Odd stared at the core of Lyoko, the impact of Jeremy's words jarring him in shock and confusion, his peripheral vision barely allowing him to see his other friends react in the same manner he had. Shaking his head, Odd stared down at the never ending void under the Heart. "Jeremy, aren't we supposed to be protecting the Heart of Lyoko, not shoot it?"
"Yes, but it's only necessary for the new protective barrier that I've set up. Something should happen." Jeremy replied meekly, his fatigue channeling through his voice. Some shuffling could be heard afterwards, as if Jeremy was moving around in his chair, or (most likely) rubbing his face.
Ulrich scowled across from Odd. "What's going to happen is that the Core might give out on us." He snapped at Jeremy.
Jeremy remained silent, taking a deep breath and releasing it a slow exhale. "Then what are the two original barriers set up for? Decoration?"
The others inside Lyoko widened their eyes, shocked. Jeremy did respond with sarcasm sometimes, but now, now he had abruptly sounded edgy. It wasn't like him to be so tense after losing sleep for an entire night. Had it been that morning's incident?
Jeremy continued. "If anything goes wrong, I'll destroy the file immediately, and we'll dust our hands from this."
Odd still stood in front of the Heart, pondering his choices and watching the others shrug and shuffle around in concern, Aelita holding her arms together and looking down at the void. After a few moments silence, she looked back up at him and nodded at him, slightly to continue with Jeremy's plan.
Odd raised his hand towards the Heart, and after a few moment's hesitation, he shot with an unenthusiastic "Laser arrow!" and watched in stunned silence as the arrow went straight through his target,
and shot right back at him.
Feeling his own arrow take a few life points away from him, he hissed in pain for a mere second before watching the virtual shock waves around his body dispense with a jolt, staring at the Heart of Lyoko with wide eyes.
"Einstein?" Ulrich asked incredulously. "What exactly did you do?"
Jeremy laughed in response and began clattering away at the computer, simultaneously explaining, "I copied the data from the original barriers and added a few reroutes. Instead of the initial damage bouncing off the core and digital atmosphere, half the shock waves are absorbed by the aggressor, inflicting damage each time the data is triggered."
An awkward silence fell across the group. Watching the others shuffle timidly, Aelita coughed pointedly at Jeremy.
Said person sighed from his spot on the computer and reiterated, "Someone attacks the core, the core sends back half the damage."
There was a hum of agreement and satisfaction, each person nodding their heads simultaneously until Odd scowled.
"Hey, but why did I have to take the damage, Jeremy?"
"I chose at random. Don't take it personally Odd."
Odd huffed in mock contempt and pointed towards nothing. "This is gonna owe you something."
Jeremy seemed to be weighing things in his mind until, "I sacrifice two deserts, and we'll call it even."
"Done."
Jeremy nodded. "Pleasure doing-"
Jeremy stopped as a yawn escaped from him in a long drawl. He cupped a hand over his mouth but it was too late, the others had heard. They began laughing, and Jeremy felt his cheeks grow warm. "Alright, alright. Let's wrap this up and go back, we all need rest."
"Especially you Jeremy." Ulrich laughed.
Walking past the bridge away from the factory, Odd caught up with Jeremy and walked beside him. "Hey, Jeremy?"
Jeremy continued staring forward but inclined his head slightly.
"Were you serious? About the desert...and stuff?"
Jeremy chuckled slightly, his hunched shoulders slightly loosening. "Yeah. And now that I think about it, you were the only one to test out the new program." He turned to Odd. "Was everything okay?"
Odd shrugged. "Aside from getting shot, it was pretty unexpected."
Jeremy shook his head. "No," He said grabbing Odd's shoulder's. "Did you feel anything strange? Anything at all?"
Odd stared at Jeremy with a skeptical stare. "No..."
With a sigh, Jeremy released Odd's shoulders and started walking again, slightly. "Okay. It's just," He waved his hands a bit for emphasis. "I would have done it myself but," Another sigh. "Like you said, I'm better off facing the supercomputer rather than be in it."
