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.

Beta read by swordsdownforreview

!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!

"When the topic of personal hobbies comes up, Jérémie is naturally torn between finding one for himself and focusing solely on XANA."

Episode 22: Favorite Hobbies

(Based on Final Mix & The Chips Are Down)

It was finals week at Kadic Academy, and Ulrich was under a lot of pressure to do well (From who exactly? You already know). Fortunately, he had two friends who were at the top of their class who were more than willing to help him study. Thanks to them, he had managed to make it to Friday afternoon. Now, he only had one final exam left to worry about: the science final, which had two separate parts, one for physics and one for chemistry.

As he and Odd went to the vending machines for a quick drink after that day's exams, he rattled off science formulas in his head, "I can't remember the equation...the square root of a quotient equals...uh..."

Odd was standing in front of the drinks machine, trying to decide if he wanted soda or hot chocolate. Despite this, he chose to help his friend, "Uh, zero? No, it's ten! No, wait." He sighed, "Whatever, I give up." He noticed Ulrich walking back to the courtyard, "Hey, where are you going?"

"To study for the science final," Ulrich replied, stopping in his tracks to address his roommate. "It's tomorrow, and I can't exactly count on you to help me."

"You must be kidding!" Odd said, sounding slightly offended, though Ulrich honestly couldn't tell if it was a joke or not. "We'll miss the afternoon snack!" Nevermind. It was a joke. "And don't get all worked up about that exam. I've got a little something in mind."

Ulrich decided to humor Odd, "This 'little something' wouldn't happen to start with 'cheat' and end in 'sheet', by any chance, would it?"

"Wow, you just read my mind!"

"No, you're just an open book," Ulrich gently retorted. He was used to Odd's patterns and tendencies now, even if he still didn't like some of them. "Listen, I appreciate your dumb plan, but I can't afford it. If my dad ever found out I cheated on my exams, he'd never let me forget it." Walter Stern might even pull his son out of Kadic for good, and Ulrich really couldn't let that happen.

"Understandable," Odd shrugged. "Good luck with your studying." Despite their arguments, the two respected each other without limitations.

"Thanks for being supportive," Ulrich replied.

Before he could walk away, to his dorm to study (and maybe even ask Jérémie or Aelita to help him), Sissi approached them, an obvious skip in her step, "Hey, guys! I am really knocked out! Bet you can't guess why!"

"Don't tell me," Odd pressed a finger to his temple, acting as if he was deep in thought. "The members of the band Love Potion split up?"

"That's old news, you dork!" Sissi retorted. Ulrich inwardly sighed; this was Odd and Sissi's usual dynamic. They loved to mess with each other; today, it was Odd's turn. "Brian fell in love with Crystal, so Geoffrey kicked them out! No, my father said it was okay to use the gymnasium!"

Odd gasped unironically in genuine excitement, "He said 'yes'?!" Sissi nodded. "Yes!" He then walked away, "I have to find William and Aelita!"

"They're in the gym, setting up," Sissi called after him. In response, she got a wave as he soon disappeared into the crowd of students.

"Um, forgive me for asking a stupid question," Ulrich slowly spoke up, having watched it all, "but use the gymnasium for what, exactly?"

"The happening of the century, of course!" Sissi cheerfully replied. She sounded supremely excited, and Ulrich honestly didn't want to tear that down. "The after-finals party! It's tomorrow night, where we students will be allowed to celebrate how the stress of finals is finally over! Have you been living under a rock or something? Everyone's talking about it."

Ulrich shrugged, "Sorry, I've been a little too busy studying. I can't afford to mess up on these exams."

Sissi deflated a little. She understood what he meant. "But you will be there, won't you? It's going to be a great party."

"If I pass tomorrow's science final like I've done with all the other ones, then absolutely," Ulrich replied, intent on keeping that promise. As he walked away, he waved 'goodbye' at her, "I'll see you later."

Sissi waved, before skipping away to tell more people about her exciting news.

Ulrich, meanwhile, made his way to his dorms, but as he approached the entrance to the said building, he saw Yumi standing under the arches. She looked disappointed, almost sulking, and being his friend, he knew he had to do something, so he altered his course to join her.

As he approached her, he asked, "Hey, Yumi. What's wrong?"

Yumi looked up at him when he spoke, and he could see that she wasn't sulking so much as she was worried.

But why?

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

Inside the gymnasium, Jim was directing the preparation of said building for tomorrow's party.

"Pujol, Yao, those mats go in the storage room!" He watched as Jean-Baptiste Pujol and Julien Yao went in the direction he said. "Kantaoui, push that pommel horse against the wall, out of the way!" Mohamed Kantaoui didn't have any help, so he had to push said device by himself.

The physical education finals all took place the week before, during regular classes. Mr. Delmas set it up that way so that the students could focus solely on the subjects that required mental preparation, and a side effect was that it freed up Jim's schedule, to help the teachers that needed an extra hand.

Jim sighed, "This reminds me of when I was a removalist."

Christophe M'Bala passed in front of Jim in that moment, a potted plant in his arms, and heard his remark, "You were a removalist, Jim?"

Jim's smile faded, "I'd rather not talk about it."

Meanwhile, William suddenly tripped, accidentally dropped the mixing board he was carrying. Up on stage, Aelita saw this and immediately ran to help him, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he reassured her, pointing her attention to what he was carrying and she was waiting for. "The mixing board, not so much."

The two knelt down to assess the damage, with Aelita cringing because that simple fall had caused quite a bit of damage, before she motioned to the stage. He nodded, understanding the gesture, and together, the two gently picked the device up and carried it to the stage. There, Aelita began putting it back together, only to be having trouble, it seemed.

Odd approached them, asking, "So, it's really true, huh? The principal gave the techno party the green light?" He was studying the gym, where Jim was still directing various students.

"Yes, he did," William replied, carefully watching Aelita and her attempts to fix their mixing board.

"This is going to be so awesome!" Odd pumped his fists into the air with excitement, "Kadic's best DJs will be there, which includes my own dear cousin, Aelita! It's gonna be a blast!"

"We hate to rain on your parade, Odd," said cousin solemnly replied, "but it looks like no one will be blasting anything. The mixing board is broken and I can't see where the problem is."

"What?!" Odd let out a little stutter to convey his shock and disappointment, "B-But you're Miss Fix-It! You can fix anything!"

"Apparently, I've reached my limit," Aelita gently retorted. In an attempt to cheer the two boys up, she offered, "If we have to, I can lend my own mixing board. It might be hard for the other DJs to adjust to it, though. I've personalized it to fit my needs and aesthetic."

"Let's file that into Plan B," William suggested. "This is the school's own mixing board, so let's try to fix it first before we resort to anything drastic."

The door near them suddenly opened, and Jérémie's voice sounded, "Oh, Odd, there you are!" The three turned to face him as he walked up on stage, "I've been looking for you all over campus." He paused when he saw the broken device that they were surrounding. "Do you guys need help fixing that?"

