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Episode 80: The Key
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The snow continued and persisted for ages and ages, Yumi had barely spoken a word to anyone but Ulrich, the two stood as Mulcahy performed a Funeral ceremony, Odd, William and Aelita attended, whilst Jeremie felt too much guilt to even want to show his face, Jim, Delmas and Kidd stood watching, for the adults it was a sad moment for the loss of a child's life, for the others they knew the truth about both Dallas and Aelita, and it had strained almost everything between them, Mulcahy finished as he looked down at the grave,
"I'm sorry for your loss" said Mulcahy as he looked at Ulrich and Yumi, but the two were silent, the priest didn't know what else to say, the snow began to bury the grave as they walked away, Yumi grabbed onto Ulrich's arm as they passed the others, "We should probably find Jeremie" said Yumi finally speaking up, Ulrich stopped for a second as the others walked ahead and dug his hand into his pocket looking at Dallas's dog tags, he'd found them on the factory floor having clearly been pulled off of him, Ulrich shed a tear, as he remembered buying them for his son, no one knew how to process the emotion or the thoughts of Dallas being his son, he quickly pulled over his head and tucked them under his shirt.
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Jeremie was where he felt most comfortable, sitting in the computer room, he'd not slept in a couple of days as he felt the massive brunt of the guilt, seven lives to him had been ruined because of his actions, he was struggling to focus, he kept looking to the side and expected to see everyone perfectly fine, but it was a mere fantasy, the elevator door opened, and he turned with hope but it was all too quickly shattered,
"Learn anything" asked Ulrich as the six walked towards him, "I think I have, and we were right" said Jeremie as he opened a video log one of several thousand, "Listen to this" Added Jeremie as he hit enter, the video played, it was Franz Hopper sitting down in the computer chair he looked calm, "June 6th 2002, Day 67, Project Carthage was originally a military program established in the early 1980's at the request of the UN, it seems so long ago now" said Hopper but Jeremie sped up "Its past this" he said as he moved onto the next section, "So I and my colleagues built the super computer and by extension Lyoko to try and carry on the project but put a human at the controls" said Hopper as he put down his cup of Coffee, Jeremie sped up again for a while "June 6th 2002, Day 1265, we've been working to try and working out this mysterious intruder program is, We've been attempting to isolate it and destroy it… but it seems to be adapting to our strategy's" said Hopper he was clearly less calm, Jeremie sped up again "June 6th 2002, Day 2452, Someone is watching us, I can't believe I never noticed it before now, but I'm sure they're onto us, how they found us I don't know" said Hopper as his hair was a mess, Jeremie sped up again "we were planning to destroy the supercomputer at the first sign of trouble, but instead we developed the return to the past program, it's not without its faults, if someone dies, the jump cannot restore life, after a number of tests, the common cause is heart failure" said Hopper in an alarmingly calm way, Jeremie sped forward yet again "June 8th 2002, Day 2582, we've had a dark look into the future, one that we're all taking differently, my Two Colleagues know their fates, my Partner Dr. Ralph Couture has already made plans to flee, I'm not sure if it'll do him any good" said Hopper as he brushed his hair back and removed his glasses, "A child spawned from the scanners, I initially thought he came from Lyoko, but the information we received told what we needed to know, we now know the events of the next 15 years of the super computer, and sadly so does XANA" said Hopper as he wiped his glasses on his jumper, "we cannot change the future, we're now playing into events, I know myself and Aelita have very little time left" said Hopper as Jeremie closed the video, "What the fuck" said William as he was shocked at what he'd just witnessed, "Does this mean that this…" started Odd, Jeremie sat back in the chair, "This was the timeline XANA mentioned, the baby… or Dallas were always meant to go back in time" said Jeremie grimly, Yumi started to cry as she held Dallas's jacket, "Einstein that's not funny" said Ulrich as he was getting angry but not at Jeremie, "I doubt he's trying to be" said Aelita, she was struggling to take it all in, her life had been shaken up twice and she was doubly affected, "There's more" said Jeremie as he selected another video, "June 6th 2002, Day 2089, The main process behind the control of the towers, is a key, the keys are implanted in myself, Couture and I've began coding it for Aelita, so one day she can work alongside me" said Hopper as he ended the video log, "That's what XANA's after" said Jeremie as he looked at Aelita "the Keys to Lyoko, he's been trying to steal it from Aelita this whole time, it must be located inside Aelita's memory" said Jeremie as he turned around to face the others, Aelita however stayed facing the screen, "What on earth could XANA do with them" asked Ulrich, William spoke up "He must already have a set, for the lack of a better phrase, he's able to activate towers" he said, Aelita looked at the screen showing all her father's video diary's "Escape from the super computer" she said.
