Episode 1: A New Routine (Part 4)

Oliver and Katie quickly materialized over the rocky terrain, Mr. Belpois informing them that they were in close proximity to Adele's location. Almost as if on cue, the overboard appeared in front of the Della Robbia boy, and the two quickly took off to join the battle in progress.

Meanwhile, the youngest Belpois daughter took refuge behind a rock which the tarantula continued to fire on with guns hot. As she considered her options of escape, the teen was riddled with the fear of being devirtualized before reaching the tower only feet away. What could she do? Her wings couldn't be activated this close, and the tarantula had dodged her energy daggers every time she fired them. Unless help arrived soon, she was pinned.

"Wh… what do I do?" she asked to herself. "With that thing blocking my way, I can't get to the tower." Peering around the left side of the rock, she noticed that X.A.N.A. had sent backup with two bloks charging her way from the location of the tower.

In that moment, the girl's fears began to set in faster, as it was only a matter of time before all three monsters enclosed her and devirtualized her.

"Sweetheart," said her father over his microphone. "Listen to me, I know you're scared. You don't have to worry though, Oliver and Katie are on their way to you know. Till they get there though, try to stay hidden from X.A.N.A. as best you can."

"But dad," she said, "What if I get devirtualized before they get to me?"

Before he could answer, the Belpois', Jace, and Carine heard a loud bang come from just above the monitor room, and felt a violent shake that dropped them to the floor, causing Mr. Belpois's headset to disconnect from the monitor.

"Dad?" Adele asked hoping for an answer. "Dad… mom… Jace… are you there?"

No answer came for about two minutes, as Adele continued to hide from enemy fire. All of a sudden, the young girl could hear the sound of her father's voice frantically coming over the skies.

"Dad?!" she shouted. "What's going on? Are you okay?!"

Heavy shaking could be felt around the monitor room, as a loud explosion could be heard from the floor above them. The force brought everyone to the ground, and

"What in the…" said Mrs. Stern. "What was that?!"

"It sounds like it came from main floor of the factory," replied Mrs. Belpois.

Fearing the worst, Jace asked, "You… you don't think that… it was one of those explosions, do you?"

No one in the monitor room uttered a word. Knowing all the explosions occurring throughout the city, it wasn't outside the realm of imagination that X.A.N.A. would target the factory as well, especially not being bound to the supercomputer anymore.

"Truth is," said Mr. Belpois being helped to his feet by his wife. "I wouldn't put it past X.A.N.A. to try and destroy the factory."

"What?" interjected Carine. "Why would he do that? If Lyoko is destroyed, wouldn't that destroy him too?"

The kids were shocked when Mr. and Mrs. Belpois informed them of X.A.N.A. freeing himself years ago after stealing the keys to Lyoko from Mrs. Belpois herself. Hearing that X.A.N.A. was free to do as he pleased left both kids speechless.

Suddenly, a pungent smell began to seep in from the ceiling of the monitor room, causing everyone to panic briefly. But panic turned into dread, as Mr. and Mrs. Belpois recognized the smell; one that started causing everyone in the room to gasp for air.

"Dear, i… is that…" said Mrs. Belpois slightly coughing.

"I think it is…" he replied. "That's carbon monoxide. That last explosion must've started a fire on the upper floor."

Almost instantaneously, Mr. Belpois ran to the elevator door and pressed the button to bring it down. But just as he thought, the door was jammed shut after rocks broke through elevator cart from the top. At this point, the only way out for everyone in the factory, would be through the ladder at the top of the room. Of course, that would mean climbing into a heavy fog of deadly gas.

"We have no time to waste," said Mr. Belpois sitting back in his chair. "Aelita, Yumi, take Carine and Jace down to the super-calculator room. The faster you get there, the safer you'll be from the gas."

Realizing what he was proposing, she replied, "Dear, you can't be serious. I'm not leaving you alone here."

"We don't have time to debate sweetheart!" he shouted putting his headset back on. "I'm not letting you, or anyone else be taken by X.A.N.A. And besides, our daughter needs our help getting to the tower."

