6: The new students – part II
Bryan Green raised his eyebrows.
"Seriously?"
If anybody ever asked you to go down into a smelly sewer, and you weren't a maintenance worker, you would have thought that they were out of their minds as well.
"Well, this is the shortest route. Pretty nice, huh?" said Ulrich.
The two descended into the underworld that was the wastewater management network, en route to meet up with Aelita, Jeremie and Odd at the factory. Unfortunately, Yumi was unable to join the party, since she was making sure that Jim Morales - also known as the First Star Commander of Morning Patrol - did not realize that there were currently five students outside school grounds.
"How far is it from here?" the new student asked, breathing through only his mouth.
"It's pretty close. But having these makes the trip a lot shorter," Ulrich replied as he pointed to the two skateboards beside them.
"Ah. Well…uh, to be honest, I'm not that much of…I can't use a skateboard."
"Oh, umm sure. We'll just–"
"But I can skate," Bryan said as he took out a pair of inline skates from his bag.
"Oh. Nice." How much stuff can he fit in that thing?
Bryan was surprisingly agile in his roller skates, as Ulrich somewhat struggled to keep up. Fortunately, he slowed down, remembering that he didn't know which way to go.
"So…how do you know about all this?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing."
"Ladies first?" said Ulrich instinctively.
"Sure, go ahead Ulrich."
"Ha ha. No seriously. Oh, make a left here."
They rounded a corner. In Bryan's opinion, the sewers were surprisingly in good condition and well-illuminated. It didn't even smell that bad. He always thought that they were dark, damp, overrun with rodents and smelled strongly of fecal matter. Then again, maybe Sin City wasn't the most accurate depiction of reality.
"By the way, that pink-haired girl who was with you guys, her family name…it isn't Stones is it?"
"Aelita? Oh, no. It's actually Hopper–"
I knew it.
"–Jeremie wanted to keep her identity a secret. We also made up some other stuff like she's a Canadian transfer student and is Odd's distant cousin."
Good, they came up with an alibi for her. Bryan chuckled. "She's Odd's cousin?"
"It was all Odd's idea. Some even think that those two make a cute couple together. It's weird."
"…Indeed."
Oh, we're here," said Ulrich as he parked his skateboard beside another board and two scooters.
Boy do I feel dumb, thought Bryan as he climbed back up to the surface. Fooled by a last name. Pink hair, similar appearance, he should have made the connection when they first met earlier that morning. Nevertheless, that still left out one important detail: how did she get out of the supercomputer? Bryan had a feeling Jeremie was behind all of it; he seemed to be the leader of the group. That and his glasses made him look like a stereotypical adept computer programmer…
Ulrich helped him up, as he caught his first glimpse of the abandoned industrial complex. It was situated on a man-made island, connected to the mainland by a single bridge. The building was quite long, with curved ends that made it look like an ocean liner, and was three stories tall. In addition, most of the windows were fogged up with dust.
They entered through the front garage doors and swung down to the main floor using the overhead cables. Ulrich led them into an elevator. Bryan nodded to himself. Obviously for security purposes – Project CARTHAGE was one of the most classified NATO projects – all operations were performed underground. Above it just was an ordinary industrial shipping unit.
But several floors below…
"Hey Jeremie," said Ulrich as he emerged from the elevator.
"About time!" the boy in front of the computer exclaimed. He turned around and was surprised that Ulrich had brought a visitor.
"Why did you–"
"He already knows about LYOKO. Yumi said that he could help us fight XANA."
What? I knew that there was something odd about him… thought Jeremie.
"Where is Yumi anyways?" asked Odd, who had been devirtualized shortly before Ulrich and Bryan's arrival.
"Jim."
"Oh. Hey, Jackie Chan! Fancy bit of fighting back there!"
"Thanks…Odd – right?"
"Jeremie, is something wrong?" asked Aelita, who was all by her lonesome on LYOKO.
She and Odd had tried to get to the activated Tower, which was situated above a cliff and was guarded by Tarantulas. Furthermore, there was also no path that led to the top of the ridge.
