I'm told that there's a new season of Code: Lyoko currently on the air. Unfortunately, my schedule prevents me from watching any of it.

Code: Lyoko

Secrets of the Factory

Last time on Code: Lyoko. A new avatar appeared intent on destroying everybody except Aelita and Xana, saying they were contaminating Lyoko. The gang wondered who this new person was and put forth some strange theories including the theory that it was Miss O'Connor, the young teacher. The leader of the Invaders took over a tower and when the gang tried to stop it, it defeated them all in one attack until only Aelita was left. The mysterious player forced Aelita out of Lyoko, apparently to protect her.

"Okay, everybody," Jim called. "The busses are ready to be boarded. So everyone start boarding." Jim started head-counting as the students boarded the charter busses.

"I'm so excited," Aelita said almost jumping up and down. "I've never been so far away from L… home before."

"Relax, Aelita, we're only going into town," Odd said.

"Don't forget, this isn't a pleasure trip," Jim reminded them, Jeremie, and Ulrich. "You're supposed to be at the new technology exhibit at the museum. Mrs. Hertz wants you to take down lots of notes and prepare a report on it when you return."

"This'll be easy," Aelita boasted. "I was born in technology."

Jim looked at her weird.

"She means, uh… she's was born for technology," Jeremie explained quickly.

"Well, whatever. Hey, where's Ishiyama?"

"Late as usual," Sissi said. "Maybe she just doesn't care about this school."

"No, just don't care about you," Yumi retorted appearing behind Sissi.

"Why you runt…"

"Just board the bus, all of you," Jim ordered.

On the way, Aelita noticed that Jeremie was staring intently at his sneakers. He seemed nervous about something. "Jeremie, is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, no, Aelita, everything's fine." But truthfully, Jeremie was thinking back to what happened the other day, his and Aelita's first kiss. Well, perhaps he shouldn't be calling it a kiss, more of an accidental kiss, but… Jeremie deep down had always imagined that moment, but he hadn't went through what might happen afterwards. Aelita was still new to the ways of humans so she probably didn't realize the intimacy or the awkwardness of what happened when she was forcibly ejected from the scanner. Why should I feel embarrassed? Jeremie wondered. I mean it's only Aelita so its okay, she still thinks very highly of me, so I shouldn't be worried… should I?

"We're here," Jim announced. The group piled out.

The National Technology Museum was spectacular. The history and mechanics of computers and digital technology was displayed in lifelike diorama displays. Ulrich pointed out a model of a heavyset man on the couch and whispered something into Yumi's ear. The two burst into almost hysterical laughter.

Jeremie was busy taking notes and Aelita was still trying to take it all in. "Jeremie, look!" She grabbed Jeremie's hand and pointed to a newsroom setup.

"It's great, Aelita," Jeremie said trying to humor her.

"Wow, some of this stuff I've never seen before," Aelita said. She looked at the mock-up of a TV Studio's control booth. "The Super Computer looks like this, do you think it functions the same way?"

"Well… kind of, I'll show you how it works later."

Odd ran over, "Guys, you gotta come see this."

"Odd, we already saw the robot dog," Ulrich said rolling his eyes.

"Not that, something else." He grabbed Ulrich's and Jeremie's hands and pulled them over to a display on the other side of the newsroom setup. Bewildered, Yumi and Aelita followed.

Everyone gasped! They were staring at a small-scale diorama of the factory!

"The factory, but how does anybody know about this?" Yumi asked.

Ulrich read the plaque near the display. "The Aramiya Development Factory or ADF was once the premium center for development of advanced visual display technology. However, an accident six years ago that took a life has left the factory little more than a warehouse. Speculation has risen among the scientific community that an experimental virtual technology was in the works but no evidence of such work was ever discovered."

Jeremie turned to Aelita and said excitedly, "Aelita, do you realize what this means? We might be able to find out more about your origins."

"My… origins?" Aelita mimicked nervously.

"Yeah, like where you came from or who your creator was. We might even find a key on how to get rid of the Invaders."