"Daddy, is that you?" said the youngest Belpois daughter hearing her father's voice after a long period of silence. "What's happening? Why didn't you answer when I was calling out to you?"

"Sorry Adele," replied her father. "Something… happened in the factory. But that's not important. What's important is that we make sure you get to the tower ASAP."

"But how?" she asked. "There's a bunch of monsters guarding it. I can't use my wings to fly, and my daggers keep getting dodged."

Before she could dwell on her words too long, one of the bloks appeared to suddenly explode in a flash of light, causing a shockwave to be emitted that threw off the last blok and tarantula guarding the tower. The second blok then appeared to freeze in place as something hit it's eye in a flash of light, resulting in the monster breaking into pieces on the ground.

It didn't take long for the young teen to see Katie appear behind the blok's wireframe, as well as Oliver flying down towards the rock she was hiding behind.

"Adele, now!" shouted Katie. The girl took to her friend's cue and shot her last energy dagger at the Tarantula. This time, the creature was unable to defend itself, as the blast hit it on contact, blowing it into pieces.

As the Tarantula's wireframe disappeared, the three ran to meet each other, Adele breathing a sigh of relief she didn't have to fend for herself anymore.

"Looks like we got here just in time," said Oliver. "You okay Adele?"

"Well, I'm alive at least," she said still sounding stressed. "You guys are awesome. Thanks for your help."

Looking over at the direction of the tower, it became apparent that the threat was far from gone. Seeing three hornets appear, Katie said, "Uh, guys. We're not quite done here yet."

"Oh really?" said Oliver showing some similar cockiness to his father. "Guess X.A.N.A. wants to play some more, huh?"

"This isn't the time for jokes Oliver," said Mr. Belpois with a frantic tone. "You need to make sure Adele gets to the tower as quick as possible."

Hearing the panic in her father's voice, as well as how low he was speaking, Adele asked, "Daddy, what's going on? Why is your voice all muffled?"

Being as brief as he could, Adele's father explained the situation at the factory, and how crucial it was that they deactivate the tower before it got worse. Unknown to the kids, as well as his wife, the father of two was beginning to grow weaker with the gas's poisonous effect.

"Please kids," he continued. "You need to move now! There's not… much…" Silence loomed once again over Mr. Belpois's headset, as he passed out from inhaling too much gas.

"Dad?" said Adele. "Daddy?! Say something! Please!"

Not a sound came from her father. Realizing the worst could've happened, Adele looked at Oliver and Katie and said, "Cover me, I'm going in."

Not wanting to question her, both teens prepared to charge in behind her, as the worried teen activated her wings and took to the skies.

It took longer than they expected, but Tristan and Yumiko finally landed on the factory floor, hoping to join their friends in the battle in progress. But that was easier said than done, thanks to the damage done by the explosion that occurred earlier.

As fire and smoke ran rampant on the left side of the factory's main floor, Tristan attempted to get the elevator working, but to no avail. To make matters worse, the factory suddenly became filled with a foul odor that made the teens squirm even more than before.

Recognizing the smell, Tristan asked, "Hey sis, you smell that?"

Rather than open her mouth to respond, Yumiko nodded her head and quickly covered her nose and mouth with her sleeve just like her brother.

"That's gotta be like that gas from before," she said. "Come on, we gotta find an empty room where that gas isn't."

In a flash, the youngest Stern children ran to one of the exterior corridors on the other side of the factory, and searched for an empty room that didn't have gas all around. Luck was on their side, as an empty janitor's closet sat at the farthest corner of the corridor out of range.

Both kids ran into the closet, and began grabbing loose cloths or towels in order to cover the cracks of the door. After the two insured the crack was sealed, they huddled at the furthest corner of the room, and sat down, their backs leaning against the wall behind them.

"Hopefully that'll… keep the… gas out," Yumiko said trying to catch her breath.

"Well, at least till the others deactivate the tower," added Tristan as he leaned his head back on the wall.

As the two sat in silence for a few seconds, Yumiko noticed her younger brother beginning to cry slightly, something she had not seen him do since he had a terrible nightmare a year ago.