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The group had returned to the school and were sitting down to have lunch, Yumi had become strangely attached to Dallas's jacket, she'd removed the wings thinking he wouldn't want her wearing them, but this just revealed the state of the jacket, she'd been patching it up for him for nearly two years, ironically already mothering him, Aelita sat stirring her food in her bowl
"What I don't get is why did it take a year for the Scyphozoa to show up" asked Ulrich as he sat down with his tray, Jeremie looked up at him "the return to the past increases XANA's power, maybe he needed to build up enough power to create it" said Jeremie, Odd was confused and then he became a little annoyed "So he was just wasting our time" he asked, Jeremie shrugged his shoulders as he looked at Aelita, she was getting upset at everything that was happening, "Of course" he said as he put down his spoon, "I've been wrong all along" he added, the others looked at him with Ulrich saying "Isn't that bloody swell", but Jeremie ignored him "I thought XANA had given Aelita a virus, so I've been looking for an anti-virus, but with Hoppers diary, I've realised XANA didn't give her anything, he took something" said Jeremie, Yumi drank the rest of her soup from her bowl as he put it down, "he did, but what" asked Yumi as she was starting to feel comfortable speaking again, "I don't know yet, it's a fragment that belongs to her, I'm gonna need to locate it" said Jeremie, then things went from bad to worse as Sissi's gang walked over, for once Sissi actually seemed compassionate, "Ulrich, Yumi, I just… I wanted to say I'm sorry for your loss" she said as she gave them a small bunch of flowers, clearly stolen from a plot on school grounds, "Thank you Sissi" said Yumi as she grabbed them, Nicholas nodded his head not knowing the words to say, Adam however having recovered from a head on accident wasn't so respectful "It's a shame about your child" he said leaning forward, Ulrich was about to stand up but William grabbed his arm, "It's not worth it" whispered William, Evelyn agreed as she placed her hand on Adam's shoulder she felt guilty for what happened "Yeah, I can only imagine that child would have grown up to be a worthless piece of…" but before Adam could finish, Jeremie lost his calm and overcome by anger grabbed his tray and smashed it into Adam's head, although Jeremie was among the weakest in the school the blow struck him when he was off guard and was knocked to the floor, where Jeremie knelt down on him and continued to whack the tray into Adam's face, he was crying as cuts began to form on Adam's face, Ulrich and Odd grabbed Jeremie's arms as everyone watched in horror, Adam stood up luckily no teachers were present, Adam felt his face as his nose was broken and bleeding heavily, he looked at everyone in the cafeteria and said "I fell" before chuckling as he walked away, Ulrich sat Jeremie down in his chair "What the hell was that" asked Ulrich but Jeremie didn't respond he found it too difficult to through the tears, Aelita stood up pushing her chair back, "Aelita" asked Yumi, but she didn't answer and walked away from the others.
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Aelita had stormed off out of the cafeteria, and Jeremie had managed to compose himself enough to rush after her,
"Aelita, wait what's the matter" he said, with his arms open to try and hug her, but she was cold to him, "I refuse to set foot on Lyoko ever again" said Aelita as she was close to crying, "Why, what's gotten into you" he asked as he moved to face her placing his hand on her shoulder, "My father stole my life from me, he was a totally crazy second magician who put his own selfish fucking self before his daughter" said Aelita, then she started to cry, "Because of him… I'm nothing I'm no one" she said, Jeremie moved and hugged her, she was too upset to even blush, "that's all behind you, we'll find the fragment that XANA stole from you and shut down the super computer" said Jeremie, but Aelita could feel how much Jeremie was shaking and moved away, "what if it goes wrong" she said as she walked away wishing to be alone.
