A/N: Here is the next installment of my Jerlita Roleswap AU. Hope you all enjoy it~
This time, it's a double upload! While this episode and the previous both focus on Ulrich (somewhat), there's no special reason they're both out at the same time. Honestly, I just want to get them out of the way. Not much changes in these, but they are important for the characters.
Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko in any way, shape, or form.
Note: Remember, any episodes not mentioned either as the inspiration for a chapter or just in passing are not part of the AU, mainly because the roleswap makes them useless, and those only mentioned in passing are just filler and/or would be the same no matter who has what role.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
"Ulrich is worn down from all the recent XANA attacks, so he tries to find something new in his life, but it may cost him something he already has."
Episode 13: A Break in Routine
(Based on Routine)
One Megatank and two Bloks were guarding the tower.
All five Lyokowarriors were virtualized, ready to stop XANA before it could launch an attack. Visiting the Forest Sector this time, the five were taking cover behind some trees, while the four who had weapons decided on their plan.
"It's now or never," Aelita whispered to Ulrich, who was hiding behind the same tree she was.
"Right, let's go," Ulrich said, before turning around and motioning Odd and Yumi to go.
Odd and Yumi both emerged from behind their trees and ran down the twin paths in front of them. Ulrich then motioned to Jérémie to follow Yumi. Jérémie nodded and went down the Japanese girl's path. Once Jérémie moved, so did Aelita, who joined Odd in his path.
Both teams of two hid behind the first cluster of threes they approached. After watching the two Bloks pace in front of the tower, Yumi waved at Odd, who waved in return.
Yumi unsheathed her fan, before leaping up and throwing it. It flew a few meters until it hit one of the Bloks, destroying it.
One down, two to go.
The other Blok charged up its laser. Ulrich Super Sprinted up to Yumi and blocked the shots for her. He then addressed Jérémie, still hiding, "Go on, Jérémie!"
Yumi covered his escape, as he took off for the tower, running past the Blok as it crawled towards Ulrich. On the other path, Aelita matched his trajectory.
As Odd leapt over to the other path, Ulrich used his Super Sprint to jump up and land on top of the second Blok. Using his katana to strike the monster's eye, it was destroyed in no time.
Only the Megatank was left.
Jérémie was now running with Odd, with Aelita still matching their path on the opposite trail.
"Odd, watch out! Megatank approaching!" Aelita warned them, her enhanced sight picking up the monster before Odd or Jérémie could.
Odd stopped, as did Jérémie, who took cover behind Odd as the purple cat took a defensive stance, "Come and get me, you bowling ball!"
The thing's eyes on its shell appeared, before it opened up, revealing its rather gross insides. It charged up its yellow laser, and fired.
But before it could hit them, Aelita suddenly leapt in front of the two and stopped the wide circular laser in its tracks with two of her Energy Fields connected. Odd, expecting this, climbed up a nearby tree, before leaping and then landing on top of the Megatank. He fired an arrow right at its eye, before jumping out of the way to avoid the explosion that occurred upon its defeat.
Once the smoke cleared, Odd sent Jérémie a thumbs up.
Aelita turned to the blue elf, "You're up."
Without wasting any more time, Jérémie entered the tower at a run.
"Great job, guys," Aelita told the others, as they regrouped just outside the tower. "As usual."
"That's right," Odd replied. "Another XANA attack chopped up. Another tower gone!"
JEREMIE_
CODE_
LYOKO_
The four watched as the aura around the tower turn from red to blue, and after a moment, from blue to a bright white bubble that engulfed the area.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Time had rewinded to this morning just before their afternoon classes. For Yumi, it was history with Mr. Fumet. For the other three, it was math with Mrs. Meyer.
Yumi waited on a bench in the courtyard after classes for her friends. The good thing about Returns to the Past was that there was a strong chance she'd hear the same lecture twice. To be honest, it was helping her grades somewhat.
Her three friends approached her, their steps varied. Ulrich's seemed to trudge behind, while Odd's sounded normal, and Aelita's were more chipper than in Take 1.
"Hey, guys," she greeted, looking up from her history homework. "How was class today, with Mrs. Meyer? Was it more fun the second time around?"
Ulrich sighed, "No, it was the exact same lesson as before the XANA attack, so it was twice as boring."
