Code Lyoko: XANA's End Game

Episode 3: Answers

By: Kakeru

It had been a quiet walk back to the school as the group reached the manhole hidden in the forest. Once the school was in sight Puck stopped in front of everyone and turned around to speak.

"Okay, I'm going to go have a talk with the principal. Since you missed all your afternoon classes it won't be easy to keep you out of detention, but I'm sure I can convince him to be lenient." Puck said. The group nodded. "Alright I'm going to circle around and come out a different way to avoid looking suspicious. Oh, and Jeremie, I'll meet you at the factory at ten tonight. We have a lot of work to do."

"Whatever." Jeremie muttered, not really wanting to go. Puck just nodded and headed off towards the school gates. The rest of them continued walking into the courtyard, said they're goodbyes to Yumi and went to Jeremie's room.

"What's wrong Jeremie?" Aelita asked once the door was shut.

"You know why I'm upset." Jeremie replied as he sat down at his computer.

"Because Puck was so hard on us? I'm sure he has his reasons. If he really did fight XANA with my father and I in the past then maybe he's just frustrated because he's more experienced." Aelita said trying to calm herself down as much as the others.

"It's not that. Not for me at least." Jeremie said as he typed on his computer. Odd and Ulrich looked at each other and quietly left knowing very well what Jeremie was upset about. Certainly it hurt him to have his programming criticized like that, but not as much as hearing Aelita say "yes" to a date with Puck.

"You can't blame me for wanting to know more about my past. I still don't remember my human life very clearly and he has the answers." Aelita tried to explain.

"But a date? Did you have to agree to go out with him? Couldn't you have just talked about it with him here at school?" Jeremie turned to face her. He was on the brink of tears, though he tried his best to hold them back.

"We're just going to dinner! It's not a date." Aelita was getting a little upset herself now. "Jeremie I just want to know about myself, about my life before it was taken away from me."

"I... I know. And I'm sorry but I just can't deal with this right now. Just a week ago I almost lost you to XANA... I don't want to lose you to someone else..." Jeremie trailed off.

"Jeremie..." Aelita blushed. Jeremie rarely spoke to her in this way.

"Just go... Leave me alone. I have school work to catch up on." Jeremie walked over to the door and flung it open.

"... Fine." Aelita said on the verge of tears at Jeremie's change in tone. She had expected him so say something romantic, something to let her know it was going to be okay... But instead he threw her out. She ran straight back to her own on the second floor and slammed the door.

THREE HOURS LATER the dinner bell rang. Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremie met outside at the bench. Aelita came out a few moments later and walked by without saying anything. Her pink dress shimmered in the evening light as she walked over to Puck's car parked in front of the administrative building. Puck was leaning against the passenger side of the car, he wore a black suit with a black dress shirt and looked as if he was going to a wedding or a ball. As Aelita approached he opened the door for her and helped her into the car before closing it and getting into the drivers seat.

"Okay Jeremie, what happened between you and Aelita?" Ulrich asked as soon as the car drove off.

"Nothing." Jeremie replied turning away. "Everything is fine."

"Not when you say it like that. Come on Jeremie, you can't hide it. Aelita didn't even look at us when she walked by." Ulrich said a little annoyed.

"We just had a little fight. That's all... It's not like I care who she goes out with..." Jeremie trailed off.

"So that's what it is. Come on Jeremie lighten up. There must be a good reason he wanted to talk to her privately. If it's anything we need to know she'll tell us." Odd said giving Jeremie a pat on the back.

"Would you say the same thing if it had been Yumi he'd asked and not Aelita?" Jeremie shot back catching Ulrich by surprise.

"I... well... That's different! Yumi didn't even live here back then and she would have only been 4 year's old then! He'd have no reason to ask her!" Ulrich said defensively.

"So? He came from a company in Japan remember? He could have known Yumi before she moved. So it's no different. I can tell by your voice you'd feel exactly like I do right now." Jeremie paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "But at least if he had taken Yumi you wouldn't have had to see him when he got back... I have to go spend the night with him at the factory working on your weapons. How am I supposed to act around him after he's not only insulted me but taken my girlfrie..." Jeremie caught himself, his face turning red. "F..friend, out to some fancy restaurant? I can't just ignore it can I?"

