~Jeremie's Dorm~
~9:00 P.M.~
Jeremie and Aelita, both in their nightwear, were staring at Jeremie's small computer screen, both fixated on the same point. The same imprint Jeremie had shown Aelita earlier that week. The two had spent the last five hours, and consequently their date night, trying to decipher the secrets of the imprint. Tired and frustrated he slammed his head on his desk. "I don't believe this! A few days ago, this thing was booming with energy signals, but now there's nothing significant being shown about this thing. I'm starting to wonder if my hypothesis is correct after all!"
"It has to do something." Aelita argued. "Otherwise X.A.N.A. wouldn't have gone through the trouble of leaving it behind. Maybe we just need a break from this. You finished the security system, right? Anyone else try to break in?"
"No." Jeremie said sadly. "We're no closer to finding out who turned on the supercomputer and revived X.A.N.A. either!"
"Well who are the suspects?" Aelita asked.
"That's the thing, there are none. I've got a list of every person here at Kadic, student and faculty, that I definitely didn't hack out of the school's system." He said emphasizing his 'definitely'. "Whoever it was would have to have intimate knowledge of computers and programming, and has to know about the factory and have ties to Kadic, since it's private property. If Sam and Patrick could recover some of their lost memories, it's possible that someone who came here under X.A.N.A.'s influence could remember about this place. So first I took the nine of us off the list, then I took off everyone we don't know."
"Right." Aelita nodded. "Because they never would've even met us."
"Exactly. That left a lot less people. But still too many to make any kind of guess." Jeremie said. "So, I did background checks on everyone left, looking for any backgrounds or hints of interest in computers or programming. Once that was done, I crossed off any who had no history, and that left... no one." He said handing her the small list of remaining people. Aelita quickly scanned it and found violent lines through every name. "Not a single one has any background in programming. None of them had the slightest hint."
"Maybe it's a secret hobby of theirs?" Aelita said crumpling up the piece of paper and throwing it over her shoulder.
"Even then, none of them have any reason to revive X.A.N.A. None of them have any vendettas, knowledge of X.A.N.A., or anything to gain." Jeremie said. He dipped his head backwards and covered his face with his hands. "What the hell is going on?"
"Well there's one possibility we haven't considered." Aelita countered. "What if it was somebody we don't know. Someone who has connections to X.A.N.A. and we never even knew." She asked before sitting down on Jeremie's bed. "There's no limit to his reach after all."
"If X.A.N.A. had another person in his back pocket, why didn't he ever use him the last time we fought? Why let himself be destroyed like that if he could help it? It doesn't make any sense."
"Could he have X.A.N.A.-fied someone and used them as a puppet to turn the supercomputer back on? It would explain how someone got that kind of knowledge, too." Aelita guessed. "And the puppet would have no idea what happened when they were released."
"With the supercomputer off? Even if X.A.N.A. could, he would need more power than he would have at his base components in order to possess someone." Jeremie said. "That's out the window, too! The longer it takes for us to figure this out, the more chances X.A.N.A. has to use his ally against us." He groaned.
"And what about William?" Aelita asked warily.
"What about him?" Jeremie asked back. "You think he did it?"
"Not of his own free will. You said that the imprint gives X.A.N.A. easier control over people. Maybe it left some kind of...post hypnotic suggestion, just like Ulrich suggested. It could explain how X.A.N.A. did it without the computer being on with the implant in place."
"I didn't want to believe it." Jeremie said sadly. "But it seems like a very distinct possibility at this point. But if he did, it's likely he has no idea he ever did it. I don't want to bring this up to him just yet. He's been through enough already, and I want to be sure before we go accusing him of something like that."
"We've done enough for tonight. You're obviously overworked." She said getting back up. "You need a stress-reliever." She put a hand on his shoulder causing him to look up at her.
"I can think of one thing that calms me down." Jeremie smiled.
"And what's that?" Aelita asked knowingly.
"You." Jeremie said standing up. "We could-"
The two were interrupted by a loud throat clearing. They turned towards the door to see it slowly open revealing Jim on the other side with his eyes narrowed. "This again? Belpois! Stones! Quit the PDA and get over here." The two hung their heads and reluctantly made their way to Jim. Once the two were in front of him, he started shaking his head. "Model Students, both of you! I'd expect this kind of behavior from Della-Robia, or Stern, or even Ishiyama from time to time. But you two? Again? You know what this means right?"
"Aw come on Jim!" Jeremie whined. "You don't really have to turn us in, do you? You said it yourself, we're model students. We'd never participate in any unethical activities."
"Except meeting in your dorm with your girlfriend after lights out. Sorry, Belpois, but no one gets a free pass. Now I want Stones back on her floor in three minutes and the two of you will report to Principle Delmas first thing tomorrow morning before classes start." By now all of the other boys on the level had their doors open, watching closely. He took a step to the side and pointed towards the hallway. Aelita slowly walked away heading back to her own floor.
"Whoo! Go Jeremie!" She could hear Odd yell from her right. She snapped her head towards him and Ulrich who were peeking out from their room and glared at the jokester. Odd raised his eyebrows before slinking back into the room. Ulrich just flashed an apologetic smile and followed the boy in.
Seeing Aelita leave the double doors and head towards the stairwell, Jim turned back to Jeremie. "A word of advice, next time you want to meet with your girlfriend after hours, make sure the light from your computer screen isn't lighting up the entire hallway. Now back to bed, Belpois, or I'll add writing a paper onto your punishment."
"Do you have the authority to order students to write papers?" Jeremie asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yes." Jim nodded.
"Really? But you're our P.E. instructor. You don't issue papers." Jeremie countered.
"Uh...well...okay, fine. Actually, I don't really know. I threaten it all the time, but I've never been called on it before." Jim said honestly. "But...uh...you won't tell anyone about that will you? A teacher needs to have some leverage. If they find out I don't have that power, they might stop listening."
"I won't tell Jim." Jeremie smiled. "But could you do me a favor? This whole thing was my idea. Just report me and not Aelita. I needed help with some math and even though she told me to wait, I insisted."
"You needed help?" Jim asked skeptically. "Really?"
"I'm 15." Jeremie shrugged. "I can't be expected to know everything." He gave Jim one last pleading look. "Come on, Jim. Just let Aelita off."
Jim's look softened. He looked over his shoulder quickly to make sure everyone had retreated back into their rooms. Once he was sure they didn't have an audience, he turned back to Jeremie. "Ah young love... reminds me of when me and-" He looked down at Jeremie which snapped him out of his daydream. "Never mind." He said clearing his throat. "Rather not talk about that anyway. Fine! I'll do you a favor and leave Stones out of this, but you only get one favor from Ol' Jim! Now get back to bed before add writing a paper to your punishment." He said winking at the younger boy.
"Night Jim. Sorry for the trouble I caused." He said winking back. He closed the door and Jim turned around to leave. When he spun around, he was met with both Herve and Nicolas. They were both pale and coughing regularly.
"Jim," Herve let out between coughs. "We don't feel too good."
"Jesus boys. Cover your mouths!" Jim yelled. "Alright, you two, come with me." He said. He led the two down the hallway with him. From Herve and Nicholas's room, a small gray puff cloud slid out from under the door and floated across the hallway into the next room.
~Principle Delmas's Office~
~7:00 A.M.~
Principle Delmas, a man of about fifty years in and old, in a worn-out brown coat and white undershirt, tapped his pointer irritably on his desk over and over again giving Jeremie, who stood in front of his desk, a disappointed glare. He turned to Jim. "Jim, did you happen to see who the second culprit was?"
"No sir." Jim reported. "They must've heard me coming. By the time I got there, whoever it was, was dashing down the hallway. All I could tell was that it was a girl, from her body type."
"What disappointing news." He said narrowing his eyes. "Jeremie, you've been a student here for over two years now, and you've had very few infractions on your record, and none recently. But the dorms are not co-ed. You know that. And you must know how this looks."
"Yes sir." Jeremie responded simply.
"Then tell me why you were caught mingling with another student after lights out!" He exclaimed. "Kadic is listed among the most respected schools in all of France," Delmas told him. "It took many years of strict routines and hard work to build that reputation, and it's this kind of conduct that can get us removed from that list!" Delmas gave Jeremie another dirty glare. "Now I'll give you one last chance, who was it that you were with?"
Jeremie shook his head. "Sorry Principle Delmas, but I can't sell my friend out to you." He said firmly. "I'll just accept my punishment."
Jean-Pierre leaned back in his swivel chair. "I suppose your loyalty to your friends is in a way respectable, but rules are rules, young man. Now I'm no fool. There's not a doubt in my mind that it was young Aelita you were with. Sadly, with no evidence, it would not be right to punish her. Jeremie, I see no other course of action to take. You are to report to the library immediately after class. For the next week, you will not leave the library, except to eat, sleep, and go to classes. Or..." He said with a smirk, "we can shorten the punishment to just today, if you tell me who you were with last-"
"A week is fine." Jeremie said instantly. "First period starts in an hour and I still haven't gotten ready; may I be excused?" Jeremie asked politely.
"Yes, yes, go ahead." Delmas said waving his hand. "No dilly-dallying either! As soon as that bell rings-"
"I'll be there." Jeremie promised closing the door behind him. Outside the office, he found Aelita waiting for him. She gave him a soft look.
"You didn't have to take the fall for me, you know. I'm just as guilty, I should be punished with you." She turned around and started walking towards the door leading outside. Jeremie easily caught up and fell into step beside her.
"Neither one of us should be punished, we're trying to save the world here." Jeremie whispered. "It's been too long without an attack from X.A.N.A. I have no doubt by the end of the day, he'll launch an attack. If both of us were grounded in the library, there'd be no one to run the supercomputer or shut down towers. This way you still have a spot on the team. You can run the supercomputer and deactivate the towers."
"I can't work the supercomputer like you!" Aelita argued. "I don't know a fraction of what you do. Plus, I'll be busy deactivating towers. I can only launch virtualizations."
"Then that's what we'll have to work with for the time being." He put a single hand on her shoulder. "You're the leader for now. I know you can do it."
"Thanks, Jeremie." She smiled.
He nodded in return. "Meanwhile, since I'm off the team temporarily, I'll keep working with the imprint whenever I can sneak in some time. Jim's never been the most observant person. I should be able to do some work under his nose." Jeremie promised. "Now, come on, the others are probably wondering where we are. If I hurry, I might be able to shower and get everything together with enough time to walk to class with you guys."
"Well, I'll wait with you. That way you can at least walk to class with me." She said happily.
After Jeremie had left the room Delmas slammed his fist on his desk. "I can't believe this! Not just a top student. My top student! He's supposed to be my representative for the quality of students we have here at Kadic, but he'd rather take a weeks' worth of punishment over telling the truth! If Jeremie starts acting out like this, I can't imagine what someone like Della-Robia is up to." He rested his head in his hands.
