I do not own Code Lyoko. Just Kaitlyn. :)

Chapter 6: Just in Time

Jeremie's POV

"Kaitlyn did excellent on her first trip to Lyoko, Jeremie. We need a flexible person in the group who can run the supercomputer and can be a Lyoko Warrior all the same."

I smiled as I continued to type in more codes for Aelita's materialization; "Yeah, she did do a great job, Aelita. It shocked me when she called, and said she could virtualize everyone." I typed one final thing into the computer, ready to try my new program.

"Interface transfer, activated. Virtual memory, activated. Code management configured. Scanners, activated and verified." I smiled. "This time it's going to work. 'Ready, Aelita?" I said, ready to try it out.

"Ready!" Aelita smiled.

I braced myself. "Okay." I punched the enter key. In suspense, I watched the program scan over Aelita's body.

To my surprise, after the program stopped, it glowed with a big green plus. "It's working…"

I rushed down to the scanner room, and awaited the cabin to open. Once it did, I couldn't help but smile.

Kaitlyn's POV

I sat down on a park bench, listening to music. It was a quiet day. Ulrich and Yumi were practicing their Pencak Silat. Odd was playing fetch with his dog, Kiwi, and was standing by a tree.

"Anyone seen Jeremie this morning?" Yumi asked, looking around at the group.

I took one of my headphones out. "I think he spent the night at the laboratory. He said he had to work on something really 'important.'" I said, smirking a bit.

"AELITA!" We all said at the same time.

Ulrich stopped to scratch his head, when; "HI-YA!" Yumi kicked him on the side of his head; causing him to fall over. She smirked with satisfaction.

"Hey! I thought it was time-out!" Ulrich protested.

"Oops. Guess I forgot." Yumi said, smiling, and blushing. It was so obvious she was into him, and vice versa. I don't know why they won't actually go out together. I think they would be a cute couple.

"HEY GUYS!" My cousin yelled, racing up to us. "Guess what I did last night!"

Odd rubbed his fingers on his temples. "Let's see, now… It's got something to do with materializing Aelita?"

I bursted out laughing.

"That's right." He looked at him. "Say, how did you guess, Odd?" Shaking his head, he smiled. "Well, guys, I finally did it. I decided to tackle the problem in a different way."

"Don't bore us with the details, cuz! Did you do it or not?" I giggled.

Jeremie reached into his pocket, fishing out what looked like a tube from a chemistry set, showing it to us. "I sure did!"

"You materialized a test tube?" Ulrich asked dryly.

He held it by the lip. "No, airhead! Look inside, would you?"

The four of us looked into the test tube. Indeed, inside was a tiny strand of hair, but my eyes widened when I saw it was a rosy pink. Jeremie Elvis Belpois…

Before I could react further, Odd jumped in, "A hair?! You mean you materialized one hair?!"

Jeremie flaunted it slightly. "Yep, that's right, Odd!" He then cradled the tube closer to his face, a blush filling his cheeks. "To be exact, it's a hair of—Aelita's…"

I rolled my eyes. He's completely flipped over an artificial intelligence.

Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd gaped.

"What?! A real hair?!" the samurai asked incredulously.

"But how did you manage that?" my geisha friend asked.

Back at the factory, Jeremie explained and rambled on how he did it- I could kind of understand what he was saying, but not all the way.

"I chose a hair because it's a simple, anatomical structure which contains Aelita's complete genetic computer code; according to a well known fractal that are comparable to the genetic code of a human."

I yawned. As did the rest of the group.

"Yeah yeah yeah. We'll take your word for it, cuz." I said.

Aelita giggled and put her hand against her face, amused. I got to admit, she was really cute and I could see why Jeremie liked her. I could also tell she, too, liked Jeremie.

"It'll be clear when Aelita is here in flesh and blood," Jeremie smiled. I could tell he was gazing at the thought. "Better get ready, Aelita." He said.

"Okay, Jeremie." Aelita said, as she bowed her head.

