Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonsccoop.
I only own Lila and Mia. Mary is owned by AeroJester203.
This chapter was written by me. It was edited by AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.
Enjoy!
Maiden Voyage
Inside the gym
POV Lila's
We're all in gym class listening to Jim giving a speech about rock climbing. His clothes had changed recently, from his red short sleeved shirt and shorts, to a burgundy jacket with a zipper. On the jacket is the letter K, which is surrounded by a gray pentagon, like a sort of prep school jacket. He also hah gray pants, and replaced his headband from his last outfit, with a new headband but that's red and white this time.
"For those of you who are unfamiliar with the sport, rock climbing is a noble discipline which can carry you to great heights. A good climber commands both mind and body. This philosophy was well understood by the famous Sherpa Jin Shenlong. He scaled Mount Everest, using only his bare hands, thanks to the ancestral techniques still taught today by the Buddhist monks from the order of Kishisong. And so, don't forget that only by challenging yourselves, you can move mountains, and, might I add, climb them," Jim says. He points to Jeremy.
"Belpois," he gestures over to the rock wall. "Get up there. See if you're up to the challenge." We look at Jeremy with concern, but he walks up to the rock climbing wall.
"This will be the practical part of today's lesson," Jim says. Jeremy walks up the steps, and approaches the rock wall.
"Go on," Jim urges Jeremy, his arms crossed.
Do your best Jeremy, I think.
Jeremy places his hand on one of the rocks. He starts climbing, but it's clear he's already having difficulty. He climbs a rock or two, and then just freezes.
"What's the matter? Pull up with your arms and push up with your legs," Jim tells him.
Jeremy is able to press on, and climbs a bit further.
"Do you have chewing gum for muscles, or what?" Jim asks.
Aelita has her hands clasped together, worried about Jeremy. I look at my father struggling.
Something tells me Jim is probably enjoying this more than he should, I think.
Aelita gasps at the sight of Jeremy's struggle but he continues to try and climb. He moves his hand toward a higher rock on the wall, but it shakes. He screams and falls on the mat. Jim puts his hands on his hips.
"Of course, if the only exercise you get is clicking your computer mouse, you're not going to conquer any peaks," Jim berates. He points to Odd.
"Della Robbia, show your buddy here how it's done," he says. Jeremy gets up and walks over to the steps. He steps down and Odd walks over to the rock wall. They pass each other, and it's clear Jeremy is upset. Odd looks back at him. Aelita puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder and I smile at Jeremy, nodding, trying to reassure him he did his best. He passes by, avoiding eye contact.
Afterwards
Inside the cafeteria
Jeremy and the others, as well as a lot of people have changed their outfits lately. Jeremy's usual blue shirt had changed to a burgundy red color, his pants are olive green, with a blue strip on the side.
Aelita had stopped wearing her pink overalls, and instead is wearing a light purple buttoned long sleeved dress, with a dark stripe of purple in the middle of her dress. She also wears pink leggings under her dress along with dark purple boots, and attached to them are two pink pom-pom balls.
Ulrich had changed his outfit from his green shirt, and brown pants to a green jacket, with a brown t-shirt, jeans, and black sneakers.
Odd had also exchanged his purple shirt, for a purple hoody along with purple pants, and red sneakers. Yumi changed her outfit as well, going from all a black shirt and pants, to a lighter gray color shirt with blue stars at the lower left side of the shirt, and black pants which stopped at her ankles and kept her dark grey boots.
Sissi's outfit had also changed, she wears a pink short sleeved shirt with gray pants, and red velcro shoes. Sissi's hair is also down, her headband was no longer there, and had replaced them with a bobby pin. As much as she wanted to wear earrings, she told me the other day it was no longer her style and it wouldn't be good to have them if she were fighting a possessed person.
William retired his old outfit. He now wears a brown long sleeved jacket, that goes to his hips. I see he's wearing a black t shirt, with red lettering. Possibly a Sub Digitals T-Shirt. The brown jacket's bottom part has a light brown color, mixed in with a light green color. This matches his sleeves too for his arms. He wears black jeans and brown shoes.