"Aw, I'm sure it's nothing." Jim said trying to calm the older man down. "You know Jeremie. He doesn't have a rebellious bone in him."
"Then why does he insist on breaking the rules and keeping the identity of his accomplice a secret?" Delmas said annoyed.
"Sir, Jeremie may not be the most athletic person in this school, but I've come to have a respect for him. I have no doubt when I say, whatever he's not telling you about, he's doing so for a good reason." Jim said.
Suddenly, the phone on Principle Delmas's desk went off loudly. The Principle let out an annoyed sigh and grabbed the phone reluctantly. "This is Jean Pierre." He answered. "Ah, Nurse Yolanda, good morning to you, too." He said happily. "...Is that so? ...Well then, we'll just have to relocate the ailed students to the northern auditorium. You should have plenty of room there. Grab what blankets and pillows you can and move them immediately, I don't want this cough taking over my school." He said sternly before hanging up the phone.
"More sick students?" Jim asked. "How many does that make it now?"
"Too many. They've more the doubled the capacity of the infirmary and surrounding area in the last hour alone." Delmas answered. "I was sure we had contained it in time. How it's spreading this hard and fast is beyond me."
"What about the non-affected students? Should we relocate them too to try and prevent any further contamination?" Jim asked.
"No point. At the rate this is spreading, I'm sure at least one of these 'un-affected' students is actually already compromised. Just send anyone who shows any signs of a cough to bunk with the other sick students."
Ulrich, Odd, Patrick, and Emillie were heading to their first class of the day. Odd stretched his arms up into the air and yawned violently. "So," He gargled out through his yawn. "do you think Einstein and Princess are going to be late for the first class of the day?"
"Jeremie? Late?" Patrick asked. "As one of his closest friends, I thought you'd know him better than that." He chuckled. "Jeremie's never late for anything."
"Now that I think about it, Yumi was missing this morning, too." Emilie stated.
"I don't know about Yumi," Ulrich said. "but normally we at least bump into Jeremie during our morning routines, but no one's seen him. That means one of two things. He's either in serious trouble-"
"Or he's off sucking face with Princess somewhere." Odd cut in. He started laughing to himself before feeling a light punch to his shoulder. He turned to find Jeremie half-glaring at him with Aelita right behind him.
"I'll remember that next time you need someone to cheat off of." Jeremie said grumpily.
"Aw, come on Einstein. Don't be like that. You need me for the team. I can't help if I flunk out!"
"More importantly, we have bad news." Aelita said. The two joined the group in walking to the classroom. "Until further notice, Jeremie's out of commission. You can thank Delmas for that."
"Seriously?" Emillie asked. "But isn't he, like, the mastermind of this operation? We'll get toasted without a leader! Patrick and I have never even been to Lyoko and he just severed the head of our team!"
"Cool it, Emillie. Aelita's more than capable of taking over the supercomputer for a while until I can figure a way out of this pickle. Jim caught us working together trying to find out who turned on the supercomputer. I managed to convince him to let Aelita off the hook, but he had to report something." Jeremie explained.
"Did you get any closer to finding out who did it?" Ulrich asked.
"No. I couldn't come up with a single person who would have a motive." Jeremie sighed. "I made no progress whatsoever." The group arrived at the science building and Odd, Ulrich, Emillie, and Patrick filed inside. Before Aelita could enter herself, Jeremie grabbed her arm. "One more thing, Aelita. Whenever you see William next, you need to tell him about the imprint. It's not right for us to keep it from him any longer. Just remember not to mention we think he could've started the supercomputer." Aelita nodded and the two headed inside for their hour of torture.
Odd was the first one to enter the classroom, and what he found shocked him. "Are we early?" He asked. As he looked around he noticed the room was almost completely vacant. There were only three others sat in the room. Sissi Delmas, who sat dead center because she insisted she was the center of attention, the new girl Laura Gauthier, who sat in the front row in order to most efficiently absorb knowledge, and Matthias Burrel, who preferred to sit in the back for fear of getting called on.
"Nope." Ulrich answered.
"In fact," Patrick said looking at his watch. "just a minute more and we'd be late." He informed Odd following the two in. "Which begs the question, where is everyone?" Jeremie, Emillie, and Aelita quickly followed them behind and the six of them took their spots. Window seats at the far-right side of the room. Aelita, Jeremie, and Patrick at one desk, and Ulrich, Odd, and Emillie right behind them.
From the adjacent door, Ms. Hertz, a short woman with gray, frizzy hair, and crow's feet behind her eyes, most likely due to something Odd-related, walked into the room, with surprisingly nothing in her possession. "Well, class, as you may have noticed, I have no lesson plan with me today. Unfortunately, class is cancelled for today."
"Cancelled?" Ulrich asked. "Class is never cancelled! What's going on?"
"Never question a good thing Ulrich." Odd chastised. "Now we get an extra hour to ourselves."
"Odd's right." Emillie said. "Never question a good thing, but this? This is too good to be true. Kadic would have us working through an earthquake if it were legal."
"Now, now, Emillie, the staff here at Kadic deeply cares for our students, and would never endanger you in such a horrible way. Now-" She noticed that behind Odd, who was very indiscreetly celebrating, Jeremie had his hand up, waiting patiently to be called on. "Yes, Jeremie?"
"Ms. Hertz, if you don't mind, why was class cancelled?" Jeremie asked.
Ms. Hertz sighed. "If you must know, it's because there aren't enough of you to teach. Everyone who's currently not in this room is in the infirmary with a terrible cough that seems to have plagued the school. The other grades are in a similar state. Just a few students left unaffected. It's gotten so bad, that they've had to relocate the ailed students to bigger rooms multiple times. I personally believe that I should still be allowed to teach, but the rules are quite clear that a class with under ten students is to be cancelled, as resources are best spent elsewhere."
"Good enough for me!" Odd said. He flipped himself over the desk in front of him and rushed out the front door.
"Odd! Wait up!" Emillie called as he exited the room with Ulrich hastily.
Aelita and Jeremie shared a look. "You think it's X.A.N.A.?" Aelita whispered. Beside them, Patrick laughed.
"It's just a cough, guys. If it was X.A.N.A., why would he go after all these other students and not us? Though I guess if I'd been through what you guys had, I'd be a little paranoid too." He said before he got up and left too. "Just try to enjoy the time off." He called from outside.
"I'm not so sure." Jeremie said scratching his chin. "I'm going to go back to my room and get my laptop. X.A.N.A.'s no stranger to using our weak immune systems against us."
"Right. I'll call the others. Hopefully they haven't been infected as well." Aelita said grabbing her phone. Once the two had gotten back outside the classroom they found their friends standing waiting for them.
"So what should we do with our hour of newfound freedom?" Odd said excitedly.
"Belpois!" A familiar voice boomed. The group saw Jim striding towards them. "Just got word that your class has been cancelled too. That means an early trip to the library for you!" He said. "Let's go."
"Come on, Jim! Class has never been cancelled before!" Jeremie said. "Can't I just enjoy the hour with my friends?" He pleaded. Besides he hadn't gotten to his laptop yet. As everyone was focused on Jim and Jeremie's discussion no one noticed the small, silent, specter appear on the scene.
The specter quickly locked on to Emillie's person and began scanning her. It moved on to Aelita doing the same. Finally, it set its sights on Odd. After a quick scan, it divided itself into two separate specters. They descended quickly one disappearing into Odd's torso the other quickly went to Ulrich.
"Sorry, Belpois, I told you. You get one favor. And you already used it. Now off to the land of reading for you."
Jeremie leaned over to Aelita. "The laptop is under my bed. Go back to my room and check it for me." He slowly stood back up straight. "All right Jim, let's go." Just as Jim and Jeremie took their first step, Odd let out a small cough.
Jim immediately stopped in his tracks. Jeremie stopped as well to see what was wrong. "Did you just cough, Della Robia?" Jim asked turning his head.
"Um... no?" Odd tried, smiling as innocently as he could.
"Sorry Odd, but anyone showing any signs of a cough are to report to the infirmary immediately."
"Come on Jim! I'm fine, seriously! You can't deprive me of an hour with no class! I'll be all by my lonesome and bored out of my mind!" Odd pleaded.
"No buts."
"But it was just one-" Ulrich started before being cut off by a cough of his own. His eyes widened as he realized what just happened. "Oh, come on!" He whined throwing his arms up in the air before coughing again.
"There you go, now you have Stern to keep you company. Now, march off to the infirmary, both of you! They'll tell you where to go from there. Belpois, with me." Suddenly Jim's phone went off. He quickly reached into his pocket and answered it. "Jim." He answered. "What do you mean both of the auditoriums are full?! I got two more right here...Stern and Della-Robia. Yes Sir!" He put his phone away. "When it rains it pours." He cursed. "They just quarantined the last of your classmates. Looks like you three," He said pointing to the remaining Lyoko Warriors. "Belpois," He continued jerking a thumb at Jeremie. "Dunbar, and that new girl Knight are the only students in the entire school who aren't infected! You've been put on lock-down until further notice. Can I trust you to go to your rooms and stay there?"
"Yes Jim." They all said unanimously. Jeremie took a step towards them but Jim put a hand on his shoulder. "Not you, you and I are still heading to the library to carry out your punishment." Jeremie dipped his head in defeat and followed Jim reluctantly.
As the two walked away Aelita turned to the remaining two warriors. "Looks like it's just us now. Emillie call William, Patrick you cover Sam, tell them to sneak away and get to the factory A.S.A.P."
"You sure? It really could be just a coincidence." Patrick said. "It's a cough, no one's in any real danger."
"In my experience, there's no such thing as coincidence. And maybe they're not his target."
"What do you mean?" Emillie asked.
"X.A.N.A. knows what he's doing. I've seen this tactic before. He's whittling us down to only who he needs for his plan." She said. She dashed ahead and signaled for the others to follow. Patrick and Emillie shared a look before shrugging and pulling out their phones. As soon as they dialed their desired numbers, they went after the pink haired girl.
~The Factory~
The elevator halted at the second to bottom floor of the old, abandoned factory. The door slowly opened revealing William leaning against the right wall, and Sam tapping her foot impatiently. The two stepped out of the elevator meeting with the other three present teens.
"Where's Odd?" Sam asked immediately.
"Ulrich and Jeremie?" William added,
"Odd and Ulrich both have that cough that's taken over the school. Jeremie's not coming, I'll explain later. Right now, what's important is stopping X.A.N.A.'s attack." Aelita answered.
"Well at least down here, we can't be infected." Sam said. "Lucky X.A.N.A. didn't get the chance to infect us."
