Author's Note: Odd's female in this Alternate Universe Fic, same personality different body. My reason is due to her roommate, I had to change him to a her because she's rooming with Yumi in my fic and could not be male. Since this is an Alternate , Odd's only one of the people I changed, Aelita, when she shows up, won't be utterly defenseless and Jeremie, while only human and looks rather small, is strong enough to take care of himself outside of Lyoko. Odd, Ulrich, Yumi and Jeremie are also going to show some other alterations in later chapters.
And in case you haven't caught it yet here's changes to the gang that are evident in this chapter.
Odd - Female, Yumi's roommate
Yumi - Same grade as Odd and Jeremie, lives on campus
Ulrich - One grade above Odd, Yumi, and Jeremie, lives off campus with his parents
Jeremie - So far same as usual, but in better shape.
Aelita - Automated cybernetic avatar with Virtual counterpart, Xana-proof, shall be designated as AelitaR and AelitaV, cause they are two separate entities. AelitaR is a realistic, almost human automaton, has to stay within half a mile of the Lyoko Mainframe, is deactivated when Lyoko's power switch is off. AelitaV is the keeper of Lyoko.
The rest of the school isn't changed...except for the fact that there's a raging bully problem (will come into play later.)
Back to the story.
Ch. 3 The Kadic Lyoko Complex
(Odd)
Odd got off Jeremie and helped him up. She reached down and pulled out her cell phone to check the time when all four of their cells went off, displaying the same message.
"Need help at old factory"
Odd looks at her cell strangely and then looks off in the direction of the old factory that was supposedly abandoned, whoever just sent that message must be in trouble, she reached back and grabbed Jeremie's hand, forcefully pulling him after her, they make their way to the factory tailed closely by Ulrich and Yumi who were both trying their hardest to keep up with the practically flying Odd but losing ground steadily. Odd comes to a stop right in front of the entrance to the factory as her phone goes off again, with another text message.
"Take elevator down one floor."
Odd looks around the area as Ulrich and Yumi both catch up, slightly out of breath but running on adrenalin. She sees the elevator on the lower section of the factory's ground floor and releases Jeremie and jumps down, landing in a slight crouch and then runs to the elevator and waits for her friends to catch up.
(Jeremie)
Jeremie watches as Odd jumps from the catwalk they were standing on and lands, barely fazed by the landing as she runs up to the elevator and turns around then yells at the top of her lungs.
"Hurry up, guys! We don't know how much time whoever this is has left. I just wish I knew who was sending these messages to us!"
Jeremie sees a nearby rope and jumps out, grabbing hold of it and sliding down to the ground floor, being careful not to give himself rope burn. He lands on the ground next to Odd and turns to see Ulrich and Yumi swinging down on a pair of ropes that were hanging from the roof a small distance from the entrance. When the group all lands safely in front of the elevator they all step into the elevator and Ulrich hits the down button. Jeremie leans against the side of the elevator, catching his breath and recovering from being dragged at a full out sprint for a quarter mile. Odd leans against the wall beside Jeremie, not even tired from the sprint.
"You need to attend Gym more often, Einstein, you shouldn't be tired after that little run."
"Odd, not everybody is a cross country runner like you."
All four of them jump when they feel the elevator stop. The door of the elevator opens, revealing a young lady with pink hair and eyebrows, wearing an outfit that looked like it was purchased twenty years ago but still fit perfectly. The strange girl addresses the four teens.
"Welcome to the Kadic Lyoko Complex. This base houses a supercomputer that contains the virtual world of Lyoko, my counterpart has already warned me of your coming. I ask that you keep this place secret, it is not meant for the prying eyes of the public. Come here."
Jeremie, reaching his second wind, dashes forward and stands next to the strange girl, noticing that she's not human when he sees her sit down in the chair next to the holo-projector in the center of the room, her eyes glow for a short time and the computer begins to type for her, she's not even using the keyboard.
"My designation is Aelita, I am an Automated Cybernetic Avatar or ACA for short. I am linked, rather painstakingly to this computer. I cannot leave this complex, I am linked completely to my virtual counterpart, if she is deleted I am deactivated. She obviously needs help now, so I'm going to send you four in. Leave your cell phones here and go down one floor and step into the scanners, they look like massive pods. I will do the rest."
The four of them nod and follow the ACA's instructions. They place their cell phones on the table in the holo-projector room and stepped back into the elevator, which went down one more floor to the Scanner room. The door opened up and the four of them each picked a pod and entered it. Over the intercom they heard Aelita's 'voice' practically echo inside of their heads.
"Profile: Jeremie, Profile: Odd, Profile: Yumi, Profile: Ulrich...Scanners activated...Virtualization!"
(Yumi)
Yumi felt a gust of warm air blow up from the floor of the scanner. She woke up floating several feet in the air beside her friends. Looking at herself she noticed that she was wearing a kimono that had been tied up so that it did not hinder her movements, she also had a ribbon tied around her waist and felt a pair of metal objects attached to the ribbon, reaching back she unhooks them and pulls them in front of herself.
