Author's Note 1: I do not own any part of Code: Lyoko, the show characters, or anything else.
Author's Note 2: The only thing within that I claim as my own is the created characters Maethus(aka Project Element), Legacy(aka Project Shadows), and Daemon(aka Project Demon).
Shadows and Elements
Jeremy looks at his computer. "This is so strange. The rain is still falling, but it doesn't seem to be XANA's doing." Jeremy says when Aelita appears.
"I didn't sense any pulsations, Jeremy." she says.
"That's alright Aelita. I'll see you later." Jeremy logs off his computer and leaves his room to see if the nurse had figured anything out about Maethus.
"Get away I said!" Jeremy hears Maethus's voice yelling, apparently at the nurse. "I said I'm alright!" Jeremy opens the door, only to hide behind it as Maethus throws a needle at the door.
"Is this a bad time?" Jeremy asks, peaking around the door, hoping to reduce potential targets.
"If he thinks he's alright then just get him out of here!" the nurse orders Jeremy.
"Finally!" Maethus jumps out of the bed and runs out the door, grabing Jeremy's arm and dragging him along. Maethus stops, out of breath. "Where's the highest point in the school?" he asks.
"Uhhh, that would be the antennae for our mobiles." Jeremy says, curious as to Maethus's plans.
"Take me there." he commands. "Don't worry, I'm not going to mess with it. I just want to get back into the storm." he explains. Jeremy shakes his head as he takes Maethus to the antennae. "Ahhh. This is better." the rain pelts Maethus's face, and he is soaked immediately. The thunder starts up again and Maethus raises his right hand towards the sky. "Thunder, breeder of fire. Stop now and let the rain rule." he commands. The Kazan symbol on his hand glows red briefly and the thunder stops immediately. "Rain, such wonder." Maethus lowers his hand and turns back toward Jeremy. "I don't suppose there's a school brass band, is there?" he asks. Jeremy just stares at Maethus's hand in wonder. "Ahh crap!" he casually tosses his left hand and orders the rain to reduce it's downpour. "Oh well. Fair exchange. You know one of my secrets, now tell me one of yours." Jeremy sputters at this demand.
"What? I never made that deal with you!"
"It's only fair. You know one of my secrets, so I get to learn one of yours." Maethus slowly approaches the blonde genius.
"Alright. You reveal your secret to Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd, and we will reveal a collective secret." Jeremy gives up.
"That's better." Maethus heads down the stairs and to his room, leaving a train of water to stain the carpets and wood. Upon reaching his room, he pauses at the door, pulls out a semi-soggy piece of paper, writes his cell number on it, and quickly slips it under Jeremy's door. Entering his dorm, Maethus is surprised to see eyes amongst the shadows. "How'd you get in here?" Maethus asks, circling the room and ending up in front of his bed. The hidden figure then pounces on Maethus, landing him on his back on the bed.
"Maethus!" the person says.
"Legacy?" he asks, looking down on the girl's hair. It was her. Only one person had the triple-striped silver hair that he saw. "You got away from them alright?" he pushes her off of him and sits so that the wall supported his back.
"It took me three hours of messing with their lights, but I finally got out." She pushes her headband out of her eyes and back over the japanese symbol on her forehead.
"Looks like there's ONE good thing those guys did to us." Maethus says, drawing a laugh from his friend. "How did you know to come here for me?" Maethus suddenly becomes serious.
"They wanted me to be the perfect mix of good and bad,and so gave me hacker training. I just had to find the ISP for the LAN and poof, I'm here because of the Shadows." Legacy explains.
"Shadows, have you seen around here any?"
"Just the principal, Element. He's letting me enroll." the girl says and lays on the bed with her head on Maethus's lap.
"I wonder..." he says softly.
"Hmm?" Legacy looks at him with tired eyes.
"Nothing. You can sleep here tonight, and we'll find your dorm tomorrow." Maethus runs his fingers through Legacy's hair, letting them rest where the black, white, and grey locks converge.
