This chapter is based off the episode Marabounta.
Josh , Odd,Ulrich, Aelita and Jeremy were all in science class listening to Mrs. Hertz talked about ants that were in an enclosure in front of them. "Ants are social insects, like termites or like bees. A single individual is incapable of any personal initiative. All of the decisions are made by the colony. Ants receive a few simple orders, such as, 'search for food', 'mark the path leading to the food', and 'follow a marked path'. As a result, we might have the impression that each ant is rather clever…when in fact, this has more to do with a collective intelligence." She said waving her hand over the top of the enclosure. "You mean that an army of Sissis could be intelligent? Heh! I don't believe it." Odd said laughing causing the whole room except Sissi and Mrs. Hertz to laugh. "Very funny. Shut up, you birdbrain." Sissi yelled at Odd. "Now everyone. Settle down." Mrs. Hertz said, raising her voice. "As I was saying, thanks to their numbers, they manage to accomplish some very difficult tasks, such as finding food or defending themselves against an attacker. It would seem that ants even wage full-scale wars between different colonies!" Mrs. Hertz said, continuing with her lesson. As she was talking Jeremy was watching the ants closely and Josh was keeping an eye on Jeremy because he seemed way too interested in those ants. "What about Killer Ants? Do they exist?" Ulrich asked. "Well… Yes. Maybe in movies." She said laughing abit "But there are, in fact, army ants, that destroy everything in their path. And it's true that you'd best stay out of their way!" She continued. "And uh…do any of those filthy bugs live around here?" Sissi asked looking disgusted. "No, fortunately! They live in South America. Down there, the phenomenon is called marabunta." Mrs. Hertz replied. "Phew! I'm glad I live in a country where there's no danger." Sissi said smiling abit. Ulrich and Odd exchange a look that seemed to pass the idea of if only see knew. Then the bell rang and everyone began to leave for lunch. Jeremy was still intently watching the ants. "Hey Jeremy what's so interesting?" Josh said. "Ah nothing." Jeremy stated not wanting to possibly give him any information that Xana could use. "Okay then…. see you around I guess." Josh said leaving to head to lunch. Once he got his lunch Josh sat down at a table near the gangs to try and over hear them.
"Saturday's my favourite day! No school in the afternoon." Odd said eating food of Jeremy's plate. "I like Sundays better. No school at all!" Ulrich stated causing odd to smile a bit. "You seem worried, Jeremie. What's on your mind?" Aelita said worried about Jeremy not eating. Jeremy looked around a bit noticing Josh. "Franz Hopper's notes, Aelita. Last night, I decoded a really interesting part on a multi-agent system. It's a computer application that follows the principle of an anthill! What happens is-" Jeremy started saying quietly so Josh couldn't hear before getting cut off by Odd. "Oh no, Mrs. Hertz has already bored us to tears with all that ant stuff. Don't you start now!" Odd said, raising his voice a bit. "Seriously! This time I might have found a way to weaken XANA! Let's meet up at the factory after lunch. I'll explain everything." Jeremy said still trying to be quiet. "Well um, normally, I'd love to, but I have to finish my Italian homework. See ya!" Aelita said smiling as she stood up and walked away with her tray. Jeremy looked around at the others. "Uh, no, I have to practice for a skateboard competition!" Odd takes his tray and leaves as well." Odd said getting up and leaving as well. "Yumi?" Jeremy asked. "Sorry, I've got swimming after school. Buh-bye!" Yumi said, waving as she also left. "What about you, Ulrich? Are you doing anything later on?" Jeremy asked. Ulrich looked over at where Yumi was leaving and saw William. "Yeah. I've gotta be somewhere." Ulrich answered. "Oh yeah? Where?" Jeremy asked wondering. "The swimming pool." Ulrich answered walking away.
"Right, well, since everyone else has better things to do.." Jeremy started to say before finishing his water. "I'll just deal with it myself!" He said to himself. "Deal with what yourself?" Josh asked, having started walking toward their table when he saw everyone leaving. "Oh ah Nothing. Just a group project." Jeremy said trying to not go e away any information. "Oh really? A group project with someone that not even in your grade? How stupid do you think I am?" Josh asked, getting a bit louder. "It's just something we were working on." Jeremy said backing away abit when Josh got louder. Josh sighed abit and began to walk back to his room. At the same time Jeremy started his way to the factory.
