All of the characters and the other story elements that are present in this story are entirely mine here, and are used fictitiously, unless otherwise stated. I hope that you'll all enjoy this story's newly-revised fifth chapter.
And before any of you actually ask here, Jeremy's group of Warriors, among assorted others, will now be physically present in this story. That is all. Now on with the story!
Chapter Five: Kadic Academy And Lyoko
Meanwhile, as Thomas was just getting to sleep in his own bed, Jeremy Belpois was just beginning his own day. In France, where Jeremy now was, it was just about 7:15 in the morning, and Jeremy was gathering his chosen clothes for the day up in his single dorm room at Kadic Academy.
A few minutes later, Jeremy went into the boys' shower room on his floor for Hopper Hall, one of the dormitories on the Kadic Academy campus. He took a five-minute shower, and got dressed in a blue sweater and a pair of khakis over business-style black shoes, before leaving that shower room again. After he did, he went for breakfast in the school's main cafeteria area.
After walking for about another five minutes, Jeremy arrived to see Ulrich Stern and Odd Della Robbia, among many other students there, already eating their breakfasts. When he did, he was also lugging around a black and navy blue backpack with a laptop inside it. It was a Gateway-brand computer with all the latest available programs and perhaps several quite useful functions on or in it. Or at least many, if not most or all, of them, anyway. He soon set it on his, Ulrich, and Odd's table near his plate, just as soon as he could.
Odd greeted him first, and asked him, "What's up, Einstein?"
"Nothing much, at least at the moment, Odd. I just woke up a little while ago, and got out of the shower not too long after that. Then I came here for breakfast, of course."
Ulrich said, "Well, then, Jeremy, good morning."
"The same to you, I hope, Ulrich," said Jeremy, as he began to consume his own breakfast. He had received some raisin bran, grape jelly-covered toast, orange juice, white milk, and some eggs for breakfast, at his own request, from the school's cafeteria personnel.
For about fifteen or so minutes, he then had his breakfast, before he really said much more to his friends Odd and Ulrich. After he finished having his breakfast as he so desired to have it now, he quickly took his dirty dishes, et cetera, to the necessary places elsewhere in the main cafeteria. That done, he returned almost instantly to his table in it.
He took out his laptop and turned it on, beginning to use assorted programs on it as he then saw fit. He even read some of his still-unread email that'd come in since he'd gone to bed the night before. Including at least one message from Thomas.
He perused it, and marked it for further attention, if and whenever possible, in the near future. However, he chose not to reveal its contents to Odd or Ulrich, for he didn't know yet if it might prove sufficiently useful to the Lyoko Warriors in the near future.
For a while, until about 8:10 in the morning, Jeremy worked quietly on his laptop, doing whatever came to his mind there as he did so. He even kept an eye out, so to speak, for any potential trouble from XANA.
Jeremy had discovered the existences of XANA, Lyoko, and Aelita no more than about two or so weeks before, on the Saturday just before school started at Kadic Academy. He had been just walking for a while in the area of Kadic, when he'd come upon an abandoned factory all of a sudden. He explored the factory alone to at least some degree, if not totally, as if he'd unconsciously been drawn to it. Others had as well, for that matter, without actually realizing it at first, though they all did so later.
Those others had been Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd. Jeremy had quickly been drawn to the main computer, and the others to the elevator shaft that would take them to the Scanner Room. Not much later, Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd all found themselves in Lyoko, and specifically in the Desert sector, where they eventually encountered Aelita and many of XANA's monsters. Soon afterward, Yumi and the others that had just come with her to Lyoko had to fight those monsters and try to protect Aelita from them. It wasn't an easy battle for them, at least at first, due to their complete inexperience with being in Lyoko, but eventually they got Aelita to a tower somewhere in that sector of Lyoko. And Jeremy had then initiated a Return To The Past for the very first time.
Some time later, after several battles in assorted sectors of Lyoko, XANA and the Lyoko Warriors were now sort of at a standstill. Just how long that current standstill might last was yet to be seen, however. There had been no battles with XANA in Lyoko for about four days, so the Lyoko Warriors were generally expecting XANA to launch another attack sometime in the next few days, at the very most.
Around 8:10 or so in the morning, Yumi showed up on Kadic Academy's campus as needed. As she did so, she was wearing a mostly black sweatshirt with red and yellow trim, as well as mostly-matching multiple-pocketed jeans and high-cut black lace-up boots with one-inch flat heels. Her hair was also in its usual style.
She soon joined up with Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremy, at least for a little while, as they all began to head to their first classes of the day. Yumi and the boys then with her here made a little bit of small talk with each other as they did so. Eventually, though, they had to split up for at least a little while from each other. Yumi and Odd went to the same science class, while Ulrich went to a history class, and Jeremy to an art class.
They periodically saw each other during the day. But they still weren't actually able to all rejoin each other until their lunch period arrived for them all. That happened at about 12:15 in the afternoon for them all.
After they were able to rejoin each other again, they met up with each other in the school's main' cafeteria area, and began having their respective lunches with each other there. Yumi had ramen noodles, among other things, for her lunch in a small cooler. For she often had to bring stuff from home to have it for lunch whenever she was on Kadic's campus. She wasn't actually part of the school's lunch program, so she often had to bring her own lunch with her whenever she came to school there.
Jeremy, Odd, and Ulrich, on the other hand, weren't necessarily forced to do that, since they lived on the Kadic Academy's campus. On the current school day, their lunches consisted of lasagna, cherry pie, milk, and garlic bread, among several other things. As they consumed them, they also periodically talked to each other, of course. Jeremy then did so the least of all three boys, simply because he was basically thinking at least a little bit about what kinds of vehicles his friends hopefully could use to get around Lyoko, and at least a little bit about kinds of vehicles that Thomas's friends could perhaps use in 'Israel,' for that matter.
