Code Lyoko: XANA's End Game

Episode 2: Questions

By: Kakeru

PUCK OPENED HIS eyes and looked around. Everything looked exactly as he remembered. 'No time for sightseeing.' He thought as he drew his weapon from behind him. It was a bow that barely stuck out from his back.. "Okay, I'm here. Where are the others?" He asked.

"South east of you. I'm sorry I couldn't send you closer. I'm afraid I don't have a vehicle for you either, you'll have to go on foot." Jeremie said in a worried tone. 'Did I do the right thing?' The question repeated in his mind.

"Very well." Puck replied as he turned to face the southeastern path. He aimed his weapon straight ahead and drew an arrow. He slipped it onto the bow string. "Super Sight." He called. Just in front of the point of the arrow, a round window opened circled by short green lines. In this window he saw the crab approaching Aelita. He pulled the arrow back on the string. "Jeremie, you made the right choice." He said just before letting go of the arrow. It shot forward leaving a streak of ones and zeros behind. It zipped along the path as it closed in on the target.

The Krab in front of Aelita had stopped. It was right in front of her face when it began charging up its laser. She watched in horror as the charge peaked. All of a sudden she heard an explosion and quickly turned away and shut her eyes. 'That's it! I'm dead!' She thought hopelessly... A few seconds later she opened her eyes. "What?" She said. The Krab was gone. "The Krab... exploded? But who?" She turned and looked back towards the others. They were all still struggling with the rest of the Krabs; they hadn't even noticed the one near her. "Jeremie... what? How? Who?"

"IT WAS PUCK." Jeremie replied smiling. 'I made the right choice!' He thought with glee. Finally feeling useful again, he went back to work on the monster detection and identification program.

BACK AT THE arrival point Puck had watched through the Super Sight window and made sure he'd gotten the kill. The window closed as Puck sheathed his weapon, closed his eyes, and began to hum. Vines sprouted from the ground and wrapped around his feet before dispersing into tiny particles of light. His boots began to glow faintly for a moment before it faded away. Puck stopped humming and opened his eyes.

ON THE MONITOR Puck's profile changed from the usual golden borders to a dark green that matched the forest; the words "Lyokosync: Forest Region" appeared just above it. Jeremie stopped working and stared at it for a moment in confusion. 'That's strange...' he thought to himself before he went back to work. Scolding himself for getting distracted at such a critical time.

PUCK WASTED NO time. He quickly bent his knees and jumped into the sky, going higher and higher until he landed safely at the top of one of the trees. He made sure he was facing south east and then began jumping from treetop to treetop as fast as he could. 'I hope no one gets devirtualized before I get to make my grand entrance.' Puck thought with a smile.

ULRICH, ODD, AND Yumi were desperately trying to hold on. Each of them had taken a hit from a Krab and they were now so busy trying to avoid getting hit a second time they were unable to fight back. Ulrich started back on the path heading northwest towards Aelita. Just as he passed a tree a hidden Krab managed to kick the Overbike and knock it over the edge. Ulrich fell towards the digital void; the Overbike hit first and exploded on contact. It was almost too late when Odd managed to catch him on the Overboard at the last second.

"Man... These guys have gotten really tough! I can't believe how strong XANA is now!" Odd said as they reached the Forest floor. Ulrich jumped off the Overboard and drew his katana and used it to block the laser shots from the Krabs.

"Tell me about it!" Ulrich said as he deflected another shot. He moved to deflect another but the blast knocked his sword out of his hand. Odd flew off on the Overboard as Ulrich jumped behind a tree. He turned, pressed his back against the trunk and let out a sigh. 'This is too much.' Ulrich thought to himself.

That's when dozens of arrows came down from the sky followed by streaks of ones and zeros. Each of them took out a Krab; going all the way through to the Forest floor. Seconds later the Krabs that were hit exploded drawing the attention of Ulrich, Yumie, Odd, and Aelita. All of them looked down at the arrows, then up at the sky to see where they came from. Then they all saw him.

Puck in mid-jump took aim and began firing arrows so fast his arm was a blur. He kept shooting until he landed on the next tree top and waited until he heard the explosions of the Krabs before jumping out again. This time he knew he had their attention because the first thing he saw after he jumped out was a large number of Krabs firing directly at him. This didn't stop him as he took aim with his bow again. "Rapidshot." Puck said as his arms flashed and he began firing again.

Puck repeated this process several times until there were only five Krabs left. Then he jumped down and landed safely right next to Ulrich, who looked and finally got a good look at him. He looked almost exactly like Aelita's doll!

Puck glanced at Ulrich for a split second before turning his attention back to the five Krabs in front of him. He sheathed his bow and spoke. "Katana." The quiver and bow on his back began glowing as their form shifted to that of a sword, only it was strapped on upside down. Instead of behind his right shoulder, the handle was poking out near his waist while the bottom end came out from behind his left shoulder. Puck grasped the handle and drew the sword out quickly. The blade was made up of ones and zeros glowing a dark blue as they coursed through it.

