Saturday. In Odds' opinion, any day without school was a good day, and any day without school at the mall in the food court with four of his closest friends was a great day. The five members of the Lyoko team had decided a few days before to gather there, simply because every minute not wasted was a wasted minute.
Odds' watch read twelve o' clock, so he decided it was lunchtime.
"Who's up for Taco Bell?" he asked.
Ulrich groaned.
"They've served tacos at the school for the last three days," Ulrich argued. "We gotta' have something else."
"Yeah," said Yumi, "how about some Pizza?"
"Ooh," Odd replied. "That sounds good. Hey, Einstein!"
Jeremies gaze moved from his sleek, black, laptop computer to Odd.
"Huh?"
"Pizza for lunch?"
"No time. Factory." There was an air of complete and total distraction in his voice, but Odd tried anyway.
"What's up? Xana got a tower?" he asked pointlessly.
Jeremy stood up, picked up his computer and walked towards the exit. The other four stood and followed him, shrugging off the sense of clueless ness that had suddenly invaded their normally well-informed lives.
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Saturday. In Jeremies opinion, any day without school was a boring, uneventful day. Any day without event spent with his friends, however, was an exciting and fulfilling day.
The best thing about the mall that he and his friends loved so much was, Jeremie thought, the free Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi is an abbreviation for Wireless Fidelity, which is what a non-connected computer uses to get on-line. It has to have Wi-Fi compatibility, of course, but all the annoying wires and other things that really suck were gone and unnecessary.
He and his friends were sitting arround a table, discussing something that he wasn't listening to. A few moments ago, he had been working on the anti-virus program mentioned earlier. At this point, however, he was in a chat window that had suddenly popped up with someone whose screen name was Kaserht.
"I have decided to question you," her message said. "Xana claims you desire to destroy Lyoko. Is this true?"
Jeremie stopped what he was doing. He peered over the top of his screen to see if any of his friends had noticed. They hadn't. He thought for a moment about telling them, but thought better of it. It would be best, for the time being, not to alarm them unnecessarily. There were one or two flaws in this argument, but the decided to ignore them.
"Tell me what you know about Lyoko," he replied.
"I can not give out information without endangering myself and my world. Is the above statement true?"
Jeremie thought for moment before making his reply. He didn't want to reveal to much either.
"For the time being, we can not. Our friend is tied to Xana, and destroying him would destroy her."
"You value friendship?" To Jeremie, it seamed a strange question to ask, but a relevant and legitimate one. He would have no problem answering truthfully.
"Yes," he replied.
"What else do you value?" Their morals seemed a strange thing to question, but he could see the cause. No he couldn't, but there seemed to be one. It was obviously leading somewhere. Before he could reply, another message was there. It said,
"Your team, that is, not you as an individual." He could see the reason for clarification, and nodded for absolutely no reason considering that he could not be seen by whomever he was chatting with. He had to stop and think again. What exactly did they value? What were they fighting for?
"We value life, our own and that of others, friendship, peace and normal, human values and… stuff… Yeah." He lost himself near the end, but got his point across.
"Do you not believe that the Lyokans, flawed as they may be, have the same rights and values?" This time, Kaserht lost him. He had no idea what she was talking about. If there were some kind of race living in Lyoko, things would be infinitely more complicated.
"?" He replied. It was all he needed to say to signify clueless ness.
"You do not know of them?"
"Of course not! We would not destroy an entire civilization! Where have they been? There's no way we wouldn't have noticed an entire species living on Lyoko!"
"Not a species," came the reply. "Several. Come to Lyoko now, I will show them to you."
"Hey, Einstein!"
Jeremies gaze moved from his sleek, black, laptop computer to Odd.
"Huh?"
"Pizza for lunch?"
"No time. Factory."
"What's up?" asked Odd. "Xana got a tower?"
Jeremy stood up, picked up his computer and walked towards the exit. The other four stood and followed him, shrugging off the sense of clueless ness that had suddenly invaded their normally well-informed lives.
