DISCLAIMER: I do not own Code Lyoko! Moonscoop does!
Episode 107: Brains over Brawn
The morning after the near-catastrophe on Lyoko, Jeremy had dragged an unwilling Jacob back to the Factory. He needed to run some more tests to determine how much, if any, of a risk it was to let Jacob back on Lyoko.
"Ow, ow, ow! Jeremy! Do we have to do this now?" Jacob complained as Jeremy dragged him by the wrist to the Lift entrance.
"Yes!" Jeremy replied. "We need to do it now and not find out later if there's another XANA attack!" he scolded as he punched a few buttons on the keypad and the door closed. When it reopened, Jacob could see the Lab, and Jeremy got off, instructing him, "Okay, now go down to the Scanner Room and get in. I'm going to run a full test to make sure everything checks out before I send you back onto Lyoko." Jacob sullenly did as he was told, grumbling about having to get up so early, as the door to the Lift closed. Jeremy just laughed and walked over to the Computer, firing everything up as he sat down and slipped on his headset. He shuddered when he thought about the last time he was here. He had nearly lost Jacob and Aelita… Oh well, he couldn't think about that now, could he? Jeremy muttered something to himself that must have been picked up by the microphone, because he heard Jacob say in his ear, "You're muttering again, Einstein!"
"Oh, sorry!" Jeremy replied sheepishly. "Ready to go?" he asked.
"Unfortunately…" Jacob grumbled as he got into the Scanner. Jeremy then started up the Scanner, and Jacob levitated in the Scanner tube as the circular bar of light scanned him through the computer again. When his profile popped up on screen, Jeremy scanned over everything quickly.
"Well, everything seems to be normal…" he mumbled as he began to look over Jacob's physical scan. When his eyes reached the chest area, Jeremy saw a blinking red object, and when he scanned it further, he determined it to be an extremely powerful energy source. He looked over its attributes quickly, and then stopped the scan, opening the Scanner doors after a moment and allowing Jacob to walk out. Jacob went back to the Lift and came up quickly to the Computer Lab.
"So, what's the verdict, Einstein?" Jacob asked as he got off the Lift and walked over to the computer. Jeremy turned to face him, and sighed slightly before replying.
"Well, you won't like it, but it's for the best…" he answered. "That crystal that is in your Lyoko form…"
"The one that made my powers go all haywire?" Jacob asked.
"Yeah; that's the one," Jeremy nodded. "Until I can find a way to stabilize it so that you can control your powers without another incident happening again…" Jeremy paused before letting the pin drop. "I don't think it's safe for you to go back on Lyoko," he finished. Jacob just stared at him for a few moments, and just when Jeremy thought he might go off on him, he saw Jacob nodding slowly.
"You're right; though I don't like to admit it…" he trailed off. "I don't want to be a risk to the others. The only catch is; I don't even know how I accessed the power in the crystal in the first place!" he grumbled, thinking aloud.
"We'll figure it out," Jeremy told him reassuringly. "I don't know how you did it either, but we'll crack the mystery and get you back on Lyoko," he grinned as Jacob finally nodded in agreement and the two of them headed back to Kadic as the sun began to creep up…
When they got back, they were just in time for the cafeteria to open, and they got in and took advantage of an empty line to get their food undeterred. By the time the others made it down, the two of them had almost finished eating their breakfasts, and Jacob smiled as the others sat down at their table.
"Morning, geniuses!" Odd grinned cheerily as he reached over and ruffled Jacob's already unruly hair. "So, what's the verdict?" he asked, and Jacob looked at Jeremy sheepishly before replying.
"You'll be fighting without me for a while," Jacob replied a little glumly. "Jeremy said that until he can get my powers under control, it will be better to keep me off Lyoko. I'm not a flight risk that way," he laughed as Aelita laid a hand on his shoulder.
"It'll be okay," she said cheerily. "You'll just help Jeremy fight on this end for a while, that's all! A little change of roles," she smiled.
