A/N: Here is the next installment of my Jerlita Roleswap AU. Hope you all enjoy it~
Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko in any way, shape, or form.
Note: Remember, any episodes not mentioned either as the inspiration for a chapter or just in passing are not part of the AU, mainly because the roleswap makes them useless, and those only mentioned in passing are just filler and/or would be the same no matter who has what role.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
"When Aelita stumbles upon a virtual world inside a supercomputer, her life and the lives of her friends will change forever."
Episode 2: Ignition, Part 2
(Based on XANA Awakens, Part 2)
The five teens could barely sleep after all that excitement last night. It was such a rush! Who knew an abandoned factory held such an amazing secret?!
Ulrich was the first one at their table, like always, when Yumi got to school. But the next thing she noticed was that Sissi was sitting next to him (in Yumi's seat, no less), attached to him like glue and just watching him eat his breakfast with a lovestruck expression on her face. Yumi, by some miracle, managed to resist the urge to roll her eyes at the sight (no, it was not out of jealousy; shut up!), and simply sat down in an empty seat at the table.
Not long after, Odd arrived and sat down with his breakfast, as he greeted them, "Hey, you lovebirds! Hey, Sissi! Sleep well?"
Yumi raised an eyebrow at Odd's new hairstyle. For as long as she could remember, it was down and long (a pretty tacky look if she had to be honest). Today, it was in the same style as the one his virtual form had, spiked up like a cone.
She wasn't the only one who noticed. Ulrich did too, "What's with the hairdo?"
"Lyoko style!" Odd replied. "It's pretty trendy! Meow!"
Ulrich rolled his eyes, to which Yumi told him, "Honestly, this isn't the weirdest thing he's done."
"You don't have to live with him, Yumi," Ulrich replied, as Odd began inhaling his breakfast.
Sissi watched in disgust as Odd dipped his croissant in his hot chocolate before slurping up said hot chocolate. "Do you always eat that much?"
"No, I'm not that hungry today, actually," Odd told her. Ulrich and Yumi knew that answer was true. "Has anyone seen Aelita?"
"She's in her room," Ulrich told him. "Once the lab was repaired, she spent the night on her computer looking for more information on Lyoko."
"Man, my cousin really is a female Einstein, isn't she?" Odd asked, looking proud. The question was rhetorical. 'Miss Einstein' was one of the two nicknames they gave to Aelita.
"Who's Einstein?" Sissi asked. Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi looked at her before sharing a concerned glance at each other. Did Sissi really not know who Albert Einstein was?
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Like Ulrich said, Aelita was indeed in her room, on her computer. Thanks to her idea of connecting her personal computer with the supercomputer, she could talk to Marin from the privacy of her room now. That's what she was currently doing, in fact, talking to Marin and telling him about what had happened last night and what she had dug up on the supercomputer since then.
"Unfortunately," she was telling him, "you're not like Odd, Ulrich, or Yumi. If you lose all of your lifepoints, you'll be permanently deleted."
"That is certainly not what we want," Marin agreed. "At least I know how to change sectors now."
"That is very useful information," Aelita said. "I also found out what the towers are for. They're portals between the two worlds, and when they have a red halo, it means they're activated."
"Are you sure?"
"Just about," Aelita admitted. "And it's just a theory, but maybe the red tower is how we can materialize you right here on Earth?"
"On Earth?" Marin asked, looking surprised. "You mean, so I can live with you?"
"Yeah," Aelita replied. "What do you think?"
"I think it's a great idea!" Marin's expression broke out into a bright smile. He was beaming and his voice was clearly showing his enthusiasm. "That way, we can always be together, and I'll never have to step foot on Lyoko again!"
'Always be together'. Marin wanted to be with her. That's what he just said. Just as friends, though, right? Right?!
"Aelita, are you okay?" Marin's voice broke her out of her trance. "Why is your face so red?"
Oh god. She didn't realize she was blushing. "D-Don't worry, I'm fine," she internally winced at her stutter. Why did that always happen when she was talking with Marin? "I'm just flattered that you want to leave Lyoko for my sake."
"Of course I do," Marin replied, calmly. "You are the very first human I've come into contact with, and you've done so much to help me already. Materializing me may be too much to ask of you. What do your friends think?"
"I'll find out in about an hour," Aelita said.
What did Marin mean by he'll 'never have to step foot on Lyoko again'? Did he not like it there? If so, why not?
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"You want us to go back to Lyoko to bring Marin to the red tower?" Ulrich asked.
It was an hour later, and Aelita had just told the other four about her theory of using the red tower to materialize Marin.
"Again, it's just a theory," Aelita explained. "But it's all I have right now. In any case, the towers are the key to his materialization. That, I'm sure of."
"It's still pretty dangerous, cuz," Odd corrected. "We could've all been wiped out for good last night."
"Odd's right, Aelita," Yumi added. "Whatever was controlling that cable thing was going after you. There's also the vending machine shock and your lamp attacking you."
"Sorry, Aelita," Ulrich finished. "But I agree with them. We're better off shutting down the supercomputer. Too bad for Marin, but it's not like he's human."
"But he's still an intelligent being!" Aelita immediately protested to that, which she was surprised by. "He's got emotions, just like us!" Normally, she would've been more upset at her friends turning against her, but her first thought just now was defending Marin.
"See? I told you," Yumi muttered to Ulrich and Odd. "She's madly in love with a computer program."
"C'mon guys," Aelita pleaded. "I'm just asking you to go there one last time."
"We can't even make it past the monsters," Odd told her. "We'll probably get ourselves blown away in a heartbeat."
