The Boy in the Computer

by SepticAbzies

Thanks to Aelita's new superscan, Jeremie can now live on Earth. Except now, he's being plagued by strange visions and XANA's new tactic. / Jerlita Roleswap AU / Current Episode: XANA's Kiss / S1: Done, S2: WIP

28. 27: Vertigo

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

This story now has its own TVTropes page, thanks to the work and effort of AO3's ChrisWritesAUs.

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

"Ulrich has a secret, and it comes out just as Aelita finally completes Jérémie's anti-virus."

Episode 27: Vertigo

(Based on Vertigo)

"Holosphere system, connected," Aelita announced, as the Transporter dropped her four friends off into Sector Five's Arena. "Welcome back to Sector Five, everyone."

The room was spinning, as it usually did. Right now, they could only wait for it to stop, as well as prepare themselves for what XANA would have in store for them. They were here for more data on both Jérémie's anti-virus and the cipher key for Périn's diary, and it was very likely that the AI already knew that, given how they usually didn't come here for anything else.

As the spinning began slowing down, Yumi warned, "The wall's gonna open any second now." Sure enough, the spinning stopped and a path was revealed. "Let's go!"

The geisha took off first, given how the path was right in front of her, with the three boys quickly following. The four halted in order to let the wall open up further. Once the passage was formed, they continued on their way.

While descending (slightly) down the stairs that had appeared, they heard Aelita tell them, "The timer is at three minutes and counting down."

At the bottom of the stairs was a room with a series of platforms that didn't seem to have any discernable pattern. In the midst of trying to anticipate the trap of this room, all of the side doors closed, putting them all on high alert. That didn't normally happen.

"Uh oh," Odd commented as he and the others took up defensive position, "the doors are in the wrong place."

A Creeper appeared, climbing up a column and perching itself at the top. In no time at all, more Creepers appeared.

"We've got company," Yumi warned.

"Ah, Creepers. Always ready and right on time!" Odd quipped.

"You can congratulate them later," Aelita cut in. "The clock is running. I found the key high up on the wall behind you."

Jérémie turned around and searched the area the pink-ette pointed out, as Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich all took up offensive positions with their weapons in hand. The elf smiled when he saw it, "Spotted. Looks like a job for a cat."

Odd turned around and saw the key high up, with very narrow platforms jutting out from the walls. He saluted, "Roger that," before sprinting towards the wall and jumping up to the first platform.

As Jérémie spotted Odd, confident enough in XANA's unwillingness to fire at him to do so, Ulrich and Yumi focused on the Creepers.

One fired at Yumi as she ran to the edge of the platform before flipping over the edge, hanging on as the Creeper approached the edge. It scanned around, distracted, which let Ulrich approach it and strike it from behind.

The Creeper turned around to face him, before firing a laser, knocking the samurai's katana out of his hands.

Meanwhile, Odd climbed up the walls and platforms easily thanks to his claws, flipping to another and landing safely. Jérémie continued to watch him, nervously waiting for the possibility that Odd would fail to hit the key in time (it had happened before).

Now on the ground, Ulrich reclaimed his katana as Yumi flipped back onto the platform, "Not so fast, dummy!" She threw her fan, destroying the Creeper.

Another one fired at Odd, hitting him square in the back. The sudden, unexpected impact made him lose his balance. Fortunately, he managed to prevent himself from falling by using his claws to latch himself onto the wall.

"Odd, be careful," Aelita warned. "You're running out of lifepoints."

Odd checked on the other three down below, watching as Yumi got rid of another Creeper, before turning his attention back to the key. It was right there.

Another Creeper climbed up on the platform behind him and shot a laser at him just as he jumped for the key.

"Odd!" Jérémie called out, but the warning came too late.

The cat devirtualized the moment he was hit, but fortunately, he managed to hit the key just before his wireframe fully disappeared.

"Nice job, cuz," Aelita replied, as the passage opened on the opposite side of the room, as the remaining Creepers retreated.

Jérémie, Yumi, and Ulrich took the passage to the elevator. They waiting for the elevator to come back around (given how it never stopped for them). Once Ulrich gave the signal ("Now!"), they jumped and landed on the elevator platform (it was difficult at first, but the more often they did so, it got easier).

The elevator circled around the outer shell of the Arena before coming to a stop at the Celestial Dome. The trio ran up to and stopped at the closed door, having to wait for it to open. Once it did so, Jérémie made a break for the interface at the end of the platform in front of them.

Once he logged in, he immediately started searching, "I'm connected, Aelita."

"Work fast, Jérémie," Aelita replied. "The Mantas' nest is five seconds away from hatching. Five, four, three, two, one, now!"

Ulrich and Yumi immediately took up defensive positions, glancing at the walls of code as Jérémie expertly brought up various windows and getting rid of the ones he didn't need. But they didn't see anything.

"Are you sure, Aelita?" Yumi asked. "We don't see any Mantas."

"I'm sure," the pink-ette replied. "I can see them on my screen. Stay on your guard. They may come from the other end of the Celestial Dome."

A Creeper suddenly hit Yumi from behind, knocking her down. Ulrich blocked the next laser with his katana as the monster relentlessly fired at them. The next laser to hit Ulrich got him in the shoulder, while the next one to hit Yumi devirtualized her.

Jérémie turned around to take a brief glance at the commotion just in time to witness Yumi fall at his feet with her wireframe disappearing from Lyoko. Realizing Ulrich was his only bodyguard left, the elf turned back around to the interface to keep working.

Ulrich dodged the incoming lasers as he threw his katana into the air. Once he caught it, with the blade between both of his hands, he spun around and released it, throwing it at the Creeper. The katana hit its target dead on, and Ulrich covered his head as the monster exploded right in front of him to signal its defeat.

"Done, Aelita," Jérémie reported as he pressed the window he was looking for, sending it over to the supercomputer's end. "You can take over again."

"Download received. I'm programming the Overbike now."

The vehicle appeared at the edge of the platform, virtualizing right in front of Jérémie. Ulrich sheathed his katana before sprinting towards it, telling the elf, "Come on!" He hopped on, with Jérémie jumping on as his passenger immediately after. "Hang on, Prince Charming," the samurai warned as he revved up his bike.

The two took off, driving towards the tunnel that Aelita was opening. It was easy to see which tunnel the pink-ette was focusing on due to the massive data stream suddenly halting, leaving a hole in the wall of code that surrounded the Celestial Dome.

"The north passage is open," Aelita relayed.

"We see it," Ulrich said, as the three Mantas suddenly came into view. "But we've got a problem. We just found the Mantas."

"So they were hiding like cowards," Jérémie commented.

"Head for the tunnel," Aelita told them. "They shouldn't follow you inside."

Jérémie suspected that they weren't allowed to, and given how going through a tunnel brought you to a way tower in the connecting sector, and XANA's monsters couldn't enter towers, it made sense.

However, XANA could virtualize Mantas in the other sectors, not just Sector Five, so they weren't really completely safe after entering the tunnel anymore.

Ulrich drove the Overbike a little faster, trying to evade them. Jérémie looked back in time to see something hatching from the Mantas.

It was more than one something, and they were very familiar. The white and skull-shaped objects exploded upon dropping.

"Flying Mines!" Jérémie cried.

Ulrich sped up, steering the Overbike to weave in and out of the mines that the Mantas were dropping on them, managing to narrowly miss each one.

Eventually, he reached the open tunnel and drove inside. Like they expected, the Mantas did not follow them inside.

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

Once Jérémie and Ulrich were safely returned to Earth, they joined Yumi and Odd in the lab, all four watching Aelita analyze their data haul from this mission.

There was a data window open, and only Aelita and Jérémie knew what it was saying.