"Um, if you can," William replied, "If you can't, then it's okay. So, no pressure."

Jérémie merely gave them all a soft smile, before walking off stage and approaching Jim. He asked something, and Jim directed him to the storage room. Jérémie left and came back to the stage, about two minutes later, with a toolbox in hand.

To their surprise, Jérémie seemed to be a natural with these tools. His entire body moved expertly as he studied the damage without a word, and then picked up the appropriate tools from the box. Pretty soon, he was done.

Screwdriver in hand, he stepped back from the mixing board, "It should work now. Go ahead and try it out."

William stepped up, and put a random record on. As he slipped the headphones, music became sounding from the nearby speakers at a mid-level volume, not too loud, but not quiet either. William immediately smiled, "Unbelievable! It's actually working!"

"Yes," Odd replied, "but will it work with the complex mixes? Aelita tends to get a little crazy with hers, y'know."

William promptly handed the headphones to Aelita, who used this random record and the board's sampled sounds to create a complex mix that the best DJs in the world would be both proud of as well as jealous that they couldn't do it themselves.

Odd saw the look of awe on Jérémie's face and barely stifled his chuckles.

After about a minute, Aelita turned the music down and slipped the headphones off, resting them around her neck, "Yep, it works with my mixes too."

Odd pumped his fists into the air, exactly how he did so a few minutes prior, "Yes! The party is still on! Thanks, Jérémie, you were a big help."

Jérémie offered a pleased smile, "You're welcome. So this is the device where Aelita makes her music. What is it called?"

"A mixing board," William answered, "and all DJs use it, not just Aelita. I also find it interesting how you didn't know what it was, but you fixed it easily." Jérémie just shrugged.

"You want to try it out?" Odd asked Jérémie, who immediately shied away.

"Um, I-I don't think I'll be any good at it," the blonde in blue replied. "Besides, I have no idea what to do."

"It's okay," Odd reassured him. "We'll teach you."

Aelita was holding out the headphones to Jérémie, who paused for a moment, deep in a quick mental debate, before he decided that it wouldn't hurt to try. So he took the headphones from her and placed them on his own head, copying what he had just seen William and Aelita do.

Odd leaned in, and began explaining, "You play the records on the turntables here, and the board itself mixes one song with another. The trick is to synchronize the sound–that's where the talent comes in." As he said this, he motioned to the sliders. "You ready?"

Jérémie nodded, looking and obviously feeling nervous. Aelita pushed the volume slider up, turning up the song from barely hearable to at where it was at before. He glanced at her, and she gave an encouraging nod.

Jérémie lowered one slider, cutting off the song altogether, and raised another, replacing it with another song.

"Not bad," William commented. "Not the best, but not bad either." Pretty subpar, then. "You're getting the hang of this thing pretty quickly." Jérémie lowered the volume slider a little bit, a disappointed expression on his face. "Hey, it's okay. Not everyone is good at everything, especially at mixing music. Sometimes, it takes lots of practice."

"He's right," Odd offered. "Take you and phys. ed. for example."

Jérémie replied with a tight smile, before he reached for the sliders again, obviously wishing to try mixing out a little more.

Only for the music to stop out of nowhere.

The four glanced up from the mixing board to the other end of the gym, where Jim was standing by the circuit breaker box, having just cut off the power to the sound system. "Alright, that's enough. Time to stop goofing off." He had a point. Also, the rest of the gym was completely empty.

"Sorry, Jim," Odd said, as he led the other three off the stage, with the toolbox they borrowed in Jérémie's hand. "We were just showing Jérémie the technical side of tomorrow's party. He really likes that stuff." Jérémie nodded; it was true. As they approached their gym teacher, Odd asked him, "You like techno, Jim?"

"Forget about it, Della Robbia," Jim replied, taking the toolbox back from Jérémie. "Your cuckoo electronic stuff isn't for me. It's nothing compared to some good ol' rock 'n' roll! Now, you four, off to studying. You still have one final exam left."

The four of them left the gymnasium together. As they did, William leaned in to the pink-ette, "Aelita, you're still on the slate for tomorrow, right?"

"Of course I am," she smiled at him. "I wouldn't miss a DJing gig for anything!" And she meant it.

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

"Can you keep a secret, Ulrich?" Yumi asked. The two were still under the arches, and after a bit of reassurance, Yumi finally bit the bullet and chose to tell Ulrich what she was so worried about.

"From the others?" Yumi nodded. "Yes."

Yumi took a deep breath and began her explanation, "This morning at breakfast, my dad said that his boss wants to see him in their office today. Since they're pretty strict, according to Dad, it made him think that it means they want to fire him. If that happens, then my family will be forced to move back to Kyoto, and yes, that includes me."

Ulrich's stomach immediately began doing flips, frightened ones. "But there are ways to stay, right? There's the lottery! Y-You could also re-enroll at Kadic as a boarder!"

Yumi just smiled, "Ulrich," he began calming down, "I appreciate you trying to help, but there's no proof that my dad is going to be fired. He's always been a very hard worker, always willing to stay late if it means getting the job done the right way. He just told us to warn us that today's meeting could go two ways. Nothing is set in stone, and this is definitely a situation that can't be changed no matter how many times we Return. That's why I'm only confiding in you for now."

She was right, like always.

He sighed, "Alright. I'll keep it a secret from the others. But you'll update me if things change, right?"

"Of course, I will," she replied. "I wouldn't just leave you hanging."

The end of the conversation arrived at the perfect time, as then, the two were joined by Aelita, Jérémie, and Odd, who had approached them from the direction of the gym (in the background, William headed for the cafeteria).

Odd was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement, "The after-finals party is on! The principal approved of the gym, and everything has been set up! There was a snag, though, when the mixing board broke, and Aelita couldn't fix it. But fortunately, Jérémie arrived at just the right time and was able to get it working again!"

Jérémie blushed at the praise, "It was purely coincidental. I just wanted to ask you, Odd, if you needed help studying for the science final."

"Don't worry, Mr. Einstein, it's in the bag," Odd shrugged him off, making Jérémie raise an eyebrow. "Back to the more important topic, it's amazing that you were able to fix the mixing board when Aelita couldn't. Have you always had a talent for repairing things?"

All eyes were on the blonde in blue as he shrugged, "I-It's complicated." Of course, it was. "I know it was the first time, but it felt familiar to me somehow."

"Maybe it was one of your hobbies pre-Lyoko," Yumi suggested, and Jérémie shrugged again.

"Just out of curiosity, Jer," Odd cut in, "have you found any hobbies now that you're out of Lyoko?"

Jérémie just raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Hobbies? What are those?"

"Activities done at one's leisure or pleasure," Aelita softly explained.

"Oh," the blue-clad blonde understood now. "In that case, no."

"What about coding?" Ulrich asked. "You're really good at it." He was obviously thinking about the three vehicles plus Aelita's wings, but now that Jérémie had his own laptop, he was always coding some program on it.