Aelita giggled and joked, "Once, twice, it doesn't matter. You two will never be any good at math anyway," as she sat down next to Yumi.
Odd spotted their visitor, as expected. "Well, if it isn't Hervé." As Ulrich sat on Yumi's other side, Odd put on a nasally voice and mocked, "Hello, Aelita darling. Can we talk for a minute?"
Hervé approached them, not having heard what Odd just said, "Hello, Aelita darling. Can we talk for a minute?"
Odd couldn't stop the onslaught of chuckles until Hervé sent him a confused glare.
"First of all, I'm not your 'Aelita darling'. I told you, I'm already taken," Aelita sternly (almost darkly), immediately replied to Hervé. "Second, I will not go to your room to discuss your 'genial' solution to Exercise B on page 52."
"B-But, h-how did you know that I...?" A very confused Hervé speechlessly turned to Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd, the latter two of whom were not even trying to hide their smug smiles, while Ulrich was just glaring at Hervé just like Aelita, both mentally wishing for the nerd in green to go away.
Fortunately, an embarrassed Hervé left without another word, quicker than he did the first time around.
Aelita groaned in exasperation as Ulrich quipped, "A Hervé attack is almost as bad as a XANA attack and ten times more boring."
"Tell me about it," Aelita agreed.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Classes were over for today, and as the afternoon hour rolled on, the four friends approached the front gates to see Yumi off for today.
"So, anyone feel like sneaking out with me and going into town for a while?" Ulrich asked. "I need a breath of fresh air." He really did.
It was ten, almost eleven months, since they found the supercomputer, with Jérémie inside, and decided to fight XANA. Yet, after all this time, Jérémie was still nowhere closer to living with them. Ulrich understood that coding Jérémie's materialization could take a while, and Aelita told them that, but he was starting to get tired of this routine.
"Count me out," Odd said. "I've got a heavy date with my pillow. The same math class twice in the same day really tired me out."
"Aelita?" Ulrich turned to the pink-ette. "Feeling like going to the music store?"
"Sorry," she shrugged. "I need to work on Jérémie's materialization. I'm so close. I can feel it."
Ulrich turned to his crush, "How about you, Yumi? Wanna take a walk around town? Maybe have an ice cream?"
"No, sorry," Yumi apologized. "Mom and Dad are going on a date tonight, so I have to babysit Hiroki. Besides, I also have some studying to do. I'm way behind thanks to all these XANA attacks. See you guys tomorrow!"
She waved at her friends as she left through the gates, and three friends waved back, before going their separate ways.
Soon, Ulrich was left all alone. "What an exciting evening..." he muttered, disappointed. Did the others even feel the same way he did?
Knowing that sneaking off into town wasn't as exciting when you didn't have a friend with you, without any other choice, Ulrich returned to the dorms.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich barely spoke at dinner. He barely ate his dinner. It was the same hash as last week.
That night, Ulrich lounged in his bed, stroking Kiwi, who was sitting in his lap, having somehow sensed Ulrich's distress.
Odd entered the room, in his pajamas, spelling like the shampoo and body wash he always used, "Aah!" He fell backwards onto his bed. "You ought to take a shower! It really relaxes you!"
"Hey, Odd?" Ulrich softly spoke up.
"Yeah?"
"Tell me what your day was like." Hopefully, Odd wouldn't dodge the question.
Odd shrugged as he sat up, "Oh, nothing special. Let's see now. I had the embarrassment of my life in gym class. My shorts tore, you can guess where. Then I lost my pencil case in the library, and to finish the day, I had a fight with Mathilde. Aaand, that's what my day was like!" Interesting. It was so easy for Odd to stay so energized, despite those being things that happened to Odd every single day.
"That's not what I mean," Ulrich replied. Odd raised an eyebrow. Sometimes, it was uncanny how well Odd could read him. "Don't you feel you've already had the same exact kind of day?"
"Well yeah, but that's normal for us," Odd admitted. "Don't forget, we had the same math, music, and Italian classes twice! And on Lyoko, it was 'yoohoo, it's us!' for the seventh time."
"'Yoohoo, it's us'?"
"That's what I call our game plan," Odd explained. "You know, the one we use to help Jérémie reach the tower safe and sound. Why all these questions, huh?"