"Well, last night, we weren't even sure how to use our weapons. We were lucky we stayed alive for so long," Yumi reminded him. "We just have to train with them." She then remembered something, "Aelita, didn't you say that each of us had a special power along with our weapon?"
Aelita nodded, feeling better that her friends (and Sissi) were genuinely thinking about her request.
"There's also Marin facing permanent deletion if he gets devirtualized. If there were four of us, then we could probably do it," Ulrich replied. "But Sissi's too scared."
"I am not!" Sissi finally spoke. "I really do want to join you guys on Lyoko, but only when cheerleading practice is over." She said that last part so sternly.
Aelita let out a giggle, "Gee, thanks, Sissi." She turned serious. "Listen, as soon as Marin is materialized into our world, I give you my word that I will shut down the supercomputer, and we can put this all behind us. We'll never speak of it again. But until then, we have to keep this a secret."
"I swear," Yumi immediately said, holding one of her hands up.
"I swear," Ulrich quickly followed.
"I swear," as did Odd.
They each looked at Sissi, who did the same, "Ditto." She then placed a hand on Ulrich's shoulder and told him, "I can't wait to see what I look like on Lyoko!"
"Me too. With some luck, I won't be the dumbest looking one of the group," Odd snarked.
Aelita giggled again, before nudging Odd's shoulder, "Let's go, Odd. We have study hall."
She and Odd left the area, while Yumi stood up and turned to Ulrich, "Rematch?" Their last match, last night during martial arts class, Ulrich had gotten the point, but only because Hiroki had distracted Yumi at the wrong time.
Ulrich smirked, "You're on."
As the two walked away, Sissi called back, "Ulrich, where are you going? Aren't you coming to see my cheerleading routine?"
"No, I have something more important to take care of!" he called back, as he and Yumi continued on to the gym. "Maybe next time!"
Soon, Sissi was the only one left on the bench in the courtyard.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Marin opened his eyes the moment he heard it.
A strange pulse, sounding almost like a heartbeat, was radiating from somewhere on Lyoko.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"One, two, three, four! One, two, three, four!" Sissi reciting as she strutted down the hallway. She was dressed for cheerleading practice, twirling her baton as she went. "This is gonna blow their minds!"
She paid no attention to the outlet she passed, the one that was sparkling dangerously with electricity.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The strange heartbeat sound kept sounding in Marin's ears as he got to his feet.
"Aelita? Aelita, can you hear me? There's something strange going on. Aelita?!"
But he got no response.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita and Odd were making their way to the library for study hall.
Odd was complaining about their tagalong member, "Man, at first I thought Sissi was a real babe, but the more I get to know her, the more I realize she's, uh...how can I put this tactfully?"
"A turkey?" Aelita asked in jest.
"Exactly," Odd replied. "Man, has she always been like that? Or is her crush on Ulrich making her that dumb?"
Aelita shrugged, "I'm voting crush." She didn't want to talk bad about Sissi. Deep down, Sissi was a good person. "Love makes people goes bananas."
"Wise words of wisdom, dear cousin. Wise words."
"Too many adjectives there, Odd," Aelita said.
"Don't care," Odd said. "You're the genius here, remember? Miss Einstein?"
"Stop calling me that! Walking Stomach!"
The two cousins continued to bicker like they usually did. Only in jest, and they were more like siblings than cousins. But Aelita wouldn't have it any other way.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
All eyes were on Sissi as she performed her routine. She twirled her baton.
"A cheerleader cheers so her team won't lose!" She recited, and performed the moves just as she practiced. "We've got short skirts and sparkly shoes! We're just so gorgeous, how can you choose? There's no doubt, we've got clout! Winning at Kadic is what it's all about! Kadic!" She twirled her baton into the air...
...Only for it to come down right on top of Jim's head, "Ouch!"
"Bravo! Well done!" Nicolas and Herve shouted from the bleachers. "Encore! Encore!"
"Sorry, Sissi," Jim said, holding her baton and the bump on his head. "Cheerleading is not about being a boomerang juggling baboon!"
What did he just say?!
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The longer time Marin spent trying to contact Aelita, the more likely it seemed like he'd have to investigate himself. The pulse he was hearing wouldn't go away, and there was no way he could just ignore it.
He walked down the pathway leading to the exit of the tower. He stopped right before the wall and closed his eyes.
Did he really want to risk it? The last time he went outside the tower, he got attacked and was twenty lifepoints away from being deleted. It was for that reason that Aelita had told him to stay inside the safe haven that was this tower. Was it worth it?
He clenched both of his fists tightly, and after taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes and placed his hand through the wall. He easily phased through the wall this time, probably because he knew what to expect and to do.
He focused on the strange pulse, before taking off in a sprint, following to where the pulse seemed to be leading him.
This could be a trap, he told himself. But he had to know.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
In the gym, Ulrich and Yumi were hunched over, breathing deeply.
"Shall we call it a draw?" Ulrich asked. He needed some water.
He was caught completely off-guard when Yumi kicked his feet out from underneath him, sending him to the ground.
"Why?" Yumi stood above him, a smirk on her face. "Afraid of losing some more?"
He returned her smirk, "You wish," before getting back to his feet.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Marin emerged from the way tower the strange pulsations had led him to, emerging to find a forest on the other side.
Aelita did say that Lyoko had four Sectors, right? His tower was in the Mountain Sector, and the red tower was in the Ice Sector, according to Aelita's friends. This must've been the Forest Sector.
He looked on either side of him for monsters. Seeing none, he ran down the pathway, still following the pulsations.
When he came upon a clearing, he stopped, as he saw many pathways branching off from it. He was about to see which path the pulsations would lead him towards, but he didn't get that time, as one of the small monsters from yesterday saw him and began firing at him.
