The Search For Franz Hopper
4: Chaos
Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko
Morning came, but to everyone's discontent it was a school day. Two classes, Math and Physics, came before lunch, but they went by pretty fast. Lunch was always Odd's favorite time of day, especially when they serve mashed potatoes, so it was his lucky day. Jeremie as well as everyone else tried not to think about XANA or the tower they saw yesterday, but they couldn't resist.
"What do you guys think that tower means?" asked Ulrich.
"No idea, but", replied Jeremie. "Uh oh, drop it here comes someone."
"Hey guys, what's up?" asked Hunter.
"BWOHMNHUTHIHN", replied Odd with his mouth full of mashed potatoes and steak.
"What was that?" asked Hunter as Odd swallowed what was in his mouth.
"I said, o nothing."
"Oh. Well I'm having a hard time fitting in and after I turned down Sissi. I think started a few rumors about me being weird or crazy and stuff. Mind if I just hang out with you guys?"
"No problem", replied Aelita. "I don't think Sissi likes us that much either. Except Ulrich. She's crazy about him."
"Thanks guys", said Hunter. "Say, I never got your name, or his."
"I'm Jeremie."
"And I'm Aelita."
"Nice to meet you both."
"Ditto", Aelita and Jeremie said at the same time.
The group got to know Hunter a little more like where he came from, how old he is, what grade he's in. Then the group began to laugh. Seems like they're already good friends. And as long as they kept a low profile and not leak information about Lyoko, they'd be fine. Problem is, now they could go to Lyoko without Hunter knowing. Then the bell rang and it was time for class again. Apparently Hunter was a 9th grader so he was in the same class as Yumi, she didn't even know it too. The next two classes passed by and the final bell rang, the day was over.
"I'm going home", said Yumi. "Teachers just had to give me tons of homework."
"Okay, bye", said Ulrich.
The rest of the group including Hunter went back to their dorms. Aelita and Jeremie went to Jeremie's room to do some research on the data and the tower from Sector 5.
"Should we go the factory?" asked Jeremie.
"No I don't think so", Aelita replied. "We don't want Hunter to get suspicious."
"You're right", Jeremie said. "Say about that kiss you gave me at the factory."
"Umm...yes", said Aelita as she blushed.
"I couldn't stop thinking about it, and...I've been wanting to say this to you for a while now."
"I know Jeremie. My answer is yes. I love you Jeremie."
"I love you too Aelita."
They kissed each other for a short time. They're now boyfriend-girlfriend and happier than ever. But they had work to do.
It was 3:00 PM when the two began working and two hours passed. They discovered that the tower had a connection to the capturing of Franz Hopper as well as deleting the programs in the supercomputer.
"So XANA saw all of this coming", said Jeremie. "Predicting that I'll slip up and put all of you guys in danger."
"Well I'd say there's nothing to worry about since you've restored everything", said Aelita. "My question is what's the point of the tower being activated?"
"If we or you deactivate the tower, your dad may be freed", said Jeremie. "But don't take my word for it considering it's a wild guess."
"And I say you're on the right track", added Aelita. "When do you think we can go to the factory?"
"Let's go tonight and get it over with. I'll call the others."
Jeremie called Odd and Ulrich while Aelita called Yumi about their discovery. But since they didn't want their new friend to catch on to Lyoko they took things slowly and decided to meet after the school's curfew. So they ate dinner and later met up at the factory. Jeremie and Aelita then explained the connection and the proposed hypothesis. The Jeremie sent the group to Lyoko.
Someone's watching us, Jeremie thought. I think Odd was right a few days ago when he said he felt like he was being followed.
"Okay guys", said Jeremie. "to Sector 5. Sorry Odd."
"No problem, I think I'm getting used to it", Odd replied.
The door opened. "Okay three minutes", announced Jeremie.
A second later. "There it is", Ulrich said as he pointed to a high up spot on the right wall. "This looks like a job for a cat."
"I'm on it", Odd replied.
It took a while, but Odd got it in time. The exit opened and led to the elevator. The elevator then dropped them off at a corridor. The corridor then led to the room with the tower. But out of nowhere two Mantas ascended from below. Caught off-guard, the Mantas' fire hit Odd and Yumi. Aelita then charged towards the Mantas who were at the same time in front of the tower. She jumped and cleared the Mantas entering the tower.
