Chapter 17 The Lost (Frontier)
A.N. – Nothing new. Let's jump in.
Short Summary – After Yumi unsuccessfully fails to send Jeremy to Lyoko so he can personally apologize to current Aelita, she becomes the only one to save him from certain doom.
Disclaimer – I do not own Code Lyoko or the story idea. I am just a fan of the show, and the idea was submitted by James Marshall.
Jeremy's Point of View
Jeremy is working on his computer with current Aelita, trying to find a way to rematerialize her. After many unsuccessful attempts, he believes he has found a solution. But just like before, his rematerialization program fails. "Aelita did you deactivate the external sinusoidal modules like I told you?"
"Of course," she answers. "And I even defragmented the internal matrix."
"But I already did that! The system's bound to screw up if it gets the same data twice! We'll never succeed if we keep working against each other!"
"I'm sorry."
Jeremy hearing the hint of sadness in her voice quickly answers her. "Uh, no. Well, I'm the one who should be sorry Aelita. Forgive me, I shouldn't have gotten so angry."
"It's okay, but I think we should stop for tonight. I'll see you tomorrow."
"No, wait Aelita!"
"Goodnight."
She logs off and Jeremy feels like a total jerk as he feels like he messed up his relationship with Aelita. He hasn't even materialized her yet and was already screwing up.
Aelita's Point of View
Aelita and Xana decided to take a break this time. Both of them have been hitting hard and fighting back the same way. They decided to come back even harder at them. Aelita would also have to prepare to fight back against Xana's monsters. Whenever she was gonna be on Lyoko to assist the warriors, Xana would consider her a threat.
Since there was no worry about an attack, Aelita decided to check on the warriors. She headed to the courtyard and found them all there, but Jeremy not in good spirits. "Hey you guys" Aelita tells them.
"Hey A" Ulrich replies with a yawn.
"Up late again? Odd?"
"More like his game, till three in the morning."
"You stayed up till three playing a video game?"
"We should introduce you. Maybe then you'll see why" Odd tells her.
Aelita did remember when Odd showed her how to play shortly after she got rematerialized. She was a fast learner and beat Odd most of the time, despite never laying one in her life. "Sorry, but I kind of live in a video game."
"Yeah, but mine isn't infected by Xana."
"What about you Jeremy? I never saw you this depressed."
"I just got a lot on my mind" he responds in a monotone voice.
"Materializing Aelita?" The more information she had, the better so she could prepare to hold her back if needed.
"Yeah, well there's a little more to it then that." The bell rings and Jeremy runs before he can explain himself. Aelita felt like even though there was no attack, this was still not gonna end well.
The group was all gathered after class as Jeremy announced something they never thought he would do…go to Lyoko.
"WHAT?! No way!" Yumi protests, knowing that Xana could take advantage. If they only knew that Xana was taking a break this week.
"Not for long, just an hour" Jeremy pleads.
"It's not the problem Jeremy. The problem is the supercomputer. You're the only one who can use it."
"What about A? She can do it."
"I think it's good if Yumi has some experience. I might not always be there to bail you guys out" Aelita responds. She doesn't want to be responsible for hurting the current Jeremy and affecting her future.
"Then I'll guide you. And A will be there to assist you if you need help."
"I don't know. It doesn't sound right" Yumi says.
"Yumi, listen. I had a fight with her, and I need to apologize to her personally."
"And if Xana attacks?"
"Very unlikely," Aelita answers. "But we'll bring him back and intercept."
Jeremy has finished explaining the basics of virtualization. He has descended and is in the scanner waiting. "I'm starting the virtualization," Yumi announces as she finishes the startup process. "Go!"
"Wait, not that key!" Aelita tries to warn, but it's already too late as Jeremy disappears from the scanners.
"What- What did I do?" Yumi asks in confusion.
Aelita types on screen to review the previous virtualization. "You created a data capture error."
"Meaning?"
