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.
Special Note: For those of you who may be confused by the "Worst Case Scenario" chapter because I specified that it wasn't canon, here's a list of things from that chapter that are canon: 1-the idea of Aelita staying up all night to work on Jérémie's materialization, 2-snowstorms in the Mountain Sector, how entering one cuts off all communications with the lab, the towers being safe havens from them, and XANA being able to control them, 3-Aelita's family tree, including the names, 4-Taelia's personality being the introverted yet ruder version of Aelita's, 5-Aelita and Taelia telling each other things they wouldn't tell their parents, including Aelita telling Taelia all about Hervé stealing the pink-ette's diary and blackmailing her with it, 6-Aelita's diary entries for October 10 (Take 2) and October 11, 7-Aelita knowing Pencak Silat, 8-the fact that Jérémie can calibrate his interface to act as a webcam, and it being how he usually contacts the others, and 9-the sensation Jérémie feels as the supercomputer is being turned off, especially how he notes it's familiar
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
"Something tragic happens to Ulrich after he and Odd get into a fight. How will the group stop this attack when one of them doesn't even remember who XANA is?"
Episode 10: Amnesia
(Based on Amnesia & Killer Music)
It was past curfew, and Jim had long since finished his rounds. It was around 11:23 PM, and the only light that was on was the one over Ulrich's desk in the dorm room he and Odd shared.
"Oh, oh, oh, oh!" Odd was humming a song that he was currently listening to on his walkman. "Oh, I'm so glad when you're so bad! Uh, uh, OH, OHH!"
This wasn't uncommon between these two. Ulrich was used to Odd staying up late, listening to music and playing video games while the brunette was trying to sleep. That's why he had earplugs.
Except this time was different. Tomorrow, they both had a math test that was worth a huge chunk of their grade. Ulrich's father had been getting on his case recently about his grades, despite them not really moving, and the last thing Ulrich needed in the midst of all these XANA attacks and trying to bring Jérémie to Earth was his father suddenly pulling him out of school.
Since the earplugs were a last resort when he wasn't asleep, first, he tried diplomacy. "Hey, Odd, if you don't mind, I'm trying to study."
Odd's music, however, was cranked up too loud, as he hummed to the song's beat and rhythm, "Mm, mm, mmm, mm... YEEEEEEEEEAHHHH!
So Ulrich got a little meaner, "Cut that out! Maybe you forgot, but we've got a test tomorrow! SO STOP!"
Odd finally took off his headphones, "Huh, what'd you say? I can't hear a thing you're saying!"
"That's because your music is on way too loud!" It took a while for Ulrich's temper to boil over, but once it did, it took awhile for it to cool down. "I said I want to study!"
"What's the sense of you studying?" Odd asked, his hands on his headphones, ready to put them back on. "Whatever you do, you're still going to get a zero in math. So why not listen to what I just downloaded from the web instead? It's the hit song of the century! 'Under My Cover' by DJ Fleimass! It's incredible, and it sure beats studying! It's a pop-rock revolution!"
"You want a revolution?!" Ulrich finally snapped. "Fine, I'll give you one!" He promptly stood up from his desk, gathered all of his books and placed them in his bag. "You don't think of anyone but yourself, and I'm fed up with it!"
Odd watched his roomate angrily marched to their shared door and opened it. Confused, he asked, "Hey, where are you going?"
"To Aelita's room!" Ulrich retorted. "At least she knows you need peace and quiet when you're studying! She's a real friend, unlike you, Mr. Selfish!"
Ulrich slammed the door, and Kiwi gave a small whine.
"Don't worry, Kiwi," Odd reassured his dog. "He'll get over it."
He then put his headphones back on and continued his singing along.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich didn't feel bad sneaking up the stairs to Aelita's room, as he was suspecting that half the dorm building had woken up thanks to his and Odd's argument (well, his rant would be more accurate), which had happened before. It was also easy knowing Jim slept like a rock at night.
When he approached Aelita's door, he saw the familiar light of her computer screen from underneath the doorway.
He gently knocked on her door and waited a couple of seconds for Aelita, in her pajamas (a pink shirt with a red A on it, plus pink shorts and a pair of white socks), to open her door ever so slightly, clearly trying to hide that she wasn't actually asleep like she promised Jim.
The pink-ette was taken back by the sight of her visitor. "Oh, Ulrich!" She opened her door a bit more, feeling more comfortable revealing to Ulrich that she wasn't yet asleep. "What's wrong?"
Ulrich sighed, "Your cousin and his music are driving me nuts!"
Aelita offered a sympathetic smile, "I know. I heard your argument downstairs. You're not into heavy metal, pop, or funk?"
"Not when I have to study for a huge math test tomorrow," Ulrich replied. "Is it okay if I study in your room?"
"Of course," Aelita's smile was bright, almost blinding, but Ulrich was used to it. "Just try not to make any noise. We don't want to wake Jim up."
She stepped aside and let Ulrich come in. On her computer screen was Jérémie's interface, and the blue elf was leaning his head, obviously trying to eavesdrop on Aelita's conversation with whoever her visitor was. When seeing it was Ulrich, Jérémie immediately greeted the brunette with a smile.
"Hello, Ulrich."
"Hey, Jérémie," Ulrich waved, as he sat down on Aelita's bed and took out his book. "I should've expected Aelita would be talking to you. Hope I didn't interrupt anything important."
"You didn't," Jérémie reassured him. "I was just telling Aelita about the firewall. I managed to crack it."
"You did?" Ulrich got interested. He really wanted to know who Michel Périn was, and why he was so familiar. Nearly seven weeks later, he'd get some answers. "What'd you find?"
"Nothing."
Ulrich's stomach sank in disappoint. "Nothing? That firewall is just there for show?"
Jérémie shook his head. "No, when I say 'nothing', I don't mean 'no data found'," the blonde explained. "I mean that there's a component missing. The firewall was there to hide that fact."
"Interesting," Ulrich commented, before asking Jérémie and Aelita both, "Do you know what that 'missing component' is?"
Aelita shrugged, as Jérémie answered, "No clue. Whatever it is, I don't have it and neither does the supercomputer, but something tells me that Michel Périn does."
"So we're back to Square One?" Ulrich asked.
"We're back to Square One," Aelita confirmed. "Go on and study, Ulrich. If you don't mind, I'm going to get back to Jérémie's materialization."