Yumi suddenly interrupted Jeremy's current train of thought by unexpectedly squeezing his hand as he was taking a bite of some lasagna and making a few keystrokes on his nearby laptop. She asked him, "What's on your mind, Jeremy, if I might ask?"
"I'm thinking of vehicles for Lyoko and for an online contact of mine elsewhere, Yumi. I'm also trying to keep an eye on Lyoko, just in case XANA might have something rather unexpected in mind in the very near future, for that matter. Among other things, of course."
Odd commented, "XANA hasn't tried anything for a while, it seems, Jeremy."
"Yes, I know. And that is starting to concern me at least a little bit, of course, Odd," said Jeremy, after he finished eating his lasagna. It isn't often like XANA to not attack for more than a few days, if I remember things well enough here."
"Well, since he's not done so for a while, what do you think he's been planning, Jeremy?" asked Ulrich, after finishing the last bits of his own lunch.
"Something big, whatever it might be, I figure. And I think we'll need some vehicles ready for use by the time that he does so, for it seems to me that Aelita is detecting the presence of more towers and more territory every so often in Lyoko. If that's so, we might all have much more virtual area to cover in it, for various reasons."
"I don't understand, Jeremy," said Odd. "I thought that there were only limited areas of territory and numbers of towers present in Lyoko, from what you told all of us earlier." Odd finished the rest of his own lunch as he said those things.
"I was wrong, Odd. So very wrong, it seems. And now it seems that your jobs are going to be much more difficult to handle in Lyoko than we originally expected them to be. I might be able to get you each some vehicles, at least, in the near future. But I might not actually be able to upgrade each of the various powers related to you all for at least a little while, if not a long while, easily enough."
"What's that mean for me, for instance?" asked Yumi, as she finished her own lunch here.
"You're not likely going to be able to be stronger, Lyoko-wise, for at least a little while, other than the fact that you'd have some kind of vehicle of your own, I think, Yumi." Jeremy finished his own lunch not very long after he then said that to her.
As they all began taking all their dirty dishes and things where they then needed to be in the school's main cafeteria, they all conversed only for a little while longer with each other. For their lunch period was about to end officially. A few or so minutes later, they all split up as needed here.
They soon went to their next class periods. And the rest of the school day went reasonably well for them all. At least for the most part, anyway. About two minutes after school ended for them that day, XANA woke up again. Aelita, quite naturally enough, was the first to learn that. She quickly learned this after she suddenly detected some activity in the Mountain sector, even while she was also searching for information that Jeremy might hopefully find useful in his attempt to design some vehicles for the other Lyoko Warriors.
She detected it when a window of a sort suddenly appeared on the screen just above the touchpad that she was using in one of the Ice sector's towers. Aelita immediately opened it to its maximum possible size, before quickly paging Jeremy as needed. Two minutes later, Jeremy, Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd were all reluctantly factory-bound.
Several minutes later, Jeremy was behind the main computer's screen, and the other three kids were bound for Lyoko. While they were all heading to the factory, Aelita dove off the platform that she'd just been on, and in the general direction of the nearest Mountain sector tower to the Ice sector one that she'd just been inside. A few moments later, Aelita arrived on the necessary interior platform for that tower in the Mountain sector. She then waited at least a few moments, if not even longer than that, to emerge from it here. For Jeremy had rather suddenly detected the unexpected presence of several Crabs, Roaches, and Blocks quite near it. And the others hadn't yet materialized in that part of Lyoko easily enough. Hence her temporary delay in leaving the tower at the present time.
She only emerged from that tower again once the other three Lyoko Warriors materialized well enough near it, and once Jeremy gave her the all-clear to do so, of course. A little while later, then, several Crabs, Roaches, and Blocks were eliminated as needed, and Aelita's group soon set off toward yet another tower elsewhere in the Mountain sector.
As they were heading toward that same tower, several Crabs and Roaches periodically sniped at them, trying to buy some time for Blocks and Megatanks to lay an ambush near the activated tower. Obviously enough, all four of them periodically took some hits from assorted monsters. But not too many hits, and not strong enough hits to de-virtualize any or all of them yet. At least not until they were within a few hundred virtual yards of the activated tower, anyway. When they were all close enough to the tower, the hidden Blocks and Megatanks finally revealed themselves well enough. Yumi was the first to be knocked out of Lyoko, just as she was about to delete a few Roaches with her fans. Odd was the next to be knocked out, about a minute or two after Yumi was. Ulrich lasted about five minutes longer than Odd, but he eventually was knocked out as well. That soon left Aelita alone against several Blocks and Megatanks. She rather unexpectedly found herself in the approximate middle of a considerably large circle that was just about fifty feet away from the nearest part of the tower. She rather quickly tried to think up a suitable enough defense. And a quite strange idea flashed into her virtual head, all of a sudden, with no prompting from anyone mortal. She pretended to fall asleep, which drew the attentions of several of her virtual enemies, almost immediately afterward, here.
They and several others began to creep ever closer and closer to her as she kept up this quite-pretend sleep of hers. When many of them were then within ten virtual feet of her, at the nearest extent, she suddenly flashed open her eyes, and leaped up in the air just as far as she could propel herself into it. The various Blocks and Megatanks couldn't react fast enough to her rather sudden leap into the air here. Even as they all attempted to fire right at her, and even as their various blasts began hitting each other, either directly or indirectly, as they all tried to delete her. She even bounced on several of them as she sought to get to the tower. That helped her gain even more altitude, somehow. Several bounces later, she ended up outside the tower, and mostly behind a still-large rock wall near it. All but a few Blocks were no longer present in the immediate vicinity of it, at that particular time, simply due to the quite-unexpected things that she'd just done here near them all. Before they could all re-aim at her well enough, she phased herself into that same tower, and quickly did the usual keystrokes that she'd have to do in order to turn off a tower in Lyoko. A few seconds later, Jeremy engaged a Return To The Past, as he normally would do right after a XANA attack. The usual white light bubble quickly appeared, and it completely enveloped the necessary area in and around the factory and Kadic Academy.