"Well?" Yumi asked.

"These are the codes for XANA's subsystems, right?" Jérémie asked. "They looked familiar."

"Yep," the pink-ette replied with a smile. "You and I cracked them three weeks ago, remember?" Jérémie nodded as one of those codes caught Aelita's eye, "Hold on, this one looks like the source code to a virus."

The others' ears perked up. "A virus?" Odd asked.

"Yeah." Aelita explained, "If the virus inside of Jérémie is anything like this one, I might be able to complete the anti-virus today."

"Today?" Jérémie asked, sounding as if he didn't want to get his hopes up too much, but he was failing. "You mean it?"

"Of course!" She sent him a reassuring smile. "I'll try my best anyways..."

"While you two do that, the rest of us have to go," Odd cut in. "There's a big climbing competition this afternoon. We gotta go practice." He grasped Ulrich's arm.

But Ulrich quickly snatched his arm back, "You gotta practice, you mean. I already told you that I'm not interested."

"Really?" Yumi asked, mildly surprised. "Why not?" Ulrich never really shied away from physical education competitions run by Jim, even encouraging others to join. Why wasn't he jumping to participate in this one?

He refused to meet her eyes, "I'm just tired." It was clear that he was dodging the question, given his vague answer.

"That's okay, Ulrich, you don't have to participate. We won't force you to." They saw Ulrich loosen up his tense shoulders in relief, before Odd suggested, "At least, come and watch us. Yumi and I are both competing, and it would mean a lot if you could show your support."

"Come on, Ulrich," Yumi smiled. "For once, Odd's found a sport where being scrawny is a plus!"

Odd immediately pouted at Yumi's joke, "I am not scrawny! I am svelte! I looked them both up in the dictionary, so I know they're not synonyms!"

He was right about that. They really weren't.

"But she's right, Odd," Jérémie softly cut in. "Your slender, yet athletic, frame will give you an advantage." He and Aelita wouldn't be competing; they had too much work to do, working on the anti-virus as well as the cipher key to Périn's diary.

(So Jérémie's lack of athleticism wasn't the only reason he declined.)

"Thanks, Jer," Odd smiled at the other blonde.

Ulrich sighed, finally relenting, "Fine, I'll come, but only as a spectator."

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

Due to today being Sunday, there were no classes, so the gymnasium was allowed to be closed off for the climbing competition (against a neighboring school) as well as its morning practice (just between Kadic students), to determine their top ten climbers. The few spectators that had chosen to come watch were seated on the bleachers, Ulrich among them. Meanwhile, in front of the rock-climbing wall Kadic had were numerous mats where the competitors were sitting on, all in their gym clothes.

Jim was supervising the current match of the morning practice, which was Odd versus Hervé.

Odd seemed have this one in the bag, as he was climbing up the wall quickly, while Hervé was having trouble debating on where to put his hands and feet. Thanks to his overthinking, he was quickly overtaken by his opponent.

"You should've left your zits down there, huh, Hervé?" Odd called back as he continued climbing, not pausing even once for a breath. "They're so heavy, they're making you slow!"

"Yeah, go on and laugh, Della Robbia! I'm gonna–"

Distracted by the trash talk, however, Hervé's grip ran out and he fell back down to the ground. Fortunately, there was a mat there to break his fall, but he couldn't ignore how embarrassing that was. At least Aelita wasn't here to see it...

Odd, meanwhile, reached the top, and he stood on top of the wall exclaiming, "I'm the king of the world!"

Ulrich cracked a smile from his spot on the bleachers before clapping for his roommate and friend. Maybe it was because he was up against Hervé, or his Lyoko skills rubbing off on him in the real world (probably both), but Odd's climbing skills were amazing.

Jim glanced at the list in his hands, "And last, but not least, Dunbar, you're up." William stood up from the mat and stood in front of the wall, as Jim double-checked the list in confusion. "You're the only one left? It seems we have an odd number of competitors." He turned to the group of students still sitting on the mats, "Anybody feel like climbing a second time?"

Before anybody could volunteer, William turned to the bleachers, "Hey, Stern, wanna race?"

Ulrich immediately froze up, "Um, no thanks. I'd rather just watch."

"Relax, Stern," Jim cut in, using what he thought was a reassuring voice. "It's only practice. Racing against Dunbar doesn't mean you're now in the actual competition. We just need someone to help Dunbar practice."

Seeing the German boy's clear hesitance, William walked up to and stood in front of Ulrich, "C'mon, first one to the top!" Ulrich miraculously managed to keep a straight face; he hated the dumb smile on the Scottish boy's face. "Are you scared?" William taunted, leaning in towards him.

"No, I'm not." Ulrich's voice was a bit louder, obviously to convey just how threatened he was feeling at the moment. "I just don't want to climb today."

Yumi got to her feet, coming to Ulrich's defense, "I'll race against you, William. I don't think Ulrich appreciates being pressured into doing something he doesn't want to do. Besides, why race a spectator when you can race someone you know is in the top ten?" Top ten of Kadic's climbers, that is. She had gone up against Theo Gauthier, who was on the football team, and she had won. Theo was certainly no slouch, though, which was why he was also in the top ten.

But Ulrich was sitting this out for a reason. No one knew what that reason was, except him, but she wasn't going to push him. If he just wanted to watch, she didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

Jim cut in, "Sorry, Ishiyama, you're a good climber, but Ulrich is my star athlete, who excels at every athletic challenge. Practicing against him in anything will always make you improve. So, Stern, wall. Now. Show us what you got."

Yumi shot Ulrich a concerned look. He just shrugged, before very reluctant standing up from his spot on the bleachers. "It's okay, Yumi. All I'm doing is timing William."

"Okay," she relented. "Good luck."

He shot her a very tiny smile before trudging his way slowly towards the wall. By the time he reached it, Odd had climbed down, landing back on the mat.

He placed a hand on his roommate's shoulder, giving some words of encouragement of his own, "You don't have to win, good buddy. Just help Jim time William and practice is over. And then we can go eat."

Odd then walked off, taking the spot next to Yumi, who looked like she was about to get sick much like Ulrich was.

Seeing her anxiousness, he reassured her in a whisper, "Don't worry. He's got this."

"But he declined competing for a reason," she whispered back.

Odd couldn't deny that, so he didn't.

Ulrich stared up at the wall, as William took a spot next to him. He felt like his whole world was about to crash down, as Jim blew his whistle to begin the race.

He started out strong, with him and William beginning at the same speed. But he was struggling to keep it together; his world was starting to spin. As a result, he was starting to slow down, thus giving William an advantage as he kept climbing, unaware of Ulrich's plight.

Ulrich barely kept his whimper to himself as he felt his hands begin to shake. The memory of XANA attacking Earth's gravity was returning, the sensation of which he never liked. It only made the dizziness worse.

Seeing his friend's obvious trouble, Odd yelled out some encouragement, "Come on, Ulrich! Move it!" What was he doing?

Ulrich reached out towards the next rock, trying not to look down to note how high he was and failing. Trembling, he looked at the wall in front of him, re-focusing his concentration. At this rate, he wasn't going to last much longer.

Yumi, meanwhile, was getting a sinking feeling in her gut. It was the same feeling as the one she got at the pool while watching Ulrich prepare to dive. Again, she wasn't sure what was actually going on, but she couldn't ignore the feeling that Ulrich wanted and needed to stay firmly on the ground.

Out of concern, she followed Odd's example, "Go for it, Ulrich! Come on, snap out of it!" Usually, hearing her voice telling him to screw his head back on straight helped. She seemed to have that effect on Ulrich.

Unfortunately, it didn't help here.

All Ulrich could focus on was the sweat dripping down his forehead, as his world just spun more.