"Jeremie..." Ulrich looked at Odd. "Come on. Let's go get some dinner. You don't want to spend the night hungry." Ulrich and Odd pulled Jeremie off the bench and forced him into the cafeteria.

AT THE RESTAURANT Puck and Aelita were seated in a private corner away from the other customers. That didn't prevent Puck from getting a few awkward looks when he and Aelita were guided to their table. They were quick to order leaving them a little time for some small talk. Puck asked Aelita a few things about school and how she was doing in her classes, if she was getting along well with everyone...

'Maybe Jeremie was right...' Aelita thought to herself. 'Maybe Puck really just wanted to take me out on a date...' The thought lingered in her mind and she began to get worried as she finally asked herself what kind of person is Puck really? This question remained in her mind even after dinner arrived and the conversation continued. Puck continued to ask her about things at school and what her interests were... It wasn't until after they'd finished dinner and the empty dishes had been taken away that the conversation finally turned to a different topic...

"Well, now that the waiter won't be bothering us," Puck started. "I want to talk about the real reason I asked you to join me tonight, Aelita Hopper." This took Aelita by surprise. "You probably haven't been called that in a while. Not that you really could use that name, considering you're pretending to be Odd's cousin, and the press you'd get if you went by your real name."

"Press?" Aelita choked out.

"I guess it's no surprise you don't know about your own fame. It was almost a decade ago." Puck said as he handed Aelita an old newspaper clipping. She read the headline "Local Scientist and his Daughter go Missing. Authorities puzzled." Right below that were two pictures in black and white.

"This is..." Aelita dropped the newspaper clipping.

"That's the article that was printed after Franz Hopper virtualized you and himself. To the world, it was as if you had disappeared into thin air. Had you chosen to go by Aelita Hopper instead of Stones, the press would have found out and flocked to Cadic to interview you." Puck explained. Aelita was shocked. She didn't know what to say until finally she started to cry.

"All this time I've been here.. I never once thought about the people I may have known before. Even after I got back my memories and I was sure I was human... I'm so selfish... I never took a moment to think about the people who cared about me before." It was then her eyes went wide as looked straight at Puck. "You knew me then right? You must have! I can't imagine we weren't good friends if you knew my father... and about Lyoko... Please tell me... what was I like?" Aelita looked at Puck with a pleading look. Puck looked at her a moment and smiled.

"You haven't changed a bit. Even without your memories your personality has remained the same. You're still the same kind, loving person I knew back at Cadic. Back then you had lot's of friends, and always did a good job of helping everyone out when they need it. You're two closest friends friends were the other two members of our Lyoko team. However, even though you couldn't tell everyone about Lyoko, you still managed to form many close relationships with most of your classmates." Puck smiled.

"But... you mentioned only two of my closest friends were with us on Lyoko... what about you? Weren't you a close friend?" Aelita asked, wondering what he was leaving out.

"No. I wasn't your friend." Puck said.

"Wha...what? How can that be? If you weren't my friend then how did you know my father and Lyoko?" Aelita asked confused.

"Because... we were much closer than that... You and I..." Puck took a deep breath and looked Aelita in the eye. "We were lovers." Aelita's world was turned upside down by that last sentence. The word "lovers" rang through her head so loud she felt as if it would split her in two. She had no idea how long it was before she finally managed to speak. But to her it felt like hours.

"I... I had no idea... We were so close... Even with my human memories back... how could I forget so many important parts of my life?" Aelita choked out.

"Don't worry... It's only been a week and you got all your memories back. It will take time for your mind to sort through your past." Puck tried to comfort her. 'How am I going to break the worse news to her?' Puck thought to himself.

"But... we were lovers..." Aelita said quietly, beginning to blush at the thought.

"Well... yes... we were very much in love... But we never got that close... I mean we... I, was only a kid back then. But Aelita... when I got the news that you had disappeared... I knew what had happened... Well... I mean I had a pretty good idea. Still... I was devastated... for a long time I hardly ate or did anything. Eventually however... I managed to accept losing you. To the world, you and your father are dead... To me... it was the same." Aelita looked at Puck, barely able to accept everything he'd just told her. "But.. depsite that," Puck continued. "I still love you." Aelita snapped back to reality.