The two tried to get to the top with their vehicles. Sadly, they hadn't paid much attention when they saw Star Wars Episode III, where they would have learned that having the high ground was very advantageous; and were promptly shot down by a barrage of laser fire.
"No, it's alright, Ulrich's on his way," he replied.
"Alright, but hurry. I can't hold this on for much longer," Aelita said inside the rock shield she made using LYOKO's terra firma. XANA's monsters were pounding away at it relentlessly; and slowly but surely, the physical barrier began to show signs of stress.
Jeremie virtualized Ulrich and then began uploading Ulrich's OverBike. He turned away from the monitor to find Bryan looking speechless.
"Wait, Ulrich is able to get onto LYOKO?" I thought it was only us three.
"Yes. As a matter fact, we all can – I mean, Yumi, Odd and I as well," Jeremie replied.
"Except Jeremie's scared silly of scanners, and his LYOKO form is a–"
"Shut up, Odd."
"Fine. Anyways…Bryan, how did you come across our wonderful mortal enemy XANA?"
"Well, it's a long story–"
Ulrich's voice then came from LYOKO. "Jeremie! I've got six...not wait, nine Hornets on my tail. How much further until I – argh!" The OverBike was hit by XANA's flying beasts, leaving the boy stranded. He took out both of his katanas and braced for the elite Hornet Squadron.
Meanwhile, Aelita's defence crumbled. She got up and threw one of her energy beams, which managed to incapacitate a Tarantula as the other monsters ceased fire. Aelita was puzzled, before seeing Mr. Tentacles gliding towards her. She gasped and tossed another pink sphere of energy, which bounced right off the Scyphozoa's bulbous head as it advanced ever closer.
"Jeremie, I need you to get me into LYOKO," Bryan said urgently.
The young computer whiz was unsure of what to do. Aelita was trapped and Ulrich had his hands full. Odd was out and Yumi was occupied. There were three options. Hope everything would work out and do nothing. Bravely virtualize himself onto LYOKO. Or…trust someone he just met to save the day?
But… What if he really is an agent of XANA? Or ends up becoming like William – falling under XANA's control? Aelita would be in serious danger.
"I don't know…" he started as Ulrich hobbled next to Odd, having been quickly defeated as well.
"Too…many…Hornets."
"You have to trust me."
Didn't other fictional protagonists 'trust' and then wounded up on the wrong side of an AK-47?
"I'll explain everything after, I promise. But right now, we have to stop XANA. You do realize what happens if XANA takes away all of Aelita's memories, right?"
"What?" Up to now, Team LYOKO had always stopped the Scyphozoa from doing just that. Jeremie never envisioned the consequences should XANA actually succeed in this respect. However from the way Bryan implied it, there was evidently something more at stake.
Odd chipped in his two cents. "Einstein, I hate to break it to you, but we don't have much of a choice."
Ulrich nodded. "We're all out of options. I…I trust Bryan as well. By the time we could contact Yumi, it may be too late."
"Fine. Bryan, take the elevator down one floor to the scanner room."
The enigmatic teenager nodded and departed. Moments later, a pop-up appeared on the computer screen. Jeremie clicked it, and it instantly displayed a new avatar – Bryan's avatar. Yet it appeared all fuzzy, as if even the supercomputer itself hadn't decided on what form the boy would take.
"Alright…transfer, Bryan…Scanner, Bryan…Virtualization," said Jeremie as he pressed the enter key.
When Bryan emerged in the Mountain sector, Jeremie was astounded by three things.
Unlike the others when they entered LYOKO for the first time, Bryan didn't fall on his buttocks. Instead, he slowly descended to the surface as if some invisible force was slowing his fall.
Then there was his outfit.
"He's a–"
"…a Star Wars." Odd finished Jeremie's sentence.
"Umm, no. Not a Star Wars."
"Uh…Star Trek?"
Jeremie sighed. "Go watch the movie sometime, Odd. He's…a Jedi."
