Chapter 21 Leaving in Defeat

A.N. – This second to last chapter focuses around the Lyoko Warriors reflecting over what they just saw in their fight with Tyron. Also, Anti-Xana is now free and now able to do what he wants, but he will not reappear until the next story. Also, I updated my bio with a rough draft of future story plots. Check it out if interested. Anyways let's continue.

Short Summary – The Lyoko Warriors awake the next day and head out of Switzerland. But when they arrive home, they each face the death of Professor Tyron with their parents in different ways.

Disclaimer – I do not own Code Lyoko. I am just a fan of the show.

The next day

The warm morning sun shined in the Lyoko Warriors little home away from home. They all awoke, still sad and shocked from the events that just transpired. Their only goal was to defeat Anti-Xana; they could not even accomplish that. Professor Tyron paid the ultimate price as he died for what he loved. No one could believe what has happened; no one was supposed to die. The news was all over the situation from last night.

"Over night, a popular physics university exploded over night. All students made it out safely, but the universities main Professor, Lowell Tyron, was nowhere to be found. And still no cause to the explosion" the main anchor said.

The Lyoko Warriors could not even watch the news. They felt like failures, even though the students praised them as heroes. 'If we were heroes, no one would have died.' they all thought.

They all had breakfast and got dressed and called their parents saying they were headed home today. "Well, let's head to the airport" Jeremy said with sadness in his voice.

The gang all arrived at the airport and went through separate gates except Jeremy, Aelita, and Yumi who headed back to Paris. They used the second half of their black tickets to get the earliest flight back home. They had to get over this if they had any chance of stopping Anti-Xana.

Paris

Jeremy, Aelita, and Yumi all arrived safely at the Paris airport. Yumi saw her parent's car and took off waving bye and not saying anything. Jeremy's dad arrived shortly after and Jeremy asked Aelita "Do you want to come stay with us for a few days Aelita? You know, to clear your head?"

"No, this is something I need to deal with alone. Sorry Jeremy" Aelita said.

With that, Jeremy got in his dad's car and went back home. Aelita had made amends with Professor Tyron in the end but could not get closer to him. To her, it felt like watching her father die, again.

Berlin

Ulrich arrived at the Berlin airport early enough for his dad to arrive 15 minutes later. He got in, didn't say a word and his dad also kept quiet and saw that something was troubling his son, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Italy

Odd arrived at the airport near the edge of France and Italy and immediately saw his parent's car. They all were smiling, except for Odd who remained silent the whole way home.

Kadic Academy

Aelita arrived back at the academy with no signs of anybody there as they were all on vacation. Aelita headed back up to her room and placed the scorched picture of Tyron and her mother net to the picture of her and her father. Aelita now had a full collection of her complicated family.

She sat on her bed and buried her face while crying. "Why Professor Tyron? Why daddy? Why does everyone who I grow close to die in front of me?" Aelita said in tears trying to wrap her head around this fucked up situation.

Jeremy's house

Jeremy practically sat in silence at dinner, which was very unusual for him. His parents spoke up.

"Jeremy is something bothering you. You're not yourself" his dad said.

"It's something more personal. It might be that way for a while" Jeremy said.

"What happened? Did you and the Aelita girl break up?"

"No, we just saw something traumatic while we were in Switzerland." Jeremy handed him the newspaper. "We were there when it exploded and we knew the man inside that went missing and we believed he exploded inside the lab.'

Now Jeremy's parent understand that they seen someone die in front of him and his friends. They knew that his friends are probably suffering just as much as he is. They both comforted him to help him through this traumatic experience.

Yumi's house

Yumi sat in silence and didn't even touch her food. Her younger brother didn't bother her this time as it seemed that what ever she was going through was very serious. Her parents were really concerned for their daughter and decided to get tot the root of the problem.

"What's wrong Yumi? You worried about college?" her father asked.

"No, I'm going close by so I'll be close to my friends and boyfriend" Yumi said.

"Then what's wrong dear? You haven't even taken a bite" her mother said.

"Just when we were in Switzerland, something happened that changed my life."

