Chapter 12
Tuesday
Beep Beep!
"Huh? Aélita, was that you?" Jérémie asked in his sleep. He opened his eyes once he realized it was his computer trying to wake him up. He sat up and put his glasses on as he got off of his bed. He walked over to the computer and saw that there was an activated tower. He picked up his cell and dialed Ulrich's number only to find no one answering but his voice mail.
Jérémie called Odd's number with similar results. He shook his head as he dialed Yumi's number, not bothering with changing clothes before slipping on his shoes and walking out of his room to Aélita's room across the hallway.
"Jérémie?" Yumi's voice asked from the other end.
"Xana's attacking." Jérémie said as he opened Aélita's door.
"I'm on my way." Yumi said, regrettably.
Jérémie put his cell in his pj's pocket and looked up to see Aélita was already changed and putting on her boots.
"Xana. I know." Aélita said.
"Can you go down and get April. I've got to get Odd and Ulrich. They're not answering their cells." Jérémie said, turning around and walking out.
Jérémie went up a floor and over to Ulrich and Odd's room. He opened the door only to find their room a wreck and the two were nowhere in sight. He dialed Aélita's number as he headed towards the factory's short cut through the gym.
-.-.-.-
Aélita took her cell from her pocket before it could ring a second time as she walked down the hallway of the ground floor of the dorms.
"Jérémie?" Aélita asked as she tried April and Maggie's door and found that they never locked it.
"Ulrich and Odd are missing. I think Xana might have taken them." Jérémie said.
Aélita looked around, stunned by what was spread throughout the floor of the hallway and living room. "I think I know who Xana possessed." She walked over the paper on the floor and went over to April's door. She pushed opened April's already open door, expecting the worst and seeing the door had been busted open with force, only to find April sound asleep and sprawled out on her bed. "Maggie."
"Wake April. We need her help. I'm heading to the factory and Yumi should be there soon." Jérémie said, ending the call.
Aélita put her cell back in her pocket and went over to April, shaking her shoulders gently. "April, wake up."
"Huh!" April asked, sitting up suddenly. She looked around and saw Aélita standing next to her bed. "Aélita? What's going on? How did you get in?"
"Maggie's gone and so is Odd and Ulrich. Oh, and your door was rammed into." Aélita explained as April got up. "Xana's activated a tower and we think Maggie's got the two."
April got her flip flops on and looked at Aélita before the two started out of the apartment. Not bothering to change out of her camo night gown.
-.-.-.-
"Ulrich?" Odd asked as he opened his eyes. He looked around and saw that he was tied to a chair in a pool that had been emptied out of water, but cement was filling in and already past his feet to his cafes.
"Odd?" Ulrich asked, his voice right behind Odd's head.
"Ulrich, good. What happened?" Odd asked, seeing Maggie above them on the ground floor.
"Just a wild guess here, but I think Maggie's under Xana's control and he's trying to bury us under a pile of concert." Ulrich said.
Odd looked down at himself and realized he was only dressed in his boxers. He tried to lean his head over to Ulrich and asked, "Any chance you fell asleep with your cell on you?"
"No, and even if I did, I wouldn't have it with me now." Ulrich said, looking down at his own body and saw that he, also, was only in his boxers.
"Nice. Xana sure is thinking of everything now, isn't he?" Odd asked sarcastically.
-.-.-.-
"I hate to do this, but Aélita needs protectors to get to the tower." Jérémie said, typing into the computer. He turned his chair around and looked at the three girl. Manly at Aélita and Yumi, before asking, "Are you with me?"
"I don't like it, but she does have fighting experience on a virtual world." Yumi said, crossing her arms over her chest.
Aélita only nodded her head.
"Alright." Jérémie said before turning back around to his screens. "You three head to the scanners. The activated tower is in the forest sector."
April followed Yumi and Aélita into the elevator and down to the scanner room.
"Do they look anything like your scanners?" Aélita asked as she walked over to one.
"Exactly." April said, surprised, as she went over to the last one and stepped inside.
"Transfer Yumi, Transfer Aélita, Transfer April. Scanner. Virtualization!" Jérémie said as the scanner sent the three to Lyoko.
-.-.-.-
"Uph." April's voice said as she landed harder than she expected.
"You ok?" Yumi asked as she turned around to look at April.
"Yeah, you've got farther to fall than we do." April said, dusting off her armored skirt. She looked at her hands and her outfit in awe.
"Different that you're used to?" Aélita guessed.
"Very. You actually look more real than we do in Xanadu." April said. "It's more like you've been put into a cartoon than a video game."
"This is all really fascinating and all girls, but Ulrich and Odd are missing and so is Maggie." Jérémie said as two vehicles appeared in front of the girls. "April, I should've asked, but can you ride a motor bike?"
"We'll find out today." April said, her French flowing more smoothly than on Earth as she jumped onto the Overbike and looked over at the Overwing as Aélita got onto the back of it with Yumi.