Maethus awakens the next morning, tasting his friend's hair in his mouth. He spits it out and lits up, carefully moving Legacy off of his lap so as not to disturb her, making his way to look out the window out onto the rising sun. "Too good to be true. We both escaped. But they will come after us. They will not let their precious Projects Element and Shadows get away from them without a fight. They will come searching for us." Legacy wraps her arms arund Maethus's waist.
"But we will find a way to get away. To a place they will never find us. Isn't thet right, Element?" she asks.
"It is, Shadows, but I fear it will take us a long time to find such a place." he removes Legacy's arms and turns around to embrace her in his arms. As he does, his phone starts to ring. He picks it up. "Hello?" he says. "Oh, hey Jeremy. When will you reveal your collective secret? Lunch? You don't mind if I expand the deal to include something else on my sode, do you? Good. See you then." he hangs up. "Well, looks like we might have some people on our side, ready to defend us. If I play my cards right, that is."
"IF?" Legacy stares into Maethus's eyes skeptically. He shrugs.
"That guy found out about my powers, and so I am forcing him to let me know one of his secrets. He and his friends are going to reveal a collective one, and so I must show them my secret. I proposed to get you in on the secret, but you'll have to reveal one of your powers." his friend glares at him. "It doesn't have to be all three, just one. I, on the other hand, have to reveal all four. They know about the Symbols I have. And one saw them in action." Legacy throws her hands in the air and the two leave Maethus's room, heading separate ways for their classes.
At lunch, Maethus leads Legacy over to the table with Odd, Ulrich, Jeremy, and Yumi. "So, have they agreed?" Maethus asks Jeremy.
"To what?" the others look at their blonde friend.
"Yesterday, after he was struck by the lightning, Maethus had me take him to the antennae for the mobiles. There he did, something, and the weather obeyed him. He said it was one of his secrets and that I would have to reveal one of mine. I offered one of our collective ones." Jeremy explains.
"Oh great. And who's this?" Ulrich shakes his head, looking at Legacy.
"Legacy." she answers for herself.
"She wants in on your secret, and she'll reveal one of hers while we're at it." Maethus says. Yumi sighs.
"We might as well. There's not really anything to do anyways." she jerks her head, taking her food with her and leading the group out into the forest. Ulrich walks up to her side.
"What are you doing? We can't let them know about Lyoko." he tells her.
"Don't worry. If XANA notices them with us, he might attack and then we can go back into the past and they won't remember anything." Yumi explains her plan. Ulrich nods and looks down upon the manhole cover. "We're here." Yumi bends over and pulls off the metal disc.
"Wow, a sewer, what a secret." Maethus says sarcastically.
"It's what's on the other side that's the secret." Jeremy says. "But first, you will have to demonstrate your secret to these three." Maethus nods and jumps down into the sewer, followed by the others climbing down. Maethus, instead of standing on the cement walkway, was standing on the water. Not in it, ON IT.
"What the heck?" Ulrich squints to look at Maethus's feet. there were no ripples or anything on the water.
"Number Two." Maethus points his right hand at the wall and a jet of flame flares out to lick at the dirty sewer wall, leaving burn mark on the stone. "Three." he lowers his right hand and raises his left. A sudden gust of wind comes from the way of the Factory. "And Four." Maethus switches his hands and a chunk of rock floats down the manhole and hovers in front of Jeremy. "I command Wind, Water, Earth, and Fire." he explains.
"So that's what those symbols on your hands mean." Odd says.
"No. Those are the basic elements, but the symbols on his hands are different." Yumi disagrees. " 'Jishin' means 'Earthquake', 'Kazan' is 'Volcano', 'Doshaburi' is 'Torrent', and Hariken' is 'Hurricane'. But what I don't understand, is how he can control the lightning."
"Lightning is basically a combination of Wind, Water, and Fire." Maethus says. "But enough with my secret. We find out yours and Legacy reveals one of hers."
The group climbs up the ladder at the end of the sewer, putting them on the bridge leading to the Factory. "Now THAT looks promising." Maethus says.
"This is our secret. We come here all the time." Jeremy tells. "And now, it's your turn, Legacy." The girl fidgets under the gaze of thr older students.