Indeed, Bryan's outfit clearly resembled that of the famed protectors of a galaxy far, far away. He donned a light brown cloak covering a sand-coloured tunic and brown boots.
But the last shock came as Bryan turned to survey his surroundings.
There was something different about his eyes. They were pale violet; and they no longer had dark brown pupils, but a ripple-like pattern of black rings.
The Mountain sector consisted of tall peaks, narrow paths and was literally floating over a vast blue-violet sky.
There was also a small pond next to Bryan. As he stared back at his reflection, the boy smiled. Jedi…really dad? He then noticed the distinct ripple pattern of his eyes. So this is what it's like to have the Rinnegan. I think I'm going to enjoy this–
"Bryan, I don't mean to be rude, but can you get a move on? Aelita's already lost forty-five percent of her memories!"
"Oh…right, my bad." He brought his palms together, and Ulrich's OverBike materialized out of thin air. It looked exactly the same, save for several black rods which protruded from the vehicle.
Back in the control room, the three boys were surprised that Bryan had access to a previously digitized vehicle.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
"Yeah, he just took Ulrich's OverBike," confirmed Odd.
"That's fine. He better not get a scratch on it, though."
"Well, he already stuck some black sticks into it." Clearly, Ulrich was quite fond of his LYOKO vehicle.
"He WHAT?"
"Bryan, do you see any monsters around you?" Jeremie said into his earpiece.
"Umm, no. Wait, I see a couple of Hornets closing in on me."
"What's the matter, Jeremie?" asked Ulrich, noticing that his friend had a slight frown.
"He's just lost a couple of life points...but there weren't any monsters around him." Sure enough, Bryan's health meter had dropped to ninety.
"I'm sure it's just a glitch for first-timers," suggested Odd.
"Maybe…"
The two remaining buggers that Ulrich failed to eliminate broke off their formation and locked onto their target. Bryan smirked as he reached for his laser-deflecting Lightsaber; a must-have tool for any Jedi or Jedi-wannabe, located conveniently by their side.
Except that he didn't have one by his side.
Had he been Obi-Wan Kenobi's apprentice, he might've just earned himself a half-hour lecture of disapproval by his master.
Crap, guess I only look a Jedi…but if that's the case…
The Hornets stuck out their stingers and fired red lasers. Bryan formed some sort of symbol with his hands, and a bulky man materialized over him. He had the same ripple-pattern eyes. However, he also wore a black cloak with red clouds, sported orange hair and – most interestingly – had black piercings all over his face. The lasers struck the body and dissipated.
With the path open, Bryan smirked as he zoomed past the beleaguered bugs.
Something's definitely wrong. Jeremie glanced at Bryan's health meter. It was down to 75 and yet – he didn't appear to have gotten hit; the blasts were all absorbed by that stocky figure…
"Bryan, what's going on? Your life points are being depleted, but you weren't hit by XANA's monsters."
"…Oh, really? It's not that big of a problem. How far away is Aelita?"
The Scyphozoa had retrieved nearly seventy percent of Aelita's memories, when the roaring engine of a motorbike could be heard approaching from the distance. Its occupant leapt out of the moving vehicle wielding one of Ulrich's kantanas and sliced through the monster's tentacles. He extended his arms to catch Aelita before she hit the rocky surface as XANA's maimed reconnaissance agent retreated.
"Good job," said Jeremie's voice over LYOKO. "Aelita's memories are intact."
The pink-cladded LYOKO warrior slowly stirred.
"You okay?"
The first thing Aelita noticed was Bryan's eyes. Although she didn't freak out like Sissi would have, she was most certainly mesmerized by the purple iris and the ripple-like pattern. First his hair. Now his eyes. Next thing you know, his tongue is probably green.
She also noticed a Hornet right behind him and, pushing Bryan to the side, conjured an energy beam and hurled it at XANA's monster, destroying it.
"Nice shot," Bryan commented without looking back.
"Thanks. Umm…your eyes?"
Suddenly, Bryan was shot in the back by another flying pest.
