Imprisoned: A Code Lyoko Story
It was a late night for Jeremie at the factory; he had been up for hours working on Aelita's antivirus.
Jeremie let out a yawn and got up from his chair as thoughts ran through his mind. "I'm not making any headway; I need more data from Sector Five. X.A.N.A. has been quiet; we just might be able to make a quick trip into Sector Five tomorrow." As Jeremie made his way into the elevator, the computer began to beep and flash the image of an activated tower. Before Jeremie could react, the elevator doors closed and locked, trapping him inside. Jeremie frantically began to mash the "Open" button, but to no avail. X.A.N.A.'s first task was a success. Jeremie began to panic as a specter made its way into the elevator.
Yumi made her way to the gang's usual meeting place by the vending machine. She sensed that something was amiss. "Hey, what's going on, where's Jeremie?" she asked.
"I don't know," replied Aelita with a hint of worry in her voice. "It isn't like him to be late. I hope he's—"
"Don't worry," interrupted Odd, smiling. "He probably just had another late night at the factory, he'll be here."
"He'd better," said Ulrich. "We're supposed to give our presentation in Mrs. Hertz's class today! If he's not there, I don't know what I'll do."
"Let me guess, he did all the work, huh?" Odd said this and began to laugh. Yumi and Aelita joined in and Ulrich blushed as the bell rang.
"I'll see you later," said Yumi as she headed for class.
"Come on, Aelita!" yelled Odd as he and Ulrich headed for Mrs. Hertz's class.
Aelita glanced over her shoulder towards the factory before heading to class.
Jeremie opened his eyes. "Where am I?" he thought. Rubbing his eyes, he checked the surrounds. Then it hit him. "I'm in Sector Five!" he yelled this as he leapt to his feet. He took a closer look around and spotted the Scipizoa and several other monsters on the far side of the room. Looking down, he saw that he had shackles on his wrists and ankles and that he was also in some sort of cage. The shackles looked like a bunch of fast-moving ones and zeros and the cage was the same way. Panicking, Jeremie grabbed the bars and began to shake the cage, but he couldn't seem to get out. The Scipizoa seemed to notice and headed toward Jeremie. As the Scipizoa approached, the cage opened and Jeremie stumbled out. The Scipizoa then took hold of Jeremie and put its tentacles around Jeremie's head.
Meanwhile, back in Mrs. Hertz's class, Jeremie burst through the door. "Ah, there you are, Jeremie," said Mrs. Hertz. "Are you ready to give your presentation?"
"You bet! You ready, Ulrich?" said Jeremie excitedly.
"See? I told you he'd make it," said Odd as he gave Aelita a nudge. Aelita just smiled.
The presentation went off without a hitch, and the gang met up in the cafeteria at lunchtime. "So, where were you?" asked Aelita, "I was getting a little worried."
"I fell asleep at the factory last night," replied Jeremie. "I did discover that I still need more data from Sector Five. Since X.A.N.A. has been quiet, I thought maybe we could do some data collecting later. What do you say, guys?"
"I can't," said Yumi. "My family and I are going out after school, sorry."
"I'm in," said Ulrich quietly.
"Me too," said Odd eagerly.
"Me three," said Aelita, smiling.
"It settled then," said Jeremie. "Are you sure you can't make it, Yumi? We could really use your help."
"Sorry, my parents would get really upset if I don't go."
"Don't worry about it," said Aelita with a smile. "We can manage without you."
The Scipizoa finished its task and let Jeremie fall to the ground. A Creeper roughly shoved Jeremie back into the cage and Jeremie huddled in a corner as the cage closed. "What does X.A.N.A. want with me?" he wondered aloud. Suddenly it became extremely cold in the room and Jeremie struggled to keep warm as a shadowy figure walked towards him.
School finished for the day, and the group met in the courtyard. "Be sure to fill me in tomorrow on how the mission went. See you guys later." said Yumi as her parents drove up.
"Will do, don't you worry about a thing." said Jeremie.
Yumi got in the car and waved goodbye to Ulrich as they drove away. Ulrich just stared as the car drove away. Once the car was out of sight, Ulrich slowly turned and followed Odd towards the factory.
