Code Lyoko Forever Episode 4: Rumor Has It
Author: Becca Ainsley
Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Code Lyoko.
Enjoy the Story! :)
Chapter 6
The Gossiper
"Virtualization!" Dani and Odd dropped onto the surface of the ice sector. Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita stood waiting.
"'Bout time you made it," Ulrich said jokingly. "What's the hold up?"
"You don't wanna know," Odd replied.
"Enough chit-chat," Jeremy said. "The tower is northwest from your position. Let's hurry before any monsters come. Here are your vehicles."
The overboard, overwing, and overbike appeared in front of them. Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd mounted their vehicles.
"Wanna ride Angel?" Odd asked Dani.
"I don't ride with liars," Dani snapped. She turned to Ulrich. "May I ride with you Ulrich?"
"S-sure," Ulrich stuttered. "What is the deal with you two? Is it about that rumor?"
"No time for that," Aelita said. "I'll ride with you Odd." Aelita stepped onto the overboard. "Let's go!"
The five warriors zipped through the ice sector heading for the activated tower.
"XANA never rests," Jeremy replied. "You got some monsters headed your way."
"We see them," Ulrich said. "A few bloks and kankrelats."
"Easy, we can take them," Odd bragged. "Laser arrow!" He positioned his arms and launched a laser arrow at a blok. The blok blew up instantly.
Yumi whipped out her fans and tossed it at a kankerlat. The kankerlat shot at it making it fall to the ground.
As Yumi got close to pick it up, the same kankerlat took her out.
The scanner doors hissed open revealing Yumi leaning against it.
"Taken out in the first few minutes," Yumi said to herself. "Must be a new record."
She stepped out the scanner and headed to the elevator.
Dani pulled out her bow and an arrow and aimed at a blok. An arrow flew through the air and into the blok's eye.
"Nice shot Dani," Ulrich said. He pulled one of his sabers and causally dragged it on the floor as he revved the overbike.
When he got close to another kankerlut, he sliced it clean in half. He halted to a stop and waited for the others to catch up.
"That takes care of all the monsters," Aelita replied.
"And the tower should be just ahead," Dani added. "Let's get going."
Ulrich and Odd started up their vehicles and rode down the ice sector to the tower.
The elevator roared to a stop on the floor with the supercomputer. The doors slowly cracked open and Yumi walked out.
She walked over to Jeremy at the supercomputer and looked over his shoulder. "How are they doing?" Yumi asked.
"Fine so far," Jeremy replied typing away. Suddenly a beeping came from the supercomputer. "Uh-oh."
"What oh?" Yumi said.
"I don't know but something's going on," Jeremy answered typing faster. "Oh no! Another one of XANA's tricks!"
"What did he do?"
"Look." Jeremy pointed at the screen. A map of the ice sector was laid out and there was two paths leading to two towers.
"What? Two towers?" Yumi examined the map. "But how is that possible?"
"I don't know," Jeremy said. He activated the microphone on the supercomputer and pulled up Aelita's avatar card. "Aelita?"
"What's the problem Jeremy?" Aelita replied.
"It seems XANA is up to his tricks again. It seems he created another tower," Jeremy explained.
"What? Another tower?" Odd exclaimed. "Is that possible?"
"For XANA it is," Jeremy replied. "In a few more blocks, the path to the tower will split into two. One path has the real tower, one has the fake tower."
"How will we tell?" Ulrich asked.
"Not sure," Jeremy answered. "Both towers have the exact same stats. I can't tell from my end. You guys are on your own."
"Look!" Dani yelled. She pointed to a large ice cave structure ahead of them. The vehicles stopped in front it.
"There's the tower," Odd said pointing down one path of the cave.
"And there's the other," Aelita said pointing down the other path.
"What should we do?" Dani asked.
"Well we pick one and test the tower. If it's fake, then run back and use the other," Ulrich suggested.
"But what if it's a trap?" Dani replied. "What if the fake tower XANA put up will unleash a bunch of monsters or kidnap Aelita once she's inside?"
"Dani's right," Aelita said. "What should we do Jeremy?"
"I think you should-," Jeremy started then got cut off by an alert. "Huh?"
"What's wrong Jeremy?" Yumi asked.
"Someone's in the factory," Jeremy answered. He pulled up a live video feed of the factory entrance.
The crackled screen showed Jim and Mr. Delmas walking into the factory.
"What?" Yumi gasped examining the screen. "Why are they here?"
"I have no idea," Jeremy answered, rubbing his chin in thought. "Wait a minute!" He started rapidly clicking the keyboard and a website popped up.
"What's that?" Yumi said.
"None other than that stupid gossip rag," Jeremy replied still typing. "Front page story, 'Kadic Students Dangers World'. It's already got a million hits!"
"What?!" Yumi gasped again. "It gives the exact location of the factory and all the XANA attacks! Who is posting this?!"
"Wait, this story..." Jeremy's thoughts trailed off as he read the story. "I don't believe this! How did I not see this coming?!"
"What? What's happening?" Yumi asked.
"First of all, check out the time this article was written." Jeremy pointed at the screen.
"3:24 pm," Yumi read. "Yea, what about it?"
"It's 3:25 pm right now," Jeremy replied.
"Wait a minute.. then it couldn't be us," Yumi said. "You and I have been here the whole time and everyone else is on Lyoko."
"Right, and just this article in general. It's so detailed and these random sets of number at the bottom of the article? That's a source code."
"A source code?" Yumi looked at the screen again. "I never saw this on the other articles. This is the first time I've seen this."
"That's because its a XANA code," Jeremy explained. He inputted the code into the supercomputer. "Check it out."
Yumi leaned in to examine the supercomputer screen and gasped at what she saw.
The code with random numbers was analyzed into a simple threatening sentence: "Catch me if you can -XANA."
"So XANA did this?" Yumi said.
"Yup," Jeremy replied. "He's been really creative with his attacks lately."
"That rat!" Yumi shouted in frustration. "And the address of the factory, he put it in the article! No wonder Delmas and Jim are here!"
"For now, I'll turn off the elevator so they can't get up here," Jeremy said as he deactivated the elevator.
"Hey Jeremy!" screamed a voice from the supercomputer. It was Odd trying to get in contact with Jeremy.
Jeremy slipped on his headset. "Sorry guys. We got a bit of a problem over here."
"So do we!" Odd replied. "We've been trying to get your attention for like, 20 minutes!"
"Well what's the problem?" Jeremy asked.
"We're at the fork in the road," Ulrich explained. "Which path should we take?"
"I don't know," Jeremy said. "Like I said before, both towers have exact stats. Better pick one and hope you're lucky."
"Then let's go right," Aelita suggested.
"No way!" Odd rejected. "Don't you watch the movies? Right is always wrong, left is always right!"
"That's ridiculous Odd," Ulrich scoffed.
"What do you think Dani?" Aelita asked.
"Anything Odd says is ridiculous at this point," Dani replied rolling her eyes.
"Hey!" Odd screamed. "This is getting so stupid! I told you I didn't do anything!"
"Okay, what is the deal with you two?" Ulrich said.
"Silly drama isn't gonna solve anything," Aelita added. "And we have to-."
"Megatanks!" Jeremy shouted.
"What?" Odd said.
"Megatanks just appeared out of nowhere!" Jeremy shouted again "Run!"
The four warriors stood frozen as they saw three metal balls roll their way towards them.