He barely heard William call down to him, "Come on, Spiderman! You spin a web or did you fall asleep?"

By this time, Odd got the same gut feeling that Yumi had, evident in how he whispered to her, "Something's wrong..." This was going to end badly.

"Hey, Stern, what's the matter with you?" Jim called out.

Ulrich didn't register that. The spinning in his head was too intense; he felt like he was about to throw up. He blacked out, and his body fell back down to the ground, thankfully landing safely on the mat.

When he came to, he was greeted with the concerned faces of Yumi and Odd.

"Oh, I get it. A little nap before lunch, right?" Odd joked, despite the worry clear on his face. It was obvious that he was trying to diffuse the tension.

"Leave...me...alone..." he muttered back. He was not in the mood for any of Odd's antics right now. He still felt dizzy and nauseous.

He slowly sat up as Yumi knelt as his side. He made to stand up, only for Yumi to stop him with a hand on her shoulder. "Don't push yourself," she softly told him.

She knew, he realized when their eyes connected. She recognized the shaking, the hesitation, the slowness...

William jumped down from the wall, landing on the mat, and he asked, "You idiot! You have vertigo and yet you chose to climb anyways!"

Ulrich immediately tensed up, "You're the one who kept pressuring me!" Him and Jim both. "I wanted to be a spectator for a reason! So just leave me alone!"

Despite Yumi's recent warning, Ulrich scrambled to his feet, storming off without another word. Everyone watching noted how he didn't deny having vertigo.

"Ulrich, wait!" Yumi was about to run after him, only for Odd to stop her by grabbing her elbow.

When she turned to face him, he gently told her, "Let him chill out a while. He's clearly embarrassed."

Yumi frowned. Ulrich had not to be ashamed of. Vertigo wasn't a mental problem; it was a matter of the inner ear, which was responsible for one's sense of balance. And they were his friends; they'd never judge him.

But Ulrich was the introvert of introverts and the most introverted of the group. When he was upset, he heavily preferred enough space to cool off.

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

Three hours had passed since the end of this morning's mission, and Jérémie and Aelita remained unaware of what happened during the rock climbing practice session. The two were too busy working on the anti-virus using the codes they found earlier.

After putting on the finishing touches on their new version, Aelita glanced at Jérémie, who had not left her side, his eagerness rubbing off on her. "You ready?" He nodded in response, with an encouraging smile.

She typed in commands to run a test that would weed out any bugs. A window opened, showing Jérémie's avatar with various tags that the supercomputer was currently checking. Once the green progress bar filled up completely, a green plus sign began flashing in the center of the open window.

Aelita beamed, "Yes! The test worked! Unbelievable!" She considered this a miracle. To think that the codes Jérémie retrieved that morning were exactly what she needed to complete the anti-virus, when for the past four and a half months, she was struggling because XANA's virus was not listed on Jérémie's digital profile at all (which was strange, when every other ailment caused by XANA was).

He grabbed her hands, pulling her out of the chair. As they spun around a couple times, she couldn't help but return his smile with one of her own. He was excited, as he should've been; this meant his freedom. She was excited too; after one year and five months, she would finally get to fulfill her promise.

"We did it! We got the anti-virus!" He was celebrating by sharing this milestone with her, which she was really touched by. He then paused, and she could see the wheels in his head turning, "What if–...what if you injected me right now? We could surprise the others!"

"But isn't that a little risky?" she immediately asked, frowning slightly in concern. There was always a chance that there was a bug that the test run didn't detect, or there was an aspect of the program that she missed. If she gave him the anti-virus the way it was now, something bad could happen, and it would be her fault.

He was calm as he told her, "It will be just as risky in two hours, or in two days." His eyes were on that window, still open on the screen.

She couldn't deny that, nor could she deny that finally shutting XANA down wasn't tempting, so she replied, "Okay. Head to the scanner."

Jérémie ran towards the ladder and climbed down to the scanner room, as Aelita sat back down in the chair. After setting up the programs, both the anti-virus as well as the scanners, she called down to him to make sure this was exactly what he wanted, that he wasn't currently having second thoughts.

"You ready?"

"Yes. Do it," was his response. Soon, he'd be free from XANA and they'd be able to shut down the supercomputer. He could have a normal life, like he's always wanted, like he's always deserved.

She pressed the Enter key, and one of the scanners indicated with those green bars that it was currently in use. Meanwhile, a progress bar showed the anti-virus being administrated to Jérémie's body.

She smiled when the progress bar filled up all the way, before the anti-virus window closed without any error message popping up. It worked. Jérémie's profile now officially had the anti-virus attached to it.

But the scanner was still being occupied. Why? The process was completed. It had gone off without a hitch, meaning the scanner should've powered down by now.

Scared, the pink-ette abandoned her post and rushed down to the scanner room. One of the scanners was shut tight and powered up, but it wouldn't let Jérémie go. So, she pulled apart the doors with all of the strength that she possessed.

Fortunately, the scanner seemed to realize what was it was actually supposed to do, as it powered down the moment the doors opened. Jérémie fell into her arms, his eyes closed as if he was passed out. Was he...?

"Jérémie! How do you feel?! Please, say something!" She couldn't disguise the concern in her voice.

His eyes still closed, he offered a smile, "Something."

She burst out laughing, "If you can make jokes as bad as Odd's, then you must be okay."

He opened his eyes and gave her a soft smile.

Well, Aelita thought, that could've gone a whole lot worse.

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

Odd knocked on the door to the room he shared with Ulrich, softly calling out, "Ulrich, buddy? You in there?" He peeked into the room, only to find it empty, save for Kiwi, who was taking a nap in his drawer. Not wanting to wake his dog up, Odd closed the door quietly, before turning to Yumi and offering, "Maybe he went to the factory?"

"Maybe, but we use it all of the time," she replied. "If he really wanted to be left alone, he'd go somewhere else."

A familiar female voice cut in with, "Who'd go somewhere else?"

Odd and Yumi both turned around to see Aelita and Jérémie approaching them, both with wide smiles on their faces, clearly excited about something, a stark contrast to Ulrich's current mood.

"Ulrich," Odd replied. "He's hiding. I-I mean, sulking."

The two geniuses smiles immediately disappeared, as Jérémie asked, "Why? What happened?"

His father, William's crush on Yumi, whatever happened at the pool, and now this (whatever it was). Ulrich really couldn't catch a break lately, could he?

Yumi and Odd shared a knowing look, before the Japanese girl answered with, "Let's just say he'd rather not talk about it." She then chose to change the subject, "So why are you two so excited? Did Hervé finally denounce his crush on Aelita?"

"Sadly no," Aelita replied, sharing a brief amused glance with Jérémie. "But it's just as good, maybe even better." Their smiles were back. "We found the anti-virus! And I've already given it to Jérémie." They didn't think it was possible, but Jérémie's smile got even brighter.

The other two reacted in shock, as Odd asked, "You what?!"

Yumi was beaming, "That's great news!" She lunged forward and wrapped Jérémie in a hug. "I'm so happy for you!"

They did it. This was what they were all waiting for.

"Now all we have to do is shut down the supercomputer," Aelita added as Jérémie returned Yumi's hug, "and it's adios to XANA."

"Sounds good," the eldest of the group admitted, "but not without Ulrich." She was worried about him, and had been since she first witnessed that vertigo attack at the pool. "He's a part of this as much as we are."

"Agreed," the pink-ette replied. Shutting XANA down without him didn't feel right. They all needed to be there.

"We just have to find him," Odd said. He pressed a couple of fingers to his forehead. "Now, if I was an introvert and I wanted to sulk in peace, where would I go?"

"The forest," Jérémie cut in, his answer automatic, given how he was also an introvert.