"You... after so long... I..." Aelita stumbled over her words, not sure what to say.

"However, it's no longer possible for there to be anything between us. As I said I accepted your death a long time ago. And I wouldn't want to get between you and Jeremie." Puck said.

"Between me and Jeremie?" Aelita asked.

"It's fairly obvious. He loves you. And you love him. I was a little surprised you didn't say good-bye to him before we left, I guess I've already caused a rift between you two. Don't worry. I'll make it clear to Jeremie tonight what my intentions are. Hopefully you'll be able to work things out with him after that." Puck leaned on the table close to Aelita. "But this isn't the reason I came. As important as it sounds, that is entirely personal, and I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I came here for my own selfish reasons." Puck said almost whispering.

"What? Then why?" Aelita asked leaning on the table as well.

"Remember I told you about the other two members of our Lyoko group? Well, I actually stayed in touch with them after our adventures ended. We talked regularly over the phone and through email, but a few months ago suddenly the emails and the calls stopped. It was really strange, but after a while I let it go and figured maybe they were having issues with the phone company and couldn't get a connection. Then about a month ago I finally got a strange phone call from one of them. You probably haven't remembered him yet, but his name is Claude, and when he called me... he was really stressed out and extremely panicked. He kept saying 'They took her. Now they're after me.' I tried to get him to calm down... but he was too wound up... then he finally said 'They... they're after me... they're after you too! I'm sorry.. they're probably tracing this... They know. They'll hunt you down because you know too! Because you were part of it! Run... please... Run and be safe! Find her! If you can... Protect her! Oh god... they've found me! They'll find you! Run!' Then the phone died..." Puck paused for a moment. "I didn't know what to do after that. I thought perhaps he was drunk or on some sort of drug... Then a couple days later I noticed that there was always this same black SUV everywhere I went. I thought I was just being paranoid at first but the next day I decided to write down it's license place number. I checked it as discreetly as I could whenever I saw it. Every time it was the same car. That's when I decided to leave. So I quickly set up the deal with the school and left under a new name. That's why I'm here." Puck finished his story. Aelita had been sitting there quietly the entire time listening. It was a terrifying story, one she'd have to let the other's know about, but there was still one question remaining in her mind.

"But then... How did you know we needed help on Lyoko?" Aelita asked.

"Well, I wasn't aware you'd needed help, but I did know Lyoko was still active. Occaisionally I'll read the local news online and to anyone who knows about Lyoko and how it works, how XANA attacks, well, stories that erupt out of those events stick out like a sore thumb. I've known that Lyoko's been active for almost a year. However it never occurred to me that you might need help because the incidents were always resolved. So I figured whoever was managing it was doing a decent job." Puck replied after leaning back in his seat. He checked his watch. "Well, I should probably get you back to the school. I told the principal I'd get you back before lights out." Puck said.

"Alright." Aelita said as they both got up. Puck paid the bill and then dropped Aelita off in front of the student dorms before parking in front of the Administrative building. He hurried to his room and changed into some casual clothing. Then came the difficult part.

PUCK KNOCKED ON the door to Jeremie's room. He figured Jeremie would probably still be at the school given how upset he'd appeared to be earlier. After a couple seconds Jeremie opened the door and looked straight into Puck's eyes.

"Come on, let's get to the factory. We've got a lot of work to do." Puck said.

"Go yourself. My programming is no good anyway remember?" Jeremie snapped.

"I never said that. If that was my opinion I never would have asked you to come to the factory with me in the first place." Puck said.

"You don't have to say it. It's written all over your face." Jeremie replied angrily.

"Look kid. I know what you're upset about. Yes, I took your girlfriend out on a little date. That's no crime. You don't own her, and most of what we talked about didn't even involve you. The parts that did, well, Aelita will tell you about them later. But for now, we need to get to the factory and fix those programs of yours. I can't fight XANA alone, and whether it's your fault or not, the others are too weak to help right now." Puck said glaring at Jeremie.

"It's not my fault! XANA got stronger! I can't help that!" Jeremie said raising his voice a little.

