
Aelita smiled.
"What are Ulrich and Yumi?" Cassidy said.
"Ulrich and Yumi are the muscle," Odd helped.
"Okay," Cassidy said.
Soon everyone was showered, but Cassidy gave a text to Sissi, masking her number.
Later, it turned out that Sissi got to the boys' room and almost showered there.
Cassidy giggled like a maniac. She loved this.
Then Hervé and Nicholas showed Sissi out.
Cassidy laughed, hysterically shrieking right out loud every three seconds.
"Cassidy, what did you just do," Jeremie looked to Cassidy, who was laughing with tears.
"Pranked Sissi!" She laughed.
"What was the prank?" Jeremie asked.
"I—texted her—into—going—into—the boy's—bathroom!" She chortled in between words.
Odd and Ulrich laughed. "Good one, Cassidy. This is one we'll need to tell Yumi about!" Odd smiled wider. "Sissi's such a brat." Then turning to Ulrich, Odd added, "And to think she has a crush on you."
Ulrich scowled. "Cool it, huh; I don't even like her and she can't even get that drilled into her tiny brain."
"Yeah!" Cassidy recovered.
"I did a little research to find out who that old house belonged to and I came across a restricted access site. It took me most of the night to hack into it but it was worth it. I found a deed signed by a Mr. Franz Hopper. Seems that he's the owner," Jeremie smiled.
"And you think it has something to do with Lyoko?" Ulrich asked.
"Ulrich," Odd came in, "there's a secret underground passage into the sewers from his yard, remember? So the guy must've had something to do with the supercomputer!"
Cassidy was confused on the "secret underground passage into the sewers from his yard" part, then a spark-flash occurred and she understood.
Jeremie smiled. "Exactly! So I did a search on Franz Hopper and guess what?"
"He was a former science teacher here?" Cassidy's eyes spark-flashed again.
"You read my mind," Jeremie said.
-Later, outside-
"So you think the owner of the Hermitage and the science teacher are the same person," Yumi asked, her hair flowing in the slight breeze.
Ulrich, whose hair was dry, half-shrugged, and frowned. "Well, let's face it, huh. Finding two guys called Franz Hopper in the radius of less than half a mile would sure be a real coincidence."
"Anyway," Jeremie continued, "there's only one way to be sure. After history class, we have a study period in the library. What do you say we do a little research in the Kadic Academy Archives."
Jeremie smiled.
"Good idea," Odd said.
"I'll go with you," Aelita smiled.
"I don't think it's a good idea," Jeremie said.
"What?" Cassidy asked, creasing a brow. "She didn't do anything wrong this morning."
"Alright," said Jeremie.
"Ulrich may want to go, too," Cassidy said.
"Okay," Jeremie walked to class. "See you later! We'll meet you in the cafeteria."
Yumi, Cassidy, and Aelita stayed behind. Yumi looked over to Aelita, concern crossing her path. "Are you alright, Aelita?"
"I—I can't get used to living here," Aelita sounded solemn. Yumi and Cassidy shared shocked looks.
Aelita continued. "I had another nightmare last night, the same one."
Cassidy showed her sympathy. "Would you like another hug?"
The pink-haired girl nodded as Cassidy pulled her in for a hug.
After, Yumi said, "You haven't even been here for a week yet. You'll see. You'll feel better in no time."
Aelita smiled.
-After classes-
Jeremie, Odd, and Ulrich dashed over to the office. Aelita decided to stay with Cassidy in the library.
Jeremie ran over to the Archives and slipped in.
-Library-
Sissi stormed up to Cassidy, anger rushing in her veins. "So you think you can get away with this?"
Cassidy looked up from her Maximum Ride book, asked coolly, and innocently, "Get away with what?"
"With this," Sissi flaunted her cell phone. She showed Cassidy's text and this time the number was unmasked, clear as day. "You tricked me!"
"You were about to trick your Ulrich Sweetheart with a letter once," Cassidy's tone turned steely with a hint of humor. "Luckily I burned it. He's never going to learn that you were about to trick him. Consider it karma. You trick, or attempt to trick, my friends or me, and then I get you back."
Sissi was not going to let Cassidy go back to battles with Flyboys and other mutants in her book. "Now, see here, you—"
Cassidy gave her a look, and Sissi backed off.
-Back with Jeremie, Odd and Ulrich-
Jeremie found the shelving unit. "E, F, G, H—H for Hopper!" he muttered to himself. He occasionally did that from time to time. It never really bothered his friends. Therefore, it was okay that Jeremie talked to himself.
Mrs. Weber was about to walk in when Odd and Ulrich caught her eye. They were smiling innocently. "Shouldn't you be in class? Well, children." She talked in a slight British tone.