"Dammit!" he cursed, twisting around. A pink energy sphere materialized in his hand as he waited for the Hornet to come into range, before making short work of the monster with perfect accuracy.
"How did you do that?" Aelita gasped. Wasn't that her energy beam?
"Magic. Aelita Schaeffer." Bryan smiled at Aelita's confused look when he called her by her real surname.
"Alright, let's get to the Tower."
"It's up there," Aelita pointed. Meanwhile, the Tarantulas perched on top of the cliff had moved closer to the edge and had the two in sight. However, before their lasers could make impact, Bryan grabbed Aelita's hand.
"No!" Ulrich exclaimed. But the avatar profiles on Bryan and Aelita remained active. Even though both of them were seemingly hit, only Bryan lost life points. Where the two had been, a wooden stump had taken its place. The two re-emerged directly underneath the cliff, out of the range of enemy fire.
"That was close."
Another one of Bryan's techniques – teleportation? Jeremie wondered. In addition, from what he had observed, Bryan seemed to be able to use any technique of the other LYOKO warriors. Ulrich's OverBike, Aelita's energy beams… Apparently he also had some of his own abilities as well.
Bryan closed his eyes, and the world instantly turned into a black and white visual grid. He could see the entire sector, including the location of the activated Tower. And there were five Tarantulas surrounding it.
"Right." Three more bodies appeared from thin air. There was the bulky man from before, a young girl with her hair tied in a bun, and a teenager with his hair spiked up in all directions. They all had the same orange-coloured hair, multiple piercings over their faces and black cloaks.
"Bryan what on earth–"
"The Six Paths of Pain," Bryan replied proudly. "Well…three of them anyways…should be enough though."
"Paths…of Pain?"
"Hold on," Bryan instructed as the bulky man placed his hands over her shoulders.
"Wait…what's going on?"
"Jeremie. How many life points am I at?"
"You only have thirty remaining."
"Thanks." He looked at Aelita. "Everything will work out. I think. Just be ready to head straight for the activated Tower."
Bryan sat down and closed his eyes once more. The spiky-haired figure laid down his hands, allowing the female body to step on. He then flung her upwards with incredible strength; she was soon over the peak.
She made the same symbol Bryan did when he materialized Ulrich's OverBike. Instantly, the other two bodies and Aelita emerged alongside it.
The five Tarantulas concentrated their lasers towards the four airborne individuals, but they were absorbed by the bulky man. Next, the spiky-haired figure held his palms out and directed them at XANA's monsters. As if struck by an invisible force, all the Tarantulas were flung off the mountaintop, plunging to inevitable deletion.
When all was said and done, Bryan was devirtualized as the other three bodies vanished. Aelita was surprised, but only for a moment, as she activated her wings and flew towards the Tower.
"Jeremie. Bryan…is he–"
"It's okay Aelita. He's in the scanner room."
"Alright."
It was most definitely not all right. No XANA attack could be considered complete without–
The mother of all cockshaws, William Dunbar appeared in front of the Tower. He leapt up and hurled a ball of black energy at Aelita, who screamed as her wings disappeared and she hurtled towards the ground, several feet from the Tower.
Meanwhile back in the factory, Bryan just emerged from a scanner, looking exhausted. He didn't have time to catch his breath however. XANA's small Kankralats were starting to materialize from the other scanners, pinning him down.
Ah crap. He looked around for a weapon and picked up a metal rod.
"Looks like Bryan's in trouble, Jeremie pointed out as monsters began to pour out of the scanners.
"We're on it," said Ulrich as he and Odd left for the basement.
Willi-XANA brandished his sword and ran towards Aelita, preparing for the final strike. The pink-haired girl looked up to William's smirking face. Although usually cheerful and friendly, she felt an inner rage pent up from inside of her, with the 'Eye of the Tiger' song playing in the background.
She may have let XANA get the best of her yesterday; by impersonating as her father.
But not today.
When Captain Cockshaw was within range, she rolled to her side, dodging the swing of his mighty sword. She righted herself and thrust out her palm at the possessed boy.