Ulrich sighed, "No reason, I've..." He paused, knowing that once he started, he would not be able to stop. But Odd raised an eyebrow, expecting an answer. So Ulrich began his rant, "I'm fed up with all this school, Lyoko, back to school, back to Lyoko. I mean, this is XANA's fifth attack in a week! I'm also fed up with what's happening between Yumi and me. Once in a while, I get the feeling that...that she doesn't really like me...that she doesn't have...any feelings for me..."
Odd shrugged, "Because you two never talk about your feelings to each other! You two seriously need to sort all that stuff out before either one of you is taken by somebody else!" Odd himself sighed. "Listen, what you're going through, we all are. I mean, it's been nearly eleven months, almost a year, since we found Jérémie and Lyoko, and we're still fighting XANA. But Aelita powers through because she knows she's the only one who can finish that program. Yumi and I power through because we know that the end result will all be worth it."
"I know," Ulrich replied. "It will be worth it, as long as Jérémie is safe and sound and free. But..."
"But you're just going through a rough patch," Odd finished. "I know, good buddy. Maybe you should find something new. Something to do or someone to talk to that's not already connected to any of us. It may give you a fresh outlook on things. Don't tell them about Lyoko, of course, but just..." he shrugged, "talk to them. You may find yourself surprised."
Ulrich watched as his roommate collapsed on his bed and began snoring.
Find something new to do or someone new to talk to. That was actually pretty good advice.
But then what new thing or new person could he find?
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich decided to follow Odd's first piece of advice and take a shower. While under the stream of hot water, he debated in his head on how to follow Odd's second piece of advice.
But nothing.
Now, on his way back to his room, he soon discovered that he wasn't the only student that took a shower at this time of night. In front of him, and walking closer, was Emilie Leduc, a girl Yumi's age (age 15) and in Yumi's grade (Year 11).
"Oh, hi, Emilie," he greeted. As they approached each other, one of the shoulders of Emilie's pink bathrobe fell down, almost revealing her chest, but she quickly reset it to its proper place.
"Hey, Ulrich," she replied, stopping when she got closer. "Have you seen Jim? There's a broken faucet in the girls' shower room, and I need to tell him."
"No, sorry," he said. "But if I do, I'll pass it on."
Emilie smiled at him, "Thanks," before walking away.
Ulrich stood there, watching her walk away, even long after she already went through the double swinging doors. Feeling his face get hot, he shook his head and patted his cheeks, "No, bad Ulrich! Your heart belongs to Yumi!"
Did Emilie have a thing for him or something? Did Ulrich have a thing for Emilie?!
"Ulrich!" came Jim's booming voice, and Ulrich turned around to see Jim, also in his pajamas walking towards him. "If you're gonna daydream at this time of night, do it in your bed!"
"Yes, Sir," Ulrich replied. As he walked back to his and Odd's dorm, he said, "Oh, uh, Emilie's looking for you. She said something about a broken faucet in the girls' shower room."
"Broken faucet?" Jim looked surprised, before he smiled. "Not a problem, Stern. Thanks for telling me. Now, go to your room. It's almost curfew."
Ulrich nodded before leaving for real this time.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
That night, the lab in the factory was deserted, with the supercomputer monitor on standby, all screens off.
Suddenly, the monitor lit up without warning or any input from the keyboard (there was no one there), as if reactivating on an impulse.
Then, a black, sprawling spectre surged from out of the terminal and phased through the floor.
It ignored the three scanners, and phased through the floor again, emerging from the ceiling of the supercomputer room
The spectre then spread out like an octopus, and each tentacle penetrated the circuitry of the supercomputer, creating sparks and lots of noise.
Then, everything became calm again.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The next morning, Yumi walked on campus, and was immediately caught off-guard by the sight of Ulrich talking to a girl that wasn't her, Aelita, or Sissi. And laughing, at that.
What was he doing with Emilie Leduc? They sure didn't look bored.
Seeing Odd and Aelita sitting on the group's usual bench, she approached them for some answers.
"Hey, weird hair color duo," she greeted them, and both looked up at her. She nodded her head to where Ulrich and Emilie were. "What kind of game is he playing with Emilie? Is he hitting on her or what?"
They followed her gaze, and to her surprise, Odd smiled, "He's just talking to her. Why? Are you jealous?"
