And now for part 2 and the conclusion.
Enjoy!
Just In Time (Remade) pt.2
It was finally lunch time, and
Yumi was fuming as she sat with Aelita and Odd in Odd & Jeremie's
room.
"How longs this going to take him?" she asked
angrily, checking her watch again.
"Hey, don't worry Yumi,
I'm almost done!" Jeremie said, putting some extra pace into his
typing as he felt Yumi glaring at his back.
On his screen Ulrich
was watching, his face just as tense as theirs with excitement.
Suddenly Kiwi, sleeping in Odd's lap, sat straight up and started
growling at the computer. "Kiwi? What's up?" Odd asked as
Kiwi jumped down and started barking. "Odd, keep him quiet!
Otherwise Jim'll hear him!" Yumi said, staring nervously at the
door.
"Weird, this isn't like him at a-"
CRACK!
the window above the computer shattered, raining razor sharp glass
down on Jeremie, Odd and Kiwi.
"Jeremie!" Aelita
grabbed him and yanked him back as Odd tucked Kiwi close to him and
rolled back.
"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Odd
said, staring wide eyed at the glittering bits on the floor.
"Xana.
Typical" Yumi growled.
"Start looking for the tower?"
Ulrich asked on screen.
"No problem this time" Jeremie
said, moving back to his computer.
"As soon as this
program's running, we'll materialise Ulrich and shut down the super
computer. No more super computer, no more Xana!"
"Then
do it!" Yumi said.
"Done!" Jeremie shouted,
punching the enter key.
Beep Beep Beep! a red ! came up.
"What
the - ?"
"Uh, Jeremie, that doesn't sound very good"
Yumi said.
"I don't believe this!"
"What's
wrong Jeremie?" Aelita asked.
"Somehow, when I
materialised that lock of hair, I messed up Ulrich's programming.
It's full of bugs!"
"But you can fix it, right?"
Yumi said, feeling her heart sinking.
"No. I've somehow
destroyed his original programming when I removed that bit of DNA
info from him. And... Oh no... I've also managed to corrupt his back
in time program interface"
"In English please Einstein"
Odd said.
"If he starts up the back in time program, he
might get reformatted. He might be destroyed" Jeremie said.
"Destroyed?" Yumi whispered, her heart going ice cold.
"It's a risk I'll have to take Jer-" Ulrich said.
"No!" Yumi said, cutting him off. "Jeremie, try to
find a way to debug him. Odd, Aelita and I'll go to Lyoko to help
Ulrich. Who knows, maybe we'll be able to stop him without having to
use the return trip"
"Maybe..." Jeremie said.
"Let's just get going, OK?" Yumi said.
As they
exited the room they saw Jim and Principal Delmas studying a large
crack in the wall.
"What do you think could've caused this
Jim?" Delmas asked.
"Moisture maybe?" Jim said,
fingering the crack.
"How could moisture have-?"
With
a crackling noise the crack grew up to the roof, bits of dust and
ceiling falling down to the ground at the astonished mens feet.
"I
think we might have to evacuate the school sir" Jim said.
"I
guess that means we've got hurry" Odd gasped as they ran down
the stairs, out the doors and into the par.
"Oh yeah"
Yumi said, pulling the cover up to reveal the ladder going down to
the depths of the sewers. "Before Xana brings the school down"
They raced down the sewer ways, climbed up and swung down the
entrance of the factory to the elevator. Jeremie climbed out midway
to the super computer while the rest headed down to the scanners.
Just as they started to climb in Jeremie's voice came in over the
intercom.
"Uh, guys, I've got a problem. Looks like I
grabbed the wrong disk. The disk I need is still back at school and
-"
"Don't worry Jeremie, I'll go get it!" Aelita
said, heading for the elevator.
"Be carefull Aelita!"
Yumi shouted after her.
"I will!" Aelita shouted back
just as the elevator doors closed
"Ok Jeremie, we're ready
to go" Yumi said, climbing in.
"The tower's in the
forest region. Good luck"
'We'll need it' Yumi thought as
the doors of the scanner closed.
"Transfer Yumi, Transfer
Odd!"
"Scanner Yumi, Scanner Odd!"
"Virtualisation!"
The air
went from brilliant white to tree filled sky, and Odd and Yumi found
themselves back on Lyoko, somewhere in the Forest Region.
"Jeremie,
we made it. No sign of monsters or the tower yet" Yumi said.
"The tower's up to the north of you, and looks like it's
heavily guarded.
Better hurry"
"We will. Just be
ready for the program, OK?"
"I'll be ready"
"Hi
Yumi, Odd" a voice said behind them, and Ulrich came out from
behind one of the trees.
"Hey Ulrich, how's it going?"
Odd grinned.
"I've had better days" Ulrich grinned
back.
He turned to Yumi, who couldn't meet his eyes.
"Hey
Yumi" He said uncertainly.
"Hey" she muttered.
"Uh, I think I'll go and scout ahead" Odd said,
bounding of deeper into the forest.
For a few minutes they stood
there in silence, neither able to say what they wanted to say. And
then Ulrich saw Yumi's shoulders starting to shake.