"I'm in Jeremie", said Aelita.
"Okay then, deactivate it", replied Jeremie.
A moment later, "Tower deactivated", and the tower returned to being blue.
The computer began to type stuff on its own. It was the same encrypted language Sissi typed when Franz Hopper tried to contact the Lyoko gang some time ago. Jeremie then began to decode the long message. It only took a few minutes and played it over the sound system on Lyoko and his headset.
"S...O.S...Someone...help...me...XANA has...trap...ped me in...Sector...5...Please respond!...He has..." Then the message became garbled. Then it began to play again:
"SOS, SOMEONE HELP ME. XANA HAS TRAPPED ME IN SECTOR 5 PLEASE RESPOND! HE HAS FRAGMENTS OF ME HIDDEN AS ENCRYPTED DATA IN SECTOR 5! I AM FRANZ HOPPER...fraNZ HopPEr..." Then the message ended.
"I am Franz Hopper?" asked Yumi.
"Fragments", said Jeremie. "I get it, he's bound to Lyoko like Aelita was before."
"But this time we know where to look", said Ulrich. "Just that we have to worry about the Mantas."
"Right, we can do this guy", Jeremie said. "Let's go!"
The group left the tower room and returned to the elevator. They then took the elevator to the balcony with the interface. Aelita began to search but couldn't find anything.
"Jeremie, can you check the data we retrieved before?" asked Aelita.
"Okay", replied Jeremie. "Hey this file's encrypted! This should be a piece of it then."
"Great. I'll keep searching."
"Aelita watch out!" yelled Odd as he jumped in front of her to save her from the Mantas' lasers.
Odd was devirtualized. Yumi and Ulrich were now given to task to fell or fend against three Mantas. But all they could do was block any fire headed towards Aelita since they were firing so many lasers.
"Aelita can you please hurry", asked Ulrich. "We can't hold off much longer."
"Almost done", replied Aelita as she clicked, selected, and closed several windows on the panel.
The Ulrich was hit and devirtualized leaving Yumi the task of defending Aelita.
"Done! All yours Jeremie", announced Aelita.
"I'm sending the Overwing", said Jeremie.
"C'mon let's get out of here!" said Yumi.
The corridor to Lyoko opened and the two ended up in the Mountain Sector. Aelita and Yumi were devirtualized and they went back to the lab to see what kind of data they managed to get away with.
"Interesting..." said Jeremie.
"What is?" asked Odd.
"Well, you know how XANA stole Aelita's memories of her childhood?" asked Jeremie.
"Yeah", replied Odd. "And that kept her bound to XANA."
"Right", said Jeremie. "But in Franz Hopper's case, it's that a lot of the memory that made him be able to be in Lyoko was taken by XANA making Franz disappear, literally. But he's just invisible, not totally gone, which is why he can still talk to us."
"So that's what we need to get?" asked Yumi.
"Yup", Jeremie replied. "And we seem to have two parts of it now. But I don't know out of how many. And that I don't know how to use them yet."
"Well can we go back, I'm beat", said Odd.
"Yeah", said Jeremie. "I think we all are."
Later that night, a kid in all black came out of the dorm building and went to the factory. The person arrived in the lab room and accessed Lyoko, but the darkened room made it the person's black hair visible. Then the figure put on the headset and the computer asked:
"Is everything going as according to plan?"
"Yes. They suspect nothing. They will be eliminated soon."
Then the figure once again disappeared into the night.
Jeremie couldn't sleep that night still felling that eerie feeling that someone had followed them to the factory. He turned his computer on and began to decode the encrypted fragments retrieved form Sector 5. When Jeremie stood up for a second to stretch and he saw out his window the dark figure moving towards the dorms. He began to worry his and Odd's suspicion were true although he tried to convince himself it was just Jim patrolling the school. He opened his door and peeked out to see if it were a student. Indeed the figure came up to the boys' floor. He was right, they were followed, but Jeremie couldn't see who it was considering the lights were turned off and it looked to Jeremie he was wearing black. He tried to calm down and went back to sleep.