Not too long afterward, Jeremy Belpois and his four Lyoko-associated friends were all back just where and when they'd each been a full day before. At least for the most part, if not entirely, anyway.
When the previously-experienced day began again for Jeremy and the rest of his Lyoko-associated friends here, the day went exactly as it had already gone for them all. At least up to the required time of day right after school, anyway. However, at the exact time XANA had launched his most recent attack in Lyoko, another attack didn't actually materialize for him or any of the other four Lyoko Warriors. And it hopefully wouldn't, either, for at least a little while longer, if not a great while longer. At least as far as they were all sufficiently concerned here, anyway.
Instead of having to deal with another attack at the same time of day as they'd just experienced on their first run-through of Tuesday, September 18, 2007, they all eventually parted from each other, where necessary and/or desired. Yumi, for instance, went back home again. While Ulrich went to the gym to practice some Pencak Silat by himself, Odd to his and Ulrich's room to play some music, and Jeremy to his own room to work more on potential ideas for use in Lyoko, after a brief stop in the school's library area.
Jeremy spent most of the afternoon and evening, at least, working on his desktop computer in his room, except for a little while during the evening meal. He ate his supper at about 7:30, and returned to his room again at about 8. He then mainly worked for about another two or so hours on his desktop computer before closing it down, just before Jim would make his nightly rounds on Jeremy's floor of Hopper Hall. Jeremy didn't want Jim to catch him working on Lyoko-related things, of course. So he shut it down about five minutes before Jim would check in on him.
Aelita really didn't want him to go off-line for the rest of the night, at that time, when he did so. But Jeremy told her that if Jim caught him working on Lyoko-related things, it might not bode well for Lyoko, for various reasons that might or might not be too numerous to mention in sufficient enough detail at the current time here. So she rather reluctantly let him go offline, even though she really didn't want him to here.
No more than five minutes after Jeremy's desktop shut down as needed, and desired, Jim checked up on Jeremy here. Jeremy was already in bed by that time, fully ready for bed as needed or desired. Minutes later, Jim left Jeremy's room behind again, and continued on his rounds elsewhere on Jeremy's floor.
After Jeremy was quite sure that Jim wouldn't be back again that night, he reached under his bed's mattress and pulled out his laptop from a secret recess under it. He often hid it there whenever he thought the need might arise for him to do that. A few minutes later, with the sound completely turned off, Jeremy was drafting at least the start of another electronic message, if not an entire one instead, to Thomas.
The main subjects of said message were the assorted prototypical vehicles that Thomas and Tiffany, among others, had only just recently begun work on creating. Jeremy wrote rather quietly as he lay mainly on his stomach, before eventually starting to feel the first signs of fatigue and sleep coming to him. He quickly saved what he then had for that very same message, intending to work more on it later, of course. That done, he began doing whatever he then had to do here, before he got too tired to do it consciously enough. No matter what it might actually be, he still did all those things, quite naturally enough.
He finally finished doing all those things by nearly midnight, local time. And by the time that Tuesday, September 18, 2007, became Wednesday, September 19, 2007, for him, he was quite soundly asleep again in his own bed. He wouldn't arise from his bed again, most likely, until the usual time of awakening for him.
It took Jeremy about two days to finish composing his email to Thomas. After it eventually met sufficiently with his approval, he sent it off just as quickly as he possibly could the day after it did. And he really hoped that what he'd said in it would prove most useful indeed to Thomas and/or the rest of his still-small group of Israelite Warriors of a sort. That, and he also really hoped for a quick and good reply to it, for sure.
He didn't happen to receive a direct response to it until the late evening of Friday, September 28, 2007, Paris time. For Thomas hadn't actually been able to attend to enough of his other electronic messages to get to it before then quite well enough. A heavy backlog of messages had unexpectedly developed in the intervening time, when Thomas hadn't been able to access enough of his messages sent to one of his mail accounts quickly enough, for whatever reason or reasons such a backlog had earlier developed for him then. It'd taken him several days to clear that backlog well enough to get to Jeremy's most recent email to him, in fact.
Eventually, Thomas had replied, and he'd thought that many of Jeremy's ideas were quite good, in terms of the mainly vehicle-related suggestions that Jeremy had made in his recent email to him. Thomas had thought that many of those ideas had definite potential for quite effective use by the Israelite Warriors. Such as the idea of perhaps having Sylvester's prototype periodically have the capability to shoot out ropes of whatever kind or kinds towards any number of enemies whenever he had it in a racecar mode, for instance.
Jeremy had suggested that some of those slots that were now present for Sylvester's prototypical vehicle be periodically used for rope storage and/or deployment. And Thomas thought that was a rather good idea. At least for the most part, if not entirely. So Thomas decided to follow Jeremy's advice in that regard, at least, if not in any other regard, as it pertained well enough to Sylvester's prototypical vehicle here.
For Scarlett's prototypical vehicle, Jeremy had also thought the use of a locomotive-style vehicle was rather interesting. He came up with some ideas on how to make sure it was able to better protect Scarlett and anyone else who might ever be aboard it at any time, if they were friendly enough to the Israelite Warriors, as well. He thought up some ideas that were mainly related to the defensive systems aboard it, including the potentially frequent use of some multi-phasic shields, if and whenever possible. At least for its locomotive mode, if not also for its roller skates-related mode as well. And those very same shields could then perhaps be of somewhat-varying types, up to perhaps three or four levels, at the very start of its career in Israel, at most.
As for Gawain's prototypical vehicle, Jeremy mainly concentrated on suggesting ideas that might help Gawain whenever it was in its mini-tank form. He suggested ideas about how it could get about the various parts of Israel that weren't water-related, even going so far as to suggest the periodic and possible use of hovercraft-type or aircraft-type virtual technology, so that if the Israelite Warriors ever had to fight in the air to a sufficient enough degree, Gawain would be able to do so as well, somehow.
