Code Maverick

Aelita's diary, part 2

Dear Diary,

I got up very early this morning, so I have time to continue telling you about our discovery of X.A.N.A.'s return.

Let's summarize: After the college computer system went crazy, we went to the factory, turned the supercomputer back on, then we had gone to the lab, where the computer interface and the holomap are located, and a Tower was activated on the Desert sector! X.A.N.A., our sworn enemy, is back.

Yumi tells Jeremy that she's ready to "dive." The word "dive" here means "to dive to Lyoko", i.e. to virtualize in the virtual world. Ulrich is also ready. So is Odd, and he is even excited to return to Lyoko. I'm always ready to dive. As for William, he wants to help us, but Jeremy refuses to let him virtualize.

I remember the exchange that followed. Dear diary, here is a transcript.

Jeremy: "No, William. I'm sorry, but you can't go to Lyoko. Not right now."

William: "And why not? I can fight X.A.N.A.'s monsters just fine!"

Jeremy: "But–"

Ulrich: "Are you kidding? After you let X.A.N.A. possess you like a moron, you think—"

William: "Shut up, will you? This is between Jeremy and I."

Ulrich: "Shut up yourself!"

Yumi: "Hey, this is no time to argue!"

Odd: "Yeah, we've got monsters to kill and a Tower to deactivate!"

Aelita: "William, please stay with Jeremy this time."

William: "But—!"

Aelita: "If we need help then you can dive. Do you agree, Jeremy?"

Jeremy, wanting to avoid wasting any time bickering, nods. William, then, starts looking at the floor. He's still angry.

So, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi and I take the elevator again to go to the scanner room. They are very tall, cylindrical in shape and three in number. Since there are four of us, three of us have to dive in first, and the remaining person virtualizes afterwards. The scanners open automatically when a person is within reach, but they only close again when Jeremy starts the virtualization procedure.

Wanting to avoid a "surprise attack" on Lyoko, and as I am the only one who can deactivate a Tower, Odd, Ulrich and Yumi dive in before me. When my turn comes, I enter a scanner. It closes behind me. I close my eyes as a powerful wave of energy raises my hair and moves my clothes slightly. My body seems to levitate, spinning around, and then I feel a shockwave as my body disintegrates and reappears on Lyoko as my virtual avatar.

Yes, dear diary, on Lyoko we all have a virtual form. Mine gives me pointy ears, a small earring, a skin-tight outfit in two shades of pink with long fingerless gloves, a mini skirt and translucent shoulder pads, and a bracelet on my wrist with a star. Ulrich's avatar is a yellow and brown skin-tight jumpsuit, inspired by the samurais. He also wears a yellow bandana. Yumi's avatar is also a tight-fitting outfit. Brown and fuchsia color inspired by ninjas. Odd's avatar is purple and he looks like a "cat boy". He has cat ears, tail, claws...

We also have weapons, of course. Odd has his laser arrows, Ulrich has his two katanas, Yumi has her tessen boomerang fans. I have my energy fields. Although I think this is more of a "power" than a weapon. They are pink colored energy balls that I can use offensively and defensively.

But back to the important part. After I was virtualized, I joined Odd, Ulrich and Yumi, who were a little further away. They are watching the activated Tower, with its Red Aura.

Lyoko Towers have auras to symbolize their status. Before, the colors were as follows: Blue Aura = the Tower is deactivated after an attack by X.A.N.A. or it is inactive. Red Aura = the Tower is activated by X.A.N.A. White Aura = the Tower was activated by my father, now deceased. I must tell you about him one day, dear diary. Green Aura = the Tower is activated by Jeremy. He activates Towers very, very rarely. Teal Aura = a Way Tower, a special tower that allows travel from one Sector to another. Now the auras have changed a bit due to the destruction and recreation of Lyoko. (Another long story!) The Green and Red Auras are still there, but the Blue and Teal Auras are replaced by the White Auras, already present.

Anyway, the activated tower is about 200 meters from us. No sign of monsters. This isn't normal. X.A.N.A. usually sends us a welcoming committee. While Odd is planning to make a joke about it, monsters appear, but it is only a group of Kankrelats (5 in total). Odd bursts out laughing when he sees them. After all, among X.A.N.A.'s monsters, the Kankrelats are the weakest and the easiest to defeat.

Jeremy's voice warns us to be careful though. He can communicate with us as long as he has access to the Lyoko's UI. Odd doesn't listen to him. He nonchalantly goes to the Kankrelats and eliminates them all with his laser arrows. Odd signals for us to join him. I hear Jeremy sigh. Seeing no other enemies in sight, we join him and move quickly toward the Tower.

I was about 100 meters away from it when something appears. Well, it's a blue, black and yellow robot with a red eye, but X.A.N.A. has never sent us this creature before. Odd tells us that he was going to tear it apart when the robot fires a laser. Odd gets hit. Jeremy's voice says, in a panic, that the Lyoko Warrior lost more than half of his HP all at once. We all have 100 HP. Odd had time to ask how this was possible, then another attack from the blue, black and yellow robot devirtualizes him.

Yumi then tries to attack it from a distance with her fans, but her weapons have no effect on this new enemy. Ulrich uses his Super Sprint (his ability to run very, very fast) to fight it in close combat. Unfortunately, his katanas does nothing to the robot and Ulrich is quickly devirtualized.