It made sense, because it was the only place they hadn't searched yet. Odd and Yumi headed out together to look for Ulrich there, while Aelita and Jérémie hung back.

The two geniuses chose to head back to the pink-ette's room and wait there until the other two came back with Ulrich. Once they did, then they could finally turn the supercomputer off, and with it, XANA too.

"I don't believe it," Aelita muttered, typing on her computer the most recent entry in her diary. "I'm actually writing the final entry of what I call 'The Lyoko Saga'." Jérémie gave no response, which kind of worried her. She could see him in the corner of her eyes, sitting on her bed. Maybe he was reading something? "So, after we shut XANA down, what do you want to do first, Jérémie?"

Still no answer, and this brought her concern up a few notches. Normally, he'd be listing off numerous things, but right now, he wasn't.

She turned around to face him, only to be met with the sight of him sitting on her bed, hunched over as he held his head in his both of hands. He was obviously trying (and succeeding to an extent) to hide his moans of pain, but if you strained your ears, you could hear them anyway.

"Jérémie." He finally looked up at her, his blue eyes conveying the pain he was in. "Are you okay?"

His response was just above a whisper, "Not really, no..."

"Could it be the anti-virus?" she asked. She still had her doubts about it.

"No, no, I'm fine," he immediately slapped on a fake smile. "It's just an energy slump. I think I just need to sleep it off." He didn't want to sound ungrateful for all of Aelita's hard work and sleepless nights. She had just given him the key to his freedom. He was fine...right?

She didn't object as he stood up and left her room, shutting her door on his way out. But the moment her door closed, she exited out of her diary and instead brought up the anti-virus, going over it again and again.

There had to be something she missed...

Jérémie slowly trudged down the hallway, feeling a little disoriented. He needed to lie down. He didn't know what was going on, or what the cause was, but he was confident that Aelita would find the answer, if it was indeed the anti-virus like she was clearly thinking it was.

He was hoping it wasn't, though, for the others' sake rather than his own. The fight had gone on long enough.

Out of nowhere, his left hand felt weird, like the tingling sensation you got when your hand was asleep and starting to wake back up. Puzzled, he glanced at it, only to get a massive shock when he saw that his hand was disappearing!

He gasped as his right hand got that weird tingling sensation as well. In that moment, Hervé stepped out of the room he shared with Nicolas.

"Oh, Jérémie, I didn't even see you standing there," Hervé said, prompting the blonde to hide both of his hands by crossing his arms. "But that's hardly surprising, given how boring you are."

The genius just glared at his rival. He didn't have time for Hervé's petty insults right now, not when his own hands had just disappeared.

"How can you expect Aelita to take you seriously as a suitor if you don't stop being such a wallflower? Seriously, make yourself more interesting. She likes music and art. But I'm willing to help you out. I mean, look at me." Jérémie's right hand fully disappeared by this point, making him gasp quietly and hide his hands again. "I'm in the middle of puberty, and on the other side, my voice will be deeper, my acne will be gone, and I won't be as lanky." Jérémie's legs disappeared, but thankfully, Hervé paid it no mind. "I'm also funny, and intelligent, and nice," Jérémie finally disappeared completely, clothes and all, into thin air, "and very attentive to others."

Hervé finally got out of his own head and turned back to Jérémie, only to see empty space where the blonde should've been.

He was confused at first, before he shrugged, "Just what I was saying. He's so unremarkable that you don't even realize that he's gone!" He then left, heading towards whatever his destination was.

But Jérémie was still there. He was just invisible. He couldn't see himself at all. He was panicking.

He had to tell Aelita. Now.

He ran up the stairs back to Aelita's room. He didn't care if anybody heard his footsteps, because he was invisible. Besides, he had a very important issue on hand.

He burst into her room without knocking, exclaiming in horror, "Aelita, we have an emergency!"

She didn't turn around, but she did agree, "We sure do! XANA's activated a tower!" Here, he noticed that on her pink-colored screen was an alert from the superscan. Aelita, meanwhile, turned around to acknowledge him, only for confusion to immediately reach her face. She raised an eyebrow in puzzlement. "Uh, Jérémie?" She could've sworn she just heard his voice.

"I'm here." It was clear, though, that she was still confused. "I'm right in front of you. But I-I'm invisible."

"Really?" She reached out a hand to make sure, and she was relieved when she made contact with something not visible to the human eye.

"Hey!"

"Oops!" She exclaimed, immediately taking her hand back, silently embarrassed. "S-Sorry." She didn't what part of Jérémie she had touched, but it was obviously something he didn't want being touched. But there was really only one part of the male body that fit that criteria, hence her now reddened face.

Fortunately, Jérémie kept the conversation on track. "Could this be XANA's attack?" His invisibility, he meant.

She narrowed her eyes and scrunched her nose, both signs that she was deep in thought, "There's only one way to find. To the factory."

She hoped it wasn't the anti-virus. But neither genius would put it past XANA to give them faulty codes.

After all, it had done so before.

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

Ulrich sat at the base of his usual tree as he broke a stick in half. He set the broken pieces to the side, before picking up another stick from a pile nearby and repeating the process. It was weird, yes, but this helped him decompress.

He was planning on telling Yumi and Odd, so them finding out he had vertigo wasn't the problem; he was grateful for them being so supportive. He just wished that wasn't how they found out. But believe it or not, that wasn't the problem either. Nor was it how William and Jim just kept pressuring him to climb despite him denying the offer, how when he fell, William called him an idiot when it was William who kept coercing him.

Ulrich could've very easily admitted out loud that he had vertigo so he didn't want to risk it (the truth), but didn't. He brought the embarrassment on himself, just like at the pool. William was right; he was an idiot. He put himself at risk when he had the easy choice not to.

No, the German boy mentally admitted, he was more angry at himself than anyone else.

He broke a third stick right as he heard a sudden low growl behind him. He glanced around, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary. That didn't ease his nerves one bit. He heard the growl again, making him stand up, ready to defend himself against whatever was making that noise.

Another twig snapped, quickly following by the sound of the nearby bushes being rattled. From the bushes, Yumi and Odd emerged, both of whom were wearing concerned expressions that immediately turned into relief the moment they laid eyes on Ulrich.

"Ulrich, there you are! We've been looking all over campus for you!" Yumi exclaimed, as the two approached him. Ulrich let them.

"All good?" Odd asked, somewhat casually. It actually made Ulrich feel better, knowing these two didn't plan on making a big deal out of what happened. "Back to your usual cool self yet?"

"Not a hundred percent," the German boy softly admitted, turning away from them. "I'm sorry you guys had to find out that way."

Odd had his hands casually in his pockets, while Yumi's arms were crossed. Yet her expression read calm and concerned, "What happened?" They really had to ask? They were there; they knew exactly what happened. "I mean, we've known you for three years now, and this is the first time I, at least, have seen you get hit with vertigo."

"Same here," Odd added.

Oh. They meant, how did he get vertigo.

"I think I got it after the time XANA messed with gravity," he quietly admitted. "At least, that's the memory that keeps popping up whenever it hits. I'm fine with the ladders in the sewers and the ropes at the factory, because I'm usually focused on stopping the current XANA attack. But when XANA's not a factor..." He shook his head. "Again, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you guys so much, or make you find out that way."

Yumi slung a comforting arm around his shoulders, "Don't feel ashamed for having vertigo. In your case, it's just a symptom of your acrophobia. Everyone's afraid of something, and don't let anybody convince you otherwise."

"And we're not mad at you at all," Odd added, slipping his arm around Ulrich's on the latter's other side. "We were just worried. But next time, maybe don't give into William's taunting..."

"Don't worry," Ulrich flatly replied. "Lesson learned."