Morning came as well as another school day. Everyone but Yumi met at breakfast in the cafeteria as well as Hunter. Jeremie was dying to tell the gang about what happened last night but Hunter was there so he couldn't expose themselves and Lyoko.
"You guys, I saw something last night", said Jeremie. "I think it was a thief or something, wearing all black and all."
"Really?" Hunter asked. "When?"
"About midnight. I couldn't really sleep."
"That's kinda scary", said Ulrich. "You sure it was a thief?"
"No", said Jeremie while Odd strangely stayed silent.
"Oh I need to get my stuff for class", said Hunter.
"Okay, see ya", said Jeremie.
"Later", Hunter replied.
"Okay, Jeremie what did you really see?" Odd asked the second Hunter was out their sights.
"I don't know", said Jeremie. "But I think you were right when you said we were being followed."
"I knew it", replied Odd.
"What are you guys talking about?" asked Aelita.
"Someone's following us around when were going to the factory", Jeremie said. "When I was decoding the files Aelita got from Sector 5, I saw someone come into the boys' dorms. I don't know who but he lives on our floor."
"Oh great a spy", said Ulrich. "At least it isn't Sissi. I can't begin to think what the hell she'd do to me or you guys."
Then Yumi came in and said, "Hey guys, what's up?"
"Someone's following us", said Odd. "And we know it's a boy who boards here."
"But I'm guessing you don't know who", replied Yumi.
"Yeah, but we can't be exposed", said Jeremie.
"We need to stay calm you guys", said Aelita as she stood up and put her hands on Jeremie's shoulders. "Right Jeremie?"
She kissed his cheek and Jeremie said, "She's right. We'll pull through. Yumi I'll need you to check on Hunter. For all we know he may be the one."
"Okay", said Yumi. "Good thing everyone in each grade has the same classes."
The bell rang and they all went to their classes. An hour and a half passed and their first class was over and time for break. They all met up except Hunter.
"Anything new?" asked Ulrich.
"No, nothing suspicious", replied Yumi.
"Well, okay", Jeremie. "But we can't be too careful."
Eventually the bell rang and it was time for class again. The class went by quickly and it was time for lunch. They ate and went to the next classes until the day ended. They waited until night to check for any suspicious activity by any of the boys.
"Okay I have a good sting plan", said Ulrich.
"Fire away", said Odd.
"So we need one person to stay at school and wait to see if anyone comes after us. If they do the waiting will call us at the factory and warn us of the perp. Then we catch him off-guard and expose him."
"What if it's the cops?" joked Odd.
"Haha very funny", replied Ulrich. "But I think it's a good plan."
"No it is", Yumi said. "So who's gonna stay."
"I'll volunteer", said Odd.
"Okay it's all set", Ulrich said. "We strike, tonight."
Soon it was 8:00 PM and the gang began their operation. Odd stayed behind and climbed the tree closest to the sewer lid while the others went to the factory. Odd then spotted someone. It was dark and impossible to see but he called the others.
"I got someone", said Odd. "Get ready."
"Roger that", replied Ulrich.
Odd pursued the kid until he was out of the sewer on the bridge. The figure headed inside the factory to the elevator. The door opened and there waiting were Ulrich, Jeremie, Yumi and Aelita. He tried to turn back but Odd was there to block the way. The kid then ran towards the stairs to the right of the elevator. But Ulrich was quick enough to tackle him. He then shined a flashlight on the perp to find it was Hunter.
"Hunter?" exclaimed Ulrich.
"What the hell are you doing here?" asked Odd.
"Yeah how do you know about this place?" asked Jeremie.
Then Hunter grinned and began to laugh.
"Haven't you figured it out yet you fools!" said Hunter.
Then he shot a giant bolt of lightning at Ulrich and then Odd. They were both flung across the factory floor against walls knocking them unconscious. He began to levitate and his eyes began to glow a bright yellow.
"I AM XANA!"
Everyone's worst fears had come true. At that moment they thought the end was near. That all they had worked for was going to go in vain, with nothing gained except death. He began to laugh as the gang began to tremble in fear.
Epic ain't it? I have everything planned for the next chapter so try to guess the fate of the Lyoko ganf or even XANA.