Something about this was making Aelita nervous, a fact that Odd noticed.

I want to find out about my origins, Aelita thought. But why am I so nervous, like I don't want to know? Could this be a side-effect of becoming human?

The kids took a break at a café next door. A few homeless people wandered the street holding cardboard signs looking for work. "The more I think about this, the more I'm certain the key to stopping the Invaders lies somewhere inside the Factory," Jeremie said.

"We could stay after and ask some questions to the curator," Ulrich offered.

"Yeah, like Jim would just let us wander around the museum," Yumi said sarcastically.

"He would if I asked."

"But Jeremie, if the Invaders attack," Yumi began.

"Not to worry, guys, someone else here knows how to activate the scanners." All eyes fell on Aelita.

"That's right," Aelita confirmed. "Jeremie showed me how to do the virtualizing process."

"So there will always be someone on hand in case we need to go to Lyoko."

"Lyoko, did you say Lyoko?" Everyone gasped and turned to see one of the homeless people walking up to them. The homeless guy got down and stared at Aelita.

Aelita gulped. Ulrich and Yumi got ready to intervene. "By any chance are you related to Amon Lyoko?" The homeless person asked.

"S… sorry," Aelita stammered. "I… I don't know who you're talking about."

"Too bad," the homeless guy said stroking his five day old stubble. "You remind me so much of Amon's little girl. She was about your age when she died. Tragic that, poor guy was never the same." The homeless guy turned and walked away.

"Did you guys see that?" Yumi asked as the homeless man turned a corner. "That guy recognized the name Lyoko."

"He also mentioned an 'Amon' guy." Odd turned to Aelita. "What do you think, Aelita, ring a bell?"

Aelita stared at the table and shook her head. "No, sorry."

"This makes it all the more imperative that we find out how Lyoko came about," Jeremie said. "I'll stay and find out what I can with the curator."

"I'll stay with you for backup," Ulrich volunteered.

"Fine, the rest of us will scope out the factory when we get back."

At a nearby table, Sissi humph and got up.

As the homeless man walked down the street, he heard a strange yet at the same time familiar voice, "It is her."

The homeless man turned to the newcomer. "Well I'll be darned, you definitely grown some over the years. So does that mean…?"

"Yup, it worked after all."

"Hot diggity dog," the homeless man said laughing. Then he realized something, "But what about…"

"They've broken free."

"So even in death his greed lives on."

"I don't think its death, Mister Vernard."

"If that's the case, then you will…"

"I already am…"

The man chuckled, "A product of your parents, you definitely are."

"Yeah, and so is she."

Jeremie ran up to Jim. "Jim, this place is so cool," he said excitedly. "Can I stay an extra hour?"

"Why would you want to stay an extra hour?" Jim asked suspiciously.

"For extra credit, I'm a big fan of computers so something like this is right up my alley."

"What do you take me for, some kind of idiot?" Jim asked. Jeremie didn't respond to that. "There's no way I'm going to let you wander this museum unchecked."

"He won't be unchecked," Ulrich said. "I'll be watching him."

"Yeah, but who'll be watching you?" Jim retorted.

"Please, Jim, you wouldn't want to hamper our education, would you?" Jeremie asked.

"All right, but I'm staying to keep an eye on you two," Jim said decisively.

"I'll stay too," Sissi volunteered. "I wouldn't mind getting a little extra credit myself." She fluttered her eyelashes at Ulrich. Ulrich gave Jeremie a pained look. Jeremie responded wordlessly but his look was that of empathy.

"I better call the principal and tell him about the change of plans," Jim said. As he started to dial the school, he told the three, "Listen, we will only stay here an extra hour, and only an extra hour. After that hour past, we're leaving whether any of you like it or not, got it?"

"Got it, Jim," the three said.

The field trip ended. As Yumi climbed back onto the bus, she noticed Sissi staying behind along with Ulrich and Jeremie. She started to take a step back but Odd and Aelita pulled her to a seat.