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The school bell rang, and due to it being Saturday school ended at mid-day, everyone was finished with lessons, and it had of course been the end of the year, Jim and Kidd were standing outside the cafeteria,
"For you Party Animals with short memory spans" started Jim, before he lost his train of thought "I… oh crap what was I saying" he said to himself as Kidd shook his head in his hand, "oh yeah, During the end of year dance, Any overly suggestive dancing, wild behaviour or trouble making will be servilely punished" said Jim, the warriors looked at him, "I'm in no mood to go" said Ulrich as he turned back towards the dorms, "I don't have anyone to take" said Odd, Yumi rolled her eyes "I don't feel like it either" she said as she followed after Ulrich, William looked at Odd "I don't think I want…" he started but Odd placed his arm around him "come on I'll get us some dates" he said cockily.
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Ulrich was sitting in his room his head in his hands, he was alone and had been holding in everything all day, he just wanted to let it all out and the tears began to form in his eyes before they ran down his face, he'd looked forward to being a dad, and knowing what he now knew, he was struggling to process it, how could he accept that one of his best friends who he thought was older than him was his son, he threw his head back as he walked over towards the blanket he had rolled up on his desk, and unrolled it looking at Dallas's wrist blades, when he stormed off he'd obviously removed everything he felt he didn't want, he'd found his boots and the wrist blades on the factory floor, he wrapped them back up as he put it under his pillow to keep it close to him, whilst in Yumi's room, she'd cried enough to the point that her eyes were sore, like Ulrich she'd also got a part of Dallas with her, she took off his tattered jacket and hugged it in her arms, like a baby would a blanket or a toy, she reached into the pocket and pulled out a group photo that Dallas stored inside of it, she looked at it, before putting it back and putting the jacket back on, she stood up and walked to the door opening it,
"Ulrich" she said seeing him standing there "Hey Yumi, I wanted…" he started but Yumi grabbed him and pulled him into the room and began kissing him passionately "Yumi, what…" said Ulrich but Yumi pushed him onto her bed and began pulling his shirt up "Please don't speak" she said as she pulled his shirt off his body and removing her jacket, "Yumi it's not right" said Ulrich, Yumi stopped and began to feel upset again "I know, I just…" she said but Ulrich pulled her in for a cuddle "I think we need to decide what do we do now" said Ulrich.
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Aelita stepped out of the elevator into the bottom room of the factory, the one that contained the super computer itself, she stepped towards the towering machine as it arose from the liquid coolant that it sat in, she pressed the button and the hatch opened, she grabbed the lever and with a single moment of hesitation she pulled down on the lever, the noise of the machine slowly died down and Aelita suddenly collapsed laying on the floor, whilst back at the school, Odd and William were sitting by the vending machines, linking up Odd's Gameboys, Jeremie stepped over asking
"Have either of you guys seen Aelita" asked Jeremie, Odd looked up and replied "No we haven't", William shook his head, "she's not answering her phone and the super computer isn't responding" said Jeremie as he rubbed the back of his head, then it struck him "Oh no" he added as he rushed off, "What's with him" asked William as he lost a life with Odd laughing leaving William annoyed.
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Ulrich and Yumi laid next to each other on Yumi's bed, Ulrich had put his shirt back on as Yumi rested her head on his chest listening to his heartbeat, she was so calmed by it that she could fall asleep to it,
"What do we say when he comes back" said Ulrich as he began to run his hands through her hair, "what can we do, we don't know how he's feeling" replied Yumi as she looked up at him, "He's our son now… not that he's never not been" said Ulrich having confused himself, Yumi laughed slightly but cuddled him tighter "we can only speak for ourselves, but nothing can change, he's lived a life we've not been a part of" she said as she moved up to kiss him, "what if he doesn't accept us" she added, Ulrich looked up knowing that it was likely to end badly, "we'll cross that bridge when we get to it" said Ulrich as he kissed her back.
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Jeremie looked at the screen on the computer, nothing was working, it was stuck in a demo mode and nothing was accessible to him, he smacked the screen hurting his hand slightly,
"Come on you useless piece of shit" said Jeremie, he stood up and stepped into the elevator and descended to the mainframe room, the door opened and Jeremie's heart stopped "AELITA" he screamed as he rushed over to her, he knelt down to see if she was okay but then he noticed the supercomputer and raised the handle, the machine hummed back to life and Aelita began to move again, "Aelita answer me, come on" said Jeremie as he held her up in his arms, "Wake up" he added, Aelita groaned and opened her eyes and looked at him, "You're insane why'd you do that" asked Jeremie, but Aelita started to cry and said "To save the world, to save you all", Jeremie shook his head and said "We'll stop XANA together then you'll have your whole life ahead of you", Aelita smiled and began to blush as Jeremie pulled her closer for a hug.