"WAIT!" Ulrich blurted. "You're gonna materialize her now?" He said, in disbelief.

Jeremie turned around, shocked. "What do you think? I'm not gonna wait until next year." He said, with a bit of an attitude. "Besides, the hair was just a test before we do the actual thing."

Yumi took a step forward. "Look Jeremie, making a hair appear is one thing, but making Aelita appear is not the same."

Jeremie turned around to the computer screen. "Look, you want to spend the rest of your life fighting XANA? Once Aelita is materialized we can unplug XANA once and for all, and lead normal lives- so I say it's worth trying." Jeremie said, as he punched the enter key with no hesitation, only to be met with a giant red exclamation mark with a circle around it on the computer.

Jeremie sighed sadly. "How can that be? I planned everything so perfectly." He said, looking down at the floor.

"You're almost there, Jeremie. Just give it a few days and you'll be set." Ulrich said, trying to make Jeremie feel better.

It seemed to have worked, because my cousin let out a small smile.

"We better get a move on, guys!" Odd interrupted, while looking at his watch. "If we don't materialize in the classroom, we're not gonna last a few days!"

The bell rang for lunch. I walked out of the classroom to see seas of kids going to the cafeteria. I wasn't very hungry, but I figured if I didn't eat something now, I'd regret it later.

I hurried off to the cafeteria. Lucky for me, there was only one more person in front of me before I got my lunch.

I grabbed my tray, and slid it down the railing, where I met the jolly, heavy set lady who would serve me my food. Odd told me she was really nice, and she looked it.

"Well, what will it be, honey? Steak and mashed potatoes, or ham and brussel sprouts?" She said, pleasantly, ready to serve me food. Wow. The food selection was so much better than back in Joplin. We had Pizza and Chicken sandwiches with fries every day. I opted for the steak and mashed potatoes.

I picked my tray up and seen my cousin's familiar blue turtleneck and Odd's familiar spiked hair. I sat down next to Jeremie.

"Y'know, I could have sworn it would have worked this time." Jeremie said, as he stuffed his mouth with food. He acted like he hadn't eaten in days. He always had a bad habit of skipping meals though.

Yumi looked at Ulrich, then back at Jeremie. "But if the gene code of the hair gives you enough information to find the parameters of materialization, what's the problem?" Yumi said, with her hands up.

"I wish I knew." Jeremie said, taking a bite of his brussel sprouts. "The only way I'll know is if I start over."

"No, don't do that! You're only a hair's breadth away!" Odd snickered.

Yumi glared at him. "Can you ever be serious, Odd?"

"By the way, Odd, speaking of hair, your dog sheds and awful lot of it. It ends up on my bed, too." Ulrich cracked a grin.

Odd took a bite of food. "What's the big deal about two or three hairs?"

He leaned across the table as Yumi started giggling. "'Two or three?!' With all the hairs he sheds, I could knit you another Kiwi."

I cut into my steak. It was well done, but I was okay with that. I do prefer my steak mooing at me still, but I knew they couldn't do that probably because it was against the school health code.

I took a bite out of my steak, when I looked up, and there was a bare midriff with a burgundy skirt in my face. Ugh. I thought.

"Hello. Did you say dog? I really adore dogs. Hey, can I sit down?" Sissi said, kind of quickly.

"No." Ulrich said, blankly.

I picked up my glass of milk and drank some to prevent myself from talking. I would rip her a new one.

Sissi bent over into Ulrich's face. "You know, I am so crazy about dogs that I'm ready to keep my mouth shut about the one Odd is hiding in his room, that is if you agree to be nicer to me, of course."

This sent me over the edge. "Sissi! If you say anything about Kiwi, I swear I'll beat your a-" I was squeezing my glass pretty hard, and it shattered.

The whole group was stunned, especially Jeremie. Sissi winced a little, and walked away.

"Are you okay, Kaitlyn?!" Jeremie asked, sounding more worried.

I stared at the cuts in my hand, they were bleeding a little. Ulrich tried to look away, while Odd had me stand up and led me to the infirmary.