"Yumi, relax," Odd said. "Sissi wouldn't try anything, especially not with Jim there."

"But she…"

"You know plainly well Ulrich hates her guts. There's not a snowball's chance of anything happening."

Sissi gave Yumi a smug smile and wave. Yumi pounded the arm rest of her seat.

Once back at school, Yumi, Odd, and Aelita headed for the Factory. Instead of heading down to the lab, they looked around the upper levels. "You know, in some strange way, it feels like I'm looking at the Factory for the first time," Odd commented.

"Most of the times when we came here in the past, Xana was attacking and we didn't have too much time to look around," Yumi said. "But now, let's see what we can find." The three split up and explored the assembly line, control room, and the storage plant. They then went down to the basement but all they saw was old machinery and furnaces.

"Nothing," Odd grumbled after ten minutes of searching. "I guess they cleaned everything out when they closed this place down."

"It's strange," Yumi mused. "I kind of expect Xana to start attacking any minute now."

"Force of habit," Odd said nodding. "We've spent so much time on the run and attacking that I guess we forgot to just stop and smell the roses."

Yumi gave him an off-side smile, "Why Odd, I never realized you were so philosophical."

"Hey, I'm a man of many habits."

"No argument here."

"Yeah… uh… wait a second."

Yumi burst into laughter.

"Yumi, Odd," Aelita called. "Come quickly. The two joined the former resident of Lyoko in a side hallway. She was staring at a long dark staircase leading up. "Look what I found."

"Jackpot," Odd said. He felt around for a light switch but found none. "Hope neither of you ladies is scared of the dark." The three crept up the steps.

The door to the curator's office opened and a boy stuck his face in. "Excuse me, sir, do you have a minute?"

"Of course, young man, what can I do for you?"

"My name is Jeremie, I just wanted to ask you a few questions about one of your exhibits."

"Certainly, come in." Jeremie entered and Curator Mandova saw that he wasn't alone. Two other kids and a burly man were with him.

"I wanted to ask you about your ADF exhibit."

"Ah, the old Factory. Yes, that was one of my more… interesting exhibits."

"Yes, well, I was wondering how you found out about this Factory."

"The Aramiya Development Factory is one of the oldest buildings in town. The government was ready to tear it down but a community activist group convinced them that it should be left up as a symbol of the past."

"What did it do?"

"Well, it produced mainly circuitry components. But they were producing some unusual stuff."

"Like?" Ulrich asked.

"Sorry, I'm not sure."

"Well how did you find out all this?"

The Curator's eyebrow twitched. "One of the members of the community action group was part of my staff. He found a journal and what I just told you was what he was able to read."

"Where's the journal now?" Jeremie asked, his heart beginning to accelerate.

The Curator took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, I don't know; now if you please excuse me, I have a meeting to tend to." Ulrich sensed that he was trying to get them out of his office for a reason but this was the Curator's territory so he had the home-field advantage. The group left.

"Seemed like you stepped on somebody's toes, Jeremie," Sissi said.

"It was worth it," Jeremie said scribbling some notes in his notebook. It might be possible that this journal still exists, it might even be at the Factory! I need to get over there and…

"All right, you've kids spent enough time putsing around, time to get all of you back to school," Jim said.

Ulrich was about to protest when Jeremie stopped him. His nod was all Ulrich needed to see.

The second floor of the Factory was nothing but a dingy hallway with six doors on each side and one at the end. Yumi and Odd each took a side and began looking in. Aelita huddled back by the stairs. For some reason, she was getting scared, very scared, frightened is more like it.

"These must've been where the offices were," Yumi said looking in on an abandoned lounge.

"Maybe we'll find out more in here," Odd said.

Aelita could actually hear her heart beating. The beating got louder and louder as Odd and Yumi approached the room at the end of the hall. They finally reached it. Odd reached over to open the door.

"NO, STOP!" Aelita cried crouching into a ball and covering her head with her hands.

"Aelita, are you all right?" Yumi asked.

"Scared… I'm scared, Yumi! I don't know why, I'm just scared!"

