SECOND TO LAST EPISODE! YEAH!

Ahem... I'm excited, in case you couldn't tell. As for my opinions on Code: Earth, I think it's a good episode! Probably my second favorite in season 1.

Chapter 28: Code: Earth

It was almost 9:30 when I heard my phone ring. Putting down my 3DS, I answered it. "Hello?"

"Emily! Plan Alpha, it's going well!" Jeremy told me in an excited tone. I had to grin at the news.

"That's fantastic, Einstein!" I congratulated him. "Have you tested the full thing yet, or is that something being left for tomorrow?"

"I think it's only fair to do it with all of you present tomorrow." Jeremy replied. I nodded, even though he obviously wouldn't be able to see that.

"Alright then. See you tomorrow, Jeremy." I ended the call. The grin on my face didn't fade for the rest of the night.

Admin Building

I looked up at Ulrich and Odd as they walked out of the principals office. They had been discussing Aelita's enrollment to the school, and judging by the grins on their faces, it had gone well.

"Well?" I asked them.

"Aelita is officially a student at Kadic Academy!" Odd cheered. We all high fived with grins on our faces.

"Fantastic!" I exclaimed. Our celebrations were cut off when Jim arrived. He had a sour expression on our face, and I'll give you three guesses to figure out who it was aimed at.

"Ok, what are you three up to, huh? " He asked sternly. Odd gave him a nervous grin. "You know that this building is off limits to students; especially at eight in the morning."

"We had an appointment with the principal, Jim, about Odd's cousin attending school." Ulrich explained.

"Oh, what a lame excuse! What do you think I am, an idiot?" Jim wasn't buying it.

"Well..." Odd started.

"Quiet!" Jim snapped. "Yeah, and I'll bet you think I'm not onto your pranks with Jeremy and Yumi! You disappear in the park like some sort of magic, you plot in your rooms," Jim probably would've continued had Odd not said anything.

"Hey, it's not a crime," Odd said.

"Maybe not, but listen up. One of these days, I'm gonna find out what the five of you are hiding." He vowed. "And now, to the cafeteria!" He pointed to the door. Odd, Ulrich, and I all walked out of the building and towards the main part of campus.

"Y'know guys, I think we need to be careful with Jim. If he keeps playing detective like he is, it's gonna get harder and harder to keep our secrets, well, secret." I said.

"Hey!" We heard a voice call to us. We turned to find Yumi running up to us, a smile plain on her face. "Great news! My parents said ok!"

"So did the principal!"Ulrich happily reported.

"I've gotta admit, that was a pretty good phony letter you made, Odd." I said, eyeing him.

"I can't say I'm proud of what I did, but it was for a good cause." Odd said, looking down slightly.

Ulrich pulled out his phone when we heard it ring. "Jeremy, what's up?" He asked. "Ok, we'll be right there." He slipped his phone back into his pocket and nodded at us. We made out way to the dorm building as fast as we could. I opened the door when we arrived.

"Alright guys, time for the moment of truth." He said.

"Go for it Einstein!" I encouraged him. He nodded with a confident smile. He typed on his computer and let the program run. A sort of silhouette of Aelita appeared as the program went through its many tests. I can't say that any of us really understood what it was doing, but there was one this we all understood: the giant green plus that appeared meant it had worked.

"That's it! We've got it this time! It works, it works!" Jeremy announced, the grew quiet. "...I can hardly believe it." He admitted. We all cheered and gave him a big hug. He deserved one after all the effort it took to get us where we were.

"Well, pull up Aelita! It's time to let her know!" Yumi exclaimed. Jeremy nodded and pulled his earpiece on.

"Hey, Aelita? I have something to tell you." Jeremy said. Her face appeared only seconds later. She looked at all of our faces with a small bit of confusion.

"Tell me what the good news is." She asked, her voice full of anticipation. We all looked at one another. I elbowed Jeremy slightly to get him to start talking.

"Aelita, I don't know how to tell you this, but believe it or not, we're waiting for you here." He said, his hands clasped together. Aelita's eyes went wide and she gasped.

"Really!?"

"Really!" We all told her.

