Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.
This chapter was written by me. It was edited by Discordant Night.
I only own Lila. Mary is owned by AeroJester203.
Is Anybody Out There?
Inside Lila and Aelita's room
POV Lila's
"You… want to talk about Cameron? Jones?" I ask. Emily nods and pushes her glasses to the bridge of her nose.
"Um… sure. Come on in I guess," I reply stepping aside to give her room to come in. She closes the door behind her, and I gesture her over to one of my chairs. Nodding Emily goes to my desk by the window, and she pulls the chair out from it. Turning it towards me, she sits gingerly and breathes in deeply, then holds the letter up to her face.
"Dear Emily, I feel as if I must explain things… I'm sorry about my sudden leaving and if I've been acting strangely. I wish I could come back to Kadic… but for reasons I can't disclose, I just can't right now. There's something you should know… I like Lila, and I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong idea about our friendship. I don't see you as a romantic significant other… and I'm sorry if my leaving hurts you. I'm also sorry if I took too long in sending this letter. Please don't be mad at her. Cameron." She lowers the letter down to her lap, and I have to admit that I'm a bit stunned right now.
"So you see Lila… that's my problem with you. You took Cameron from me; he liked you more than he did me…" Emily trails off.
Poor girl… what do I tell her to make her feel better… maybe if she… yeah, I'll have to tell her this, I think.
"Listen Emily…" I sigh, "I never liked Cameron, okay?"
"Huh?! You didn't?!" She asks hopefully.
"No I didn't… see I was just trying to be nice to him. He helped out my sister Aelita when Sissi was mean to her. She's changed now, but because of that I felt like I owed him something," I lie, trying to resist the urge to grit my teeth.
"And… well… I never really had feelings of the sort for him other than just as friends," I finish.
Emily all but bolts upright from my chair.
"Then… do you think I have a chance with him?!" she exclaims happily.
"Yeah… just tell him I said that I never felt any romantic feelings towards him," I say.
"Okay! I will, and maybe he can use my shoulder to cry on! Thanks a million Lila!" Emily blurts. She gets up from the chair and gives me a hug, the releases me and runs to the door.
Aelita opens the door as Emily gets there; she's come back in her pink pajamas with the letter A on her t shirt. She's holding a green towel and her clothes from today.
"Hi Aelita!" Emily chirps, bouncing happily as she walks out of the room and starts humming her way down the hall. Aelita looks at her then back at me. She walks into the room, and closes the door.
"What was that about?" Aelita asks, raising an eyebrow. She goes to the shared closet and puts the dirty clothes in there.
"I um…" I trail off, feeling a bit heart broken all of a sudden. I go over to her bed and sit on it. She sees I'm upset and comes over, taking a seat next to me.
"Hey what's wrong?"
"I think I just made a big mistake Aelita… for someone else's happiness…" I trail off, as I put my head on her shoulder. She puts her hand on my head, holding me closer as I can't help but cry softly.
A few hours later
Before lights out
I'm working on another combination for MB's laptop. Trying to get my mind off earlier. Typing on it, I enter the new code:
04687792
The laptop does nothing for a second, except…
04
"No way…. Aelita look!" I exclaim, a little bit of happiness pouring back into me. Aelita gets off from her bed, and comes over to me. She gasps.
"Amazing. It looks like you've got two of the numbers!" she exclaims.
"Yeah. I guess each correct number I enter, will remain in the spots."
"At least you're making progress. It's getting late isn't it?" she asks.
"Yeah it is, we should get going to bed, before Jim has something to complain about," I say. Closing MB's laptop, I open my second drawer and put the laptop in there quickly, closing it swiftly before Aelita can see the copy of Jeremy's laptop. I record the number I entered on my notebook with my pen. I open the first drawer and put both items into it. I close it. Going over to the door, I flip the light switch.
Looking at Aelita, I say:
"Good night Aelita."
"Thanks Lila, you too." She smiles lightly, as she lays down in her bed. Going to the ladder, I climb on it. I get into bed, and put my head on the pillow.
I still can't believe I sacrificed my happiness for Emily's sake… I hope it's for the best… I think.
