Note: Sorry I haven't updated in a few weeks! I've had three types of writer's block—the kind where you can't think of what to write, the type where you're three thousand miles away from your computer, and the kind where you're not allowed to access your computer where most of the chapter is already written!
Disclaimer: I don't own Code: Lyoko, but I do own Tyler, Jessa, and Britta. There will be more original characters in later chapters.
The Shadowed PathA brown-haired boy ran through the city's streets, looking frantically for his best friend. After ten minutes of searching, Ulrich was ready to give up. That is, until he heard the scream coming from a few blocks away.
He ran to the source of the sound, turning a corner into an alley. His jaw dropped in surprise as he watched a girl in a blue reduce three crabs to piles of debris with a series of kicks. Three more crabs entered the alley, and Ulrich leapt to assist the girl as she turned to face them. During a lull in the battle, Ulrich spotted Odd's body crumpled against a wall, unmoving.
Ulrich and the girl destroyed the crabs with ease. They ran to Odd's fallen body and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw he was breathing. Ulrich ran to get some water from a nearby restaurant, while the girl looked after Odd.
One Minute Later
Ulrich nearly dropped the water when he re-entered the alley, mostly because Odd and the mysterious girl were kissing fervently.
He let out a little cough, and they sprang apart, blushing intensely. Odd glared daggers at Ulrich, who dumped the water over his head. "Should I have left you two alone?" Ulrich smirked. "Odd, you seem to have invented a new color of red!"
The girl burst out laughing, but Odd just went redder. "You know," Odd got up off the ground, "the only thing preventing me from socking you in the face is the fact that you saved me."
"Actually, your girlfriend did a lot of the work." Ulrich grinned.
"My name's Britta." The girl extended her hand.
"I'm Ulrich. You fight pretty well." Ulrich clasped her hand and shook it.
"Four years of karate. You need any help, Odd?"
"No, I'm fine. Listen, we need to get to the warehouse in the middle of town. We have a way to stop these things." Odd groaned, standing up.
"I'll take the lead," Ulrich said, "There may be more crabs."
Four Minutes Later
"What took you so long?" Jeremie's voice issued from the computer.
"We had a few crab problems, but nothing we couldn't handle. Wait a second! Einstein, are you in Lyoko, or was I just imagining your voice coming out of the computer?" Odd stared at the holographic display.
"No, I'm not. I'm in the factory. Listen Odd, no time to explain, just get your rear in gear and get—wait. Who is that? Ulrich, please tell me you didn't let Odd bring some random girl into the warehouse…"
"Actually, I'm the one who—" Ulrich was cut off by Britta who stomped over to the computer and screamed into the headset.
"Hey, I don't know who you are, or what this place is, but what I do know is that I am perfectly capable of handling whatever you guys are up to!"
"She's right, Jeremie. She took out three crabs single-handedly, and another three with my help. I think we can tell her about Lyoko." Ulrich started towards the door to the scanner room.
"What's Ly—" Britta was interrupted by Jeremie.
"Actually, the point is moot. Return to the past now." Jeremie sounded extremely happy as a dome of white light engulfed Ulrich, Odd, and Britta.
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Ulrich found himself back in the movie theater, kissing Yumi. Their heads broke apart, and they smiled at each other.
"Looks like you didn't need my help."
"No, XANA's defense was pretty weak. He only had six hornets and a mega tank guarding the tower. I was able to distract the hornets while Aelita took out the mega tank." Yumi folded her arms.
"That's what you consider weak? And since when does Aelita fight?" Ulrich looked at Yumi quizzically.
"After you left, XANA knew we weren't going to be able to fight him as effectively. He launched attacks one after another, always committing huge numbers of monsters to defending the towers."
"That I can understand, but how the heck did Aelita take down a mega tank? Did she use her powers to trick it into rolling off a cliff or something?"
"No, about a year after you left, Jeremie was able to access Aelita's main code. Originally, he was looking for an anti-virus, but instead he stumbled onto her synthesis power's source code. He tweaked it so she can create various weapons out of thin air, but it costs her ten life points per weapon."
"Sounds like Jeremie's been busy. Has he modified any of my weapons or anything?" Ulrich looked hopeful.
"I'm not sure. We'll ask after the movie."
Ulrich and Yumi settled in with their arms around each other, enjoying each other's company.
A few minutes later, a tap on Ulrich's shoulder interrupted their happy moment. "Umm, guys, I hate to interrupt, but we're going to the warehouse to check the connection and see what the exact capabilities of the second supercomputer are." Jeremie smiled. "Plus we can upload all the great pictures of you two that Odd got. I'm sure your parents would be very interested in them…"
"Jeremie, that wouldn't be very nice." Aelita gave him a stern look.