"The materialization's gonna work?!" She asked. The smile on her face was huge.

"Yup! It's all in here!" Jeremy lifted a disk up for her to see. "And I can tell you it was really complicated. Defragmenting the internal matrix wasn't enough, and so I had to start recompile all the DNA-"

"Time out, Einstein!" Odd interrupted. Jeremy gave him an annoyed look. Ulrich and I yawned for dramatic effect. He seemed to get the message.

"To make a long story short, it works." Jeremy simplified his explanation. Aelita's face lit up with complete an utter joy.

"Oh Jeremy, that's so great! I can't believe it's true." Aelita said in amazement.

"Better get used to it fast, because it's time to take the big jump. And then it's bye-bye XANA!" Odd told her.

"Hold on. It's not that simple." Jeremy interjected. He put the disk he had been holding into a generic case. "First, I've got to set up the program in the supercomputer. Then Aelita will have to get to the passage tower in Lyoko's Forest Sector. That's where she's gonna get devirtualized before she appears in the flesh and blood for the first time inside one of the scanners." Jeremy's voice became more excited as he spoke. I couldn't help but smile at it. Good for him that he finally accomplished his goal.

"In that case, I'm off to the forest right now!" Aelita said. Her smile was still on her face.

"Ok, and we'll head to class in the meantime." Jeremy said.

"And afterwards, the factory." I added.

"I'll see you later, my friends." Aelita said with a wave.

"We'll be dinner for six tonight." Jeremy grinned. Aelita's face disappeared from the screen.

"Alright, time to go to class." I said. Jeremy grabbed one of the disk cases and slipped it into his bag. We all ran out of Jeremy's room to try and get to class as fast as we could, but were caught. Jim stood in front of us. Jeremy stopped to avoid plowing into him, making us all run into one another instead.

"What's wrong? Up to no good again, aren't you?" Jim accused us.

"No, we were just studying together." Odd tried. Jim wasn't buying it though.

"Oh, studying my foot!I've had enough of your lies, you hear? We're gonna stay right here, until you guys tell me the truth!" Jim said. He folded his arms as he gazed down at the five of us.

"Jim! What is going on here!" A voice suddenly cut in. I craned my neck to see behind Jim, and I was very surprised to see Mr. Delmas approaching.

"What convenient timing." I thought.

"I'm glad you're here, sir! I don't know what's going on, but these little devils are up to no good, and I intend to find out what it is!" Jim told him. Mr. Delmas gave him an unamused expression.

"Yes Jim, another one of your absurd stories about secret plots and passages?" Mr. Delmas asked.

"What do you mean 'absurd'?" Jim asked, taken aback.

"You heard what I said! Absurd, Jim." Mr. Delmas repeated.

"But...' Jim's shoulder slumped a bit.

"Now listen, your paranoid behavior and your one track mind concerning these children are getting on my nerves. You're a physical education teacher, not a detective, Jim." Mr. Delmas gave him one last look before he walked off.

Jim growled a bit before turning to look at us. "What are you waiting for!? You have class now, so get going!" Jim snapped. We ran out of the dorm building without looking back once.

Science Class

Ms. Hertz's class was as boring as ever. She was talking about animals I think. I was bouncing my leg with anticipation for later that day.

"What are you doing?" I heard Odd say. Ulrich and I looked over at where he and Jeremy were. Jeremy had his laptop lulled out and was checking the screen.

"It's Aelita. She's in danger." Jeremy answered. Ulrich and I gave one another the same concerned look.

"Obviously, this phenomenon depends on certain factors Who can tell us which ones? Jeremy? Go ahead, we're listening." Ms. Hertz called on him.

The class might've been listening, but it was evident Jeremy hadn't been. "The-the frogs!" Jeremy blurted out. The class minus us Lyoko Warriors laughed, and the answer left Ms. Hertz with an astounded look on her face. The bell rang seconds later, and the four of us were the fastest ones to get out of there. We pushed through the other students leaving.

"Yumi? Come to the park, it's urgent." Ulrich had called Yumi to inform her.

We made our way to the park in a short amount of time. Yumi ran up to us only moments later. "Mind telling me what's going on?"