"Yup!" Jacob agreed as Sissi came up to their table. "Oh, boy…" he muttered under his breath as she came up and laid a hand on the table. "What can we do for you today, Sissi?" he asked plainly as the others snickered under their breath.
"Oh, quiet, you losers!" she shot back. "One of these days…" she growled, trailing off. "Actually, it's you I wanted to talk to, Jacob," she said, her face displaying the slightest twinge of embarrassment as Jacob looked at her in surprise.
"Uh…okay, sure…" he stuttered, not quite sure what to make of this as Sissi dragged him outside. Once the two were gone, Ulrich leaned in and whispered, "What was that?"
"Uh…" Yumi muttered in shock.
"I'm…not…sure…" William finally spat out.
"Sissi; being nice?" Odd scoffed. "Maybe it's a XANA trick!" he offered helpfully. "Sissi actually being nice is not possible, I think…" he said as Jacob hurriedly came back in and sat down at the table. He looked a little flushed and flustered, and he stared off into space for a few moments before looking at the group again, who were staring at him curiously.
"What was that about?" Jeremy asked quizzically.
"I—I'll tell you later," Jacob mumbled, not wanting to divulge the conversation he had had just yet. This day was getting really, really weird…
Morning classes went by without major incident, and during lunch break, Jacob quickly grabbed his lunch from the cafeteria and took it back up to his room. He pulled up the Lyoko interface on his laptop and began to go to work on a few things. He was busy trying to piece some of the Skid programming back together when William opened the door. Jacob turned with a start, and relaxed when he saw who it was.
"Hey, bud, you mind if I come in?" he asked.
"Well, you did just let yourself in…" Jacob replied sarcastically, and then smiled. "Sure, I don't mind," he laughed as William sat down in the chair next to him. "You don't have class this afternoon?" he asked when he realized what time it was.
"Well, we did, but a fuse blew out in the Foreign History classroom, and my class got cancelled for the afternoon. I kinda figured you'd be up here…" he trailed off.
"And why's that?" Jacob asked.
"Because it's how you can make yourself feel useful right now. The rest of us can go on Lyoko, but you're stuck…" He stopped when Jacob let out a huge sigh, and he worried that he had said something wrong until Jacob's eyes glittered and he punched William playfully in the shoulder.
"Hey, it's okay; I don't feel bad about it!" Jacob laughed. "I'll help where I'm needed, and when things are fixed, I'll hit Lyoko running again. It's not that difficult for me to get used to…" he grinned.
"That's good! Way to look on the bright side of things!" William smiled as he began to look at what Jacob was working on. "What you got going?" he asked as Jacob punched a few more keys.
"Hopefully, some modifications to the virtualization program to speed up the process, and I've been tinkering with the Skid a bit, but unfortunately, I really fried it!" he laughed. "It's gonna be a while before it's back to working order."
"Well, sometimes that's the price you pay," William smiled.
"Yeah," Jacob agreed as he heard the bell ring outside. "Whoops, that's my bell; I'd better get down to Math! I don't want Mr. and Mrs. Einstein showing me up!" he grinned as he and William walked out. Jacob said good-bye, and ran off, while William stood there thinking that there was still some more regret there than Jacob was willing to let on to…
After school, the gang met at the crossroads in front of the school, and Odd was laughing at the fact that Jacob had outscored both Jeremy and the pinkette on the test. Granted, he got a 100 and they both got 99s, but… Anyways, the gang stood chatting when Yumi and Ulrich ran up to meet them.
"Sorry we're late!" Yumi panted as she tried to catch her breath. "Jim wouldn't shut up after swim practice!" she chuckled as Aelita smiled warmly and laughed.
"Well, now that we're all here, what do you propose we do this afternoon?" she asked, looking at each member of the group individually. They mulled it over, and then Odd raised his hand and jumped up and down until Aelita said, "What is it, Odd?"