I sat on the bed, and waited for Yolanda to come in. It was cool, because she was apparently a licensed physician. Schools in the USA really need to step their game up.

Just then, she walked in with a cotton ball and some cleaning alcohol. "There we are." She began rubbing it on my wounds, making me wince. "It's alright, nothing serious, the cuts aren't very deep," she said, calmingly.

Soon Yolanda had wrapped bandage around my hand and left.

"I did squeeze that thing rather hard. I guess I don't know my own strength," I blinked.

Odd shook his head. "I always say that lunchroom plastic works better than that. Anyway, remind me never to get on your bad side. I already know what I'm in for if I do."

I laughed a little. I slapped my hand down only to realize my hand had fallen into Odd's. I was stunned, and couldn't help but to stay still.

Odd had the same expression, I seen his cheeks heat up. I could feel the blood come up in mine too.

We both sat there for a good minute, until we got startled by Odd's cell phone ringing.

"Jeremie?" Odd said.

I couldn't hear what Jeremie was saying, but from Odd's expression; it sounded serious.

"We'll be right there."

"I don't believe it! It's a disaster!" Jeremie whined.

"What's wrong, cuz?" I asked.

Jeremie turned around in his computer chair.

"I was trying to figure out why the materialization didn't work, and I realized that Aelita's program is all full of bugs," Jeremie said. "When I materialized the hair, I- I hit a button I shouldn't have, and I damaged the annex program." He said.

"Annex? That doesn't sound too bad." Yumi perplexed.

"That's what you think." Jeremie said, as he turned to her. "If Aelita enters the Lyoko code; she'll be completely reformatted."

"Meaning?" I asked.

"She'll- She'll disappear forever." Jeremie winced.

"You know, Jeremie," Aelita popped up on the screen. "A program can be debugged. We can do it together!" I could tell she was trying to cheer Jeremie up and stay positive. I could see her becoming my cousin by marriage one day.

"But- what if XANA attacks before we're done?" Jeremie said. He could be a big worrywort sometimes.

"That means you gotta work fast, Jeremie." Odd pointed out.

"Okay, make up a story to tell to the teachers. I'm not leaving this computer until I've solved the problem." Jeremie said. I really hope he finds a way to do it in time, I wish I could find a love like they have.

I walked down to Ms. Hertz's class. I knew I couldn't miss her class much, because she was a real pain if you did. Unless you were sick, or with another teacher, it was instant 2 hour detention. I guess because science is a class you're required to pass here.

I walked into the class, and the first thing I noticed were two ugly boys sitting side by side with Sissi. I had never seen them before until today, then again I never really paid attention.

I took a seat next to where Jeremie was supposed to sit.

Almost instantly, "Jeremie? Jeremie isn't here?" Ms. Hertz said. "Kaitlyn, would you know where he is?"

I pretended to think and I finally said; "I have no idea, ma'am. Ulrich and Odd saw him last."

"Yeah! He's in the infirmary getting unblocked!" Odd blurted out.

Ms. Hertz nodded, "Very well. For today's lesson, we're going to talk about climate in different regions of the world." She said, in her boring; trying-to-be-enthusiastic voice.

I yawned. After what I had been through, my last interest was weather.

I felt my phone buzz. Pulling it out discretely, I read the notification, and my blood ran cold.

Tornado Warning in effect for your location until 11pm.

"NO, it's gotta be a mistake." I said, quietly.

Odd looked over at me. "Is everything okay over there?" He quietly asked, smiling a little. I gulped. "I just got a notification from the weather service. There's- There's a tornado warning in effect for this area."

Odd looked at me, dumbfounded. "We don't get that kind of weather here. Are you sure maybe your location settings doesn't still think you're in Joplin?"

This was a possibility, so I went to my location settings. Sure as shit, my location settings had me at Paris, France.

I heard thunder rumbling in the distance. Looking outside through the window, I saw achromatic clouds, mixing with dark and light grays, even a little black. I felt tears welling in my eyes. My nightmare had followed me to what I thought was my safe haven.