"XANA's at it again." Jeremy answered.

"He knows the end is near. He's putting up a fight until the bitter end." I commented. We stopped as we reached the manhole cover. After making sure the coast was clear, we entered and were on our way. Jeremy and I grabbed out scooters while the others grabbed their skateboards. Once we reached the end of the tunnel, we swung down and went into the elevator. Jeremy went over to his seat and grabbed his earpiece.

"Aelita, can you hear me?" He asked. Her face appeared on the screen.

"It took you such a long time. I'm at the passage tower, but four Bloks won't even let me get close." She reported. Jeremy grimaced and began to type on his keyboard.

"Ok, I've got you localized, don't worry. Help is on the way" Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and I all ran back into the elevator and went down to the scanner room. "I'm transferring you a little south of where Aelita is right now." Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi each stepped inside a scanner. I stepped inside when they opened up again. "Transfer, Emily. Scanner, Emily. VIRTUALIZATION!"

Lyoko

As soon as I landed, the four of us took off We had to get to Aelita before XANA decided to strike. We went across the treebridge and found Aelita hiding in a large stumpe like cave.

"Ok Jeremy, we're here!" Ulrich said. We came to a stop in front of her. In front of the tower were the four Bloks Aelita had mentioned. They were scuttling around the base of the tower, occasionally spinning their bodies.

"That's great. Now get ready guys, I'm launching the materialization program immediately." Jeremy said.

"Gotcha." We were prepared to wait for Jeremy's next instructions, but he came back on sooner than expected.

"Oh no! What have I done?!" He cried. We all looked at each other, confused.

"Problem, Jeremy?' Yumi asked.

"I inserted the wrong CD! One of Odd's dumb CD's instead of the program." He let out a frustrated sigh. "I've gotta go back to the dorm."

"Ok, but hurry!" I said. Ulrich looked over at Odd.

"You made a video?" He asked monotonously.

"Well yeah, it's pretty good to." Odd defended. I had to roll my eyes at that.

"What's the title?" Ulrich then asked.

"Break, Break, Breakdance." Odd sang out. I rubbed my ears at his voice. He was about as good a singer as my dad... who is tone deaf.

"Ok, that's enough fooling around. We've got some cleaning up to do." Yumi said, eyeing the Bloks. Ulrich and Odd both gave her a military salute and shouted,

"Sir, yes sir!"

We took off running after that. Ulrich and Odd took one of the paths to the tower while Yumi and I took the other. There were only four Bloks, so enough for all of us to take one out. The Bloks split up into two groups. The Bloks each fired a laser, which we all dodged easily by jumping into the air.

"Magic Blast!" I yelled. My spell hit the Bloks eye no problem. Everyone's attack hit actually. The Bloks all exploded. "Well, that was easier than expected." I said, impressed.

"Aelita, the passage is clear. You can go." Yumi said, looking back at the elf. She nodded at her and came out from her hiding spot.

"Wow, just think: this could be the last tower." Odd thought aloud.

Aelita quickly ran forward and entered the tower. Since the tower wasn't activated, we could all follow her.

"And now, we wait for Jeremy to get back." I said.

Jeremy's Room

Jeremy looked on his desk and grabbed the disk. The right one this time. He smiled before running out of the room. He intended to run straight back to the factory, but Jim was right outside his door. Jeremy let out a yelp in surprise when he saw him there.

Jim smirked at him. "Playing hooky, huh?"

"Uh, no! I left something in my room. I uh..." Jeremy began to back away slowly. Jim took a step forward for each step back he took. "I uh, gotta go back to class now, Jim."

"Not till you tell me what you've been plotting since the beginning of the year! ANd this time, the principal's not here to come to your rescue!" Jim demanded. Jeremy stared at Jim for several seconds. He leaned one direction, making it look like he was going to make a run for it. When Jim leaned in that direction too, Jeremy took off. "Oh you miserable little brat!" Jim took off after him.

Jeremy willed his legs to move as fast as they possibly could. Jim was still a few steps behind him though. "Get back here! Ooh, wait till I get my hands on you!" Jim shouted at him again. Jeremy ignored him and kept running. They got to the stairs and the chase continued. "Jeremy! Stop! That's an order!" Jim barked.