"What? Me, jealous of Emilie? You've gotta be kidding!" She placed her bag down on the bench seat between them, before pretending to sift through it for a pencil. "Besides, she's a year older than him and in a grade above him! And that's a lot!"
"Yumi," came Aelita's unimpressed expression. "You're also a year older than him, and also in a grade above him." Odd smiled even wider, and Aelita finally cracked one herself. "I guess you just forgot."
"It's not the same thing!" Yumi exclaimed. "I'm Ulrich's girlfriend!" She immediately stopped when realizing what she just said, and Odd and Aelita were treated to Yumi's face turning a deep crimson. "I-I mean...I-I'm his...good friend!"
Aelita shook her head, as Odd spoke up, more seriously this time rather than teasing, "You know, Ulrich's been kinda down in the dumps lately. So, if he wants to talk to someone outside the group, don't make a big deal out of it."
Yumi was suddenly yelling, "Who says that I am?!"
"You are," Aelita flatly admitted, and Yumi's blush deepened, if that was possible. "Not with words, but your body language speaks volumes."
"It really does," Odd added.
Yumi just huffed.
At the other end of the courtyard, Nicolas was pounding the vending machine that ate his money. "Oh, this machine's gonna drive me bananas!"
Something caught Hervé's eye, "Hey, that's double big news! Ulrich without Yumi, and Ulrich with Emilie!"
"Emilie?!" Sissi shoved past him to see if it was true. "Why Emilie? If he wants to talk to someone outside of his friend group, I'm the first person on the list, right?" Neither boy gave her an answer. "A-Are they...are they going out or something?"
Seeing a chance (albeit a small one), Nicolas replied, "They sure are! They've been dating for...um...for the past two years...no, two months!"
He wasn't the best liar, unfortunately, but Sissi's hurt made her overlook his correction. Meanwhile, Hervé was just staring at him with a knowing glance.
"R-Really?" she asked, definitely not wanting the answer.
"Uh, yeah!" he tried not to stammer. "Sorry, I thought you already knew," Nicolas then turned back to the vending machine, no longer caring about his money.
Sissi turned to the other side of the courtyard for Yumi, who she knew for certain was Ulrich's crush. "Yumi's not taking it too well, I see." Yumi was sitting against a bench, her arms crossed, and looking anywhere but at Ulrich and Emilie.
"Maybe Ulrich told her?" Hervé asked, unknowingly fanning the flames more. "I mean, Ulrich's not exactly a social guy."
"True..." Sissi muttered before walking over to Yumi.
Yumi just wanted to be alone. She had simply walked over to another bench, asking Odd and Aelita for some privacy. Despite their teasing, they understood.
"Yumi?" Oh, great. Sissi wasn't a bad person, but Yumi really didn't want to talk to anybody right now, especially someone who usually just wanted to talk about Ulrich. "Can I talk to you?"
"Sure," Yumi shrugged.
"Has Ulrich confided in you lately?" Sissi didn't seem to have malicious intent. Her question was genuine. "I mean, if he hasn't told you, then he's keeping it a secret. But then, how did Nicolas find out?" Sissi seemed to trail off into her own thoughts.
"Find out what?" Yumi asked. What did Nicolas find out?
"That Ulrich and Emilie have been dating for two months."
Again, Sissi's words weren't malicious in any way. But they stung. A lot. Ulrich's been going out with Emilie for two months?!
"What? No, he didn't tell me that at all," Yumi muttered, her anger growing more and more.
Sissi hung her head disappointed, "I see...so he no longer needs either of us..."
Yumi found herself slinging what she hoped was a comforting arm around Sissi's shoulders. "Don't worry. We still have each other."
Apparently, Sissi felt comforted enough to sniff back some forming tears, "Thanks, Yumi..."
Sissi didn't mean to fan the flames even more, but she unknowingly did.
In the process, she lost one friend, but gained a brand new one.
Meanwhile, Hervé turned to Nicolas, "Hey, Nic, buddy, you mind explaining your strategy?"
"When Sissi inevitably breaks down," Nicolas explained, "then I will step in to comfort her."
Hervé just rolled his eyes, "I think Yumi's doing a good job of that on her own."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
After the first round of classes, the Japanese girl was on the brink of exploding. Even in between classes, Ulrich and Emilie still hung out together, with Ulrich not even giving his friends a second thought.