Smiling, Yumi nudged him with her arm, "Good. Now, we have some incredible news that will definitely cheer you up. Aelita and Jérémie have finally found the anti-virus!"

He immediately turned to her in shock, "Really?"

Odd nodded, beaming, "Really! Now that we've found you, we can finally turn off the supercomputer!"

"Then let's go," Ulrich replied, nodding his head towards the school. "The sooner we do so, the sooner we can relax."

With that, the trio began the trek back to the school, where Aelita and Jérémie were likely waiting for them. On the way, however, there was a rustle in the bushes behind them, causing Ulrich to glance behind him. In that same direction, yet another twig snapped, forcing them all to stop and turn all the way around.

They all went noticeably pale when out stepped a wolf, which was letting out a low growl as it stared at them.

"Oh, a nice, little doggy, I-I hope..." Odd said, clearly trying to diffuse the sudden tension.

But it was all for naught, as the beast's eyes suddenly began flashing with the symbol representing their worst enemy, XANA.

Ulrich immediately stepped back, "Nope. A big bad wolf, Odd."

More wolves joined the first, who appeared to be the pack leader. Perfect, just great. One wolf would've been fine, but an entire pack was deadly.

"And there's even a whole pack of them!" he added.

Odd looked at the other two, "Um...when you're faced with a pack of wolves possessed by an evil AI, what do you do?"

"You run!" Yumi cried, before turning around and doing just that, with the two boys hot on her heels.

The wolves chased after them. Once the trio was in XANA's sights, it wasn't going to let them go so easily.

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

Down in the sewer passage, an invisible Jérémie had taken the lead, while Aelita followed, both on their scooters. Since the poor boy couldn't see himself or anything on his person, it fell on the pink-ette to call and warn the others.

She chose to call Yumi, knowing she'd pick up whether she was sulking or not, only to get her voicemail.

"Moshi moshi! You've reached Yumi Ishiyama's phone. I can't answer right now, so leave me a message instead."

After hearing the beep, Aelita said, a sense of urgency in her voice, "Yumi, you, Odd, and Ulrich meet us at the factory ASAP. We've got a problem and an activated tower." She then hung up. Hopefully, Yumi would listen to it soon.

"I hope the others are okay," Jérémie worriedly commented, with Aelita grateful that she could, at least, still hear his voice. "We don't know what XANA's attack is."

"I'm sure they can handle it," she tried to reassure him, though she was really trying to cheer herself up. "For the time being, let's see what's making you invisible."

The two reached the ladder leading to the bridge to the factory. Jérémie stopped, and Aelita quickly followed.

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

The trio continued to run, with the pack of wolves still chasing them. Yumi's phone had gone off, but she was too busy getting to safety to pick it up. They emerged from the trees into a clearing, in the middle of which was a cliff-side. Ulrich immediately came to a stop when he saw this.

He had no choice but to climb it. The cliff stretched sideways for kilometers in both directions; there was no other path to take.

Odd grabbed his roommate's wrist and pulled him toward the cliff, "Don't just stand there, you idiot! Come on!"

Right. It was either face his fears or risk his life with the XANA-possessed wolves.

So he quickly fell back in running step with Odd and Yumi. They soon reached the cliff and Yumi and Odd immediately began climbing. Ulrich glanced back at the wolves emerging from the treeline, before turning back and beginning the long journey to the top.

Yumi reached the top, with Odd not far behind, looking down at the already behind Ulrich. Gripping the edge to give herself a solid footing, she bent down and helped Odd up. As she did so, she saw Ulrich's dilemma.

"Ulrich, hurry up!"

Ulrich kept his eyes on Yumi and Odd above him, both kneeling at the top and focusing on him. He tried his best to keep his cool and his mind on making it to the factory to help clear the passage to the tower.

Just then, a wolf jumped up and bit his ankle, making him cry out in pain.

"Ulrich!" Yumi called out in concerned horror.

The German boy kicked the wolf off of him, which gave a whimper as it fell back down to the grass below.

Almost there, he told himself. He gripped another rock, just now noticing just how high he was off the ground.

"Don't look down!" Odd shouted some advice.

"Don't phrase it like that!" Ulrich shouted back. He appreciated his friends trying to help, but saying something like that would only make it worse.

The wolves couldn't climb, and Ulrich was now too high for them to jump and sink their teeth into him like before. But right now, they were all converged at the bottom, waiting for him to fall. Seeing this, his vision started getting blurry. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to will the dizziness to stop.

"Concentrate on your hand grips!" Odd called out. Yumi said nothing, only worriedly chewing on a fingernail as she watched.

Feeling slightly encouraged, Ulrich continued to climb. Slowly, but surely, he was getting closer and closer to the top.

"Yeah, that's it! Keep climbing!" Odd told him, as Yumi reached out her hand for him to take.

"Just a little farther!" she urged.

Ulrich gripped the rock in front of him, before reaching out a hand to grab Yumi's, only for his foot (the one that was bitten seconds prior) to slip, gently throbbing with pain. He felt himself falling, relieved that it wasn't his vertigo this time, only for Yumi to grab his wrist before he fell too far.

Thanks to her quick reflexes, she and Odd were able to work together in pulling Ulrich up to the top. Once he able to relax, Ulrich breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

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

Aelita was furiously typing commands into the supercomputer as Jérémie headed straight for the scanner room. Once he arrived, he conveyed that he was ready to be scanned for the problem by telling her, "I'm here, Aelita."

"Okay. Now, let's see what the issue is." She activated the scanner he was in, set to scan only. Thankfully, this supercomputer was fast, so she got the results back right away. Unfortunately, however, the results were all one big error message in the form of a red exclaimation mark. "Just what I was afraid of!" she groaned, as she stopped the scan. "It's not XANA! It's a stupid bug in the anti-virus that's so broad I have no choice but to deactivate it! It's the fastest and easiest solution, but it's gonna take a little while."

"What about the activated tower? You know what the attack is?"

"Not a clue," she replied, as she began the long, arduous process of untangling the stupid anti-virus from Jérémie's profile. None of the other three had called her, to report either a XANA attack or that they'd found Ulrich. She knew Ulrich likely wanted privacy, but Yumi and Odd hadn't called her either.

Just then, the cellphone window popped up on screen, along with Yumi's ID card. Not a moment too soon.

Aelita picked up, "Yumi! Finally!"

"I just got your message," Yumi replied. "Sorry for the delay, but I was too busy trying not to die. We're in the forest, with a pack of wolves possessed by XANA."

"Try to get to the factory. Jérémie can't deactivate the tower by himself."

"We'll do our best, but we can't make any promises. I'll keep you posted," Yumi replied, before hanging up.

Aelita rubbed at her temples to ease her incoming headache. This day started out great, with that mission to Sector Five and then finally finding the anti-virus. But now, that anti-virus was making Jérémie invisible, and XANA was endangering her friends with a pack of wolves.

"Aelita, send me to Lyoko," Jérémie cut in, having heard Yumi's call.

"What?! No way!" she immediately protested, as she resumed her work on removing the anti-virus. "We have to wait!"

"Wait for what?!" he asked, almost yelling. "For the others to be devoured?! We have no choice!"

She sighed, knowing he was right. If they waited any longer, the others could be seriously injured by those wolves, even dead. She was just afraid of Jérémie going by himself. If not for the anti-virus, she would be going with him.

But she had to stay.

"Okay. Just be careful. We don't know any other side effects of the anti-virus. For all we know, it could turn you into a Kankrelat or something."

"You have my word. No fancy stuff," he reassured her, as she paused her work on the anti-virus in order to warm up the virtualization process. "And I prefer the Mantas. They're my favorite, and if I turn into one, at least I'd be able to fly."