Ulrich nodded, and turned to the page he was on when he began that argument with Odd.
"And I'll log off to give you guys some privacy," Jérémie said. "Good luck."
He then logged off, leaving Ulrich and Aelita in comfortable silence.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich ended up sleeping on the floor of Aelita's room, adamant on not returning to Odd. After studying for about an hour, he and Aelita both went to sleep, her on her bed, and him on a futon she had in her closet and rolled out. She had to leave her door open though, as per Jim's rules and to negate any rumors that Ulrich was sleeping in the same bed as her. He wasn't. She was just being a good friend and giving him a place to sleep that wasn't in the same room as Odd.
Already dressed, she shook him awake, "Ulrich, wake up. Rise and shine."
"Mmm," he groaned, "too tired."
As she placed her books in her bag, she replied, "Need I remind you, we both have a math test today."
Ulrich sat up, rubbing his eyes, "I didn't get a lot of sleep."
"Really?" Aelita asked, concerned as the brunette begrudgingly got to his feet. "How come?"
"Well, I'll tell you 'how come'." Ulrich then put on a high-pitched girly voice and a lovey-dovey tone, "Oh, Jérémie! Oh, Jérémie, you and your tender smile are in my dreams! I can't wait until–"
The pink-ette immediately covered his mouth with her hand, and with a very red face, harshly whispered, "Quiet! He'll hear you!"
Ulrich followed Aelita's gaze to her computer, where its monitor was on sleep mode. There was no sign of Jérémie on it, but judging by Aelita's blush, apparently this was something that had happened before. She was sleep talking, and he had overheard and asked about it. (Ulrich was kinda disappointed he wasn't there for that, if he had to be honest.)
Ulrich sighed, "Between you and Odd, I can't study or sleep."
"Sorry," at least Aelita had the decency to look ashamed, unlike Odd. "And you're not going to tell anybody about, um...y'know, are you?"
She meant the fact that she talked about Jérémie in her sleep.
Grateful that she did let him study, and even helped him at one point, the least Ulrich could do was gently smile and reassure her, "I promise, Juliet."
"Thank you," her smile returned. "Now, I'll leave the room and let you change."
"Much appreciated," Ulrich admitted as she closed the door behind her.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Sitting in a tower in the Ice Sector, Jérémie smiled as he listened in on Aelita and Ulrich's morning chat. He often listened in on Aelita at night to ensure XANA never attacked her in her sleep.
So, yes, he knew Aelita often spoke in her sleep. It was usually bits and pieces of things she was dreaming about, but every so often, she'd let his name slip.
Just his name, but the first time he heard it, he didn't know what was going on. So he had asked her, and her face turned completely red as she was forced to explain what sleeptalking was. Sensing she was uncomfortable, he promptly changed the topic.
To listen in, he calibrated his interface to only listen in, not appear on Aelita's screen.
He was currently hearing some rustling, which was Ulrich putting on his clothes.
The door then opened, and Jérémie heard Aelita ask, "You're good to go already? And you didn't have to roll my futon back up."
"I wanted to," Ulrich replied. Jérémie couldn't see his face, but he could tell the brunette was smiling. "It's the least I can do. Now, let's go, before Odd eats our portions."
The door then closed, and no longer hearing anything, Jérémie closed that window, before bringing up another, this one about why roommates didn't always get along.
He had heard Ulrich explain to Aelita that Odd's music was getting on his nerves, and Jérémie, his only roommate being XANA, was interested about that.
Elsewhere on Lyoko, in the Mountain Sector, pulsations led away from a tower located on top of a summit, whose halo turned from blue to red.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
In the Science Building, while Ms. Hertz was away, a dark spectre emerged from her computer computer and into a nearby nanomachine that was on the desk, ready for the teacher's lecture later that day.
Once it took control of the machine, XANA filled the machine with some gel before bathing it in light.
It turned off the light once it was done.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi and Odd were already seated in the cafeteria, at the group's usual table, by the time Ulrich and Aelita finally received their servings from Rosa.
As the two approached the table, Odd waved at them, saying, "Good morning, guys! Hey, Ulrich, where'd you go last night? I was waiting for you to come back."
Ulrich lowered his gaze into a glare, before turning his nose up at Odd. Odd gave a confused look as Ulrich took the empty seat next to Yumi, while Aelita took the empty seat next to Odd.
Yumi was also confused, "What was that about?"
"Yeah, that's what I want to know too," Odd admitted.
"I only heard Ulrich's side last night," Aelita softly explained, as she dipped her croissant into her hot chocolate, "but he was upset that Odd kept playing his music while he was studying."
"Oh, so typical roommate stuff," Yumi nodded in understanding. "Thank god Hiroki and I have our own rooms."
"What? That's what he's mad at me about?!" Odd exclaimed. "We've had arguments about way worse things and he didn't leave and not come back after those!"
"Take this with a grain of salt, Odd," Aelita told him, "but I don't think it's the music that's the problem. From the way he described it to me, you didn't make any move to understand his side or validate his feelings. You just went right back to your music."
Odd didn't say anything.
"And what about your side, Odd?" Yumi asked, helping this along. "Both of you deserve to be heard."
Odd shrugged, "Ulrich already told you my side. He's right; I was being selfish. I'm sorry."
Both girls turned back to Ulrich, who gave his roommate a long, hard stare before reluctantly replying, "I guess I'm willing to give you a second chance. We'll talk more after that math test."
If I fail that test, I'll never forgive you, was the unspoken feeling behind Ulrich's sentence there.
The German boy didn't have to say it; it was palpable in the tone of his voice.
But Aelita and Yumi both smiled. That was a start, at least.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
In Science class, Ms. Hertz had the class gather around her lab table at the front of the room. On this table rested the nanobot machine that she was lended from a university nearby for her lecture.
"Here, we have the nanosphere that the Nanotech Services Company was kind enough to lend us today," Ms. Hertz was saying. "Who can tell us what nanotechnology is?"
Hervé immediately, keenly raised his hand, eager to be called on, as Aelita calmly raised one finger.
"Go on, Miss Schaeffer," Ms. Hertz called on the pink-ette.
"It's microscopic-sized technology," Aelita explained. "There are nano-motors, nano-circuit boards, and nano-gears."