"XANA getting stronger isn't your fault no, but you did ignore the weapon and ability programs so you could concentrate on a patch for a virus that never even existed in the first place." Puck sighed. "You couldn't have known it wasn't a virus before, I'll give you that, but that doesn't excuse ignoring the other programs." Puck whispered, hoping Jeremie would do the same. Jeremie just let his head fall, leaving it hanging, staring at the ground.

"You're right. And that's just making me even angrier. You've been right since you showed up. I focused too much on one thing and almost lost to XANA because of it. If it weren't for you, who knows what XANA would have done after deleting Aelita.With his new powers, with Aelita out of the way he could have done anything he'd wanted. I couldn't protect her... And while at first I was happy you came... now after all that's been said, I wish you'd never showed up. But you did show up, and now we've got a job to do." Jeremie said finishing his little speech. He looked up at Puck with a slight grin. 'This was the right decision.' He thought to himself.

"Alright. That's what I've been waiting to hear. Come on let's show XANA he's not the only one who can upgrade his warriors." Puck said with a smile. With that they snuck out of the building, and headed to the factory via the sewers.

THE NEXT DAY Jeremie didn't show up for his morning classes and Puck was seen only briefly in the hallway. That afternoon Jeremie met up with the other's for lunch as usual, and announced with unusual glee that they'd be meeting at the factory after school. The rest of the school day went by about as normally as it could with the threat of XANA hanging over their heads. When the bell finally rang... Jeremie rushed off to the factory without waiting for the others. When Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and Aelita finally arrived Jeremie had already prepped the scanners.

"Just head to Lyoko guys. I can't wait to show you." Jeremie said excitedly. The others got back into the elevator and went down to the scanners. Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi stepped in first.

"Scanner... Transfer... Virtualization!"

ON LYOKO ULRICH, Odd, and Yumi appeared in the sky and dropped to the floor of the Mountain Region. Aelita joined them a few moments later.

"So Jeremie, what's this all about?" Odd asked.

"Why don't you find out for yourselves? Try shooting a rock with one of your arrows Odd." Jeremie said.

Odd exchanged looks with Ulrich and Yumi then took aim at a nearby rock and fired two darts at it. Instead of exploding on impact, they pierced the rock and began flashing, five seconds later they exploded violently sending chunks of rock flying in all directions! Odd was quick to react as he called out "Shield!" A large purple energy barrier appeared around the entire group just in time to protect them as several large chunks impacted the shield.

"As you can see, Puck and I increased the area your shield protects, we also managed to make it a but more durable. However, it still won't last long against the attacks XANA's monsters. Also, your Laser Arrows will now explode 5 seconds after impact." Jeremie told them.

"XANA better watch out for me now! I won't be so easy on his monsters next time!" Odd said excitedly doing a celebratory back flip.

"That's great Odd! Let's see what I can do!" Yumi said as she took out her fans and threw them at a boulder. As they flew a pink swirl of energy formed around each of them and continued to spread as the fans brushed against either side of the boulder and flew back into Yumi's hands. Yumi closed them and looked at the boulder puzzled. "Jeremie..." Yumi started to say as the boulder suddenly split into four pieces.

"For you we added an expanding ring of energy to each of your fans. The rings will expand until the peak of the throw then fade as your fans return to you. We also gave your telekinesis a boost. It's much more responsive now and small objects, like your fans, will move with little effort." Jeremie explained.

"Thanks Jeremie I can't wait to try it against XANA's monsters!" Yumi said excitedly.

"Alright Jeremie, I give up. How did you boost my abilities?" Ulrich said looking at his katana.

"Boosting your powers was a little tricky, the Super Sprint especially, but we managed to come up with something. You can charge your saber with energy now and release it in a slash of energy that will cut through anything by concentrating on your sword. It takes about 10 seconds to charge though so use it wisely. For your Super Sprint we had to get creative, now, if you charge your saber and use Super Sprint you'll turn into a sort of energy form that will cut anything you run through." Jeremie said.

"Alright let's try it." Ulrich said as he held his katana in front of him and concentrated. Energy began to form around the blade of his sword in a double-helix, after 10 seconds it reached the top. Ulrich tightened his grip and slashed as hard as he could sending a wave of energy flying forward. Everyone watched as it sliced through several pillars causing them to topple over. Ulrich looked at his sword. "XANA's toast." Ulrich said.