In his room Josh sat down and turned on his computer. "Father, Jeremy is planing something. I am not exactly sure what but it's somehow related to what we learned in class about any colonies. Which seem to operate in a similar manner to a multi-agent system." Josh said. "Interesting. I will keep watch here on Lyoko and contact you if you are needed. In the meantime you should work on perfecting your usage of the limited powers you have. Just be careful not to deplete your energy too much." Xana replied a bit worried about Jeremy's activity.
At the factory Jeremy sat down and began to work on his program. "Here we go." Jeremy said typing. In a pile near him was a bunch of magazines about ants.
Back in Josh's room Josh began to experiment with the few spector abilities he had. He put his hand to his computer and concentrated on attempting to access the network through it. The surface of his hand touching the computer became spector like as he accessed the fragments of spector code within him. After a few minutes he managed to obtain access to the internet within his mind just through physical contact with his computer. Having accomplished his first goal he took his hand away, it's surface returning to normal and the ability to access the internet having disappeared.
At the pool Urlich was keeping an eye on William and Yumi before deciding to try and dive into the pool to impress Yumi. He climbed up to the diving board and started his dive into the pool. He jumped causing the board to spring him into the air. On his way towards the water his foot hit the diving board. This caused him to start flaying around as he fell hitting the water hard, sinking to the bottom. William swam down and pulled Ulrich out of the pool where he eventually woke up coughing before leaving without a word.
Back in the lab, Jermey was working on his program. "Now for the moment of truth." He said to himself running a test. A screen appeared showing one sphere multiplying into many. "Everything seems to be work." He said typing away to begin the transfers protocol to virtualize it onto Lyoko. "Transfer Prototype, Virtualization." He said hitting enter as a black sphere appeared in the forest sector. Moments later it dropped towards the ground and enlarged before splitting into many spheres, the original returning to its starting location. "YES! Franz Hopper, you're a genius! And so am I!" He said to himself adding "Xana and his monsters better watch out now!"
In Sector Five, Xana observed the Marabounta. "What is this thing." He said to himself virtualizing a crab to investigate further. Moments later the Marabounta attacked the crab destroying it. "This is unacceptable.." he mumbled before contacting Josh. "Josh, you're needed on Lyoko. Jeremy has created some sort of thing using a small sphere to take out my creatures. Unfortunately you will not be able to get to the scanners due to him being in the lab." Xana told him, "Then how am I supposed to get to Lyoko?" Josh asked. "Using Spector powers enhanced by an activated tower you should in theory be able to transfer enough of your code to Lyoko to form your virtual form. You would have to stay in contact with a computer system for this to work." Xana said going over the theory behind it at the same time. "Okay. What would happen if I get devirtualized?" Joshasked, worried about the outcome, "I don't know but it's a risk we must take to protect ourselves." Xana stated in a monotone voice. "Okay. Walk me through what I must do." Josh said, understanding what was at risk.
Meanwhile at the factory Jeremy called Odd. "Get the others and head to the factory. I have something amazing to show yous." Jermey said. "Okay. We will be right there." Odd said. "Don't forget to bring Aelita." Jeremy added, ending the call. Odd went to get Aelita before heading to the factory. Once Odd and Aelita got to the lab, Aelita walked up to the terminal. "What's this program?" She asked Jeremy. "It's…Marabounta! My own creation!" Jeremy said smiling. "And what does it do exactly?" Odd asked. "It's a multi-agent system that functions according to the same principle…as an anthill! But instead of ants, we have these little spheres, whose mission is to search and destroy XANA's monsters." Jeremy said explaining. "I get it. While the monsters are getting wiped out by your ants, XANA leaves us alone on Lyoko! Is that it?" Odd asked. "You guessed it!" Jeremy said happy. "But what if there is a real bug in the program?" Aelita asked. "Impossible. Remember, Franz Hopper was a genius!" Jeremy replied. "Yeah, that's right! What do you say we go to Lyoko to check it out? If this thing really works, nothing can happen to us." Odd said. "You read my mind, Odd! Go to the scanner room. I'll transfer you." Jeremy stated typing. Aelita stayed near him with a worried look on her face. "If there's the slightest problem, I'll pull the plug. Promise." Jeremy said. Aelita looked away still worried heading to the scanner room. "Transfer, Aelita! Transfer, Odd! Scanner, Odd! Scanner, Aelita! Virtualisation!" Jeremy said entering all the commands.
