Chapter 17
Thursday
"Where's April?" Aélita asked as she walked up to Odd and Ulrich as they headed out of the dormitory.
"Haven't seen her this morning." Odd said. "I figured she went to breakfast."
"She's not there." Aélita said. "I'll check her room."
"We're coming with you." Ulrich said, looking at Odd.
The three turned back and walked back into the dormitory, heading for April's apartment.
Aélita opened the door, calling in, "April? Maggie? Is anyone in here?"
"Qui est-ce!?" April's voice called out in English.
"April, c'est nous!" Odd called as they went towards her voice. "Odd, Aélita, et Ulrich!"
"Non! Je ne sais pas qui vous avez!" April called out.
The three entered the living room and found the girl holding onto a pillow on the sofa.
"What does she mean, she doesn't know us?" Odd asked.
"I wonder if her memory's acting up again?" Aélita offered, "Yumi mentioned she had been in a car accident that messed with her memory."
"April!" Jérémie's voice called as the door opened. Jérémie rushed in and stopped dead as he saw the group gathered in the living room. "What's going on?"
"April doesn't seem to know us, or French." Ulrich explained.
"That would explain this I got from Joro." Jérémie said, handing Aélita the paper in his hand. "Xana activated a tower on Xanadu that is erasing their memories. Joro sent this right before it affected him."
"You both figured out the connection between Lyoko and Xanadu?" Aélita asked, reading the paper. Jérémie nodded his head.
"So we have to go to Xanadu?" Odd asked, hopefully.
"Yes, call Yumi and tell her to meet us at the factory." Jérémie said, starting to head out.
"Got it." Ulrich said, pulling out his cell.
Odd walked over to April and tried to convince her to come with them. April looked at him as if he was crazy, but followed, leaving the pillow on the sofa.
-.-.-.-
"We're here, Jérémie." Ulrich said, standing on the edge of the mountain sector.
"Alright, according to Joro, all I have to do to activate the program is to type in Xanadu. X-A-N-A-D-U." Jérémie said, typing it in.
Odd looked around, looking for an orb of some kind.
"There! That's our transport." Aélita said, pointing to a black square moving towards them.
"Looks more like something Xana created." Odd said.
"That's what Joro gave me." Jérémie said as the square covered over them, sending them through wires and network.
-.-.-.-
"Ugh! That thing's worst that the transporter to sector 5!" Odd said, holding onto his gut.
"Ulrich! You look hilarious!" Yumi said, looking at the boy next to her.
Ulrich looked at her, wondering what she was talking about. Then he saw her digital entity. "You don't look all that normal yourself."
"April did mention that Xanadu was a little more cartoony, I guess you'd say." Aélita said.
"Nice parashoot pants, Ulrich." Odd said, covering his mouth before laughing.
"You should see yourself." Ulrich said. "You're a Neko!"
"I know I'm a cat." Odd said.
"No, you've got cat ears as well as your more cat-ified outfit." Yumi said.
"Are you done now?" Jérémie asked. "There is a tower to deactivate."
"Alright, where's this tower?" Ulrich asked, looking around at the more earth-like surroundings. He noticed behind them was a waterfall.
"According to this, it's in the mountain sector. You're in the forest sector." Jérémie said. "It looks as if it really is a proto type of Lyoko. Same sectors and everything."
"That's how they explained it." Yumi said, playing with the strings to the long sleeves of her robe.
"Any way you can program our vehicles?" Aélita asked.
"No, the program's too advance." Jérémie said. "I'm having enough problems keeping track of your location."
"We haven't moved." Odd said.
"Exactly."
"Well, how do we get to the mountains?" Ulrich asked.
"Follow the cords Xana uses to activates his towers." Jérémie said. "The wires connect the different sectors. Xanadu is set up as if it's on an island. There are only a few towers on the whole world."
"Got it Jérémie." Odd said as the four started to run towards the way the cords were going. "How's April doing?"
"She could be better." Jérémie said. "Xana's making her forget everything. And I mean, everything."
"Something's I don't want to remember." Ulrich said, putting his hand on his saber. "Come on, let's find this tower."
"Do I want to know what he's talking about?" Yumi asked Aélita as they started to run towards the tower.
Aélita shook her head, knowing what Ulrich was talking about.
"Warning, something's coming up in front of you." Jérémie said.
"Any idea what it is?" Odd asked as they stopped running.
"Not really." Jérémie admitted.
"There! That over there!" Ulrich said, trying to pull out his saber only to find it 'glued' to his sheft. "Uh, Jérémie, why can't I get my saber out?"
"How should I know, a million pop-up windows just appeared when you noticed the monster." Jérémie said as he typed in the windows to figure out what they were for. "What does it look like?"
"It looks like one of Xana's specters." Odd said, raising his paw only to find he couldn't shoot. "Uh, I seem to be a little short on weaponry also, Einstein."