Jeremie shivered as the figure came into view. He couldn't believe his eyes when he recognized the figure. "Aelita! Thank goodness you're here!" he cried. "Now you can get me out of this mess."
"Silence, fool!" snapped Aelita in a voice that was not her own. This wasn't the real Aelita; it was another one of X.A.N.A.'s tricks. The figure then morphed into what appeared to be Jeremie himself before X.A.N.A. continued in a deep, synthesized voice. "Too long have you foiled my plans. Too long have I had to put up with you and the other pests who have been meddling in my affairs; but no more, Jeremie. The time has come for me to eliminate you. Once you're gone, I can get rid of the others. Even now, they are walking into a trap. I have used memories copied from your mind and created another Jeremie. By doing this your friends will have no idea that it isn't the real you until it's too late. It will be all over unless you agree to my terms. No more messing around in my business. No more research on the virus I planted in Aelita. In short, join me, or you, your friends and Aelita will all be lost forever."
"Never!" exclaimed Jeremie. "I'll never join you, no matter what you do to me or my friends. You won't get away with this!"
"We'll see about that." The figure advanced towards Jeremie. The figure grabbed Jeremie and he tried to resist, but everything went black.
The grouped exited the elevator and headed into the computer room. "Everything looks quiet," said Jeremie. Head to the scanner room, I'll start up the process.
"Alright," said Aelita quietly. "Let's go."
In the scanner room, Odd, Ulrich and Aelita stepped into the scanners and Jeremie went through the process. "Scanner, Transfer, Virtualization!"
The trio was sent to the Forest region. They made their way to the edge of the sector and Jeremie put in the code to bring up the transport. They made their way to Sector Five. Once the wall opened they made their way through the maze to the main room where the key was located. There they ran into several Creepers. No big deal. Ulrich made easy work of the monsters as Odd climbed up the wall to the key. Once the door to the elevator had opened, the group made their way towards the edge of the sphere.
eremie found himself inside an activated tower, which was located in the Ice region. X.A.N.A., now in the form of Franz Hopper, continued to elaborate on his scheme. "Since you have chosen not to join me, you will be the first to go. I have corrupted the super scan so you won't see it at the factory unless I wish it. That is why your friends have come in thinking it's just a regular data collection mission. In just a few moments I will allow the scanner to pick up this tower, and your friends will come to deactivate it, of course. I had a virus inserted in you that connects you to this tower. Once it's deactivated, you will disappear forever. Plus it makes you invisible to your friends. I will finally be rid of you, Jeremie, and can take what I want from Aelita. Just try and stop me!" X.A.N.A. began to laugh and left Jeremie alone in the tower.
Back at the factory, Jeremie was notified of the activated tower. "Guys, X.A.N.A. has just activated a tower in the Ice region," said Jeremie. "I'll put in the code for the transporter."
"Okay," said Odd. "Anything happening in the real world, Einstein?"
"I haven't seen anything yet, but the sooner we deactivate the tower the better."
"Right," said Ulrich. "Let's not waste any time."
The transporter arrived in the Ice region and Jeremie directed the trio where to go. "The tower is dead ahead at 51 degrees west. Hurry before any monsters show up."
"Okay," said Aelita as she sprinted towards the tower.
"This is too
easy," observed Ulrich. "There are no monsters in sight."
"Yeah," said Odd. "Come on, X.A.N.A., you can do better
than this. There's no way we'll fall for this again."
The trio stopped to examine the surroundings. No monsters in sight, not even a single Kankrelat. Aelita hesitated to run to the tower. "Something isn't right, Jeremie," she said. "I just know it."
"It's as if X.A.N.A. wants us to deactivate it," examined Odd.
The false Jeremie was beginning to get impatient, but he couldn't blow his cover just yet, so he went ahead and sent in a Tank, but he made it invisible. "Look out, X.A.N.A. is sending a monster! Behind you!" he said.
"Where?" asked Ulrich, puzzled. "I don't see it."
"Look out!" The Tank let out one of its powerful blasts and Ulrich just managed to jump out of the way in time. It then made became visible.