"We're looking for uh—a teacher!" Ulrich was acting innocently. So was Odd.
"Oh, really? Which one?" Mrs. Weber asked.
"Mrs. Mayer," Ulrich said.
Odd had another one, and said at the same time as Ulrich, "Mr. Chardin!"
They looked at each other, and laughed nervously. They had obviously confused the Administrator.
Jeremie, however, was looking for Franz Hopper. "Hopper, Hopper," he fingered through the file folders and found the one labeled Hopper, F. Opening it up, he found a contract signed by the same person.
Rummaging in his pocket, he found the deed. Jeremie compared the signatures, and found they were indeed an exact match.
"Bingo," he said.
He went out to where Ulrich and Odd were. "Uh…come to think of it, at this time, if you can't find your teachers, it probably means they're in class."
Exiting the doorway, Jeremy walked by Mrs. Weber. "It's okay, guys, I've found Mrs. Hertz. Ma'am," He said.
The two other boys followed their blond-haired friend.
-Lunchtime-
Aelita, Yumi, and Cassidy grabbed their trays. Aelita didn't know what to get. She was new to this and her hunger was next on the list.
Cassidy looked at Aelita, eyes full of sympathy.
A student yelled, "Hey, what—"
Cassidy turned to the boy. "I'm just as hungry as you are, but you don't hear me complain! Aelita's new to this. She deserves to take her time. And if you have even one shred of patience, I suggest you stay off her back!" Her words were cold to the boy, but warm to Aelita. She turned to Aelita. "Here," her words were soft. "Yumi and I'll help."
Soon Aelita had a meal fit for a queen. So did Yumi and Cassidy.
-Let's hang with the boys-
"Boy, that was a close one," Odd said.
"Well," Ulrich said.
"No doubt about it," Jeremie came in. "I compared the teacher signature with the one on the property deed I found on the internet. They're the same."
That confirmed one truth. The former science teacher and the owner are the same person.
RING
Jeremie's cell phone rang. He picked it up. "Hello."
"Before you hop off to the Hermitage, I suggest you three get some lunch. Don't just jump off the deep end," Cassidy's voice was calm.
"Okay," Jeremie said.
-Lunchtime, now-
Jeremie and the boys made it. They grabbed their trays, seized the foods they needed, and ambled over to where Aelita, Cassidy, Yumi, and William are.
Cassidy passed a book over to Jeremie. "Here!"
"The Tunic Wars?" Odd asked.
"Punic not Tunic; the war between the Romans and the Carthaginians. We had a whole section about it three months ago," Cassidy said.
Just then, Cassidy had a flash. Not a spark-flash or a lighter eye-color flash. A white eyes flash. Aelita looked to her friend. "Cassidy?" she was concerned. So was William.
The brown-haired girl grabbed Aelita by the wrist. It all happened so suddenly. "Cassidy," Yumi and Jeremie snapped their fingers.
But this didn't wake Cassidy up. She was out of it. The two, Aelita trying to resist, ran out of the cafeteria and into the forest.
Everyone but William chased after her. Odd was the first to stop to catch his breath. "The girl may not be athletic, but she sure can run fast."
Ulrich ran back, reprimanded Odd a little, then picked up his charge and caught up to the rest of the group.
Meanwhile, Cassidy and Aelita got to the factory. Cassidy still was under her power. (Get Aelita to the new sector, a new voice told her.)
Aelita had her first flashback.
FLASHBACK #6
She was yelling at Jeremie. But she (in the present) didn't know why she was yelling at her Savior for.
END OF FLASHBACK
Doing the self-delayed virtualization for the both of them, Aelita and Cassidy made it to Lyoko's forest sector. Aelita needed some way to get Cassidy out of her trance. On Lyoko, she was a little useless. Oh, if only Odd were here.
The cat-like female grabbed Aelita again and pulled her to the edge of the sector. No monsters stopped them as a white ball with a blue eye of XANA appeared.
Aelita fought against Cassidy, but she was like a statue.
"Aelita!" Jeremie's voice came through.
"Jeremie, Cassidy…" But the ball covered the two girls and transported them to a new sector.
"Aelita, Cassidy!" Jeremie said.
"Problem, Jeremie?" Yumi asked.
"Get to the scanners," Jeremie was desperate.
Soon Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi were on Lyoko's Forest Sector.
Yumi and the others ran to where the two girls were before the transport. "What?" Odd asked. "Aelita and Cassidy are already gone? Cassidy's powers must be hard to get rid of."
"Cassidy dragged Aelita into this, but why?" Ulrich mused.
"I don't know," Jeremie said. "I lost the two from my screens!"
"You—you mean, they—?" Yumi was getting more and more concerned.