But Jérémie, surprisingly, pouted in response, "I may be good at coding, but that doesn't mean I like it. Case in point, just now, I tried mixing like Aelita does. I'm not good at it, but I like the idea of experimenting with it."

Aelita giggled, "Maybe you should stick to your computer, Jer. No one would expect you, of all people, to do music."

She said the wrong thing, apparently, because after hearing this, Jérémie just seemed to get more upset, "Maybe I want to find a hobby that proves I'm not a nerd."

A switch had been flipped. That was the first time that word had ever come from his mouth.

"Where did you hear that?" Yumi demanded, her gut hardening in anger. Who told him? How? When? Why? Beside her, she could feel the other three wondering the same thing, just as angry as she was.

"It's not important," was his immediate answer, "because they're right." He refused to look at any of them in the eyes, "I know I'm different from you guys. I always have been, and I always will be."

He didn't have a family; the others did. He had an innate connection with a virtual world; the others didn't. He didn't have any memories of his past life; the others did. He had a false cover story to hide his true origins; the others didn't. He had something XANA clearly wanted; the others' didn't. He was a nerd; the others weren't.

He didn't have to tell them how he felt about these differences. It was clear as day, palpable, on his face. They made him sad.

"Jérémie," Aelita softly protested, "you're not a nerd."

"Yes, I am," he replied, just as quiet, effectively silencing them. "I'm only good at coding because I have to be. XANA is always one step ahead of us, because it can recognize all of our patterns and can easily find ways to use them against us. During my free time, I'm always working on more programs to help us, most importantly my anti-virus."

"Jer, you don't–"

He quickly cut Odd off, "Yes, I do have to worry about it. The fight has been going on much longer than you all signed up for." First, it was just a few weeks, then it turned into a year, and then, because of that miserable virus, it turned into six more months. His voice was soft, as he finished his rant with, "And it's all my fault."

With his piece having been said, the other four could only watch as he trudged back to his room, visibly sulking, leaving his friends to stew in what he just told them.

'You guys are only in this position because of me.'

Where had they heard that sentiment from him before? Oh yeah, just before he sacrificed himself to save Kadic from their dorm building collapsing in on itself.

They couldn't deny that he had every right to feel this way, but even now, they couldn't get rid of his self-esteem issues.

But this time, they had gotten so bad that he was forgetting how to live.

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

The four hadn't heard from or seen Jérémie until the next morning. He had skipped both dinner and breakfast, which wasn't surprising, given how upset he was when he left. But that didn't mean they weren't worried.

They were.

Yumi had arrived not long after breakfast with her brother, the two splitting off once they saw their respective friend groups. Yumi joined hers by the vending machines, and promptly got out her History book from her bag.

Aelita was currently holding her chemistry book and Ulrich was reciting science equations. The pink-ette nodded at each one he got right, which was surprisingly a lot. Yumi, personally, was very proud, despite the fact that he was only doing this to please his father.

"Correct again," Aelita told him, as she closed her chemistry book. "You're going to do great, Ulrich."

"I hope so."

"Deep breaths, Ulrich," Yumi cut in, briefly looking up from her own studying. "If you have to, skip the questions you're not sure off and then come back to them later once you've answered the ones you know. In the very least, it'll help you better manage your time."

Ulrich sent her a grateful look for the advice, to which she smiled back, as Odd said, "Man, I envy you, Yumi. You only have history knowledge to flex today. We have chemistry and physics."

Yumi rolled her eyes, "You act like science is your worst subject, Odd, when I know it's actually math."

Ulrich and Odd both cringed at the mention of Mrs. Meyer's final on Tuesday. It was the exam Ulrich was looking forward to the least, but he had done fairly well for himself, and it was out of the way now.

The two were saved by a pair of gentle-sounding footsteps approaching. The four turned to see Jérémie standing there, an apologetic look on his face.

"I'm sorry for yesterday," he softly told them. "I didn't mean to overreact like that."

"You did not overreact, Jer," Ulrich quickly replied. "What happened yesterday was the result of you bottling up your emotions until the figurative dam had no choice but to burst. Trust me, I know what that's like." It's happened to him before. In fact, at the moment, the bottle labeled with his father was in the process of being filled up; it would break soon, Ulrich could feel it.

"I guess that makes sense," Jérémie said. "After all, a bottle can only hold so much before it breaks."

Ulrich smiled. Jérémie meant it literally, but the German boy couldn't deny the truth that it worked that way as well as figuratively too.

"Ulrich's right," Aelita said. "We don't blame you for anything. It's us who should be apologizing to you. We didn't realizing that we were pushing you too far."

Jérémie softly smiled, "I forgive you."

"And back on the topic of hobbies," Yumi told him, "they are activities you enjoy doing, so whether or not you're good at them doesn't matter. It shouldn't, anyway. That means, if you really want to experiment with mixing, Jérémie, then go ahead. Aelita can give you some pointers if you want." Aelita shot him a bright smile at the mention, which he returned.

Odd slung an arm around Jérémie's shoulders, gently reassuring him, "And yes, you are a nerd, Jer. Even we can't deny it. Your 'Mr. Einstein' nickname kinda showcases that pretty well. But you should learn to embrace it. Whoever told you either warned you that it was a bad thing to be labeled with, or called you that in a derogatory way. But if you show them that it doesn't bother you, then the insults become harmless."

Very wise advice, actually. Most would be surprised that it came from Odd, of all people, but his friends weren't. His Future Flash ability showcased all of his hidden depths very well.

'Just live. Knowing it was all worth it is payment enough.'

Recalling this wish of theirs, Jérémie offered them all a smile, "I'll try."

The warning bell rang, sounding all across campus.

"Well, this is it, guys," Yumi said. "Our last final exam of the week. Good luck!"

She waved at them as she ran across the courtyard, joining William on the way.

"You too!" Ulrich called back, before walking with Aelita, Jérémie, and Odd to the science building.

Ulrich's nervousness must have been on clear display, because Jérémie reached over to gently pat his shoulder, "Don't worry, Ulrich. I'm sure you'll do just fine. Same goes for you, Odd."

"Of course, I'll do fine," Odd sounded very confident. "In fact, I know I'll do great! I'll get a perfect score!"

Ulrich rolled his eyes, groaning, "You really didn't study, did you?"

Jérémie immediately turned to Odd, alarmed, as they entered the science building, "What?! Not at all?!"

"Nope," the Italian boy sounded way too chipper for someone who was about to take an important exam. "I told you yesterday, Jer. It's in the bag." Because he was planning to cheat. For some reason, the four couldn't go any further, and Odd finally noticed. "Huh? What's going on?" There was a line going up the stairs. "Has the exam been cancelled or something?"

"No," Sissi, from farther up the line, corrected him. "Inspection by G.I. Jim."

Halfway up the stairs stood Jim, blocking off all traffic, which explained why there was a line. Everyone watched as Heidi Klinger gave Jim her school bag. Jim threw her bag into a pile of other bags off to his left, before holding up a pen he got from a box on top of a foldable T.V. dinner table to his right, "One pen! That's all you can take in!"