"You're thinking about this all wrong. You're underestimating X.A.N.A. Something we can't afford. X.A.N.A.'s smart. He planned this. He purposely only infected Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich because they're experienced fighters. You three have never been to Lyoko, and most of William's time spent there has been under the possession of X.A.N.A. He needs me because with Jeremie out, I'm the only one who can get us to Lyoko."
"So he wants us because we're new?" Patrick asked. "Because we'll be easier to defeat?"
"Easier to kill, is more like it." Sam said darkly.
"Or he plans to turn us into puppets." William said. "But I'm not gonna let that happen to me again. I've a score to settle."
Aelita eyed the dark-haired boy carefully. "Sam, Patrick, Emillie, get in the scanners. I'll start up the virtualization process once we're ready." Once the three were out of sight Aelita turned back to William. "William, there's something I can't go any longer without telling you. X.A.N.A. hasn't totally left your system. He left a part of himself behind."
"What?" William growled. "You're lying."
"Jeremie and I found it in on the diagram from the scanner on the day we brought you back. He left behind an imprint. Jeremie theorizes it makes you easier to manipulate. Even at his base components, he'd be able to get to you. I'm sorry."
"So, what do we do? You're not just going to leave it there, are you?" William asked angrily.
"Of course not!" Aelita counter feeling slightly offended William would even suggest such a thing. "We were studying it together, when Jim caught us. That's why Jeremie's in trouble, we were looking for a way to analyze it."
"Is it permanent?" William asked.
"I don't know. We've barely made any progress in the analyzation process. It's like sometimes it's active and sometimes it's in hibernation. X.A.N.A. must only activate it at certain times."
William slammed a fist into his hand. "I knew it! I knew I wasn't free! I knew it!" He ranted. "I'll never be free of this jerk. Oh-ho when I see X.A.N.A. I'm gonna-"
"William!" Aelita snapped. "I need you to keep a level head. Those three will get creamed or worse without us. Remember who we're dealing with here. X.A.N.A. took advantage of your brazenness before. He won't hesitate to do it again."
William looked her in the eyes and nodded. "Okay." He took a deep breath. "Okay, I got it. But this conversation isn't over!"
"Of course not." Aelita said comfortingly. "But try to remember where being reckless can get you on Lyoko." She advised. She spun around in Jeremie's swivel chair and scanned the computer screens in front of her. All three scanners were indicating there were heat signatures inside of them. "I'm starting up the virtualization process. Scanner: Patrick, scanner: Emillie, scanner: Sam." Aelita called off.
Below them all three scanners boomed with noise. Patrick, Emillie, and Sam all began feeling the tingling sensation the scans left behind. Their models on the computer screen went from red to green starting from the bottom of their models. "Virtualization." She stated pressing the enter key on the keyboard. After a loud whirring sound coming from below Aelita and William, Aelita started typing once again. "Head downstairs to the scanners, I'm starting up our delayed virtualization." Aelita ordered. "We have to get to Lyoko before anything happens to the others."
William nodded and rushed over the hole and climbed down the ladder as fast as he could. Aelita watched the screen as she typed three, then a zero into the timer. She launched herself off the chair, and rushed to join William by the scanners.
~Lyoko : Desert Sector
In the middle of a barren wasteland, three forms slowly formed mid-air. The first warrior to fully virtualize dropped harshly from the air landing on his two feet. Patrick opened his eyes slowly before taking in his surroundings. "Whoa. So this is Lyoko." He scratched his head softly before jolting back. He took a look at his hands to find several white bandages wrapped around his palms. He finally took a look at his form. He was dressed in traditional black gi and matching black shoes. Wrapped around his knuckles was a set of golden brass knuckles. He lifted up one leg and found spikes at the bottom of his shoes as well. "Cool." He said examining them. "Not really my style, though."
Behind him Emillie fell down landing on her knees. She pushed off her knee and stood straight up. Her hair was, instead of hanging down as usual, done up in a ponytail. She was wearing a grey futuristic shirt and pants with glowing blue streaks down her shoulders, legs, and one down her chest and back. She instantly could feel something in her hands as well. Something rough. In her hand was a lasso. She lifted it up dragging the end of the ground. "Seriously? Is this supposed to be my weapon? Lame." She said. "Wait a minute..." She began feeling her face. "My glasses! Where are they?!"
"This is a virtual world. You probably don't need them." Sam said. Patrick and Emillie turned around to see Sam grinning back at them cockily. She was covered from the neck down in a blue, form fitting suit of armor and the other two new Lyoko warriors could clearly see a black shirt showing underneath from her neck. In her left hand she held a decent sized shield. The shield was decorated in black and blue banners and a design of crossed swords on the front. All she was missing was the helmet and she'd be just like a real knight. "I could get used to this." She said clenching her free fist in front of her. "I've never looked so badass!"
Suddenly a quadrupedal creature came scurrying towards the three rookies. "What's that ugly thing?" Emillie asked pointing ahead at the creature. It came to a stop in front of them and lifted up its front to legs, resting back on its two remaining knees, revealing two cannons at the sole of its foot.
Patrick quickly noticed the insignia on its head. "That's the sign of X.A.N.A.!" He said raising his fists. The creature's feet began glowing red as he pointed the cannons at Patrick.
"Look out!" A stray pink ball of energy flew past the three, just narrowly missing Patrick and colliding with the X.A.N.A. sign on the creature's face. It let out a screech of pain before falling backwards. Milliseconds after hitting the ground, it exploded in a flurry of pixels. Patrick, Sam, and Emillie turned to see Aelita and William behind them.
Aelita was in her old battle angel suit from what she thought were her final days as a warrior. Complementary pinks all across her suit with a dark pink sleeves and fingerless gloves and keeping with the theme; pink face paint. The only think on her that wasn't pink was her blue transparent skirt. William was sporting a black suit with red spiked shoulder and knee pads. Slung over his shoulder was an overly thick Zweihander with a long blue hilt. Most peculiarly, a small black ovular shape seemed to be sticking off the side of his head.
"Tarantula." Aelita scowled. "One's not too bad, but get surrounded and you'd better hope for a miracle. That had to be a scout, meaning there's more coming."
"Tarantula?" Sam asked. "But it didn't have eight legs."
"And it wasn't hairy." Patrick observed.
"Or really spider-like in any way." Emillie added.
"Odd names them, not me." Aelita defended. "William," She said turning around. "you good?" She asked.
"I guess." William said approaching them. "But what's with my outfit. Why did my look change but yours didn't?" He asked rubbing his wristbands.
"Well, you spent most of your time here being all dark and broody. So it makes sense that your suit would reflect that. Give it time. You'll come to like it." Aelita told him. "Now let's see what we have to work with." She looked at Emillie, Sam and Patrick. "Alright. Lyoko weapons work in strange ways. You somehow always end up with weapons you know how to use or will be able to learn to use very quickly. Just try them out and you'll get the hang of it in no time."
"Thank God for that, because I think X.A.N.A. might be a little mad about his 'scout'" Sam said pointing ahead. Off in the distance a flurry of Tarantulas, Crabs, and a Sciphizoa were heading our way.
"That's a lot of monsters." Emillie said worriedly. "What do we do?"
"Fight." William said brandishing his sword in front of him. "A good rule of thumb is the aim for the insignia. Oh. And don't get hit. It hurts."
"What extensive training." Sam deadpanned. As three stray lasers from angry Tarantulas came hurdling towards Sam, William leaped in front of her, holding his sword in front of him. He swung his sword around deflecting each laser easily. He locked eyes with the Tarantula. Glaring fiercely, he launched his Zweihander from his grasp forward as hard as he could. The sword collided with the insignia on the Tarantula's face causing it to stagger backwards before exploding. "Less sass, more butt-kicking." He held his hand out in front of him and in a flash of light, his sword had returned to his grasp. "Unless you want to get de-virtualized."
"I can take care of myself." Sam defended.
William raised an eyebrow and stepped away from her. "Prove it." He challenged. Sam nodded. She held her shield in front of her and charged forward towards a Crab. The Crab fired two shots. Sam easily blocked the first one with her shield, but the second, and more powerful, one knocked her onto her back.
"C'mon Rookie! You're going to have to do better than that!" William called. He rushed ahead sliding onto his knees. He outstretched his sword, severing two of the Crab's legs. It fell cephalothorax first onto the ground revealing its weak spot to everyone. William stabbed his sword's tip into X.A.N.A.'s mark. As he pulled his sword back out the Crab let out a screech before dying in a flurry of pixels. "The last laser they fire is always the strongest." William said.
Meanwhile Aelita, Patrick, and Emillie had their hands full as well. Patrick effortlessly uppercut a Tarantula, hitting the insignis and destroying it instantly. "Too easy." He quipped. From his side an angry Block rammed into him forcing him to the ground. Two Crabs stepped over him readying lasers to finish him off.
"Patrick!" Aelita called. She fired off an energy ball at one of the Crabs, destroying the one on the left.
"Thanks, Aelita, but I think this one's still angry!" Patrick cried. He scurried backwards on the ground trying to escape the monster. Suddenly, a rope whipped past him and wrapped around the Crab's leg. Patrick turned his head to see Emillie holding her lasso with both hands in front of her. She used all of her strength to pull back, causing the Crab to lose its balance. It fell right beside Patrick who smirked. He stabbed his brass knuckles into the crab beside him. As it exploded. he rose back to his feet. "Thanks for the save girls. That was pretty impressive. You grow up on a ranch or something?"
"No. I've never even held a lasso before today." Emillie admitted. "I just knew." She shrugged. Suddenly, she was hit in the back by a single laser, knocking her to the ground. Aelita and Patrick turned to find two more Crabs and the Schiphizoa looming over them.
"Emillie get up!" Aelita yelled. "You two take care of the Crabs! I'll keep the Schiphizoa busy!"
"Is that wise?" William called over. "You know what that thing does!"
"Better me than them! Besides, it has to catch me first!" She called back firing two shots at the Schiphizoa. The squid like creature easily dodged both shots and launched two long tentacles towards the pink haired girl. She ducked under the first one before jumping over the second. "Don't worry about me! Fight!"
Emillie and Patrick nodded turning their attention to their new targets. Emillie jumped straight up into the air landing on top of the Crab gracefully. "Woah... what was that? Some kind of super jump?" She said. The Crab quickly bucked the girl off of itself, launching her to the ground with a thud. It turned clunkily and charged up a laser. Emillie, still stunned on the ground opened her eyes slowly just in time to catch Patrick hit a weak spot in the Crab's leg causing it to fall over before he delivered the finishing blow.
"Nice." Emillie said staggering to her feet.
"Just returning the favor." Patrick smiled.
"Duck!" Emillie called brandishing her weapon once more. Patrick squatted down quickly cover his head with both arms. Emillie's lasso wrapped around the snout of an aggravated Tarantula. She pulled back pulling the creature face first into the ground. "Now!" With a grunt Patrick kicked backwards connecting the spikes in his shoes with the Tarantula's face. It let out a small cry before exploding into nothingness.