The next day
In Mrs. Meyer's class
I have my head on my arms, tired from lack of sleep. I didn't even try to go back to sleep… I just couldn't. I let Cameron go… and now he'll probably think I'm just this great big jerk. Having a crush on someone sucks.
"Elizabeth…" Mrs. Meyers says, for Sissi's ears only, causing her to pay attention. "I see that you're improving from usual scores. 60," she says, in which Sissi gasps in delight. She takes her exam.
"Jeremy, I deducted two points because of the ketchup stain on your diagram. 98," Mrs. Meyer says, handing Jeremy the exam.
"Huh?" Jeremy asks, taking it. "When did that get there?"
Mrs. Meyer walks up to Ulrich. "Ulrich, there's some good but not enough to make up what's bad. 58," Mrs. Meyer says, putting the exam on his desk. He sighs in disappointment.
"Herb, 93, excellent," Mrs. Meyer says, as she goes over to Herb to give him his exam. "Not as good as Jeremy or Lila's usual grades, but excellent." Mrs. Meyer goes over to me.
"Lila… well done. 85," Mrs. Meyer compliments as she hands me the paper. "I deducted 15 points off for answering the problems in the way I didn't teach you. I understand you and Jeremy are gifted students at math, but please try to use my equations when filling in the answers."
"Yes ma'am," I nod, and Mrs. Meyer then goes over to Odd.
85 is still pretty good in my books, I think.
Later
At night
Inside Lila and Aelita's room
Aelita and I are now in the room, after Jim has given us one of his lectures for us girls to not go upstairs to the boy's dorm floor at night, no matter the circumstances.
"Glad to hear you passed your exam. When Mrs. Meyer handed mine to me, I was happy with my grade," Aelita mentions.
"What did you get?" I ask.
"100," Aelita answers, giving a thumbs up.
"Very nice," I smile at her.
I definitely get my smarts from you two, there's no question about that, I think.
Later
That evening
I wake to screaming from upstairs and I toss my covers to the side. Using the rails, I jump down the bed and land on the floor, then gently shake Aelita awake. She rubs her eyes groggily.
"Lila what's going on-" she starts to say, and then she hears the screaming coming from upstairs.
"Let's go," I say.
"Right!" Aelita exclaims. Moving out of the way, I give her room to get out of bed. Aelita and I get our shoes on, while still in our pajamas, and running out door, we close it behind us.
Upstairs
Reaching the boy's dorm floor, we see Jim… floating in the air? He's screaming, with Jeremy, Ulrich, Odd, and Sissi staring at Jim. Their attention turns to us as we approach.
"No don't! It's the ghost of Leon Corbet!" Sissi half-yells. "If it sees you-" she starts to explain, and as she does, the ghost drops Jim.
"Jim!" Ulrich, Sissi, Odd, and Jeremy, rush to Jim lying on the floor. They're all still in their day clothes for some reason. Maybe they were staying up late tonight for some reason?
The ghost seems to have disappeared, but there's no way of even tracking it. But then, I feel something grabbing my leg. I look down.
This… will not be fun, I think, and gulp. The ghost sure enough, starts dragging me on the floor.
"Lila!" Aelita, Ulrich, Sissi, Odd, and Jeremy exclaim. Aelita is the first one to grab my hand and try to pull me free, as I continue to be dragged by the ghost. Odd, Ulrich, Sissi, and Jeremy run over to Aelita. Sissi pulls on Aelita's waist as she tries to get the ghost to release me. Jeremy is next, followed by Odd, then Ulrich. They grunt as the ghost continues to drag me, not letting my friend's hold get the better of it. We pass by Jim; he's still unconscious.
"Hurry! If I go through that door, I'm not sure if-" I begin, and we get closer to the door.
Aelita, Sissi, Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremy give one last pull and I'm finally released, falling to the ground as my friends fall on each other. They pant out of breath. Catching their breath, Aelita and Sissi help each other up, then run over to me and do the same. I brush myself off.
"Thanks," I say, panting. "So um Sissi, what exactly did you mean by the ghost of Leon Corbet? For that matter, who exactly is –" I catch myself, "was Leon Corbet?"
Sissi rubs her neck sheepishly.