As Jim allowed Heidi to pass him on the stairs, Odd winced, "Ouch! That's an unexpected development."

His three friends could only smile at him, knowing he couldn't cheat now.

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

"You'll have two hours for physics and then two hours for chemistry," Ms. Hertz explained to the class as she and Jim passed out the exam papers, each of them taking one half of the room (two columns and four rows for each). "My colleagues and I will grade the exams this afternoon, and after that, the principal himself will announce the results."

Ulrich looked at his paper, and finding a lot of the questions familiar, he inwardly smiled and thanked Aelita and Jérémie for the millionth time this week. He could do this; he knew this stuff.

But he looked over at his deskmate, only to find Odd frowning in major confusion. It's clear Odd was regretting his decision to not study.

Once Ms. Hertz and Jim were back at the front of the classroom, their teacher announced, "You may begin...now."

Pens immediately started scratching papers, all at different frequencies and patterns. Jim strolled the aisles, keeping a sharp eye on the students who were acting like they were thinking about cheating.

Jérémie and Aelita were both deeply invested in their exams, as were Hervé and Laura, which made sense with them being the most academically invested students. All four were leaning over their papers, staring intently at the questions as they feverishly wrote down the answers.

Ulrich was taking Yumi's advice, skipping the couple of questions he wasn't sure of and coming back to them after completing the questions he definitely knew. Actually, it seemed like a fair amount of students were using this method.

Then, there were Odd and Sissi. Odd had immediately begun folding his exam paper, while Sissi eventually started to doodle on hers after a moment of thinking.

The two hours were eventually over, and once the clock chimed the time, Jim clapped his hands, announcing, "The test is over! Put your pens down and stay where you are while I collect all of your papers!"

Deskmates Jérémie and Aelita shared an accomplished look as Jim collected their papers. Ulrich looked equally pleased.

Jim went to collect Odd's paper, only to pick up an origami crane instead. Instead of lashing out in anger, the man surprisingly hummed as if impressed, "Well done, Odd. That's your best one yet," before moving on to the next row.

Ulrich shot Odd a raised eyebrow, only for Odd to shrug in response.

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

As Ms. Hertz continued the exam with the chemistry portion, Jim went to the administrative building with the physics papers. As he entered the teacher's lounge and went straight to Ms. Hertz's locker, he muttered to himself, "I hope she'll let me keep Odd's crane for my origami collection."

As he opened up her locker and placed the tests inside, behind him, an electrical outlet began dangerously sparking with electricity.

Just as he closed the locker, he was jumped by a dark spectre. It made him fall back to the ground in surprise, giving the thing an opening.

When Jim opened his eyes again, his irises were flashing with the eye of XANA.

In Lyoko's Desert Sector, a few Krabes were materialized to protect the tower surrounded in the red glow. A few meters away, deep in a crater, a Megatank was materialized there, its mission currently unknown.

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

That night, Yumi joined Ulrich, Odd, and Jérémie outside the gym. There was a line to get in, because the party hadn't started yet.

She addressed Odd, "Well?"

"I'm great, thanks!" Odd replied, way too chipper for someone with his grades. "Never felt better!"

Yumi rolled her eyes, "I was talking about your exam, stupid."

Odd sighed, "Jérémie passed with a, and I quote, 'very high mention, with a plus'. Ulrich passed with 'slightly above average, and making progress'. Aelita got 'excellent' and that her 'mathematical spirit impresses her teachers'. As for me, it looks like I'm going to have to repeat the year."

"Don't exaggerate," Yumi told him. "I'm sure summer school is an option, but it honestly wouldn't have killed you to study some, Odd."

"That's exactly what Jérémie and I told him," Ulrich cut in.

"Oh well," Odd shrugged it off. "I'll keep worrying tomorrow when my parents have to be called. Tonight, we're going to see Aelita rock the house! It'll be Jérémie's first time seeing her in action, and that's bound to cheer us up!"

That's right. This was the first chance Jérémie had gotten to see Aelita mix.

The blonde in blue was looking up and down the line, "Speaking of, where is she anyways?"

"She's already in the gym," Ulrich told him. "The DJs get VIP treatment."

A pause, where Jérémie seemed to pat himself down and begin to panic, "I forgot my laptop."

"What do you need it for?" Odd asked. "It's a party! Coding is not needed."

"No, but the superscan is," Jérémie whispered. "That way, we can be alerted of XANA attacking during the party. Just in case. Be right back," he said, as he ran back towards the dorms.

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

Jérémie was running through the halls, not expecting anyone to be here. That's why he was surprised when he heard voices as he approached Sissi's room.

"You are not going, and that is that!" That was Mr. Delmas.

"But please, Daddy!" That was Sissi. "It's the happening of the century!"

"You should have thought of that earlier and studied for your exam!"

Oh, Jérémie realized. That's what this was about. Sissi failed her science final, so her father was refusing to let her go to the party. Was that a fair punishment? Jérémie didn't have parents or any parental figures, so he didn't know for sure. It seemed like it was fair.

He just shrugged and continued on to his dorm. Their conversation was none of his business.

He opened his door upon reaching it, and was immediately on edge due to the alarm coming from his closed laptop. He opened it, and sure enough, he was greeted by the wireframe of a tower outlined in red.

"XANA!" he breathed. "It sure picks its moments!"

But right as he pulled out his phone to call the others, a pair of rough, burly hands attacked him from behind.

Sissi's door remained open as she sulked on her bed. Her father had just left from telling her she couldn't go to the party. It was unfair. The exam just had questions that she didn't know; it wasn't her fault!

She could've sworn she heard a faint yell, but it went away so fast, it was probably just her imagination.

But then a shadow crossed her door, and subsequently her face. She looked up, but it was gone. She got out of bed and looked down the hall, only to see Jim running through the double doors, an out-cold Jérémie slung over his shoulder.

Jim disappeared as soon as he arrived.

But she was not mistaken. She gasped, and ran out of her room.

She had to tell Ulrich.

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

It had been five minutes, and Jérémie still wasn't back. Regardless, the gym opened up, and everyone went inside. Aelita was up first, and she began playing.

She was probably the best DJ at Kadic, hence why she was slated to go first. There was just something about the way she performed. It was open, fun, and carefree, just like her. It was obvious that she enjoyed what she was doing, that she was having just as much fun mixing as her audience was dancing to her music.

Yumi pulled Ulrich away from the group to dance privately. They always enjoyed dancing to Aelita's music.

Meanwhile, William turned to Odd with a wide smile, "Your cousin's incredible, Odd!" Oh, yeah. This was William's first time hearing Aelita mix too. "How'd she learn to mix like this?" He was yelling to make himself heard over the loud music.

"It runs in the family!" Odd yelled back. "We're all a little artistic! What do you think of her style?!"

"It definitely has some influences from hardcore," he replied, "with a few touches of beat club and snare drums! It's definitely unique! I like it!"

Sissi, a girl on a mission, hadn't made it two steps inside the gym before she was ambushed by Hervé and Nicolas.