Meanwhile, the Schiphizoa was having a hard time even touching Aelita. She had by now activated her wings and was easily dodging each and every tentacle it threw at her, thank to her increased mobility. It roared and stretched out its two main tentacles splitting them both in half, creating two more appendages.
"Hey Calamari-Breath!" Sam called. "Take this!" The Schiphizoa turned to see the knight charging towards it. She launched her shield like a disc as hard as her virtual body would let her. It spun around rapidly. Once it had reached the Schiphizoa it curved up its flight pattern slicing off the ends of the creature's tentacles as it went on. Like a boomerang it glided back into Sam's hands, who caught it effortlessly. "How do you like that?!" She gloated.
The Schiphizoa did a split-second scan of the girl. It quickly regenerated its tentacles with a burst of light, before knocking Aelita, who was distracted by Sam, out of the sky. She plummeted down towards the ground, landing harshly on her stomach. It turned around to fully face Sam. Sam narrowed her eyes and held her shield out in front of her in a ready stance.
"Sam, wait!" William called rushing towards her. Before he could reach her the Schiphizoa fired off a laser knocking the boy onto his back. It swarmed its many tentacles around Sam, who desperately cut off as many as she could manage. The Schiphizoa was too fast, however and managed to get two tentacles on each side of her head. Sam's eyes slowly rolled back as the creature lifted her of the ground. She dropped her shield as her arms limped to her side.
As Patrick finished of the last of the Tarantula's, he turned around to celebrate. "Sam!" He called. "Emillie, we have to help Sam!" He called.
"On it." Emillie nodded. She only got to take a single step before a new feeling was sent through her body. A numbness she had never felt before. She looked down to see a Crab leg sticking out through her now disappearing torso. "Uh, Patrick?"
Patrick turned around just in time to see the last of Emillie's head disappear. "Oh, Come on!" He cursed. The Crab took a few steps toward him. He looked over his shoulder to take a quick look at Sam. 'If I get de-virtualized, then there's no way I can help her. Better finish this one fast.' He thought to himself.
Aelita and William slowly came to. William got back up to his feet and spotted the Schiphizoa holding Sam. "No." He sprinted forward. The Schiphizoa seemed to noticed him and fired off a few shots to slow him down. William just rolled forward past them before jumping up in the air closing the distance between them. The creature fired off one last shot, hitting William in the shoulder. William felt a sting of pain in his shoulder but pushed on. As he descended, He held his sword out, slicing off the main two tentacles and freeing Sam from its grasp. Both warriors fell to their knees and the Schiphizoa staggered back. "You're not doing that to anyone else, you slimy little-"
"William!" Aelita called. "You okay?"
"Yeah, but we only got a couple seconds before it regenerates again. Take Patrick and Sam and find the tower!" He spun his sword around in front of him before resting it on his shoulder. "I'll keep the Squid busy!"
"I can't leave you alone with that thing! What if he gets you again?" Aelita said.
"No time to argue. Go!" He ordered. The squid-like monsters had finally regained its poise and quickly regenerated its arms again. It shot two tentacles outward aiming for Patrick this time. William quickly cut the two limbs off again. "Go! I can't hold him forever."
Aelita gave him a soft nod and motioned for Sam and Patrick to follow her. The Schiphizoa moved to the left in an attempt to get away and follow them, but William cut it off. "Nuh uh." He shook his head. "You and I, round two. Or is X.A.N.A. scared of me?"
~ Kadic Academy: Auditorium~
The auditorium was in chaos. Students that weren't coughing were being carried away by the staff to who knows where. Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich were sitting up against the bleachers, bags under their eyes, and throats that just kept getting sorer by the second. Between coughs Ulrich looked up to see Rosa, who was wearing a face-mask, scoop up an unconscious Milly and carry her away "There... goes... another... one." Ulrich said between coughs, just above a whisper. Any louder and he felt he would ruin his throat forever.
"What's... happening... to... everyone?" Odd asked as Ms. Hertz and Nurse Yolanda carried another unconscious student out.
"They... must..." Yumi started before going into a hard-coughing fit. As she calmed down, she panted heavily. "Exhaustion..." She let out. "Don't... have... long." She said. Her eyes fluttered shut and she fell over onto her side.
"Yumi..." Ulrich panted. Beside him Odd went through another rough fit of coughs. Ulrich rested his head up against the bleachers. "We... have... to... get to... Lyoko. The others-" Ulrich coughed out.
"On it." Odd said softly. He got to his feet, and to his credit managed to stay standing for three seconds. The moment he tried to take a step, the exhaustion overwhelmed him and he flopped onto the floor, out cold.
"Odd..." When Ulrich didn't get an answer, he looked to his left to see Mr. Fumet already gathering Yumi and taking her away. Ulrich's heart was telling him to go after her, but he couldn't muster the energy. He started coughing heavily once again. To his right Odd was being taken away like the others before him.
"Just...resting...eyes..." He said between coughs. Ulrich drooped against the bleachers, unconscious like his comrades.
Principle Delmas came over and picked the boy up. He shook his head in worry, and brought the boy to where the others were being held. Outside an ambulance waited with its back doors wide open. Delmas approached the vehicle quickly. Inside was three pews full of students. All of which were out cold, only being held up by seatbelts and the first responders inside the ambulance. Delmas set Ulrich in the only remaining seat and buckled him in. He carefully closed the back doors and reached the driver's side door. "You're full back there." Delmas told the driver. "Thank you again."
"Just doing my job." The ambulance driver responded.
As the ambulance sounded its siren and bolted off, Jean Pierre joined the other teachers back at the auditorium. He spotted Hertz, Fumet, and Rosa all standing together and went to join them. "The ambulance was full." He told them stopping beside Ms. Hertz. "Any unconscious students will just have to wait for the next one to get here."
"That'll be the third one." Mr. Fumet said. "Maybe we should just cut our losses and submit every student to the E.R. Something serious is obviously going on here! And where is Jim?! He should be here."
"He's watching Jeremie. We caught the boy breaking the rules last night and-"
"You're carrying out a punishment? Right now? Now is hardly the time! We should be sending the students home, not punishing them!" Rosa raged.
"...Maybe you're right." Delmas admitted. "Recall the remaining uninfected students and have their parents pick them up immediately."
"I must disagree. Sending them home would be a mistake. At least with them here the cough is contained. Sending them to the E.R. is one thing but sending them home would only cause a real epidemic. They could infect their siblings or their parents and soon it would spread to all of Bordeaux." Ms. Hertz argued. "We should keep them here until the hospital gets back to us."
"So we have one move to send them home, and one move to keep them here? How to decide?" Delmas said scratching his chin.
"Hard time?" Michael, the groundskeeper, asked. "Then do I have good news. You don't have to choose because those scoundrels aren't in their rooms! Both floors are deserted."
"Where could they have gone?" Rosa asked.
"We need all the help we have here. The only person left is Jim, but he's watching-"
"Priorities, Mr. Delmas!" Ms. Hertz scolded.
~Kadic Academy: Library~
Jim was sitting at his usual desk he sits at whenever he has to carry out punishments, reading his favorite comic series. Jeremie was pretending to do math homework he had actually finished in the first five minutes he had been incarcerated there. In reality, he was doing calculations on William's implant on paper since he didn't have his laptop.
Jim was just about half-asleep with his comic over his head when- 'Jim!' A voice called from Jim's lap. 'Jim!'
Jim picked up the walkie from his side and held it out in front of him, Jeremie raised an eyebrow and briefly stopped his work to listen in. "Mr. Delmas? Is something wrong?" Jim asked.
'The remaining students aren't in their dorms! We need you to go look for them and bring them back! Everyone else is in the auditorium working with the sick kids!' Delmas's voice ordered. 'Now! Forget Belpois for the time being, just lock him in there and get going!'
"Yes sir!" He said jolting out of his seat. He pocketed his walkie and gave Jeremie a stern look. "Sounds like you'll have some company here in detention, Delmas has ordered me to go look for your friends, you stay here and study." He said pointing to the table.
"Wouldn't I be better off helping you find them? They're my friends, after all. No one knows them better than me." Jeremie said.
"Yes...I mean no!" Jim stuttered. "You aren't fooling anyone, young man." He said. "You'll stay here whether you like it or not." He said. "I'm locking you up and throwing away the key!"
"Damn." Jeremie said burying his head in the book and scribbling something down. Jim smirked in triumph and exited through the front door. Jeremie listened for the sound of the lock clicking and as soon as he heard it, he slammed his book down and jumped over the library table. He put an ear up to the door and listened as Jim's footsteps got quieter and quieter.
He looked to the bookcase next to him and ran his hand against it. "Real oak. Good." He found a small divot in the wood work and carefully pulled down tearing off two big slivers of wood. "I love it when they forget how smart I am." Jeremie gloated. He stuck the two slivers inside the keyhole and started jerking them around. He heard a soft click from inside and gave the door a light push. I creaked open and Jeremie did a quick check. "No one around." He took off down the hallway leading to the back door out.
~Lyoko : Desert Sector~
William cartwheeled out of the way from another one of the Schiphizoa's tentacles. He swiped up chopping the next one coming at him in half. "I hope they've found the tower." He panted "Because I think I'm going to pass out." He panted. "I'm way out of practice with you." He said looking up to the Schiphizoa. "One last shot." William swung his sword back like a golf club and swung forward holding it at his feet for a few moments.
As he finished his swing, a wide, powerful slash was sent hurdling towards the Schiphizoa, who fired three lasers in return. The Attack connected head-on with the Schiphizoa, and William, to drained to dodge took all three lasers to the chest. The Schiphizoa exploding caused William to be de-virtualized happily. He smiled as he became nothing but pixels in the desert air.
~The Factory~
The doors to Scanner two flung open, and a tired William fell out limply onto the cold floor. "Ow." He said in a muffled voice. William looked up from the floor and found himself alone in the scanner room. "I forgot how much that process takes out of you." He groaned getting to his feet. "Emillie?" He called. "Must already be upstairs."
He quickly climbed up the stairways through the small hatch above him. William's head poked up out of the hatch. In front of him Emillie was watching the computer intently. "Emillie?"
Emillie turned around to face William. "William. I saw you get de-virtualized." She said.
"You can make out that mumbo jumbo on the screen?" William asked.
"It's not hard to figure out that when your character card disappears, you've been de-virtualized." She said smugly. "So what happened to you?" She asked.
"Schiphizoa and I had a face off." William replied. "We took each other out, but hopefully I managed to buy Aelita enough time to get Sam and Patrick out. They should be at the tower by now, but there's no way for us to tell for sure without Jeremie."
Behind them the main doors to the computer room dethatched and slowly spread apart revealing a panting blonde boy holding himself up against the wall. "Then... it's a good thing... I'm here now." He said between breaths.