"Don't tell me what I think you're going to say" her father said.

"No, dad I'm not pregnant. I saw someone who we all know die in front of us. It was more life traumatic then life changing."

"Oh, wow. That's rough. We all experienced death of someone close to us but to see that happen in front of you. It will traumatize you. Who was it?"

"A friend from another one of my close friends. He was very intelligent and ran a university of physics. His name was Professor Tyron. He was going to show us around his lab, but before we arrived we saw the lab explode" Yumi said hiding the real truth behind Tyron.

"We'll be with you as you recover all the way dear" her mom said.

"Thanks mom."

Ulrich's house

Ulrich immediately went to his room to try to make sense of this situation. His parents were immediately knew something was wrong.

"What's wrong with Ulrich?" his mom said.

"Don't know. He was all happy to go to Switzerland, and now he's all depressed. Maybe he's stressed out" his dad said.

"You don't think-"

"No, Ulrich's smarter than that. Even his girlfriend would know the risks. Something else happened in Switzerland. Let's talk to him."

They headed up to his room, knocked on his door and entered his room.

"Son we want to talk to you about the Switzerland trip" his dad said.

"I don't wan to talk about it" Ulrich said.

"You can't be depressed all the time Ulrich" his mom said.

"I don't want to be, but wouldn't you be if someone died in front of you."

Their eyes widened at his statement, and then they all had the same look.

"Sorry. We didn't know" his dad said.

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. This event just shook me, that's all" Ulrich said.

They all got in one group hug to comfort Ulrich in this traumatic time.

Odd's house

Odd was completely silent all the way home and his parents didn't know why. When they got back, instead of eating, Odd went to his room.

"Now that's not the Odd we know" his dad said.

"Let's talk to him" his mom said.

They went to his room.

"Odd, we want to talk to you."

"What about?" Odd said.

"Switzerland."

"I don't want to talk about that."

"What really happened?"

"Someone died in front of me. It was very traumatic. I didn't even tell Melissa yet."

His parents now know what happened and comforted him through this troubling time.

Jeremy's house

Jeremy knew that he could not let Aelita deal with this situation and allow herself to fall into darkness. He decided to call her. (Italics will be Aelita talking.) He dialed her number.

"What do you want Jeremy?"

"I wanted to talk to you, about the other day."

"I'm not ready to talk about yet, or ever."

"Well, I am. So we need to talk."

"Well, you have people to comfort you. I have no one. So if you could hang up and fuck off we can continue with our lives in danger, like always."

"You have people Aelita. You have us."

"I need someone neutral. Not someone who was there with me. You never lost a parent. My mother is missing. My father and step dad both died in front of me. So you don't know what I'm feeling."

"You're right. I don't know. But why allow yourself to descend to darkness and not rise up with us. We need to be one if we'regoing to defeat Anti-Xana."

"Fuck Anti-Xana and everything about him. He's free. He is ultra powerful. We're fucked Jeremy! You hear me, fucked!"

"Maybe, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't try. I have programs Tyron gave me that can help me find a way to eliminate him. We didn't give up when Xana was this way, and we are not going to stop because we are in the same situation."

"Another two years of my life are going to wasted fighting a new AI. Fucking amazing."

"No Aelita. Not this time. I promise."

"Listen Jeremy, just leave me alone. I need to deal with this alone." And with that Aelita hung up and continued to cry herself to sleep.

The next day

Aelita awoke to her phone ringing. She saw a message saying: "We need to have a group chat. We need to talk about AX and how to deal with him. –J"

Aelita didn't want to talk about how to deal with Anti-Xana, but this was the fate of the world that hangs in the balance.

A.N. – That ends this chapter and again it's kind of a somber chapter but a comforting one. Next time will be the finale of this story and will be setting up part of the plot of the next story. Since the Coronavirus outbreak closed college for another week, I have more time to get alt least four more chapters out. So ideally, one chapter to this story and possibly three to the next story. Either way, the next stories first chapter will be up before the end of next week. Stay safe and healthy! Se ya next time! –lyokowarrior 97