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Kaserht couldn't believe how long it had taken her to track down a way to reach Jeremie. She had researched clues, written programs, pressed forward, looked back, seen easier ways to get to where she was that she should have seen earlier, scolded her self and pressed forward even more. Finally, she found him. He was online at the moment, so she proceeded immediately into the next part of her work. She decided that her screen name would be her real name, because it was not identifiable on Earth.
"I have decided to question you," her message said. "Xana claims you desire to destroy Lyoko. Is this true?" His reply came a few moments later.
"Tell me what you know about Lyoko," he requested. She had already decided that she would not tell them anything that they could use, as she was still trying to discover who was "right" and where her loyalties actually lay. She would defend her homeland at all costs, but had to find out how best to do that. This meant finding out who was on her side. Xana, something told her, was not one to trust.
"I can not give out information without endangering myself and my world. Is the above statement true?" This, to her, seemed safe enough to say. His reply took some time to come. Obviously, he was also trying to decide how much information was safe.
"For the time being, we can not. Our friend is tied to Xana, and destroying him would destroy her." "Friend" was not a word she had not thought of a group of destroyers using.
"You value friendship?" she asked in considerable surprise. Apparently she caught him by surprise as well, because this response also was delayed.
"Yes."
"What else do you value?" This, she felt, was exactly what she needed to know. Who were these people, where did their morals lie? The reply to this took the longest to come of any of them. It obviously wasn't the sort of thing people thought about often. This gave her time to refine her question.
"Your team, that is, not you as an individual."
"We value life, our own and that of others, friendship, good times, peace and normal, human values and… stuff… Yeah." Near the end, he was obviously very lost as to what he was talking about, but she understood enough to go on.
"Do you not believe that the Lyokans, flawed as they may be, have the same rights and values?" She knew that several of the Lyokan values were a bit off, but this was the main idea of their culture.
The only reply he sent was a question mark. If they didn't know about the Lyokans, she realized with a sudden burst of insight, Lyoko would seem to be a place with no significant purpose, and there would therefore be no problem with them in destroying it for good.
"You do not know of them?" she asked. Everything would be explained. Everything would make sense. Not everything, but a whole heck of a lot.
"Of course not!" came his reply. "We would not destroy an entire civilization! Where have they been? There's no way we wouldn't have noticed an entire species living on Lyoko!" She would have laughed if she could. "An entire species" was a major understatement. The dragons, the wolfmen, the merfolk, the elves, samurai, goblins and dozens of other civilizations came to mind.
"Not a species," she responded. "Several. Come to Lyoko now, I will show them to you." She logged out before he could question her further. She could tell that he was honestly shocked at the news. Xanas' video had covered how they entered her world, as well as giving her sufficient knowledge on several other subjects.
The only thing left to do would be to enter a tower and wait. She didn't have authority to use one yet, but she could enter and communicate with them at least.
She looked beyond the screen and saw a huge, white pillar with a base like the trunk of a tree. It might have been a tree with the branches and bark stripped off, but it was to straight and to wide. It was the only tower in the judgment field, a way tower that only the worthy of continuing could enter. There was no one to judge her now, but if she were to save Lyoko she would have to break a single rule and request forgiveness later. She doubted it be given to her, a flaw without value, but it mattered little. She dashed towards the tower, preparing for contact.
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Odd dashed through the forest as he had done several times before, his friends beside him. He was anxious for the thrill of a Lyoko battle; his blood pumped through his body, carrying adrenaline.
He was the first one to the manhole cover that hid the teams' vehicles from sight. He picked it up, shoved it aside, and jumped down the hole, almost unable to grab a rung of the ladder on the way down. He cursed his stupidity.
"Grab the ladder, then go down the hole," he muttered to himself. He grabbed his skateboard and dashed down the path of cement that lined the sides of the sewer. The skateboard hit the ground and he jumped on it, pushed forward by the momentum. The other four were down soon, but he was already halfway there.