He quickly hid behind a tree for cover, as the monster kept shooting at him.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"A baboon, huh?!" Sissi was walking back to her dorm. "And why not a trumpet-wielding bear while he's at it?!"
When she reached her dorm and began opening her door, her attention was brought to the two shadows behind her.
She turned around, "Hey, you two dumb dorks! Are you planning on following me around all day?" She used one of her hands to making a shooing motion.
Nicolas and Herve were smiling like idiots.
"Well, yeah," Nicolas said, obviously too lovestruck to say anything else.
Herve took over, "We're your biggest admirers in the whole school. We even started a fanclub called 'Friends of Sissi'."
Sissi seemed to be pleased at that, "Oh, and just how many of you are in the club?"
"Well, for the moment, uh..." Herve started.
Nicolas finished, "Just us."
The smile on Sissi's face immediately faded, "Right. Well, come and talk to me when there's at least fifty of you! Until then, both of you stay away from me or else my father is going to find out that you two clowns tried to break into my room! Understand?!" She slammed her door in their faces, leaving Nicolas and Herve out in the hallway by themselves.
Nicolas gave a sigh, "She's even more beautiful when she's angry, isn't she?"
Herve simply rolled his eyes, "Couldn't you have developed a crush on someone more likeable?" Like Aelita?, but he kept that to himself.
He was only in this Sissi fanclub for Nicolas's sake, a favor for a friend.
The two turned to walk away when they heard Sissi scream from inside her room. They ran back and when they opened the door, they saw Sissi lying on the floor, a coat hanger in her hand.
They witnessed the electrical ball that had shocked her go back into the nearby electrical socket.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita was typing away on her (pink) laptop when Odd asked a sudden question, "Y'know, if Marin comes to live with us, he'll need an Odd-patented nickname."
"Yeah?" Aelita asked as she kept typing, half-listening.
"You have two nicknames, Princess and Miss Einstein," Odd was tapping his pencil against the blank paper that was his electrochemistry report. "The problem is we don't know much about him, so maybe 'Mr. Einstein' wouldn't be correct. What about 'Prince Charming'?"
Aelita's typing immediately stopped as she felt her face go red. "W-What?!"
Odd simply smiled, "Face it, 'Lita," 'Lita' was the pet name he called her in heart-to-heart situations, "out of all the suitors you've had over the years, Marin's the most promising." Odd had always taken it upon himself to be her bodyguard, so to speak, as her only family here at Kadic. "I mean, I can't give a solid opinion on Marin without meeting him first, but there's a huge difference between the way you act around Herve and the way you act around Marin."
"Which is?" Aelita asked, burying her red face in the screen of her laptop, as she continued typing.
"You like Marin," Odd answered. Truth. Herve just annoyed her. He never seemed to take the hint that she didn't like him that way.
But Marin...he was different.
"You've never met him, Odd," Aelita said, after a brief pause. "How do you already know that Marin is the best choice?"
"How did he react when you told him about your idea of bringing him here to live with us?" Odd was smiling, an indication that he already knew the answer.
"I told you guys already," Aelita replied. "He liked it." Odd simply raised a knowing eyebrow, still smiling. Aelita sighed, admitting defeat, "He got really excited. Like it was something he really wanted, but then he admitted that he was afraid it was too tall of an order for me to fill. Like he felt guilty for wanting it so much."
"Exactly," was all Odd said, before changing the subject. "What are you working on anyways?"
"Well, I just dug up two programs that might be useful," Aelita explained. "Return to the Past and Self-Virtualization. And I also know how to activate them."
"Cool," Odd replied. "So you can go with us this time."
Really? Her go to Lyoko? "But someone needs to watch the supercomputer," was her excuse.
"We do need a fourth. Don't you want to see Marin in person?"
That's all Odd had to say to make Aelita's blush return. "I-I do." She sighed. "I'll think about it, okay?"
"Sure thing, it's your choice," Odd said. "Now, could you give me a hand with my electrochemistry report?"
"I'm not writing it for you," was the pink-ette's automatic response. "We got in trouble the last time we did that."
"Don't write it for me. Just tell me what to write."
Aelita rolled her eyes, before continuing her typing, "Fine. Just say that electrochemistry is the science that deals with the relationship between electricity and chemistry." She could hear Odd's pencil scratching against the paper. "Then say that electrochemistry involves opposing polar systems composed at its two extremes of electrically conductive material."
Odd's pencil stopped, "Wow. That's all I have to say?"
"Of course not. You have to give examples, you know. You can do that by yourself."
"You're so mean, Aelita," Odd pouted, but he reached into his bag to pull out his chemistry book anyways. Aelita just stuck her tongue out at him.
Whatever was about to be said next was cut off by Matthias Burel and Christophe M'Bala walking by. What they were talking about really interested the two cousins.
"I just saw Sissi! Jim was taking her to the infirmary!"
"What she'd do? Pull a muscle in her brain, trying to add two plus two?"
"No, she got electrocuted!"
Aelita and Odd turned to each other with knowing expressions.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The monster remained stationary by his tree, but had ceased its firing. Marin remained behind his cover as he called out once more, "Aelita? Aelita, please answer me. I have a situation here, and I need your help."
Still no response.
He sighed before slipping the goggles on top of his head down over his eyes, and was surprised to see that the goggles themselves were helping him see where enemies were, as well as the nearest tower.
He kept searching the various pathways he was faced with, before his goggles told him where the nearest passage tower was. He took a deep breath and ran for the pathway his goggles were indicating.
Just like he knew it would, the small monster fired at him as soon as it saw him, but he kept running. The monster was following him as fast as it could.