"Exactly," Ms. Hertz confirmed she was right, ignoring Hervé's pout. "In the medical field, for example, scientists are developing nano-doctors, tiny machines that will be able to travel through our bodies to combat disease. Scientific research, however, still has a long way to go."
Sissi cut in to ask,"Are these robots capable of fighting pimples, cellulite, and things like that?"
Ms. Hertz managed to stifle a laugh, although she was still evidentially amused by the question, "Yes, they can, but the priority is for more serious illnesses."
The whole class burst into laughter.
Odd quipped, "And nanotechnology can't do a thing about stupidity! Poor Sissi, what a shame!"
Sissi's face was turning red in embarrassment, as Ms. Hertz calmed the class down and turned their attention back to the device in front of them.
"Now, this nanosphere is to make microscopic devices," the teacher explained as she took the lid off it it. Noting the gelatine inside, she commented, "Strange. It hasn't been cleaned properly. There's gelatine inside." The class gathered closer to get a good look at the sight.
"Looks like the extra-strength gel Odd uses on his hair every day," Ulrich added.
"Well, Mr. Stern," a smiling Ms. Hertz was holding up a glass slide, "since you think you're so clever, why don't you take a sample for us to study?"
Ulrich took the slide and scooped up some gel from the bottom of the device. The other students gathered closer to him to get a better look at what he was holding.
Ms. Hertz continued with her lecture, "The gelatine is used as a culture where nanodevices can develop."
"It looks an awful lot like jam," Ulrich commented.
Without warning, Odd suddenly pushed Ulrich's face into the gelatine. The gel now on his nose, Ulrich lowered a glare at his roommate.
"Sorry, but I just couldn't resist!" Odd admitted, as the class around them was laughing.
"I'll get you for that, Odd," Ulrich promised in a low voice.
Meanwhile, XANA's nanobots quickly got the work, as they climbed from the gel directly into Ulrich's nostrils, while the nanobots from the gel still at the bottom of the machine finally made it out and began climbing up Ms. Hertz's and other students' hands.
No one noticed them, however, as Ms. Hertz tried calming her class down, "Now, now, children, this is a class, not a comedy club!"
She placed the lid of the nanosphere back over the base, but the damage was already done.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The group was in the courtyard, sitting on a bench and hanging out until their next class, which, for Aelita, Ulrich, and Odd, was Mrs. Meyer's math test (Yumi had music class with Mr. Mirti).
Ulrich was studying for this test, as Aelita was telling Yumi about what they'd learned in science class earlier. The pink-ette seemed rather excited about it.
"Nanotechnology seems incredible!" Aelita was saying. "I hope research on it actually goes somewhere!"
"I have enough trouble with normal-sized technology," Yumi told her, "much less microscopic..."
Aelita shrugged, as Ulrich opened up a chocolate bar (brand name: Choco), which made Odd immediately react, "Hey, that's a Choco! Can I have some?"
"Sure, here you go," Ulrich smiled before shoving the candy bar into Odd's face, making it stick to his forehead. "I warned you!" He was smiling, as Yumi and Aelita both giggled at the sight. The chocolate bar sticking to Odd's head made him look like a unicorn.
"Okay, I admit I deserve that," Odd admitted, as he wiped off the chocolate from his forehead, "but taking advantage of my sweet tooth wasn't fair."
"I said I'd get back at you–" Ulrich was cut off by a sudden migraine.
His three friends immediately grew concerned as the brunette suddenly hunched over in pain, gripping his head as if that would stop it. He fell to his knees, and his friends worriedly calling his name was the last thing he remembered.
Ulrich collapsed, fully out, and Jim, having heard the commotion, ran up to the group, asking, "What's going on?"
"Ulrich passed out after getting a headache," Yumi worriedly explained to their gym teacher. "We don't know why. He was just fine this morning."
Jim scooped the unconscious Ulrich into his arms, "You guys stay here. I'll take him to the infirmary."
Sissi was in the middle of talking to Claire Girard and Heidi Klinger when her eyes caught the action of Jim running across the courtyard with Ulrich passed out in his arms. She stopped the conversation as she followed this motion, worriedly.
"Is that Ulrich?" Claire asked.
"Yeah, I hope he's okay," Heidi replied.
A concerned Sissi could only watch Jim take Ulrich to the infirmary.
What had happened to her best friend?
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Sissi waited until lunch time, after her math test, to visit Ulrich.
According to Yolanda, Ulrich was perfectly fine. All of his vitals were normal. He just passed out due to the intensity of the headache he was experiencing. Now where that headache came from, Yolanda couldn't say.
That was all the school nurse had on Ulrich's condition.
Feeling comfortable enough to leave him alone, Yolanda left to grab some lunch, leaving Ulrich in Sissi's care.
So Sissi waited for Yolanda to come back, standing by Ulrich's bedside and watching him sleep (if he was sleeping, that is).
A couple minutes later (though it felt much longer), Ulrich finally stirred, and his brown eyes opened. He seemed confused as he groaned out, "Where am I?"
"In the infirmary," Sissi explained, stepping closer to make sure he was okay now. "You passed out."
"The infirmary?" But that didn't seem to abate Ulrich's confusion, because he followed it up with, "What infirmary?" She watched him get up from the bed and walk over to the nearby sink and mirror. "W-Who am I? What's my name?" he asked, as he looked at his reflection.
"Huh?" He seemed to have hit his head when he fell down. "Oh! Ulrich. Your name is Ulrich. Ulrich Stern."
"Ulrich..." he muttered. "And who are you?" He turned back to her.
"Me?" she stammered around her brain for answer. As tempted as she was to use this to her advantage, she knew it was wrong, so she just said, "I'm Sissi. Your friend. Most people know me as Elizabeth Delmas, but I prefer Sissi."
Before he could respond, he suddenly clutched his head, suddenly in pain from a headache. She watched his grip tighten on the sink, as if it were is last lifeline. "Sorry, Sissi," he painfully grunted out, his eyes squeezed shut. "I'm not standing up for you. Not this time. If you continue to be mean to others, then you and I can no longer be friends."
When Ulrich opened his eyes, he was greeted by Sissi frightened frown.
"S-Sorry," he apologized. "I don't know where that came from."
"It's okay," she replied, ashamed of her past behavior. "That did happen, seven months ago, but we're okay now. We had a long conversation." And she was thankful for that conversation.
The door opened, signaling Yolanda's return. The two kids turned to her, as she said, smile on her face, "Ah, it seems our patient is up and about. That's a good sign. How do you feel, Ulrich?"