Aelita's laptop went off without warning. Once Aelita opened it, Jérémie's interface popped up, "Aelita! XANA's launched another attack!"
"Are you feeling pulsations or did you just come across the tower?" Aelita asked, Odd and Yumi gathered behind her.
"I'm following the pulsations now," Jérémie replied. "I've managed to track them to the Desert Sector, but I'm nowhere close to it. They're really strong, though, which worries me..."
"It worries me too," Aelita admitted. "I've never seen XANA so active as it is now." She turned around to her cousin and best friend, "Sorry, guys, but you have to go back. And right away too!"
Odd shrugged, "Well, as they say, when you gotta go, you gotta go!"
Aelita pulled out her cellphone and called their missing fifth member, but she got no answer. "Ulrich's turned off his cellphone. Why? He's not supposed to! That's one of our ground rules!" The rule, specifically, was 'Always keep your phone on in case of emergencies'.
"He's too busy talking to Emilie!" Yumi rolled her eyes. "You two go to the factory. I'll go get Ulrich." Apparently, Ulrich wanted nothing to do with the group anymore. If so, why didn't he just tell the group how he felt instead of pulling this stunt out of nowhere?
"Okay," Aelita nodded. Jérémie logged off, allowing her to close her laptop.
Meanwhile, Yumi took off.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich left the cafeteria, feeling a sense of peace that he hadn't felt in a long time. Emilie was waiting for him, like she promised to do.
"Wanna go for a walk?" she asked. "The park should be nice."
"Sure, let's go," he said, walking off with her in that direction. He sighed in relief, "It's so nice to relax and not think of–"
"Hey, Ulrich!" Yumi's voice cut in. The two turned around to see her standing there, a cold expression on her face. "C'mere for a second!"
"Hello, Yumi!" Ulrich greeted her. He turned back to Emilie, "I'll be right back, okay?"
Emilie nodded, and Ulrich walked over to Yumi.
"What's up?" he asked.
"I hate to disturb you, Romeo, but Aelita's been trying to reach you." Why the sudden coldness? This wasn't the Yumi he knew and fell in love with. His Yumi was full of life and maturity, full of energy and was always a shoulder to cry on. "XANA's woken up."
"Again?" No, not again. When was XANA going to stop? But sidenote, that didn't explain Yumi's attitude. "Go on, I'll meet you there."
He turned to walk away, but Yumi stopped him by grabbing his shirt. "What do you mean 'go on'?" Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say.
"I need to walk Emilie back to her dorm." He didn't see what the big deal was.
Apparently, this was also the wrong thing to say. "She can find her way back to her own dorm. Let's go!"
Ulrich shrugged her off, making her release his grip on his shirt, "It's the nice thing to do, so? Cool it, huh Yumi?"
He had done something, he realized. He had done something to piss her off. Nothing else would explain why every single thing he said seemed to set her off. Now, the question was 'what did he do'?
"Okay, I'll cool it," now, Yumi seemed less cold and more angry, "after you tell me what's going on with you and Emilie."
"Nothing's going on!" he defended himself. He was lucky only Emilie was in the area, but their voices were raising, and nothing could stop them. "I like her! We're good friends! We get along really well! I don't understand the problem!" He paused, suddenly realizing a possible reason for her behavior. So he leaned in close and smiled, "Unless that bothers you."
Yumi practically growled at him, "Bothers me? It may bother Emilie if she got an inkling that you're only hanging out with her to try and make me jealous." That wiped the smile off his face; it wasn't true. "But me?! No! It's just that...that you could've told me about it! Like a buddy, huh?!"
"A buddy?" Now, it was Ulrich's turn to be set off. "Because that's what you want, is it? For us to be buddies and nothing more?"
"Yeah, that's right!" Yumi's back was turned to him. "Buddies and nothing more! And besides, it's obvious that's the way you want it too! Not like Emilie, huh?! You–" She then cursed in Japanese. Ulrich didn't know what she said, but he didn't really care. He was too mad. Mad at her mind games. Mad at all of this.
Ulrich sighed, before getting to the point, "Fine, let's be honest with each other! What am I to you?!" That's all he wanted to know. Was he just wasting his time with Yumi?