Back in Josh's room, Josh placed his hand onto his computer. "Okay I am activating a tower now. Once I do you need to establish a link directly with the supercomputer." Xana said as he activated a tower in the forest sector the tower's energy being directed to form a temporary virtual envelope for Josh to use. Josh used his abilities to work a connection to the supercomputer and to Lyoko before taking control of the virtual envelope.
"Guys your look at the marabunta will have to wait. Xana has activated a tower." Jeremy said. "Wow just like him to spoil the fun." Odd said. "And somehow his transferred his warrior to lyoko without activating the scanners." Jeremy added worried. "But how could he have done that?" Aelita said worried. "Unless… the activated tower. He must have used it to bring him here to fight the marabuta." Aelita said putting two and two together. "Hm Aelita your right that has to be what he's doing. I will direct you to where he is. So you can see the Marabounta in action." Jeremy said. "Take the path on your left." He said, giving them directions. Eventually they were within view of it. "Jeremy we can see it." Odd said. Just then a crab tired to attack it. Aelita and Odd's eyes widened in horror as the Marabounta slowly grew over the surface of the crab before destroying it in a flash of light. "Well? What's it like?" Jeremy asked. "It's pretty scary." Odd said then saw other monsters attempting to fight it and get destroyed. "I never thought I would say this but,... I really feel back for Xana. Also no sign of our mystery guy." Odd said before he noticed someone slowly approaching them. "I spoke too soon." Odd added. "Jeremy I will uplink you a visual." Aelita said a window popping open on Jeremy's screen. "It's working even better than I thought it would." Jeremy stated, pleased with his work.
Josh was slicing at the Marabounta not making any progress. "Father, attacking it will not work. There must be another way." Josh said talking to Xana in his head but still speaking aloud. "Retreat for now." Xana ordered not wanting to lose his weapon against the Lyoko warriors. "Yes, Father." Josh said falling back towards Odd and Aelita having not noticed them.
"Jeremy,... I have seen enough. I want to come back." Aelita said sounding really upset. "Yeah. Ok, Aelita. I'll bring you back. Head southwest, there's a tower nearby." Jeremy said directing them to a tower. Odd started to walk there but Aelita stay still for a moment. Just as she was about to start walking the Marabounta blocked her path. "ODD! Look!" Aelita yelled pointing down. "Odd! Aelita! What's going on?" Jeremy yelled worried. Odd quickly shot a few laser arrows to clear Aelita's path and the two began to run, the Marabounta following close behind. "Odd! Say something!" Jeremy yelled. "Your Marabounta seems to have it in for us!" Odd screamed running with Aelita. "This is no time for jokes! I programmed it to attack Xana's monsters only!" Jeremy replied. "Well can you program it some eyeglasses then?!" Odd yelled back. "This can't be right! Did you do something special?!" Jeremy asked eyes widening abit. "No, except for firing a few laser arrows." Odd said. "That wasn't the smartest thing to do…" Jeremy said before being interrupted by Aelita. "Jeremie, Odd didn't have a choice! The Marabounta was coming after me!" Aelita said. "Argh.. How can that be." Jeremy said typing. "Unless… Oh, Jeremie, IDIOT! It's my fault! It's the virus implanted in Aelita! The Marabounta thinks she's one of Xana's monsters!" Jeremy stated. "Great! Nice work, Frankenstein! I thought we had nothing to worry about!" Odd yelled, still running. "I was wrong …Ok, head for the tower! I'll kill the program." Jeremy said typing to shut it down.
Meanwhile Josh had been running down a parallel path to escape the Marabounta. "Father, I just overheard that the Marabounta is going after Odd and Aelita. We have to protect her." Josh said knowing Xana needed her to escape. "Yes. We must work with the warriors. Especially since I can feel that the Marabounta has become self aware." Xana replied. "I will use my monsters to protect them as much as I can. You need to get to them to help defend her." He added. Josh smiled a bit before he started to run towards a clearing.