I raised my hand. "Mrs. Hertz?!"

"Go ahead, Kaitlyn."

"We need to get below ground. We're in a tornado warning!" I warned her.

She looked at me as though I just told her that the equation she wrote on the blackboard was wrong.

Just then, "YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE! DUE TO DANGEROUS WEATHER CONDITIONS, EVERYONE NEEDS TO REPORT TO THE STAIR WELL. WE ARE UNDER A TORNADO WARNING. NO ONE WILL BE PERMITTED TO ENTER THE BUILDING UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. EVACUATE YOUR CLASSROOMS IMMEDIATELY!" Principal Delmas boomed over the PA system.

I could barely believe my ears. The stair well is the worst place you could possibly be in a storm like this, if it's anything like the one in Joplin!

Odd and Ulrich were dumbstruck.

"Good job, Belpois!" Sissi shrieked at me. "You bought the tornado with you!"

"EVERYONE SETTLE DOWN! DON'T PANIC!" Ms. Hertz yelled, in a firm voice.

"Oh no!" Odd said, quietly. "Kiwi is still in my room!"

I thought for a second. "I'll go and get him and Jeremie." I said, remembering Jeremie was in his room. I was shaking, but I tried to stay calm for everyone else.

"This isn't any ordinary storm. Look at the clouds." Ulrich said, looking outside.

Odd and I looked outside, and to our surprise. There it was; The eye of XANA perfectly visible in the achromatic sky. I felt all the blood drain from my face.

I turned to Odd and Ulrich, "I'll go upstairs and grab Jeremie and Kiwi. With him being nose deep in his computer, he probably didn't even realize how dark it had gotten outside."

I ran out of Ms. Hertz's classroom, and made my way for the dormitory. My heart was pounding, and I was shaking with fear.

I ran outside into the breezeway, and could feel the wind blowing my long, blonde hair. Thunder roared above me; rain fell like bullets. I didn't see Xana's conjured-up twister yet, but I knew it wasn't gonna be long.

I ran into the stairwell, where mostly everyone was. They were talking about the storm, and how unusual it was for them to have it. However, Delmas wasn't there yet, so I could run up without being noticed.

I ran up the flights of stairs to the upstairs dorms, which were of course the boy's.

I walked into the hall, only to hear Kiwi barking. But first, I ran to Jeremie's room.

I slung the door open, only to hear,

"Oh no, I don't believe it! Not now!" Aelita said, almost in utter defeat.

"Jeremie, XANA's launched an attack." I yelled.

"It can't be! Not now!" Jeremie whined.

I looked out the window, and saw the clouds starting to dip up and down. The twister was going to form any moment.

My heart started pounding. "Jeremie, go to the factory with Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi now. You still have some time to work on Aelita's program. I know you can do it, cuz."

Jeremie turned his attention to outside.

"Oh- my-" Jeremie said in disbelief.

I looked outside. My eyes widened as I saw the big twister, identical to the one that had destroyed my home in Joplin.

I shoved Jeremie out of the room. "GO, NOW!" I exclaimed. "These storms are dangerous! Hurry and get to the factory!" Running out of the room, I went to go grab Kiwi.

I swung the door open. "Kiwi! KIWI!" He came up to me right away, wagging his tail. I grabbed the backpack Odd carried him in. There was no way I was gonna lose him the same way I lost Phantom! The puppy jumped in without hesitation and I slung the bag over my shoulder, bolting for the stairwell and joining my cousin and two other girls at the bottom.

"Kaitlyn! I found Milly and Tamiya in their room," he told me. "We need to keep them safe."

"We'll have to take the risk! They'll have to go to the factory with us," I panted.

I ran to look for Principal Delmas; luckily I found him peering out of the window.

"Mr. Delmas! Get away from the window, NOW! This is not the safest place to be! We need to get below ground, where there's no windows!"

He nodded. "You're absolutely right, Miss Belpois! You and your cousin have to get somewhere safe, too. That's an order!"