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Jim and Kidd stood outside the main hall making sure that the students were dressed appropriately, and turning away any who weren't, Odd and William still hadn't managed to find dates for the dance, William wasn't too fused but Odd still wanted to have one, many students were let in with a couple being turned back,
"Odd, I'm serious I'm not fussed about it, besides I think Dances are shit" said William, Odd rolled his eyes then he set his eyes on a blonde girl that was his height and dressed appropriately by Jim's and Kidd's standards, her outfit consisted of a vest shirt and brown trousers, with a white pearl necklace, "hi" said Odd as the girl turned around "Wanna go to the dance with me" said Odd, the girl smiled as she said "Umm okay, my names Carla", Odd placed his hand forward to introduce himself "I'm Odd" he said, then a look of shock and sudden realisation hit her face, "Odd Della robbia" she asked, Odd stood on one leg with his arms spread "the one and only" he said jovially, then Carla smirked and said "That weird Transgender kid no thanks, maybe be honest with people before asking them out" before walking off, William stepped forward and shouted "WHAT THE HELL", Odd stood silent and motionless, William grabbed his shoulders and turned him around, "How the bloody hell did she find out" asked William, but Odd still stood silent, then they heard Odd's phone ringing, the later was about to reach and answer it but William grabbed it and answered it "Odd" said Ulrich as William answered, "it's me, Odd's… well let's say he's had a moment" said William as he walked his friend away, "Jeremie wants us at the factory we're taking the plunge" said Ulrich, William looked at Odd, "Right we'll be there soon" he said as he hung up and put the phone back in Odd's pocket, "Come on you" said William as he led Odd to an empty area, "Super smoke" he said and the two disappeared, but they were being watched as Adam pulled out his phone "Yeah they've just left now" he said as his face stung, he'd not expected Jeremie to strike him, in fact from no one he had no clue what was going to happen, "Yeah I know, no I won't be joining you this time, XANA's given me another task, I need to locate the weapon for phase 2" said Adam as he hung up and walked away.
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The warriors regrouped in the computer room, Jeremie had been working as hard as he could and managed to locate where XANA was storing Aelita's memory, he'd found it surprisingly easy now that he knew what he was looking for, he turned and faced the others,
"This is the big one guys, we're gonna recover the fragment and get rid of XANA once and for all" said Jeremie, the others looked at each other, it was a phrase they'd heard plenty times before and they were sceptical "Let's go then" said Odd, it was clear he was angry about something but they didn't know what it was, "I'll lead the way" he said as he walked towards the elevator, "What's with him" asked Yumi, but William shook his head "Best if he said" replied William as they joined him in the elevator, "be careful" said Jeremie as he turned back to the screen.
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The 5 were virtualized in the ice sector, the area was empty and the tension between them had healed, but it was clear the mission was going to be difficult for more than a single reason,
"Everybody all right" asked Jeremie, the group looked at each other "Better than alright" replied Ulrich as their vehicles spawned, Ulrich felt the baton spawn on his belt, "I think it's only right" said Yumi as she looked at him, Ulrich nodded as he extended the Baton and the Over-Rider formed next to him, "Can I take your bike" asked William but Ulrich wasn't paying attention, Ulrich mounted his sons' vehicle Yumi and Aelita stepped onto the Over-Wing whilst Odd got onto the Over-Board, William jumped onto Ulrich's bike but the aforementioned didn't pay attention, "The edge of the sector is north, north east" said Jeremie, the four vehicles shot off, Ulrich found it difficult to drive the Over-Rider as it had more horse power than he was expecting "No monsters" said Odd as he looked around, Aelita looked around as well, "It's pretty weird" she said, Yumi looked back at her and said "More than a little", Jeremie tracked them towards the edge of the sector, "Don't worry I doubt XANA was expecting us" said Jeremie as they arrived, Ulrich quickly returned the Over-Rider back to its baton and belted it "Okay Jeremie enter the code" said Aelita, Jeremie smiled as he typed and said "Okay all aboard to sector 5", then the transport sphere swallowed the warriors and darted off towards Sector 5.