"Sissi, you snuck out!" Nicolas said.

"No, no, my father said 'you're gonna repeat the year, but it's no big deal, sweetie; it doesn't mean you can't have a good time'!" she snarked back.

"Is that really what he said?" Hervé asked, oblivious. Really? With his brain, he honestly thought she was serious?

"You two are such idiots," she muttered. "Of course I snuck out! What do you think?! Now where's Ulrich? I need to tell him something!"

Nicolas and Hervé wordlessly pointed to where he was dancing with Yumi. Ignoring the slight ping of jealousy she felt when seeing that they were having such a good time together, she marched over there. What she needed to tell them was way more important than her feelings.

"Ulrich, Yumi! I need to talk to you!"

But they frowned, and moved a few steps away from her, both of their bodies still moving to the music.

Oh. They thought she was trying to be annoying. She hardly wanted to be a bother to Ulrich and his friends, but this was not normal circumstances.

So she stressed, "It's important. It can't wait."

Ulrich sighed, "Fine. What do you need to talk to us about?" 'Make it quick' remained unspoken.

"I think Jim just kidnapped Jérémie," she told them in a low voice, unsure if being overheard here would be a bad thing (she didn't want to risk it).

The two of them immediately stopped dancing and turned to her with shock on their faces. "What?!" Yumi asked.

"I swear I'm not lying," she continued. "I saw him pass by my room with Jérémie unconscious and slung over his shoulder like a ragdoll. I don't want to make any assumptions, but I'm pretty sure Jim wasn't heading to the infirmary."

"Thanks for warning us, Sissi," Ulrich replied, patting her on the shoulder. "Stay here. We'll take care of it."

Sissi could only nod, as she watched the two of them briefly search the gym for Odd, only to take off the second they spotted him.

Odd was with William still, dancing away, until he noticed that William wasn't. "What's up? Not dancing?"

"No," William replied, a stoic expression on his face. "It's, uh, not really my thing."

"I'm sure that's an exaggeration," Odd told him. "Come on, let me see how you move!" William began moving on the spot, very badly, making Odd immediately regret his choice. "Oh...you're right. It's not your thing."

"Odd!" It was Ulrich, with Yumi hot in his heels.

"Hey," he greeted them, before seeing the looks on their faces. They seemed to be very concerned and very much in a hurry. "What's up?"

"We have an emergency," Yumi told him in a low voice, so William wouldn't hear them, before whispering his ear, "XANA's possessed Jim, who's kidnapped Jérémie."

"What?!" Odd asked, before mentally beating himself up. It was always a bad idea letting Jérémie wander off by himself, even if it was to go get his laptop to keep track of the superscan. One of them should've gone with him. "Okay, let's split up. You two go on to the factory. I'll get Aelita and we'll join you as soon as we can."

"Okay," Ulrich agreed. "Good luck!" he added, before he and Yumi ran out of the gym.

Odd, meanwhile, turned to where Aelita was still mixing. She was blissfully unaware of what was going on, too into it to keep a close on her friends in the audience.

He approached the stage and tapped the pink-ette's hand. Aelita took off the headphones when she saw that it was her cousin. "Hey, Odd. Wish to request a song?"

"Yeah," he chose to play along. "It's a song you know very well. It's called 'XANA's on the attack'."

Her expression immediately turned to shock, "What?!"

Odd continued, "And the lyrics go a little something like 'it possessed Jim to kidnap Jérémie and take him to the factory'. I'm sure you have it in your records somewhere."

"Oh, I do," Aelita replied, her attitude having completely changed. Now serious, she turned to Christophe M'Bala nearby, and asked, "Christophe, could you take over for me? Odd just alerted me to a family emergency."

Christophe immediately jumped into action, "Absolutely." As he took the headphones from her, "I hope everything is okay."

"Me too," Aelita muttered, before leaving the gym with Odd.

As they did, they could hear Christophe tell the audience, "Aelita had to step out for a moment, but don't worry. We'll continue to rock the night away! This party just started, and there's no way we're stopping now!"

The audience cheered, not that either cousin was worried about that.

As they ran to the school's boiler room, deciding it was faster, Aelita asked, "Where's Ulrich and Yumi?"

"They went on ahead," Odd replied. "Hopefully, they'll get there in time to cut Jim off like we did with William before."

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

XANA-Jim jumped down from the bridge onto the factory floor without using the ropes. Jérémie was still slung over his shoulder, unconscious. He immediately took the elevator down to the scanner.

Once he placed the boy inside one of the scanners, he used his electricity powers to close the doors, before using the elevator to go back to the lab.

Sitting in the chair, he brought up the boy's ID card, watched as it loaded, before pressing the 'enter' key, and watching Jérémie's yellow arrow appear on the holomap, inside the crater from earlier.

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

Jérémie's avatar formed in mid-air, but he only woke up after hitting the ground.

Quickly getting to his feet, he surveyed his surroundings. He was on Lyoko, in the Desert Sector. More importantly, he was in a crater, a circular ramp leading to the surface level, and there was a Megatank down here with him.

He saw his chance to run and he took it, making break for the ramp. He made it rather far up, only for the Megatank to fire at him, deliberately missing him. Instead the massive laser struck the ground right in front of him, causing the ramp to break and him to slip and fall back down to the ground below.

"Jérémie!" Yumi's voice sounded from the lab. "We're here! Are you okay?"

He groaned from the fall, before replying, "Let's just say I've seen better days."

"Watch out, Jérémie!" Ulrich cut in. "The Scyphozoa's behind you!"

Said elf turned around, and sure enough, there it was, floating gracefully as it lowered itself into the put from above.

"Um, you guys better hurry," he said, backing up, only to quickly run into the wall behind him. Great, now he was cornered.

"Don't worry, the countdown's starting now!" Yumi said, before cutting herself off.

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

XANA-Jim watched from the lab's support beams as the two teens made their way to the scanner room by using the nearby ladder. Once they were gone, he made his way down the ladder he used to get here (he could've jumped, but he didn't want to alert them of his presence).

He sat in the chair as he watched their ID cards load in and then their two green arrows form.

XANA thought about its next move. It could devirtualize them right now, but the other two were probably close by, if not already here by now. Besides, if it did take them out this early, then they wouldn't be able to feast their eyes on its magnificent surprise waiting for them in front of the tower.

So it instead chose to do something a little different.

XANA-Jim proceeded to zap the computer interface to quickly do what it needed to do.

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

Ulrich and Yumi's landing point was in the center of the crater. As soon as they landed, they split up and went their separate ways.

Ulrich used Super Sprint to place himself between the Scyphozoa and Jérémie, who was busy dodging tentacles. He used his katana to slice off all of the tentacles, so the jellyfish had no choice but to retreat, knowing it was useless without its tentacles. Once the Scyphozoa was gone, Ulrich turned back to his friend.

"We didn't get here too late, I hope," he quipped.

"No, you guys made it just in time," Jérémie replied, with a grateful smile.