"Hey! You said 'we'll'." Aélita said, noticing.
"Ya, actually, I'm speaking English." April said as they started off towards the tower off to the north. "I found out a while back at the supercomputers act as a universal translator."
"Cool." Yumi said. "So, like right now, can you understand me?"
"Yes." Aélita said.
"I'm speaking Japanese." Yumi admitted. "I never knew it could translate us."
"Nice tidbit." Jérémie said. "Three monsters coming up in front of you. Bloks."
"Thanks Jérémie." April said, taking her right hand off the handle and holding it out. She closed her eyes as a bo appeared to grow out of her palm.
"Wow." Yumi said, surprised.
"Neat trick, huh?" April asked, looking at the girls as they turned around a rock and saw the Bloks. She looked straight and held her bo like a stave and aimed for the Eye of Xana.
She hit it dead center and shot behind it, turning so that she would stop sideways and watched the Blok blow up. She looked over to Yumi and Aélita and saw that Aélita had just killed one of the Bloks, leaving the last for Yumi.
Yumi flew upwards and dropped her fan down onto the Blok's Eye of Xana, killing it.
"Come on, Odd and Ulrich need us." Aélita said as they flew towards the tower.
April held her bo next to her, pointing it forward as she drove down the forest path. "Xana's sure making it easy for us." April said, glancing over to Yumi and Aélita.
"Too easy in my option." Yumi said, shaking her head.
"We'll use what we've got." Aélita said. "Who knows what Xana's doing to Odd and Ulrich."
"I know." Jérémie said as a window popped up on his center screen. It was a security camera of the pool. "Xana's incasing them in cement."
"What!?" Yumi exclaimed.
"The cements up to their chest, so you might want to hurry up." Jérémie said, trying to judge where the cement was.
"Got it, Jérémie." April said.
"Behind you! Xana's sent some Hornets." Jérémie said as four triangles appeared behind the two green and one yellow ones.
"Yumi?" April asked.
"Take care of Aélita." Yumi said as she got close enough to the Overbike for Aélita to jump over.
Aélita jumped over and sat down behind April so that Yumi could distract the Hornets.
"Hold on tight!" April said as she revved up the Overbike to high gear.
Aélita gripped April's waist as they sped through the forest, trying to out run the Hornets.
"Energy Field!" Aélita said, throwing an energy ball behind them to the Hornet that followed them.
"Nice shot, Aélita." Jérémie said. "The tower's just around the next bend."
"See it." April said as they turned around a group of trees. Dead ahead of them was the tower with a lake around it. The steps Aélita created two years ago to first deactivate the tower still leading to it.
"April, Aélita. Yumi just got devitalized." Jérémie said. "Two Hornets are coming your way."
"Statics report on Ulrich and Odd?" April asked as she tried to get Aélita closer before the Hornets came.
"They're up to their necks in cement." Jérémie said.
"Got it, Jérémie." Aélita said.
"Jump when I say go, ok?" April asked.
Aélita nodded her head, ready to fly.
They got so close that Aélita didn't know if she even had room to make sure she landed on the logs.
"GO!" April ordered, sliding the Overbike sideways.
Aélita jumped off, flying through the air as April finished her 180 and shot off towards the two Hornets.
Aélita landed on the third log, her finger nails gripping into the wood to keep herself onto it as her legs slipped. She pulled herself up and stood up.
Aélita backed up and ran to jump onto the next log, sending herself all the way to the island. She ran towards the tower, slowing down as she entered it, walking up to the middle of the platform. She floated upward and landed on the second platform.
-.-.-.-
"Ulrich." Odd said, trying to keep his chin above the cement that was pouring into the pool they were in.
"Ya." Ulrich said, doing the same.
"Look, before we die, I-I want to tell you something." Odd said.
"What? And we're not going to die."
"You remember when your diary went missing the second time?" Odd asked.
"Ya."
"Well, that was my fault."
"You what!"
"I was just curious!" Odd defended.
"What did you read!?"
"Just about what you really think about Yumi." He spit out as much as he could of the cement, only to start to panic as it was getting too high.
"Odd!?" Ulrich asked, hoping his friend was staying with him. "Stay alive so I can kill you latter! Please!"
-.-.-.-
Aélita placed her hand on the screen and saw her name appear. Her name vanished to show CODE.
-.-.-.-
Ulrich felt the cement rise even higher and shut his mouth so that none could get in. Odd's thrashing had slowed down as if he was losing the battle.
-.-.-.-
LYOKO finished typing on the screen, sending all the binary code around the tower downward.
"Tower deactivated." Aélita said.
"Return to the Past now!" Jérémie said, pushing the "enter" key.
The white light came up, out of the Holospear and covered the world. It went over the pool full of cement. Odd's hair and part of Ulrich's forehead all that was visible.