"Ah, I was just kidding. Odd doesn't have any pictures, and even if he did, I would never do that. That's too much like something Sissi would do."
"What's too much like something I would do?" An annoying high-pitched voice cut its way into the conversation. Everyone's least favorite snob approached the gang, accompanied by her two cronies.
"What is she doing here?" Odd whispered to Jeremie. "She wasn't here the first time!"
"Sissi! How nice to see you!" Ulrich smiled. Yumi, Jeremie, Odd, Aelita, Herb, and Nicholas just stared at him. Sissi gave her best smile, which came out looking more like a sneer.
"Ulrich! I'm glad you've finally learned to appreciate my presence!" Sissi grinned even wider, looking for all the world like some horrible sea monster trying to swallow Ulrich.
"Actually, the reason I'm glad you showed up is because I'm not hungry anymore, so now I have all these snacks that would have gone to waste otherwise." Ulrich picked up his soda and dumped it on her head, then he poured his bag of popcorn into her wet hair. He calmly sat back down and went back to watching the movie. Sissi seethed, then stalked off, dripping soggy popcorn in her path. Herb and Nicholas just stood there for a few seconds, then hurried to catch up to their evil overlord.
Yumi was the first one to start laughing, then the rest of the gang joined in. Odd gave Ulrich a high-five. Jeremie stood up. "Anyway, we were headed to the warehouse, remember?"
Ulrich sighed. "Okay, we'll come."
As Jeremie, Odd, and Aelita edged out of the aisle and headed for the exit, Ulrich started to stand up. Yumi pulled him back down. "You know, they don't really need us. We'll catch up to them in a few minutes." She locked her lips around Ulrich's, and that continued for several minutes.
Finally, Yumi broke the kiss. "As much as I'd love to continue, we should probably get to the others." She stood up
"Yeah, I guess." Ulrich got to his feet. Hand in hand, they walked out of the theater.
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"Glad you two could join us!" Jeremie didn't even turn around to look at Yumi and Ulrich as they entered.
"Ooh, look who's holding hands!" Odd ducked as Yumi threw what was left of her soda at him.
"Odd, with all due respect, shut up." Jeremie concentrated on the computer screen, typing the occasional command.
"Wow, Odd, you've gotten even less mature in the past three years! Back at Kadic, you were urging me to ask Yumi out, now you're teasing me because I did!" Ulrich joined in the anti-Odd abuse.
"Yeah, next thing you know, he'll be dancing around singing 'Ulrich and Yumi, sitting in a tree!'" Yumi laughed.
Odd shot a dirty look at her, then grinned. "Great idea, Yumi! Ulrich and Yumi, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I—" He was interrupted by Jeremie.
"Okay, it looks like the connection was severed, but I was able to restore it with my memory stick, and everything is—wait." Jeremie scanned the screen for a few seconds, then frowned. "This is odd."
"What's me?" Odd piped in. Ulrich threw a crumpled piece of paper at him, hitting Odd in the center of the purple dot in his hair.
"Odd, you know very well what Jeremie meant when he said, 'that's odd.'" Aelita said, rolling her eyes.
"Sure, stick up for your boyfriend. Of course I knew what he meant, I was just trying to be—"
"Shut up, Odd! If these reading are accurate, then we need to go to Lyoko immediately." Jeremie read the scrolling text for a few more seconds, then nodded. "I'm picking up some strange readings coming from a tower in the glacier region...the same tower that was activated during that last attack."
"Has it been activated again already?" Odd immediately got serious.
"I don't know what this reading means, but we need to go check it out. Since there are only three scanners, you, Ulrich, and Yumi, will go on ahead. After you're on Lyoko, then I'll transfer Aelita and myself over to the factory, and then once we know what we're up against, I'll send Aelita in if she's needed." Jeremie spun back toward the computer and started typing. "Get into the scanners, you guys."
As the three Lyoko warriors left to go into the scanner room, Aelita watched Jeremie bring up the transfer program. Suddenly, she froze, then slowly turned to face Jeremie. "I just realized something. Remember how Odd noticed that Sissi wasn't at the theater the first time? What if that's related to these strange readings?"
"Could be. Well, we'll have some answers soon enough. Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Odd. Transfer Yumi. Scanner Ulrich. Scanner Odd. Scanner Yumi. Virtualization."
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Ulrich appeared above one of the many walkways in the glacier region. He dropped to the ground, drawing his sword as he landed. He watched as Yumi and Odd virtualized in front of him, admiring the cat-like way in which Yumi landed. Yumi looked up and caught him staring. He quickly turned away, blushing. "Come on, the tower's this way."