Aelita shrugged, "I'd go with Hornets. For the exact same reasons."

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

Yumi hung up from her call with Aelita and turned to the two boys up on the top of the cliff with her, "Activated tower, confirmed. We should get to the factory." She joined them in looking over at the cliff, at the wolves who hadn't left yet, before addressing Ulrich, "Your foot okay?" It had made him slip and fall, after all.

Ulrich simply nodded, not taking his eyes off of the wolves still waiting down below.

"Good thing you weren't wearing sandals," Odd quipped. "Now where's the factory from here?"

His thoughts were interrupting by a low growl. The trio turned around immediately, only to be greeted with a wolf on top of the cliff with them. Its irises were flashing with the eye of XANA, indicating that it was under the AI's control.

"Oh great," Odd rolled his eyes. "A flying wolf."

Said wolf slowly advanced towards them, forcing the trio to step back, until they were one step away from falling off. Seeing their new position, Ulrich took up a defensive stance, ready to fight.

"Um, this is when the kind hunter usually comes to the rescue, right?" Odd asked, clearly trying to not show just how scared he was, and failing.

The wolf lunged at Ulrich, causing him to stumble backwards and fall off the cliff. "ULRICH!" Yumi and Odd both cried, watching in horror as Ulrich's fall was broken by a small tree in the cliff-side, before he continued falling, landing at the bottom, on top of a wolf that was waiting there.

But he ended up phasing right through said wolf.

"B-But...!" Odd stammered in shock.

"Huh?" Confused, Ulrich punched a gray wolf that was advancing towards him. At the moment of contact, it turned into static before fading away. He turned back to Yumi and Odd, still on the top of the cliff, "It's a decoy! They're just images!"

Odd turned around to the wolf cornering him and Yumi and kicked its leg. Like Ulrich had said, the wolf disappeared, revealing it to be fake. "That XANA's even slyer than I thought!"

"C'mon!" Yumi told him, rushing to the edge of the cliff. "Ulrich needs our help!"

The two climbed down as quickly as they could while Ulrich kicked yet another fake. They reached the bottom just in time for Yumi to kick another when it jumped towards her. As it disappeared, Ulrich went to punch a black-furred wolf, only to be caught off-guard when it dodged his attack, unlike the fakes.

"Uh-oh," he realized. "This one's real."

"So are these two," Yumi replied, hers and Odd's backs to him, two wolves advancing towards them as well. They couldn't back up anymore. They were stuck. Yumi's phone rang again, and she immediately picked up, "Aelita?"

"How are you guys doing?"

"Let's just say it's no picnic here," Yumi replied, cautiously the wolves surrounding them.

"Hang in there. Jérémie's almost at the tower."

Yumi responded with, "We'll try our best," before hanging up.

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

"Virtualization!"

Jérémie landed in the Ice Sector on top of a glacier. As he stood up, he took note of how he could see his own hands and feet again, albeit both covered in navy blue coverings. He sighed in relief, "Don't worry, Aelita. I'm not a Kankrelat. It sure is good to be visible again..."

"The activated tower is in an ice cave, located within the glacier you're standing on," Aelita told him. "The entrance is to your right." Given how she had programmed his coordinates as close to the tower as possible, it was clear she was worried about him encountering the Scyphozoa.

"Alright. Here I go."

He then took off, jumping off the edge of the glacier and landing on the walkway leading to that all-familiar waterfall. XANA had activated this tower before, to control that satellite, but the superscan had made it and numerous other hidden towers visible on the holomap.

He rushed down the path, running past the waterfall before skipping the pieces of ice leading to the tower. When he got to the base of the tower, he prepared his body to phase through the wall...

But he didn't. Instead, he hit the tower wall and the force made him stumble back. He quickly caught himself as he rubbed his head, having hit it when he tried to enter the tower.

He glanced up. This was the tower, right? Yes, it was. He could feel the pulsations leading from it, and Aelita would've told him if he was going the wrong way. "W-What's going on...?"

He pressed his hand against the tower wall, but was still unable to phase through. Usually, when he touched any tower, he'd immediately phase through.

"U-Um, Aelita? I think we have a problem," he told the pink-ette, becoming increasingly panicked as the seconds passed. Remember, every second this tower remained red, the more likely it was that the others would die. Timing was everything.

"We sure do," Aelita sounded extremely stressed, and Jérémie felt a pang of guilt. Maybe if he hadn't been so eager to be injected with the anti-virus, then this wouldn't be happening right now. "It's the anti-virus, Jérémie. But it's not a second bug; it's still one big bug covering the entire program. I'm trying my best to get rid of it, but you can't enter the tower until it's gone."

So he had to wait. "Work fast, please," he gently told her. "If I can't enter towers, then I don't have a safe place to hide." It would've been better if the interface merely rejected his handprint; at least then he could still enter towers.

"I know," she reassured him. "I'm calling the cavalry right now. Until then, watch out for monsters." A brief pause, before she was suddenly yelling, "Careful, behind you!"

He immediately turned around, only to come face to face with the last monster he wanted to face, the one monster that XANA didn't mind hurting him with.

He eyed the Scyphozoa, feeling the magnetic pull of its tentacles. He took a couple steps back, until he felt his foot touch the water of the lake surrounding the tower (it wasn't part of the Digital Sea, fortunately; it behaved like water on Earth).

He couldn't run, and XANA knew that. Nor did he have a weapon, and again, XANA knew that. But he still had a way to fight back.

He raised his hand and concentrated hard. A column of water burst up from the lake and engulfed the Scyphozoa, before turning completely to ice. He smiled, proud of himself for finally turning the tables on his worst fear.

However, being trapped in this ice cave was not the most ideal situation for his defense. He had to get out of here. Knowing that, he then created another set of ice pieces, forming them around the ice column holding the Scyphozoa prisoner to give him an alternate path.

He skipped across them and approached the waterfall entrance, only to immediately halt in his tracks when he saw two Hornets guarding the entrance. Both of them fired poison at his feet, making him leap back to avoid it.

He was safe for now, but he could no longer leave the ice cave, largely in part to the large pool of poison now covering the entrance, too big for him to jump over.

XANA clearly wanted to keep him here, and now his only choice was to wait for Aelita to remove the anti-virus.

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

Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd were still cornered by the three very real wolves when Yumi's phone rang, "Aelita?"

"We have a problem," the pink-ette solemnly told her. "Jérémie can't deactivate the tower right now. The anti-virus I injected into him is covering up his virtual signature, like a firewall. As a result, the supercomputer is confused and the towers no longer recognize him."

"You mean he can't enter them anymore?" Yumi asked in surprise, catching Odd and Ulrich's attention.

"Exactly. That is, of course, until I manage to extract that dumb, bugged up anti-virus," Aelita replied.

"Can you?" the Japanese girl asked, as she continued eyeing the trio of wolves growling at her, Ulrich, and Odd.

"Yes." Good. Hope wasn't completely dead. "The anti-virus hasn't bugged up his entire profile like last time. It's literally just acting like an unwanted firewall." Yumi involuntary shuddered at the memory of Jérémie choosing to sacrifice himself to save their dorm building. "Removing it is rather simple, but it will take some time. In the meantime, you guys need to get here and protect Jérémie until it's removed, because at the moment, he's all alone with the Scyphozoa, and without his ability to enter towers, I can't use Code: EARTH on him either."

So, quite the pickle. "You could've just said 'it's a huge mess', 'Lita," Yumi quipped. "We would've understood, because it's a mess where we are too. Don't worry, we're on our way."

"Please, hurry," Aelita said, before hanging up.

As she placed her phone back into her pocket, Yumi turned to the other two, "Jérémie needs our help."