"The memory used to bring people back to and from Lyoko was deactivated, so the supercomputer couldn't decipher who he is. Couldn't materialize him on Lyoko and we can't devirtualize him. My Lyoko band has my virtual avatar stored on a small memory bank which allows the instant virtualization."
"Then how do we get him back?" Odd asks.
"The question is, can we get him back?"
A few moments later, the group is conversating with the current Aelita, discussing if there was a way to get Jeremy back. "If he's not there or here, he's stuck somewhere between Lyoko and your world. Lost, with no way of return. But he is okay."
"How do you know?" Ulrich asks.
"I'm kinda linked to him. I can hear his thoughts and he can hear mine." Current Aelita remains silent for a moment. "He says we have to retrieve memory."
"Memory, for what?" Odd asks.
"The data that Yumi deactivated wasn't lost, but there isn't any stored in the scanners. Aelita has to travel between the four passage towers to recover the scanners full memory in order for the supercomputer to recognize him and rematerialize him" future Aelita tells them.
"I'm close to the ice sector way tower now. I'll get the data from that one and move on" current Aelita says. She then heads off to the tower.
"Don't sweat it. It takes practice to learn how to use this thing. It's better now than during an attack" Aelita tries to reassure Yumi.
"I know, but I should've let you do it. I was too inexperienced and now Jeremy's lost!" Yumi says, still feeling responsible for what happened.
"You have nothing to feel sorry for. Accidents happen and we'll all learn from them. You should all head back. You have classes and I don't. I'll stay here and keep Aelita company."
The group all departs as Aelita watches her current self. "You better back off Xana."
In another few minutes, current Aelita comes in with a report. "A, I'm coming up to the second tower!"
"Okay, get in and recover the memory fragment," future Aelita reports. The bar for recovered memory fills up halfway. "Great, we're halfway there. Hold on Jeremy."
"I'm off to the forest now."
"Report A?" Odd asks.
"We have half the memory recovered."
"You could take a break. We can watch it for a while."
"No, I got nothing else to do. I'm not working, and I have nothing to do with Kadic. If you guys are really that concerned, just stay here as Aelita traverses through the forest."
"Sounds like a plan."
"I'll head back. I have a class to attend to. I'll check in when it's over" Yumi reports.
Suddenly an alarm comes, and A and the boys look to the screen to see three kankerlots blocking Aelita's path. "Aelita, go behind you. There's a path," future Aelita tells her as she retreats. Suddenly two more appear. "Aelita, to your left. Take that path. You'll get to the tower."
She jumps to the other path. The monsters fire at her but she gets out of their range. "Well done Aelita. Jeremy would be proud of you" Ulrich reports.
Aelita recovers the data and now there is only one last piece to recover. She then heads over to the mountain sector.
Aelita enters the mountain sector and sees the tower. But she stops short of it. "Why is she stopping?" Odd asks.
"I'm at the tower, but Xana is blocking two bloks. He must know something is up" Aelita reports.
'Great. He can't leave them alone even on an off week' future Aelita thinks.
"There's no way through?" Ulrich asks.
"No, the path is too narrow. And if we can't get the data, we can't save Jeremy."
"There must be a way of getting to this tower" A says.
"What about using one scanner?" Ulrich says.
"Just one? I'll ask him" Aelita says.
"Why just one? We need all three to bring Jeremy back" Odd says.
"Think about Odd. If one of us could succeed in getting to Lyoko…" Ulrich starts.
"Then we could clear the path, recover the data, and save Jeremy" A finishes.
"We got a problem. It's getting harder and harder to communicate with Jeremy. I'm afraid he's starting to delete himself" Aelita tells them.
"What do you mean?" Ulrich asks.
"The computer must think he's some kind of outdated file. So, he'll eventually just disappear altogether," A explains. "But look." The boys look at Jeremy's life point count. "As Jeremy deletes, his life points drop. When they reach zero…"
"He disappears."