Jeremy continued on, but he lost his footing on one of the steps from moving too quickly. He tumbled down several of the steps. Jim stopped and gasped and tried to run over to the fallen braniac. Jeremy, however, tried to keep going, but when he put his foot on the ground, he let out a cry of pain.

"My ankle!" Jeremy exclaimed, holding it. Several students that had been standing in the building looked at Jim in shock.

"Are you crazy Jim!?"

"This is your fault!" Jim could only stare in horror.

What had he just done?

Lyoko

Aelita looked up again after pacing around the tower. "Jeremy? Can you hear us? We're in the tower. Jeremy?"

I let out a sigh when there was no response. "Doesn't seem like it, Aelita."

"Where can he be?" Aelita asked with a concerned expression.

"45 minutes is a long time to pick up a CD." Ulrich noted.

"I hope nothing happened to him." Yumi said.

"Come on, stop being so gloom and doom. Don't panic. I'm sure everything's cool." Odd said casually.

"Well, I just hope Jeremy gets here soon." I said. No one could disagree with that. Suddenly, we felt the tower shaking. "The hell was that?" I asked.

"Stay here, Aelita!" Ulrich ordered, and the rest of us ran out of the tower. Outside was our old friend the Megatank. I growled and pulled out my staff.

"I knew things had been too easy!" I uttered. The Megatank opened its shell and prepared to fire.

Infirmary

The nurse, Yolanda, wrapped Jeremy's ankle, making him wince.

"And now, does it still hurt?" She asked gently.

"No, it's ok now. I can walk fine!"Jeremy insisted. She made a face as he winced again.

"If there's one thing you you'd better not do yet, it's walk. You'll have to wait a week before putting that foot on the ground." Yolanda said. Jeremy gave her an expression of disbelief.

"A week?!" He cried. His friends had already waited long enough for him! They couldn't wait much longer!

"And if you complain, i won't give you any crutches to get around with." The nurse said sternly. Jeremy frowned at that, but otherwise held his tongue. Outside, the principle could be heard talking to Jim.

"This time you've gone too far! Don't say I didn't warn you. This time, your paranoia had caused an accident!" Mr. Delmas reprimanded.

"I-I'm sorry, sir. I really am." Jim replied. He sounded so... heartbroken, almost.

"So am I, Jim. I'm going to have to let you go." Jeremy could hear Mr. Delmas walk away, and Jim not reply. He looked over at Yolanda again.

"Can I go to the bathroom?" He tried.

"Sorry, the doctor insists you stay off your feet. I'll get you a basin." She walked out of the room. Jim entered the room as she left, giving Jeremy a sympathetic look.

"Jeremy, listen I... I wanted to say I'm sorry. I was so sure that you guys were up to something that I guess I got carried away a little." Jim apologized. Jeremy let a smirk form on his lips as an idea formed in his head. "I deserved to get fired. I guess I went a little crazy because I thought you and your friends had a lot of secrets that you were hiding. Anyway, I'm gonna miss you guys." Jim began to walk out of the room.

"Jim, wait!" Jeremy called out. Jim looked back at him. "You're not as crazy as you think. My friends and I... we do have a secret." Jim rushed back over to him upon hearing that.

"But that means I was right after all!" Jim exclaimed. "Well, let's hear it."

"Look Jim, if you help me, I'll tell the principal everything. You'll be off the hook, and he's bound to give you your job back, right?" Jeremy said. Jim narrowed his eyes in thought.

"Great! Shake on it!" Jim stuck his hand out, which Jeremy gladly accepted.

Lyoko

We all moved out of the way when the laser wall came at us.

"GO!" Odd shouted as he fired and arrow. The Megatank closed it's shell however, so the arrow didn't hit its target. Odd let out a noise of frustration, then ran forward at the giant bowling ball. He fired again, but the ball closed its shell once more.