"He could wait up for us," muttered Jeremie as he pushed himself forward on his scooter. He wasn't particularly angry at Odd, but it was, annoying that he had to get to the factory first, even though he couldn't get on Lyoko without Jeremie, and couldn't do anything once he was there without Aelita.
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Once in the computer room, Jeremie sat down in one of the seats and began to run through the virtualization procedure. His fingers had to move quickly to keep up with the process of what was being stored and what programs needed to be run. There was a lot more to do than some people might think, because the system wasn't as automated as it appeared. One day, he thought, he would write a program that would run the system through the process so he could use that time to do more important things. Figuring out what Xana was up to each time came to mind, though it didn't appear to be active at the moment.
"Time to be virtualized," he said into the headset that connected him with both the Lyoko and the part of the factory he was currently addressing, the scanner room. "Ladies first." Two of the scanners were indicated on the screen as full. The cameras inside them confirmed this, so there was really no reason to have the scanners, but the programmers had put them in anyway. "Transfer, Yumi. Transfer, Aelita. Scanner, Yumi. Scanner, Aelita. Virtualization." He saw the light move up and down the girls, saw them rise up in the air, saw the wind blow upwards on them, saw them disappear suddenly. Next, he went through the same process with Ulrich and Odd.
A message popped up on the bottom of the screen.
"I will be in the forest region, next to the way tower," it said. "Tell them this." He repeated the message to his friends.
"So," asked Ulrich, "who exactly are we looking for?"
Jeremy explained what had happened in the mall, briefly summarizing the entire chat. When he was done, there was silence from his friends until Odd broke it.
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The four Lyokan warriors were dashing through the tall, spiraling trees of the forest region, towards the tower. It was not a great way off, so Jeremie had not bothered to load the teams' vehicles, the motorized devices they used to coast around the Lyokan plain.
"Lyokan people?" Odd said to Aelita in considerable astonishment. "Why didn't you tell us?" Trying to talk and run at the same time would have been a strain on his body in the real world, but there was neither air, nor need of it on Lyoko.
"I thought they were gone," she replied. "By all logic, they should be."
"Where could they have been?" said Yumi. "There's no way we could've just walked past them every time we came to Lyoko."
"That's what I thought," said Aelita. "They were deleted before the computer was shut down to destroy Xana. They shouldn't still exist."
"What happened?" asked Yumi. Ulrich dashed on beside them, listening intently. He had made a bit of a habit out of listening to the answers to other peoples' questions rather than asking his own, unless the need arose.
"They were deleted from the computer. It should have been complete; I only survived by hiding in a tower. It's a sacrilege I still fill guilty of; I can't imagine anyone else doing it," Aelita replied sadly. The team silently decided not to press for any more information. They would find out all they needed when the found whoever it was they were looking for.
As Odd ran, he began to pick up speed. He didn't know why, but he suddenly felt anxious to meet this mysterious person. He felt as though waiting any longer would drive him mad, though this was not a new sensation by any means. He had always been a rather impatient person. This is why the news carried by Jeremies voice, which came to Lyoko through the headset he was wearing, was so annoying to him.
"Three krabes, five swarms of hornets and a tarantula headed your way, guys. Apparently, Xana doesn't want you getting any farther. Our friend by the way tower seems to be having trouble as well."
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Kaserht had let her guard down for a few moments, and already she was standing five meters from three krabes and a swarm of hornets. She frowned. Certainly Xana knew her better than to think she couldn't handle this.
Hornets are large, wasp like creatures that always travel in sets of three, and always in a three-point formation. If the leader dies, the other two go as well. Instead of stingers, they have laser weapons. They are about three feet long, and approximately eight inches in radius.
She saw the red blast of light come at her as one of the hornets fired. She dodged, but found that her position made her any easy target for one of the krabes. It fired at her, and she jumped into the trees above. She threw her yo-yo down at one of the krabes, striking the Eye of Xana on its back. It shattered, expelling some force as it went. She tugged the string and her yo-yo came back, landing safely in her hand.