Since Mary is posing as Mia, she decided it was time for a change too, but not a big one. She changed Mia's simple outfit to a purple jacket I had bought for Mia on her first day here. It's zipped up, but you can see her t-shirt a bit. It's still white and she's kept the rest of Mia's look the same.
For me, I decided to retire the magenta leather jacket my father gave me, since it was getting a bit snug. In its place is a maroon sports jacket with a high collar that reaches halfway up my neck in the back, but grows shorter near the front with a slight V-neck where the zipper ends. The zipper part where you zip up the jacket is white, as well as parts of the pockets. Underneath, I'm wearing a plain black T-shirt with the chain of my necklace visible as it hangs around my neck. The treasure chest part is tuck safely under the T-shirt. A pair of light blue jeans and predominantly black shoes with white soles complete the outfit.
Jeremy is still sulking about gym class. Aelita is sitting next to him, she picks up what I think is a hot olive with her fork. I can see the steam coming from it. Yumi is sitting at the left end of the table. Sissi is sitting next to Odd on his right side and Ulrich is sitting next to Odd on his other side. Mary is sitting next to me and William is sitting on the far end of the table next to Sissi. I'm glad we've decided to change our outfits around the same time.
Aelita, Jeremy, Yumi, William, Ulrich, and Sissi have changed their outfits too. Aelita is retired her pink hoody and overalls. She is now wearing
"It's no big deal Jeremy," she says to him, trying to reassure him.
"Yeah, come on Jeremy, sports isn't everything, you know," I tell him.
"What happened this morning?" Yumi asks Ulrich.
"He had to scale the rock wall in gym," Ulrich replies.
"Oh okay, enough said," Yumi says.
Jeremy has his head down and his eyes closed. "I can't believe it. I can't be that bad in every single sport," he says.
"Of course not," Aelita says. "Actually, no, you really are lame in anything athletic." Jeremy opens his eyes and glares at Aelita.
"Anyways, who cares? You can't be a champion at everything," Aelita tells him.
"Yeah, she's right, Einstein. You should stop sulking," William tells him. Jeremy looks at him.
"It's not that simple," he says.
"It is, Einstein," Odd says and Jeremy looks at him. He continues chewing his food as he talks, "Listen, if you want, we can try scaling the wall together."
"You think I have time for that monkey business? I've got too much work to do," Jeremy tells him.
"I agree. You and Aelita seem to spending all of your time in the computer lab. What are you working on, exactly?" Mary asks. William looks at her tray of food and she nods then slides it over to him.
"Sweet," he says.
"Anyways," Aelita says. "We're ironing out the final kinks on the Skid."
"Wait, you're still on that? I thought it was done," Ulrich says.
"Me too," Sissi says.
"Ulrich, Sissi, traveling on the network is not exactly like taking a stroll through Lyoko. What's in the digital sea is still a complete mystery, for all we know, the Skid could disintegrate on its first dive," he tells us.
"Well, that's reassuring," Odd says. "Are you going to eat that?" he asks, looking at his tray of food.
"Go ahead," Jeremy replies, and Odd takes Jeremy's tray of food.
"I swear, between your appetites, you and William could be twins," I joke. "Fraternal twins," I correct myself. Odd and William look at each other. They shrug.
"You know, Jeremy, we're going to have to test it out one day if we're going to take out Xana," Yumi says.
"She's right, you know," I agree. I take a sip of my tea and put the cup down.
"I said quiet down," Mr. Delmas orders, one of the students making a shushing noise.
"Quiet, I said," Mr. Delmas orders again. Mr. Delmas has changed his outfit too. He now wears an orange jacket, along with what appears to be a green sweatshirt, and brown pants. I notice he's holding a folder. There's a man standing next to Jim, I don't recognize him.
"Mr. Delmas said quiet down, and that means now!" Jim orders, causing the students to stop talking. They seem surprised by Jim's outburst. The man next to Jim looks at him and so does Mr. Delmas. Mr. Delmas coughs. Jim has his arms crossed.
"Thank you, Jim," Mr. Delmas says. Jim looks at him.