Meanwhile Jeremy had tired to stop the program only to receive a red exclamation mark. "Oh no.. oh no. Noooo." Jeremy said freaking out a bit. "Anytime now Jeremy." Odd said still running with Aelita. "I can't deactivate the program! It seems that the Marabounta doesn't wanna die! The Marabounta's become autonomous. It'll submerge everything and everyone in its path!" Jeremy stated. "I'll brief Yumi and Ulrich." He added. While he was calling both of them Odd and Aelita managed to escape the Marabounta for now. "Hey, Jeremie… I think we lost your monster, but now we're kinda lost, ourselves." Odd said as they walked towards a fork in the path. "I um… Sorry, guys. Take off in the direction, uh…due west! The Marabounta hasn't hit that sector yet. In the meantime, I'll find a way to stop it!" Jeremy said. "Don't blow it, ok? I don't want to end up as chewing gum!" Odd yelled as they began to run again.
Meanwhile Yumi was heading towards the school to get Ulrich who had not answered his phone. She ran up to his dorm room. "I was sure I would find you here." What I need is for everybody to leave. Me. Alone! Especially you." Ulrich said pointing at her. "Hey, if you wanna make a fool of yourself in front of everyone, don't blame me. No one asked you to spy on me at the pool!" She said folding her arms, "Spy on you?! You've gotta be kidding. I just happened to be there, ok?" He yelled at her annoyed, "Oh, yeah, right! What an incredible coincidence! Anyway, do you mind shelving your ego for a minute? Odd and Aelita need us on Lyoko." She said slamming the door as she left.
Meanwhile in Lyoko Aelita and Odd made it to the tower only to discovered the Marabounta got there first. "Jeremie? Bad news. The Marabounta got here first! The tower's unreachable." Odd said as Aelita slowly backed up in fear. "This won't take me long. I'll find a way to stop it, I promise! And Ulrich and Yumi are on the way! At least…I hope they are." Jeremy said typing away. "Oh…! No, it can't be! Hopper…help me out a little!" Jeremy said to himself.
Odd fired laser arrows at it repeated. Unfortunately they had no effect. Aelita continued to back up as they were surrounded. "Careful! Xana's sending a monster!" Jeremy said, As he said this a crab virtualized and fell to the ground next to Aelita who covered her face in fear. It held out its leg for her and once she grabbed on it flung her to safety before itself being destroyed by the Marabounta. "That's crazy! That Krab just sacrificed itself for you! I don't get it!" Odd said. "That's weird." Jeremy stated still working on finding a way to kill the Marabounta.
Josh approaches Odd and Aelita along with a group of Bloks and Kankrelats. "Jeremy I think we have trouble." Odd said aiming at Josh. Josh ignored him. "Protect Aelita at all costs." Josh said ordering the monsters to attack the Marabounta and keep it away from her. "Hey! What's the matter with him?" Odd asked. "Odd let me answer that one for you. Father needs Aelita's memory. We can't let her die." Josh said slashing at the Marabounta with his sword. "Odd he's right. Use them as allies to defeat the Marabounta" Jeremy said, Just when Jermey said that Yumi got to the lab. "Your here at last. But where's Ulrich?" Jeremy asked. "Alone with his pride. Want to tell me what's going on?" Yumi asked. "No time. Go straight there. Odd, Aelita, hang in there. The cavalry's coming." Jeremy said starting the Virtualization procedure for Yumi.
In the meantime a Krab and multiple more Kankelates had joined the battle. Unfortunately they Marabounta continued to advance a a quick pace. Aelita sighed worried. Just then Yumi virtualized and fell to the ground taking out her fan and throwing it straight at Josh. "What are you doing?!" Josh yelled deflecting her fan with his sword. "No Yumi! Not them. The Marabounta is the one to go after." Aelita said pointing at it. "What is that horrible thing?" Yumi asked, "One of Jeremie's bright ideas! Luckily, Xana's here to give us a hand!" Odd said firing still. "The world has turned upside-down!" Yumi stated throwing her fan at the Marabounta.
Back in the dorms William came to check on Ulrich. "Hi. I came to…see how you were." William said genuinely. "Yeah, right. When you have a good chance to humiliate the competition, you might as well go for it." Ulrich said annoyed. "Uh…I miss something here? What's your problem?" William asked. "Yea. You're my problem!" Ulrich yelled, getting up pointing at him. "Uh-uh. No. That'd be too easy, Ulrich. Let me tell you what's wrong around here." William said walking towards him "My being around Yumi forces you to ask yourself a question, a tough question that you can't answer." He continued. "Here's a piece of friendly advice: go and talk to Yumi, from the heart. Or else, one day…I will." He added leaning in a bit. "And then, I really will be your problem." William finished before leaving.
