IMPORTANT: This fanfiction contains potential spoilers. If you haven't made it past Season 1, I'd recommend not reading.
A/N: I had to actually write 1.5k words in one night just to finish that last chapter because I was slacking off most of the time and playing video games instead of actually writing.
Enjoy!
Odd successfully loaded into the virtual world, being pulled down by gravity onto the same grassy terrain he had seen and traveled on many times. He landed perfectly on his feet, grunting, and standing up.
"Shoot, I messed up the process. Sorry, Odd."
Aelita had accidentally virtualized him into the forest sector, instead of the mountain sector. She mentally facepalmed, knowing that it would now take longer to deactivate the tower.
"Not a problem, princess! Just tell me where the tower is.", said Odd, making an "OK" gesture with his right hand.
"74 degrees northwest, in the mountain sector. I'll meet you there." After finishing her sentence, Aelita took off the headset she was wearing and turned the chair around to face Jeremy.
"Think you'll be fine on your own?", Aelita asked Jeremy, standing up.
"Yeah, I think I'll be able to manage.", said Jeremy, sitting down at the supercomputer's interface although he could barely see. Despite his handicap, he still wanted to help in any way that he could. There was no need to commence the virtualization process as Aelita had already done so and had also set an automated timer.
Aelita was engulfed in a white light before she was virtualized and transported to the mountain sector. She landed on her feet, surveying the area. She could hear footsteps coming from behind her. As she turned around, she could hear Odd shouting "Long time no see, princess!" while running towards her location with a smile. Much to Aelita's dismay, there was a megatank behind him that wasn't planning to show him or her any mercy any time soon.
"Odd, look out! There's a megatank behind you!", she said, pointing to the artificially intelligent sphere that was rolling towards him.
"What?", he said, looking behind him. Sure enough, there was a megatank. The steel-shelled monster stopped moving once Odd made eye contact with it, and revealed its inner workings, charging up a devastating attack. Once it finished, it let loose a powerful beam of energy that was now coming Odd's way. He exclaimed before rolling out of the way of the deadly beam. He got up and then grabbed his forearm so that he could steady his aim and put an end to the megatank.
"Laser arrow!" were the last words that the megatank heard before it exploded into a bunch of digital debris, never to be seen again.
"Nice shot, Odd!", said Aelita, impressed with how quickly her fellow Lyoko Warrior dealt with the enemy.
"Thanks. Now how about we deal with the tower?", replied Odd, eliciting a nod from Aelita. Odd and Aelita took off running, going in the direction of the tower.
"Hey, Einstein! Think you can get us some vehicles?", asked Odd, crossing his arms and waiting patiently for a reponse.
"I can try. Give me a second.", replied Jeremy, using his muscle memory to program the vehicles into the virtual world. Once he hit the "run program" button, his headset emitted a warning sound from its left and right speakers. A new window popped up, containing a red exclamation mark with a circle of the same color around it. He gasped in surprise. Had he messed something up?
"Any day now!", shouted Odd, impatient and now tapping his foot against the virtual land he was standing on.
"Give him a break, Odd. He's trying his best.", said Aelita, who wasn't happy with Odd's actions or words.
He tried rewriting the code and executing it again, but to no avail. The program refused to run.
"I can't program your vehicles. I think XANA figured out how to block the program.", said Jeremy, giving up on trying to send their vehicles to them.
"Well, it's our lucky day then.", said Odd, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Meanwhile, Jeremy was trying to reach Yumi and Ulrich's cell phones.
"Come on, guys... pick up!", he demanded quietly to himself. After trying to reach them for the third time, Jeremy decided to give up. He began to speak through his headset microphone.
"Ulrich and Yumi won't be able to join you. You'll have to deactivate the tower by yourself.", said Jeremy, frustrated and concerned by the fact that Ulrich and Yumi wouldn't be able to come.
While Jeremy, Odd, and Aelita were fighting XANA, Yumi's consciousness began to come back to her as she opened her eyes, her sight being filled with the ceiling of the building that she was currently in.
"Ugh... my head...", Ulrich said, feeling weak and suffering from a headache. He could hear Yumi shouting.
"Ulrich, are you OK?", she asked frantically, getting on her knees so that she could make eye contact with the boy laying on the ground.
"Yeah, but my head is killing me. Did the others make it to the factory?", asked Ulrich, now sitting up.
"I hope so. My cell phone is fried.", she replied, taking her phone out of her pocket, and showing it to him. She got up from her previous position so that she could stand upright, but with some difficulty. It was a bit of a challenge to stand up.