Pretty soon, another one of those little monsters blocked his way forward, coming out from behind a rock. His goggles alerted him to the nearest passage tower being to his left. Marin looked in that direction and saw another pathway that was clear of enemies.
The problem? It wasn't connected with the pathway he was currently on.
He'd have to jump.
He was running out of time here, however, so he just ran towards the edge and jumped, only being able to hope that he would make it.
He did, just barely as his outstretched hands managed to grab the ledge just in time. He pulled himself up, and once back on his feet, he ran in the direction the goggles indicated the passage tower was in.
As he was running, his goggles indicated two more monsters behind him, just as he heard a low humming that got annoying real quick.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich and Yumi were too caught up in their fight to notice the flickering outlet and light over the doorway.
He aimed a kick at her, which she caught and used to push him back. Before he could fall, however, he grabbed her shoulders and took her with him.
He was on top of her when they stopped rolling. They stared into each other's eyes, and knew that their own faces were red not just from the fight alone.
The fight clearly over, he got off of her and lay down next to her. They both stayed there for a while, just catching their breath.
"Shall we call it a tie?" Yumi asked with a smile.
"Yeah," Ulrich returned it, before sitting up. "I should probably start on homework now. Odd and Aelita should still be in study hall."
Whatever Yumi was about to say next was cut off by the light above the door sparkling with a dangerous amount of electricity.
"What is that?!" Yumi asked.
"You need an explanation?!" Ulrich asked, before grabbing her hand. "Let's get out of here first!"
He started running, and she had no choice but to follow.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jean-Pierre Delmas rushed into the hallway leading to the infirmary. His daughter was just admitted. Apparently, she had an accident.
He saw the two boys who found her sitting outside, and he stopped in front of them.
"You're the ones who brought Elizabeth here," he said. "What happened?!"
"She was in her room," Nicolas explained, "when she was attacked by this electricity monster that jumped from a coat hanger!"
"A coat hanger?! Would you try to be serious, Poliakoff? You're the one who's going to get a shock in a moment?"
Aelita and Odd were listening from behind the door.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich managed to get him and Yumi into the boiler room, where an alternate passage to the factory was. They both knew this because this was the passage Ulrich took to find the factory in the first place (he was trying to hide from Sissi).
"It's like that thing was alive!" Yumi exclaimed. "Do you think it was...?"
She trailed off, but Ulrich knew what she was inferring, "The same thing that attacked Aelita? Definite possibility."
"But why was it after us?" Yumi asked. "Aelita's the one who turned on the supercomputer."
"Because we know about it," Ulrich reminded her. "We went to Lyoko, remember?"
"So you think this thing, whatever it is, wants to silence anyone who knows about Lyoko?" Yumi surmised.
"Seems like it," Ulrich answered, as his cell phone rang. He picked it up. "Aelita? What's wrong?"
"S.O.S., Ulrich!" came Aelita's frantic voice. It sounded like she was running. "Sissi just got electrocuted by some sort of...!" She trailed off, not sure how to word it.
Ulrich picked it up, "Electric thing?"
"Yeah! How'd you guess?"
"Because that thing just attacked Yumi and me!" Ulrich replied. "It's time to shut this thing down, Aelita! It's just getting more and more dangerous with every passing minute!"
"All the more reason to materialize Marin as soon as possible! It's time to bring him to the red tower! If it works, we can shut the supercomputer down tonight! Odd and I will join you and Yumi in the sewers!" Aelita then hung up.
"Is it time for the big plunge?" Yumi asked as Ulrich placed his phone back into his pocket.
"As in materializing Marin? Yep. Let's go."
Yumi opened the door to the secret passage and led the way, with Ulrich on her heels.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Marin continued to run, even as the new monsters started firing at him.
One of them hit his arm, which sparked with electricity as pain radiated through his arm. It felt like a stinging sensation.
But he kept running. The passage tower was in sight.
He breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he finally entered the tower. He ran to the center of the platform, before stopping.
What did Aelita's friends say had happened again? How did they change sectors? Something about falling off the platform into the abyss below?
Marin walked to the edge. It was dark down there, almost an abyss, exactly how they described it.
But he wasn't afraid, because they said they landed back on a platform just like the one they fell off of.
And he had done this before when switching from the mountains to the forest.
He spread his arms and leaned his body forward, letting momentum carry him down.
Just as Aelita's friends said, he landed back on a similar platform. Hoping that it worked, Marin walked to the exit and let himself phase through.
He smiled when he saw ice staring back at him. It worked. They were right.
However, his goggles alerted him to two block monsters behind the tower, emerging to greet him, and he immediately ran for it, not stopping when they inevitably began firing at him.
As he was sprinting away from the block monsters, hoping his goggles would pick up a neutral tower for him to hide in soon, a familiar and welcome voice sounded from above, "Marin? Can you hear me, Marin?"
It was Aelita. He immediately smiled in relief, "Aelita! I'm being chased by monsters!"
"Why did you leave the tower before we got there?!" came Aelita's lecturing voice. "Are you crazy?!"
"Sorry, I heard some strange pulsations! I wanted to see what they were!"
"I'm sending you back-up," Aelita replied. "For now, just try and hide somewhere. I'll program your coordinates and we'll be there soon."
"Please, hurry!" He said, before seeing an ice cave right in front of him.
Running inside, with those block monsters following him of course, he skipped his way down the broken path and landed on the last piece of ice. He turned around and tensed up. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. He was essentially backed up into a corner.
He watched as one of the blocks tried doing the same thing he did, only for it to slip and fall into the water below. One block remained.