"Well… I kind of talked Odd and Ulrich into having a seance with Herb and Nicholas. In Milly and Tamiya's newspaper, they mentioned that supposedly Leon Corbet's spirit still haunts Kadic. Today marks the anniversary of his supposed death, and the day Kadic was built," she explains.
"Oh… well I'm sure it wasn't a real ghost. Right Jeremy?" I ask him.
"Of course. Ghosts aren't real. It was probably one of Xana's spectre's," Jeremy surmises.
"Then why couldn't we see it?" Aelita asks.
"Xana probably did something to make it invisible. I've been having trouble with the super scan all night; it's been so buggy, I haven't had time to get into my pajamas," Jeremy says sleepily. He fixes his glasses to the bridge of his nose, then yawns.
"Anyways, what are we going to do about Jim?" he asks, pointing over to the unconscious man.
"Well… you, Ulrich, and Odd will have to bring him to his room. And I have a suggestion, since your super scan program is buggy Jeremy, I'm going to go and use mine to locate the tower. Jim will probably assume what happened was a dream, this way we won't need to launch a return trip. Plus Aelita and I need to get into our regular clothes too," I explain.
"Okay, seems like a fair plan," Jeremy agrees.
"Right, I got Jim's legs," Odd says, going over to Jim and his legs.
"I'll grab his arms," Ulrich says, going over to Jim.
"What should I do?" Sissi asks.
"You could be our look out. Both for the spectre and for any of our dorm-mates. Einstein can hold the door for us," Ulrich replies.
"Right," Sissi nods.
"Okay, be back in ten," I say. They nod. Aelita and I start walking back downstairs.
Getting to our floor, we head to the room and open the door. Aelita goes inside the room. I walk in the room, and close the door behind me.
Inside Lila and Aelita's room
Walking over to my desk, I reach it as Aelita goes to our opened shared closet. She looks for her day clothes. I open the drawer and grab the copy of my father's laptop. I put it on the desk.
Looking at Aelita, I say:
"Say um Aelita," I say hesitantly. "Since you know Jeremy is my father and everything, do you want to see his laptop? I've been hesitant on showing it to you… but I mean if you wanted to..." I trail off. Grabbing her clothes, Aelita looks at me, then smiles.
"Lila, I know you trust me. I trust you too. I imagine there's a lot of information on that laptop, important information. But I think it's safer if we let the timeline happen the way it's meant to happen. Considering what my future self-did to give all of us a second chance. I don't want to be tempted."
"Okay," I nod. Opening the laptop, I let it load before it shows the home screen. I glance at Aelita.
"To be completely honest Aelita, I've been through this laptop a few times. Yeah there's a few videos of my father on here but honestly… they're not very helpful. If there are any video diaries that are helpful… they're probably buried deep in this laptop somewhere. I wouldn't even know where to begin looking," I explain. Aelita nods.
"Right, I understand. I'm going to go to the bathroom to change. I'll shout if I need help," she says.
"Yeah. Don't forget to take your cell phone with you," I say. Nodding, she goes to her desk by the wall, and grabs her cell phone. Grabbing it, she then goes to the door. Opening the door, she leaves. Looking at the copy of my father's laptop, I start typing on the keyboard and bring up the super scan program.
Letting it run, it goes through a list of tower's and I wait for it to confirm the tower's location. Finally it pinpoints the tower's location; looking at the screen I see that the tower's located in the ice sector.
Grabbing a pen, I hastily write down the tower's coordinates on a sticky note. I close the copy of my father's laptop and put it in the second drawer where MB's laptop is.
Closing that drawer, I then close my first drawer. Putting the sticky note on my desk, I go over to mine and Aelita's opened shared closet.
Grabbing my pink magenta leather jacket, my black t shirt, some pants, my high nylon boxer briefs, and my shoes, I walk to the door. Opening the door, I close the door behind me, I see Aelita heading back to our room, with her pajamas in her hands. She's changed into her clothes rather quickly.
"I'll be back in five and then we can go. Okay?" I ask her.
She nods.
"Sure, I'll be in our room," Aelita says.
Afterwards
Boy's dorm floor
Going to the boy's dorm floor, Aelita and I see Sissi still waiting for us. We walk to her.