A look of realization flashes across her face as she suddenly knows exactly how to use her weapon and she feels a pulse in her mind. The others look like they came to the same realization. This is where their dream had been happening...and now it was coming true. Yumi looks over at her friends and sees that Odd was indeed a cat girl in her virtual form, Ulrich looks like a samurai, with a few minor differences, and Jeremie...he looks like a sniper, guns and everything, he's even got a pair of sheathed combat knives strapped to his outer thigh. She hears Odd make a comment.
"This just keeps getting better..." Odd takes a deep breath and screams, "Aelita!"
A young girl who looks like an elf runs into the clearing that they are standing in, it's obvious that they are in a forested region. The girl sees them and smiles. She starts talking to them.
"My name is Aelita, I take it you met my Cybernetic counterpart in your world. We have the same designation...please feel free to come up with a way to differentiate, because the other Aelita is listening in to our conversation."
As if on cue the robotic Aelita's voice echoes out of nowhere.
"Yes, I am here, I shall be informing you of your remaining life, ammunition, and energy readings. Currently you are all at 100 percent health, ammo and energy. Just so you know, when your health runs out you will be ejected rather forcefully from Lyoko, so be careful. We would rather you not get devirtualized."
The Aelita in front of them starts talking again.
"Please familiarize yourself with your forms and weaponry...we are about to have company, I was running from a group of Kankrelets, little monsters with laser cannons."
The voice from above reverberates down to them.
"Incoming Kankrelets, Odd your weapon's built into your wrist and your claws can be charged with electricity, You can also summon a barrier by crossing your arms in front of yourself. You only have twenty shots before you will need to be reloaded, good luck."
Odd nods and taps her wrist experimentally, she hears a click, signifying that her weapon's armed, she smirks and dashes toward a nearby tree climbing up it quickly and getting into position above where Aelita came in from.
Jeremie dashed back and ran straight up a tree, activating his Lyoko power, Vanish to hide from the Kankrelets. Yumi and Ulrich took up positions in front of Aelita brandishing their weapons expertly, preparing to defend themselves from the coming onslaught. The voice from above calls down to Yumi and Ulrich giving them one last bit of advice.
"Your weapons are impervious to damage and can deflect and even reflect the enemies' lasers, Protect my virtual self and get her to the tower that is glowing red...I've memorized your cell phone numbers and I will have a lot to tell you after this is over."
(Ulrich)
Ulrich was completely confused as to what was going on, all he knew was that something that was after the one he had been ordered to protect, he had a weapon, he had knowledge that came from nowhere...he even knew about an ability called triplicate, which he quickly knew could be used as a distraction technique and that the clones were solid until hit. He also had a pack of small throwing stars and Kunai knives attached to his leg, obviously he was more of a ninja than a samurai...no matter what his attire said. He had intimate knowledge of all his weapons, not to mention his new abilities and powers.
Activating his Triplicate skill, he sends his clones to hide out behind the trees of the path Aelita came out of. He looks up and sees Odd preparing to drop in behind the enemy and blast them. He saw Yumi holding her fans defensively and preparing for the coming storm of laser-fire that she would be blocking for Aelita. He even saw Jeremie arming his sniper rifle and heard him fire off two shots before putting it away and pulling out his pistols. The voice from the heavens commented on Jeremie's aim.
"Nice shot, you got three of them in two shots. Seven Kankrelets remaining. The activated tower is just down that path, you might have to abandon your ambush and rush Aelita there, if anyone dies before the time reset that will happen when you deactivate that tower they will not be revived."
The original Ulrich and Yumi look at each other, eyes wide. Ulrich turns his attention back to the approaching Kankrelets and his clones jump out from the sides, slicing through four of the enemies before being hit. Ulrich dashes forward, deflecting shots left and right as he somewhat recklessly charges into his enemies, slicing them apart before they even knew what happened. Odd dropped out of the tree and picked the last one off before it could retreat and summon reinforcements. Odd looks to her allies and they all nod and put their weapons away, dashing toward the tower as fast as their virtual bodies could go. Aelita dashes up to the tower and walks straight through the wall.
The four friends all gather in front of the tower, for a few last words about the mission. Jeremie speaks first.
"Well, we won...this round. I have a feeling we are in for a hell of a lot more fighting like this. I admit that this Aelita's cute. I'd like to know how long this place has been operational...there's so much we don't know about this."
"I agree with Einstein...we did good this round...but what happens if we have to help out here again...we were ordered to keep a secret...can we...and more importantly should we?"
Yumi sighs and leans against Ulrich.
"I have a feeling the nightmare's only just begun...I wonder what coming here did to us...cause I have a feeling that our lives just took a very serious turn."
Ulrich wraps an arm around Yumi.
"Yes...I'd have to agree...I believe we should keep the secret, I'd rather not have the deaths of both Aelita's on my conscience and I know none of you would want that either."
Odd sighs as a bright white light comes from the tower and engulfs the group.
End Chapter 3