He smiled. He was safe for now.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita studied her notes, before addressing her three friends down in the scanner room. "You guys ready? I'm starting up the procedure. Transfer Odd, transfer Ulrich, transfer Yumi." Three ID cards were selected and began to load. "Scanner Odd, scanner Ulrich, scanner Yumi." The loaded was completed. "Virtualization!"
Three green arrows appeared on her screen, at Marin's last recorded coordinates. This was her chance, Aelita realized. She had a way to get there without someone guiding the procedure.
"Bummer," Odd said. "I'm still a big purple cat."
"Don't be so down on yourself, Odd," Yumi told him. "It's unique, just like you."
"She's right," Ulrich cut in. "Alright, where to, Aelita?"
She was lost in thought until this. Should she do it?
"Hold on," she said. "Stand by." She turned to another note and saw the code she wanted. All she had to do was type that, and she would be on Lyoko too. Did she want to meet Marin face-to-face? Yes. She did. More than anything.
She typed in the code, and pressed the Enter key. Immediately, a countdown showing one minute, thirty seconds, showed up on screen, and began counting down.
She climbed down the ladder to the scanner room, as it was faster than the elevator, before getting into one of the scanners.
She waited for a few seconds, before the scanner doors closed by themself. She felt this surge of wind surround her, as the scanner walls began heating up. One final gust of wind pushed her hair back and she felt her body burst into pixels.
When her body reformed, her eyes were initially greeted to a navy blue sky. She then felt her body fall without warning and landed awkwardly on her stomach.
"Aelita!" she heard Yumi call out. "Are you okay?"
The pink-ette shook her head to clear it before looking up from the cyan ice beneath her. "So this is Lyoko."
"Yep," Odd replied, as Yumi helped the younger girl to her feet. "You decided to come, after all."
"Yeah," Aelita admitted, "but I wouldn't have done so if I didn't know that Self-Virtualization program."
Odd giggled, before pointing at Aelita's face, "Nice ears, cuz."
Aelita reached for her ears and immediately blushed. They felt pointed, just like Marin's were. She also felt an earring on her left ear. Looking down, she got a solid view of her avatar here. She was wearing a maroon, light pink-edged sleeveless crop top, a matching skirt, both over a green body suit. Her arms were covered with detached sleeves with fingerless gloves styled in a similar way to the moccasins on her feet.
"What do you mean?" Yumi asked, stern. "I think she looks stylish."
"Thanks, Yumi," Aelita replied. "Now can we talk about fashion later? Marin needs us."
She then ran in the direction of the glacier she saw him hide in, and she was glad the others were following her.
"Don't worry, Marin!" she heard Odd say. "The cavalry is coming!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Sissi's vision was completely blurred when she finally came to. As it cleared up, she saw her father gently patting her hand, Nurse Yolanda on the other side, and Jim in the background.
"Aw, my head," she muttered. "What happened?"
"You'll be fine, my dear," her father calmly told her. "You must have electrocuted yourself with your hair dryer."
"Electrocuted?" Sissi asked, before everything came rushing back to her. She immediately sat up. "It wasn't a hair dryer! It was a what-cha-ma-call-it of Aelita's at the factory! There's an electrical monster loose in the school! Where are they?"
"Where are who?" Her father asked.
She swung her legs to the side of the bed, "Aelita, Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi! The monster is after them! They're in danger!"
The three adults in the room didn't believe her. Her father grabbed her by the shoulders and laid her back down onto the bed, "Of course. Come now, calm down, dear."
"Sure there is," Jim sarcastically replied. "And a giant teddy bear too!"
She sat back up, "Daddy, please! I'm not crazy! Aelita found this supercomputer inside that abandoned Renault factory! She turned it on, and she and her friends use it to go into this other world where these monsters shoot lightning!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Marin couldn't take another step back. The block had two more friends in the forms of those little monsters that attacked him the day before. The block couldn't skip the ice pieces, but those little monsters were small enough to do it easily.
The block charged up its laser and fired at him. It only hit the ice piece he was standing on, but the force of the laser sent it floating backwards.
As the two small monsters began skipping the ice pieces towards him, he noticed the tunnel he was drifting towards. With no other choice, he quickly leapt into the opening of the tunnel, letting it carry him to the end because it was too slippery for his footing to get a solid grip.
At the end of the tunnel was open air. He was flying due to the tunnel's trajectory, but he had to tuck his head in when he noticed he was about to crash straight into a glacier. He landed on the ground, and got to his feet after seeing the small monster that had followed him explode upon hitting the glacier.
But whatever was controlling these monsters wanted him gone, because four more block monsters emerged from behind the glacier, surrounding him on all sides.
"Aelita...?" he softly called out, hoping she was still there, that her friends were on the way.
As if on cue, out of nowhere, a brunette boy in yellow leapt into the fray, destroying one of the blocks. Beside him landed a blond boy in purple, who immediately began talking to him, "Hey, Marin, it's nice to meet you! I'm Odd, Aelita's cousin! She won't stop talking about you!" Marin lightly winced; he was a little loud.
"Shut up, Odd! We have work to do!" came a familiar voice. It didn't sound from above this time, however, but rather from behind him.
He turned around and there she was, that familiar pink head of hair, defending him from behind. He had to take his goggles off just to make sure, but she was here on Lyoko.
"Aelita?" Marin called.
The pink-haired girl with an pink and feminine version of his own avatar froze up at the sound of his voice and slowly turned around.
"Marin? Yes, it's me," Aelita smiled.
"You virtualized yourself? Then, how did you find me?" he asked.
"I could see you, and hear you call out to me," she confessed. "If I concentrate hard enough, I can see and hear where other things are too, even if they're far away."