"Jeremy's is in his room. He's trying to debug his super scan program," she informs.
"Okay, and where are Odd and Ulrich?" I ask.
"They're in their room. I think Odd is feeding Kiwi before we head off to the lab," she explains.
"Ah okay," I say. Reaching her, the three of us knock on Jeremy's door.
"Come in," he says and in we go. Closing the door behind us, Jeremy is still typing on his keyboard. His light is on, in his room.
"Any luck Jeremy?" I ask. In his chair, he turns to us.
"None," Jeremy sighs. "I'm afraid we're going to need to go to check the supercomputer out in the factory to see if there's a problem with the super scan there too. Did you check your super scan program Lila?" he asks.
"Yeah, activated tower. Ice Sector," I reply, taking out the sticky note. Walking over to him, I hand him the sticky note and he takes it. He looks it over, and nods.
"I've got to see your program one of these days," he says.
"Sorry Jeremy, you know I can't let you do that," I say.
"I know…." Jeremy trails off, and puts the sticky note in his pocket. He fixes his glasses to the bridge of his nose.
"Let's head to the factory," he says.
"Okay," I say.
"I'll call Yumi on our way there, so she can meet us," Sissi says.
Inside the lab
Jeremy, Ulrich, Odd, Sissi, Yumi, Aelita, and I are all in the lab. We're watching Jeremy type on the keyboard as his super scan is running. The super scan locks onto a tower, but can't seem to pinpoint it's exact location at all, like it's supposed to.
"So, what do we do now?" Ulrich asks, looking at the screen.
"Sissi, Aelita, Yumi, and Lila get to Sector Five as quickly as you can. Odd and Ulrich, head to the ice sector and check out the activated tower. See if it's guarded, and deal with any monsters so when Aelita, Sissi, Yumi, and Lila get back – Aelita can take care of the tower quickly," he answers.
"Negative, I'm staying with you. If the spectre comes back, it'll attack you. You need some protection," Ulrich says.
"Well… okay," Jeremy agrees.
Inside the scanner room
Yumi, and Odd are standing in front of the scanners. Odd looks back at us.
"Best of luck," he smiles.
"Thanks, you too," I say.
"See you in a few," Yumi says. Stepping inside of it, the doors close. Odd steps into his scanner and that scanners' doors close.
Sissi, Aelita, and I look at the scanners.
"Transfer: Odd, Transfer: Yumi." "Scanner: Odd, Scanner: Yumi." There's a brief pause,
"Virtualization!"
The scanners hum, and then reopen. Sissi, Aelita, and I take our scanners. The scanners doors close.
Lyoko's Desert Sector
Sissi, Aelita, and I land in the desert sector. Yumi is there waiting for us.
"Get to the edge of the sector, you're close by. I've sent Odd ahead to the ice sector to look for the tower with the coordinates you gave us Lila," Jeremy says.
"Got it," I say..
"Let's go!" Yumi exclaims.
"Right!" I nod. The four of us start running towards the edge of the sector.
Afterwards
Reaching the edge of the sector, Aelita's asks:
"How's Odd doing Jeremy?"
"He's on his way to the activated tower. He'll let me know he's there," Jeremy replies.
"Right, well hopefully we can get this super scan program deactivated," I say.
"I'm entering the code: Scipio," Jeremy says.
Looking up, we see The Transport Orb floats down seemingly from out of nowhere. Reaching us, it opens and scoops us, as it makes its way to sector five.
Sector Five
Arena room
Reaching the arena room, The Transport Orb drops Sissi, Aelita, Yumi, and I off. The room starts spinning. The spinning starts getting slower and slower, the walls and then the door aligns itself.
"Remember, you've only got three minutes to find the key. If your vision kicks in Lila, you'll find it sooner than that," Jeremy says.
"Right!" I exclaim. The door opens, and we start running.
I just hope it does kick in… otherwise things are going to get tougher from here, I think.
Running through the doorway, we run inside and the walls start opening from the sides one by one.
Afterwards
We enter the new room, it's large and empty. Sissi, Yumi, and I look up at the ceiling, it looks like it's in the form of blocks.
