Smoking Out the Window
And... they're off! The Lyoko Warriors are in a "do or die" mood, thanks to the information they found from the Volcano Replika and the notice that Anthea has contacted Daphne, which left the latter warning her daughter! While in group work during science class, Jeremy tells the others the plan. "Aelita, Yumi, Brock, and Ulrich will go to the Cortex. Aelita will go with Yumi into the Core and access the Core Network. When that alerts Tyron, Aelita will explain the situation to get him to reason." "What if he sends in his ninjas?" Odd asks. "That is where Brock and Ulrich come in." "We'll provide the muscle if Tyron doesn't take to kind of the heart," Ulrich said. "Think of it as a Message of the Wind with added force," Brock chimes in. "That allows the rest of us to find the spy," Ash said. "By figuring out who sabotaged Odd's film," Dawn said. "Can you pass me the sulfuric acid," Allison said. "Are you listening?" Ulrich asks. "Yes, but we must act like we are doing work." "Okay. Sorry, Madame Curie." "Mr. Stern, is your group gossiping?" Ms. Hertz barks. "No, madame." "Then tell me, what is Ms. Jones doing?" Ulrich panics as Allison mundanely taps that sodium hydroxide. "She is mixing sulfuric acid with sodium hydroxide." "Why?" Ulrich panics again. "We are creating a neutralization reaction." "Good. However, cut the outside chit-chat," Ms. Hertz said. "Yes, Madame," the group says in unison. "Let's get to the chase; if we find the spy, what will we do?" Allison asks. "Do not confront until after we talk to Tyron," Jeremy said. "Thanks for saving me," Ulrich said. "You know the answer. Ms. Hertz caught you at a bad time. But, you're welcome," Allison said. Laura looks at the Lyoko Warriors and sighs. "They have no idea," she said. "We have no idea!" Ash J said. "Huh?" "What did you do? We need to catch up, slow down." "Sorry if you are slow." "Or, help us out. It is a group assignment, and if Ms. Hertz is going to pick on us one on one, I need to know," Sissi said. Laura rolls her eyes. In history class, William completes an assignment about France and US relations. He thinks about the night of the "Battle of the DJs." All William sees are his hands dragging the bomb man and his fingers pressing a button. "Man, what did I do?" William also thinks about his friends and what they went through. "I didn't ask them what else I did. Nor did they tell me." He thinks about Ulrich and his relationship with his parents. The constant push and pull on Ulrich's lifestyle makes William wonder, how does he do it? Then comes to mind Odd: he is the life of the party but is that an outlet from the abuse of his older sisters? "He is the only boy, and that can be rough." William thinks about Jeremy next and how Jeremy went from zero to hero. "That sounded mean. Jeremy is a great friend if you sit and talk to him." William looks at Yumi and sighs. "I have moved on from her, but at the same time, we connected because of the struggles with our parents. Her parents must love each other if they drive each other crazy." Yumi notices William, but he focuses on his paper. "Now, as for Aelita, her life is the most fucked up. I don't even know where to start. However, she has so much courage and strength and a family in us. I think she is the bravest out of all of us." William writes some more, then stops. "I think I might be stepping in on her turf." William turns in his paper and leaves. "I have gotten close to Ash, Brock, Dawn, and Allison, but I don't know their backgrounds. I should inquire about that." William sees the others in the courtyard and walks over to them as they wait for Yumi to finish.
"Hey, is everything set?" William asks. "Yeah, we are waiting for Yumi. Is she almost done?" Jeremy asks. "Yeah. I had to get out of there." William notices that Brock is eating some leftover Old Gateau. "Still have some? Orbeetle and I ate all of ours." "Yeah. I think I will need the energy boost for our mission," Brock said. "Where did you learn how to cook?" "I learned from home." "From your mom?" "No. My parents weren't around a lot." "Your father used to run the Pewter City Gym before you and your brother Forrest took it over." "Yeah, but that is not the reason. My father kept losing, so he took off to find himself and chose not to return because he was embarrassed, and my mother was ashamed to be his wife, so she took off and traveled." William looks at Brock in shock. "You have nine siblings, right?" "Right. We made it fine. Ash convinced my dad to come back, and when my dad did, my mom returned. It was a confusing time, but we're doing fine many years later." William nods. "I shouldn't have asked!" Yumi meets the group, and they split up. Jeremy sends Aelita, Yumi, Ulrich, and Brock to Lyoko, and the group makes it to the Cortex. "The Mega Pod is ready for you," Jeremy said, "I'll drive since I am the only one with a driver's license," Brock said. "Smooth. I'll get mine in a few weeks," Yumi