"So is mine."
"Can you stand?", asked Yumi, looking back at him.
"I can try.", replied Ulrich, getting up, although rather slowly. Ulrich grunted with effort as he tried to stand. XANA had inflicted more damage to him as Ulrich was the biggest threat to him and his monsters. Ulrich finally stood up, his breathing louder than before.
"Is it really that hard for you to stand up?", asked Yumi.
"Unfortunately, yes.", replied Ulrich, still panting from fatigue. Yumi got next to him and put her arm behind his waist, holding his hand to support him. It was slightly difficult for her as she was also injured and had difficulty standing. Her condition wasn't as bad as Ulrich's, however. Ulrich, feeling a bit awkward, blushed and looked away from her so that she wouldn't see his face.
"Actually, I think it's best that you stay here. There's no way you can get to the factory with your injuries.", said Yumi, sitting him down next to the lockers near the main entrance.
"You're hurt too, you know.", replied Ulrich, crossing his arms.
"Not as badly as you are. Stay put.", she demanded, while climbing out of the previously broken window. Ulrich huffed in annoyance because he felt he was being treated like a small child. The last thing Ulrich heard from her was a grunt and footsteps that became fainter, and louder.
Wait... louder?
Ulrich heard a yell as Yumi was repelled back by the wind. Seems like it had gotten much stronger since they were knocked out. Yumi turned around, groaning in pain, before climbing the window and descending off of the frame and back into the school. She was pushed over by the wind.
"Looks like we won't be able to get to the factory. The only thing we can do for now is stay here.", said Yumi, sitting down next to Ulrich.
Back at the factory, Jeremy had seen three red objects on the supercomputer's screen while he was sitting back and watching. The objects barely moved, and they were right next to the tower. He couldn't tell what monsters they were, so he just put on his headset and warned Odd and Aelita of them.
"You're close to the tower, but there are monsters. I can't tell which ones they are, but they must be guarding it.", said Jeremy, who was now on edge.
"How many are there?", questioned Aelita, still running with Odd to the tower.
"Uh... three.", replied Jeremy, biting his nails. He didn't know why he was so nervous. It was as if he knew something terrible was about to happen.
"Got it.", replied Aelita, who had now spotted the tower to the left of her and Odd. They bolted towards it, only to receive fire from a Tarantula, with two Hornets assisting it.
"Jeremy, there's a Tarantula and two Hornets! We're pinned down!", shouted Aelita, wincing once a laser went past the rock she was hiding behind.
"Not to worry, princess! You're just in luck, because I'm here!" Odd stepped out from behind the rock, and fired three times, one arrow for every monster in the group that was approaching them. The laser arrows miraculously hit their targets in their eye of XANA, causing them to become nothing more than a bunch of digital remains. Odd cheered victoriously, pumping a fist into the air.
"Bulls-eye!", Odd shouted, looking content with the result of the battle. Both Aelita and Jeremy were stunned by the fact that Odd was suddenly really good at taking out monsters. One time was believable, but two times? It was enough to make them question their sanity. Aelita would never say that to him out loud, but Jeremy probably would. Snapping back to reality, Aelita complimented him.
"Impressive.", she said, putting a hand on her hip.
"Thank you, thank you!", Odd joked, looking around while waving his paw in the air. The gesture got a slight chuckle out of Aelita, who promptly rolled her eyes with an amused smile and ran towards the tower with Odd staying behind. She ran through the tower, phasing through it and going from being in a mountainous landscape to being in a predominantly blue area containing a smooth bridge with a platform in the middle connected to it, surrounded by nothing but transparent boxes with binary code being displayed on them.
She ascended to the top of the tower, landing on a floating platform. She calmly walked towards a holographic interface, holding her palm on it. The interface verified her by displaying her name on screen, and automatically entering the code "Lyoko". The transparent boxes started to fall, leaving nothing but a black void in their place.
"Tower deactivated."
Jeremy wiped the sweat from his forehead, sighing in relief. He really didn't understand why he was so worried. After a bit of thinking, he had come to the conclusion that the events that happened today warranted a return to the past. He typed "rttp" in his console, and pressed enter, hoping for the best.
"Return to the past, now!"
A white ball of light came from where the holomap was, rapidly increasing in size until the return to the past process was finished.
And done!
I feel like this chapter was a bit boring, but I hope that you guys don't think it is. If you guys think it is, I promise I'll try to do better with Chapter 4. I love you guys so much and you're all so awesome! Please leave a review and tell me what you thought. Constructive criticism is fully appreciated.