"Let's go see a movie!" he said enthusiastically. "We can go see Rise of the Zombies III! Then, we'd all laugh and scream in 90 minutes time!" Aelita at first looked skeptical, but when she saw the others were smiling, she brightened up.
"You're right! We haven't seen a flick in a while; much less gone out and actually all spent a day together! Let's do it!" she grinned. She turned to look at Jeremy, who looked a little down, and said, "What's wrong, Jeremy?"
"Well, I don't mean to be a party crasher, but I've got something for Advanced Computer Science that I have to finish before tomorrow. But, I don't mind if you guys go without me," he added cheerily.
"Are you sure, Jeremy?" Ulrich asked. "I think even you need some time off," he advised.
"I'm sure. You guys go; I'll be fine here," he smiled as Aelita gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Yumi and Ulrich walked towards the gates, hands intertwined, and the other three followed close behind. Jeremy, though, smiled as he watched them go, and turned to head back to the dorms. When he got up to his room, he stopped and listened for a moment, hearing a rapid clacking from Jacob's room. He walked down a door and knocked, hearing a muffled, "Come in." He twisted the handle and walked in, seeing Jacob staring intently at his laptop as he worked on something in the Supercomputer. Jeremy walked over to him and laid a hand on his shoulder, snapping him out of his stupor.
"Wha—oh, hey, Einstein," Jacob said as his eyes adjusted. Jeremy just shook his head before he spoke.
"I thought I might find you up here," he said quietly. "Just because you can't fight right now; doesn't mean you're any less important to us or any less a member of the group!" At that, Jacob stopped, and stared for a moment before finally saying what Jeremy had hoped he would…
"I've been waiting for someone to tell me that…" he whispered as Jeremy just laughed and sat down next to him.
"Listen: this is just a setback. You'll get through it," Jeremy reassured him. "And we'll all be here with you," he smiled.
Meanwhile, on Lyoko, everything was quiet until a Tower in the Forest Sector began to glow red…
The two boys were instantly distracted by a beeping from Jacob's laptop. He quickly scanned through the windows until he came to the one he had half-expected to find…
"XANA's attacking…" he said simply.
Meanwhile, at the theater…
"If we hurry, we'll make it before we miss the previews!" Odd grinned as he was distracted by a sudden squeaking behind him. The gang turned to see a bunch of life-size promotional movie toys, moving of their own accord, surrounding the perimeter of the entire building! At the doors were two giant, animatronic T-Rexes, and they guarded the way, snapping their large jaws at anything that came near them. Some frightened moviegoers screamed, and Aelita immediately pulled out her phone.
"It must be XANA," she hissed as it rang in her hand. She answered it instantly, knowing who would be on the other end. "Jeremy?" she asked redundantly.
"Aelita? XANA's launched an attack! Get to the Factory as fast as possible!"
"Jeremy, I don't think that's going to be an option…" she replied, glancing at the robotic dinos guarding the exit.
"What? What do we do, then?" he asked, suddenly realizing the answer. "Oh, no…no, no, no! Not happening!" he argued as Aelita and the others backed into a corner to try and come up with a plan.
"Do you have a better plan?" she argued as she hung up on him. A dejected Jeremy turned to Jacob, who confirmed his fears at once…
"They can't come?" he asked. Jeremy shook his head. "And sending me isn't an option," he muttered. "Well, then, Einstein, I guess it's up to you," he finished simply as Jeremy groaned…
When the two brainiacs got to the Factory, Jacob swung down and headed for the Lift, with Jeremy dragging along behind him. Jacob opened the lift, and the pair got in; Jeremy shaking slightly. Jacob noticed this, and put two hands on his shoulders.
"You'll be fine!" he told Jeremy, emphasizing the last word as the door opened and he got off at the lab. "Head to the Scanners." As the doors shut, he heard Jeremy mutter, "You'd better be right," but took no notice of it. He headed for the computer interface, and launched the necessary programs. Down below him, a hesitant Jeremy got into the Scanner, and as he tried to back out, the doors closed behind him. Jacob fired up the procedure, and smiled as he thought about what was about to happen.