"Well, uh..." Ulrich stammered.
"He seems to have amnesia, Yolanda," Sissi spoke for him, the truth.
"I'm fine," Ulrich tried to say.
"No, you're not," Sissi told him, before turning back to Yolanda. "He didn't seem to know who he was, or who I was."
"Interesting," Yolanda muttered. "I'll excuse him from the rest of his classes this week."
Sissi nodded. That seemed to be the safest approach.
The nurse wrote down her signature on a piece of paper and gave it to Ulrich, "No classes this week, Mr. Stern." She turned to Sissi, "Keep an eye on him, Miss Delmas."
Sissi nodded, before leading Ulrich outside.
On their way, they passed by Jim, carrying an out cold Sandra Dialo in his arms, muttering to himself, "What is this? An epidemic?"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Sissi led Ulrich outside to the courtyard. He trusted her to know where to take him. After all, she said she was his friend.
She suddenly pointed to a trio in the distance, a girl with pink hair and clothes, a girl with black hair and clothes, and a blonde boy in purple clothes, "See those three over there? They're your other friends. Let's go meet them."
He nodded, letting her pull him along.
As they approached the three, the girl in black asked, "Hey, Sissi. What's going on? How's Ulrich doing?"
"Yeah, what did the nurse say?" the girl in pink added.
"That's what I need to talk to you guys about," Sissi told them.
The boy in purple suddenly leaned in closer to Ulrich, asking, "You feelin' better, good buddy?"
"You want a revolution?! Fine, I'll give you one! You don't think of anyone but yourself, and I'm fed up with it!"
"Hey, where are you going?"
"To Aelita's room! At least she knows you need peace and quiet when you're studying! She's a real friend, unlike you, Mr. Selfish!"
Danger, danger, danger, his mind was telling him. This guy was bad news.
So Ulrich immediately stepped away.
"What's going on?" the boy in purple asked. "Ulrich, it's me! Odd Della Robbia!"
"I don't care!" he yelled. "Leave me alone, Mr. Selfish!"
With this, Ulrich immediately turned around and left the area.
He completely missed how being called that name was a mental slap to Odd's face, as he immediately retracted his hand and took a couple steps back. Ulrich was still mad at him. This may truly be the end of their friendship, and it was all his fault.
Confused and worried, both beyond belief, Aelita turned to Sissi, "What's going on?"
Sissi sighed, "I was with Ulrich when he woke up. He seems to have amnesia. But I really don't know why he treated Odd like that, but not you or Yumi."
"If what you're saying is true, Sissi," Aelita theorized, "then it's very possible that Ulrich's subconscious still remembers the fight he and Odd had last night. I mean, Ulrich was deeply hurt over it, when normally he's not." Ulrich staying the night in Aelita's room, rather than with Odd like normal, spoke volumes.
"It's all my fault," Odd muttered. "It's all my fault, it's all my fault."
He seemed to be in a trance, but was brought out of it when Yumi placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "The other possibility is that he's faking it to get back at you."
"Either way I deserve it." It was very strange seeing and hearing Odd so defeated.
"I don't think he's faking it," Sissi confessed. "I was there when he woke up, and he didn't recognize the infirmary or me, and didn't know his own name. If it is just a prank, then it's a pretty elaborate one, one he's playing on all of us."
"That's why we need to get to the bottom of this," Aelita took charge, sensing deep in her gut that something was wrong. "Yumi, you and I will see what the nurse has to say about Ulrich's condition. Sissi, you take Odd and see if you can mend their friendship somehow."
Sissi nodded, "Right. C'mon, Odd."
"Why bother? It's hopeless," he whispered.
She grabbed his hand, "We won't know unless we try," before pulling him along in the direction Ulrich went.
Once they were out of sight, Yumi and Aelita turned in the opposite direction and head towards the infirmary.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Sissi and Odd found Ulrich sitting on a bench in the park.
The principal's daughter motioned Odd to stay behind while she went ahead. "Ulrich?" she gently called out.
Odd watched Ulrich turn to her, "Hey, Sissi. Sorry about my outburst. But that guy... I just...I get bad vibes from him."
"Because you two had a fight before you received amnesia," Sissi explained as she sat down next to him. "You and him are roommates, and you had an argument."
"About what?" Ulrich asked.
"About my music," Odd answered, and Ulrich and Sissi's heads immediately turned to face him.
Ulrich immediately jumped up from his seat, his fists tightly clenched, "Hey, what are you doing here?! Spying on me?!"
"No!" Odd stuttered. He'd seen Ulrich's fighting energy before, mostly against XANA, but this time, that energy was aimed at him, and he was scared. "I-I was just–"
"Ulrich," Sissi calmly stepped in, "I told you. He's your friend. You two just had an argument and never had the chance to make up."
But Ulrich wasn't biting, "You're a liar!" The aggressiveness in his tone told Sissi and Odd both that was feeling threatened and defensive.
"I was playing my music too loudly while you were trying to study!" Odd explained. "You're right! I was being completely selfish! But I promise you, we're actually good friends!"
"That's not what my memories tell me!" Ulrich snapped back. "So, get out of here! And make it fast!"
Odd had no choice but to run away, lest Ulrich actually punch him. But Ulrich needed his space, and this time, he wouldn't be selfish.
Sissi could only watch Odd run away. That didn't go as well as any of them had hoped.
Just then, Ulrich's headache returned, and his world turned into a series of memories.
He remembered being in science class when he heard next to him, "Uh, are you Ulrich Stern?" He looked up to see a boy with blonde hair, down to his shoulders.
"That depends," he remembered saying. "Who wants to know?"
The boy sat down next to him, "Odd Della Robbia! His brand-new roommate!"
"What?!"
Odd had explained, "I'm new here and the principal told me to move in with you."
"Uh, latch onto me sounds more like it," he remembered quipping. "Look, you and I don't exactly go way back, so for now, let's just take things nice and slow, okay?"
"Relax, I'm totally cool," Odd had replied. "Trust me, by the end of the day, you won't be able to do without me."
The memories did not stop. The next one showed that pink-haired girl with them in the cafeteria.
"Ulrich, Yumi, this is Aelita Schaeffer," Odd had said. "She's my cousin from Switzerland."