"Jeremie?" Emillie asked. "But I thought you were grounded with Jim?" Emillie said.
"He's... never been the best... at keeping an eye on things." Jeremie let out one final huff before recomposing himself. "He got called to search for you guys after the found you left your dorms. I just had to wait until the coast was clear, pick the lock, and beat him here." Jeremie explained approaching his chair.
"And the others? Has anything happened to them?" William asked.
Jeremie jumped into his seat. "From what I gathered on my way here, over half the remaining student body has been sent to the E.R. from extreme exhaustion."
"So... a little rest and they'll be better?" William asked.
"If we deactivate the tower, yes." Jeremie answered while typing on the computer. "If not, it's likely X.A.N.A. will keep the attack going until they lose all of their stamina and die from the exhaustion." He put his headset on. "Aelita, can you hear me?"
'Jeremie?' Her voice sounded in his ear. He smiled. 'What... How are you talking to me?'
"Same as always. The headset. You didn't think I'd really leave you guys all alone on this mission, did you?" He asked happily. "Now I've got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"
'What's wrong?'
"What's wrong is that Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and possibly the entire student body are dying from exhaustion, but luckily you're coming up on the activated tower. Get in, do your thing, and everything'll be fine."
'Sounds great,' Aelita answered. 'but I'm picking up vibrations. Vibrations I've never felt before. Something's here. Something bad.'
"I don't see anything irregular on the screen." Jeremie said leaning forward. "Are you sure?" He asked. "This is your first time on Lyoko in a while, after all."
"Maybe they're cloaked from your computer." Emillie offered.
"Maybe..." Jeremie said scratching his chin. "Wait!" He yelled. "I see it. In front of the towers."
XXXXX
Aelita, Sam, and Patrick skid to a stop. In front of them was a giant cylindrical building covered in a red aura. None of that really surprised them what did was the two creatures seemingly guarding the tower.
Both creatures were virtually identical. About twice the size of the Tarantulas and ironically much more spider-like. Standing on six spiked legs, the majority of their body was covered in black plated armor. There was a good-sized turret on the underbody of the thorax of the monster. Dead-center of the body and the only thing not covered in armor, was a sliver of what looked to be glass. No insignia to be found.
Aelita looked to the left and found two large rocks. She pushed both Sam and Patrick down behind the rocks before ducking behind them herself. "Those must be the cause of those vibrations." Aelita surmised while scanning the two creatures. "We've never seen these before." She said turning to her two escorts. "Keep your distance."
"We don't have time to be careful! The others are dying!" Sam snapped brandishing her shield once again. She rolled to the left revealing herself to her enemies. She pushed off with her feet and started towards the two new monsters.
"Sam, wait!" Patrick said. He was about to go after her but felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Aelita holding him back.
The one on the left didn't even react to Sam, seemingly not threatened. The one she was closest to locked onto her with its turret. With a single second of warm-up, a bright white laser shot from the turret and smacked into Sam, knocking her all the way back to the rocks where her friends were hiding. Aelita grabbed Sam quickly and pulled her back into cover.
"That's why we do things my way." Aelita said seriously.
'Sam!' Jeremie's voice chastised around them. 'That was reckless! Your down to only one life point!'
"Life point?" Patrick asked. "What's that?"
'You didn't explain life points, Aelita!?' Jeremie's voice boomed.
"Jeremie, I've been a little busy!" Aelita shot back. "We were attacked no sooner than we got here! Obviously, they only got the abridged version."
'It's exactly what it sounds like. As you've no doubt noticed with Emillie and William, you're not indestructible in this world. Everyone starts out with one hundred life points, once you hit zero, you're dev-virtualized.'
"Kinda like that card game, you like?" Patrick asked.
'Yeah except losing life points is extremely painful. I previously thought that life points were taken out in values of ten, but if Sam has only one life point left, my hypothesis must have been wrong this whole time.'
"We can discuss that later." Patrick and Aelita were both surprised to see Sam get back to her feet. "Right now we need to destroy those monsters!" She grunted.
"Maybe you should let me and Aelita handle them." Patrick offered. "After all, that was quite a hit you took."
"No way. I'm the only one with a shield!"
"In case you didn't notice, that shield didn't help at all." Aelita intervened. "But Sam's right, all three of us will handle this. We just need to work smarter, not harder. Sam's got one life point, and Patrick still has most of his, so Sam will distract those things for as long as she can, while Patrick tries to find a weak spot. If they're agents of X.A.N.A. then they have to have the marking somewhere. I'll sneak into the tower while you guys keep them busy. Ready?" Both of her escorts nodded. "Go!"
Aelita and Patrick quickly exited from one side of the rock, while Sam left cover once more from the other side, this time moving much slower. She felt something in the back of her head, she didn't know what, but it was telling her there was something more to her shield. She took a couple more steps forward. "Hey! Charolette! Over here!"
~Kadic Campus: Forest~
Jim had checked the entire campus and found no trace of Aelita, Patrick, William, Sam, or Emillie. They all lived on campus, so they couldn't have gone home. It baffled him how he was being outwitted by five adolescents, most of which normally can't stay quiet for five minutes. So how were they hiding so well?
The only place he hadn't checked was the outer parts of the forest. He was jogging just fast enough to not tire himself out. Lucky he was a gym teacher, he can have this area searched in no time. "Where the hell could those kids have run off to?" He slowed down to a halt in a small clearing. In the center of the clearing was a manhole. "Could they have gone into the sewers?" He suddenly fell backwards onto the ground and his eyes opened wide.
He was having some sort of vision. He could see himself hiding in the bushes that were supposed to be right behind him. He was staring at Odd and Ulrich uncovering the manhole.
'You sure we weren't followed, Odd?' Ulrich had said.
'Hey I told you I'd make sure of it, didn't I?' Odd sassed as Ulrich descended down into the sewers.
As Ulrich disappeared from Jim's sight, his voice echoed through the hatch. 'Yeah. That's exactly why I'm worried.' Ulrich snarked. Odd quickly followed Ulrich down and covered the hole up above him.
'Oh, wow. They're going into the sewers.' He could hear himself say. 'Hey, do you read me?' He called into his collar.
'Loud and clear.' Suddenly he was surrounded by to men in black he could swear he'd never seen before.
Jim suddenly sat back up in a shock as he let out a heavy breath. "What the heck was that? ...Must be some hallucinatory plants somewhere around here." He guessed. "I've definitely never seen those two men before."
'Jim?! Have you found the students, yet?' Jim could hear.
He looked to his waist and grabbed the walkie talkie, bringing it up to his mouth. "Sorry, Principle Delmas. I checked the entire schoolgrounds already. Right now I'm in the forest, and I might have found a lead."
'Forget it.' Delmas's distorted voice ordered. 'This is a waste of time. We'll just wait for them to get back.'
~Bordeaux Central Hospital~
In the Central Hospital's emergency center, a long line of students was lined up, each on a small bed and hooked up to various heart scanners. Coughing could be heard all throughout the room as an army of students were beginning to either worsen or lose their stamina. Dead center of this line, lay Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi, side by side as always.
"This is insane! I've never seen a simple cough have such devastating effects before." One of the doctors exclaimed. "How is it draining their energy so fast?!"
"A new strain perhaps?" His assistant suggested.
Down the line from the warriors, loud beeping sounds started up. Ulrich weakly turned his head to see Herve and Nicholas's machines going haywire. Two doctors wearing large facemasks came running in. "Just as we suspected!" One of them exclaimed. "We're starting to lose the first of the infected students!"
"Get me Dr. Kasal in here right now!" The other one ordered.
From the other side Yumi frowned. "It's starting. I can feel it..." She said hoarsely. Seconds later, her machine starting sounding off just like the others.
"Yumi!" Odd and Ulrich exclaimed as loud as they could.
"We need another one over here. Patient Ishiyama is losing it too!" A third doctor yelled.
~Lyoko : Desert Sector~
As Aelita, wings out, attempted to fly around the skirmish. The second monster took notice of the angel-girl and started firing a barrage of lasers her way. "Woah!" She said, descending down below the laserfire.
'Aelita! Are you okay?'
"I'm fine Jeremie! I'm a veteran, remember?" She said. "I can handle this!" She said firing off and energy orb at the spider-like monster. It collided with the side of its body making it stumble a bit before resuming fire.
Meanwhile, Sam was easily blocking the smaller lasers, but she still felt like there was something more. Sam decided to go with her gut feeling. She held her shield above her head and it glowed a neon green. "Come on..." Suddenly a small, green, transparent field expanded from her shield and surrounded her person and a six-foot radius. Suddenly, she couldn't even feel the lasers. "Cool." She smiled. "Patrick! I got this one occupied! You get that one off Aelita!"
He looked back at her and nodded. "Hey!" Patrick yelled. The creature turned its attention from Aelita over to the boy who was currently mid-air and descending towards it. It moved to the side away from Aelita and changed its target to Patrick rapidly firing four more lasers off. Patrick ducked under the first two before lifting his arm up to dodge the third. The fourth hit him in the chest and he landed on top of the creature with a thud.
'Patrick, you're down to twenty life-points! Be careful!' Jeremie's voice echoed.
Patrick groaned and quickly pushed back up to his knees. "No worries cuz. I'm fired up now!" He looked down at the top of the spider as it tried fruitlessly to buck him off. "Nice try." He quipped. "But I happen to have a supernatural sense of balance, X.A.N.A.!" He looked around for the weak spot to exploit but couldn't see anything among the pitch-black armor. The only other spot was a small crack in the armor with showing a piece of glass underneath and-
"Hey I found the sigil!" He exclaimed dropping back down to his stomach. X.A.N.A.'s monster still wouldn't stop shaking its body around vigorously in an attempt to get the boy off. "It's under the armor! There's this glass pod and...wait..." He squinted and leaned forward more to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
'What is it Patrick?' Jeremie's voice called.
"There's somebody in there! Inside the creature!" He exclaimed getting to his feet. "Sam, come see this!"
Behind him, Sam dropped to her knees in tiredness. The force field around her slowly retracted into her shield, which fell to the ground with a clang. She looked up quickly to see one final laser coming at her. Before she could get up to move, the laser connected with her chest. Patrick looked back down to find her virtual body quickly disappearing.
"Sam!" Patrick yelled. With Sam gone, both monsters turned their attention to Patrick. The first of the two finally succeeded in wrestling Patrick off of it. Patrick fell back, landing on his feet and skidding back a couple feet. "Jeremie! I don't think I can deal with both of these things all on my own!" He ducked below another incoming laser.
'You don't have to. Sensors indicate Aelita's inside the tower.' Jeremie responded. 'You've done your job. Time to bring you home'
~Bordeaux Central Hospital E.R.~
The last of Ulrich's strength was being used to cover his ears as more than ninety percent of all the machines surrounding him were going off with emergency warnings. To his right two doctors were attending to an unconscious Yumi. On his left Odd was in the exact same situation.