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In what felt like no time at all the transport spat out the warriors into the dome, the room was spinning and for the first time Yumi didn't feel queasy after the trip,
"What's the matter, not feeling ill Yumi?" asked William, Yumi chuckled and said "no for once", then they quickly got ready for the wall to open, "everyone get ready, I'm entering the needed code" said Jeremie he quickly typed it in and the wall opened up, "Let's go" said Aelita as they quickly ran out of the dome, they stopped as the second wall opened up, "You've got three minutes to find the key" said Jeremie as he watched the timer, the warriors ran into a massive empty room that had several block structures protruding from the wall, ranging from thick to small and long polls, standing at the middle of the room was Evelyn, she sarcastically clapped standing at the centre of the room, "I'm sorry about Dallas, but trust me it was needed" she said as she drew her Rapier, "Don't worry Jeremie, we'll take care of her" said Odd as he raised his arm ready to fire, then Ulrich noticed the key, "There it is" he said, then the walls slid open to reveal 6 creepers, three on either wall, "Shit" said Odd as he turned and pointed his arm at the monsters, Ulrich stepped forward drawing his Katanna, "I'll take care of her" he said as he placed both hands on his weapon, "Ulrich" said Yumi as she grabbed his shoulder, he looked back at her "This is a family matter" said Ulrich as he charged at Evelyn with super sprint, she grinned as she turned and he ran up the wall but he kicked off towards her, the Creepers opened their mouths and spat out lasers towards the others, William grabbed his sword and blocked the lasers from hitting the others, "Go" said William as he swung again blocking more lasers.
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The creepers kept opening fire at the warriors, Yumi drew her fans and began to block the laser shots, she felt more nimble than she'd felt in the longest times, Odd quickly began to fire his arrows at the creatures destroying one before jumping up to their platform and destroying a second,
"hi there creepers, still as ugly as ever huh" said Odd as the creeper growled at him, it then fired at Odd who quickly jumped backwards to avoid the shot, but not contempt with firing at a distance the creature wormed its way towards him, but Odd was prepared as he raised his arm and said "Laser arrow" destroying the creature, William blocked the numerous laser shots there were coming close to striking Aelita, "stay close princess" said William as he pushed her out of the way before a laser almost hit her, Yumi had begun to move up the long beams towards the Key, she nimbly swung from one beam to another, moving into a handstand before leaning onto her feet, "Man I missed this" she said trying to remain calm, whilst on the floor Ulrich was angrily swinging his Katanna towards Evelyn who was easily dodging the attempts, Ulrich swung to his side but Evelyn side stepped and smacked him with the hilt of her rapier, "too easy" said Evelyn, but Ulrich was just angered further as he lunged forward, Evelyn barely managed to dodge, then she grabbed Ulrich and pinned him to the ground, "you bitch" said Ulrich as his face smacked into the floor, meanwhile Odd turned his attention to the other side of the room, and fired three arrows towards the creatures but they missed as the creepers ducked, William grinned as he looked at Odd, "defend Aelita" he said before he ran and jumped saying "Super smoke" and vanished before reappearing bellow the middle creeper, with a yell he raised his sword and in a counted clockwise swing and decapitating the creatures, which promptly exploded "Go Yumi" said William, Ulrich however was having more issues as he managed to turn over but Evelyn still had him pinned down, "I'm sorry about Dallas but it had to be done" said Evelyn, Ulrich tried pushing her off as he had been angered further, but she had his body pinned down by the throat and body, up on the beams Yumi quickly flipped between them getting closer to the key, "Only 1 minute left guys" said Jeremie, Aelita held her hands over her mouth and said "Look out" as a Creeper appeared above the Key, Yumi flipped towards it and landed catching herself using her legs, before leaning upwards to grab and help herself up but the Creeper kept firing at her trying to knock her back, and for a moment she was pushed back to the edge of the beam, she stared at the creatures blank face, before charging and flipping forward towards it, the creeper couldn't cleanly hit her and as she reached the key she pressed it with the back of her foot before locking her legs around the creatures legs and pulling the creature downwards as the room began to shift and change, Evelyn was distracted briefly as the room switched but Ulrich seized his moment and grabbed the baton and extended it Evelyn had no time to react as the Over-Rider formed where she was kneeling and she was devirtulized.