Several, if not many or most, of the ideas that Jeremy had suggested to Thomas, at least, weren't currently feasible enough for the Israelite Warriors' use, for whatever reason or reasons. However, at least some of them might eventually prove to be feasible enough for them in the future, somehow. But only once all the necessary technology was developed, or all the necessary technologies were developed, by the necessary person or persons elsewhere in the real world or the virtual world, of course. Just not at this time would such ideas of Jeremy's work well enough for the Israelite Warriors, though.
When Thomas's message eventually arrived, and Jeremy was able to see it well enough, Jeremy looked it over, and began thinking of a suitable enough reply to it. But he didn't start drafting it yet, for his studies were currently a higher priority on his list at the moment than such a reply was for him. Jeremy studied for at least a little while after checking out that message well enough, before finally retiring to his own bed again for the rest of the night and the early morning.
The next few days, at least, were basically rather peaceful in their respective natures for Jeremy and the rest of the Lyoko Warriors, for no more attacks came their way due to XANA's actions. Either in Lyoko or in the real world, for that matter.
As they waited for XANA's next attack, wherever it might be, the Lyoko-associated Warriors got more familiar with each other, both inside and outside of Lyoko, if and whenever possible. Of course, Aelita was still confined to Lyoko. But they had finally been able to create and practice using certain vehicles that Aelita and Jeremy had designed for the Warriors' periodical use in Lyoko. At least when it came to Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita, anyway. Jeremy still hadn't been to Lyoko at all, in actual reality, though.
While they were all waiting for XANA's next attack, Jeremy had the other Lyoko Warriors train for a while with each other in Lyoko, if and whenever possible. It might not have been at least as much as he might have preferred for them all, but he still had them all do so. Especially Aelita, for the obvious reasons.
He had them all then train against each other and against assorted simulated versions of the various XANA-created monsters that the''d all fought against at least once before while in Lyoko. Jeremy didn't have them only train in one sector, but in all four then-known sectors of Lyoko. Those sectors were, of course, the Ice, Desert, Mountain, and Forest sectors for Lyoko. He had them do so in that specific order that repeated as needed while they were all waiting for XANA's next attack or attacks, by the way. Even on the weekends, he still had them do so, if and whenever possible and desired or needed for the five Lyoko Warriors, in fact.
This continued to be the case for all five of them from the early morning of Saturday, September 29, 2007, to the early morning of Thursday, October 11, 2007, at least. But at about 5:30 in the morning of Thursday, October 11, 2007, Paris time, XANA finally launched another attack. He suddenly activated a rather hard-to-reach tower at one of the Ice sector's outermost edges in Lyoko, and also attacked a library not far from Kadic Academy's campus in the real world.
That, of course, forced the Warriors to split up, for the obvious reasons. Odd and Yumi went to Lyoko to battle XANA's monsters there with Aelita, while Ulrich and Jeremy stayed behind to try to battle against XANA's monsters in or around the aforementioned library in the real world. Jeremy told Yumi how to set a timer for her and Odd to get to Lyoko, before they all split up with each other as needed. For Jeremy wouldn't be able to help her and Odd get there otherwise. One of Jeremy's close friends often worked at that library very early in the morning, and Jeremy wanted to try to help protect him, if and wherever possible, for that matter.
So Yumi and Odd went to Lyoko, and Jeremy and Ulrich stayed in the real world. Jeremy gathered up some things that he'd been working on since XANA's most recent attack in Lyoko, and he hoped they would be quite useful while he and Ulrich tried to battle XANA's monsters in the real world, whatever they might be.
When Ulrich and Jeremy arrived quite near the library in question, a good deal of damage had already been done in or around it. At least several dozen law enforcement personnel and/or soldiers were battling against those monsters with little, if any, success. No fatalities had yet resulted, if they would, but that might not remain the case if things continued as they were now going there.
Ulrich and Jeremy soon saw that they wouldn't be able to reach the assorted Crabs, Blocks, and Megatanks easily enough without being seen by the aforementioned people, most likely. So Jeremy sat tight behind several large bushes with Ulrich as he tried to find another way for them both to get where the trouble was well enough, of course. It took him about another five or so minutes after they'd hidden themselves behind those same large bushes to come up with such a way, at most. He came up with the idea that they might be able to sneak into the library by use of an old underground maintenance tunnel that wasn't on any of the currently-official local infrastructure maps, but that still had been marked on a map by someone with definite ties to Lyoko, in fact. That then became quite evident to Jeremy after he'd actually seen a rather rough representation of a unknown tower somewhere in Lyoko on his laptop's screen, placed in the approximate middle of the map's legend key.
Two minutes or so later, and without any mortal being other than them who was sufficiently near the library knowing it well enough, Jeremy and Ulrich accessed that particular moderately-lit tunnel. And they began heading as they then needed to in it. They both proceeded together down that tunnel with Ulrich in the rear, for defensive purposes, until Jeremy soon brought them to a largely-painted brick wall. On that very same brick wall, there was a rather good-sized mural that included two medieval knights in it, directly facing each other, while they were both on two appropriately-sized horses. Jeremy studied that very mural for a few brief moments, and then he quite suddenly said, "We have to find a particular brick that will allow us to access the rest of the tunnel, Ulrich. I'm not sure which one it is, though."
"Can't your laptop tell you exactly which one it is right now, Jeremy?" asked Ulrich, wondering how they were both actually going to be able to get to where they needed to go easily enough.
"No, I'm afraid not. Help me try to find it, please, Ulrich." Jeremy stowed away his laptop, in short order, before starting to try to find that brick. He started near one side, and had Ulrich start by the other. They both ran all their fingers over the numerous bricks looking for the certain one they needed to find, as much as they both could here. It took them both roughly fifteen minutes to find it, both finding it at the exact same instant just about two feet above the approximate center of the mural, and exactly halfway between the two knights' fully-extended lances in it.