Meanwhile, Yumi had gone after the Megatank. The two boys watched her dodge its fire by performing cartwheels and flips, before she ran up the wall of the crater, and then bounced off. In mid-air, she threw her fan, narrowly dodging the monster's laser as her fan hit its target.

She landed in front of the boys, before catching her fan when it returned to her.

As she stood up, she asked Jérémie, "You okay?"

"Yeah. Thank you."

"Don't thank us yet," Yumi warned. "We still have a tower to deactivate, and Ulrich and I didn't see any sign of Jim when we arrived at the factory."

Knowing Aelita and Odd may be in danger, Jérémie slipped his goggles on over his eyes. After a quick pause, he relayed what his layout told him, "The tower is up that ramp. It's not far."

He led the way up the ramp, with Ulrich and Yumi following him. Along the way, they apologized for not bringing up any vehicles; they were in a hurry. He shrugged it off, knowing and grateful that they considered saving him as more important.

On the way, they heard a dark laugh come from the lab, followed by someone taunting them, "No more messing around! Now your wounds will become fatal!"

"Is that...Jim?!" Jérémie asked.

"Of course it is!" Ulrich replied. "I'd recognize that laugh anywhere! But what did he mean our wounds would become fatal?!"

"He must've tweaked a program or something!" Jérémie explained. "Which one, I don't know, so be careful!"

The tower was in sight now, but the trio all skidded to a sudden stop when they saw what was waiting for them.

It was a literal army of Krabes. And not just five or twenty. Dozens.

"That's a lot of Krabes!" Yumi commented, all three of them in fight or flight mode. "That's impossible! It has to be an optical illusion!"

"There are no mirages on Lyoko," Jérémie solemnly cut in.

Yumi groaned, "That's what I was afraid of!"

"Let's retreat for now," Ulrich suggested. "We should hide until Odd and Aelita arrive to help."

"Agreed," Yumi said, before the three all turned around and ran away.

Immediately, the Krabes began firing at them. Most of the lasers missed, but when of them hit Yumi squarely in the back, she went down.

And she didn't come back up.

Ulrich and Jérémie immediately ran back to her side. "Yumi!" Ulrich called, as he knelt by her side. "Are you okay?"

She moaned in pain, a good sign that she was still alive, "I don't understand. Why does it hurt so much?"

Jérémie softly gasped, "That's what he meant..." He promptly stood between his friends at the Krabes, knowing XANA wouldn't risk firing at him. His back was to his friends as he explained, "You guys are now able to feel pain from the lasers like I do. That's bad, because it means your link to the real world has been cut somehow. We really should retreat."

"Right," Ulrich nodded, before grabbing Yumi's arm and slinging it over his shoulders.

As the samurai helped the geisha, the elf remained behind, concentrating hard. Within a second, a sand wall appeared, spanding across the stretch of the plateau they were all standing on and three times the height of the Krabes. The wall stood between them and the Krabes. Hopefully, it would buy them enough time for Odd and Aelita to arrive.

Once he was done, Jérémie ran back to his two friends and slung Yumi's other arm around his own shoulders. "It shouldn't take them long to break through. We better hurry."

Together, the two helped Yumi limp over to a nearby sand dune.

"Sorry about being such a burden," Yumi quietly broke the silence. "The pain won't stop."

"Don't apologize," Jérémie's response was quick. "I know how it feels."

He did. He understood the agony, the pain, and the wishes that it would all go away soon. And it was all something he'd never wish on anybody else, least of all his friends.

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

It was only a few minute difference, but that was all the time XANA-Jim needed to do the damage he needed to do.

He was pleased with his work as he turned around to greet the other two kids that were now emerging from the elevator.

Odd and Aelita gasped when they saw XANA-Jim at the controls. Deep in her gut, Aelita knew that he had been messing with something that should never be messed with. But she couldn't find out what it was, or fix it, until XANA-Jim was gone.

As XANA-Jim stood from the computer chair, Odd leaned in and whispered to Aelita, "Here we go, 'Lita. This is no time to take a nap. We've got a G.I. Jim to wipe out. Ready?" Aelita nodded. "On my mark..." A beat of silence, before Odd cried out, "Banzai!"

The two rushed forward, only to roll to separate sides to dodge Jim's sudden charge attack.

"Wow, since when you did you get so athletic, Jim?" Odd taunted. "Can you do this?"

Jim charged again, and this time, Odd was ready with a roundhouse kick. But it didn't connect; his foot just phased right through Jim's body.

As Jim recovered from almost running into the wall instead of Odd, Aelita leaned in to her cousin and whispered, "I have an idea. Lure him to the lift."

"Gotcha," Odd whispered back, already seeing what she was going to attempt. He whistled to get XANA-Jim's attention, and it was successful. "Come on, Jim. Knock me down all you want, but I'm far from being out!" Jim's eyes followed him as the boy slowly made his way to the elevator.

The moment he stepped inside, Jim charged again. Odd ducked just in time to avoid the attack, before pressing the up button, and leaving the elevator right before the doors completely closed.

Once they heard the elevator start moving, Aelita reached into the nearby control panel and pulled out the wires. The two heard the elevator stop, and XANA-Jim screech in pain as the following electrocution rendered him harmless. For the moment, anyway.

"Nice job, cuz," Odd winked at her. "We make a great team, don't we?"

"We sure do," she replied, before hurrying back to the monitor.

Odd followed her and both immediately cringed when they saw a window open, flashing with malicious code, outlined in red. "Yeesh, everything looks blocked. What did he mess with?"

"Jim deactivated the scanners," Aelita explained, as she began her rapid-fire typing. "I should be able to re-establish the connection pretty fast."

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

The pain Yumi was feeling had started to subside, but she was still suffering. She was leaning heavily on Ulrich, who was more than happy to help her, even if he just needed to be a wall for her to lean on.

Jérémie's sand wall was still standing.

Speaking of whom, the blue elf was in the middle of explaining to them what was going on, "The only way to sever your guys' link to Earth, at least that I know of, is to deactivate the scanners. If there was a neutral tower nearby, I could easily fix it, but the way you guys are right now, you're just as vulnerable as I am."

"So you don't want to risk it," Ulrich finished.

Jérémie shook his head, "No, I don't. Waiting for Aelita and Odd is our safest bet."

To pass the time, Yumi decided to change the subject, "You know, Jer, whenever something needs fixing, you tend to volunteer yourself right away." The mixing board was just the latest instance of this.

Jérémie shrugged, "I like fixing things." He paused as a thought came to him, "Would that count as a hobby?"

"Yeah," Ulrich replied, "if it's something you like doing."

"It is," the blue elf continued. "Granted, most things I fix tend to be electronics and technology, but I haven't said anything because I don't want to draw Hervé's ire more than I already have."

Hervé was the leader of the school's robotics club. Jérémie had already stolen Hervé's one true love (Aelita; at least, in Hervé's mind) and his status as the smartest kid at Kadic. If he ever found out Jérémie was into robotics too, he might feel offended or think that Jérémie was trying to copy him.