"Enhanced senses," he realized. That was her special power.
She reached out a hand, figuring a handshake would be the best start to their first in-person meeting. "It's so nice to finally meet you in person." Except when he took it, there was a problem.
"I'll never have to step foot on Lyoko again!"
No wonder Marin wanted to leave Lyoko so badly. Physical separation between worlds was bad enough, but having only sight and sound as the senses you could use made that separation worse. If she was here instead of him, she would've gone insane. She couldn't imagine living here for who knew how long Marin was here.
On Lyoko, touch didn't exist.
"Aelita, behind you!" Ulrich called out, breaking her out of her trance.
Aelita immediately turned around, her and Marin's hands still connected, and she stretched out her free hand, just in time for a pink energy ball to form in her hands and let itself go. The ball hit the block that was about to sneak attack her dead in its eye, destroying it.
"Woah..." she looked at her free hand, the one that had formed and fired that energy ball in awe.
Meanwhile, Yumi was busy dodging lasers, with and without the aid of her fan. "I really wish my weapon was longer range!" she bemoaned not for the first time.
"Try throwing it," came Marin's suggestion.
Yumi looked at her fan for a moment, before throwing it like a frisbee. It immediately lit up, as it became a fast-moving boomerang and destroyed the remaining two block monsters from a safe distance.
"Huh, I think I'll keep it," Yumi commented, after catching it.
"Well, Ulrich," Odd leaned an elbow against his friend's shoulder, "I think we know who the powerhouses will be."
Both girls gave him an innocent smile, as Aelita commented, "Like there was ever any doubt."
Yumi turned to Marin, "I didn't get to say it before." She then bowed at him, "It's nice to meet you too." Marin simply smiled at her.
Odd took in Marin's white bodysuit, light blue arm and leg warmers, and normal blue cape, before groaning, "Now that's not fair. I'm the only one who looks like a nitwit on Lyoko!"
Marin raised a confused eyebrow, "He dislikes his avatar? Why?"
"The supercomputer chose these outfits for us," Ulrich explained, and Marin nodded in understanding.
"Now that we've all been acquainted," Aelita said, "let's bring Marin to the red tower and end this."
Ulrich led the way, remembering where he last saw the red tower. On the way, Marin couldn't help but notice that those pulsations were getting stronger and stronger the closer they got to the red tower.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"Come now, Sissi, this is ridiculous!" Her father told her, as she uncovered the manhole. "We are not going down into the sewers!"
"Fine!" But Sissi knew what she was doing. "You can tell that to the police when you find Aelita and her friends burnt to a crisp!"
Her father and Jim had the decency to share a sheepish look when she said this.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The electrical orb had grown even larger. Seeing that the lab was empty, it took of over the holomap projector, just waiting for one of the four to be devirtualized.
Then it would get them.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The group was nearing the tower (it was in sight now), and Marin had placed his goggles back on to see what was waiting for them. "Two monsters are protecting the tower! Be careful!" he warned the other four.
"You can see monsters with those?" Odd asked. Marin nodded. "Man, I wish I had something cool like that!"
"Be careful!" Marin repeated. "I don't recognize them!"
Just then, two giant crab-like monsters emerged from behind the ice rocks surrounding the tower. The group stopped, as Odd quipped, "Great, crabs! Who's got the tartar sauce?"
"Marin, hide!" Yumi said, and Marin did so, taking cover behind one of the ice rocks, as the other four charged into the fight.
He looked at the red tower still some paces away from him, and saw that those pulsations all converged on that red tower. So that's where they came from. Activated towers.
He watched as the four all split up, with Odd and Ulrich each taking a crab monster, Yumi covering them, and Aelita choosing to cover him.
Ulrich blocked a shot, before running away, trying to get some distance between the crab and Marin.
Odd, meanwhile, had used his claws to climb up one of the glaciers and was firing his arrows at it, "Go on, beat it, crabs! The tide is coming in!"
Yumi ran up and threw her fan at the crab firing at Odd, but it bounced off of its armor-plating with ease.
"Wow, these guys are not only ugly!" Odd said, as Yumi retrieved her fan. "They're tough too!"
Just then, Odd felt his body go numb, as his mind took him somewhere else. Where he saw one of those crabs corner Marin just as the boy was about to turn a corner. When the feeling stopped, however, and he was brought back to reality, Odd immediately turned to Marin, and was confused to find him and Aelita safe and sound, albeit trying to inch closer to the red tower.
The crab he was facing shot at him, and he felt himself devirtualize.
"Odd just got devirtualized!" Marin told Aelita.
"I know," she replied. "But why did he freeze up?"
Marin could only shrug.
Yumi and Ulrich were running from both crabs together, before they shared a knowing glance and a nod. Ulrich then ran to the side as Yumi fell and slid on the ice, before allowing Ulrich to use her feet as a jumping board.
It worked. Ulrich landed on top one of the crabs, and pierced his sword into symbol on its top. He jumped off as that crab was exploded, only for the second crab to shoot him and devirtualize him before he could even hit the ground.
Yumi back-flipped before throwing her fan at the remaining crab, only for it to, once again, bounce off of its shell. It then shot her in the leg, as she told herself that she needed to work on her aim.
"Yumi!" Aelita called, as she ran into the fray.
She jumped up, hoping to land on top of the crab, only for it to catch her by one of its legs and throw her back to where Marin was waiting.
"Aelita!" Marin called as she landed in front of him.
He could only watch as she devirtualized, her last words to him being, "Marin, get to the red tower!"