"Transfer Jeremy," he grinned. "Scanner Jeremy." Einstein gulped as the wind picked up from beneath him, and as he heard the last word, he squeezed his eyes shut even though he knew what was going to happen. "Virtualization!"
A few seconds later, the familiar zip could be heard as Jeremy virtualized onto Lyoko, and Jacob heard a satisfying thump, followed by a hastily grumbled "Ow!" which meant that Jeremy had, on cue, landed and fallen on his butt. Jacob laughed for the first time that day, and Jeremy caught the note as he got up and brushed himself off. He found his nervousness was gone as he growled under his breath.
"I heard that!" he scowled playfully as he took a good look at his Lyoko form. "Whoa…" he muttered as he brought a hand up to feel his face. Jeremy, in fact, did not look ridiculous at all this time around. He was wearing a dark blue, form-fitting body suit with black stripes that, if inspected closely, were actually made up of binary code. He was wearing light blue gloves, and his glasses had changed slightly, becoming more rectangular. They actually served now as targeting lenses. His blond hair was spiked somewhat, and had black tips at the end of the spikes, and his ears were pointed, though not as much as Aelita's were. Jacob pulled up a visual, and raised his eyebrows when he saw Jeremy.
"Whoa, Einstein, you look great!" Jacob complimented as Jeremy got a feel for being on Lyoko.
"Yeah, I was focused on not looking ridiculous. I like it!" he replied with a smile as his hand brushed the belt on his waist. He felt a small sheath, and pulled out a dagger. It was the same silver as Ulrich's sabres, and Jeremy tested its weight in his hand. "Hm, lightweight, easy to go hand-to-hand with if I need to," he mused. He slipped it back in the sheath as Jacob checked his position against the coordinates of the Tower.
"Shoot!" Jacob exclaimed loudly, causing Jeremy to jump slightly. "I didn't get you nearly as close to the Tower as I would have liked to," he added as he punched in some commands and pulled up the vehicle virtualization program. "So let's hope I really paid attention to your crash course," he said a little uneasily as he pulled up a new program. "I was working on this as a project; let's see how you like it, Einstein!" he exclaimed as he virtualized his new vehicle.
Jeremy watched as the new vehicle formed on Lyoko. It resembled Odd's Overboard, but it was a little longer and wider, with places for each foot and what looked to be small blast cannons on each side. It was silver and blue in color, and hovered off the ground at Jeremy's ankles. He nodded as he stepped on it, and marveled at the comfort.
"Did you plan this for me?" he asked with a grin.
"Well, it didn't start out that way, but if this hadn't happened, sooner or later I'd have forced you to get on Lyoko anyways…" he admitted sheepishly. "This is the Overglide," he added with pride. "What do you think?" he asked.
"It's great!" Jeremy grinned. "How do I control it?" he asked.
"Well, the flying part is connected to your profile, so it's telepathic, like Odd's Overboard and William's Overdisc. While you're in the air, each foot has a pressure switch. Left fires lasers and right fires missiles," Jacob explained as Jeremy carefully tested it out.
"Sweet!" Jeremy laughed.
"I figured it would give you some help in fighting!" he explained. "Now, the Tower is northwest from where you are now. Get going!" he finished as Jeremy took off on the Overglide…
Back at the theater, Odd and Ulrich were sizing up the robotic zombies, trying to see if there was any way they could get out of the theater and get to the Factory to help.
"Hey, you think we could take them on?" Odd asked as Ulrich sized their foes up.
"I think we could manage it," he replied. "You want to go for it?"
"Why not?" Odd laughed as they turned to Aelita, Yumi and William. "Okay, we're going to take on the toy brutes; when we make a hole, get to the doors, and see if you can get through the legs of those dinos and head for the Factory, okay?"
"Got it!" the trio replied as Odd and Ulrich dashed out from where they were hiding and headed for the zombies.