That was Jérémie's reasoning, anyway.

Ulrich and Yumi shared a knowing glance, before turning back to Jérémie, with the red geisha replying, "Oh, don't worry about Hervé. Leave him to us."

The yellow samurai nodded as the blue elf smiled at them.

"Ulrich, Yumi, Jérémie!" Aelita's voice sounded like heaven, almost literally. "Odd and I are here. Jim's been taken care of for the moment. How are you doing?"

"Badly," Ulrich replied. "We are not in good shape."

"Aelita, Jim messed with the scanners, didn't he?" Jérémie asked.

"He did," the pink-ette confirmed the elf's suspicions. "Stand by, I'm fixing the problem now. Once I do, I'll send you Odd."

The trio didn't have to wait very long for any action. Just then, they heard a Krabe's howl and then a loud scrapping sound.

"What was that noise?" Yumi asked.

"Stay here," Jérémie motioned them to stay back as he climbed the sand dune. Once at the top, he could clearly see what was going on.

His sand wall glitch briefly a couple times, before collapsing altogether when one Krabe managed to slip through.

"It's exactly what I was afraid of," he told the others. "The Krabes have broken through the sand wall."

"Let's retreat," Ulrich urged. "We can't fight them the way we are now."

As the Krabes marched towards them, the trio all ran away, farther and farther away from the tower.

"Hang in there, guys!" Aelita urged, as they continued to run, all while dodging laser fire (they didn't fire at Jérémie though, for obvious reasons). "I've almost got it!"

One laser hit Ulrich in the back, and Jérémie and Yumi watch him go down.

"Ulrich, no!" Yumi cried.

But he miraculously managed to recover just in time, as he used his hands to launch himself back to his feet, and continued to run alongside his friends.

"I got it!" Aelita relayed. "You guys are invincible again!"

The trio skidded to a stop once again, but this time, they turned back around to face the Krabe army, which also stopped moving once they saw this.

"That means we can fight back now," Ulrich said, unsheathing his saber, while Yumi pulled out her two fans.

Jérémie took cover behind a nearby large rock, as Ulrich and Yumi used their respective weapons to block lasers. "We have to find some way through," he told them.

"Hold on, I'm sending you Odd," Aelita told them.

"You're not joining us?" Jérémie asked.

"No," the pink-ette explained. "I'm staying here to protect the computer from Jim. Virtualization!"

Within a second, Odd's avatar formed in the sky, and he dropped down, landing right next to Ulrich. Odd immediately began dodging lasers. While the other two blocked them with their weapons, Odd climbed the large rock Jérémie was hiding behind, before leaping off the top and firing three Laser Arrows at one of the Krabes.

One down, a lot more to go.

"Good," Odd said, after he landed back on the ground. "They're not invincible." He turned to the others, "You guys miss us?"

"Just a little, yeah," Yumi joked back, block more lasers with her fans.

"Yeah," Ulrich replied, "but these guys aren't going to keep missing us if we stick around!"

Right then, the Krabes all stopped firing, and all five teens (one from the lab) watched as they retreated and regrouped in front of the tower, protecting it like they were doing before.

Jérémie was looking behind them, and he commented, "We're surrounded on all sides."

"Here are your vehicles," Aelita told them. "Use them wisely."

Three wireframes appeared in front of them, before filling themselves in with color, revealing the three said vehicles.

"Okay, here's the plan," Odd told the others. "All we have to do is cross that line of monsters and Jérémie's in. Ulrich, Yumi, you two may as well go over the top."

"And what about you?" Yumi asked.

"I'll do what I do best," Odd answered, winking at them, "chef's surprise." He then leapt onto his Overboard, before turning back to their fourth. "Come on, Jérémie. It's now or never."

Jérémie hopped on the Overboard as Odd's passenger.

Odd took off, heading right before the underbellies of the Krabes. They shot their Pulse Beams (lasers from their underbellies; the group had seen them before) when Odd got close, only for Odd to dodge them all before any of them could hit him or Jérémie.

"Odd, you've really lost it this time!" Jérémie shrieked in fear. He wasn't used to all of Odd's daredevil stuff, especially when he had no choice but to endure it.

"No more than usual!" Odd shot back, as he continued his fancy flying. The two emerged safely on the other side of the first blockade, only to find another one waiting for them, but Odd flew on.

Meanwhile, Ulrich and Yumi hopped onto their respective vehicles and took off.

Ulrich sped up so that he was in front of Odd and Jérémie, before taking a ramp to launch himself into the air. Once the Overbike was in flight mode, he unsheathed his katana and stab a whole row of Krabes, before flying away safely, all of them exploding behind him.

Yumi flew high up into the air, before throwing both of her fans. She then used her telekinesis to control both of them, redirecting their trajectories to destroy two more rows in the group Odd and Jérémie were approaching. After catching her fans, she watched the two easily get past that blockade.

But there was one last row of Krabes in front of the tower, the length of them spanning across the entire plateau. All of them simultaneously flashed their Pulse Beams to show Odd they weren't going to mess around.

Sure enough, when Odd got close enough, all of their Pulse Beams immediately activated at once. Fortunately, Odd was wise enough not to get too close and managed to get away just before they hit.

As this row of Krabes also began firing at them, Odd was in the midst of dodging lasers when Jérémie lowly told him, "Odd, we're never gonna make it."

"Not with that attitude," Odd gently bit back, before calling out, "Ulrich, Yumi! Help! We need you!"

Ulrich and Yumi both responded, speeding up to catch up with Odd as he continued dodging laser fire with the Overboard.

"Quit moving around so much!" Ulrich called out to him. "How do you expect us to help you?!"

"Cut me some slack, okay?!" Odd yelled back, still dodging lasers. "I'm just trying to avoid getting hit!"

Jérémie connected eyes with Yumi, who nodded. The elf turned back and concentrated, quickly creating a large rock that Yumi immediately took control of. Using her telekinesis, she threw it at one of the Krabes.

The thing stumbled, but it quickly recovered. However, that's all the time Ulrich needed to jump off of the Overbike and land on top of it, before driving his katana into its eye.

Ulrich leapt off to avoid getting caught in the resulting explosion, as Yumi called out to Odd, "Now!"

Odd easily snuck the Overboard through this gap. Amazingly enough, the Krabes didn't turn around to continue firing at them. Maybe XANA knew it was bested yet again.

"You guys are the greatest!" Aelita praised them.

"Of course, we are!" Yumi quipped. "Was there ever any doubt?"

Jérémie hopped off the Overboard the moment Odd stopped it right in front of the tower, and he entered it without encountering any more obstacles.

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

XANA-Jim electrified the elevator, taking him back to the lab.

JEREMIE_

Aelita glanced at the lift when the doors began to open. Sure enough, there was Jim, standing there, laughing evilly and electricity covering his hands. She got up out of her chair and raised her hands into a defensive position.

Jérémie would deactivate the tower in time. He was already there, after all.