"Hopefully, she doesn't have a dog that does its business on her roommate's bed," Ulrich remembered saying.
"Hey, I resent that!" Odd protested.
"Good."
Aelita had just giggled, "No, I don't have a dog, and no, I don't have a roommate either."
"Lucky," Ulrich remembered grumbling. But it wasn't a malicious jab at Odd.
It was friendly.
And he remembered Odd laughing after giving a fake pout.
Another memory quickly followed.
He remembered Aelita saying from a comm system, "Yumi, Odd is in danger! I need some time to devirtualize him! I don't know what to do!"
"Then send us to whatever this Lyoko is. Odd needs our help," he remembered replying. "Though I would like an explanation."
"You'll get one, I promise," Aelita had said. "You and Odd both. So you and Yumi are going?"
"Yep," Yumi answered.
"What? Go where, Ulrich?" He remembered Sissi asking.
"To a virtual world where weird monsters want to massacre you," Yumi had explained.
"That's right," Ulrich immediately picked up where Yumi left off. "If you want to go out with me, now's your chance. We never abandon our friends."
The memory changed again.
"Ulrich and Sissi working together on a film!" Odd teased, from his spot beside Ulrich. "This could be the beginning of a great romance!"
"Yeah, right!" Ulrich retorted. "She's going to be a pain in the neck the whole time! She won't leave me alone for one second!"
The headache seemed to suddenly stop. When he came back to reality, Sissi was right there, worried.
"Ulrich, you okay? Let's take you to your room so you can rest."
"I'm–" he cut himself off from saying 'I'm fine', before changing his answer to something more truthful. "I think I need to be alone."
Sissi seemed hurt, but she let him go. "Okay."
She could only watch him walk away with concern.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Coming to the infirmary was a mistake. Yolanda clearly had her hands full.
"The answer is 'no'!" Yolanda was telling Aelita and Yumi. "Can't you see I have no time? I don't know what's happening! It's an epidemic!"
The two girls could see that both of Yolanda's beds were full, by both Jim and the student he was carrying in (Sandra Dialo).
Seeing the situation, Aelita let out a gasp that sounded like, "Oh man..."
"If you want," Yumi offered to their poor nurse, "we can stay and help."
"Thank you for the offer," Yolanda replied, "but right now, the best way to help is to stay out of my way."
With that, the two girls left the infirmary. Now outside, Yumi muttered, "Hopefully, Odd had more luck."
Right on cue, Odd ran up and stopped right in front of them. As he was still catching his breath, he huffed out, "No doubt about it! Ulrich's got amnesia! I thought he was gonna slug me just now!"
"So it's not a prank, after all," Yumi realized. "And he's not the only one who's been affected. According to Yolanda, it's becoming an epidemic."
"But..." Aelita interrupted, "amnesia is not a contagious disease. You can't just catch it from someone else. Something's wrong."
"We better ask a doctor about it," Yumi said, as the pink-ette kept thinking.
"Too bad that nano-doctors don't exist yet," Odd added.
What Odd said immediately gave Aelita an idea, "Of course! Now, I understand! Follow me!"
She then ran out of the Administrative Building, and Yumi and Odd had no choice but to follow.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita had led them to the Science Building, into Ms. Hertz's classroom. There they found the nanosphere's lid broken, and Ms. Hertz herself passed out with her head on the table.
Odd and Yumi immediately went to their teacher and checked on her, while Aelita took a sample of the gelatine still inside the machine and placed it underneath the nearby microscope.
Ms. Hertz moaned, and disoriented, asked the two students, "Where am I?"
"You fainted," Yumi told her.
"But you'll be okay," Odd reassured her.
Aelita had calibrated the microscope, and she called the other two, "Come look at this. It's the gel from this morning." She adjusted it, and the lens continued to zoom in on a particle within the gel.
Until a eight-legged bug, emblemed with the eye of XANA, came into focus.
"XANA!" Yumi gasped.
"What are those things?" Odd asked.
"Exactly what I was afraid of," Aelita explained. "They're nano-viruses, created by XANA." Ms. Hertz let her head fall back onto the desk. "They were created to attack memory cells."
"That means that it is contagious!" Yumi exclaimed.
"That's right," Aelita confirmed. "And like all viruses, you can catch it from sneezing, food, physical contact..." She gave a quick sigh. "Soon, the entire school will be infected, including us."
"A world without memory," Odd breathed.
"Under XANA's control," Yumi picked up where he left off.
Unlike the others, Aelita still had her school bag, and within it, her laptop suddenly started beeping. Reaching in and taking out her laptop, she opened it, and the trio were immediately greeted by Jérémie's panicked face.
"Aelita, XANA's woken up!" he told them. "I'm on the trail of the pulsations now, but I'm nowhere near the tower!"
"Don't worry, we're on our way," she reassured him. "But we should warn you now that Ulrich won't be joining us."
Jérémie raised a confused eyebrow, "Why not?"
"We'll explain when we get to the lab," Yumi hurriedly answered.
Jérémie nodded, before logging off. This allowed Aelita to close her laptop.
"Wait!" Odd suddenly exclaimed. "Why not Ulrich? We're gonna need him!"
"No, Odd," Yumi calmly told him. "It's Ulrich who needs our help. He'll only get it if we can deactivate the tower."
"Yumi's right," Aelita agreed and added, "Besides, if he can't remember anything, he won't be much good to us."
With that, the three came their way to their secret passage via the manhole cover, picking up their speed when they kept seeing various classmates and even teachers begin losing their mental state to amnesia.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich found himself aimlessly walking down the hallway of the dormitory building. He was on top floor, via a sign that told him it was the boys' floor.
The hallway was littered with various items, like papers, books, toiletries bags, etc. In front of him, a blonde boy suddenly emerged from his room, with all his belongings in his bag.
Ulrich stopped the boy, because he was the first person he saw, "Excuse me! Can you tell me where my room is?"
"Has everyone gone crazy around here?" The boy asked. Ulrich's missing memories would've told him that this was Tristan Brossard. "Third door on the right."
The boy then ran away, Ulrich wanted to ask him something else, but he decided against it.
His subconscious mind was pulling him in two different directions. What was the truth? Who were these people he kept remembering?
He finally reached the door the boy (Tristan) had directed him to.
When opening the door, he was immediately greeted with a small, gray-furred dog. The dog jumped on its hind legs, with its front paws clinging to Ulrich's pants, its tail wagging.