"That's alright, Mr. Delmas, always glad to help," Jim says. Mr. Delmas looks back at us.
"Yes, of course. In case you've forgotten, let me remind you that today is FSRP day. Which stands for Fire Safety Risk and Prevention. And so, all afternoon classes have been cancelled," Mr. Delmas announces. The cafeteria cheers at that, ourselves included.
Except Mary. Mary doesn't seem that excited.
"And so, as I was saying, children. Your classes are canceled, but part of this free time will be devoted to a complete building evacuation exercise. This drill is designed to make absolutely certain that you're all familiar with our security procedures. Procedures that you will need to know by heart, it goes without saying, and all access to the buildings will be prohibited during the exercise," Mr. Delmas adds.
Aelita speaks up while Mr. Delmas continues talking, so I turn my attention to her.
"Yumi and Lila are right. We better make a trial run of the Skid, just to see how it works," Aelita agrees.
"Yeah, but I don't know if we're ready yet," Jeremy says.
"We've got to try before Xana gets even more powerful," Ulrich says.
"Plus, what's the point of making the Skid if we're never going to try using it?" William asks.
"He has a point there," Mary nods.
"Yeah, I agree," Sissi nods.
Jeremy looks at us.
"Thank you for your attention," Mr. Delmas finishes.
"Well, okay. We'll take advantage of the safety drill to get over to the computer lab," Jeremy says. Yumi smiles and I do too.
I should be more scared of the digital sea… but this is kinda exciting, I think.
"Way to go, Jeremy," Aelita says, smiling too.
"Yeah, cool," Ulrich smiles.
"Listen up. This is only a trial run to work out the launch procedures," Jeremy says.
"Relax. We'll just dive and test it then come back," Odd says.
"Yeah, doesn't sound too complicated," William says. Sissi smiles. She seems pretty excited.
"I'll stay here just in case there's suspicion," Mary says.
"Sounds like a plan," I say.
Afterwards
Inside the lab
Jeremy draws up a diagram, one is an oval with the word Lyoko circled around it. On the left hand side is the word web. On the bottom is another oval, drawn in the oval, a circle, inside the circle is a square, and inside the small square, is an exclamation point.
"As we all know, Lyoko is made up of five sectors. These sectors are actually located in the center of a sort of giant sphere," Jeremy explains. All of us are standing just a few feet away from him. Ulrich is leaning his shoulder on Odd's shoulder. Aelita is the only one standing next to Jeremy.
"Imagine an enormous virtual bubble suspended in a sort of liquid element," Jeremy continues. "This liquid element is the world information network."
"And the digital sea?" Yumi asks.
"The digital sea is part of the network," Aelita says, then holds onto Jeremy's chair. "It's a kind of overflow that's accessible through this sort of floodgate. Xana goes through this floodgate to attack us on Lyoko and the Skid will use the very same gate to get us out." She lets go of the chair.
"Once we're off Lyoko, what then?" Ulrich asks.
"Well, I imagine you'll be in some kind of immense network of tunnels, but I don't have enough data to tell you exactly what you'll find. It'll be a surprise," Jeremy replies.
"This should be interesting," Sissi exasperates.
"I think we'll be in very capable hands, Sissi," I tell her.
"Lila's right. And besides, I love surprises. Well, what are we waiting for?" Odd asks. He starts heading towards the freight elevator. Ulrich and Yumi do too.
"Hang on Odd, I haven't even begun explaining about configuring the parameters of the engines, or the procedure for transferring virtual mass, or-" Jeremy starts to say, but William interrupts him.
Odd starts entering a code on the keypad. Very rarely do we ever really use it. I guess this is just one of those times we need to. Ulrich and Yumi reach the freight elevator.
"Einstein, like it or not, it'll be easier with the old hands-on approach," William says.
The freight elevator's doors open. Jeremy looks at William.
"But-" he starts to object and Aelita interrupts him.
"Jeremy, don't worry. I'll be right there with them," Aelita says. She waves goodbye, and we start heading downstairs.
Afterwards
Inside the scanner room
Aelita, Yumi, Sissi, and I walk into the scanner room since the guys walked in first.