"Yahh!" Ulrich cried as he dived onto one of the zombies and gave it a punch to the side of the head. He was rewarded by a sickening crunch as he knocked its head off, and he turned to see Odd plowing a hole through the wall of undead robots.
"Hey, you ugly machines! Come to Odd for a butt-kicking!" he taunted as he jabbed at their stomachs and then socked a pair of them in the heads and grimaced as their heads flew across the room. "That's gonna hurt in the morning!" he laughed. "Run for it!" he yelled as the two girls and William shot out and headed through the hole that Odd had ripped in the zombie line. They ducked under the legs of the T-Rexes, but Aelita froze when she heard a cry of pain, and she wheeled around to see one of the Rexes with a tooth stuck in Odd's arm. It released its toothy grip, and he dropped to the floor in pain as Aelita's eyes widened.
"You two go!" she yelled hastily as she ran back to get Odd out of danger. "I'll stay with him!" she cried nervously as she got to odd and made him look at her.
"Ungh…pretty Princess…" Odd mumbled through a haze of pain as Aelita dragged him to safety…
Meanwhile, on Lyoko, Jeremy had managed to get within sight of the Tower when he heard a faint buzzing behind him. He opened his mouth to speak, but Jacob was already way ahead of him.
"Einstein, you got a massive Hornet swarm on your tail! XANA's not playing around this time! There's about twenty of them from what I can see!" he added as Jeremy swerved the Overglide around to face the buzzing cloud.
"I can take them!" he replied as his left foot tensed on the board. He sighted the bugs with his lenses, and his foot pressed down on the pressure switch, releasing a spew of lasers at the bugs. The lucky ones were able to evade the blasts, but Jeremy nailed quite a few of them as they exploded in mid-air. "All right!" he grinned as he saw seven Hornets fly through the smoke. "Let's go!" he growled as he flew towards them. His right foot tensed now as he pressed on the switch and he swerved to avoid a few laser bursts from the bugs as his missiles impacted four of them, causing them to explode in yellow smoke clouds. He flew through the smoke and began to chase them now, taking the offense as he fired three quick laser spurts that struck their marks perfectly and wiped out the Hornets on contact. He grinned as he descended and heard Jacob's voice in his ear.
"That was great, Jeremy! Now…uh-oh…" he trailed off.
"What's uh-oh?" Jeremy asked quickly as he started to descend towards the Tower, and all of a sudden, the Overglide was struck by something and devirtualized, sending Jeremy crashing to the forest floor. "Oomph!" he groaned as the wind was knocked out of him, and he blinked as he looked up to see a pair of Tarantulas guarding the Tower now. "A little warning would have been nice!" he grumbled as he got up from the ground and sized up the Tarantulas. He jumped out of the way and growled when they blasted a barrage of lasers at him. Jacob pulled up a scan of Jeremy's profile quickly, and discovered something that might be useful.
"Jeremy! I discovered you can fire energy lasers from your gloves!"
"That's great," Jeremy hissed as he evaded another laser burst, "but how do I do it?" he asked as he thrust his palm towards one of the Tarantulas and gasped when a green orb appeared and blasted a beam of light from his palm. It impacted the Tarantula and cloaked it in a green aura for a moment before the beast exploded. "Oh, that's how," Jeremy laughed simply as a Krabe appeared to assist the second Tarantula. It fired a well-placed blast that struck Jeremy in the chest and knocked him onto his back.
"Jeremy, you just lost 40 life points!" Jacob warned.
"I can take it," Jeremy grunted as he dodged side to side, dodging lasers left and right as he tried to move closer to the monsters. All of a sudden, he saw stars as a laser hit him in the side, and he was thrown to the ground. As he tried to scramble back up, he looked up and saw the Krabe moving towards him. He squeezed his eyes shut as he saw the Krabe charge its stomach laser, and gulped as he prepared for the worst…
"Hi-yahh!" he heard as his eyes flew open and he saw a whirling disc pass over him, slicing into the Krabe's back and destroying it instantly. He jumped up as the Tarantula turned to see what had happened to see Yumi and William running towards him.