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The floor at the centre of the room began to open up, before the ground beneath it began to descend forming a massive blocky staircase towards the lower unexplored areas of the unknown sector,
"Jeremie are you seeing this" asked Aelita, Jeremie was astonished as he watched on the map, "Anyone ready to take the plunge" asked Odd as he looked down, "I thought you were leading the way" asked Jeremie in return, William laughed as he rushed down followed by Aelita and then Odd, Yumi hopped down from the beam and rushed over to Ulrich handing him his Katanna, "You okay" she asked as he stood up sheathing his weapon, "Yeah just needed to blow of my steam" said Ulrich as he smiled, Yumi smiled back as the two rushed over towards the passage and started rushing after the others.
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The staircase felt like it wouldn't come to an end, but they were coming close to the bottom of the shaft, they were all close to exhausted as they reached the new room, it was large, larger than any other room they'd ever seen in Sector 5, aside from a single platform extending towards the centre of the room it was bottomless, at the end of the platform after a large gap there was another smaller platform that led to another stair case that was formed of a number of misaligned platforms, at the top of which sat a glowing white orb,
"That's it" said Jeremie as he examined the object, "That's Aelita's missing fragment, Aelita stood in awe before she rushed off, the others ran after her, but then a small platform moved towards the main platform sitting atop was another Creeper, "lookout" said Yumi as she stopped, William stopped as well and grabbed his sword but then on the other side of the main platform another creeper appeared and moved towards them it fired and struck Yumi in the back, "Shit it's an ambush" said Odd as fired an arrow destroying the monster, but more started to appear on the moving platforms, the first to appear moved onto the main platform but was almost immediately destroyed by Yumi's fan, "Aelita run" said Ulrich as he drew his sword, Aelita nodded and began sprinting towards the other end of the platform.
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Two creepers had boxed Yumi and Odd in cutting off any retreat, they spat their lasers at the two, but Yumi managed to block them, Odd raised his arm and fired destroying one of the Creepers but a new one came closer on another platform but before it could even get close Ulrich ran up and sliced the creature causing it to explode, William quickly vanished in his smoke as he jumped at Creeper, but before he could strike as he appeared he was shot with a laser and was devirtulized,
"William" said Ulrich as he blocked another laser, Aelita stood at the end and then looked at the other platform, the gap was too much to easily cross, "Aelita be careful" said Jeremie as William stumbled out of the elevator, Aelita looked back and saw more creepers were spawning and the others were now outnumbered, Yumi quickly flipped forward to avoid a number of lasers, Ulrich quickly destroyed one of the creatures "Let's go" he said as the three rushed towards Aelita, the creepers aimed and fired at them, one struck Odd causing him to stumble over, he waved at the others "Go on" he said as he looked back at the Creepers, Ulrich and Yumi ran up to Aelita and looked at the gap, whilst Odd started running at the monsters on all four, but they fired at him again causing him to devirtulize him, Aelita yelped as she watched, "I've got an idea" said Yumi, the creepers started to advance as Yumi and Ulrich took Aelita's hands and took a few steps backwards before running forwards and jumping throwing the younger girl forward so she landed on the next platform, Ulrich and Yumi however came up short and missed, Ulrich grabbed onto the ledge and held Yumi's hand, but before he could pull them up, the creepers fired at Yumi striking and devirtulizing her, Yumi stumbled out of her scanner to see Odd panting near his, "Jeremie, its only me and Aelita" said Ulrich as he managed to climb up onto the platform and was now blocking the Creeper shots, "I know get Aelita's fragment" said Jeremie, then a beeping noise started, "oh shit, the whole room is falling apart" said Jeremie as the room began to collapse, the platforms began to break into large chunks and began to fall into the white void, chunks off the wall and ceiling also collapsed, the bridge beneath Ulrich and Aelita started collapsing, Ulrich who was more agile started running ahead as Aelita was dangerously close to the edge and was barely getting onto the next section as the last one collapsed, the section holding the creepers collapsed sending the monsters to their death, the collapse caught up with Aelita as she began to slip towards the void, but Ulrich grabbed her and tried pulling her up but he also lost his footing thanks to the platform collapsing, and the two slipped off and were about to fall to their death but suddenly two Mantas caught them, "Jeremie it's getting worse" said Ulrich as he looked down, however the Manta's had a white glow to them and the blue of their appearance was lighter than usual, "Oh no it's getting better" said Jeremie as he watched on the screen, Aelita and Odd walked out of the elevator "You two okay" asked William as he stopped leaning on the chair, "You're crazy, what's going on" asked Ulrich as he drew his sword ready to destroy the Manta, "It's Franz Hopper whose controlling the Manta's" said Jeremie as the creature Ulrich was riding dropped him off at the base of the stairs.