I looked around. "Mr. Delmas, does the school have a cellar or a boiler room?"

"We have a boiler room and a basement, Kaitlyn." Jim looked at me, impressed, as he descended the stairs. "But, wow, Belpois! You sure know a lot about tornado safety."

I looked at him. "I'd rather not talk about it, Jim." I smirked a little to lighten the mood.

"Of course, she would," Jeremie nodded. "Don't you remember what happened in Joplin, Missouri, Jim?"

Jim didn't respond, but we got down the basement area safely.

While everyone's back was turned, I looked to Jeremie. "Hurry up and get to the factory. Do you know another way?"

"Yes. We have more than one way," he nodded. "Through the boiler room is one of those routes."

"Excellent!" I praised. "Go! You have programs to fix, then a tower to deactivate!"

He gave me a solemn look. "Good luck, Kaitlyn."

A surprised, yet pained, look flitted across my face. "Don't look at me like that, cuz! We can get through this together. We are Lyoko Warrior cousins, after all."

He smiled, and hugged me.

"Now, GO! Call me when you get to the factory so I know you made it okay." I said.

"Will do!" Jeremie said, bolting up the stairs.

I turned back the other way, to join the others in the basement.

Everyone was scrambling to find a safe spot to duck under, panic overwhelming them.

"Diop!" Jim yelled. "Be careful where you are going! For all you know, you could—"

Suddenly, Tamiya tripped over her two feet and fell over onto a metal box.

I ran over to her, and picked her up quickly.

"Be careful!" I yelled.

"Sorry, Kaitlyn. I got separated from Milly and was trying to find her." She looked up at me sheepishly.

I scanned the room, but I didn't see Milly. Suddenly, at the top of the stairs, the redhead with tiny pigtails came down. "Tamiya?"

"Milly!" she cried out, voice squeaking. "I'm so glad you're safe!"

I smiled at the two of them.

Suddenly, I felt my phone vibrate.

"Jeremie?" I asked as soon as the earpiece met my hearing organ. "Did you make it to the factory?!"

Jeremie sighed over the phone. "Yes, and it's really nasty outside. Listen, I may really need you here. Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi are in over their heads on Lyoko. Xana isn't playing around."

"I'll do all I can, cuz. It's chaos over here, too," I tried for his sake to be reassuring.

"Just hurry. And bring Kiwi!"

Glancing at the bag on my back, I had forgotten all about Odd's dog. Shit. I sighed.

Everyone else was more focused on staying safe, that I had time to escape without being noticed. I bolted up the stairs, and went into the stairwell that lead to the dorms.

The skies were still nasty and achromatic, rain falling like bullets.

I knew I had to make a run for the boiler room, which was located in I believe the gymnasium.

With the backpack swinging around on my back, I sprinted for the building. Rain fell on me so hard, I felt like it would bruise me later and break my glasses.

As soon as I got into the boiler room, sopping wet and wild haired, I looked back at my charge. "You doing okay, Kiwi?"

He wiggled around, hitting my spine a couple times, yipping frantically.

"I think that's a yes," I blinked, knowing that I couldn't read minds.

I ran through the underground entrance, clutching the backpack tight so it didn't swing around as much.

The water level in the sewers had risen since the rain was still in play. "Hang on, Kiwi!" I grabbed a skateboard and hopped on, rolling through to the drain with the bars. I slowly climbed up the ladder, the wind whipping my hair.

I crawled up onto the concrete that lead to the bridge. The wind was really strong, but Jeremie was counting on me.

All of a sudden, I felt a sharp pain in my right leg. So painful, to where I could barely move it. I screamed out.

I looked down, only to realize there was a giant piece of glass in my right thigh. Yolanda's alcohol and cotton ball wasn't gonna save me from this.

I slid my mobile from my pocket. "Jeremie… I'm at the factory… but I can't move my leg. Sharp glass hit it." I could see Xana's agenda was a very gruesome one.

I looked down at my leg, I could see blood gushing out of the wound onto the concrete.