Puck held the sword with the blade behind his arm, pressing the dull edge against him. He then positioned his arm in front of his face and leaned backwards slightly.

The Krabs began charging their lasers, just before they fired, Puck ran forward and barely dodged the lasers by jumping to the side towards a tree. Puck turned his body so that his feet pressed against the trunk, he bent his knees and pushed off it, rocketing him forward just above the heads of the Krabs. He spun as he passed over head taking out two in a row. Puck slid as he landed on the ground dragging his left hand until he came to a stop as the two Krabs exploded with a flash.

The remaining Krabs turned and fired. Puck blocked the shots with a few swift motions of his sword and lunged forward again, this time he flipped over one and slashed the eye on the top of it's body several times before landing behind it. As it exploded Puck ran under the Krab next to it and ran it through with his sword. It exploded shortly afterwards leaving Puck and the last Krab face to face. Puck took his stance once again, pressing the dull edge of his blade against his arm, holding it in front of his face. The Krab started charging it's lasers and Puck prepared to strike again when all of a sudden Yumi cried out "HEEYAH!" and threw both her fans followed by Odd shouting "LASER ARROW" as he fired from both arms. Both scored direct hits causing Krab to explode in a bright flash.

"Hmph." Puck stood straight up and sheathed his katana.

"Aelita GO!" Ulrich shouted. On cue Aelita ran past him.

"Here Aelita!" Yumi shouted. Aelita reached out and grabbed Yumi's hand who quickly pulled her onto the Overwing and flew straight for the tower.

Meanwhile Ulrich picked up his own sword and sheathed it while Odd came down and stepped off the Overboard in front of Puck.

"That was incredible!" Odd said excitedly. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

Puck didn't reply. Instead he looked over at Ulrich who glared right back at him. Ulrich was about to speak when Jeremie spoke up from the real world.

"Great job guys! I was able to patch up the program just in time to see that last Krab destroyed. Aelita's just deactivated the tower. I'm bringing you in." Jeremie said. Puck and Odd devirtualized first followed shortly after by Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita.

THE RIDE ON the elevator was uncomfortably silent. Puck was leaning against the back wall with his arms crossed, the others also leaned against the walls, but unlike Puck they did it out of exhaustion from the trip.

Many different questions went through their heads. 'How did he know about Lyoko?' 'How could he have known we'd need his help?' 'Just who is this guy anyway?'

A moment later the elevator doors opened and the five joined Jeremie at the terminal. Jeremie looked at them and saw the usual picture after a tough trip to Lyoko. It was several minutes before anyone spoke. Finally Odd broke the silence.

"It was incredible Jeremie. He took out the Krabs like they were nothing. Odd said. "But..." Odd turned to Puck. "How did you know?"

"About what?" Puck inquired.

"About Lyoko, about us, about everything!" Yumi said answering for Odd.

"I see. I'm sure you've all got a lot of questions for me. I'll be glad to answer a few of them, but first you need to tell me a few things. You see I've been gone for quite some time, and while I just blindly jumped in today, it's not a risk I like to take. So before I answer any of your questions, you need to tell me everything that's happened since you started going to Lyoko in as much detail as you can manage." Puck said with a cold expression on his face.

"That's not really fair." Ulrich said glaring at Puck.

"Life isn't fair. If you don't want to tell me that's fine, I'll leave now and I won't bother you again; nor will I come to help you on Lyoko. It's your choice." Puck said. The others exchanged a few looks with Jeremie and eventually gave a nod in agreement.

"Alright. Where should I start?" Jeremie asked.

"The only place you can. The beginning." Puck replied as he sat down on the floor. Jeremie began explaining all that had happened from finding the super computer to XANA obtaining the Keys to Lyoko and Aelita recovering her lost human memories. Everyone took their turns explaining each event while Puck simply sat there not saying a word, merely nodding to acknowledge that he'd heard them.

Once they'd finished, instead of replying Puck stood up and paced around the room deep in thought. Finally he walked over to Aelita and stood in front of her. She looked up at him and tried to smile, but came out with an awkward look on her face. Puck ignored this and knelt down until their eyes met. He stared at her for a few moments before speaking.

"You got all your memories back?" Puck asked. This struck Aelita by surprise and it was a moment before she answered.

"Well... I think so... I guess I can't really be sure..." Aelita replied.

"Just tell me... do you remember me? I'm positive now that you're the same Aelita I knew when I attended Kadic myself. I may have grown, but I don't look much different from back then. Just please... tell me you remember..." Puck said almost pleading.

"I.. I'm sorry but I don't." Aelita said shaking her head.