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Aelita's manta dropped her off atop of the platform, she looked at the white orb as she hurriedly rushed towards it,
"This is amazing" said Jeremie as she hesitated in front of it, up close the sphere had a full image of Aelita inside of it, "go on Aelita" said William, Aelita placed her hands on the orb, when suddenly the Orb shattered in her hands, "Huh" said Jeremie, then without warning the room began to shake, and a secondary collapse began, the roof began to fall, Ulrich looked up, "It's a trap" said Jeremie as he realised what was going on, a massive chunk of the ceiling fell towards Ulrich, he quickly jumped onto his Manta as it struck the step, but he quickly jumped from the manta as a piece of debris struck the creature, but it was in vain as another piece landed on Ulrich crushing him, Aelita looked around as the room collapsed, a piece destroyed her one hope of escape, "HELP ME" she screamed out but then things went from bad to worse, "Aelita behind you" said Jeremie, Aelita turned around to see the Scyphozoa, however this time Aelita had no chance of escape, "I don't believe this" said Jeremie as he held his head in a panic, then Ulrich stumbled out of the elevator, "Their wasn't anything I can do" said Ulrich as he fell onto his knees, Yumi rushed to him, whilst on Lyoko the squid like monster had grabbed Aelita and was draining her memory "nooo" said Jeremie in a blind panic, everyone stood in shock as their worst nightmare came true, the number reached zero and Aelita's lifeless body collapsed onto the platform, her memory was gone, XANA had won, Sector 5 went dark, every piece of illuminated landscape dimmed as the data streams leading to each sector slowly died out, every tower across Lyoko with a growl turned red, the computer terminal showed as every tower activated "What's… what's going on" asked Yumi, Jeremie raised his head from his hands and through his tears said "XANA, got… got what it want, it has the keys to Lyoko" he looked up at the screen watching as Lyoko became XANA's "It can get out of the supercomputer" he added.
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Almost 23 years prior in a remote cabin in the Swiss alps a young Aelita was playing in the snow as she rolled up a huge ball with the intent of making a snow man,
"can you see mommy" said Aelita, whilst standing at a short distance watching from the Cabin balcony Franz Hopper stood with Aelita's mother, she was a petite woman who matched Hoppers height and shared her Daughters pink hair however unlike her daughter hers was free flowing and passed her shoulders, "Don't go too far sweetheart" said her mother, suddenly it was Aelita's birthday the following year, "He's so cute what should I call him" Asked Aelita as she opened a box containing a small elf doll, "What about Mister Puck" said Hopper as she looked down at his smiling and blushing Daughter, "It means Goblin" he added as tears of Joy began to form in Aelita's eye, "Do you like him" asked her mother, Aelita nodded as she grabbed her mother for a hug, "Thank you Mommy" said Aelita, next thing Aelita knew she was sitting next to her father at the piano, "Its like Math, let me show you" he said smiling down at her, then he began to play a tune Aelita had heard time and time before in her flashbacks, Twinkle, Twinkle little star, Aelita's mother sat watching whilst reading a book, but she began to fade from the memory, "Mommy" asked a confused Aelita.