"You there yet?" Jeremy asks. Ulrich bows gesturing for us to go first, followed by Odd, then William.
"I'll start up the process. Sorry Sissi, you'll have to virtualize with one of the guys," Jeremy says.
"No worries," Sissi says.
"Ladies first," Ulrich says. Yumi, Aelita, and I walk by them. Sissi hangs back. Yumi steps into the middle scanner. Aelita takes the left hand scanner and I take the right hand scanner. The scanners' doors close and I close my eyes.
Afterwards
Sector Five
Arena Room
My vision returns, Aelita, Yumi, and I land on the floor. Everything is spinning as usual.
"Everything is okay, Jeremy. It's all quiet here," Yumi informs.
Looking up, we see Ulrich and William being virtualized. They land on the floor and everything starts slowing down.
"And virtualization!" Jeremy finishes. Sissi and Odd are the last ones to land on the floor. Everything stops and aligns itself, the corridor opens.
"Your elevator is waiting," Jeremy says. We nod and run through the corridor.
Shortly after, we exit the corridor and find ourselves in the room where the elevator will be coming. We wait for the elevator.
The elevator soon arrives and fixes itself to the floor. All of us get on it and the elevator takes off, screeching its way to the Skid in the hangar.
"It's beautiful, huh?" Yumi asks, looking at it. From here I can tell the ship looks really nice, but what's inside is still a mystery.
"Fantastic," Ulrich replies.
"Yeah, she's definitely a keeper," William nods.
"It does look very nice and cozy too," Sissi says.
"For sure," I nod.
The elevator fixes itself to the floor of the hangar.
"Einstein, we've made it to the Skid hangar," Odd informs. We start running off the elevator.
"Now what do we do?" Odd asks.
"Each of you get on a transporter spot," Jeremy replies.
All of us get onto a transporter spot. Thankfully, there's seven. We get onto our respective spots with Aelita taking the middle spot. We look at her.
"Well, who's driving?" Odd asks.
"I am, of course," Aelita replies, looking at him.
"You guys ready? Energize," Jeremy says.
Yellow beams of light envelop all of us.
Inside the Nav Skid
My body flops into a seat and I look to my right to see another seat along with more controls. Sissi energizes with me and she flops into her seat. The two of us each have windows.
"Wow, this is great," Sissi says.
"Sure is," I smile. She turns to me and smiles too.
"No way, we're partners? Awesome!" Sissi exclaims.
I nod and look at my controls, they seem to pilot the small sub.
"Cockpit to Nav Skids, do you read me?" Aelita asks.
"Loud and clear Aelita," Yumi replies.
"Sissi and I are good here, too," I tell them.
"Loud and clear on my end, Aelita," Ulrich says.
"No fair, why am I stuck with William?" Odd asks.
"What's wrong with me as your partner?" William retorts.
"Guys, focus please. I had to make adjustments for two of your Nav Skids to hold two people. You were chosen at random when I energized you, I didn't know who was going to end up with whom," Jeremy replies.
"That makes sense, I suppose," Odd says. "Well, at least the view is cool. It's like being in a spaceship."
"Yeah, but you two need to be careful. This isn't Galactic Invaders," Ulrich references.
"Hey, you're just jealous because I wiped out three times as many aliens as you did last night," Odd says.
"That's because you cheated. If it weren't for that, I would have won," William claims.
"Yeah, he's right. You definitely cheated," Ulrich agrees. "But I was closer to winning, not you, William."
Nice to hear they're hanging out in the dorm, I think.
"Okay, if you guys are done blabbering, maybe we can get on with the job?" Jeremy asks.
"Standing by, Jeremy," Aelita replies.
"Okay, now get ready for lift off. Releasing support," Jeremy informs. Sissi and I watch from the window, seeing the supports being released. I'm going to assume I'll be driving the Nav Skid. Which means Sissi will probably be in charge of firing at any targets if we run into them.
"We have ignition, powering vertical," Aelita says. There's a short pause. Sissi straps herself in, her seat belt clicking together. I do the same.
This is it! I think.