Yumi tells me that she will distract the robot while I go to the Tower. Jeremy's voice tells us that he is going to send William as a backup. William must be very happy to hear that. I then use my star bracelet to make my energy wings appear. Pink in color, they allow me to fly and it is much easier to avoid enemy attacks with them.

I fly up and take a quick look at Yumi. She dodges the robot's lasers by doing pirouettes. I fly towards the tower. I land near its entrance, my wings disappear, and I'm about to enter when I feel something hit me. The robot's laser. I turn around abruptly. There is no trace of Yumi (she must have been devirtualized) and the robot is preparing to fire again. Jeremy and I scream at the same time, the robot fires its laser... but it doesn't hit me.

For a moment, something appeared to block it. Long blond hair tied in a ponytail, a red armor. That's all I could see, before the thing turned into a red energy ball. The ball moves away and the robot follows it with its eyes. I take advantage of this distraction to enter the Tower.

I hear Jeremy sigh with relief. I also hear William ask him if he should confront the robot. Jeremy replies "no". After all, the Tower will soon be deactivated.

I step onto the lower platform and it gradually lights up as I reach its center. A blue aura surrounds me and my body rises to the upper platform. It is smaller than the lower one. On this other platform, I go to its center, where there is an interface, a small blue screen, and I put my hand on it. My handprint appears, followed by "AELITA" and the word "CODE". I enter the Code LYOKO and I feel the Tower deactivate.

Jeremy plans to devirtualize me when William tells him to wait. Something is wrong. The robot is still there and the tower now has a Green and Purple Aura. Yet Jeremy doesn't detect anything on his end. Neither the robot nor the still activated Tower. He orders me to stay in the Tower, but I don't listen. I leave the Tower and the robot, which had stayed close, wants to target me. I reappear my pink wings, fly away and turn around the tower, avoiding its lasers. I notice that William approaches it for a distraction.

His virtual avatar is the one he had before falling into X.A.N.A.'s grip but with different colors. Before, his futuristic skintight outfit was white and light blue, with a red belt and light blue boots. Now the outfit is light gray and black, the belt is still red, but in a darker shade, and the boots are black. Ironic, considering that under X.A.N.A.'s control, William wore a black, dark grey and red outfit. He still has his big sword, his Zweihänder, as a weapon. The blade is still silver, but it now has black markings and the handle, once red, is also black. A sinister memory left by X.A.N.A.

As William gets close enough to the robot to be targeted, I see the red energy ball. I approach it, but it moves away from me. I call to it, talk to it, as if it were a living being. I ask for its help. The red ball continues to move away, so I follow it.

After some time, the red energy ball stops moving. I manage to take it in my hands and, suddenly, it seems to melt, entering my flesh. I let out a cry of surprise, an electric current flows all over my virtual avatar, then nothing.

Jeremy's voice asks me what I am doing and who I was talking to. He doesn't seem to have detected the red ball. I give him a simple "nothing" as an answer and go back to the Tower.

There, I find William and the robot has disappeared. I ask him if he destroys it. William says "no", that it destroyed itself. William also tells me that a strange purple energy ball appeared. The ball came down on him and disappeared. I wanted to ask him if it had gone into him, but I didn't want Jeremy to hear me so I kept quiet.

Jeremy's voice asks me to enter the Tower. He wants to try something to deactivate it and he needs my help. I am planning to go in when William asks me to go in, too. I tell William it's impossible. I am the only one who can get into an activated tower.

William: "But if you hold my hand, maybe... Then with my former possession by X.A.N.A., maybe it's possible I can..."

That's what he told me. I see in his eyes that he is determined, so I take his hand and enter the Tower. William manages to enter, too. In the Tower, I beckon him to follow me and our bodies rise for the upper platform. There, in front of the small blue screen, I wait for Jeremy's instructions. Suddenly, William tells me something very curious.

William: "Hey, why don't you try Code MAVERICK?"

Aelita: "What? Code... 'Maverick'?"

Wililam: "Yeah. M-A-V-E-R-I-C-K."

I find this very strange, especially since William doesn't know where he got the idea for this code, but I have nothing to lose. I put my hand on the small blue screen. My handprint appears, followed by "AELITA" and the word "CODE". I enter the code MAVERICK. William asks me to go outside and see if the Tower is deactivated. I do so and the Tower's aura is now white. I tell Jeremy that the Tower is deactivated. He checks, remotely, the college computer system and everything is back to normal. Jeremy devirtualizes William and I, then we meet in the lab.

After giving an update on the situation, Jeremy tells us that not only is X.A.N.A. back, but it seems to have a new ally. The Lyoko Warriors are officially back. Jeremy doesn't want William to join us, much to his regret. William is the first to leave the factory, looking glum. We leave the factory in turn and head back to the college. Jeremy would have liked to stay and try to figure out how to detect these new activated towers and the new enemy, the blue, black and yellow robot with a red eye, but he couldn't be caught skipping class.

Here you go, dear diary. That was the day we found out about X.A.N.A.'s return. Since then, we have had to deal with our lives as students as well as X.A.N.A.'s attacks and its ally, whose identity we don't know.

I wonder if the strange things that are happening to me (the headaches, the flash visions, etc.) are due to this strange red energy ball. It can't be X.A.N.A. or I would be possessed. I don't hear voices in my head either.

Well, time is running out and it's time for lunch. See you later!