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9 years later, Aelita was cycling home through a forest path back towards her house the Hermitage, she watched as a car left the drive way, carrying a man and two young boys, with a smile on her face she dismounted her bike and ran up the stairs to her front door and walked inside, her father was playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little star on his piano that he had located inside his bedroom,
"Daddy, I'm going to my room" she said cheerfully as she sat inside her room, sitting on her bed she played joyfully with Mr Puck, making him fly then suddenly there was the sound of glass breaking, Aelita stood up as a gas began to fill the corridor, Hopper burst into her room, "Aelita" he said holding a cloth to his mouth, "Daddy" she said starting to cough, "Quick hide Mr Puck" he said as Aelita placed him behind her poster, and the two quickly rushed downstairs, as three soldiers burst through the door all wearing gas masks, a muffled "Freeze" came from one of the soldiers, but then a figure that Aelita recognised from a flashback jumped and kicked the solider away "Come on" said Hopper as he took Aelita's hand and led her towards the basement, suddenly there was a gunshot and Hopper hunched forward grabbing his shoulder, blood poured from a wound "Daddy" screamed Aelita, but Hopper carried on moving, "Come on" he said as there was a second gunshot, but Aelita didn't see what happened, the father and daughter quickly rushed out and shut the back door, they heard a third gunshot but there was no time to find out what it was as Hopper opened the secret door to the sewers, "Come on" he said to his scared daughter as he shut the door behind him, Hopper led his daughter through the sewers and to the lab, he led her into the scanner room as they stepped into a scanner each as he yelled out "Do you know what to do", Aelita was confused "Daddy what's happening" she asked almost on the verge of tears, "We'll be safe I promise" he said, and as the scanners closed he said "See you in a minute honey".
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Suddenly Aelita's eye opened on Lyoko she took a massive breath as she was engulfed in a giant white beam, Sector 5 suddenly lit up around her, whilst in the computer room the warriors were caught off guard as the screen showed something odd,
"What's going on Jeremie" asked Ulrich, but even being the brainy kid he was Jeremie was also completely unsure, "Its Franz Hopper" he said as the towers began to deactivate all over Lyoko, "He's bringing Lyoko back to life" added Jeremie as sector 5's data streams restarted and the sectors returned to normal, "Look it's incredible" said Yumi as she watched the numbers on Aelita's memory suddenly increase back up, "Franz Hopper is saving his daughter" said Jeremie, whilst on the platform, Aelita suddenly began to move, she stood up as she devirtulized "quick to the scanner room" said Jeremie, William pressed the button, "Slow piece of shit" he said before grabbing Jeremie "Super smoke" he said as the two appeared in the scanner room, Jeremie rushed over to the scanner and grabbed Aelita as she collapsed out of the scanner and said "Jeremie".
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With things dying down, the warriors returned to Kadic, nothing was back to normal, but they were still, Aelita sat on Jeremie's bed her legs under his blanket stroking Kiwi, whilst Yumi and Ulrich were sitting on Dallas's bed, William stood against the wardrobe, whilst Odd was sitting calmly despite what Carla had said to him,
"Right would someone please say something funny before I have a heart attack" said Odd trying to break the ice, "My father sacrificed himself for me, and we don't even know if he's still on Lyoko" said Aelita as she was close to crying, Odd then laid back saying "Great, excuse me whilst I have my heart attack", Jeremie shook his head as he turned from his computer, "All your memoires from your life before Lyoko, that's the fragment XANA took from you, to bind you to it, and Franz Hopper managed to give them back to you" said Jeremie as he looked at her, Aelita let Kiwi go as he moved towards Odd, "You're free now Aelita, but unfortunately so is XANA" said Ulrich as Yumi placed her head on his shoulder again holding Dallas's destroyed jacket, "Shutting the super computer down isn't going to stop XANA anymore, what do we do" asked Yumi as she looked at them, "We wait for Dallas and we keep on fighting, XANA may have become more powerful, but it's not invincible, if it attacks, we'll counter attack, We'll find a way to beat that piece of shit for good" said Jeremie with a surge of spirit, William smiled and said "Together we're strong, we can do this" as he curled his fist, "We'll do everything we can to find your dad Aelita" said Yumi knowing that her family wasn't whole, but she wanted Aelita to have hers again, "You're right, the fight has to go on, After all fighting XANA is my job" said Aelita as she looked down, but the others held their hands out and took each other's "No Aelita it's our job" said Jeremie, but little did they know what awaited them, for XANA's freedom was only the first part of its plan.
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Authors note:
So that's the end of season 2, 80 chapters up from 54, I'd say I've done well for myself, even if it's taken a bit longer than I wanted, the response to the last chapter was more than I expected for that little bombshell, I will be taking a break whilst I work out season 3, because whilst I do have an idea of where I'm going I'm gonna flesh out the ideas I have, I won't be extending it to 40 chapters, that's insane, the actual season 3 was like 13 chapters so I'll be bumping that up to 20, not too much challenge but my changes might rear their ugly head and conflict a few things.