"Perhaps we should get her back downstairs," Odd said as the two helped Aelita back to the fore chamber by the freight elevator.

"I'm sorry, guys, I don't know what came over me," Aelita said. "It was like an overwhelming sense of fear and anguish. I haven't felt such terror before, not even when I was being attacked by Xana."

"That's strange," Odd said. "Aelita had never been to the factory before Jeremie materialized her, right?"

"I'm not sure that's the case, Odd," Yumi said.

"I'm sorry," Aelita apologized.

"Don't be, it's actually a big clue in to figuring out what the secret of the Factory is," Yumi said.

The Lyoko symbol flashed on Yumi's and Odd's cell phones. "Duty calls," Yumi said. Aelita actually seemed relieved to head down to the lab. Once down there, she sat in Jeremie's seat with Yumi and Odd surrounding her.

"Okay, it looks like the Invaders have transformed another tower into an Obelisk."

"Just for clarity's sake, this is a different one than the one where we were all ejected?" Odd asked.

"Yes, this one's in the desert region. You two head down to the scanners. I'll monitor things here until Jeremie and Ulrich return."

"Hopefully, this'll be an easy one and we won't need their help," Odd said. Yumi gave him a sour look. "I'm just saying I don't want all four of us to be ejected like last time."

"But what about shutting down the tower?"

"I already contacted Xana," Aelita said. "He'll meet you there and will be ready to proceed once the Obelisk has transformed back into the Tower.

"Sure, he did it once before," Odd recalled.

"Okay, let's go." Yumi and Odd ran down to the scanners as Aelita began putting in the codes.

"Transfer Yumi, transfer Odd… scanner Yumi, scanner Odd… virtualization!"

Yumi and Odd appeared on either side of Xana who was staring at the Obelisk.

Yumi shivered, "Bad memories," she muttered.

"Huh?"

"This is the tower that we went to while Ulrich and I were fighting."

"And now the Invaders have transformed it into an Obelisk," Odd said finishing Yumi's thought. "Talk about adding insult to injury."

"Let's just get this over with."

"Upload: Disk Launchers, upload: Wrist Claws." Their weapons appeared. "Okay, you're all set. Be careful."

"Thanks, Aelita." Yumi and Odd took a peek inside the labyrinth surrounding the Obelisk.

The path was straight, leading directly to the center.

"No way it can be this easy," Odd said as the two stepped forward into the labyrinth. No sooner had he said that then the walls started to shake. "That'll teach me to keep my big mouth shut."

"Aelita, what's going on?"

"Oh no!" Aelita cried. "The labyrinth's shape is changing." A wall sprung up between Yumi and Odd.

"Laser Crescent!" Odd tried blasting the wall down but it didn't work.

"Looks like we'll just have to get to the center on our own," Odd said. "See you there, Yumi!"

"Not if I see you first." The two took off heading in opposite directions.

Why did the Invaders do that? Aelita wondered. Are they trying to separate us? That can't be the case, if they did that, why would… hmmm…

"Hey Aelita, Odd called. Do you think the Invaders are trying to lead us out of the labyrinth?"

"I don't… think so," Aelita said slowly. "They must be trying to trap you. Oh no! The maze is shifting again!"

Sure enough, new walls were appearing and old walls were disappearing. Odd saw a path form straight to the entrance. He made a mad dash for it but a wall risen up in front of him at the last minute. Odd skidded to a halt and pondered it for a minute. "Of course, why didn't I think of it before?" He dug his claws into the wall and climbed up the wall using it. Once on top of the labyrinth, he could see Yumi but more importantly, he could see the entrance. He leapt off and entered the Obelisk. "I'm in, Aelita."

"Be careful, Odd, who knows what's waiting inside."

Odd took a look around. It looked pretty empty. For a second, Odd wondered if the Invaders had decided not to put a mega monster in this one. He then dismissed that as wishful thinking.

Suddenly a giant Blow Fish appeared. Odd stared at it, "So you're my dance partner, huh? Okay, then, let's dance!"