"Lift off!" Aelita exclaims. The Skid takes off and we start flying out of the hangar.
"All indicators are a go," Jeremy says. "You guys are good for leaving Sector Five."
"Roger," Aelita says. I can see that we're out of the hangar now.
The Skid heads towards the dome area and drives it downwards, before going under it completely. We're then our way to a tunnel.
"Tunnel open in two seconds," Jeremy informs.
Aelita flies the Skid into the tunnel. She slowly brings it out of the wooden dome-like exit.
Outside Sector Five
We're outside Sector Five and Aelita brings the Skid to a stop. Hovering high above the digital sea.
"It's working Jeremy. Our Skid is working!" Aelita exclaims.
"Great!" Yumi exclaims.
"Nice work, Einstein," Odd compliments.
"Yeah, for sure, this is amazing," I say.
"It really is!" Sissi exclaims.
"Yeah. This is quite the view," William says.
"Great job, Aelita," Ulrich says.
There's a short pause from Jeremy but then he says: "Good, the test was a success. Aelita, are you set to turn it around?" he asks. "And to go back into dry dock?"
I'm surprised he'd want to stop the test run so soon.
"What? No way!" Ulrich exclaims.
"Hey Einstein, I thought we were supposed to test this thing," Odd says.
"Yeah, what gives?" William asks.
"Well, that's we just did. We finished a trial run," Jeremy says.
"Yeah, but Jeremy, wasn't the whole point of this test to run it while in the digital sea?" I ask.
"Yeah, I thought that was the point, too!" Sissi says.
"Yeah, I agree with them," Ulrich says.
"They're right, Jeremy. If we just stay here in Lyoko, it isn't much of a trial run. Don't you want to see what the network looks like?" Aelita asks.
Jeremy sighs. "I feel like I'm going to regret this, but okay. Get ready to dive in the digital sea," he says.
I take a deep breath.
This is really happening. Let's hope it goes well, I think.
"Five minutes, maximum," Jeremy says.
"Yeah!" Odd exclaims.
"Alright!" William exclaims.
"Okay then. Shields activated. Sonar activated. Stabilizers online and checked out. Primary access clear. Laser generators online. Cockpit to Nav Skids, ready for a dive?"
"Ready," Ulrich says.
"Ready," Yumi says.
"Anytime, princess. William and I are good to go," Odd says.
"Yeah, Sissi and I are ready, too," I say.
"Here we go," Aelita says.
Aelita dives down all the way to the digital sea. The Skid floats just above it, and then submerges.
Afterwards
We dove down just a few feet below in this tunnel, which we're now entering.
"Base lab to Skid. Do you read me? Lab calling Skid. Aelita come in, answer please," Jeremy requests.
"Skid to base lab," Aelita confirms. Jeremy sighs in relief.
"Jeremy, we're in the digital sea," Aelita says.
"That's what I wanted to hear, Aelita. I nearly had a heart attack, but I'm okay now."
We exit the tunnel through a strange door and enter the digital sea which looks like an actual ocean!
I can't help but look at it's … calmness. It's... breathtaking.
Now I know we picked the right resting place for Future Aelita, I think.
"Holo web system online," Jeremy says. "Well… what does the network look like?"
"It's beautiful. I'm sending you a visual Jeremy," Aelita says.
We continue heading towards this blue structure that's in the digital sea.
"Wow…" Jeremy says.
"Yeah, you said it, Einstein," Odd says.
"It is definitely a very cool sight to look at it," Sissi says.
"That's for sure..." I agree, taking everything in still.
"Rotation," Aelita says. The Skid changes from a vertical position to a horizontal position.
"Aelita, engage the turbo prop and the auxiliary engines to break clear of Lyoko's gravity field, okay?" Jeremy asks.
"Right, whatever you say," Aelita replies. "Turbo propeller engaged," she says.
I can feel the Skid moving faster now. It starts moving fast and we start heading upwards. We pass by more blue pillar structures. The Skid moves left to right so she doesn't hit them. Sissi and I just look at the environment in amazement.
"Okay, that's it, you guys. Now head for home," Jeremy tells us.