"Hopefully with some butter and jam!" Odd laughed at his lame joke. Everyone else let out a sigh.

"Anyway," Aelita said changing the subject. "What did you change for me?" Aelita asked.

"I'm sorry Aelita, Puck didn't feel comfortable messing with your code, or his for that matter, since both of your abilities were programmed by Franz Hopper, and I agreed. It wasn't worth the risk of causing an error in your Lyoko code or some other bug that could hurt you. We are looking into adding something for you, but for now I'm afraid you'll just have to be extra careful." Jeremie said.

"It's okay Jeremie. I don't really like fighting anyway..." Aelita's voice trailed off.

LATER THAT NIGHT Puck was walking down the dimly lit halls. It was almost midnight and everyone was asleep. 'I can't believe I slept all day... No matter. The new computers and network equipment isn't supposed to arrive until tomorrow.' Puck thought as he rounded the corner and nearly bumped into Jim.

"Whoa! Hey sorry about that almost bumped into you there." Puck said.

"Next time be more careful when you go around corners." Jim said as he took a step back and looked at who he was talking to. "Hey you're that new computer guy. What are you doing up?"

"Can't sleep. And based on what I've heard you must be Jim." Puck said.

"Yep that's me. And what's your name?" Jim asked.

"Everyone calls me Puck." Puck replied.

"So, heard about me have you? Did you hear about how I saved a bunch of orphans from a burning building a few years back?" Jim asked.

"No, what was that like?" Puck questioned.

"I'd rather not talk about it. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go make my rounds over at the student dorms." Jim said moving to walk around, but Puck stopped him.

"I'll go. I'm up anyway, besides all I have to do is make sure all the lights are out right? Why don't you go back to bed? From the looks of it you could use the rest." Puck chuckled.

"Very well... Thanks." Jim said as he turned and headed back to his room.

Puck chuckled to himself as he headed outside towards the student dorms. 'Wow, he's exactly how Odd described him.' Puck thought entering the building. All was quiet as he walked down the halls of the boys floor. No light coming through the cracks of the doors. Next he headed upstairs and checked the girls floor. Everything was quiet on the girls floor too until suddenly a young girl with red hair holding a teddy bear ran out of a room and slammed into Puck nearly knocking him over. The girl was on the brink of tears as Puck bent down and helped her off the floor.

"Hey there, are you okay?" Puck spoke softly. The girl just nodded as she tried to hold back the tears. "Can you tell me what your name is?"

"Milly." The girl said.

"Okay Milly I'm Puck. Now, what's wrong?" Puck asked.

"There's a monster in the closet." Milly replied with a sniffle.

"A monster eh? Well I'll take care of this, can you show me where your room is?" Puck held his hand out. Milly grabbed his hand and held it tight as she guided Puck to her room and pointed towards the closet door. Puck went over to the closet and looked inside seeing nothing but clothes and some stuffed animals. "Well I must have scared it off because it's not here anymore. I doubt it will come back so why don't you go back to bed?" Puck said.

"But there are still monsters around..." Milly said reluctantly.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you!" Puck said standing up straight in a super hero pose.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

END

Episode Preview:

Aelita: Puck sweety? Why are you spending the night in Milly's room?

Puck! She was crying and scared and.. and... well one thing led to another and I fell asleep while reading her a story!

Aelita: I KNEW IT! YOU DID CHEAT ON ME! That's it! I'm leaving you! exits

Puck: Aw... honey don't be like that.. hey wait we're not dating... HEY GET BACK HERE! exits

Ulrich: uh.. anyway... while they sort that out please note that I am NOT telling you about the two XANA attacks next episode and I am NOT disclosing any information about Puck's vehicle or however attached to his body they may be. Furthermore...

Yumi: ULRICH! tackles Shut up!

Odd: Whoa! Get a room you two!

other: Heads up!

Odd: huh? OW! smacked in the face with a baseball

Jeremie: sipping tea Since everyone else is busy injuring themselves, getting injured, or injuring someone, I will tell you the contents of the next episode. You see...

What? It's over? Out of time? AW !