"Call Yumi. We are going to need her help" Odd tells Ulrich.
"Tell her to grab Jeremy's laptop" A adds.
What turned into a rescue mission, now turned into a race against time.
With time running short, Ulrich phones Yumi to figure out what's going on. "Hey, what's going on?" There is a pause. "Okay, I see. Yumi got caught by Jim. She's now in the principal's office."
"Well now what? We can't succeed without Jeremy's laptop" Odd says.
"Ulrich knows how" A says, and Ulrich knows exactly what she's talking about.
Eventually, Yumi and Ulrich return and the air is tense around them. "So, who's going?" Yumi asks.
"I am" A answers.
"Are you sure? We can't lose you as well."
"I got a little something, but we need the scanners operational first."
"Wait, can't you just use that Lyoko door of yours to enter the mountain sector?" Odd asks.
"Where I'll appear will be too far away. The closer we get to Aelita the better."
They try to activate the scanners but are missing some data. "Oh, we're missing another 10 bytes."
"Odd, you might have to sacrifice your game." Odd nods and Aelita sets up a self-delayed virtualization. "Okay, this program runs itself. All you have to do is hit the enter and let the supercomputer manage the rest." Yumi hesitates. "Don't worry. This will work." A descends down into the scanners and steps in one. "Do it now."
Yumi hits enter, and they watch the program run itself. It transfers, scans, and virtualizes her into the mountain sector.
The bloks see Aelita and they fire at her. But at this time, an energy orb is fired and the first blok is destroyed. A lands in front of Aelita. The blok fires at her and she defends using two orbs. She throws one of them and destroys the second.
"You came at the right time" Aelita tells her.
"You can thank me later. Right now, Jeremy needs your help" A tells her and Aelita runs to the tower. A uses her Lyoko door to reenter the real world.
Current Aelita's Point of View
After Aelita recovered the data, her vision was engulfed in a bright flash of light, and she was floating. She headed forward and she saw Jeremy straight ahead. Jeremy opens his eyes and the two headed towards each other. As the two approached, they touched their fingers and soon both of them were blinded in a bright flash of white.
Future Aelita's Point of View
A and the rest of the Lyoko Warriors were in the scanner room, waiting for the scanners to open. One opens and as the smoke clears, they all see Jeremy there, unconscious. They pick him up and take him to the academy. After a few hours, he wakes up to see them all around him.
"How are you feeling?" Ulrich asks.
"It was…it was…fantastic!" Jeremy exclaims.
"Well, I think this is one experience that we don't want to repeat" A says.
"Definitely. I think I'll leave you guys to be going to Lyoko from now on."
"I think we should all retire for tonight."
"Well, I need to go anyway. I promised Sissi" Ulrich says.
"Seriously, maybe you should cool it Ulrich. After that down payment, you shouldn't let her walk all over you" Odd says.
"Down payment? What down payment?" Yumi asks.
"Listen I got to go. You two settle this" A retreats and Ulrich follows.
"We'll talk later Yumi. See ya!" Ulrich says as he runs off.
"So, what 'down payment' did you give Sissi?"
"Don't ask."
Aelita returns to Lyoko and Xana confronts her. "You shouldn't have interfered" Xana tells her.
"I couldn't let him disappear. Aelita would be devastated and on top of that, I still need her to get out. You can't expect her to be trapped forever. And let me remind you, this was supposed to be an off week."
"Well if Jeremy and Aelita's relationship was perfect, maybe this could have been an off week."
Xana disappears and Aelita reflects on her past. Sure, she and Jeremy may be perfect in the future, but she does remember the past wasn't always at their best.
A.N. – And thus ends this chapter. The next one will be combined with both The Robots, and Zero Gravity Zone. I want Routine to be on its own and if you're a fan and know me, you'll understand why. PM me with story ideas if you have any! Don't forget to review with questions or comments! I will respond! Stay safe and healthy out there! As always, till next time! See ya! -lyokowarrior97