Marin nodded, before running out in the open. However, his path was blocked by that crab. Its laser was all charged up. Fearing for his life, Marin felt his hand instinctively raise itself and releasing some kind of energy.
Before he knew it, a wall of ice was between him and his enemy.
Yumi ran up to him, having recovered by now, "Was it you who just did that?"
Marin weakly nodded, still in shock, "I-I think so." Great, now he had a verbal glitch.
But he could defend himself now. He had the power to fight back.
"Run to the tower, hurry!" Yumi exclaimed, as the crab on the opposite side of the ice wall began firing at it to break it down.
Marin nodded before running towards the red tower, not stopping even as he heard his ice wall break and Yumi get devirtualized. He was the only one left.
He entered the tower with zero interference. Not sure what to do, he stood in the center of the platform, only to be surprised as a data stream picked him up and carried him higher to a second platform.
This one was standing in mid-air, with no prongs or pathways to the outside. Did he have to get to a third, even higher platform?
He was confused as he walked towards the center of the second platform, and immediately jumped back in fear when a blue square sprang into existence right in front of him.
It was an interface of some kind, and seeing that it was harmless, he walked back up to it, and placed his hand on it. His hand left a print, which the interface seemed to accept.
JEREMIE_
"Jérémie..." he muttered. Was that his name? His true name?
CODE_
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
When Mr. Delmas, Jim, and Sissi entered the lab, they were immediately faced with the electric monster Sissi was talking about. It was in the middle of attacking Odd (who had arrived in the lab first, due to being devirtualized first). Jim ran towards the thing to protect Odd, only for it to pick him up and shock it.
LYOKO_
The electrical monster disappeared just as Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich appeared through the hatch in the floor.
Seeing Odd on the ground, Aelita ran up to him, "Odd, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. What about Marin?"
Aelita immediately looked depressed. "Sorry, my theory was wrong. He didn't materialize with us."
Odd sympathized. Marin was attaching himself to the group rather quickly, almost as if he was meant to be part of it, AI or not.
Ulrich's attention, meanwhile, was directed to something else, or rather, someone else. "Sissi?"
"Ulrich!" A relieved smile on her face, Sissi ran up to hug him, only for him to step out of the way, to her bewilderment. "What's wrong?"
"You swore to us you wouldn't tell!"
They were friends, Sissi told herself. They had been since they were five, and this was the first time he'd been so angry at her. But why?
"Hey, I came here to save you, Ulrich!" Sissi let her anger take over. Why was Ulrich so mad? Why was he so ungrateful? "You're the one who ran off with Yuri!"
"It's Yumi!" Yumi growled back.
The two adults in the room, however, quickly took control of the situation.
"What's going on here?!" Mr. Delmas demanded. "What were those flashes?! Schaeffer, as I understand, you were the one who started this. I order you to shut this thing down now and you can explain to me exactly what this is about!"
"I think we ought to alert the authorities right away!" Jim added.
"Me too, Jim. It's much too dangerous. I told you so, didn't I?" It alarmed the other four how quickly Sissi had turned against them. It was clear she had only told Jim and her father because she was concerned for their safety, but now her concern had done a solid 180.
"You're nothing but a rotten traitor!" Ulrich told her, angrier than ever.
"No more than you are, Ulrich darling!" Sissi turned her back and turned up her nose at him. Oh, so that's why. She thought Ulrich had chosen Yumi over her.
"Let's go, Schaeffer!" Mr. Delmas told the pink-haired girl as she hovered over the monitor. "Kill this thing immediately and follow me!"
She swallowed a large lump in her throat. She wanted to cry. If she turned off the supercomputer, if the authorities were alerted to Lyoko, then Marin would be as good as dead. The government would want to run experiments on it, thus endangering his life more than it already was. She couldn't let that happen.
"No!" Her outburst was powerful. She shrugged off Mr. Delmas' grip on her shoulder and began typing in the other program she found earlier. "Forgive me, sir, but I can't obey that order. I can't let this supercomputer be turned off. I won't let you! Not without him here with us!"
"Who's 'him'?!" Jim was just as confused as Mr. Delmas.
"Mari-what's his name!" Sissi sneered. "Her artificial boyfriend! Pathetic, isn't it?!"
"His name is Marin," Aelita shot back, as she continued typing, entering the coordinates just like the notes told her to do. "And he's not artificial. He's real!"
"Aelita, what are you doing?" came Odd's confused voice.
"I'm running that other program," Aelita told him, knowing exactly that he knew what she was referring to. "I'm sorry, Marin. I don't want to forget you," she whispered, "but I have no choice."
"What program?" she heard Ulrich ask.
She took a deep breath, before pressing the Enter key, "Return to the past now!"
Everyone covered their eyes, while Aelita only closed hers to keep the tears at bay, as a bright white bubble enveloped the scene.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The next thing Aelita knew, she was back at Kadic. She was walking towards the vending machines where her three friends were waiting, her mind filled with her Italian homework.
"You want to go after Si-" Yumi cut herself off, as Aelita approached. Bewildered, she looked at her three friends.
"What just happened?" Ulrich asked, as Odd rubbed his head in confusion (his hair back to his old tacky style). "What are we doing here?"
"We were doing this yesterday," Yumi said. "Aelita?" She and the two guys looked at the pink-ette.
"We went back in time," Aelita answered. "The Return to the Past program sets you backwards in time to the coordinates you enter. It was deliberate. I entered this date and this exact time, because it was before everything went downhill, when I was the only one who knew about Marin."
"Why were you concerned that we wouldn't remember?" Odd asked. "Because I do. The electric monster, Sissi betraying us, my ridiculous purple cat costume. Everything."