"Hey, bro, you okay?" she asked.

Looking her direction, Tristan replied, "Sis… I'm… I'm scared."

Recognizing the fear in her eyes, Yumiko sat down next to her brother and comforted him saying, "Don't worry bro. It'll be okay. I'm sure Kevin and the others are near the tower right now."

"Do you think so?" he asked trying to keep hope in his older brother.

"Hey, don't forget, dad fought X.A.N.A. too, remember?" she replied trying to be brave herself. "And since Dad taught us how to fight and protect ourselves, I'm sure Kevin's gonna be fine.

"That's why," she continued, "we gotta try and stay strong, and have faith in Kevin and the others, okay?"

With that statement, Tristan let out a sigh of relief and trusted in his sister's words, leaning on her shoulder for strength.

But the truth was, Yumiko was also scared too. After all, it would only be a matter of time before the gas made it's way into the closet and suffocated them both.

Please hurry guys, thought the Stern daughter. Time is running out…

Without hesitation, Adele flew out from behind the rock she hid behind, and bolted for the tower in front of her. Oliver and Katie were stunned by the young teen's boldness, but didn't have time to dwell, and prepared to launch an offense to stop the hornets from gunning her down.

The two quickly split up targeting one hornet each, with Oliver using his cat-like speed and reflexes to evade each blast from the menace in front of him. Judging his moment, the boy leapt to his left side and fired a barrage of laser arrows at his target, blowing it into oblivion. But without realizing it, the second hornet fighting Katie caught the blonde teen off-guard and hit him in his side, knocking him down and rolling uncontrollably.

"Oliver!" shouted Katie. This outburst caught Adele's attention from in the sky, but before she could speak, the youngest Della Robbia child yelled, "No Adele! Don't stop, keep going!"

"But, what about you?" she asked.

"I'll be fine," he replied holding his side. "Just get to the tower!"

While she felt guilty leaving the others behind, Adele flew at the tower once more, this time in close range to reach it safely.

"She's almost there!" said Katie to her boyfriend from a distance. "Hang on Ollie, I'm coming!"

With swiftness like a ninja, the Asian teen dodged the hornets attempts to flank her position with it's quick movements, but to no avail. The girl then used this to her advantage and slid underneath the creature and with all her strength, turned and threw three shurikens at the creature's eye, causing it to scream in pain before exploding.

As the wireframe disappeared, Katie breathed a sigh of relief, and ran to meet her boyfriend who was finally standing up.

"Heh, have I ever told how amazing you are?" asked Oliver coyly.

"Because of how I fight, or because I saved your life?" she asked with the same coy attitude.

Grunting from the hit he took, the boy said, "T… Touché." Playfulness aside, she knew what he meant, and placed her forehead on his smiling and saying, "I know what you meant. But I couldn't do this without you here with me."

Meanwhile, Adele finally reached the tower and quickly walked in before the last hornet could strike her. Without a moment to spare, she began to ascend to the top to enter the code to deactivate it.

"Daddy," she said, landing on the platform. "Are you there? I'm in the tower."

After a few seconds of silence, her father's voice could be heard, but with coughing intermingled saying, "Adele! Hurry! (cough) Gas… (cough) suffocating us (cough)… Enter… (cough) Code… Lyo…!"

Hearing her father's words stop abruptly again, Adele quickly held her hand up and activated the interface, placing her hand on the screen.

"Please Lord, let this work," she asked waiting for her hand to be identified. All of her doubts soon faded as the screen identified her and flashed the words, 'CODE: LYOKO.'

"Tower deactivated," she replied as the digital interfaces inside the tower dropped down around her.

Before they could be suffocated, all the gas around the factory quickly dissipated, causing everyone trapped to frantically and quickly gasp for air.

After recovering their breath, Mr. Belpois quickly typed in the program to launch a return trip to the past.

"Get… ready… everyone," he said, as he hit enter and shouted, "Return to the past… now!"

In a flourish, light eminated from the tower and emerged from the holomap engulfing everything on Lyoko and Earth, and the world was restored to before the explosions started at Kadic that morning.