But Yumi huffed. Again, apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. "You want honesty? You're one to talk! You and Emilie have been together for two months without a word, and you want honesty now?!"
What?! "Where did you get that idea?! Emilie and I are not dating! We're just friends!" That was the truth. Why did Yumi have to make it so hard?! This time, he just gave up, "You know what? Forget it! I don't have to defend myself to you! Ciao!"
He turned around, and rejoined Emilie. As he took her by the hand, he led her to her dorm, explaining that he had to run somewhere real quick, but he'd be back.
He left behind a very upset Yumi, whose fists were shaking as she muttered, "Yeah, right, ciao! That's all you can think of to say!"
With tears in her eyes, Yumi turned away, heading towards the park. She wasn't really in much of a hurry, so she just walked.
Suddenly her phone started ringing, and she immediately answered, "Ulrich?!"
"No." It was Aelita. "Everything okay between you two?"
"Yeah, we're fine," Yumi softly replied. "I told him. He should be on his way." But she didn't trust him to actually show up.
And the worst part was, Yumi only had herself to blame...
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich was the last one to the factory. He arrived to Jérémie worriedly asking the others if they'd noticed anything strange on Earth. The pulsations he was feeling were strong, and that really worried him.
"No," Aelita shook her head. "Everything's quiet on our end. No short-circuits, no giant bug invasion, no earthquakes. Nothing. How about you?"
"I'm almost at the activated tower," Jérémie relayed to the others. "But none of XANA's monsters have appeared yet. If not for the pulsations, there's no other sign that XANA's woken up." He then logged off.
Ulrich saw Odd warily watching him and Yumi, clearly sensing the tension between them. But Yumi was refusing to talk to him, almost as if she was sulking, and to be honest, he didn't want to talk to her either.
"I wonder if this is a new tactic it's trying out," Aelita wondered.
Odd, standing at Aelita's side, stole a glance at Ulrich and Yumi, and brought up, "What if the attack is aimed at us directly? For example, this argument between Yumi and Ulrich. Suppose that XANA is just using Emilie to mess with our heads?"
"I got a better idea!" Ulrich snapped back. "He's using your ridiculous theories to distract us!"
Odd backed off, holding his hands up in surrender, "What's the matter with you? I'm just trying to help!"
"Give us a break, Odd, okay?" Yumi, though angry, was much nicer. "Stay out of this."
Aelita quickly, "Hey now, calm down! I think one of you should do a little reconnaissance with Jérémie on Lyoko. Any volunteers?" Despite her forced positivity, she couldn't deny that this tension between Ulrich and Yumi was quickly spreading to her and Odd. No one spoke up. Deadpan, her smile gone, she continued, "Don't all of you answer at once."
A beat of tense silence, before Yumi broke it, "Send Ulrich. He needs to be entertained. He'd love to go to Lyoko."
But Ulrich retorted, "Ladies first. Get her out of our hair."
Unable to take this anymore, Aelita punched the arm of her chair, "Both of you, shut up!" The other three immediately winced and backed up against the wall. "I'm getting tired of all this arguing! Jérémie needs us, and that's what I'd call an emergency! So head for the scanners! All three of you are going!"
Aelita didn't yell very often, but when she did, it was explosive and took a while for her to simmer down.
She was sorry Odd had to suffer here. He sincerely was just trying to help, but she had to make it fair.
Without a single word of protest, Aelita heard the elevator doors open, three pairs of footsteps enter the lift, and then the doors close.
She turned back to her monitor. Now calm (kind of), she called out, "Jérémie?" His interface returned to her screen. "Help is on the way. I'd better warn you now: Yumi and Ulrich are a bit, well, you might say...buggy."
Jérémie gently smiled, "You mean they've been fighting again."
Aelita sighed, "Yeah. Just be careful. It might affect how well they fight on Lyoko."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd stepped inside of an open scanner, with Ulrich and Yumi doing the same.
"Everybody ready?" Aelita asked, the three hearing her voice over the comm system.
"We're ready," Odd replied, being the only one who dared to.
"Okay. Remember, your top priority is Jérémie's safety. Transfer Yumi." Her scanner doors closed. "Transfer Ulrich." His scanner doors closed. "Transfer Odd." Odd's scanner doors closed, sealing him inside the cabin. "Scanner Yumi, scanner Ulrich, scanner Odd." The white circular bar moved upward in a swirl, scanning him as the wind blows his hair and clothes upward. "Virtualization!"