"Damn it! We're losing her!" One of the doctors tending to Yumi cursed.
"What's even left to try?!" The other countered. "Nothing's working!"
"Yumi..." Ulrich said weakly.
~Lyoko~
Aelita quickly ascended up through the activated tower passing many lower platforms. As she reached the top, she did a single graceful flip before landing on the top pad. She quickly approached the center and found a familiar red panel in front of her.
Outside Patrick was doing his best to fend off the giant monsters but he was running low on energy as well. He ran forward one last time rearing back his brass knuckles, but before he could reach the monster on the left, both creatures opened fire on the boy. He jumped backward, narrowly avoiding the laser but got hit by a second laser square in the chest. He slowly faded away like the others before him.
Aelita rested her hand on the panel in front of her. It let out a burst of light, the red glow of the panel melting away, leaving behind a blue tint. She finally pulled back her hand and placed her index finger on the screen. After a few second the screen began to react, automatically typing out 'Code: Lyoko'. All around her the data that filled the tower descended into the depths of the tower below her. "Tower deactivated." Aelita said. "Bring me home Jeremie."
~ Bordeaux Central Hospital~
In just a single second of time, the machines lined up across the room stopped their incessant beeping. In that same exact moment, all of Ulrich's energy came rushing back to him. The various doctors stood in amazement, murmuring queries of what was happening as Ulrich sat up slowly in his bed and looked to his left. Odd was slowly coming to as well. All around them, their classmates seemed to be having similar experiences. No sooner as Odd was up, could he hear everyone around him yelling questions, cheers, and worries. The doctors were doing their best to calm the students down, but there were just too many.
Ulrich layed his eyes on Yumi. Unconscious on her bed. Ulrich got up out of his designated bed and rushed over to Yumi. He pushed the doctor out of his way and kneeled down to the girl's side. "Yumi!" He said resting his hands on her shoulders. "Yumi!" He said shaking her gently. "Wake up!"
"Young man," The doctor tried intervening. "I don't think that's the wisest-"
"Shut up!" Ulrich shot back at the adult. He smiled gently. "I think she's finally coming to." He said.
He and the doctor behind him watched intensely as Yumi's eyes fluttered open. "Ulrich?" She groaned. "Where are we?"
"Yumi!" He cried jumping onto her bed and tackling her in a hug. "You had me going there for a second!" He laughed.
"Amazing." Dr. Kasal said watching the teens. "All of their strength came back already? What is going on?"
"Why can't you always be this affectionate?" Yumi asked dryly. She looked up to see Odd standing over them and smiling.
"I'm alive too!" He beamed bending over. "Let's make things awkward! Group hug!" He said joining the other two's embrace. "Looks like the newbies pulled through, huh?" He whispered.
"Yeah." Ulrich whispered back. "But we should still rendezvous with them. Just to make sure X.A.N.A. didn't procure another puppet out of someone."
"You're worried about William, aren't you?" Odd teased.
"Aaaaand...hug's over." Ulrich hissed pushing Odd away. He stood back up straight and offered Yumi a hand. She happily took it as Ulrich helped her to her feet.
"Ulrich's right." Yumi agreed. "We need to get to you-know-where and make sure everything's alright." She insisted. "Just because the attack was thwarted doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet."
"Well then, let's go!" Odd said.
Odd was about to dash away when he felt two hands on his shoulders. He turned to two doctors looking down at him. "Sorry, young man. But you're not going anywhere. You still have your cough after all."
"All of our energy's back!" Odd protested. "Isn't that proof enough for you eggheads?!" He said breaking free of their grasp only to be grabbed again. "The cough problem is over with, and I have places to be!"
"And how do you know the problem is gone?" One of the doctors asked skeptically.
"I just do!" Odd groaned still struggling. "In case you didn't notice, it wasn't your fine work that cured us, you have no idea what you're doing!"
"I think I liked him better when he was out of it." One of the doctors holding him back said.
"He gets that a lot." Yumi admitted. "Odd, calm down!" She ordered. "They're just doing their jobs."
"And obstructing mine!" Odd argued. "This is why I hate hospitals!"
"Whatever your job is, it's not as important as ours." Dr. Kasal said firmly. "Now sit back down. The sooner we check you out, the sooner you can do whatever you want."
~The Factory~
Jeremie was sitting in his computer chair, surrounded by everyone once again. Everyone except Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich. He was holding his cellphone up to his right ear with his shoulder while initiating a scan of the new monsters on his terminal. "And that's all we have to report on our end. When are they planning on letting you guys go?" He asked hopefully. "...uh huh. Alright then. We'll see you then I guess. Thanks, Yumi." He hung up, pocketing his phone before swiveling his chair around to face the gorup he had with him.
"Any casualties?" William asked.
"No. They almost lost Herve, Nicholas, and Yumi, but everyone pulled through in the end. The doctors are baffled by the turn of events, though." Jeremie explained. "They're keeping everyone overnight for more tests. Not that they'll find anything. Now that that's all cleared up, I think it's report time. Aelita?" He said turning to the pinkette. "How did it go today?"
"Given it was their first time on Lyoko, I'd say we couldn't have asked for better recruits." She said happily. "A pluses all across the board."
"Really?" Emillie asked. "But I got de-virtualized before you even reached the big bads." She said rubbing her arm.
"And my recklessness kinda sabotaged us too. If I had kept a level head, I wouldn't have needed William to save me from that squid." Sam added lowering her head.
"And I definitely could've done better at keeping my focus on the battle." Patrick finished.
"All very valid criticisms, and things that will be addressed." Aelita admitted. "But...you're missing one big thing, and I'm positive Jeremie'll back me up on this. In the fight against X.A.N.A. there are many things we need to teach you three, but you instinctively knew the first and most important rule: look out for each other."
"Well said." Jeremie agreed nodding once. "You can't teach compassion. I'd say we picked the right people to help us."
"Furthermore," Aelita continued. "I move we terminate William's trial period right now. I say he becomes a full-fledged Lyoko Warrior. No more strings. It's not fair to him."
"Sadly, we need to take a full vote to validate it. Without the others-" Jeremie started.
"Jeremie, he stayed behind to fight the Schiphizoa on his own. If that's not loyalty, I don't know what is."
"Still-"
"Do we get a vote?" Emillie interrupted.
"...I don't see why not." Jeremie said shrugging lightly. "You are part of the team now."
"Great, then all we need is a unanimous vote here and... boom! Problem solved." She surmised. "I'll second it."
"Me too." Patrick added.
"After what he did for me, he shouldn't even have to ask." Sam smiled at the dark-haired boy who smiled back.
"That's four." Aelita said. "Jeremie, it's up to you." She said.
Jeremie looked to William and then to his lap. He gave it a quick runthrough in his head. On the upside, from what he's heard, William seems to be much more of a team player this time. And if Aelita trusted him, then Jeremie really should too. On the other hand, one mission isn't much to go on and Aelita could make friends with just about anyone who's willing. She does have a record of being just a tad bit too trusting. "Alright." He finally said looking up. "I vote yes too."
"Yes!" William said happily pumping a fist in the air. "You guys have no idea how much this means to me. I'm finally a warrior for real!"
"But," Jeremie interrupted. "Although the vote has decided your fate. You don't get the title until we've talked to the others first. It's unfair to not at least give them a chance to voice any objections."
William sighed in annoyance. "Fair enough, I guess."
"Good. Because we have much more pressing matters to attend to." Jeremie said spinning his chair back around to face the monitor. "I did a full-scale scan on those new monsters."
"Were you able to find out anything about the people inside?" Aelita asked.
"They're not just any people, Aelita. They're THE people. The ones we're looking for. The armor around those monsters acts as a sort of exoskeleton holding them inside."
"But why?" Emillie asked scratching her chin. "If they're captives of X.A.N.A., why would he put them out in the open like that? It doesn't make any strategical sense."
"Maybe they need a power source to fuel a monster of that caliber." Aelita suggested. "The captives could act as almost an infinite source of energy."
"Maybe." Jeremie said with a hint of doubt in his voice.
"Oh, I know that tone. What're you thinking?" Aelita asked.
"What if these 'captives' aren't really hostages. What if they're willing agents of X.A.N.A.? People who purposely virtualized themselves in order to aid X.A.N.A. in his plans."
"That's ridiculous." Sam interjected. "Why would a human being, the very lifeforms X.A.N.A.'s hellbent on destroying, help X.A.N.A. with his cause. Who would possibly go for that?"
"I don't know. But I've got a bad feeling about all of this. I'll need to do more scans on these monsters. Maybe I can find out something about the captives inside. As if I didn't have enough to do already. Between that damned residual marking and our mystery man, I'll barely have time for class, let alone homework." Jeremie raged.
"Why don't you just check the security tapes?" William asked tilting his head and crossing his arms.
"What?" Aelita asked.
"Security tapes. They're two security cameras down in the basement on both sides of the core of the computer. It had to have caught whoever was meddling down there." William said.
Jeremie's eyes widened and he slammed his head against the keyboard. "I'm an idiot!" His muffled voice called. He lifted his head back up just to slam it against the hard surface once again. "Stupid! Stupid!"
"Jeremie!" Aelita scolded. "Stop that! She said grabbing his head and holding him back.
"Yeah." Patrick agreed. "If we're ever going to pull this saving the world thing off, we need that brain of yours. Aelita instantly gave him the stink eye.
"And," She said clearly annoyed. "I don't want you hurting yourself. What's wrong?" She said concernedly.
"I'm an idiot that's what!"
"Jeremie, you're like the smartest fifteen-year-old ever. What fifteen-year-old understands whatever that dumb cat theory you were trying to tell me about." Patrick said rolling his eyes.
"Schrodinger's cat." Jeremie corrected him. "That's not the point. I've wasted countless hours trying to work out who our John Doe is with no real evidence to go off of, when I could've just checked the security cameras! I'll set up things on the supercomputer. William, Emillie, go grab me those cameras. We're solving this mystery right now."
Once William and Emillie had brought Jeremie the desired cameras, Jeremie pulled a small two-sided cable out from behind the monitor. "Jeremie, what is that?" Patrick asked.
"It's one of his HDMI chords." Aelita said. "He has a habit of hiding them all around any space he constantly occupies in case of emergency." She smiled. "Kind of like a cute little squirrel."
Jeremie cleared his throat in embarrassment. "Yeah, well, it's working out now, isn't it?" He said defensively. He plugged the front end into the back of the monitor and stuck the back end into the small jack in the side of the first camera. The screen lit up with months of footage separated by days. "Let's try exactly one month before school started back up." Jeremie said clicking on the desired day.