Ulrich knelt down and gave the animal a soft smile and a gentle pat, "I don't know who you are, little guy, but it seems we're friends."
His eyes wandered over to one of the two desks. On it, there was a multitude of polaroids. One in particular grabbed his attention.
It was a photo of him with the black-haired girl, the pink-haired girl, and the boy in purple that he was adamant was an enemy. But if this photo existed, with smiles abound, maybe that boy was telling the truth after all.
In the pink-ette's arms, there was also a laptop, with its screen showing a blonde boy in blue, giving a shy smile to the camera.
Who was that?
Something told him he wasn't going to find out by staying inside this room.
So he left the room, and eventually the building. He had no idea where he was going, but he was letting his subconscious mind guide him.
Once outside in the courtyard, he was shocked to see many other students lying on the ground or leaning against walls or columns, passed out the way he was. Behind him, Mr. Delmas himself walked around, seemingly aimlessly.
What was going on?
The headache returned, and this memory featured the boy on the pink-ette's laptop.
"Aelita?" the boy softly called out, calling scared, just before Ulrich himself jumped in front of him and destroyed one of the four block monsters surrounding him.
Another flash, and this time, the pink-ette's voice was explaining something.
"Hi," Yumi had greeted. "Find anything?"
"Yes," Aelita had replied. "XANA."
"XANA?" Odd had asked. "What's that?"
Ulrich remembered Jérémie explaining, "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 had asked. "All of that was XANA?"
"Yes," he remembered Aelita adding. "Only Jérémie can counter it by deactivating the tower that it uses for its attacks in the real world."
XANA has activated a tower, his subconscious mind was telling him. XANA is attacking right now. Help Jérémie get to that tower.
With this in mind, Ulrich let his memories guide him to where he needed to go.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
When Aelita got to the lab, the first thing she did, once she sat in the chair, was contact their fifth, "Jérémie, we're here."
"Good," he replied. "I've tracked the pulsations down to the Mountain Sector, but I'm still nowhere close."
"Alright, stay where you are, and I'll send Yumi and Odd to help you look," Aelita told him, typing in the commands that prepared the virtualization process.
"Roger that." Jérémie's yellow arrow on the holomap stopped at a summit. "Now, do you mind explaining why Ulrich won't be joining us? What's going on?"
Aelita sighed, "We've got an epidemic on our hands. XANA is using nano-viruses to attack memory cells and give people amnesia. And I think Ulrich was Patient Zero."
"I see," Jérémie's voice was soft. "Without their memories, XANA can easily control them."
"Our thoughts exactly. That's why we have to hurry!"
Odd's voice over the comm cut them off, "We're ready, Aelita!"
"Okay, here we go." She entered the necessary commands, "Transfer Odd, transfer Yumi!" Two avatars showed up on her screen. "Scanner Odd, scanner Yumi!" Once both avatars had loaded, she hit Enter, "Virtualization!"
On the holomap shown on her monitor, she saw two green arrows appear, right next to Jérémie's yellow arrow.
"Go on and search for the tower," Aelita told them. "In the meantime, I'll scour the news for any signs of this epidemic getting worse."
Meaning any deaths.
"Okay, we'll hurry!" Yumi told her.
With that, three arrows began heading down the path in front of them.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich had wandered into the park's forest, still not knowing where to go.
But when his gaze brushed along a manhole cover, the headache returned, though this time it didn't hurt as much.
He kept seeing flashes of him and those three heading into the sewers and emerging after a short trip on skateboards to a factory.
Letting those memories guide him, he carefully repeated the process.
He had something to do. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but he knew it was important.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The trio on Lyoko was emerging from a tunnel when Aelita saw a red circle on the other side, just as Odd was crossing the threshold.
"Watch out! Krabe on your right!" she announced.
Odd's green arrow made it through just fine, while Yumi's green arrow seemed to collide with Jérémie's yellow arrow. When her lifepoint count when down from 100 to 60, Aelita then understood what had happened.
Yumi had taken the hit for Jérémie.
"Yumi, you just lost forty lifepoints!" Aelita exclaimed.
"I know!" Yumi told Aelita, before addressing the two boys with her. "Odd, cover Jérémie! I'll try to lure it away from you!"
"Good luck!" Odd replied, his and Jérémie's arrows both moving towards a rock that both of them hid behind.
Meanwhile, Yumi's arrow was also hiding behind a rock, though a different one.
"Aelita, how many Krabes do you see?" Odd asked their mission control.
"Just one, but be careful," the pink-ette warned. "Yumi, he's coming towards you."
"Oh, don't worry, Aelita," Yumi calmly replied. "He just wants to play hide and seek. Playful little beast."
Suddenly, the elevator doors open, to Aelita's surprise.
There stood Ulrich, seemingly lost and confused. "Wow!" And also in awe of everything he was seeing.
"Ulrich? What are you doing here?" she asked, as he walked closer to where she was seated.
"I was hoping you'd tell me," he admitted. "What kind of place is this?"
"Sorry, but I don't have the time to explain everything to you right now," she began.
But he cut her off, "Look, I can't remember anything, but I know I have something important to do here. I was hoping you'd tell me what it is."
This caught her off-guard. Fighting XANA was something that was ingrained into his instincts? That was interesting.
That's why she smiled in response, "Sure, why not? Once you're on Lyoko, you'll have to do something, amnesia or not."
Ulrich raised an eyebrow in confusion, "What's Lyoko?"
She pointed to the ladder behind him, "See that ladder there?" He turned around to see what she was talking about. "Slide down to the level below. You'll see a few scanners. Get inside one, and you'll have all the answers you need."
Ulrich gave her a look of skepticism, but he did as she told him to do.
She turned back to the screen, where the holomap showed that Yumi was on top of the rock she was hiding behind, as the Krabe rounded the corner.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd watched, with Jérémie by his side, as the Krabe looked around for Yumi, expecting her to be behind that rock, since it saw her hide there.
"Yoo hoo!" Yumi called out. It fired a laser, but it didn't hit anything except the ground in front of it. It rounded the corner of the rock, only to find no one hiding there. "Over here!" Yumi called out.
It just kept looking around in confusion.
"Hey, Krabbey!" It finally looked up to see Yumi standing on top of the rock.
She jumped down, throwing her fan on the way. The fan sliced right through the eye. She caught it as the Krabe exploded.