A large gust of wind hit him as he felt his body depixelize, before feeling it reform in mid-air.
He dropped to the ground, Ulrich and Yumi on either side of him. Standing up, he saw the familiar orange ground and sky of the Desert Sector.
He ignored how Ulrich and Yumi immediately turned their heads away from each other, and instead focused on finding Jérémie. It shouldn't be all that hard, seeing as how Jérémie's blue avatar often stood out in the orange Desert.
He found him right away. Jérémie was standing right there, Aelita having virtualized them at Jérémie's current coordinates. "Hey," the blue elf greeted with a smile.
"Hey, Jérémie," Odd was the only one who returned the greeting.
Aelita cut in, "Jérémie!"
"What's wrong?" the blue elf asked.
"There was a bug at the moment of transfer!" Aelita sounded panicked. "Are they all there with you?"
"Don't worry," Jérémie smiled, even if Aelita couldn't see it. "Everyone's accounted for. Safe and sound, and in a good mood too." Odd smiled at the jab the blue elf made at Ulrich and Yumi, before it disappeared when Jérémie began studying him. As he studied Ulrich and Yumi as well, Jérémie continued, "At a first glance, they seem to be just fine."
"I don't get it," Aelita sighed. "I'll scan the program to see what happened."
While she did so, Jérémie led the others down the path of the pulsations. As they took turns sliding down a rock to a lower platform, Aelita contacted them again.
"Jérémie! I think the supercomputer's been infected with a virus! So that's the XANA attack..."
"But that's crazy!" Odd asked. "Why would XANA want to infect itself?"
"You never really know what XANA's got up its virtual sleeve until it's done."
"Unless," Jérémie was deep in thought, "it's using the virus to modify a program it doesn't have access to. But which one?"
"I'm not sure either," Aelita replied. "But it looks like XANA wants to change the rules of Lyoko."
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Ulrich muttered.
"Sorry, guys," Aelita admitted, "but I don't feel comfortable sending any of you into danger until I know which program XANA's after. We need to take a closer look. There's a deactivated tower not far from you."
"It's in sight," Jérémie admitted. The tower the group was seeing now was the one Aelita was referring to. "We're off."
With that, Jérémie took off in a sprint towards the tower. Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi had no choice but to follow.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie stopped at the tower's base before turning around. Addressing Ulrich and Yumi, he smiled as he asked, "I hope you're not going to kill each other if I leave you two alone." He winked before entering the tower, and Odd smiled.
A lone Kankrelat approached the trio waiting outside the tower.
Inside the tower, Jérémie arrived at the top platform. He activated the interface, before relaying to Aelita, "Okay, I'm logged in. I have access to the transfer program." He kept digging through the data until he found something interesting. "Strange. The program shouldn't include any of XANA's monsters."
Outside the tower, Odd got to his feet after Ulrich said to him, "You go, you're the closest."
"Now I understand!" Jérémie exclaimed to Aelita. "It's a trap! XANA's sabotaged the devirtualization program!"
Odd and the Kankrelat were having a stand off when he heard Aelita's voice suddenly panicking, "Odd, watch out for lasers! XANA's monsters can prove fatal to you! If any of you lose all of your lifepoints, you'll be permanently deleted!"
Odd fired a Laser Arrow just as the Kankrelat shot at him. The Kankrelat was destroyed, but Odd suddenly felt a pain in his chest that shouldn't have been there, and he fell back onto the ground.
Alerted by Aelita's warning, Ulrich and Yumi were immediately at Odd's side, with both of their weapons unsheathed.
"You okay, Odd?" Ulrich asked.
"He's lost thirty lifepoints already!" Aelita exclaimed out of sheer panic and terror.
"Relax, Aelita," Ulrich told her as he sheathed his katana. "Odd's still here with us. We'll be okay. Jérémie takes the same risks all the time. Nothing's changed for us. We'll just have to be more careful."
"One thing is sure," Yumi said, as she helped Odd to his feet. "XANA's really trapped us. And we'd better not make a mistake this time."
"It'll make the fight a lot more exciting!" Odd said with a smile.