"I see the key!" Aelita exclaims, pointing to it rather quickly. The three of us look at where Aelita pointed. It's just across from us.
This is just too easy, I think. Before I can object, Aelita and Sissi start running to reach the key mechanism. I follow them, figuring if I was going to have a vision I would have by now. We continue running towards the key mechanism when we stop.
"There's something off about this," Yumi exasperates. "It's too easy."
"Yeah you're right it is," Sissi agrees. "Any visions Lila?" she asks.
"None," I say. The floor starts changing almost like moving blocks.
"What's going on?" Sissi asks.
"One of Xana's traps," Aelita replies.
Eyeing the room, and the amount of space between us and the key mechanism, I start walking towards the key mechanism.
"Look out!" Aelita exclaims, and I lose my footing. Aelita catches me with the help of Yumi and Sissi, before I fall down as we the block beneath us ascends.
"Thanks," I say, as they pull me back up and my feet are on back on the block.
"I need to be more careful," I say. "Let's go!"
"Right!" Sissi exclaims. Sissi, Yumi, and myself starts leaping onto other moving blocks. We land on another one and look back at Aelita. Aelita makes a run for it and leaps into the air, both of her hands are out. She screams as she's barely able to grab the block Sissi, Yumi, and I are on.
"Someone!" Aelita exclaims. Taking her hands, Yumi and I help pull her up. Sissi helps us. Together, we continue pulling Aelita up until she's on the block with us and her feet touches the floor. The four of us catch our breath.
Looking around, my eyes widen as the surrounding floor has disappeared entirely. Sissi, Aelita, Yumi, and I are now only standing on one block and with no way to get to the key mechanism.
"Jeremy - how much time - do we have left?" Aelita asks, in between breaths. Sissi, Yumi, and I recover, we look up. Jeremy doesn't respond.
"Jeremy?" I ask.
Aelita recovers and she looks up too. "Jeremy? Jeremy?"
He still doesn't respond.
"This isn't good. What now?" Yumi asks.
"I have an idea," I reply. "Sissi, get ready to spin me with your club dance ability."
"Right. I think I know what you're planning," she says.
"We need to hurry, before the Xana Bots get here," Aelita says. Yumi takes her Tessen Fans out. She opens them, just in case the Xana Bots show up.
"Right," I nod. Using my powers, I gather them to the soles of my feet. My lightning pendant glows, letting me know my I'm good to go.
"Now Sissi!" I exclaim.
"Right! Lady Luck!" Sissii exclaims. The slots on Sissi's bracer starts spinning. They soon come to a halt. Two slots have symbols on them. The third slot has no symbol. The fourth slot remains empty as usual.
"Club Dance!" Sissi exclaims.
A green club-shaped aura appears around Sissi for a moment before compressing into a glow over her body. Sissi begins twirling like a ballerina as she gains incredible speed, offering her hand I take it. The room is spinning faster than my eyes can keep up with, but I focus them on the key mechanism, while trying to keep my powers maintained. Sissi throws me across and I fly right at it. Getting my hand ready, I reach the key and push my hand toward the key mechanism.
Suddenly out of nowhere, three Xana Bots zoom into the room.
"Lila!" Sissi, Yumi, and Aelita exclaim. It's too late, as the Xana Bots fire at me, using their lasers. I devirtualize.
Inside the scanner room
Opening my eyes, I see I'm on the floor of the scanner. The scanner doors open, and I make a fist.
Ugh! Those little sneaks! I think.
Getting up from the scanner, I step out and make my way towards the freight elevator.
Afterwards
Inside the lab
The freight elevator's doors open and I walk inside the lab. Looking at the red button, I press it to go down and walk out before the doors close. Looking around, I see the guys aren't here.
The spectre must be chasing after them… I think.
"Sissi, Yumi! no! Lila, if you can hear this Sissi , Yumi, and I didn't get to the key mechanism in time. They didn't make it back to the arena room with me, I'm all alone!" Aelita exclaims. I hear the scanners doors open in the scanner room, and I rush over to the chair. Sitting in it, I grab the headset, and put it on me. I adjust the mic part.
"Aelita just hang on. Just tell me how I can use the program that summons the transport orb," I tell her.