No ball of energy came out.
But something happened, as William appeared struggling to hold his ground against an invisible force, which proved to be too much for him to handle, as he fell off the cliff with a howl of rage and anger-like fury. A quick and easy victory over Smug McGee.
"Aelita, how did you do that?" Jeremie asked. It appeared to be the exact same repulsion technique that Bryan had used on the Tarantulas.
"I'm…not sure. We'll deal with that later," Aelita dded as she headed off with no more obstacles blocking her path.
Back at the factory, Bryan, Ulrich and Odd were outnumbered. They all had some smouldering holes in his shirt from the laser fire. On Earth, it seemed that the strength of XANA's monsters was reduced; their weapons didn't actually hurt that much. But eventually, it would prove overwhelming.
"LET'S SWAT SOME BUGS!" came Odd's horribly lame battle cry, as he lunged towards another Kankrelat. Ulrich facepalmed, but swung his rod to destroy another mechanized crawler.
Aelita reached the top platform and hurriedly placed her palm over the scanner.
"I am rubber, you are glue!" yelled Odd as he crushed another one of XANA's monsters into scrap metal. A shot hit his wrist, and he dropped his metal rod.
NAME…AELITA_
"Umm, is Odd always this…Odd?" asked Bryan as he crouched to dodge more flak.
CODE…LYOKO_
"Yeah. You'll get used to it," the other boy replied as XANA's monsters started to fade into nothingness. Odd started a victory cheer, but Ulrich was too tired to tell him off. Where does he get the energy, he wondered.
"Tower deactivated," said Aelita dutifully.
Jeremie set down his headpiece. This may not have been the most dangerous XANA attack in his books, but was certainly interesting nevertheless. One thing was for sure though: it seemed that they had finally found the real sixth LYOKO warrior.
Bryan regrouped with the group after replacing his holed-up shirt with a new one that read '4 out of 3 people have problems with fractions'.
"I don't get it," said Odd with a puzzled expression.
"Looks like you're going to flunk today's test then," Ulrich smirked. The others chuckled.
"By the way, thanks for your help, Bryan."
"No problem Jeremie."
"So…Bryan, how do you know about LYOKO?" asked Aelita, intrigued by how someone overseas would know about a top-secret supercomputer in France. And the things she saw today in the digital world: Bryan's eyes, the orange-haired bodies only added to her list of curiosity. Maybe he also knew more about her past and her family…
Bryan remained silent. This was really becoming a frequently asked question. There was so much stuff to explain, yet at the same time, he was also seeking some answers himself.
"How about we meet after school? So Yumi can hear about this as well. If you're all free, that is."
"Works for me."
"Same here."
"I'm in. This will be like the last minutes of every Scooby-Doo episode. Where all is revealed."
"…Riiiight. I'll let Yumi know," added Ulrich.
"Oh, by the way…did you find out which class you're in?"
"And I'd like to introduce our new student, Bryan Green," Ms. Lebreton announced as the class clapped politely, some whispering to each other about his blue hair.
"Mr. Green, you can take that seat beside Ms. Stones."
"Thanks."
"But Ms. Lebreton, doesn't Bryan get to say something? Speech! Speech!" said Odd. Clearly, he was hopeful that Bryan could deliver an hour-long welcoming oration so that there would be no time for the test. In fact, a couple of students joined in with the chant.
"That's enough, Mr. Della Robia. Do you have anything else to say, Mr. Green?"
"Umm…not really. It's…uh – great to be here?"
"Good. Now, for the rest of you, get out your writing apparatus for today's test," the teacher said to the groaning of some students.
"Mr. Green, just do what you know. I won't count it for marks," Ms. Lebreton said while handing out the 8½ x 11 inch sheets of paper that was the phobia of every student. Bryan smiled at Aelita, who smiled back as he took his seat.
On the other end, Jeremie watched on with the slightest hint of jealousy. To him, it looked like Bryan and Aelita were long-lost friends reuniting with one another. Both of their lives were inexplicably tied to the LYOKO world.