"Hold on for a moment." Jérémie said. "Apparently, in Xanadu, I have to load each one of your weapons every time they are needed. Ulrich, I just got your saber charged. You should be able to use it now."
Ulrich pulled out his saber just in time to realize the specter was almost at them. He swung his saber through the ghost, cutting it in half. The ghost fell to the ground before fazing through.
"Ulrich, your sword is blue." Yumi said, realizing the katana looked different.
Ulrich held it in front of his face and noticed the 1's and 0's making up his sword.
"Odd, Yumi, both of your weapons are fully loaded and ready for use." Jérémie said. "Aélita, something's messing with your weapon. I can't tell if it's Xana or if it's the programming issue."
"It'll really be like the old days." Aélita said, taking her old place behind her friends.
"There's the tower!" Yumi said, seeing the tip of the tower over in the distance.
"Let's go than." Odd said, starting to run towards the tower.
His friend's followed behind him, keeping up with his speed. They followed the path in till Odd stopped, making his friends run into his back.
"Odd! What's your problem?" Ulrich asked, standing up from trying to avoid his friend's backside.
"I don't know. Hold on a second." Odd said, holding his hand up to say stay still.
Yumi looked around, her hands ready to fight, remembering Odd used to have Future Flash and was taking his words seriously.
CRACK!
"LOOK OUT!" Aélita called, seeing a tree about to fall down on Odd and Ulrich.
The two boys looked up and saw the tree in enough time to nearly miss it.
"I guess my old power's coming back." Odd said, standing up.
"And if we had kept on going, we would've missed it." Ulrich said, dusting off his pants.
"No, we would've been under the tree." Yumi said, motioning to herself and Aélita.
"Let's just get the tower de-activated." Aélita said.
"There's some specters on their way to you." Jérémie said. "And I think they're the ones who knocked over the tree, so watch out. They're smarter in a way when it comes to booby traps."
"Thanks Jérémie." Ulrich said, pulling out his katana.
"Ulrich! Behind you!" Aélita cried, seeing a black ghost racing towards her friend from behind.
Ulrich spun around and swiped the air with his sword, making contact with the ghost.
"Yumi!" Odd called, pulling up his paw and shooting just past her head, aimed at the specter.
The specter glowed yellow before it broke into three pieces and fell into the ground.
"Any more on your screen, Jérémie?" Yumi asked, looking up.
"No, but then again, the one Odd just destroyed wasn't showing up, so keep an eye out." Jérémie said, typing on his keyboard. "Joro wasn't kidding when he said that place needed an upgrade."
Ulrich put his sword back in the sheft and started towards the tower with his friends.
"This place seems so much like Earth." Aélita said, looking around as they ran.
"I think that's what they wanted then." Yumi said.
"Yumi! Behind you." Jérémie said, getting them all to stop for a moment.
"What Jérémie? There's nothing there." Yumi said, looking at the forest they had just come through and noticed they were on the edge of the territory with only a river between them and the tower.
"I saw something. I don't know what happened, but it was there." Jérémie said.
"You all go on, I'll keep watch for this specter." Yumi said to Ulrich, Odd, and Aélita.
"Good luck, Yumi." Ulrich said as the three of them jumped from wire to wire across the river towards the mountain sector of the island.
"Thanks." Yumi called to him as she pulled out her fans again, ready to protect her friends from whatever it was behind them.
-.-.-.-
"Zut! This is where all of them are, huh." Ulrich said as they saw the tower with about ten ghosts around it from the top of a mountain.
"You ready to be a ghost hunter now?" Odd asked, acting like he was cocking his laser arrows.
"AAAAHHHH!"
"What was that?" Aélita asked, turned around to face the trail they had made coming up the mountain.
"It sounded like Yumi!" Ulrich said, standing up from his kneeling position.
"Ulrich, she's been devitalized." Jérémie said as he watched his screens with her card. "The specter's coming your way."
"And it didn't sound like getting killed on Xanadu was all that fun." Odd said.
"Is she alright?" Ulrich asked, getting back down on his kneels so that he wouldn't give away their position if he hadn't already.
"Ulrich, I'm fine." Yumi said.
"Where are you?" Jérémie asked.
"I'm in the factory in New Mexico." Yumi said.
"She didn't go back to France?" Odd asked.
"Makes since, since Xanadu is in New Mexico, but how do I get back?" Yumi asked.
"I think you'll get back when I do the return to the past." Jérémie said.
"Watch out, the ghosts have noticed you." Yumi said, sitting down in the chair Joro had been in when they were talking to each other. She looked into the screen and saw a group of ghosts fly away from the tower and towards her friends.
"Ya, I see that." Ulrich said.
"Hey, you remember that movie we watched not long ago?" Odd asked, standing up.
"The one with the gladiators?" Ulrich asked.
"Yap, you want to?"