Back on Lyoko things had gotten worse. The Marabounta continued to push them back. "Jeremy how's it going." Aelita asked. "I'll never make it. I'm really the biggest loser to ever walk the face of the Earth!" Jeremy said, laying his face on the keyboard in dismay. "You couldn't have known that my virus would be a problem." Aelita said, trying to console him. "Your virus. Virus. what if…." Jeremy said looking over the Marabounta's window. "Yea. Well that ought to work." He added as he began typing rapidly.
While Jeremy was working the Marabounta continued its approach getting closer and closer. Josh and the others repeatedly tried to slash at it to keep it away.
The elevator opened as Urlich finally decided to show up. "Head to the scanners NOW" Jeremy said knowing they needed help on Lyoko. Jeremy quickly virtualized Ulrich.
"Jeremie, move it. Things are getting a bit out of hand." Yumi said barely making a dent in the Marabunta. "Hey, I'm doing my best, guys!" Jermey said just finishing the virus he started writing. "I think I found how to destroy the Marabunta. Odd, I inserted a code for a deadly virus in one of your arrows. If you hit a sphere with it, the whole colony will be infected! But…" Jeremy said getting cut off by Odd. "No sweat." Odd said aiming at the Marabunta. "WAIT! It has the be the first sphere. The one I originally sent to Lyoko. In the heart of the Marabunta." Jeremy managed to say before Odd shot the laser arrow. "Uh… great. So how am I supposed to get there? On a camel's back?" Odd asked, being sarcastic. "Odd May I suggest using one of our Krabs." Josh said. "Odd it's the only way." Jeremy said. Odd climbed up on the crab and yelled "CHAAAARGE!"
Meanwhile as Odd was approaching the first sphere the Marabounta slowly engulfed Yumi and devirtualized her before starting to climb up Aelita's leg causing her to gasp. "Aelita!" Josh yelled using his sword to free her from it before the Marabounta began to try and climb up his sword to him.
"Jeremy I think I found the first sphere." Odd said seeing a floating one as the Krab he was one was getting covered in it. "You only have one shot Odd." Jeremy said worried. The Marabounta had almost fully covered Josh and was getting closer to Aelita. Odd took aim and shot the first sphere. The virus destroyed it and whole colony in a blinding flash.
Once the Marabounta was gone Josh walked up to Ulrich, Odd and Aelita. "Thank you." He said before attempting to shake their hands. Meanwhile the monsters behind him bowed. Josh smiled abit at Aelita before walking towards the other monsters. "Father deactivate the tower." Josh said before disconnecting himself from the supercomputer. Back in his dorm he sat up having gone unconscious during his time on Lyoko. "Father, I am safely back in my body. Although my head does hurt a lot." Josh said. "That is to be expected." Xana said "We have a situation. I have detected that the supercomputer's battery is running low. I will have to activate a tower some time soon to steal a new one." Xana stated. "Oh and how is this going to affect me?" Josh asked. "I have no idea." Xana replied before disconnecting. Josh sat there thinking about all that had happened today. His mind wandering to Aelita, causing him to smile a bit with a feeling that he couldn't understand.
Back in the lab Jeremy had devirtualized Odd, Ulrich and Aelita. "Next time you want to play at being a mad scientist, clue us in a little more first, ok?" Odd said. "Well I really tried to, but you all had better things to do! But you're right, Odd. 'Cause this time, I was a big zero from start to finish." Jeremy replied, sighing. "You found a way out of it, Jeremie. That's what counts." Aelita said smiling. "Jeremy I am worried about how Xana managed to virtualize him without using the scanners." Aelita added. "I a, not so worried about it. It required an activated tower and also after the Marabounta was destoried I managed to trace back an outside connection to the supercomputer back to a phone line used at the dorms." Jeremy said, grinning a bit. "Which means we can find out who he is." Jeremy added. "That's great." Yumi said. "Just have to get into the records room to find out who it is." Jeremy added.
Welp that's all for this chapter. Hoping to have another chapter out before the end of the month. Also I have a great plan for the next chapter already. Which will expand a bit on a few small hints in chapters before this one.