teases. In the Mega Pod, Aelita sings, "You said forever, now I drive alone past your street!" "Oliva Rodrigez, she restored my faith in a good heartbreak song. Although Taylor Swift's All Too Well was needed to prove a point. A woman's scone is never to be dealt with lightly," Ulrich said. Jeremy laughs until he sees a red mark on the screen. Bang! "Ouch!" Brock screams. "We hit something!" "It was one of Tyron's ninjas!" Jeremy sees one more. "Does he know?" Yumi asks. "I don't think so. We need to get rid of them." "I can handle the first one," Brock said. Brock turns the Mega Pod to the left, slams it into a structure, and de-virtualizes one ninja. "One down!" "I think I can handle the next one," Ulrich said. "We can use the laser," Aelita points out. She takes out the laser handle, which starts to burn and shake. "Look," Yumi points out. "The second ninja is breaking it." "Now, back to my plan," Ulrich said. "Jeremy, can you beam me on top of the Mega Pod?' "Yeah, why?" Jeremy asks. "So I can go toe to toe with the ninja." "That's a good idea," Aelita said. Jeremy agrees, and Ulrich is face to face with the ninja. They fight it out on top of the Mega Pod. The ninja uses her boa staff to hit Ulrich in the head. Ulrich uses his katanas to knock the weapon out of the ninja's hand. the ninja steps back, and so do Ulrich. The ninja leaps forward, and Ulrich triplicates himself and surprises the ninja. The ninja gasps and Ulrich stabs it. "Nice work," Jeremy said. The group continues to the Core. On campus, Odd reviews his film over and over again. "What am I missing?" Odd ask himself. "Where was the original film?" Ash asks. "It was left on the school's Google Drive. Mr. Chardin wanted it that way." "Who had access to the drive?" "I asked. Everyone is claiming innocence." "What are we missing?" Dawn asks. "The question of the fucking day," Odd exclaims. "Allison, what are you playing with?" "Slime from the Sloomoo Insitute," Allison answers. "It is Icee texture. Who knows about the film club's Google Drive is the question we need to answer." "Who knows?" William asks. "Yeah. The student stole information or hacked into the account and went after Odd's film alone. Why?" "They might have wanted to stir up trouble for our group." "Who would do that?" Dawn asks. "The only person with a motive is Laura," Ash said. "Laura?" Odd asks. "Yeah, she has made weird comments and mentioned the film twice." "She did. She said something about my narration, but since it didn't happen, she backtracked," William said. "Jeremy said the RTTP is messed up," Odd said. "Not when she mentioned the film," William said. "Hold on, are we sure we can pin this on Laura," Odd said. "Well, we need to see where she was the night before," Dawn said. "We need to check her phone records," Ash said. "Or talk to her," Allison said. "Talk. We don't talk anymore like we used to," Odd said. "Based on what we are saying, Laura slips up when she gets cocky. If we speak to her, she may slip up about something." "Fine. Aelita thinks it's her, but she might be jealous,' Odd said. "No. Laura is mad that Jeremy is ranked number one," Dawn said. "Right, she thought she could transfer to a new school her sophomore year, turn it upside down, and rise to the top, please! The writer of the story did that next!" Allison comments. Moments later, the sprinklers go off. "Shit!" odd said. "My hair!" Dawn yells. "My clothes," Allison said. "I'm going to stink after this," William said. "I have a cold!" Ash complains. They all run out of the computer room, where Laura walks in and sees the computer's history wiped clean. "Fuck! I wanted to see what they were doing. I turned on the waterworks for nothing!"
"What happened?" William asks as he dries his hair. "A small fire in the media room," Ash J said as he blew his nose. "I noticed everyone was in a hurry except for Laura," Moxie said. "She wasn't?" Odd asks. "Nope. She took her time." "Well, who was to fall and bust their ass on the floor," Rocky said. "By the way, remember the soda we had hemp?" "Yeah, weed," Ash said. "Well, my father told me hemp seeds are not enough to make you high." "Well, we were messed up that night." "Right, Allison found a body." "I did not find a body; it found me," Allison said. "Yeah, and it was weird that we didn't notice," Moxie said. "However, imagine finding a body. How do you sleep?" "My mom said it gets easier in time," Dawn said. "Also, Allison is loving proof." "First of all, we all watch PLL: Original Sins and live, so I'll be okay. Plus, it is not that dramatic," Allison said. Odd looked at his laptop and noticed Mr. Chardin logged in at night. "Why would he log into the file at 1:30 in the morning?" "What's wrong?" Allison asks. "Someone logged into the account way passed Mr. Chardin's bedtime." "Google sends you an email if something is strange." Odd checks the club's email. "Nothing. However, I will check the trash folder." "Look, someone deleted an email