"You know, Ulrich, this is the first time you've been in Lyoko without having to worry about Aelita being deleted. How does it feel, knowing that you won't have to worry about her?" Odd held an imaginary microphone in front of his friend.
"Odd, no time for games. We have work to do, remember?" Yumi unfolded her fan.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Can't blame a guy for trying to liven up a life-or-death mission, can you?" Odd stuck his tongue out at her.
The trio ran down the path toward the tower with Ulrich in the lead. They rounded a bend, almost crashing into the tower. They backed away from it, and stared up at the top. They didn't find the comforting blue of an inactive tower, or even the fiery red of an active one. Instead, they found…green.
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Jeremie and Aelita stepped out of the elevator into the main console room of the factory. Jeremie took his old seat in front of the computer, while Aelita stood behind him. "Let's see whether they've found the tower or not." Jeremie pulled his headset over his head. "Okay, guys, I'm at the factory. Have you found anything yet?"
Ulrich's voice came through the speakers, "You could say that. Jeremie, since I've been gone, has it become normal to find green towers?"
"Green towers? Are you sure it's green, and not some weird reflection of other light?"
"I'm sure, unless we've all gone colorblind. Aelita, do you know anything that might help us?" Yumi sounded worried.
"No, I've never seen one or even read anything about them, and I don't think I could have missed something that important. Maybe this has something to do with the second supercomputer?"
"That would be my guess. Do you think it's safe to go inside?"
"There's only one way to find out. I'm going in." Ulrich's icon entered the tower before anyone could stop him.
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As his head cleared the inner wall of the tower, Ulrich was surprised to find what looked like a normal tower interior. He stepped to the center of the platform and slowly spun in a circle, taking in every detail. "Looks normal to me, Jeremie. Anything strange going out there?"
"No, but Aelita's going over all the material we have on Lyoko. Hopefully she'll get some answers soon. In the meantime, Yumi and Odd, you might as well go in too."
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Aelita closed Jeremie's laptop. "It's official. There's nothing about green towers in any of the files we've downloaded. I'm going into Lyoko to check the tower out myself."
"That's probably our best course of action." Jeremie turned away from the computer screen. "I get the feeling that this is some sort of trap, so stay sharp."
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Aelita appeared a few feet from the tower and rushed inside. "Okay, I'm in. I'll go up to the upper platform to check out the time reversal program. Odd, you'd better come with me, just in case."
"Why?" Ulrich asked, "Shouldn't we be safe here?"
"Yes, theoretically. But, better safe than sorry." Jeremie piped in.
Aelita and Odd floated up to the upper platform, and Aelita immediately pressed her hand on the panel. Several readouts appeared, and she studied them for a few moments, her face growing white as she read farther into each one. "Jeremie, we have a major problem. According to these readouts, the second supercomputer and XANA both enabled the time reversal program, and the memory deletion process got corrupted in the process. The tower is green to indicate an error."
"You mean—" Jeremie's voice tensed.
"Yes. People are remembering things that happened during the last XANA attack!"
"Is there any way to repair the damage?" Odd asked.
"Fortunately, yes. If we can activate the time reversal program on just one computer, then we would be able to fix it."
"But we can't return to the past without an active tower!" Odd said, confused.
"Correction—we couldn't activate the program on XANA without an active tower. We may be able to do it on the second supercomputer." Jeremie sounded hopeful.
"Let's get to it, then. Aelita, I'm pulling you back out of Lyoko first, then I'll do the others."
Aelita de-virtualized, and appeared in one of the scanners. She rushed into the elevator and into the control room.
"I've already got a fix!" Jeremie practically shouted.
"That was fast." Aelita commented. "Do I need to go back into Lyoko to activate it?"
"Nope, I can activate it from here. Hopefully, we'll be able to use this whenever XANA launches an attack. Return to the past now!"
A white light engulfed the couple, spreading to cover the world.
(End Chapter)
(A/N) Yes, I ended a chapter without a cliffy (sorta)! Yay for me! I know that wasn't the best ending, but it was the best I could do after rotting my brain in Disneyworld for a week!
Congratulations to Tellemicus Sundance, allyfromcali, Doggiegal, and renayumi, who correctly guessed that the blue blur was Britta! They have received their prizes by email already, with the notable exception of Tellemicus. Please, Tellemicus, email me with your email and favorite Lyoko avatar so I can give you your prize!
I'll be updating a lot more now, since I already know the basics of the next few chapters. I even have a little song written for XANA's next attack!