"Aw, can't we stay here a little longer?" Odd asks.
"Yeah, come on, Einstein," William says.
"I said five minutes, you two. Aelita?" Jeremy asks.
The Skid keeps on driving. "Roger, Jeremy. Turning around," she says.
"Starburst propulsion engaged. Barring one sixty," The Skid turns around as we head back the way we came.
"What's going on around here? Aelita, I don't know why, but I just lost all trace of you on my radar. It might just be a transmission problem. Can you check it out?"
"Jeremy, the navigation system doesn't respond. There's a bug in it," Aelita informs.
"This can't be. Without a navigation system you'll never find your way back to Lyoko. You'll be stuck floating on the network until you use up all of the Skid's virtual power reserves," Jeremy says.
"What happens then?" Sissi asks.
"Once the virtual energy is exhausted, the Skid will break up and you'll all end up in the digital sea for good," Jeremy explains.
"Just like Future Aelita…" I trail off, almost regretting my earlier thought that this is a good resting place for her.
"Lila..." Aelita trails off. She knows her father is alive and all... but with her future self... it just isn't the same...
"Well that's just great," Ulrich grumbles.
"By the way, Einstein, I hope you got a solution because William and I didn't bring our bathing suits," Odd jokes.
"Yeah... well... to get you guys out of there, I have to debug the system. Except there are several million codes to crack. By then you'll all be in the drink, unless…" he trails off.
"Unless what, Jeremy?" I ask.
"I've got subprograms that just might debug and repair the system. But I have to go get them from my room. I would ask Mary to do it, but if she's spotted in my room while posing as Mia… Delmas could suspend her. That's something I can't allow to happen. So, I'll have to leave you guys alone for just a moment," Jeremy replies.
"Oh, that's cool, Einstein. You couldn't have brought that stuff with you?" Odd asks.
"Yeah, what happened there?" William asks.
"Hey, I wasn't the one that insisted on doing this trial run. So cool it if you don't mind?" Jeremy asks.
"It won't help to get all worked up. Hurry and get your CD ROM. We'll wait here," Aelita replies.
"Okay, I'll be right back. Whatever you do, don't move from there," Jeremy tells us.
"Very funny," Odd and William says in unison.
The Skid keeps on moving throughout the digital sea. We see more of the blue pillars.
"Weird, it looks like an upside down city," Odd comments.
"Sure does," William agrees.
"If you ask me, all of these buildings are the networks interconnected databases," Aelita says. "Okay, why don't we turn on some light?"
Things start getting brighter with the lights coming on.
It's been more than a few minutes and we haven't heard from Jeremy yet.
I hope he's okay, I think.
"So, am I the only one worried about living to see the light of day again?" Sissi asks.
"Don't worry, Sissi. Jeremy will find a way to fix it, I'm sure," Aelita replies.
From my window I can see the digital sea's color is strangely changing from blue to red.
This can't be good, I think.
"By the way, has anybody noticed the change in the light?" Yumi asks.
"You're right, that's strange," Aelita comments.
I can see from Sissi's window that we're starting to head towards a dark sphere-like object.
"Please tell me you guys are seeing what I'm seeing," Sissi says.
"You mean that dark thing up there?" Ulrich asks. "Yeah, I see it," he confirms.
"I'll shut the lights to get a better view," Aelita says. She turns the lights off and we continue heading towards it.
"Aelita… do you think that's Lyoko?" Yumi asks, unsure.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's gravity is pulling us towards it," Aelita replies.
"I'd love to see that paper pusher Einstein's face when he figures out we didn't need his help to come back in," Odd says.
"Yeah, nice to be back on Lyoko," Ulrich says.
"That's for sure," William agrees.
"But, it's not Lyoko," Aelita tells them.
"Huh?" The boys ask.
"Are you sure?" I ask.
"I'm sure. It's not Lyoko. Hang on now, retro breaks!" Aelita exclaims. The Skid stops from moving for a second then the Skid pivots to face the other way and turns on the turbos.
Too close, I sigh internally.
The Skid drives far and fast away from the sphere, but from my window I can see four strange creatures. They have a lot of teeth, blue glowing tails, and armor for heads. In the tails seem to be some sort of white orbs.