from the morning of the film premiere," Allison points out. William sits next to Dawn and asks her a question about her mother. "You mentioned your mother gave you advice about dead bodies?" "Yeah. My dad died, and my mom found him. I don't want to talk about it. I wasn't born yet, but the situation is a sore subject." "I understand." "My mom and I are fine. I don't miss him because I don't know him, but my mom does." "I'm sorry." "I know how Dawn feels," Ash said. "I didn't grow up with my dad either." "Is he dead?" William asks. "I don't know. He left my mother to explore the world, and that was fifteen years ago." William nods but realizes how old Ash is. "I see. Okay, I said I didn't know their backgrounds, but goddammit!" "I am craving the drink, Excitation!" Rocky said. "No way, I don't care what your dad said," Ash J said. "Well, we're all okay," Moxie said. "But not everyone drank it." "Let me guess, Laura didn't drink it," Odd said. "Among others." "Wait! Didn't you say that it was made in Switzerland?" Allison asks. "Yeah?" Moxie seems puzzled. "From L.T. Industries?" "I don't know. You have a phone." Allison searches for it. "It was," she confirms. Odd, William, Dawn, and Ash all gulped. "What if Tyron sent the body?" Ash whispers. "I think he did," William said. "We found the email about the Google hack from an iPad, but no way of IDing the person," Odd said. Laura searchers all over the computer lab for answers. "I can't believe it. I need to call Professor Tyron." Laura tries to call, but he doesn't answer. She freaks out, takes out her sandwich bag, takes a sample, and sniffs it. "Okay, get your head in the game." Over on the Cortex, Yumi and Aelita enter the Core as Brock and Ulrich stand by. Aelita search for information on the connection between Professor Tyron and XANA when the security system activates. "Yumi, watch out," Jeremy said. Yumi uses her Telekinesis powers to subdue the spikes on the wall and break them. "Tyron has files on Jack Slate and the day of the flood," Aelita said. "He does. Was he the one who placed the body at the dance?" "He was on to us for months, years," Yumi said. "What is going on?" Ulrich asks. Brock hears sounds approaching the Core. "We are in trouble," Brock said. "Mantas!" Ulrich said. "XANA doesn't like the idea of us trying to force it out of its vacation home," Jeremy said. "Well, we can start the eviction process," Brock said. Jeremy sends out the Overbike and the Air Bike, and the boys fight on. Ulrich uses his katana to block lasers from the manta. The manta flies above Ulrich and launches mines. Ulrich flies around them as each one explodes. "Jeremy, there are mines everywhere," Ulrich said. "I see that. Can you lead the manta away from the Core? They can fly in and disrupt the mission," Jeremy said. "I can try." Ulrich flies around the mines, and the mines follow him. Brock is shooting arrows at another Manta that has laid twelve mines. "You have got to be kidding me," Brock scoffs. Yumi hears the commotion from inside the Core. "Should I help them?" she asks. "No. Aelita needs you more," Jeremy said. Aelita stumbles upon a firewall, and the whole arena turns red. "Jeremy, what is happening?" "Tyron is trying to force a system override." "Meaning?" Yumi asks. "He is trying to trap us on the Cortex unless," Aelita has an idea. She quickly programs a code that she creates using her Synthesis powers. "What are you doing?" Jeremy asks. "I am making a fake bug that will force Tyron to stop the system override. He may ever-" "You little bitches. Stop messing with my program!" Professor Tyron speaks. He appears on the Core's monitor and has gray curly hair, a large round nose, and a full face. "I see you have stopped the system override," Aelita said. "Look, I don't know what you found or want, but-" "We want you to shut down your Supercomputer. As you may know, an AI virus called XANA lives in your Supercomputer." "XANA? Look, I can handle it and whatever damage it may cause." "No, you can't. It went to live in your virtual world to escape total elimination." "I can handle it. A bunch of teenagers will not bully me!" Professor Tyron starts to type something on the computer as Jeremy does the same. "Not scared of a bunch of bullies, do you tell your reflection that," Jeremy teases. Jeremy enters the last key, and a virus freezes Professor Tyron's Supercomputer for a few seconds, which allows Aelita to access the phone logs and for Jeremy to see if and how Professor Tyron has been avoiding the RTTP all this time. "Okay, are you done?" Jeremy asks. "Yeah, let's leave," Aelita said. Aelita runs to the door as Yumi releases her telekinesis powers, and the spike returns. When they reach the outside, Ulrich and Brock have cornered the mantas and allowed the mines to explode. "We need to leave now!" Aelita states. The Lyoko Warriors race to the Skid as Professor Tyron regains control. "What did these little shits do?" He angrily calls Laura.