"Thought you could use some help, Jeremy," Yumi grinned as William yelled, "Super Smoke!" and whirled around the Tarantula, slicing and dicing it after a few moments. He reformed and came back to where the two of them were standing, and cocked his head slightly as he looked at the Tower.
"Here's a question," he asked curiously. "How are we going to deactivate the Tower?" At this, all of them, Jacob included, were struck silent. Even Jacob hadn't thought about this when he and Jeremy rushed to the Factory. He mulled it over for a minute before replying to William.
"I could come onto Lyoko and do it…" he offered, but Jeremy shook his head rapidly.
"No, no, no!" he emphasized. "Way too dangerous still!" he added as he was suddenly struck with a blinding headache…
—Flashback—
"Aelita?" Jeremy asked as he heard her thoughts ring in his head…
"The whole time Jeremy was on Lyoko, it was as if our minds were one…" Aelita said, trying to explain what she had felt…
—End Flashback—
"I've got an idea!" Jeremy exclaimed as he walked towards the Tower. He placed his hand on the surface, and pressed against it, gasping when he fell through in a wave of blue ripples and entered the Tower…
"Yes!" Jacob exclaimed as Jeremy walked to the center of the first platform. He closed his eyes and focused, beginning to levitate…
"Unh…" Odd moaned deliriously as the pool of blood around him continued to seep outward…
"Hurry up, Jacob!" Aelita whispered… "He won't last much longer!"
Jeremy reached the second platform and touched down gently. He walked u to the Interface and laid his hand on it, his eyes widening in surprise when it blinked and lit up.
JEREMY
CODE:
LYOKO
"The Tower's deactivated! He did it!" Jacob grinned as Yumi and William watched the Tower's aura fade from red to white…
At the theater, Ulrich was fighting a zombie when it suddenly fell to the ground, lifeless. The terrible dinos froze up and stopped moving, and all of the toys that XANA had possessed fell lifeless as Aelita sighed. She sent a text to Jacob immediately, and he read it and nodded.
"Return to the Past, now!" he yelled as the white bubble engulfed the Factory and the city. When Aelita saw it rush towards the theater, she sighed in relief as Odd's eyes cracked open, and he looked at her in gratitude for a brief second before the Time Reversion took effect…
At the crossroads after school…
"So, Einstein didn't look ridiculous this time, huh?" Odd asked skeptically as Jeremy turned away, embarrassed. "I wish I'd been around to see that!" he laughed.
"Odd, stop!" Jeremy scolded playfully.
"So Jeremy deactivated the Tower?" Ulrich asked.
"Yes," Jeremy affirmed. "I think some of Aelita's code was transferred to me when our minds were melded. Remember, when I was trapped in limbo?" The others nodded. "I think I gained her ability to deactivate Towers form that!" he explained.
"I would say that's a pretty good guess," Aelita agreed. "I'm just so glad you finally overcame your fears and went back into Lyoko!" she added with a smile as she hugged him. He blushed before replying.
"Well, it wasn't that impressive…" he said modestly.
"He did a great job, though," Jacob grinned as Jeremy looked up.
"Thanks, Jacob!" Jeremy smiled. "Although, I do prefer technology to fighting!" he laughed as Jacob rolled his eyes.
"That's our Jeremy!" he said as everyone burst out laughing…
LW94: So, Jeremy visits Lyoko, and we have our second Tower deactivator back! You had to know it would get a little easier again! Just wait, though, because we're about to dig back into the Antea/Aelita storyline again! I won't give anything away, though; you'll just have to stay tuned! Oh, by the way, I'm not getting any reviews or comments on how I'm doing hardly at all! So message me or post a comment! I won't post the next chapter of the story until I have a couple reviews! Hopefully that should give you some incentive! READ AND REVIEW!