"Aelita!" Odd shouted. "Run to the tower! We'll distract it, hurry!"
elita made a mad dash for the tower and just managed to make it in before a blast from the Tank reached her. She walked to the middle of the symbol and floated up to the top platform. She was about to enter the code when she heard a voice call her name.
"Aelita," said the real Jeremie weakly.
"What? Who's there?" asked a surprised Aelita.
"It's me, Jeremie!"
"Jeremie? That's impossible! He's at the factory!" Aelita glanced around frantically. "Where are you? Show yourself."
"I can't, X.A.N.A. made me invisible to you. Please don't deactivate the tower."
"Why?"
"Because I'll disappear forever, that's why."
"What? Tell me the truth, who are you?"
"I already told you, I'm Jeremie. The one at the factory is false."
"Why should I believe you?"
Jeremie took a deep breath. "Because . . ." Jeremie didn't want to say it, but he was desperate. "Because I love you, Aelita."
Aelita's eyes grew wide in revelation. "Jeremie?" She could see him now, chained to the tower wall.
Jeremie breathed a sigh relief. "Yes, it's really me; now please don't deactivate the tower."
"We need you get you out of here!" Aelita used her powers to free Jeremie from the shackles and Jeremie collapsed into Aelita's arms. "Now, in order to not disappear, I have to deactivate the tower," said Jeremie. Aelita could tell by his voice that Jeremie wasn't sure this would work.
"How do you know?" she replied.
"I'm connected to the tower, so I should be able to deactivate it. If I deactivate it instead of you, hopefully I won't disappear."
"It's too much of a risk."
"I have to try." Jeremie kissed Aelita, and then put his hand on the screen. The name "Jeremie" appeared instead of "Aelita." He entered the code and held his breath. The towered was deactivated, but he didn't disappear. Instead, he was materialized out of Lyoko, and back to the computer room at the factory. Jeremie breathed another sigh of relief as he sat put on his headset. "Okay we're not out of this yet," he said. "There is another activated tower in the Ice region. The false Jeremie is gone, but X.A.N.A. is still on the offensive. I'm sending you the Overwing."
Meanwhile, Yumi and her family had just returned from their outing when Jeremie called. "Jeremie? What's wrong?" answered Yumi.
"I don't have time to explain, but we need you here at the factory," said Jeremie quickly.
"Okay, I'll be there."
Jeremie materialized the Overboard and the Overbike and instructed Odd and Ulrich to follow Aelita. "There is another activated tower in the Ice region. Yumi is on her way, but hurry!"
"Okay, Jeremie," replied Odd. "We're on our way."
Yumi arrived just a few minutes later and Jeremie sent her into Lyoko to help out. "Watch out, there are several monsters waiting for you at the tower." Jeremie warned. "Be careful and keep an eye out for the Scipizoa."
"Okay, will do." replied Yumi.
The group reached the tower, but two Krabes, three Blocks and nine Hornets awaited them. Aelita hid behind some ice while the group headed for the enemies. After a few back flips, Yumi took out a Krabe with quick toss of her fan. Ulrich triplicated himself and made quick work of the three Blocks. Odd, riding his board shot down several of the Hornets. Yet, while the trio was occupied with the enemies, X.A.N.A. cut Aelita off from the group by deleting the terrain between her and her friends. Aelita knew what was going to happen next and before she even heard the snarl of the Scipizoa, she was ready for it. As soon as it appeared, she froze it dead in its tracks and created a path across the deleted terrain. By then only a couple of Hornets remained and Yumi made quick work of them with her fan before they had a chance to shoot at Aelita. Aelita then ran into the tower and deactivated it.
Later, back at the factory, Jeremie had just finished explaining what had happened to him. "Gosh, Einstein," said Odd, "X.A.N.A. really had it out for you this time."
"Yeah," replied Jeremie with a sigh. X.A.N.A. has really taken as interest in getting rid of me lately. Fortunately I was able to convince Aelita it was really me in the tower."
"Yes," said Aelita smiling, "Yet, Jeremie failed to mention how he convinced me." She winked at Jeremie and he blushed.
"What happened?" asked Yumi, Ulrich and Odd at the same time. Jeremie and Aelita looked at each other and blushed as Aelita smiled and said, "Nothing."
THE END