"Hey, look, it's the ugly squad," Ulrich jokes. "They look like some sort of eels."
"I've never met any eel I didn't like," Odd says.
"Well, something tells me we're not going to like these guys," I say.
"Heads up, I'm breaking off," Aelita tells us. The eel like creatures start firing lasers at us. The Skid heads towards them, causing them to break up. The Skid spins and then brings it back to its normal position.
"I'm not really one for seafood," William shudders.
The eel creatures continue firing at us, the Skid dodging each laser. The Skid moves upwards. The Skid dodges more lasers and we makes a turn. The Skid drives under a bar like structure and then dives downwards.
"Holy cow Aelita, be careful or you'll get us all killed," Odd says. "Who taught you how to pilot?"
"You did, Odd," Aelita replies.
"Oh," Odd says.
"From now on, Aelita, you should learn from me," Sissi says.
"We'll see," Aelita says and continues evasive maneuvers.
"Aelita, we'll never make it against these monsters," Yumi says.
"I know. We're almost out of energy. The Skid could disintegrate at any moment if he doesn't get back soon," Aelita says.
Please Jeremy, hurry! I think, concerned.
"Okay Aelita, I'm here in the computer lab," Jeremy informs. I sigh in relief.
"How are you holding up?"
"We're in big trouble Jeremy, Xana's attacking us with some kind of fish.
Some kind of giant Moray or Kongre eel," Aelita informs. "Have you started the debugging program?" she asks.
"Yes, but you're burning way too much power and if this continues you guys will be gone before the debugging is done. We have to buy some time," Jeremy replies.
"Okay, but how?" Aelita asks.
"Get those Kongres off your tail and then launch the Nav Skids," Jeremy answers.
"What? We're going to fight them one on one?" Odd asks.
"Exactly, Odd. Just like in Galactic Invaders," Ulrich replies.
"Say Einstein, how does our Nav Skid work?" William asks.
"I was wondering that myself, actually," Sissi says.
"Odd and Lila you two have controls that you can use to pilot your Nav Skids. That means you two will need to have a lock on the Kongres. Sissi and William, your job is to fire at a Kongre once Odd and Lila have the monsters locked on. Understood?" Jeremy asks.
"Aye aye, captain!" William exclaims.
"Got it, loud and clear, Jeremy," I say.
"Alright, bring it on!" Odd exclaims.
Aelita pilots the Skid away from the Kongres. I get my hands on the controls.
"Are you all set?" Aelita asks. "Nav Skids away."
We disengage from the Skid and I fly the Nav Skid upwards, then over the Skid. I'm following behind the others and I push the controls to go faster. I see a trail of blue light coming from the other Nav Skids. We pass the Kongres.
"Hey, these are more maneuverable than the Overboard. Gang way!" Odd exclaims. The Kongres try to keep up with us, firing at us, but all of us are turning in different directions.
"Sissi when I have the Kongre locked on, be sure to fire," I say.
"I will!" Sissi exclaims.
We let the Kongres pursue us.
"Now, be really careful, if you get hit it means you'll be lost at sea," Jeremy says.
"Gotcha Einstein," Odd says.
"Launching Torpedoes," William says. He fires at a Kongre, but the Kongre escapes the line of fire and the torpedoes hit a structure. Odd drives the Nav Skid over it. Ulrich and I make a turn.
"It's up to you, Yumi," Odd says.
"They're tough customers," Yumi says.
"You said it," Odd agrees.
I'm piloting my Nav Skid with Ulrich, we can see a Kongre tailing Yumi.
"Yumi, behind you!" Ulrich warns.
Yumi makes a u-turn. She heads back and so do I. I keep piloting the Nav Skid just above her.
"Okay, come and get me… now!" Yumi exclaims.
Yumi launches two torpedoes at one of the Kongres. The torpedoes hit the Kongre and it explodes. She passes by the three remaining Kongres. I then group up with her and Ulrich.
"Nice one," I compliment.
"Yeah. You get better and better," Ulrich says.
"Maybe, but not good enough," Yumi says.