A window pulled up on the screen of the basement room that harbored the supercomputer. As of the first fifteen seconds nothing was changing. "I'll try fast forwarding." The group sat in silence as Jeremie sped through the entire first day's footage with no changes. "Guess we'll try another day." The ran through the second day with no luck either.
"Jeremie, I know this is like your forte and everything, but I'm insanely bored. Can we go back to Lyoko and fight some more monsters?"
"You can't go back to Lyoko for another 6 hours. The virtualization process puts too much strain on your bodies. Luckily X.A.N.A. needs time to recharge as well." Jeremie explained going through another days' footage.
"Ugh." She groaned. She sat back against the wall and pulled out her phone. "So much for thrilling training."
Hours passed as Jeremi ran through day after day of storage with Aelita by his side. Emillie and Sam were both sitting up against the wall immersed in their cell phones. Patrick was lying on his back playing on his handheld gaming device. William was the only one on his feet, but also the only one not awake. He was leaned against the wall, arms crossed, and snoring quietly.
"This is the last day." Aelita said. "If we don't find anything on this strip of footage-"
"It has to be here." Jeremie interrupted. "It's the last day that fits the timeline of X.A.N.A.'s activeness."
Patrick sat up and pocket his gaming system. He popped his head up beside Aelita. "So, you've finally found it." He said getting to his feet. "William, rise and shine!" He called behind him.
Both girls got up to their feet and walked to the computer. William's eyes shot open and he staggered sideways with a grunt. "Must have dosed off..."
"Like a horse." Sam commented. "Who sleeps standing up?" She said mockingly.
"Someone who tired himself out saving your butt twice." He remarked back in a snarky tone.
"We're down to the final day that someone could've possibly snuck in here and reactivated the supercomputer." Jeremie informed them. "Just my luck to be the last one we checked." He sped past a couple more hours before abruptly hitting the stop button. "There!" He said pointing to at the paused frame. It showed mostly the same image as before but a single shoe was shown to be entering the room. "Got em'"
"Jeremie...that shoe is-" Aelita put a hand on his shoulder.
"Time to find out who did it!" Jeremie hit the play button aggressively, and narrowed his eyes at the screen. The feed clearly showed a young blonde boy in an auburn shirt and glasses enter the room. "Wait..." Patrick said. "that's-"
"No..." Jeremie said shaking his head. The boy reached out to the lever and grabbed it tightly. Everyone watched in disbelief as he shoved the lever upwards activating lights all around him. The boy on the screen turned his head slightly revealing the true culprit: Jeremie Belpois. The computer zoomed in on the boy's face and began running several scans across his eyes, nose, and cheeks. Everyone stood in silence for a few moments waiting for an explanation from Jeremie. The boy just stared intently at the screen.
"It was you!" Emillie finally said pointing at Jeremie. "You did it!"
"Gotta be a trick by X.A.N.A." Patrick guessed. "Faked footage doesn't sound too out of the realm of possibility."
"Facial recognition begs to differ." Emillie said motioning the flashing green circle. "It seems pretty insistent that that's the real Jeremie!"
"You can't be serious." Aelita deadpanned.
"X.A.N.A. wouldn't have had enough power to create a specter." William added. "Nor to possess someone. That has to be Jeremie. Which raises the question; why'd you do it?" He said glaring at the boy.
"Someone with a background in programming..." Jeremie realized. "No one's a better programmer around here than me." He said softly.
"Jeremie, stop that!" Aelita ordered. "Jeremie's our leader. He would never willingly endanger any of you."
"That's clearly him!" Emillie accused. "He set this all up." She said softly.
Jeremie got up slowly and made his way to the ladder leading to the scanners, with his head hung low. "Jeremie!" Aelita called. "Where are you going?"
"Emillie's right. Facial recognition says it's me and this is grounds for expulsion from the group. I can't be here while you vote." He said dejectedly climbing down the ladder. "Call me back when the decision's made."
"Jeremie, wait!" Aelita called. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see William holding her shoulder and shaking his head.
"Maybe it was an accident." Patrick said. "You know, a 'whoops I slipped and flipped the on switch, then tried to cover it up by lying' type of deal." He tried hopefully.
"It looked pretty intentional to me. Maybe someone was missing his glory days as a hero." Sam guessed. "So, he brought back the only thing that could give him that glory."
"Hey!" Aelita snapped. "Don't insult Jeremie's character like that. He would never!" She growled at the girl. "He's done so much to save everyone here from zombies," She said glaring at Emillie. "sinkholes and fault lines," She said turning her attention to Sam. "and X.A.N.A. in general." She said finishing with a glare for William. "He's a hero."
"The one who sits safely at the computer while everybody else risks their hides in Lyoko. Yeah. He's the hero of the group. Is it so hard to believe he's gone bad?"
Aelita took a step toward Sam but was interrupted between her next step by Emillie who blocked her while also holding Sam off on the other side. "Easy, girls." She said. "We've got enough problems."
Sam took a deep breath before backing away. "Then how do you explain it?" Sam asked still heated. "He could just as well be playing you as well. Maybe he brought us all here to offer to X.A.N.A."
"Jeremie's too smart." Aelita argued back just as heatedly. "If he wanted any or all of us handed over to X.A.N.A., we'd be dead by now."
"Could be brainwashed." Patrick guessed.
"Patrick!" Aelita scolded. "Whose side are you on?! That's your cousin!"
"A cousin who's been hiding a secret double life from him." Sam cut in flatly.
"I'm just trying to consider every possibility!" Patrick defended himself. "I don't want to believe he did it!"
"He didn't do it." Aelita said seriously. "I thought that of all people, he could count on his cousin that he speaks so highly of." She huffed. "If Jeremie's out, so am I." Aelita said furiously, refusing to look at any of them. "This whole situation is ridiculous. X.A.N.A.'s up to something and you guys are playing along just like his little puppets."
"I'm no one's puppet!" William shot back. "Not anymore!"
"You say that, but you're sure acting like you're still under his control!" Aelita quipped harshly. "Kicking out Jeremie? Seriously? Do you want X.A.N.A. to win?!"
"I want X.A.N.A. destroyed more than anyone!" William raged. "That's why we have to consider this! He's potentially endangering the mission!"
"Arguing is a waste of time." Emillie said seriously. "We need a vote."
"I have no doubt in my mind that, no matter what evidence is against Jeremie, Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich would side with me and vote to keep him." Aelita said bitterly.
"In any case, they're at the hospital." William said. "We'll have to disregard their votes. There's five of us here anyway. This way there's no chance of a tie. Who wants to start?"
"Easy." Aelita said immediately. "I vote in favor of Jeremie."
"Against." Emillie countered carefully. "Sorry, Aelita."
"Against." Sam echoed.
Everyone turned to Patrick next. He stood in silence for a moment before sighing. "He's still my cousin. For." He said finally. "William?"
All eyes were on William now. "We have to look at this logically. Can we really expel Jeremie? No one can operate the supercomputer like him." William said. "And if Aelita's serious about leaving-"
"I am." She growled at the dark-haired boy.
"We can't deactivate towers without her." William finished. "We at least have a chance at succeeding without Jeremie, but without Aelita, we're destined to fail." He explained scratching his chin. "But we also can't afford to keep Jeremie, if he's somehow working with X.A.N.A. I say we wait for the others. Their input might make up my mind."
"Then we meet here tomorrow morning." Emillie said. "All of us."
"Who wants to break the news to Jerry?" Patrick asked.
"I think it's clear who it should be." Aelita said with a hmph. Everyone gave her a nod and Emillie, Patrick, and Sam made their way to the elevator. Before William could join them, Aelita grabbed his wrist, holding him back. "I expected better of you William." She growled once again.
"Jeremie said it himself. He's the best computer nerd around here. He's studied X.A.N.A. more than anyone. He might even know more about him than the jerks who created him. I just don't see any other way-" William said.
"Jeremie was the one who pushed for you to come back to us. And who was it who found out about your implant, huh William? If not for Jeremie, you'd be unaware of X.A.N.A.'s sick little residue in that thick head of yours!" Aelita snapped forcefully poking him in the forehead. "But a little clip comes your way and you turn your back on him. Maybe I was wrong about you."
"I'm sorry, Aelita." He said tearing his arm away from her. He entered the elevator and turned around to face Aelita while the doors closed.
Aelita climbed down the ladder to the scanner room to find Jeremie curled up against the wall hugging his knees. "Hey." She said giving him a smile.
Jeremie looked up at the pinkette and gave her a weak smile back. "Hey." He said, voice dripping with anguish. "So, what's the verdict."
"Better than it sounds, that's for sure." Aelita said taking a seat next to him. "It was Patrick and I against Sam and Emillie. William reserved his vote until the others can give their input."
"That was pretty incriminating evidence. How'd you pull that one off?"
"Simple. I told them if you were out, so was I. I think that's the only reason William reserved his vote." Aelita said with distain.
"You shouldn't have done that. You know you can't follow through with it. Even if I'm kicked out, you have to fight X.A.N.A. or we all lose." Jeremie said seriously. "We didn't come this far to lose."
"There's no way we can win without you anyway." Aelita said.
"You'd find a way." Jeremie told her. "As long as they have you, there's hope."
"You're far too okay with this situation." Aelita said narrowing her eyes. "Do you even care? I'm trying to fight for you and you sound like you've given up already!"
"Of course I care!" He shot back. "It's just... I don't blame them for not trusting me. I'm not sure I trust me either." He said. "It's good that they're skeptical. We need to consider the possibility that-"
Before he could finish his thought, he was enveloped in a tight hug from Aelita. "Don't even." She said quietly. "I know you're innocent. And I know that Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd do too." She said. "If I had just been able to bring myself to bring up that stupid implant, I could've made a better case for you."
"It's best that you didn't." Jeremie replied. "If you had, the others might turn on both me and William. It's best this way."
"Tomorrow morning, you'll see." She soothed. "The others'll talk some sense into these fools."
~Kadic Academy: Male Dorms~
~Male Dorms~
William lay down silently in his bed, arms relaxed behind his head. The group had just narrowly avoided being found out. Once Jeremie and Aelita caught up with them, Emillie shared the idea of hiding out in the library until someone found them. Once they were caught, they just played it off like they needed some books in order to study. Of course, Delmas bought it hook, line, and sinker. Jim got in a little trouble for doing a 'lousy' job of searching the schoolgrounds. Nobody even knew that Jeremie ever left.
But right now, William had a lot to think about. Jeremie being a possible turncoat was probably the most troubling news he could've gotten besides the fact that X.A.N.A.'s still kicking. Who would've guessed? Even he would've taken the bet that he'd be a turncoat before Jeremie.
None of that matters though. Jeremie turned on the supercomputer. He awaked X.A.N.A. And he endangered everyone. Including William's parents, the two people who mean the most to him. That he couldn't forgive. He'd give Jeremie a chance to explain himself but if he didn't like what he heard... then who knows what might happen.