The hornets fired again, each of their stingers shooting a blast. Kaserht jumped one branch higher and shot her weapon at the leader, missed, and hit one of the followers, which died. She silently scolded herself. It wasn't that hard a shot, and mostly the creatures only moved to re-aim. She would have to practice her aim.
A krabe on the ground tilted up and shot another blast at her. She jumped out of the tree and landed on its back. From there, she had the perfect shot at the other one. She took it, and it hit beautifuly. She stomped on the symbol on the krabe she was standing on and it shattered.
She jumped to the side as she felt the air behind her warm with electric energy. The hornets had fired at her now that their comrade was gone, missing by an inch of two. She shot her weapon at the leader and struck it, bringing down both of them.
With the battle over, she sat down with her back against the tower and waited for the Lyokan defenders.
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Ulrich dashed forward, struck his sword into a krabe, destroying it, and jumped up to strike one of the leading hornets. Three swarms shot at him, but the nine blasts were easy for someone with his powers of speed to avoid. He was about to strike the hornet he had been aiming for, but one of Odd's laser arrows struck it. He looked back just in time to see Odd shoot a krabe.
The usual look of playful glee on Odd's face was gone, replaced by a look of determined impatience. It seemed as though Lyoko was beginning to bore him, but Ulrich new that this was not the case.
"Odd, watch out!" Cried Yumi. Odd looked to his left to see that the tarantula was firing at him. Tarantula are about six feet tall, have four legs that make up most of their height, the front two of which end in cannons, and long, tube-like bodies. They are a dull, light tan color, and are without a doubt the strongest creatures on Lyoko. The lean onto their front knees and point the cannons at whatever they wish to destroy.
Odd jumped to the side with his cat-like agility, grabbed onto a tree branch with one hand and shot the tarantula with the other. The blast hit its mark dead on, but tarantulas have huge amounts of hit-points. He shot another blast, which broke the ledge it was standing on and sent it tumbling into the digital sea.
The digital sea is not made of actual--or virtual--water. It is simply an empty space below the Lyokan land that instantly slays monsters and holds characters captive forever.
With the tarantula so easily destroyed, it would be a simple matter to finish the battle. He shot another arrow at a hornet leader and one at a krabe, both of which struck dead on.
The fight was nearly finished, but Odd could wait no longer. He ran on, leaving the last few monsters for Ulrich and Yumi. He had done most of the work so far, and they could handle the rest.
"Where's that idiot going?" Yumi called as Odd ran off and she threw one of her fans at a hornet.
Odd ran forward, feeling that whatever he was seeking was far more important than whatever Yumi or Jeremie had to say.
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Jeremie looked at the screen with interest as the four green triangles that represented his friends separated. Odd was running away. No, that wouldn't be correct. Odd was by no means a coward, as that statement would imply. Odd was running to the final destination.
(That's strange,) he thought. (Odd may be the only one who enjoys the experience on Lyoko. Why is he trying to get it over with?)
"Odd," he said, "what are you doing?" The reply took a while to arrive. Jeremie guessed, correctly as it turns out, that Odd was debating whether or not he should reply.
"I don't know," came the reply a short while later. "I just feel like I really want to meet whoever it is we're here to meet. Something about her just draws me on. I don't know why."
"I think you should stick around for the rest of the fight. You kind of left in the middle," Jeremie said because he felt he should. (That's strange,) Jeremie thought. (How would Odd know if Kaserht's female?)
"Hey, I killed two krabes, six hornets and a tarantula. I've done plenty."
"It's not about doing your share, Odd. It's about the battle being done."
"Don't worry! The others can handle it." Jeremie decided that he couldn't convince Odd when his mind was made up. That was the groups' major weakness, that they were all closed-minded. He gave up and focused his attention back on the battle.
"Odd wouldn't come back," he told Yumi. The team had killed two more swarms of hornets, leaving one swarm and a krabe.
"It's okay," she told him. "The situation here's pretty much under control." These words were the last she said before the krabe shot her and she de-virtualized.