"Careful, don't forget the Nav Skids autonomy is limited," Jeremy warns.
"We'll do what we can, Jeremy, but these monsters are hard to hit," Yumi tells him.
"Don't try to work any miracles. Just keep them away from the Skid," Jeremy orders.
"Right," Sissi says.
I continue following Ulrich. We pass by two Kongres.
"Hey fish freaks, looking for some more bait?" Ulrich asks.
Ulrich and I pilot our Nav Skids higher and pass the structures. We let the two Kongres pursue us and they fire their lasers at us. We dodge them easily and Ulrich's Nav Skid goes a bit faster, causing the trail of blue light to appear. Following Ulrich, I do the same and keep my pace up with him.
Ulrich and I go dive our Nav Skids underneath a small bridge structure and then move upwards, just missing their lasers. We keep heading upwards.
"This time Lila and I lost them," Ulrich informs.
"The program is debugged. I'm sending you your coordinates. Get out of there and fast," Jeremy tells us.
"Nav Skids in," Aelita tells us.
We head towards the Skid. One by one we re-engage in our positions. I can still see three Kongres remaining.
"Maximum propulsion," Aelita says.
The Skid drives at top speed, passing through the Kongres and gaining more than enough distance from them.
"Trial run over, everybody. Back to dry dock," Jeremy tells us.
It'll be nice to get back to Earth after all this, I think.
Afterwards
Inside the lab
Jeremy turns his chair. He has his leg crossed. Mary is with us in her regular form. Jeremy texted her to come to the lab, and since she was at the fire prevention meeting, she didn't feel bad leaving it. Aelita is leaning against the side of one of the screens. William, Ulrich, Odd, and Sissi are standing next to one another. I'm standing next to Mary. Yumi is laying against the holosphere display case.
"I would have never thought that the world information network was a real live ocean," Jeremy says.
"Me neither," I say.
Odd has his arms crossed. "Yeah, with fish and everything. Big ones, too," he says.
"They were definitely creepy," Sissi shudders.
Aelita has her eyes closed. "To think that my father is in the network somewhere…"
"Yeah, and so is Mia," William says.
"That huge sphere we saw, what was that anyway?" Ulrich asks.
"I was wondering that too," Yumi says.
"Another virtual world, just like Lyoko," Jeremy says, putting his hand on his cheek. "A replika. Xana must have created from the data he stole from Aelita."
Aelita opens her eyes, looking at Jeremy with her arms crossed.
"I can only wonder what he's doing with it," Jeremy ponders.
"We'll go and explore it," Ulrich says.
"Yeah!" Odd exclaims. Jeremy gets off his chair and stretches his back.
"Right, but not tonight. The only thing I feel like exploring is my bed," he says, stretching his arms. "I'm wiped out."
"How are you wiped out from sitting in your cushy chair?" William asks.
"How do you think we should feel, then?" Odd asks.
Jeremy looks at them. "Odd, William, if I told you two what I was doing while you were on the network, you'd never believe me," he says, rubbing the back of his head.
"What do you mean?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
Jeremy is about to answer but then Odd starts rubbing his temples with his fingers. "Hang on let me take a wild guess, okay?" he asks, then stops. "You did a little rock scaling on the dormitory building?"
"Huh?" Jeremy asks, "But how did you know?" All of us, besides Mary, raise our eyebrows.
Aelita and Yumi gasp but then Yumi starts laughing, causing the rest of the others to laugh. Mary and I don't.
Mary looks at Jeremy, who has his hands on his hips. I can't help but look at him… something tells me he actually did do this.
"You know, Einstein, you can be hilarious when you want to be. Even when you don't want to be," Odd laughs.
"That's for sure," Sissi agrees, laughing too.
Jeremy looks at us, frustrated.
Jeremy, you might not be the most athletic person in the room. I don't believe you would lie to us about this. If you said you did it, then I believe you, I think.
Author's Note: Let me know what your thoughts are on the cover art! In order to view it, it must be viewed on desktop mode. Lyoko Warrior's school mostly edited by AeroJester203.
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LyokoWarrior1994