"Oh no!" Jeremie said over the phone.

I winced in pain, almost crying. "Jeremie, please tell me everything is okay on Lyoko."

"Not too great. I'm not done with Aelita's annex program."

"I wish I could help you, cuz," I whined, feeling like falling over.

I heard Aelita sigh over the phone.

"Jeremie…. I've got to deactivate the tower," she said, I could hear the dread in her voice.

"WHAT?!" I yelled, literally collapsing onto my side, the glass digging deeper into my leg. I let out a loud cry of pain. I could barely take it.

I looked up, and saw something running over to me. The rain was so heavy, and the wind was blinding me.

"Kaitlyn! Are you okay?!" I heard Odd ask frantically.

"Ugh…! No…!" I groaned, the pain too much for me to bear.

I rolled over on my left side, the glass deeper in my thigh, my khaki pants almost red from all the blood.

Odd's hand flew to his mouth, and eyes wide with tears. He snatched the phone from me.

"JEREMIE! KAITLYN IS LOSING TOO MUCH BLOOD! WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!" Odd yelled into my phone.

"Jeremie, you know there's no choice…" I heard Aelita's voice from over the speaker.

The wind had picked up, and I looked over on my right, rolling onto my back. My eyes froze in fear. Xana's twister was coming for me and Odd.

"You'll be reformatted and disappear, Aelita! I-I can't let you do that!" my cousin protested.

"I'M GONNA DIE, JEREMIE!" I yelled, weakly. I could feel myself fading away. I had lost too much blood. I could hear Jeremie sobbing over the phone.

"A-Alright, Kaitlyn…"

"Goodbye, Jeremie and Kaitlyn!" Aelita whispered as my eyes slowly shut.

"RETURN TO THE PAST, NOW!"

We gathered around the supercomputer,

It was back to where my cousin explained how he got the hair.

Yumi was crying, so was Jeremie and I. Aelita did save my life, and I'll never forget it. But from saving me, she sacrificed herself.

"Jeremie… It-it wasn't your fault," Ulrich attempted to soothe him.

"It was, and all that… for a strand of hair…" he took off his glasses to wipe his eyes.

Suddenly, Yumi's eyes widened. "Hey, the hair! Jeremie! Didn't you say the hair contained Aelita's entire genetic code?!"

"Her computer code, yes, but—"

"Is it possible to reverse things, and recreate Aelita's code from the strand of her hair?"

I nodded. "It's worth a chance, if you think about it."

Jeremie fished out the test tube, handing it to Yumi. She quickly took it and raced into the hatch leading to the scanner room. Faintly, we heard a clink, like glass softly meeting metal.

Moments later, she reappeared beside me, hand around my shoulder.

Jeremie typed on the computer, and a digital incarnation of Aelita appeared. Suddenly, he shouted, "It works! The codes are getting restored! Now we just have to—"

A window appeared on the screen, and a pink-haired girl smiled at all of us. "Jeremie!"

He looked at the screen, a look of disbelief briefly flitting across his eyes.

"I'm ready for my materialization now," she sang.

"Aelita…" Ulrich whispered, excitement brewing in his being.

Yumi pumped a fist and hugged him as they whooped and hollered. "OH, AELITA! IT WORKED!"

Odd shook his fist, softly smiling. "Yeah…!"

Aelita looked confused. "Jeremie? Kaitlyn? Did I miss something? Why do you two have water on your face?"

Like my cousin, my face was streaked with tears. Before I could help elucidate her, Jeremie looked up at the screen, wiping his eyes. "I'll tell you later, Aelita. This time, we only missed—by a hair."

We laughed. Only my cousin could find light in a situation like this.

A/N: Thank you so much to those that have stuck with me all these years. I didn't think I'd get that many hits on the remake, but you guys are amazing. Thank you so much. I finally found a way to update around my schedule so I'll be updating more frequently now. Also, a very special thanks to Teen-LyokoFan7777 for helping edit this. She has a couple of really good fics on her page, so be sure to check them out!