That brick was about eight inches long, about four inches high, and about six inches wide, after they both pulled it almost completely out of the wall in front of them. The mural split right in half, with half of it going to their left, and half to their right. Jeremy and Ulrich took the rather heavy brick of painted gold with them at least long enough for them both to hold it in the proper place on the other side of the wall for at least a few seconds more. They both held it right in place until the wall forced them to relinquish their mutual hold on it here. Before it did, they located two helmets with lamps attached to them both. They donned them both in short order, while also turning their respective lights on as needed. For they really didn't want to both be moving completely in the dark down the rest of the necessary tunnel here.
Five minutes after the wall closed completely behind them, they came to part of the library's ventilation system, and entered one of its many air ducts. They did that once Jeremy had learned which one they'd have to go through in order to get to the necessary XANA-released monsters in and around the library. It took them another five to ten minutes for them to get to the end of that particular air duct, more or less. For Jeremy was really trying to also make quite sure that XANA couldn't actually find them easily enough, somehow. XANA had caused at least a few problems for all of the non-Lyoko-confined Warriors before, when they'd each actually been in their respective civilian states of being. So Jeremy was trying to make sure that sort of thing wouldn't happen again for them here.
When they eventually were able to get to the end of that duct, both of them looked out from behind a grate near the floor in one part of the library. Jeremy soon asked, "Ulrich, do you have something that could loosen this grate, by any chance?"
"No, I don't, it seems," answered Ulrich, after first checking for a few brief moments to try and see if he could move the grate at least a little bit. He had absolutely no success in that particular regard here, for the way to open it was on the other side of the grate. "But I wonder if a custodian might have something that could open this grate well enough, Jeremy."
"They just might. I think I know just the person. Let me see if I can reach them on my mobile phone, then, Ulrich."
Ulrich kept an eye on the happenings in the nearest part of the library to them, as Jeremy dug briefly in his backpack here, of course. He soon said, "You'd better hurry up about it, for there's a Crab trying to hit several other people with their lasers right now, Jeremy. And they're running out of cover, it seems. They're hiding amidst the shelves and the Crab is trying to get at them by taking out the shelves either with their legs or their lasers."
"Understood, Ulrich." Ten seconds or so later, Jeremy found his mobile phone and quickly tapped out a certain number on it. After he got a response back from the person he just called, he soon said, "Ulrich, help should be on the way very soon, in fact. That other friend of mine here won't be alone, either, when he comes to help us, by the way."
"Good. But they'd still best hurry, just the same. Another shelf just got demolished by the Crab, in both ways, for your information, Jeremy," said Ulrich, all of a sudden, as he tried to budge the grate yet again.
"The others are still trying to run for cover, are they not, Ulrich?"
"Of course, Jeremy. If I could just get out of here, I could perhaps grab up something and use it against the Crab and any other monster in and around the library, you know."
"But we're still stuck in here. So we'll have to get ready for action in the meantime. I have a few ideas that might just work out here. But I'll still need someone to cover me, if at all possible, you know, Ulrich."
"Of course you will. I'll do what I can for you, for as long as I can. I hope the others are having better success in Lyoko, however, Jeremy."
"So do I, Ulrich. Believe me, so do I."
At that very instant, Yumi was throwing her fans at several Roaches and Blocks that were firing at her and Aelita as they were riding on Yumi's Overwing. She had switched places on it with Aelita briefly, in order to do that, so Aelita was temporarily holding onto its handlebars, and making it do a Immelman turn as Yumi launched her fans at those Roaches and Blocks. After Yumi sent her fans towards them, she again switched places with Aelita, and did a U-turn in the air, so that she was again going in the same direction that they'd been going in before the use of the Immelman turn by Aelita. But with about 3,300 feet more of virtual altitude above the nearest part of the virtual Ice surface below them than they'd had about a minute or two before.
Several seconds later, Yumi and Aelita were again next to Odd as he was wildly looping around several nearby virtual ice bridges while earnestly trying to dodge some laser blasts as well from other nearby Roaches and Blocks. Even as he was doing that rather unpredictable looping here, he really was trying not to waste his Arrows, for he was getting low on them at the moment. And he really didn't know just how soon, if at all, he might be able to have them reloaded during their current battle in Lyoko, for all the obvious reasons.
For about fifteen more minutes, the three Lyoko Warriors each did whatever they possibly could in the battle, no matter what it was. They each were periodically hit, or at least grazed, with several XANA-created monsters' shots. But not hit well enough or often enough to knock them out of the fight well enough, even for just a few seconds at the very least.
They eventually were all able to knock out all the necessary remaining monsters in the specific part of the Ice sector they were now in with each other. But they still couldn't somehow deactivate the tower just yet, once Aelita and her current companions entered it together. For XANA had planned ahead before finally launching his latest attacks on Lyoko and the real world. He had put a multi-level puzzle of sorts in the specific computer file that was currently handling the double attack that he'd just launched not too long before the present time. And it'd perhaps require Jeremy to solve the puzzle somehow before XANA's attack could then be defeated well enough here.
They all had done their parts as best as they each then could do them here, but they'd still have to wait for some more help from Jeremy before they each could either leave Lyoko or deactivate that tower they were now in. They all really hoped it wouldn't take him too long at all here to be able to solve that puzzle, for the obvious reasons, of course.
As they began waiting for help in deactivating the tower from Jeremy, Ulrich and Jeremy were in the process of battling several XANA-created monsters in the real world. A few of Jeremy's friends from the library's staff had finally been able to remove the grate that'd blocked their ways into the part of the library where several of those monsters then were. And both of them climbed out of the air duct in short order. Ulrich grabbed up whatever he could then get his hands on, no matter what it was. He even picked up several pieces of broken and blasted shelves, at that. And he began charging at several of the monsters, often using those things almost like swords, if not exactly like them. Several Blocks soon exploded under his attacks against them. As did at least one Crab, by the way.