Furthermore, Jeremie had to admit that he was the hero of the day. Save for William, he ripped apart XANA's army and saved Aelita; something neither Odd nor Ulrich could do. And it was his first time to LYOKO as well.
He saw Bryan whispering something into her ear, to which Aelita cupped her hands over her mouth trying to suppress her laughter, and gave him a playful punch to the shoulder.
"You may begin," said Ms. Lebretond as students flipped over their papers.
Bryan skimmed over the test entire paper. It honestly didn't look that difficult. A lot of application problems regarding polynomial equations; factoring, solving and curve sketching. With Ms. Lebreton at the back, he took a glance around.
Most of the class was already scribbling away. He glanced to his side. Aelita Schaeffer seemed remarkably calm and had a faint smile on her face as she started writing down her answers.
In light of everything that she has been through – though she may not remember all of it – and considering what lies ahead…seeing Aelita relaxed and enjoying life somehow made Bryan feel a bit more comfortable on the inside. Fifteen years later, she was finally free from the supercomputer; free from XANA's grasp. And yet, this freedom was not the same thing as liberty.
But enough of that now.
After all, there were only 55 minutes remaining, and he didn't want to look like a complete fool on his first day by doing nothing but daydream. Thus, Bryan started to answer Math Test 2 Question 1:
Factor: x^3 + 6x – 7
Easy stuff.
Fragmented Legacy Fun Fact 006:
This story is divided into 'seasons', kind of like your favourite television program. Each season is 12 chapters long.
A|N's:
And so concludes the first half of Code LYOKO: Fragmented Legacies Season 1! I'll be taking a short break this week to enjoy the other fine aspects of life (midterms, Thanksgiving, the start of the NHL season, more midterms). Also, I'd like to thank everyone who has read this story, and those who have provided feedback this past month. I never expected this much support and as a n00b fanfic writer, I really appreciate it =D
Feel free to leave a comment, and as always, thanks for reading Code LYOKO: Fragmented Legacies =) Every six chapters, I'll also post replies to some reviews, and answer any questions you readers might have.
Replies to Reviews:
[F8less]
You're my first Review! Gold Star for you =D. I'm glad you like the character profiling (I got the idea from the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels). All major characters will have something like this when they're introduced into this story. Even Odd's dog, Kiwi – although I'm not entirely sure how old he is in dog years. One of the most important things to me when I was developing this story was getting the character's character right. I didn't want much OOCness since this story essentially picks up and goes beyond where the show left off at the end of Season 4. Hopefully, I can keep this up =)
[flyboy961]
Thanks for your input! You're absolutely right. Bryan is too good to be true; athletic, intelligent, and a LYOKO beast. Though I'd like to point out that he's terribad at programming (he didn't regain control of the plane in Chapter 2, it was because Team LYOKO deactivated the Tower; the two scenes occurred simultaneously). Since this story starts between Seasons 3 and 4, I didn't want Bryan know nothing about LYOKO, and have the others explain everything to him (it'd be repetitive for those who watched the TV show). I realize that Bryan seems perfect, but that may be because I haven't gone into much detail about his character or backstory. And he definitely has his weaknesses, which are much, mcuh worse compared to the flaws of the other LYOKO warriors.
[Starke]
I'm glad you're enjoying this story so far! I'll most certainly check out your story soon =). You are right on the ball when you say that things are slowly evolving over time. One of the things I tried to avoid doing was introducing new things all at once. This includes the romance/fluff stuff (which I'm not so good at). I mean, even in real life, these things take time (and getting Ulrich and Yumi together in the TV show took forever). I also didn't want to bring in all of the 'bad guys' at once (Team LYOKO would've died of exhaustion from having to fight XANA, the 'Men In Black', homework and gingivitis). While I pretty much have the entire storyline planned out in the long run, it's all about filling in the small pockets, which is quite fun - this chapter is essentially one of them. In fact, I am considering something ultracool following this Halloween arc, although it will be much, much darker than anything I've done so far. Once again, thanks for your support! I really appreciate it =D.