"This mess just keeps getting messier and messier. Fantastic," Odd sarcastically replied. "I'd love to go to the factory party, but how do you plan on getting out of this jam?" He nodded his head at the three wolves still surrounding them. XANA was clearly intent on keeping them all here, probably to buy itself enough time to retrieve whatever in Jérémie's memory it was after.

"We split up," Ulrich cut in. "I'll take care of them."

Yumi and Odd immediately protested.

"Are you crazy?!" Yumi cried.

"Need we remind you that these are real wolves?!" Odd added.

But Ulrich stood his ground, "Go on, I said, okay? I may have vertigo, but I can handle a few flew-bitten mongrels!" He picked up a broken-off branch from the ground, intent on using it as a weapon. "On three, get going!"

"You mean, one, two, and go," Odd asked, "or do you mean one, two, three, and go?!" Ulrich rolled his eyes.

Ulrich rolled his eyes before glaring at them, "GO!"

Yumi and Odd very reluctant ran off, forced to leave their friend behind with wolves possessed by an AI that wanted them dead.

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

Yumi had filled Odd in on the details on their way to the factory. Thanks to Ulrich's sacrifice, no wolves followed them. They headed straight for the scanner room, and once Aelita was made aware they were all set to go, she sent them to Lyoko.

"Virtualization!"

The two landed in the Ice Sector. In front of them was a bridge leading to a plateau on which was a glacier, made unique thanks to a waterfall. The moment they landed, the Overboard and the Overwing appeared in front of them.

"Jérémie is located in an ice cave within the glacier just across the bridge," Aelita told them. "I didn't send you right next to it because the entrance is being guarded by two Hornets." In other words, the two had the advantage of surprise.

The two hopped onto their respective vehicles and took off towards the bridge.

"How's Ulrich?" Yumi asked.

"No news yet," Aelita solemnly reported.

As they approached the bridge, a Megatank was suddenly virtualized in the center of it. It immediately opened up and fired its laser at them.

They both dodged, but while Odd and his Overboard were both okay, the Overwing was destroyed.

Yumi, however, was unscathed. She skidded along the ground a couple meters, before regaining her footing.

"Yumi!" Odd called out in concern.

"I'm fine!" she replied, as she saw the Megatank charge up for another strike. "Watch out!"

He turned his attention back to their enemy just in time for him to avoid its laser. His Overboard, however, was hit, forcing him to abandon it before it disappeared and sent him into the Digital Sea or something.

As the Megatank repositioned itself, seemingly debating on who to aim for, with both of its enemies on opposite sides of it, Yumi told Odd, "Go on and help Jérémie! I'll take care of this hunk of metal!"

Odd paused, briefly, clearly remembering Ulrich making a similar sacrifice minutes before, before taking off towards the glacier. As he ran away, he called back, "Okay, good luck!"

The Megatank made its choice, aiming and firing directly at Odd as he ran towards the exact place XANA wanted to keep him from. But Yumi jumped up and threw both of her fans at it, the first fan stopping the laser in its tracks, right before it could strike Odd in the back, and the second shattering the laser completely.

She landed right front of the monster, wisely positioning herself between it and Odd, before catching both of her fans.

She and the Megatank had a stand-off, before it fired at her, but she dodged, making it hit a nearby ice rock instead. She jumped off of another ice rock not too far away, making her cartwheel in mid-air, during which she threw a fan.

She landed right as her weapon hit its mark, and the Megatank was destroyed.

"Nice job, Yumi," Aelita cut in, making the elder beam at the praise.

Yumi continued down the path Odd had taken seconds prior, hoping she wouldn't get there too late.

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

Ulrich wisely chose not to strike until the wolves attacked him. If he could avoid being mauled to death early on, then he had a better chance of survival. He had to hold out until Jérémie could deactivate the tower.

The white-furred wolf suddenly lunged at him, and Ulrich fought back by swinging the branch he was holding.

However, it broke in half upon making contact with the beast, and the leader (the one with black fur) immediately snarled.

Knowing he was screwed now, Ulrich chose to turn around and run away in the opposite direction, towards where he knew where the city was. If he could reach the factory, at least, he'd be near the others.

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

With no other choice, Jérémie remained in the cave, his back up against the wall near the entrance. Here, he was out of sight of the two Hornets and able to keep a close eye on the Scyphozoa, which was still encased in his ice. Aelita was keeping him updated; apparently, Yumi and Odd were now on Lyoko, but Ulrich was still with the wolves. He hoped his friends would hurry.

He gasped in fear when he felt that familiar magnetic pull resume. One of its tentacles, not frozen in ice, was moving. Pretty soon, a second was wiggling as well. Both turned red (indicating that it had activated them), and Jérémie watched as the activated tentacles heated up enough to completely break the ice, freeing the Scyphozoa.

It turned around to face him before floating towards him. Having nowhere to run, he softly called out, "Aelita...?"

Cursing himself for not showing more resistance, he didn't have any choice except to let the monster wrap its tentacles around him before seeing red as he felt his mind being invaded.

However, hope had arrived in the form of Odd approaching the waterfall entrance, but the cat jumped back into hiding behind a wall whe he saw the two Hornets, as well as their barrier of poison covering the path. Fortunately, the Hornets had their backs turned, so they didn't see him, and Odd also stopped in time to save himself from the puddle of poison.

"Odd, why are you just standing there?!" Aelita demanded, urgency lacing her voice. "Jérémie's memory is being drained!"

"They've got guard dogs, cuz!" Odd whispered back, before glancing at the river to his right. He had to sneak past these Hornets and avoid the poison at the same time. He tip-toed over to the water and dipped a foot in. He wasn't testing the temperature (because you couldn't feel temperature on Lyoko), but rather if this water acted the same as the Digital Sea.

Relieved that he was fine after his foot was briefly submerged, he held his nose and mouth closed (just in case) before jumping in, cannonball style.

Fully submerged, Odd swam within the water, slipping past both Hornets without being noticed. He broke the surface right underneath the Scyphozoa, firing a flurry of Laser Arrows at the monster, forcing it to release Jérémie, who landed on a piece of ice in the water.

Odd's Arrows forced the Scyphoza to retreat, submerging itself back underneath the water, giving up for the time being.

Odd, meanwhile, emerged from the water and landing on the same piece as Jérémie, kneeling next to him, "You okay?"

Jérémie was rubbing his head as he nodded. Thank goodness Odd had arrived on time.

"Watch out for the Hornets!" Aelita suddenly warned.

Odd and Jérémie both glanced at the entrance, where, sure enough, the two guard-dog Hornets were flying towards them. Before Odd could fire a single Arrow, however, both were destroyed by Yumi's dual fans.

The geisha then caught them, before using them to propel her safely over the pool of poison till covering the path to the entrance. Once she had landed safely on the other side, she put her fans back into her obi, before rushing to Jérémie's other side.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," the elf replied, feeling better. "Just worried about Ulrich."

"Us too," Odd confessed.

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

"Aelita, how's it going with the anti-virus?" Yumi asked, right after Odd's solemn confession.

"I'm almost done," the pink-ette reassured them, typing as fast as she could. "But still no word from Ulrich." Right as she said that, however, the cellphone program popped up, alongside Ulrich's ID card, "Ulrich! Finally!"

"Aelita, how's it going?"

"A complete mess," she admitted. "And you?"

"Ditto!" he replied. "I'm on the bridge to the factory right now. I'll try my best to lose these wolves, but I'm really counting on the deactivation of that tower." Just then, he cried out in pain.

"Ulrich! Ulrich, are you there?!"

No response.

Panicking, Aelita quickly brought up the surveillance system, enhancing the feed of the camera covering the factory's bridge. She gasped in horror as she saw Ulrich being pinned by a trio of wolves, clearly having been attacked by them from behind.