He stepped
closer and drew her into his arms, hugging her close to him.
"Ulrich, I'm so scared that you're going to.. to.."
"Hey, it's going to be ok. I'm not going to get destroyed"
"How can you be sure?" Yumi asked, her head still
against his chest.
He lifted up her face and smiled, looking deep
into her eyes.
"Because I made a promise to you, remember?
and I always keep my promises.
Besides, I'm the hero right? and
the hero always wins"
"I guess" Yumi said, giving
him a small smile.
"You'll see. Now let's catch with Odd.
Who knows what trouble he's gotten in by now?"
With a
grunt Aelita pushed open the sewer lid and crawled out into in the
park.
She ran towards the school, stopping in shock as she saw
the devastation it was currently in. Most of the windows had been
shattered, a massive crack ran up from the base to the roof of the
building, and in some places the roof had already collapsed. "Emily!
Hey Emily!" she shouted, running up to a girl she knew.
"Aelita! Thank goodness you're alright!" Emily said,
white faced and wide eyed.
"Did everyone get out?"
Aelita asked.
"I think so. Jim's still in there, doing a
final check."
"Ok, thanks for the info!" Aelita
shouted as she ran towards the crumbling building.
"This is
not going to be easy" she thought, staring at the large pieces
of debris lying scattered all over the stairs and floor.
Jumping,
leaping, hugging the walls over openings, Aelita finally made it to
Jeremie's room. She barged in to the excited barks of Kiwi, grabbed
him and the disk from his computer and was about to make her way out
when the sound of music caught her ear.
She ran down the hall to
the girls dorm, opened the door, and found herself staring at Milly
and Tamiya, the two youngest students in Kadic.
"Hey,
haven't you heard about knocking?" Milly asked angrily, pulling
the blaring earphones from her ears.
"What are you doing
here?" Aelita asked, amazed. "Don't you know the school's
breaking down?"
As if to proof her right, a crack appeared
and ran up to the wall, splitting before reconnected and causing a
large piece of ceiling to drop down to the ground.
Luckily Milly
and Tamiya had already been running with Aelita when it happened.
Unfortunately, when they got to the stairs, they found themselves
stuck, staring into an open pit that fell straight down two floors to
the ground.
"Not good" Aelita gasped.
In Lyoko,
Ulrich and Yumi had finally caught up with Odd, hip deep in a battle
against some kankrelats. "Laser Arrow!" Odd shouted,
shooting off two arrows.
One kankrelat dodged, the other wasn't
as quick. Bam!
"Oh, yeah guys, finally kissed and made
up?" Odd grinned.
smack! "Ow!" Odd moaned,
rubbing the back of his head.
"Not now Odd!" Yumi said,
throwing her fan to slice a bug in half.
Ulrich zipped by them,
killing two before taking a hit in the back by the last.
Before
he could recover it shot him again, making him roll along the ground
to the edge. Slowly it crawled towards him, readying the final blow.
"You shouldn't have done that" Yumi said, stepping up
behind it.
Before it could turn she lifted it up telekineticly
and chucked it off the edge.
"Thanks Yumi" Ulrich said,
as Yumi helped him.
"My pleasure" she smiled at him.
"Heads up!" Odd shouted, pointing behind them.
"Oh,
just great" Yumi muttered as they watched the three Krabes come
thundering towards them.
Beep Beep Beep! the screen flashed
at Jeremie Aelita's picture next to a phone.
"Aelita! Where
are you?" Jeremie asked, answering the call.
"Stuck in
Kadic. Jeremie, the place is about ready to come down. I'm not going
to be able to get out easily so I'm going to send you the stuff
through your computer.
Sending it...now!"
On Jeremie's
screen a download bar appeared and started to rapidly fill up.
"Ok,
I've got it. Now get out of there Aelita!"
"On it"
Aelita said. "Come on, let's go!" she said, grabbing Milly
and Tamiya's hands and running down the hall to the stairs at the end
of the Girls dorm, closely followed by Kiwi.
Suddenly he stopped
and started barking. "Stop!" Aelita shouted, and they
stopped just as the floor in front of them shook and opened like a
mouth, tilting as the now unstable half of the building started to
fall to the side.
The girls screamed as they fell. Milly and
Tamiya managed to grab something, but Aelita wasn't as fortunate and
with a whoosh she slid over the edge.
And landed with a thump the
first floor directly below.
"Whew!" she sighed in
relief, glancing back to the fall that had been waiting for her when,
with a "Yip!" Kiwi landed on her lap.
"You OK?"
she asked. Kiwi answered by jumping up and licking her face.
"Quick, in there!" Yumi shouted, pointing to a
natural enclosure created by a tree.
One by one they jumped into
the round domed root system, just as the lead krabe arrived, blasting
laser bolts in through the opening.
The gang pressed themselves
flat against the walls to avoid the deadly volley when the other two
arrived and moved to the other openings, clawing and blasting, trying
to hit the heroes stuck inside.
"How's it coming Jeremie?!"
Yumi asked, dodging a claw trying to impale her.