However, the Megatanks were another story, once Ulrich found himself having to battle them as well at least once, if not more than that. Especially whenever they tried to get at Jeremy, as Jeremy himself also attempted to fight them however he then could here.
Jeremy periodically threw assorted things at the monsters as well, if and whenever needed. But he mainly tried to defeat them through the use of his laptop, just the same. Jeremy eventually was able to learn that they were each getting signals from XANA under different frequencies for each monster type. He then used that information to send sonic pulses at various frequencies toward any XANA-created monsters he could send them towards in or around the library. One monster type at a time, he did so, as Ulrich still continued to protect him and others still in it to the best of his current ability to do so. First Jeremy went after the currently-present Megatanks. Then the Crabs, and finally the Blocks. After each monster type was knocked out and defeated as needed, he moved to the next type of monster then present in or around the library's grounds. Finally, the last monster present in or around those grounds was eliminated as needed here.
After they were, then, Ulrich and Jeremy began checking to see if there were actually any fatalities in or around any part of the library or its grounds. Fortunately enough, there were none of any kinds wherever they went to check those people out. Several people, at least, though, were hurt, for the obvious reasons. But none of them were actually killed, just the same.
After they somehow learned this at least well enough to suit them both sufficiently here, Jeremy and Ulrich soon had Jeremy's friends secure the applicable grate back up behind them as they both re-entered the necessary air duct. After that happened, Jeremy and Ulrich both went back to the necessary wall in the tunnel they'd earlier gone through, as quickly as possible. When they got there, they removed the required brick again, and the wall opened up as it had done once before for them both. Then they went back to the other side of it, and replaced that same brick in the needed place, before setting off for the factory with each other.
They both arrived at the factory by 7:05 in the morning, and Jeremy found a real problem for him to deal with. That being the puzzle that XANA had left for him to try to figure out in order to allow Aelita to deactivate the activated tower, of course. Jeremy got right to work on trying to solve it, and had the main computer do the same, as well. He soon said, "Ulrich, I might be here a while. You'll have to try to think up some way to keep the rest of us out of trouble at Kadic, it seems. It might be a while before we can show up there as needed, by the way."
"I'll see what I can do. But you know Jim and Mr. Delmas, for example. They probably won't be very happy with you all if the rest of you don't show in class at all today, Jeremy."
"I understand that quite well, of course. But someone really needs to be here right now in order to try to solve this particular conundrum that XANA has just left for me to try to solve here, it seems, Ulrich. I can't actually initiate a Return To The Past otherwise, if and when Aelita is able to deactivate the necessary tower in Lyoko, for all the obvious reasons." Jeremy made some keystrokes here, on the main computer's keyboard, as he said these things to Ulrich, who was then leaning against a nearby wall in the factory's Computer Room.
"Conundrum, Jeremy?"
"A puzzle, Ulrich, in essence. XANA's evidently decided to be a real pain this time, and not just with the attacks on the real world or on Lyoko. We can't reverse time and the damage until this puzzle is solved, it seems to me."
"Or free the others, by any chance, as well, Jeremy?"
"Of course, Ulrich."
"Please try to do that as soon as you can, then, Jeremy. The sooner, the better."
"That goes without saying, Ulrich. But I'll see what I can do, just the same. I just hope it won't take me the whole school day to do that, though. For I'm really looking forward to working later with Mrs. Hertz, for example, just so you know." Jeremy then linked his laptop in the necessary manner to the main computer here, and he did it quite easily indeed, for that matter.
"Naturally, Einstein. Naturally. You would, Jeremy."
"Oh, and by the way, the snob was looking for you late last night, Ulrich."
"What did she want, Jeremy?" The snob in question was Mr. Delmas's daughter Elizabeth, who was more commonly known as Sissi around Kadic Academy's campus.
"She wanted you, Ulrich. And she wanted to date you, at least, from what I could gather of her thoughts at that time, based on how she was acting at the time I last saw her then."
"And what did you tell her, Jeremy?"
"That you weren't available, because something had come up that'd required your undivided attention at that time, Ulrich."
"Thanks for doing that, Jeremy," Ulrich eventually said, as the current time rapidly approached 7:15 in the morning of Thursday, October 11, 2007, Paris time.
"No problem. Now if I could just find a way to get Aelita into this real world of ours, I would be quite happy indeed, I think, Ulrich."
"Why do you want to do that?"
"Because I want to be able to meet her face-to-face, at least, of course. So to speak, anyway."
"And if she doesn't like you like you might like her, Jeremy, then what?"
"Then I'll handle things as I need to, of course, Ulrich. Wouldn't you do the same when dealing with Sissi or Yumi, for instance?" Jeremy had Ulrich pull a somewhat thick book dealing with assorted Japanese anime and/or manga series out of his backpack that Yumi had given him a few days before, and give it to him.
"Sissi, I'm not interested in at all, at least right now, if I'll ever be. Yumi, I'm not so sure about, on the other hand. I might eventually be interested in her as a potential girlfriend, but I'm not right now."
"And what do you think Yumi feels about you, then?" Jeremy began looking through that book, hoping to find some information in it that'd be needed in order to solve that puzzle that XANA had just left for him to solve, almost immediately after Ulrich handed it to him here.
"I have absolutely no idea how she might feel about me. At least in a personal enough sense, if not in any other sense as well, that is, Jeremy. Sure, we might normally get along well enough with each other at school here, but I don't really know if she actually likes me enough to perhaps ever be thinking about me as a potential boyfriend for herself sometime yet in the future. I think it would be at least a little bit more likely for her to be interested in Odd in that sort of way than for her to do the same for me, in fact."
"I don't actually agree with you about that particular sort of thing here. Or at least I don't agree with you about it right now, anyway, Ulrich. But let's continue this particular conversation of ours sometime later, if we possibly can, please. You'd best get to school before it's too late for you to do that here well enough. I'll be there with Yumi and Odd just as soon as I can, if at all possible, of course." It was now nearly 7:25 in the morning on the current day.