"Why not." Ulrich stood up, taking out his katana and raised it above his head. "Charge!"
The two boys ran down the mountain, aimed at the ghosts heading towards them.
"Laser Arrow!" Odd cried, shooting at the ghosts.
Three of them disappeared as one arrow shot threw the three.
"Nice shot Odd." Jérémie said, surprised.
"If you think that was nice, try this on for size." Ulrich said. "SuperSprint!"
Ulrich ran to the edge of the next mountain and jumped off, using the momentum to rake his katana through the remaining five ghosts that were traveling in the air towards Aélita and Odd.
Ulrich landed next to Odd, and put his sword back in its sheft.
"Show off." Odd said, looking at his friend.
Ulrich smirked at Odd before looking behind them and said to Aélita, "Come on, before Xana sends more ghosts."
Aélita got up and ran with them towards the tower.
-.-.-.-
"Ugh."
Yumi looked around, trying to find the source of the mown. "Is anyone there?" Yumi asked in English.
"Who is it?" a voice asked.
Yumi got up from the chair and looked around, trying to find the person who's voice sounded familiar from when April was talking to her friends. "Mack, is that you?"
"Mack? I don't recognize that name." the voice said as Yumi walked up to a boy on the ground.
He turned towards her and said, "But, then again, I don't even know my own name."
"You are Mack, if I remember correctly." Yumi said, helping him up. "Xana has erased your memory."
"Xana? Who's that? Some evil villain from a cartoon?"
"Somewhat, you've been fighting him since the summer started." Yumi said, remembering what April said.
"And you are who again?" Mack asked, walking over to the computer screens.
"I'm Yumi, but you've only met me through video chat."
"So where are you from?"
"France."
"Funny, you reminded me of something Asian, but I can't think of it right now."
"I'm born Japanese." Yumi said.
"Yumi! Quel-est-ce passe?" Jérémie's voice asked from the mike.
"Who's that?" Mack asked.
"That's Jérémie." Yumi explained, going back towards the chair. She put on the mike and said in French, "Ya Jérémie?"
"What happened? I've been calling you for a while. I can't seem to set up the return to the past." Jérémie said.
"I think I might be able to do it from over here." Yumi said, looking at all the keyboards attached to the supercomputer.
"Did April tell you how to?" Jérémie asked.
"No, but she mentioned that the hardest thing to remember was the return to the past, so maybe there's some notes around here." Yumi said, starting to look underneath the table holding the screens.
"Is this it?" Mack asked, holding a sticky note his hand.
Yumi took it from his hand and read it. "Yes, thanks."
She followed the instructions written down on the paper before hitting enter. "Return to the past, now!"
A white bubble appeared to come out of the screen, blinding Yumi and Mack.
Yumi put up her arm to block out the light only to find that she was back in her room and grabbing her bag so that she could walk with Hiroki to school.
"Yumi, you coming?" Hiroki asked from outside her door.
"Coming." Yumi said, walking towards the door and opening it to find Hiroki on the other side.
-.-.-.-
"What?" Yumi asked as she got up with her friends.
"No, Jérémie doesn't remember a thing from the last attack." Odd said.
"It's like when we first found the supercomputer." Ulrich said.
"Well, since you went to Xanadu and I have only been to Lyoko, it all makes sense." Jérémie said, thinking over all that had happened.
"But everything's back to normal?" Yumi asked, seeing April sitting next to Aélita on the bench.
"Yes, though Xana has messed my memory up so that I know as much as Jérémie does about what happened." April said. "All I remember is that I woke up twice today. Oh, and good news, my water heater is fixed!"
"Well, that is good news." Aélita said.
Ring
"Shoot, class. See you." Yumi said, walking off towards her class.
"Who do we have today?" April asked, standing up and grabbing her bag.
"Maths." Odd said.
"You people never have the same class list twice, do you?" April asked. "How do you ever remember what your schedule is?"
"You just kind of learn it." Ulrich said, putting his bag on his shoulder. "How's yours?"
"You have an Odd day and an Even day. One, three, five, and seven are on the Odd days and two, four, six, and seven are done on the Even days." April explained.
"Seven's not even." Jérémie said.
"Try telling that to the American School Board System." April said. "They are trying to make sure that my generation does not know anything for when we will be running the US."
"Well, are you any good in maths?" Aélita asked as they walked into the classroom.
"What type?"
"Algebra."
"Which part?" April asked, taking her seat next to Odd.
"What do you mean, which part?" Ulrich asked.
"Oh, you have all of it in one class?" April asked.
"I forgot a lot of other schools do that." Odd said. "Separate Algebra into two parts."
"What is sad is that I have already had two classes of Algebra." April said. "I stink in the class."
"Welcome to my life." Ulrich said. "I can't even spell."
"This may sound sad, but I can spell French better than I can spell English." April admitted.
Ring!
The class quieted down as Mrs. Meyers walked in.