"Okay. Follow my directions," Aelita says.
Aelita tells me how to find the program. Finding I bring up the program, and the window opens.
"Lila, hurry! It's here!" Aelita exclaims. Looking at the keyboard, I type quickly and enter:
SCIPIO
The passcode is accepted and the window blinks. Looking over at Odd profile, I ask him:
"Odd, how are you doing? Did you find the activated tower?"
"Yes! But I can use some help! The tower's guarded by Tarantulas and four Krabs. Talk about a welcoming committee," Odd says.
"Right, I'll go back in," I say.
"Lila, The Transport Orb is here and just in time! I'll meet you and the others in the Ice Sector," Aelita says.
"Don't worry Aelita, I'll meet you actually. As soon as you land, I'll set up an auto virtualization and materialize Sissi's Overbike, and my broomstick, at your drop off point."
"Okay!" Aelita exclaims. In one of the windows, I see the icon of the transport orb scooping her up as it brings her to the desert sector. The freight elevator's doors open, Yumi and Sissi walk in.
"Those walls in Sector Five are awful," Sissi complains. "Aelita was able to use her creativity ability to build a path for us to use to get back, with Yumi using her telekinesis ability to help get us out of there. We just weren't fast enough. Those walls are rough on you, devirtualization from Sector Five isn't easy." She walks to me.
"Trust me we know," Yumi says, she walks to me too.
"We'll have to debug the super scan program another day. Do either of you two want to go back in?" I ask.
"No thanks, I'll monitor things for you guys. Where are Einstein and Ulrich?" Sissi asks.
"The spectre is after them I assume," I explain.
"And I'll stay here with Sissi, just in case the guys need our help when they get back," Yumi adds.
"Right," I say. Typing on the keyboard, I bring up the program in a window for materializing our vehicles. Sissi's Overbike and my broomstick materialize. I take off the headset.
"Don't scratch my ride okay?" Sissi asks.
"Haha, I won't…" I reply. Bringing up the auto virtualization program, I type in the code for the auto virtualization, and set it to virtualize me next to Aelita in the ice sector. A timer pops up, and it starts counting down.
"I'm off!" I exclaim, and I get out of the chair.
"Good luck," Yumi says. I smile and I run over to the ladder shoot. Reaching it, I start climbing down into the scanner room.
Lyoko's Ice Sector
Landing in the Ice Sector, I land next to Aelita. Sissi's Overbike is already materialized next to my broomstick.
"Lila, I'm glad you're a quick study! If it weren't for you the Scyphozoa would have tried to…" Aelita trails off.
"Don't worry, I wasn't going to let that giant jellyfish monster do anything to you. Aelita, you can use my broomstick. I have an idea to take out all four of those Krabs," I say as I go to Sissi's Overbike. I get on it, and Aelita gets on my broomstick.
"How?" she asks.
"You'll see," I reply, and rev up Sissi's Overbike. Aelita kicks the broomstick into the air, and we take off.
At the activated tower
Reaching Odd, he's hiding behind a large glacier that still hasn't been cracked yet from the volley of lasers. Aelita gets off the broomstick and runs over to him.
"Good you're here!" Odd exclaims turning to us. "Now we can take care of those Krabs? Any ideas?" he asks.
"Yeah. Once I've taken care of them, take care of the Tarantulas," I reply. Taking my hunter's knife out of its sleeve, I charge it with yellow electricity. My pendant glows and the hunter's knife is engulfed with electricity. Revving up the Overbike, I drive out from the glacier, as this gets the monsters attention. They turn to me. I rev up the Overbike faster and take off towards them.
Heading towards them, I turn left as they try to follow me. I turn right, and the Krabs are following me, one by one, in a line. They start charging their lasers. Revving up the Overbike, I make a turn and drive straight at them. The Overbike still heading toward them, I stand up on the seat.
Balancing myself on it I keep focus, letting my electricity flow into the soles of my feet. Jumping into the air, it gives me a boost as the Krabs fire too late at the Overbike, devirtualizing it. I land on top of one of the Krab's head.
Using my electrically charged hunter's knife, I stab it in the head, pouring electricity through it. It starts wobbling, so using my electricity again in the soles of my feet, I jump off it and onto the next one. The first keels over, and explodes.