"Hey, it's alright. How about 'Yugure'?" Maethus lays a hand on Legacy's shoulder. She nods and raises her right hand, revealing the japanese symbol 'Yugure'. Seconds pass, and the sky darkens to an almost-night-black.
" 'Yugure' means 'Nightfall'." Yumi says in awe.
"You know, we could create a really great spectical for your entertainment for just one more secret revealed." Maethus offers. The four friends huddle together and then turn around.
"Go for it." they say. Maethus nods to Legacy and they both raise their hands. Clouds gather in the sky by Maethus's silent order, and the sky changes from night to day by Legacy's command. Short bursts of flame spout from Maethus's right hand, while water emerges from his left. As the opening of the show fades, he gets into the REAL part. Maethus summons a gale of wind and also a bolt of lightning to come straight for him. At the last second, he orders it to bend away and strike itself near the bottom of the stormcloud. It causes the air trapped between the bolt's edges to open a visual portal into another world. Jeremy gasps as Aelita appears in the portal. He tears his gaze away from the image and runs into the Factory. But he was not the only one to see the even happening. Everyone in the city saw it. And a certain computer saw it as his chance to strike. The bridge begins to rumble under their feet, and everyone turns to glare at Maethus.
"It isn't me!" he tells them, lunging for Yumi's hand. He grabs it and then Ulrich's. "Legacy! Get Odd!" he yells over the noise of the shaking bridge. She complies and grabs his arm as he starts to fall. Maethus causes two pieces of the bridge to rise, separating them from the bridge, and raising Maethus and his friends from the collapsing bridge. But the quake does not stop with the bridge. It spreads into the city, shaking the houses, walls, even speading as far as the school. Maethus throws Yumi and Ulrich into the opening for the Factory. "Jeremy ran inside. Go find him. Legacy and I will keep people out here safe." Maethus then glides his bridge cutout over to the earth on the far end of the bridge's remnants. He places his hands on the ground and concentrates. Slowly the ground stops shaking, but then the rain falls heavier.
"Element!" Legacy yells at him.
"It's not me! I swear!" Maethus yells back. The wind kicks up into great gusts. The air grows cold as it darkens to deepest midnight.
"Don't look at me!" Legacy shakes her head and throws up her hands. The wind and rain slam against the ground and walls with such force that it actually causes small craters where they hit. The pain is unbearable, even for Maethus.
"Return to the clouds!" He commands, pointing his left hand at the sky. As if to defy his orders, the rain falls harder and faster, creating even larger craters in what the raindrops hit. Legacy grabs her friend and they disappear from view, only to reappear at the entrance of the Factory. "I don't get it. Why did the rain not listen to me?" as he speaks, the rain seems to freeze in the air, the wind immediately dies to nothing. "What the?" Maethus and Legacy turn around and are enveloped inside a glowing white light spreading out from the factory.
The group climbs up the ladder at the end of the sewer, putting them on the bridge leading to the Factory. "What the?" Maethus asks, looking around. Jeremy and the others look at eachother. "Wasn't there..." Maethus shakes his head, as if trying to clear his vision. "I couldv'e sworn..."
"Couldv'e sworn what?" Yumi walks up next to Maethus.
"Wasn't there a bright flash just now?" Legacy looks about, also perplexed at the predicament. Odd looks at Jeremy, as if wanting an explination from him.
"Don't look at me." Jeremy says, unfortunately not soft enough to keep it between him, Odd, and Ulrich.
"Why not? Did you do something?" Legacy glares at him.
"The rules have changed, Jeremy. We've shown you five of our secrets. You owe us four." Maethus explains.
"That didn't happen the first time!" Ulrich exclaims, glaring at Jeremy.
"The first time? So it wasn't just the two of us that noticed?" Legacy asks.
"Run!" Jeremy says and turns tail, followed closely by Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi.
"What a strange bunch of people. Well, we'd better get back to the school. How about my room?" Legacy nods and whisks the two of them away, using the shadows to move faster than humanly possible.