He kicked them off of him, before getting to his feet. The three wolves were unaffected by his strike and continued to follow him.

He was limping as he continued on his way towards the ropes. She changed cameras and watched in horrified concern as he tried to slide down one of the ropes, only for the pain to kick in on his way down.

Instead of landing perfectly like he normally did, Ulrich instead fell down, his face contorted into a grimace of pain.

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

"Ulrich's made it to the factory," Aelita told the other three, "but the wolves have him surrounded!"

Yumi immediately turned to Odd, "Shoot me! I need to help him!"

The cat aimed his paw directly at the geisha's chest, but he never got a chance to fire.

Their pink-haired friend interrupted them, "Wait! The anti-virus has been removed! Jérémie, you can get into the tower now. Hope this works..."

Jérémie immediately got to his feet and skipped the pieces of ice, approaching the base of the tower for the second time today. He prepared his body to phase through, and was grateful when he wasn't rejected this time.

Odd and Yumi shared relieved smiles as they both watched Jérémie phase through the tower.

"Don't worry, Aelita," the cat reassured his cousin. "He's in."

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

Aelita watched the camera feed carefully, not taking her eyes off of Ulrich now that she knew Jérémie was in the tower. She mentally urged Ulrich to move, but he seemed to be unconscious.

JEREMIE_

The wolves were surrounding him. All three were growling as if they were hungry.

XANA clearly wanted him gone.

CODE_

Aelita bit her fingernails in worry as the wolves began to gnaw at Ulrich's clothes.

LYOKO_

The pink-ette breathed a huge sigh of relief when the three wolves suddenly collapsed.

"Tower deactivated," Jérémie relayed.

"Get ready for a jump in time," she warned him and the others, as she typed in the necessary commands. Hopefully, she wasn't too late.

Please, let Ulrich still alive.

She then pressed the 'Enter' key and exclaimed, "Return to the past now!"

The world was immediately engulfed in white.

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

Time had reset to the rock-climbing practice session earlier. Without the anti-virus to work on, surprisingly, Aelita and Jérémie joined Ulrich on the bleachers.

Like before, after Odd won his match against Hervé, Jim glanced at his list, "And last, but not least, Dunbar, you're up." William stood up from the mat and stood in front of the wall, as Jim double-checked the list in confusion. "You're the only one left? It seems we have an odd number of competitors." He turned to the group of students still sitting on the mats, "Anybody feel like climbing a second time?"

Before anybody could volunteer, William turned to the bleachers, "Hey, Stern, wanna race?"

Ulrich replied, "Um, no thanks. I'd rather just watch." However, unlike before, he wasn't tense. It was calm, because he knew what would happen if he gave into William's taunts. Besides, there was no shame in his fear or its side effects.

"Relax, Stern," Jim cut in, using what he thought was a reassuring voice. Since he wasn't tense, Ulrich could sense this time that it was genuine. "It's only practice. Racing against Dunbar doesn't mean you're now in the actual competition. We just need someone to help Dunbar practice."

"Sorry, Jim, but I don't think it's a good idea," he replied.

William walked up to and stood in front of Ulrich, "C'mon, you chicken!" Ulrich miraculously managed to keep a straight face; he still hated the dumb smile on the Scottish boy's face. "You got vertigo or something?"

He chose to be honest, "Actually, I do. I'm not going to deny it." He wasn't ashamed of it. Besides, his friends understood. "No worse than being afraid of spiders." He was smirking now.

"W-Wait, what?" William raised an eyebrow in surprise and confusion, as Yumi just barely hid her knowing smirk. "How did you know about that?"

"I have my spies." Ulrich snuck a glance at Sissi, who was trying and failing to hide her giggles. He turned back to William, "Don't worry. There's no shame in it. Everyone has something they're afraid of. Mine just happens to be heights, and yours spiders. Anyway, see you around, Spiderman."

He then got up from his spot on the bleachers and went outside, with Aelita and Jérémie following.

A few minutes later, all the contestants emerged from the gym. Practice was over, and Kadic's top ten climbers had been chosen. Yumi and Odd joined their three friends outside, having changed back into their day clothes, before they headed over to the vending machines for a drink before the actual competition later that afternoon.

On their way there, however, Aelita hung back, watching her four friends from behind.

"So, Jer, what was it like being invisible?" Odd asked, a smile on his face. "I always wanted to be like, you know, Sue in the Fantastic Four."

Jérémie shrugged, "Well, I don't know what the Fantastic Four is, but to answer your question, I did not like it. I prefer being able to see myself."

Ulrich turned around when he noticed one of them was lagging behind, "Aelita?" The others stopped and followed his eyeline, before joining him in his concern for the pink-ette.

She looked down and depressed, as if she was ashamed of a mistake she had made.

"Aelita, is everything okay?" Jérémie asked, being the only one brave enough to approach her.

"No," she chose to be honest. "I'm sorry the anti-virus had a bug in it, and I'm sorry for rushing its development and not fully checking for errors."

The others wanted to interject here, but they didn't, somehow sensing that she wasn't done.

"Because of my actions, you guys got your hopes up, only for them to be torn down. That bug also prevented Jérémie from entering the tower, which almost led to Ulrich's demise. So, I'm sorry. I'll make it all up to you guys, I promise."

"Aelita, you don't have to," Yumi softly replied. "It's fine. We don't blame you at all." They really didn't. Things could have gone way worse.

She took a deep breath, before revealing, "The data you guys retrieved from Sector Five, the data that helped me create that anti-virus, was all planted by XANA. My trojan detection program didn't detect any problem because there was no problem. It was all a plot to trap Jérémie on Lyoko."

Said blond stepped forward even closer, "Aelita, that's not your fault. It just proves that XANA's getting smarter."

"But it was a trap that I fell for and contributed to!" She paused, before covering her mouth. She clearly didn't mean to yell, but again, no one was mad at her for anything that happened today.

Jérémie placed what he hoped was a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "The rest of us fell for it too. I was the one who sent the data to you, and none of us thought to question the strangeness of XANA's codes for my virus all being in one place, when up until this point, it's kept them all separate. You did not fail, Aelita. You were the one who removed the faulty anti-virus from my profile, after all. This just gives us a good reason why we need to make sure we're always one step ahead of XANA, as well as why it's important to stick together." He paused, seeing how her green eyes still looked like they were filled with unshed tears. "Okay?"

She smiled and nodded in agreement, but it did not reach her eyes.

As she let them lead her to the vending machines, Jérémie holding her hand to comfort her, she couldn't stop this failure from stewing in her mind...

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

Next Episode: 28 - Temptation / There's something wrong with Aelita. Jérémie's concerned, but her lips are sealed.

A/N: Apparently, 'scrawny' means 'unattractively thin and bony'. 'Svelte', on the other hand, means 'slender and elegant'. So, Odd's right, they really aren't the same thing. However, it's up to you to decide which word fits Odd better.

So apparently, the idea for the canon episode stemmed from the writers wanting to give Ulrich a personal issue, because it seems like 'father issues' wasn't enough, and that's where the idea for the vertigo came from. They chose it because they liked it and partially because they couldn't remember anything from Season 1 that would contradict it (they said, and I quote, "he never climbed up a tree or anything"), with Sophie Decroisette confirming that it doesn't affect him on Lyoko. Except...it does affect him on Lyoko, as seen in "Bad Connection", and while he didn't climb any trees in Season 1, he did climb the same sewer ladder and slide down the same factory rope multiple times as well as navigate a gravity-impaired world to save Ms. Hertz. Sorry, writers, but you kinda dropped the ball on the set-up for the reveal here.