Odd scoffed and patted Jeremy on the back. "Yeah, but when I said that, we got kidnapped and you personally came to save us."
"But it's not like you remember that happening."
Odd laughed. "Lighten up Jeremy, we're most likely going to remember this happening." He began running. "Now let's catch up to the others. I want to make sure Kiwi is behaving."
X.A.N.A sat inside Lyoko quietly, peering at the heart of Lyoko with ill-concealed malice. It's not like that...that thing around it was going to stop the heart from being destroyed. The evil A.I escaped the bounds of the generated world and could now do as he pleased. Anything he pleased.
X.A.N.A could even destroy it if he wanted, but no. He still needed it, if he wanted everything to fall into place. If only he could do that in such a simpler setting. But no, the old fart Hopper had to stabilize Lyoko with such little time.
Such was the incompetence of the human race.
As X.A.N.A circled the heart, he stared directly at the newly created barrier surrounding it, scowling at it's features. It glowed with a sickly yellow color, twisting and turning along with the other barriers surrounding the heart. Such rhythm would've made the A.I nauseous, if it had a stomach. Thankfully it didn't.
He reached blindly for the first barrier, and stung himself. Hissing, he drew back, circling around the heart again. He didn't know what to do with it. He could reprogram it to absorb twice the damage, but no. That would spoil the fun, and destroy Lyoko way too quickly.
Maybe disable it and keep it's shell hanging around? That would be a delicious surprise to see on the little one's face, but again, he wanted something fun. Something to leave them scrambling in all directions. Something that could cripple the whole group but still leave it standing for more.
All at once, it hit.
X.A.N.A promptly left the core to it's own devices, feeling mirthful.
It was evil. It was dastardly. It was going to be extremely, heavenly fun.
He just had the precise plan of action.
Jeremy pulled his sweater off and placed it by his pajama shirt, blinking tiredly. He was so fatigued, so drained, by the time he opened his eyes again after reaching for his pajama shirt, he had pulled his sweater back on.
With a scowl, he plopped onto his bed, cracking a few things in the process, and rumpling his shirt. His scowl slowly melted away as his tired frame loosened and he stretched, staring placidly at the ceiling. He yawned.
How long had he actually stayed up while working on the program? Two nights? Three? Jeremy could barely think straight as his eyelids tugged themselves closed and drifted off rather quickly.
His breathing was even and deep, and he turned over on his bed, his shoes thumping on top of each other as he rested facing the wall.
C-r-r-r-ACK!
Jeremy sat up, startled. He hadn't exactly been fully conscious to discern what had happened. There wasn't an intruder. His computer alarm didn't go off, and X.A.N.A was no where in sight.
Flicking on the light switch, Jeremy sighed when he saw the source of the loud noise.
The light bulb in his lamp stand had exploded. Shattered glass littered the desk and floor, the bulb's conducter hanging at an odd angle off the base.
Sidling off his bed, Jeremy looked for a scrap of paper to pick up the glass with. Transfering the broken glass on the desk to the trash can was no issue. But getting the shards on the floor...
Jeremy knelt down and proceeded to scoop the glass onto the paper, passing it to the trash can. Going back to the remaining shards on the floor, Jeremy hissed and dropped the small peice of paper.
Inspecting his hand, Jeremy could make out a small graze on his left hand, droplets of blood inking out of the small wound. Sighing, he picked up the rest of the glass and deposited them in the trash can, wiping the small smear of blood on his brown cords.
After patting his hands over the trash can to dislodge and stray glass, Jeremy got dressed for bed, and switched off the lights. He dropped onto his bed with a relieved sigh, and fell asleep.
Just because he was a boy genius didn't mean he didn't care about waking up early to make it on time for his classes.
Sorry it took a while for me to update. Lots of stuff happened and mostly school testing is the most to blame.
Anyway, I'm getting right to the good stuff, just hang on, and please don't be afraid to leave a review!