Now that the coast was clear, Odd and Jérémie came out of hiding. "Nice job!" Odd exclaimed.
"Hey, guys!" Aelita greeted them after a while in silence. "I have some news. Ulrich's on the way."
"What?" The trio was all confused.
"But I thought you said he had amnesia," Jérémie reminded her.
"He does," Aelita explained. "But it's very interesting. His instincts kept telling him that going to the factory was important, that he had something to do there."
"What should we do?" Yumi asked.
"I'll be arriving with him," Aelita replied. "I'm warming up the self-virtualization process now. One of us should stay behind to help Ulrich get situated on Lyoko, while the other two take Jérémie to the tower."
"I'll stay with him," Odd volunteered.
"Okay," Aelita said. "Ulrich and I are on our way now." She then cut off.
About three minutes later, two avatars formed in the indigo sky before landing on the violet rock that was the ground. One of them had pink hair and had landed normally. The other had brunette hair and had landed on his behind.
Ulrich immediately stood up, expecting pain, but was confused when he didn't feel it, "Strange, I don't feel any pain."
"That's because you're in a virtual world," Odd greeted him, kneeling on one of the rocks in front of him. Ulrich turned to face him. "Welcome to Lyoko."
"You! You're my–!"
Odd gently cut him off, "Your roommate that you got into a fight with, yes." He turned to the other three, "Go on. I've got him."
Aelita, Jérémie, and Yumi all nodded, before continuing down the path.
"What is this place? Where are we here for?" Ulrich asked.
"To fight, of course," Odd replied.
"Fight? I don't know how to fight!"
"On the contrary," Odd told him, "you do. You just forgot. But I'll refresh your memory."
He leapt down and swept his leg to knock Ulrich off his feet. Ulrich came crashing to the ground.
"Come on," Odd gently taunted. "Get up. The real you would've never allowed that to happen."
Accepting the challenge, Ulrich got up and began fighting back.
Odd kept up the guise that this was a video game. For now, it was the best approach, lest Ulrich get too freaked out if he was being pressured with the fact that this had real dangers.
The two were sparring, with Ulrich attacking with his saber, and Odd using his agility to dodge each and every slash.
Ulrich quickly caught on to this, "You're just dodging my blows! Don't you have a weapon?"
"I have a few arrows," Odd admitted. "But I'd rather save them for now." He added, "And I don't want to hurt you with them either."
Ulrich swiped his katana at Odd once more, before asking, "Where did the others go?"
"They moved on to a new level," Odd explained. He couldn't just say that they were finding a tower to save humanity.
"There are other levels?" Ulrich asked, intrigued.
"Of course," Odd replied, dodging another strike. "But you're not ready yet."
Ulrich sincerely wasn't. That was the truth. He needed to get his fighting instincts back before anything else.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie led the two girls down the path. The activated tower was in sight now.
"We're almost there!" he breathed (almost) a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, but still no monsters!" Yumi warned. "It feels too easy! I have a funny feeling about this!"
Just as she said this, two Krabes suddenly virtualized and landed right in front of them, blocking their path.
Yumi groaned, "Oh, I'm sick of always being right!"
Aelita and Jérémie both turned around when they heard the sound of virtualizing behind them, only to see two more Krabes appear out of thin air and land, blocking their only escape.
Seeing this as well, Yumi quipped, "Four against two, piece of cake!"
"It's better than five or six!" Aelita told her. "I'll send the signal to Odd for reinforcements!" She began building up one big Energy Field.
As she was doing so, Yumi unsheathed her fan, ready to fight.
Jérémie, on the other hand, stared down the two Krabes behind them, "In the meantime, let's make this fight a little more even."
With a bit of concentration, soon a somewhat-thick rock wall formed in between Jérémie and those two Krabes, who immediately started firing at the wall. He then turned to his two guards, and urged them, "Hurry! It's not going to hold for long!", as he ran towards a nearby rock to take cover.
Yumi jumped and threw her fan as Aelita threw her big Energy Field into the sky.
While Yumi's fan ricocheted off of the Krabe's shell, Aelita's Energy Field burst into various shards of light.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd had just dodged another of Ulrich's strikes when he saw Aelita's flare bomb (so to speak). That meant that she, Yumi, and Jérémie needed help.
"Save your strength," he told Ulrich. "The others need our help."
"You mean, we can go on to the next level now?" Ulrich asked, as he sheathed his katana.
"Yep, you're ready," Odd said. "Let's go."
He then ran down the path the other three took, ignoring Ulrich's, "Wait! But we haven't finished this level yet!"
Odd arrived at the tower in time to see Yumi destroy one of the Krabes.
But three Krabes remained, with two of them shooting at a rock wall that Jérémie had clearly made.
Seeing that the situation was dire, Odd kept running, only to be tackled by none other than Ulrich.
The brunette pointed his katana at Odd's neck, exclaiming, "There! I beat the level!"
"Sure," the purple cat replied, "but you beat an ally."
"Huh?" the yellow samurai was confused.
Odd pointed to the Krabes in front of them, still firing at Jérémie's rock wall, "Now that you know who your friends are, it's time to meet your enemies."
Ulrich glanced up, and eased his hold on Odd as he laid sight on the three Krabes, "Enemies? What the heck are those?!"
Odd got to his knees, crouching at Ulrich's side, a steady paw on Ulrich's katana as he stuck it into the ground, "Krabes. Monsters created by XANA." He stood up. "Listen, I can't explain everything right now, but the others need our help. And right now."
Ulrich got to his feet and sheathed his katana. Together, the two ran towards the Krabes.
As they ran, Odd threw out an information piece of information, "To get rid of them, you have to hit the symbol that looks like an eye."
"That weird three-ringed symbol?" Ulrich asked. "Sounds easy enough!"
Jérémie suddenly gasped in panic as his rock wall finally shattered. He began backing up, as he shakily called out, "Yumi? Aelita?"
The two girls turned back, only for the Krabe still in front of the tower to shoot at Yumi, devirtualizing her.
Seeing this, Aelita called out to Odd and Ulrich, "Protect Jérémie!"
The same Krabe then shot at Aelita, devirtualizing her as well.
"What happened to them?" Ulrich asked his tutor, as they continued to run towards their destination.
"Don't worry!" Odd told him. "It's nothing serious! But we have to protect Jérémie!"