"No!" Jeremie was typing. "Uh…I doubt it. I think they just…disappeared from the screens as if…wait!" He typed more frantically. "What is going on?" He asked. "I got it! I got a signal! A very weak one, but—hey, that's strange. Aelita and Cassidy aren't on this sector anymore. They're not in any sector actually…"
Ulrich waved Jeremie and said, "Whoa, wait. Can you explain it a little better?"
"No, not really…Let's say they're in a sector…that doesn't even exist. A fifth sector."
"Huh?" Odd asked. "A fifth sector? Have you gone bananas or what?"
Jeremie was kinda shocked. "No! If I could only fix this thing…maybe I…" A code window pulled up. "'Welcome to Carthage'?" Jeremie got confused.
-In the new sector-
Aelita and Cassidy woke up in the new sector. "Aelita?" Cassidy asked.
"Cassidy," Aelita smiled. "You've got out of your trance."
Cassidy raised both her eyebrows. "I did?" It sounded dumb but it wasn't like that.
The blue room literally spun around. Then…it stopped. A bright light shown near the left. "Where do you think it goes?" Aelita asked.
Cassidy thought and said, "The Core Zone! It's a room here."
The two girls ran into the white light.
-Forest-
"Is this going to take long, Jeremie?" Yumi asked.
"I hope not," Jeremie was getting worried and curious at the same time.
Then hornets arrived. Odd hopped on the OverBoard. "Now things are really starting to buzz."
No sooner as they got some of the hornets out of the way, they got back to the edge of the sector. "Jeremie what are we doing?" Ulrich asked.
"Wait I got a little problem," Jeremie said.
That caused some commotion.
"I need the password. Something to do with Carthage, I think."
"This is no time for history lessons," said Ulrich.
"A history lesson. That's exactly what I need," Jeremie was gaining confidence. He grabbed the Punic Wars book and felt a leaflet in the pages.
"Huh?"
He pulled it out, and out came a letter that read: SCIPIO, Jeremie. From Cassidy
P.S. SCIPIO is a code to get into the new sector.
Jeremie told his friends to get back to the edge of the sector, and then typed in the code.
The transport came and whisked the other three away.
-With Aelita and Cassidy-
Aelita and Cassidy walked up to the wall. The bespectacled girl felt it with her fingers. "It's as if it has had a slicer here," she muttered to herself.
It split, causing the two to jump back. Cassidy creased a brow. "No wonder Odd called me the nervous system."
Soon the two went exploring…until a creepy…thing came. They tried to run for it, but then Cassidy realized that she still had her weapon.
Reaching for it, she turned around, turned it into a gun and shot at it. KA-BLAM!
It exploded in a thousand pixels.
Backing up into the Core Zone, Cassidy panted. "We're safe!"
Aelita didn't respond. "Aelita?"
No response. She turned around. A jellyfish-like monster was holding her friend. "Aelita!" She growled and then ROARED. She didn't like this monster and it had her friend. She aimed her gun. POW!
Aelita was safe, but not the jellyfish. It had a bullet crammed in the membrane.
"Let's get out of here," Cassidy picked Aelita up and ran her back to the start.
Their friends were already there. "Guys, no time to explain, let's just get out of here!" Cassidy said.
"S-C-I-P-I-O," Jeremie typed.
They all got out of there.
-Back to Jeremie's Room-
"So we get to the Core Zone, and we hit Creeper trouble. Just one creepy thing, a Creeper. Then I shoot that and I tell Aelita that we were safe, but she doesn't say anything. Turns out Aelita was held by a jellyfish monster. I get its membrane bulleted and we get out of there."
"We were scared," Aelita said. "And to think it was stealing my memory."
"Well, one thing's for sure, we'll be careful about you and your visions," Odd said.
"I'm sorry," Cassidy said.
"Apology accepted," Aelita said.
"William forgave me, too," Cassidy said.
"And I'll teach you plenty of ways to tell Sissi to go to—"
"MARCUSVILLE!" Cassidy bellowed.
Everyone looked at her strangely. The brown-haired girl said,
"Heck!
"Well, well, this is terrific," A high-pitched voice said. "You are all together. I guess the white north wasn't all it seemed."
Cassidy scowled.
"Yeah while you were taking your third appropriate shower of the day!" Ulrich scolded.
"Well, you know Ulrich dear, a beautiful flower like me needs to be watered often," Sissi said.
Odd got really angry. "You—"
Aelita smiled. "Yes, you never know you might just sprout a brain."
Cassidy and the others laughed.
"Morons," Sissi said and left.
"I think you can give Odd lessons, Aelita!" Ulrich laughed.
"You sure learn fast," Yumi said.
Odd and Aelita hugged.