"I don't know," Aelita admitted, as she inserted her coin into the vending machine slot and very reluctantly pressed the button labeled '6'. Seeing that she wasn't shocked this time, she smiled and grabbed her soda. "The supercomputer explained that the program rewinded time, so I just assumed we would all lose our memory of what had happened. But, seeing as how we remember, then..."
"We can avoid it this time," Ulrich finished. "But what about Sissi, Jim, and Mr. Delmas? If we remembered, then they probably do too."
Just then, Sissi approached the group, and flirtatiously greeted her crush, "Hey there, Ulrich darling~. I just wanted to remind you to come by my dorm tonight at eight. Are you coming?"
Ulrich put on an impressive poker face, "Sorry, Sissi, but I'll have to pass. I have homework to do."
Sissi seemed disappointed, but she put on a smile as she replied, "Okay. Maybe next time then?" She batted her eyelashes.
"We'll see," Ulrich told her, and she walked away with a skip in her step.
"She was happy to see you, Ulrich," Yumi noted. "Before the time jump, she was angry because she was convinced that you had betrayed her by choosing me."
"That's true..."
"I'll have to check," Aelita began, "but I think I know how we're immune the memory wipe and Sissi isn't. I have a theory."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"I was right," Aelita said later that day. It was an hour after classes let out for the day, and the four were gathered in Aelita's room, with Marin's interface on her monitor. "Only those who have been scanned by the supercomputer are immune to the memory wipe of the Returns to the Past."
"That's right," Marin added. "And since all four of you came to Lyoko, your digital structures are in the supercomputer, as is my own."
"Interesting," Odd said, his Lyoko-patented hairstyle back.
"So what do we do now?" Ulrich asked. "You didn't materialize. Aelita's theory on that was wrong."
"Shut it down," came Marin's answer. The other four were shocked that he would say such a thing. "It's way too dangerous. You four were almost killed. It's okay, I don't mind being a sacrifice."
"But, Marin..." Aelita began.
Marin swiftly corrected her, "Jérémie. My name is Jérémie. I remembered it when I entered the tower."
"Jérémie," Aelita muttered, smiling. "I like that so much better than Marin. But what about materializing you? I promised!" She turned to her friends. "Guys, please! Just give me one more night to figure everything out!"
Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi nonverbally debated amongst themselves, before turning back to Aelita. "Okay," Yumi said. "One night. Tomorrow morning, we'll meet up at the computer lab and decide what to do then."
"Thanks, guys," Aelita smiled, as she watched the trio leave her room. "You're the best."
"Of course we are. Was there ever any doubt?" Odd replied before closing her door.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
As promised, the five all reunited in the factory's lab the next morning. There was a morning break, so they didn't have to miss any classes for this.
"Hi," Yumi greeted. "Find anything?"
"Yes," Aelita replied. "XANA."
"XANA?" Odd asked. "What's that?"
Jérémie explained, "XANA is an artificial intelligence just as complex as I am. It's a super dangerous program, like a virus that can control electricity, and it activates towers on Lyoko to gain access to your world."
"So the red tower, the electricity monster, the weird symbol, the monsters on Lyoko," Yumi asked. "All of that was XANA?"
"Yes," Aelita added. "Only Jérémie can counter it by deactivating the tower that it uses for its attacks in the real world."
"That's great," Ulrich said. "And what about materializing Jérémie?"
"I can do it," Aelita reassured them. "But it's going to take time. A lot of it. And with XANA being able to attack any time, it might take even longer."
"Be reasonable, Aelita," Jérémie spoke up. "We better just shut this thing down."
The four humans hung their heads. They didn't want to give up on Jérémie just yet.
"Look," Ulrich proposed a solution, "now that we know how to neutralize this XANA, we just have to get Jérémie to the activated tower."
"Right," Odd agreed. "We can figure out a way to counter the attacks while Miss Einstein here figures out how to bring Jérémie back to Earth, right?"
The two boys looked at Yumi, who smiled after a brief pause, "It's risky, but I think we should. After all, we are Lyokowarriors, aren't we?"
"Yeah!" Ulrich and Odd fist-bumped in excitement.
"'Lyokowarriors'?" Aelita asked, confused as to where the name came from.
"Odd's doing," Yumi said, shrugging. "Now it's stuck."
Aelita giggled.
"You better work fast," Jérémie cut in, not meaning to rain on their parade, but someone needed to remind them of the risks they were about to take. "Do you really think you're up to it, Aelita?"
"Odd doesn't call me 'Miss Einstein' for nothing," Aelita offered a smile. "I'll have a solution figured out in a few weeks. In the meantime, let's not forget about our pact, okay?"
"Relax," Yumi told her. "We all know how to keep a secret."
That's when their virtual adventures of the Lyokowarriors officially began.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
Next Episode: Episode 3 - "May I Have This Dance?" / I'm sure you can guess what this one's based off of.
A/N: If ya'll thought Aelita was going to be afraid of going to Lyoko, think again. She'll be fighting alongside the others. Not every time, because remember, someone needs to babysit the supercomputer during missions. But she'll have her moments. Her avatar is the same as canon, with a just couple of changes to her arm warmers. Also, she has enhanced senses as her special power, because I'm surprised that something like this was only used once when Odd fused with Kiwi. It was a very useful ability.
Yes, Odd has his first Future Flash here. Someone asked me if later down the line, he'd be able to control this power. My answer, at the moment, is I don't know. I'll think of something that allows him to keep this power but doesn't interrupt his fighting.
Again: 'verbal glitch' means 'stutter'. Jérémie just doesn't know the right word yet.
And I know the official spelling for Jérémie's name is 'Jeremy', but I will spell his name how I want to spell it.