"As you wish." Ulrich soon left, for the obvious reasons.
After he left, Jeremy thought, "You're so wrong, Ulrich, about Yumi not apparently liking you at least a little bit. She hasn't told me directly, and as far as I know, she hasn't told anyone else in that way as well, but I can tell she likes you at least a little bit. You both might not realize it yet, but I think you two will fall in true love with each other. And stay in true love with each other for the rest of your lives, for that matter." He thought this for a little while, as he looked for the necessary information in the book that Ulrich had just handed him here, before turning back to the computer's main screen, and giving the puzzle his full attention again.
It then took the two linked computers about twenty or so minutes after Ulrich's departure to crack the first level of the XANA-made puzzle. But the puzzle now in question was still quite unsolved, and it probably would still be that way for at least a good while yet, if XANA could possibly keep it that way somehow. Even though XANA had no further direct control over the entire puzzle, he still had made it quite difficult indeed to solve, at least in terms of its complexity and its obscurity, if not also in any other way or ways whatsoever. Jeremy would most likely not be able to completely solve it before 11 in the morning, at the very earliest, even with two very powerful computers working on it.
So he'd probably have to miss at least a few classes at Kadic. Even though he didn't really want to, if he could possibly avoid it at all somehow. Even as both of his current computers here tried to solve the remaining levels of the puzzle that XANA had left for him just recently, Jeremy spent much of his time looking for useful enough information that might help to solve it. And he also did a little studying, in terms of his schoolwork, so as not to totally be unprepared for school if and when he was actually able to get to Kadic at all during the current school day.
8 came and went very soon, as did 9, 10, and 11. And yet, he was still present in the factory's Computer Room even as 11 came and went. He began to get really hungry, but didn't dare leave that particular room in the factory at the present time. For he needed to be able to monitor the present situation in Lyoko well enough in Ulrich's current absence from it. He also rather reluctantly began to try to figure out what kind of story he and the other non-Lyoko-confined Warriors might all have to tell very soon in order to hopefully avoid getting into any trouble at all with Jim and Mr. Delmas, of course. Jeremy generally preferred telling people the truth, if and whenever possible, in his life. But he also still realized that, at least sometimes, certain things might have to be shrouded in lies in order to hopefully better protect any number of people from unnecessary harm. He didn't actually have to like that sort of thing, quite obviously enough. But he still realized such a thing might periodically be necessary for his own good and the own goods of so many others in his life.
Ulrich returned to the factory's Computer Room only during the usual lunch period. He'd somehow sneaked several food and drink-type items covered, as necessary, out of the school's main cafeteria for Jeremy, at least, to have. All while there was actually a rather heated food fight going on between several students there at that time. Jim and several other school staff members had been so busy trying to break up the food fight, that they never noticed Ulrich's sneaking out with those items for Jeremy, at least. While they were, Ulrich hurried away from Kadic Academy's grounds and headed for the nearest possible place where he could get underground well enough en route to the factory, whatever it then might be here.
Ulrich ran like the wind, so to speak, to that place, and was underground no more than ten seconds after reaching it. Minutes later, and much faster than usual, he was then in the factory's Computer Room again. As soon as he was well enough into it, he began unloading his stash of swiped food and drink items on top of a large table, no matter what they were.
Jeremy eventually saw him do so here. And just as soon as he did, he suddenly hurried over, digging almost immediately into several of them as he then saw fit here. For Jeremy was, by now, very hungry. Ulrich then saw Jeremy dig into those items quite uncharacteristically indeed, for Jeremy hadn't actually had a good deal to eat, if anything, since the evening meal the previous day.
"Jeremy, you're eating like Odd, it seems."
"I'm very hungry, Ulrich." Ulrich suddenly moved to the two linked computers for a little while here, even while Jeremy was still consuming any number of food and drink items in the factory's Computer Room.
"Well, if you eat or drink everything I've brought just now, then the others won't be able to have anything to eat or drink as well."
"Perhaps you're right." Jeremy slowed up his eating and drinking here, and eventually stopped doing so, just as soon as he felt he could eat or drink no more at the present time. About two-thirds of the just-brought food and drink items were still left by the time that happened for Jeremy. "It's just that I hadn't been able to have breakfast this morning, you know."
"Well, neither did I, and the same thing was true for Yumi and Odd, of course."
"No doubt. How did you manage to get all these food and drink items out of the cafeteria, by any chance, without getting caught?"
"Some students started a food fight when they got into a bit of a disagreement with each other. Only a few rather brief moments later, the food and drink started flying all over the cafeteria. And eventually, many of the other people in the applicable cafeteria area found themselves involved in it. Even Sissi suddenly did, without any prior warning to her or anyone else, by the way. A coconut pie covered with whipped cream had eventually hit her in the face when Theo was aiming at Herb. She quite unexpectedly walked into it, while heading for seconds on her assorted food and drink items, and really didn't like being splattered with that pie, so she joined the food fight, of course. After Sissi got hit, it really got wacky. Sissi quickly grabbed up a whole table's worth, essentially, of honey, grapes, and assorted other items, and began sending them at whatever people she then could. That gave me enough of an opportunity to swipe all the things I just swiped for you all here, in fact."
"And do you know how things might turn out yet?"
"I presume there will be a lot of detention assigned to the fight's students, especially to those that started it, of course."
"I'd think so too, Ulrich. What have the teachers and administration thought about our absences from school today, by any chance?"
"They've been wondering where the rest of you have been, of course, Jeremy."
"And what did you tell them?"
"I told them that you were captured by aliens, in fact."
"Oh, boy. That's going to be hard to back up, I think."
"How so?"
"Do you know any aliens that might have abducted us easily enough right now?"
"No, I suppose not. But I had to think of something, you know."
"Now they're going to want proof of it, Ulrich, before they let us get away with missing so much school today, at least. Just where I'm going to be able to dig up that supposed proof, and how, I'll have to try to figure out, of course."