"Ok, we need a new strategy, cause this isn't working!" I pointed out. "How about a Bolt!" A blast of electricity shot out of my staff. It almost hit, but the Megatank closed up just in time. "Anyone ever tell you that you should come out of your shell a bit more?" I asked, both jokingly and in anger. It fired it's laser once more. I let out a yelp of fear when I narrowly avoided being hit. "Ok, nevermind! Don't listen to those people!"

"Follow me, Odd!' Yumi called his attention and ran forward. Unfortunately, she was devirtualized almost immediately thereafter. Odd shortly followed her after he jumped on the Megatank. He was trying his usual trick. but the monster seemed to have learned what it was.

"I don't think that's what she meant by, 'Follow her lead,'" I noted to myself. I then shook my head. I had a battle to win!

"Ok, Ulrich and Emily, it's up to you two." Jeremy's voice suddenly chimed in. I blinked for a moment, wondering when he got back. I shook the thoughts away and ran alongside Ulrich.

"Hey you piece of junk! No one messes with our friends!" Ulrich shouted, then ran ahead of me. "Triangulate!" The Megatank looked around, unsure of which Ulrich to hit. It hit one, which turned out out be fake, and then the second clone as well. Ulrich then ran around to confuse the monster. Hell, he even ran up a TREE! As he did that, the monster left it's shell open. I decided to take that to my advantage.

"MAGIC! BLAST!" I cried, and fired off a huge orb of energy. The Megatank didn't have time to react, and it exploded. I let out a cheer while Ulrich came to a stop. "Finally! I took down a Megatank!"

"Well get ready for another one! Behind you guys!" Jeremy warned us. Ulrich and I looked back and gasped. Another Megatank rolled up right next to the tower and fired its wall. The tower shook from the blast. "You two have got to protect the tower!"

Ulrich and I ran as fast as our legs could carry us. I somehow managed to run ahead of Ulrich and stood in front of the tower. I knew I couldn't block the blast with anything. My weapon, unlike Ulrich's saber, couldn't block or deflect blasts of any kind. I stood in front of the tower, deciding I would block it with my body. The Megatank opened it's shell. I closed my eyes as the blast approached, and then found myself falling out of a scanner.

As usual, I was exhausted, but I pulled myself up anyways. I climbed up the ladder. I found the usual scene. Jeremy sitting in his chair, Yumi and Odd looking at the screen with trepidation, Jim cheering on Ulrich...

Wait, JIM!?

"Uh... No offense meant towards you Jim, but what are you doing here?" I asked as politely as I could.

"He helped me get back here. He's one of the gang now." Jeremy answered me. Jim smiled at me and nodded.

"...Ok then. Still probably not the strangest thing to have happened to us." I decided with a shrug, and joined in on the watching. Ulrich could be heard grunt as he blocked the Megatank blast with his saber.

"Just a few more seconds Ulrich! Hang in there!" Jeremy said to the samurai. He then turned his attention back to the elf. "I'm almost ready, Aelita. Get into position on the platform. Ok... well, ready to take the big jump?"

"Ready." Aelita answered. I took in a deep breath. Honestly, I think we all did, even Jim.

"Then here we go. Code: Earth." Jeremy hit the key on his keyboard and looked at the screen. The card that showed Aelita's picture began to drain, similar to how it would when Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, or I would be materialized.

We all rushed to the scanner room (though Jim had to carry Jeremy due to his sprained ankle). Ulrich had just stepped out of the scanner when we got there. The scanner, the middle scanner to be precise, was whirring with activity. The the six of us were each holding onto one another. I gave Jeremy's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Then, the scanner finally opened.

There was smoke pouring out of it, but in the center of it all was a sight that made our eyes widen.

There, curled up in a ball, in the flesh and blood for the first time, was Aelita.

"She's here at last..." Jeremy managed to breathe out. Aelita lifted her head to look at us all. "Welcome to Earth." Jeremy whispered.

I couldn't contain my excitement any longer. "YEAH!" The other soon joined me. Aelita looked on at us with a smile on her face.

We'd finally done it. Aelita was here, on Earth with us.

And in that moment? It was all that mattered.

And there we have it. We're almost done guys.

I love that last scene so much though. How excited everyone is, and how amazed Jeremy is just gets to me every time.

I'll see you next time for the season 1 finale: False Start.