"I see..." Puck said as he stood and looked away. He walked away from the group for a moment and stared at the Holomap. He took a deep breath before turning back to face them. "Alright well, since I'm caught up now, I guess I'll explain a few things." Puck said as he sat down again. "First, I knew to come because along with my profile I installed a program that sends a text message to my phone whenever there's an activated tower. That you actually needed help was pure coincidence. Second, I know about Lyoko and XANA because I've been there before. In fact you'd be interested to know that I also knew Aelita before she was virtualized by Franz Hopper. Aelita, myself, and two others assisted Franz Hopper with his experiments using the super computer and were the first to fight XANA after he went rouge. Why Aelita can't remember any of this, I can only theorize, but my best guess would be that it was Franz Hopper who erased those memories before he spent all that time using the Return to the Past function."

"How can you be so much stronger than us!" Ulrich blurted out.

"How can you be so weak?" Puck shot back. "I don't know what you're problem is, but all of you were pathetic out there. Though I'm sure it's not entirely your fault." Puck said looking over at Jeremie for a moment. "My abilities and weapons were programmed by Franz Hopper himself. If I'm stronger than you it's because your programs are poorly written."

"Hey!" Jeremie said taking offense. "I worked very hard on their weapons and their abilities! I did the best I could at the time!"

"But have you touched them since? Have you made any attempt to patch up any errors or bugs? Have you even thought about trying to improve them?" Puck said glaring at Jeremie. Everyone was pretty uncomfortable now, and Jeremie was too stunned to reply.

"Hey! You can't talk to him like that! Jeremie works really hard to support us on Lyoko! You have no right to say such things!" Yumi said angrily.

Puck let out a sigh, looked at Jeremie and said "I didn't mean to jump on you like that, I'm sorry."

"Forget it." Jeremie said keeping his head down. "It's true I haven't even thought about trying to boost those programs. It was never an issue before..."

"Well, I studied a fair amount of programming in college. Maybe I can help you with that tonight, but it's not all you, and it's not like I was this strong before. As I told your class earlier this morning, I spent two years studying martial arts with no interruptions. I would be lying if I said I could do all that when I was your age." Puck looked around to make sure everyone had calmed down. "Okay, are there any other questions?"

"Yeah, when did you install your profile? It wasn't there last night." Jeremie asked.

"I did it while you were all sneaking back to your dorms last night. Anything else?" Puck asked.

"Can you tell us more about when you worked with my father?" Aelita asked.

Puck looked at his watch before replying. "That would take too long, and school is almost out. If you're not back by the time the final bell rings the teachers are going to wonder where you went. But... Perhaps we can talk about it at dinner? Say that little five star place downtown?" The group exchanged an excited look.

"You're taking us out to dinner?" Odd asked excitedly.

"Actually..." Puck looked away blushing a little. "I was only asking Aelita."

"What! Why can't we come? You said you were just going to talk about what happened before with Franz Hopper!" Ulrich exclaimed.

"Yes, I'm going to, but mostly I want to speak with her about some personal matters and that doesn't involve you. So what do you say Aelita?" Puck looked right at her with a hopeful look on his face.

Aelita had been standing there in shock since Puck had said he was only asking her. Her face had turned fairly red from his last few statements.

Jeremie was shocked as well, and was starting to feel pretty upset that Puck had so bluntly asked out his girlfriend. After a few moments, Jeremie was shocked again when Aelita answered.

"I...I'd love to..." Aelita replied looking at the ground. She was so surprised she spoke her answer too softly the first time and had to repeat it.

"Great! I hope you have something formal you can wear. I'll meet you outside the Administrative building at 7. And don't worry about the principal. I'll come up with an excuse." Puck said with a smile. Aelita simply nodded. There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Puck finally spoke again. "Uh... anyway we'd better get back. The last bell is going to ring any minute now." And with that everyone got onto the elevator and headed back to the school.

END

Next Episode:

Puck: WOOOOHOOOO! I'm going on a HOT date with Aelita!

Aelita: blush

Jeremie: Hey! Don't do anything I haven't gotten to do with her!

Puck: Sure, but what have you done with her?

Jeremie: uh.. Well she kissed me once...

Puck: hmm. that's it? well no promises.

Jeremie: hey!

Ulrich: That's it? A date? is that all there is?

Puck: Well... there might be something else... HEY! Why am I in Milly's room at the end? AW WHAT THE !

Odd: CAREFUL! You can't say that word. This is a kids show after all.

Yumi: Really? So that's why I was wearing a sports bra when in that episode I took my shirt off...

Odd: You took your shirt off... AND I MISSED IT?

Ulrich: Hey that's my girlfrie..err.. Friend you're talking about!

Yumi: Is that all we are? Fine! Come on Odd I'll take my shirt off for you! leaves with Odd

Ulirch: Hey! No! Wait! Yumi I was joking!

Puck: uh... I better go stop them... leaves

Jeremie: You're not going to say anything? leaves

Aelita: Muahahaha! My plan worked perfectly! Now I rule the episode preview! AHAHAHAHAHAHA.. wait... it's over? NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!