"I'm almost
ready, just give me a minute!"
"Better make it a second
Einstein, cause these guys mean business!" Odd said, shouting at
one as it tried to shoot him.
"Ready! Launching de-bug
program now!" Jeremie cheered, slamming down the enter key. He
watched as the program started loading up.
It reached 100 and
then the warning went off, flashing a red ! at him.
"Oh no!
It's not working! I.. I can't de-bug the program..."
"No..."
Yumi whispered, staring in wide eyed shock at Ulrich.
"Jeremie,
can't you fix it?" Odd asked.
"Yes, but it'll take some
time, and time is what we don't have"
"Don't bother
Jeremie" Ulrich said, standing up from his crouching position.
"We've got to stop Xana, no matter what"
He glanced
at Odd. "Ready for one final run?"
Odd nodded, and
ready his launchers.
Ulrich turned to Yumi, just as she jumped at
him and kissed him full on the lips, her arms holding him tight, like
she never wanted to let him go.
When they pulled apart Yumi said
"At least you kept your promise"
Ulrich smiled at her,
gave her another kiss before stepping back and pulling out his sword.
Yumi pulled out her fan, and together they ran out of their hiding
place.
"Come on, you guys can make it!" Aelita
shouted, arms outstretched.
"Eeek!" Tamiya shouted as
she slid down the tilted floor and fell down into Aelita's arms.
"There you go" Aelita said, putting her safely on the
floor.
"Your turn Milly!"
"No, I can't!"
Milly cried, clinging on to her handhold for dear life.
"It's
ok, I promise. Just let go!"
Milly clenched her jaws and
kept her eyes snapped shut as she let go.
"Aaaaah!" she
screamed, sliding down and dropping to the floor below.
"Gotcha!"
Aelita said, catching her in her arms.
"Th-Thanks..."
Milly said, rubbing tears from her eyes.
Aelita smiled and hugged
her before taking Tamiya and Milly's hands and running down towards
the exit.
"Laser Arrows!" Odd shouted, jumping off
a tree and shooting in midair.
With a Bang! the krabe exploded,
legs dropping to the ground and disappearing.
"Go!" he
shouted, rushing towards the other two as Yumi and Ulrich ran towards
the glowing tower. "Laser Arrows" Odd shouted, jumping up
again.
Click!
"Empty?!" he gasped, just as a
series of blasts from the krabe struck and devirtualised him.
"Odd's
down!" Yumi said as they neared the tower.
They reached the
base and stopped. Ulrich reached out and took Yumi's hand.
"Goodbye
Yumi. I love you"
"Goodbye Ulrich" she said, her
eyes shedding tear after tear as she pulled away from his hand and
ran towards the krabes while Ulrich walked into the tower.
"Yah!"
Yumi screamed, throwing a fan and slicing a krabe to bits.
Glancing
over her shoulder she stared at the tower and whispered "Love
you too"
before closing her eyes and, spreading her arms,
lifted herself up into the air and giving the krabe a perfect target.
"Oh no, we're trapped!" Milly cried as they stood
in front of the debris covered exit.
"Don't worry, we'll
find someway -" Aelita said when Kiwi suddenly sniffing the air.
Huddling together the three girls stared down at Kiwi. and Kiwi
started to bark.
And the building collapsed.
Ulrich
walked to the center of the ring, readying himself for the final
deactivation he'll ever do. Would it hurt, getting reformatted?
He
tried not too think about that as he started to float up.
He
landed on the platform, the interface screening waiting.
"Yumi"
he whispered, picturing in his mind the face, the smile, the person
that was the girl he loved, before putting his hand on the screen.
"Return to the past now!" Jeremie said sadly,
pressing enter.
And the world went white...
"I
still can't believe his gone" Aelita said as they all stood in
the factory's computer room. "I know" Odd said, sitting on
the floor.
"And all because of a stupid hair" he
muttered.
Yumi suddenly started. "What did you say?"
"Well, it's true. If Jeremie hadn't taken that hair then-"
"That's it! Odd, you're a genuis!"
"Uh, ok,
but you're going to have to explain how"
"Remember?
Jeremie said that the hair has got Ulrich's DNA Code"
"His
computer code, but yeah, I can see where you're going with this"
Jeremie said, smiling.
"Great. So how's about letting us in
on it?" Odd asked.
A few minutes later, and everyone was
crowded around Jeremie and the computer.
"Fingers crossed
guys" he said, entering a command.
Down in the scanner room,
the doors closed around the tube with Ulrich's hair that Yumi had
been keeping in her pocket.
Slowly it started to rise up inside
the rapidly increasing glow of the scanner.
On the screen the
gang watched anxiously as the program completed, and Ulrich's card
reappeared, went from a dull dark color to full color, and then
Ulrich's face appeared on screen.
"Hey guys, I'm ready to be
virtualised" he said.
"Did I miss something?" he
asked as everyone started cheering and laughing.
"Yumi, why
are crying?"
"Oh, uh, it's nothing. Just happy to see
you" Yumi said, smiling.
Next Up: Ghost Channel (Remade)