Landing, I don't bother channeling electricity into the hunter knife this time, by maintaining its focus. I just stab the Krab's head with my hunter knife. It begins to wobble. I repeat the process with the two remaining, and they explode.
Turning to the Tarantulas, they raise their legs at me and start charging their lasers. With no time to react, the Tarantulas fire a volley wave of lasers at me. Losing my ground, I lose my weapon and my electricity is dispersed. I fly off the ice and turn into a cloud of pixels.
Back inside the scanner
Opening my eyes, I'm once again on the floor of the scanner as the scanner's doors open. I groan.
Two trips in one day is rough. We should probably limit ourselves some day. Maybe even 12 hours, just to give our bodies some rest, I think.
"Jeremy you've got to hang on!" Ulrich calls out from upstairs. Getting up from the scanner, I rush over to the ladder to see what's going on.
Inside the lab
Reaching the lab, I look to see Sissi, Yumi, and Ulrich is by Jeremy who is gasping for breath. His glasses are on the floor.
"Dad!" I blurt out, running up to him. Reaching him, I go next to the others as Jeremy continues to have trouble breathing.
"What – what did you call him?" Ulrich asks shocked.
"Did we you hear you right?" Yumi asks.
Please tell me I didn't… oh no… I think.
"Did you just call him dad? Why would you do that?" Sissi inquires.
"It's – I'll tell you later! What's wrong with him?" I ask in a serious tone, ignoring the question.
"Jeremy, I've just entered the tower! Hang on!" Aelita informs from the computer.
"The spectre… when it was chasing us, and we got back to the lab, it went for Jeremy. Come on Jeremy, hang in there!" Ulrich exclaims. Sissi, Yumi, Ulrich, and I continue to watch Jeremy helplessly.
"Tower deactivated," Aelita informs. Jeremy begins coughing, as a spectre exits his body from his mouth. The spectre fully exits Jeremy and vanishes up into the ceiling. Sissi, Ulrich, and I help Jeremy up. Yumi picks up his glasses and she hands them to him. Jeremy takes them and using his sweater he rubs them before putting the glasses back on. He pushes them to the bridge of his nose and looks at me.
"Did I hear you right when I was choking… did you call me Dad?" Jeremy asks.
"I… I did… I guess I have some explaining to do huh?" I ask. Sissi, Yumi, Jeremy, and Ulrich nod.
Afterwards
Inside the lab
"So um guys," I speak up. "I guess you're probably wondering why I called Jeremy, dad."
"We all are," Jeremy says. He looks at me with a serious look.
"Am I really your father in the future, Lila?"
I sigh. I make eye contact with all of them.
"You are… please don't be mad at me okay? I've been lying to all of you. My name isn't Lila Smith…. It's Lila Belpois," I reveal.
"Huh?" Ulrich and Odd asks. Yumi and Sissi look surprised too, Aelita not so much since she already knows. Jeremy fixes his glasses to the bridge of his nose again.
"I see…so why lie to us then?" Jeremy asks.
"I had to. For the sake of the timeline I had to…" I trail off. "At least that was the initial thought back then." Sissi shakes her head.
"Wait, wait, wait! Can someone please tell me what the heck we're talking about here?" Sissi asks.
"Right um… okay this may be hard to believe Sissi, and I trust you since you've been with us for a little while now. But… let me explain things from the beginning. I've come from the future, from the year 2043 to be precise," I tell her.
"What?! A time traveler?!" Sissi exclaims.
"The necklace she wears is a time machine created by Jeremy in the future," Aelita explains.
"And trust us, we've seen it. It's a bit beaten up, but it works," Odd mentions.
"Okay, and why did you travel into the past?" Sissi asks.
"I'm not sure… my father – Jeremy I mean, never explained why I was sent here. Mary, my parental guardian, who is more like a mother to me, she helped guided me a lot during the time I first arrived here. But… on the same day we materialized Aelita…" I swallow a bit. "I… I lost her. Xana took her from me using the Scyphozoa."
"I'm so sorry Lila…" Sissi trails.