A pre-battle screen came on the side monitor: Odd vs. Big Blow.
Odd leapt up, bounced off the wall of the Obelisk and launched an attack at it. "Crescent Barrage!" The series of laser crescents struck the giant Blow Fish dead on but didn't have any noticeable effect on it. "Oh come on, just once I'd like to have one of my attacks work," he whined. Several smaller Blow Fish appeared around the bigger one and launched towards Odd. Odd was barely able to dodge all of them.

"Hurry, Yumi, Odd's in trouble," Aelita reported.

"I'm on it," Yumi said as she made a gesture with her fingers. "Mystic Aura… levitate!" Yumi floated over the labyrinth to the entrance of the Obelisk. "Phew, wonder why I didn't think of this before?"

"Because doing it cost you all your energy," Aelita explained. "Any further use of your aura will deplete your life points."

"Ah, that's why." Yumi ran inside just in time to see the Big Blow summon a team of smaller Blow Fish and launch them straight at Odd. Yumi fired her bladed disks and was able to destroy most of them. The rest Odd was able to dodge. "Thanks, Yumi."

"No problem," Yumi replied. Her disks returned to her and she fired them again at the Big Blow. The disks cut the giant fish on the side but it only got angrier. It summoned some more Blow Fish.

"Every time we attack that thing, it sends its babies to deep-fry us," Odd said. "Wait a second that gives me an idea." Odd bounced along the walls of the Obelisk until it landed directly on top of the Big Blow. The smaller Blow Fish made a beeline directly for Odd. At the last second, Odd flipped off of the Big Blow. The Blow Fish struck its parent causing it to cry out in pain. "Yumi, lead the Blow Fish back, we can use them as ammo."

"Good idea, Odd." Yumi used some stunning acrobatics and landed in front of the Big Blow. The Blow Fish dove towards her. Inches before they were able to struck, Yumi dropped into a split causing the Blow Fish to strike the Big Blow.

"It's losing life points," Aelita reported. "Keep it up, you two."

"Did we miss anything?" It was Jeremie and Ulrich who were able to ditch Sissy and Jim and come to the Factory.

"You guys wouldn't believe what we found," Ulrich commented.

"Tell us later," Aelita said quickly. "Right now, Yumi and Odd are fighting a giant Blow Fish inside a transformed tower. They finally figured out a way to defeat it but time is now against us."

"Looks like you did pretty well sitting in that chair," Jeremie commented.

"I'm only using what you taught me, Jeremie."

Jeremie blushed at that comment.

Yumi and Odd each launched an attack at the Big Blow. The Big Blow, in return, fired a bunch of Blow Fish at them. The two Lyoko warriors spun and dodged and once again caused the Blow Fish to attack their parent instead. They kept up this procedure a couple more times. Finally, the Big Blow settled on the ground. It began cracking with electricity.

"Run," Aelita shouted. "The computer says it's about to…"

Too late, the Big Blow self-destructed taking Yumi and Odd with it.

The two were heaved from their respective scanners. Yumi pounded on the ground, "We weren't able to revert the Obelisk back to normal."

"Wait, what about Xana? He's still out there."

Xana ran inside the Obelisk. The interior had transformed back into a normal-looking tower. Xana flew to the upper level and input the override command.

L-Y-O-K-O

Aelita breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good job, Aelita," Jeremie congratulated.

"Thanks, Jeremie."

Jeremie realized that his hand was on Aelita's shoulder. He quickly pulled it away and blushed.

After the tower shut down, Odd pulled Jeremie off to the side and told him about Aelita's little episode.

"Things are starting to make sense," Jeremie said. "I have a feeling that Aelita and Lyoko were the secrets being worked on inside the ADF."

"If so, why?" Odd asked.

"I'm not sure, Odd, but I have a feeling that the answer lies in that upper floor."

Unknown to the boys, Aelita was listening in.

Aelita meets the Phantom Player in battle in Lyoko. As Aelita learns about courage, the Invaders launch an attack.