"Who's Jérémie?"
Odd nodded towards the blue elf being surrounded by the three Krabes, "Him! If he's gone, we lose the game!"
Ulrich promptly unsheathed his katana and leapt on top of one of the Krabes. But before he could strike, the Krabe suddenly buckled, forcing Ulrich to the ground. Now in front of it, the Krabe shot at Ulrich, but Ulrich managed to dodge it.
Meanwhile, Odd leapt up and shot at a second Krabe, only for all four arrows that he fired to miss the eye. He also landed in front of the Krabe.
This Krabe also fired on him, but Odd easily dodged it before luring its attention away from Jérémie by running away underneath it.
Ulrich ran up to his opponent in a zig-zag pattern, before deflecting its lasers with his katana.
"Doesn't Jérémie have a weapon?" Ulrich asked Odd, mid-fight.
"No!" Odd replied, firing a couple of arrows at the Krabe he was fighting. "That's one of the reasons we have to protect him!"
Ulrich turned his head to see that third Krabe having cornered Jérémie, who nearly stumbled over the edge but caught himself just in time.
Ulrich twirled his katana to get a better grip, before vowing, "Leave it to me!"
He than ran towards that third Krabe, before slicing off its two back legs. It fell over, trying to fire a laser, but it missed. Once it tilted over just enough, Ulrich stuck his katana right into its XANA emblem.
The thing exploded, and as Ulrich readjusted his footing, Jérémie ran past him, exclaiming, "Thanks for clearing the passage!", as he ran by.
In confusion, Ulrich turned back to Odd, "He's leaving? How come?"
"Not exactly total recall, I see," Yumi muttered from the lab.
"It's okay," Odd told him. "He has his own job to do. You and I still have two enemies left to beat."
The Krabe he was facing shot at him, making him fall to the ground, lightning sparkling from where he was hit.
Ulrich immediately ran towards him, "Hold on, Jérémie, I'm coming!"
"No, I'm Odd!" the purple cat replied, as he shot an arrow at his Krabe opponent, destroying it.
As the two teamed up to take out the last Krabe, Jérémie entered the tower.
Odd and Ulrich both leapt up on either side of the Krabe and hit the eye of XANA with their respective weapons. Unable to take the damage, the fourth Krabe exploded.
"Bravo, guys!" Aelita told them over the comm. "You're an unforgettable team!"
JEREMIE_
"Is that it?" Ulrich asked, the mountainous, violet-colored battlefield now empty, save for them two. "No other players?"
"No, we can go home," Odd replied. "The game's over."
CODE_
"Huh? But how do we get back to reality?" Ulrich asked.
"Magic. Watch."
LYOKO_
"Return to the Past now," Aelita said from the comm.
A bright light suddenly engulfed Lyoko, and eventually the entire world.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Time rewinded to the night before, just moments before that fateful argument.
"Hey, Odd, if you don't mind, I'm trying to study," Ulrich said.
This time, since his music wasn't turned up so loud, Odd was able to hear him. He turned off his music and sat on his bed, "Sorry." He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Ulrich, for our fight the first time."
The brunette was quiet. "You know, it's strange. I remember having amnesia, and how I acted." Odd glanced up and saw that Ulrich was twisted around in his desk chair to face Odd. "It wasn't really amnesia, but rather something was blocking those memories."
"Like a virus?" Odd asked, his voice soft.
"Yeah," Ulrich explained. "That's why I couldn't get out of my head that I was mad at you about something. I couldn't remember what had happened between us, but..." He trailed off, but he didn't need to continue. Instead, he said, "I'm sorry, too."
"You don't need to apologize, Ulrich," Odd quickly told him. "Not this time. You're right. I was being selfish. I'm also sorry for not realizing how important your grades are to you. You see, my parents are always praising me for everything I do, even if it's a bad grade or a good one."
"They're not around a whole lot, are they?"
"No," Odd admitted. "And with my five older sisters, I'm often the forgotten child."
"Ah, so that's why you can be such a pain in the neck," Ulrich realized.
"Hey," Odd gently faux-protested, "I resent that. But yeah, I guess you could say that. And that's why I don't really care about my grades. No matter what I do, no matter how much work I put into it, my parents are going to praise me no matter what."
"Do you hate them for that?"
Odd pursed his lips, "Sometimes."
Ulrich was quiet, before spilling his own heart, "My parents are the exact opposite. My father is always on my case about my grades, about everything, no matter what I do. No matter how much effort I put into it, it never seems like it's enough."
Both boys were silent, until Odd broke it.
"In that case, why don't we help each other study?"
Ulrich smiled, "I'd like that." As Odd reached into his bag and pulled out his own math book, he was stopped by Ulrich, "One more thing, Odd."
"Yeah?" the Italian boy asked as he sat down in the other desk chair.
"Thank you for tutoring me on Lyoko."
Odd smiled, "No problem. You did great."
"Thanks, you weren't so bad yourself."
"Bad? I was great, thank you."
"Nonsense. Now, please teach me the ways of mathematics, oh great reincarnation of Einstein."
"With pleasure! I'm always willing to give a lesson to a sawdust-filled head!"
"Hey. I resent that."
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
Next Episode: 11 - What is Love? / This time, something happens to Aelita after she and Jérémie get into a fight.
A/N: I never understood why Ulrich was the one punished in "Killer Music" when it was Odd who was playing his music too loudly while Ulrich was trying to study. Odd just didn't seem to get that Ulrich wanted some peace and quiet, while Ulrich's outburst was completely justified, and yet Ulrich is the one who suffers because he feels guilty for Odd being comatose, when it's not his fault at all. So in this AU, the tables are turned, as Odd is forced to realize his mistake when Ulrich suddenly doesn't remember them being friends.
To be honest, I wanted to make Sissi an ally mostly to avoid her doing something like she does to Ulrich in the canon 'Amnesia' episode (use his amnesia to her advantage, which is insanely creepy of her, just as much as her blackmailing Ulrich with his own diary). Here, however, she doesn't do any of that, because, again, the problem role has been passed to Hervé (for a reason).
Some memories shown are ones seen in the past few chapters, while others are completely original.
Again, if I told you who Michel Périn is now, then there wouldn't really be a mystery to solve. However, I know some of you can guess what that 'missing component' is (hint: it's something canon also had; it wasn't set up the same way, though; in fact, it sort of just came out of nowhere).