~The Factory~
~6:00 A.M.~
The many ailed students were all released late the night before allowing for all nine warriors to assemble for their emergency meeting. Most of the warriors weren't even properly dressed. Yumi, and Aelita were the only ones actually dressed for the day. Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich were still uninformed as to why they were meeting up at the factory let alone...
"Why are we here so early!" Odd complained. He had heavy bags under his eyes. And he had been having a yawning fit all throughout the trip to the factory. "I'm running on two hours of sleep here! How am I supposed to be the comic relief without a good night's sleep?!"
"We have to meet before classes start up, Odd." Jeremie explained. "This is too serious to wait any longer."
"We found out who turned on the supercomputer." William explained. "It was in the security tapes clear as day."
"Great!" Odd said "Meeting adjourned. I'm going back to bed." He quickly dropped to the floor and curled up into a ball. "This place could really use a carpet." He mumbled.
"I wasn't done, Odd." William groaned.
"Weird. I am." He yawned once again.
"Forget, Odd." Ulrich said. "There's no reasoning with him when he's tired. But I think I speak for both Yumi and I when I say we want to know who to smash for turning that blasted thing on." He said slamming a fist into his hand. "This has been building up for long enough."
"That's the thing," Emillie said. "I don't think you really want to punch Jeremie." She said seriously. "No matter how stupid he was being."
"I'm telling you it wasn't him." Aelita said. She was starting to remember the feeling of anger she had the evening before. You're the ones-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Yumi interrupted. "Jeremie? You think Jeremie started the supercomputer? Why on Earth would you think something foolish like that?" She asked almost laughing.
"It may sound silly, but we saw the tapes. Facial recognition software doesn't lie." William said seriously. "Jeremie, will you pull up the video again?" William asked. Jeremie nodded and got into his chair. Aelita swung her head dramatically and went to join him.
"We were in the middle of a vote." Sam explained. "Emillie and I voted against Jeremie and Aelita and Patrick voted for him. William-"
"For." Odd interrupted from the ground.
Sam jerked her head down towards the boy who still refused to open his eyes. "What?"
"I obviously get a vote." He said tiredly. "I vote in favor of Einstein." He said matter-of-factly. He rolled over onto his other side. "Now argue quieter."
"I second that." Ulrich said in a very slightly quieter voice. "For."
"But I didn't even pull up the video." Jeremie said pointing to the computer. "It's clearly me." Beside him Aelita leaned against the swivel chair and smirked cockily. She knew this was coming but that didn't make it any less satisfying.
"You don't have to pull up anything, Jeremie." Yumi said sweetly. "I vote for too." She said looking to the group. With that it's five to a possible four. The vote's finished." She said. "Honestly, three votes against you, Jeremie? Did you really manage to piss everyone off that fast?"
"You didn't see the video." William said. "Even Jeremie said it was him."
"Then Jeremie's not the genius he claims to be." Yumi said teasingly. "Think about it. What's the one thing Jeremie cares about most in this world?" Yumi asked.
"Programming?" Emillie guessed. Ulrich made a generic buzzer noise to answer her guess.
"His reputation as the smartest student to ever come to Kadic?" Sam tried. Another mocking buzzer noise.
"Skipping Gym class?" Patrick asked jokingly.
"Good guess, but..." He gave another buzzer noise shaking his head.
"I can see your having fun making that sound at them, but it's pretty obvious they aren't going to get it." Yumi remarked.
Emillie eyed the two. "Are you gonna tell us the answer?" She asked.
"Easy. It's Princess." Ulrich said pointing to Aelita. "He doesn't have it in him to do anything that would threaten her life. Except for that one time he was possessed by X.A.N.A., that is." Ulrich shrugged. "I don't know what you're seeing on that tape, but Jeremie and Aelita obviously forgot to teach you lesson number one in X.A.N.A. warfare."
"Everything is often not what it seems." Yumi finished for him. "It's not impossible for X.A.N.A. to infect the footage to turn everyone against Jeremie."
"There'd be an activated tower if that happened." Jeremie explained. "There's no indication of activity on Lyoko."
"So? X.A.N.A.'s hidden activated towers from us before." Ulrich said. "There's something going on here that we aren't aware of. Even if we assume that it really is Jeremie on that tape, there's no indication that it's of his own free will."
William nodded listening to Ulrich's words carefully. The two of them were definitely making good points. Points that he was surprised Aelita didn't lead with. Free will. 'He left an imprint behind.' Aelita's words rang in his head. 'Even at his base components,' Then it hit him.
"You said Jeremie was X.A.N.A.fied?" William asked suddenly. "If that's true, then X.A.N.A. would've never missed the chance to imprint our leader. Especially when that leader has full control over the supercomputer when we're on Lyoko, right?"
"The Hell are you talking about?" Ulrich asked eyeing the dark-haired boy. "What the Hell is an implant?" He turned to Jeremie. "Einstein?"
Jeremie let out a sigh of relief. 'They finally figured it out,' He thought to himself. "There's something that I've been keeping to myself. I kinda only told Aelita." Jeremie confessed. "When we re-examined William's charts from the day we brought him back, we found a small piece of residue. It's a bit of X.A.N.A.'s code." Jeremie explained. "I think it's supposed to give X.A.N.A. an easier grasp over William. Even in his broken state, X.A.N.A. might have still been able to use William."
"And you kept this from us why?" Yumi asked. "This is the second time you've kept a secret from the group, Jeremie." She chastised. "You can't keep doing this."
"Plus, you could've easily dispelled any disbelief on your part by explaining this. You're too smart not to have figured it out on your own. You knew you might have an implant, didn't you?"
"Yeah." He said hanging his head. "I knew. I didn't want to keep it a secret, but I felt like if I told you guys he might be working for X.A.N.A. unknowingly, you might turn on him even though I had no concrete evidence that he had been the one to turn on the computer." Jeremie explained.
"He also didn't bring it up to defend himself because that would put both him and William in danger of being kicked out. Even though there was no proof either had done anything wrong." Aelita spat looking straight at William. "But you couldn't give him the same benefit of the doubt, could you?"
"I... guess not." He admitted. "I'm sorry." He couldn't feel worse at the moment. He so easily turned on the one person who was actively trying to get this sick implant out of his head. Sure, the evidence was stacked against Jeremie, but it wasn't exactly favoring himself and Jeremie never said a word to anyone but Aelita who also told no one.
"This does raise the question of what we're going to do about this whole problem." Yumi said. "Implanting code inside you two is a huge problem. How are we going to combat it? X.A.N.A. could manipulate the two of you at any moment."
"Luckily, I think that he can't give us any trouble while he's recharging from his defeat." Jeremie said. "I was studying the imprint before I got caught. If only I could get out of my punishment. It would be so much easier to study it then. But I can't do that without selling out Aelita." He said sadly. "And if X.A.N.A. attacks, we can't afford to have her grounded in the library."
"So, tell them it was me." William offered. "Aelita'll be off the hook and so will you. The team can survive without me for a couple days, right?"
"I... suppose. But are you sure?" Jeremie said. "Unlike me and Aelita, you have a record a mile long. They won't go as easy on you." He reminded the boy.
"I'm sure. Think of it as atonement. My apology. Besides, it's that same record that'll make sure they believe you when you say it was me. Tell them it was my idea in the first place, too."
Jeremie sighed. "Alright, then before school starts, I'll report to Delmas's office and tell them it was William. Hopefully Jim will keep his mouth shut about it really being Aelita."
"I've been meaning to ask you about that." Aelita said. "How exactly did you convince Jim to let me off the hook. Everyone knows he's never given anyone a pass before."
"I have my ways." Jeremie said smiling at her. "It doesn't matter how. Just that I did it."
~Delmas's office~
~7:00 A.M.~
Jeremie stood in front of Delmas's desk, arms at his side, waiting patiently for the Principal to say something. The elder man was just tapping his fingers on his desk, presumedly processing all of what Jeremie had told him. After William's confession, he was taken to the library with Jim for his punishment. "I must say young Belpois, when you said you would tell me your accomplice, I was quite surprised. You seemed so adamant yesterday morning."
"Yeah, well, when William heard about the harsh punishment I was facing, he decided it'd be best if I just turned him in." Jeremie said. Not a complete lie. "So, am I off the hook?" Jeremie asked hopefully.
"Given William's track record of disobedience, I guess it's not too out of the realm of possibility, but didn't Jim say the person he saw had a female body type?" Delmas asked skeptically. "William is far from feminine."
"It was dark. And late." Jeremie said. "He must have been too tired to see straight. So, are we good, here?"
"Dunbar did confess, so I suppose so." Delmas finally said. "Now hurry off to your friends, young man, I have much work to do. And if I catch you mingling with another student just once more, you won't be given a chance to be let off the hook."
"Yes, sir." Jeremie said. He rushed out the door to meet Ulrich and Aelita waiting for him on the other side. After Jeremie shut the door behind him, Delmas looked down to the piece of paper in front of him. It was just a report that was needed for the records on Jeremie and William's offense.
As he signed it, he shook his head. "For such a brilliant student, the boy is a terrible liar. How little does he truly think of me?" Delmas said out loud. "And it's hardly like William to take the fall for anyone. But if this is how they want it, then so be it. I'll play their game." He set the paper to the side and quickly pulled up Amazon on his computer. On the screen was a page showing off a high-tech security camera. "But I'll be watching much closer from now on."
As Jeremie, Aelita, and Ulrich walked out the double doors leading outside they took a quick detour to the library. "I hate to admit it, but it was really cool of William to take the fall for you, Einstein." Ulrich said.
"Maybe..." Aelita countered. "but that was only after accusing him of being a double-agent." She said bitterly. "It's hard for me to feel bad for him after he turned on us even after all we did for him."
"You have to forgive and forget." Jeremie said. "Both of you. Between fighting X.A.N.A. and keeping up appearances, we don't have time for grudges. Don't forget this won't be the last time X.A.N.A. tries to turn us against each other. Besides, it took some time for us to completely trust each other, too." He reminded them. "You didn't even really like Odd all that much when I brought us together."
"More importantly, we need to find a way to combat your implants. Preferably before X.A.N.A. can use you again." Aelita countered. "We don't even know what he might have done with William already."
"But why doesn't he use you now? Why hasn't he influenced you since the day you turned on the supercomputer?"
"I don't know." Jeremie admitted. "I suppose it's possible he's planning something big, but our best bet is to analyze the implants and figure out a way to disable them as fast as possible."
They came to a stop in front of a windowsill at the library. Inside the could clearly see William relaxed back with his feet up on the table. William opened his eyes and noticed the three of them looking at him. He smiled and gave them a thumbs up before Jim came onto the scene and began scolding the boy for having his feet on the table.