"And she's been through a lot. With the war she told us between Xana and the human race. It seems we've lost against Xana in the future…" Ulrich adds.
"We lost? Oh man…" Sissi trails.
"But there's hope Sissi. With Lila here, if it's her mission to prevent that outcome from her future, there's still a chance we can win. You see Sissi, this time travel business… it's dangerous," Yumi replies.
"Dangerous how?" Sissi asks. Odd turns to her.
"Um… you know about Cameron leaving suddenly right?" Odd turns asks her. She nods. He then turns to me and I sigh internally.
"He left because… Aelita from a different future of this timeline came to the past. She… she tried to kill him," I tell her.
"Huh? Why would she want to do that?" Sissi asks.
"Future me came from the future… to stop Cameron from killing Lila. Through my future self's warning, she told Cameron about a way to free him…" Aelita trails off.
"Free him… from Xana?" Sissi asks.
"Yes… there were these chips. The one he was freed from controlled him… and warped his mind by erasing his memories every so often… that he'd focused on one goal… killing me," I explain. Sissi's eyes widen.
"And – and what happened to the future version of Aelita?" Sissi asks.
"My future self-died… because Cameron killed her. It was supposed to be Lila the first time around… but I'm grateful to my future self that it wasn't…" Aelita trails off.
"This all sounds unbelievable! And… you really trust me to keep this information a secret? And does Cameron even know he killed future Aelita?" Sissi asks.
"No he doesn't know…" I answer. " At least that's my hope. He told me he had nightmares about killing her, but I told him those were just nightmares. And yes… we trust you. Fully Sissi," I smile slightly.
Sissi smiles slightly too.
"Thanks I'm glad, I'll keep all of this a secret too."
"Lila…" Jeremy says speaking up. "If I'm your father, then why can't I see the super scan program you have?" Jeremy asks.
"Because Jeremy… it's the same laptop, just-" I start to say but he interrupts.
"Upgraded software, right?"
I nod.
"And Lila… if you knew that Einstein's your father… can't you tell us who your mother is?" Odd asks.
I sigh.
"No… no I can't," I say. "Because…. I really don't know," I lie.
"You don't know who your own mother was?" Yumi asks a bit surprised. I nod.
"All she knows is that she died of an illness. Right Lila?" Aelita asks. I nod. They turn to her.
"You knew Aelita?" Odd asks.
"Lila told me in confidence. It was something that fake Mary said a while back in Sector Five. Xana tried to use that information to hurt the group somehow," Aelita explains. "But that didn't work obviously." They turn back to me.
"Okay… but the war is real right? You told us the truth about that?" Ulrich asks.
"I did. And I honestly don't know what happened to any of you," I reply still lying, mostly. Ulrich nods.
"Probably for the best," he says.
"And what about Cameron from your future world?" Odd asks.
"He wasn't a Lyoko Warrior. To be honest, he feels more like an anomaly to me," I reply.
"What does that mean?" Sissi asks.
"Basically Cameron is kind of a like bad error in a computer program. Shouldn't have existed in this timeline," Jeremy says, explaining it the easiest way possible.
"Okay I think I get it. Then how did we know each other?" Sissi asks.
"I really can't say sorry," I reply.
"It's okay, just being curious," Sissi says.
"So… what can we do to help you Lila? What do you need our help with the most?" Jeremy asks. I look at him, giving him a serious look.
"Mary. I want to figure out how to free her from the Scyphozoa's mind. She's everything to me, and she's been in there far too long. Who knows what Xana has done to her? But, I want to save her from his clutches..." I say. The others nod understanding the situation.
"Thanks everyone. I'm sorry for not telling you truth sooner Jeremy… but I'm glad all of you are able to handle it," I say.
"We should be able to Lila. After all, we are Lyoko Warriors, right? We keep secrets and fight the tough battles?" Yumi asks.
"Yeah!" Odd and Ulrich exclaim, fist bumping. Jeremy, Sissi, and Aelita smile. I smile too.
I'm glad I have all of you to rely on. Mary… we're going to find a way to free you. And soon. I know it, I think.
Author's Note: Is Lila right? Will they find a way to free Mary soon? Stay tuned!
As always,
Don't forget to review!
LyokoWarrior1994