CODE_

XANA-Jim charged at her, and Aelita braced herself for the pain.

LYOKO_

But then he stopped, and Aelita watched as her gym teacher's eyes returned to their normal hazel color.

"Tower deactivated," Jérémie relayed.

Jim, like Sissi, was still conscious after being released from his possession. He looked around the lab, and for the fourth time, expressed confusion as to what this equipment was for. "Huh?" he asked. "W-What am I doing here?"

"You'll never know, Jim," Aelita replied as she typed in the necessary coordinates. "Return to the past now!"

The entire lab was immediately engulfed in white.

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

Aelita had rewinded time to the day before, which was great news for Odd, because it meant he could retake the science final. And this time, he would pass it, because he'd study for it.

"Okay, that's a promise, right?" Odd asked, studying his chemistry book. The group was under the arches, just like before, though this time, it was instead an hour earlier, when the first take had Ulrich and Odd at the vending machines. "Jérémie, you're gonna help me with physics, and Aelita, you're gonna help me with chemistry. And you're gonna help me until I get it, right?"

The two Einsteins shared a knowing glance as they replied simultaneously, "Promise." At least he had learned his lesson.

Sissi approached them, as she had before, "Wow, I am really knocked out! Bet you can't guess why!"

"Your father said it was okay to use the gymnasium?" Odd replied, phrasing it as a guess when he already knew that was the right answer.

"Well, y-yeah," Sissi stuttered, surprised. "How did you know that?"

Odd shrugged, "Easy. I've already lived through this day and just travelled back through time to warn you that you really should study for the final exam tomorrow." It was funny how he was being completely honest here.

Sissi snorted, "Yeah, right. You're a real looney, you know that?"

"Yeah, perhaps," Odd replied. "In any case, we're about to have a study party. Jérémie and Aelita said they'd help. Want to join us?"

"Study?" Sissi scoffed. "Me? That's funny, Odd! Looks like you lost the only brain cell you had left!"

Odd rolled his eyes and whispered to the others, "If she only knew what was coming..."

Then, to the others' surprise, Jérémie stepped forward, "Hey, Sissi, do you really think it's wise to shrug off such an important exam? If you fail, you'll be forced to repeat the year." It was a warning. The first take, she had sincerely failed. So had Odd. But now, the two were given a second chance to do things right.

Sissi smirked, "What are you, the nerd on duty or something?" She meant it as a playful joke between friends.

That was probably why, despite associating the word with bad things, Jérémie felt comfortable enough returning her jab with, "Well, the 'nerd on duty' strongly recommends you study."

Sissi made a face that indicating she was thinking about his words, and not ironically. It probably helped that the two were on friendly terms with each other. She softly smiled, "Well, if you say it's important, then I guess I won't argue. Just let me get my textbooks from my room." She then left for the dorms.

Odd nudged Jérémie in the ribs, "What was that? The 'nerd on duty'?"

Jérémie shrugged, "That was me following your advice. Or, trying my best, anyways."

He still had a long way to go before he was completely comfortable calling himself a nerd, but as long as he reminded himself that his friends didn't care, he would be fine.

(Don't worry. Sissi did come back, her physics and chemistry textbooks in hand.)

!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!

The next night, the five regrouped outside of the gym, waiting in the line to get inside and start the party, to celebrate the end of finals week.

"So how did your exams go this time?" Yumi asked.

"Great!" Odd replied. "Jérémie and Aelita's results came back the same, and Ulrich got 'above average', not just 'slightly', and I got 'slightly above average' this time! I passed, and I'm not going to have to repeat the year!"

As Odd was celebrating, Yumi smiled at him, "Congratulations, Odd! See what happens when you study instead of resorting to a cheat sheet?"

"Yeah, yeah," he shrugged her off.

Jérémie turned to Aelita, "Why aren't you inside with the others? Aren't you you going on first?"

The pink-ette shook her head, "Not this time. I asked for a later slot, because I want to chill out with my friends. Matthias Burel is going first."

"Hey, Jérémie!" The group turned to see Sissi waiting farther down the line, with Nicolas and Sorya Abulabbas. She was smiling, "Thank you for helping me study! Because of you, I won't have to repeat the year!"

Jérémie knew that; Sissi's father announced the results himself after finals had ended. Sissi had passed with 'slightly above average', same as Odd.

But her gratitude made him return her smile with one of his own, "You're welcome." Maybe being a nerd wasn't so bad. He didn't think of it that way, rather it was him helping out a friend, but other people probably did.

Sissi turned back to her two companions, while Jérémie turned back to his friends, deep in thought yet smiling.

Odd waved a hand in front of his face, "Yoo-hoo! Off in another world, aren't we?"

"I like fixing things," he confessed aloud, not caring who heard him. "I like knowing how they work and how to make them better. Robotics is my new earthly passion, and I want to know everything about it!"

"Good luck, then," Ulrich replied.

"And don't worry about you-know-what so much," Aelita softly added, referring to XANA (but couldn't because of the people around them). "We'll find your anti-virus together."

The two Einsteins shared a warm smile as Yumi's phone started ringing.

She picked up on the second tone, "Yes, Dad?" A pause. The others couldn't hear what was being said, but it must have been good, because Yumi immediately smiled, "Really? That's great! Of course, I'll have fun! Yes, I'll look after Hiroki, I promise. I love you, bye!" She then hung up, practically squealing with glee. "My dad just got a promotion!" she revealed. "He's now in a higher position with better pay and more privileges!"

Ulrich's brain seemed to stop working, "So that means...that you're not–...you're not moving?"

"That's right, Ulrich," she replied with a wide grin. "I'm staying right here."

Ulrich suddenly wrapped her in a tight and very happy hug, a testament to just how relieved he was to know she wasn't going away any time soon. Yumi quickly and joyfully returned the embrace, a testament to how relieved she was to get the same information.

Despite the other three not really knowing what the two lovebirds were referring to, they knew it was great news regardless, so they joined in on the euphoria.

"Looks like tonight is a celebration all around!" Odd quipped.

None of the others could disagree.

!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!

Next Episode: 23 - A Rock and a Hard Place / XANA uses Jérémie's friends to get what it wants from him.

A/N: It should be obvious by now that I'm not switching the personalities so much as mainly the roles laid out by canon and which characters fill those roles. So while Aelita is still an expert at music, Jérémie here begins exploring the wonderful world of robotics.

As for 'The Chips Are Down', it's beautifully written and it really showcases who Ulrich is as a character, but here, the group has already been close friends for about three years now, and the threat of Yumi moving is also not solidified, hence the change in Ulrich's behavior.

As for 'Final Mix', it's not one of my favorite episodes, mostly due to Jérémie not really being supportive of Aelita's new love for techno. The role reversal has obviously changed that, but I also changed Sissi's reasoning for sneaking out. In canon, she sneaks out to go to the party, but here, she sneaks out to warn Jérémie's friends that he's been kidnapped by Jim.

Also, the 'nerd on duty' thing comes from the IFSCL game, Chapter 4: Ikigai.