"You're the Brain Man of our group, Jeremy."
"That may be so, but that still doesn't actually mean that I'll be able to come up with that supposed proof somehow, you know, Ulrich."
"Why not create pictures that show us supposedly being captured by them, even if it didn't actually happen, Jeremy? At least as of yet, anyway?"
"I suppose I could, but this doesn't really feel right to me. At least not at this time, anyway."
"Well, if you can't think of something, they might somehow eventually find out about Lyoko, you know, Jeremy. And we can't let them do that, if at all possible, for all the obvious reasons," said Ulrich, as he moved back off Jeremy's seat behind the main computer again. "Level 4 of the puzzle solved and decrypted. Now beginning decryption of level 5," he read, just as he was leaving Jeremy's chair here again.
Jeremy soon sat back down in his chair, and said, "I wonder if it might help a little bit if I sent you to Lyoko as well for a while, Ulrich."
"I really must advise against it, for the obvious reasons," said Ulrich.
Just then, Aelita suddenly popped up on Jeremy's main computer screen. She said, "Jeremy, Yumi and Odd are getting very hungry and thirsty right now, according to them both, in the activated tower."
"Put them on, one at a time, please, Aelita."
"As you wish, Brain Man." Aelita left the screen, and was almost instantly replaced by Yumi on it.
Yumi then said, "Jeremy, I hope you can get us out of here soon. My and Odd's stomachs are both starting to growl, it seems. I hope there's a good enough reason why we're not back there yet."
"You can blame XANA and a blasted puzzle for that, Yumi," said Jeremy. "He really has it in for us right now, it seems."
"How so, if I may ask, Jeremy?"
"There is an extremely difficult puzzle that he left me to try to solve that is keeping you all where you are now. We can't get there, and you can't get here, Yumi. At least while it's still unsolved, anyway."
"Come here, you marshmallow treats," said Odd, all of a sudden, as he began to chase Aelita and Yumi all around the inside of the tower he and they were all in together. "I must have you both!"
"Please hurry, if at all possible, Jeremy! For Odd seems to be getting ready to try turning tiger on us both here," shouted Yumi, even as she suddenly leaped to avoid his grasp in another part of the tower.
"Einstein, get me food and drink! The sooner, the better!" shouted Odd, just as loudly, a few rather brief seconds later.
"Down, boy!" yelled Yumi, as she suddenly sent her fans in his direction, hoping to divert his attention away from Aelita here at least a little bit. Odd leaped at Yumi again, but not quickly enough to avoid being at least grazed by them here. A few Lyoko-related life points for him vanished after Yumi's fans hit him at least a little bit, of course.
Suddenly, he forced both girls out of the tower, following them both as he did so. They fled away from him in two separate directions, and Odd followed Yumi. Yumi then led him on a somewhat long chase until sheer exhaustion forced him to drop to the ice surface with his Overboard. He suddenly smacked an unseen ice wall with it, and his Overboard vanished almost instantly afterward. Yumi soon came back to where he was, and laid his exhausted body on the back of her Overwing. No more than a few more minutes after that, she came to where she'd located Aelita a few moments earlier, and put her on her Overwing as well. Yumi then brought them back to the same tower they'd all left a little while before, due to Odd having chased both girls out of it. Then she carried them both on her back at the same time, and brought them back into the tower together, for that matter.
Aelita was quite exhausted as well, but not as much as Yumi and Odd now were. Odd was the most exhausted of the three. Yumi then began to calm herself as much as she possibly could, while also really hoping to be able to slow the rate of her increasing exhaustion down as much as she currently could.
Aelita soon drifted off to sleep of a sort, while Odd sank almost into unconsciousness, near where Yumi now sat inside the still-activated tower. Yumi remained at least half-awake, in any case, as the others with her were in no real condition to do the same at the current time inside it.
Level 5 of the XANA-created puzzle was soon decrypted and solved. But before it was, Ulrich had to leave Jeremy alone again in the factory's Computer Room, and rather reluctantly at that. Jeremy, though, first had Ulrich stash away all the remaining lunch items in a cool storeroom somewhere else in the factory.
Level 6 actually fell at some time around 2 in the afternoon. Level 7, did so at about 5 pm. Level 8, at about 8:45 in the evening. Level 9, at about 11:15 pm, most especially after Thomas and Tiffany had also found themselves trying to help Jeremy on it, right after school ended for Thomas again in St. Peter. Level 10, which proved to be the final level of the current XANA-created puzzle here, finally was solved and decrypted as needed in its entirety at just about 1 in the morning of Friday, October 12, 2007, Paris time. Ten minutes or so later, Yumi and Odd were at last able to leave Lyoko, and Aelita was also able to deactivate the necessary tower in it. Jeremy then set time back roughly 24 hours, more or less, before finally engaging the Return To The Past program for the factory's main computer, of course.
That took the apparent time for the four non-Lyoko-confined Warriors, in their particular part of France, after the time reversion, back to about 1:20 in the morning of Thursday, October 11, 2007, by logical enough extension. They were all returned to the exact same places where they'd been at that very instant in time. No matter where they had been at that time, by the way. All of them, in fact, had been briefly awake at that time, for whatever reasons they'd all been at that time. Time passed as it then should have passed for them for the rest of the morning, prior to the just-foiled XANA double attack, but with no further danger of XANA relaunching said double attacks for at least some yet-unknown length of time, for that matter.
All of them soon went back to sleep wherever they'd actually been sleeping earlier. And eventually, they each woke up in their respective beds quite fully rested and all that, with no trouble whatsoever coming their ways in the meantime. No matter who they were, or where they were, they still did so again here.
The next chapter of Code Israel: Genesis will be up soon enough here, if at all possible. If you have any good enough ideas for possible pairings of the main characters, I'm quite willing to hear them. Until later, then, this is The Universal Storyteller saying, "Over and out!"