Later on, in the early evening, the two groups compare notes. "So the club sods was spiked so we wouldn't notice the body being placed in the gym," Ulrich said. "Tyron has years of XANA data on file," Ash said. "Yeah. We also have phone records between Tyron and the student spy. However, I can't trace it," Jeremy said. "Why don't you let Allison try?" Dawn asks. "Allison? She is creative at coding, but what can she do, make a code to trace the phone calls?" William asks. Moments later, Laura arrives and yells at Aelita. "What the fuck did you do?" Laura screams. "Excuse me? What are you talking about?" Aelita asks. Allison is talking to Sissi and sees the altercation. "Is everything okay?" Sissi asks. "Nope, but Aelita can handle it. Anyway, do you have it?" Allison response. "Yeah, what are you going to do?' "Use it." "Laura, relax," Odd said. "She did something. The pink bitch and her dumbass mate," Laura shouts. "What are you talking about?" Jeremy asks. Allison walks up to Laura and hugs her. "I'm sorry that you're stressed. Maybe the answer to your problem will appear if you take a breath." Laura looks at Allison and walks away. "What the fuck was that?" Yumi asks. "Nevermind, can you help Jeremy crack a phone record?" Brock asks. "Yeah!" Allison said. William still questions Allison's ability to check the phone records at the factory. "I still don't see how Allison can check the phone records when Jeremy couldn't." Allison stops typing on the Supercomputer and speaks to William. "I am a certified computer hacker. I can hack into anything, of course not the government and shit, but I can do this." "Since when?" "When I was younger, I learned how to hack into my parents' computer to order pizza when our babysitter fell asleep." "Wow. You seemed to have it easy with that." "My childhood?" "Yeah." "No. Sometimes my siblings and I feel that our parents love mystery solving more than else. Fuck, we even ask my dad if he loved us more than the mystery machine one day." "What did he say?" "That his family is his pride and joy and that he will fight for us to the death." "That doesn't answer the question." "What's worse is that one of their mysteries is why my siblings and I have PTSD." William's face did a double take. Everyone in the room got quiet. "The reason is that when we came here to Paris many years ago, Croque-Mitaine, which was am ex-nanny in disguise, kidnapped my twin and me from our hotel penthouse's bathroom and threw us into a cemetery plot," Allison explains. "That explains so much," Dawn said. "Don't get me started on my older siblings, but Sam is afraid to climb high things, and Gary hates working with people outside the family." "I'm sorry I asked. Yeah, next time, don't!" William said. "Okay, can you get back to work?"Yumiaks."I'm done. I am waiting for the results," Allison said. "Also, can you call this number for me, Ash?" Ash calls the number. "Who am I calling?" "Those motherfuckers. How did they do it? How did they outsmart Professor Tyron? I did not transfer to this shithole for anything. I sent the emails and photos to distract them. Since XANA can use their emotions against them, I thought I could!" "Who is that?" Brock questions quietly. "Shh," Jeremy said. "I even edited Odd's stupid film. It's cute to capture pokemon in real life, but coming from him, it was stupid. However, they don't know that I am involved!" At the same time, Allison checks the results. "It is a burner phone sold in Switzerland, but I figured out something with the RTTP." "What," Aelita said. "The spy altered the program to work on her, but she did more damage than she intended." "Is it fixable?" "Ask, Jeremy." "It is since you found it. She's good." "Not that good. I found this out a minute into my search. I was able to track the burner phone to the dorms." "I even flirted with Jeremy Belposis, but he is either stupid or madly in love with his pink-headed bitch! Too bad she will never see her mother!" Aelita is about to scream, but Ulrich stops her. "It's okay. She can't hear us," Allison said. "How do you know?" William asks. "Well, Laura. You can do it. And there is not a dam thing those fuckers can do about it!" "Oh, yeah!" Aelita said.
In the final moments of the night, Laura takes a sample and hears a knock on the door. She opens it and sees the Lyoko Warriors on the other side. "Why are you hear?" "You are working for Professor Tyron, right?" Aelita asks. "Who is that?" "Tell the truth," Jeremy said. "Why do you think so?" "Remember, I hugged you," Allison said. "Yeah?" "I placed a black device on your skin that looks like a mole." Laura checks her back and sees it. "That thing Sissi gave you," Ulrich said. "It was a tracking device she wanted to use on Ulrich. I altered the program to make it a listening device. The same way you altered the time reversal," Allison said. Laura gulps. "So, Aelita asking you a question, admit that you are working for Professor Tyron!" "You a such a bitch, Allison Jones!" Laura said as she tried to leave the room, but she dropped her sandwich bag, which spilled on the ground. Allison looks at it. "Is the heroin?" Laura growls and grabs an iron to hit Allison. Ash grabs the iron, but Laura knees him. Yumi and Dawn hold Laura's hand, and Laura bites Yumi's hand. Laura tries to leave, but Odd and William block her path. Laura tries to push the boys, but Aelita shoves her. Laura grabs her recently used curling iron and tries to strike Aelita. After a scuffle, Laura brings the curling iron to Aelita's face, and Aelita and Jeremy push her, and Laura slips on her sandwich bag and hits her head on the side of her bed. The room grows quiet. Brock checks her pulse. "She's okay. But, we're not!" Laura's burner phone rings.