Jérémie emerged from the tower and quickly joined them. "Let's head for the activated tower," he told them. "It's the quickest way to deactivate the virus."
"He's right," Aelita agreed. "But be careful, and watch out for monsters." The four took off in the direction Jérémie felt the strongest pulsations. "In the meantime, I'll try to see if I can fix it myself, or at least, make things more even."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
It was about a minute or so before things got more tense than they already where. The four Lyokowarriors reached a platform featuring large piles of rocks, when two Krabes suddenly appeared from behind the piles. The four stopped in their tracks.
"Here's the welcoming commitee!" Ulrich quipped.
Fast as lightning, Ulrich drew his katana to protect Jérémie, while Odd and Yumi each laid down heavy fire with arrows and fans, which didn't stop them from occasionally taking a hit from a laser.
"Ulrich! Behind you!" Yumi suddenly called out.
Ulrich looked behind him to see a third Krabe that had discreetly slid behind him and Jérémie. He turned all the way around, just in time to parry the laser that was about to hit him.
Yumi threw her fan and destroyed the Krabe she was facing, before catching it and quickly leaping over to Ulrich to lend him a hand.
The two stood and fought back-to-back, with Jérémie between them, protected by the bodies of his friends who were acting as human shields, despite the dangers now posed to them.
"Ulrich, your lifepoints are dropping!"
"It's all under control, 'Lita!" Ulrich told her. "Concentrate on the virus!"
After deflecting a laser, Yumi called out to their fourth, "Odd, don't use up all your Laser Arrows!"
Jérémie suddenly fell, his torso crackling with lightning, having just been hit by a laser, despite Ulrich's defense.
Not that the other three were doing much better...
Redoubling his efforts, Ulrich rushed at the attacking Krabe, dodging the lasers it was firing at him. He managed to deflect a laser straight into the Krabe's eye, causing it to explode.
During this time, Odd was battling against another Krabe, when he suddenly stumbled backwards and fell.
It didn't escape Ulrich's notice, "Watch out!"
Rolling to the side, Odd managed to avoid two lasers shots, but he couldn't keep it up for much longer. The third, and last, Krabe was very close to getting him, but the laser it fired was deflected at the last second by Ulrich's katana. In a perfect Kendo movement, Ulrich approached the Krabe and delivered a fatal blow to its eye.
The last Krabe exploded, signaling its defeat. Everything was calm now.
As Jérémie ran up to them, Ulrich helped Odd back onto his feet. "Thanks, good buddy," Odd sighed, and the two boys shared a relieved smile.
But Jérémie was worriedly looking around the area. "Where's Yumi?"
Ulrich and Odd immediately lost their smiles, and joined Jérémie's search for their fourth, now missing.
Ulrich's normally calm expression was breaking the longer time spent looking for Yumi. "Yumi...?" He asked, before yelling out, "YUMI!" He started searching all around him like crazy, helpless.
Suddenly, a hand appeared from behind a rock. The three boys turned to see Yumi stand up, holding her back in pain.
Great relief surged from the other three, who hurried to meet her.
But Ulrich seemed particularly stricken. His voice trembling, he stammered out, "I thought...I thought that..." That I'd lost you, were the words everyone knew he wanted to say. But he couldn't speak anymore. He was too shaken up.
Yumi approached the German boy and put her hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "Ulrich," her voice was soft, "I'm alright. I just fell and had to take cover."
Ulrich tried to recompose himself, unable to deny that for a moment, he was very afraid, more so than he had ever been in his entire life.
Out of the corner of her eye, Yumi watched Ulrich and his reaction. So he did care about her, after all...
Jérémie interrupted them, "We have to keep going." He turned his attention to their fifth in the lab, "Aelita, how are you doing?" No response. Now, it was his turn to panic. "Aelita?!"
Still no response.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita rolled her eyes as she inserted a disk that the original transfer program was copied to, "My dear XANA, if you think you can impress me with your cheap, two-bit virus, you are mistaken!"
She feverishly typed in the codes and commands. But a beep sounded in tandem with the results.
She whacked the keyboard, before groaning in frustration, "I'm never going to get it to work! XANA's completely wrecked the circuits!" She leaned back in her chair, thinking about possible solutions. "I guess there's only one other option: work directly on the hardware!"
Aelita took out the earpiece and went to the lift. She took it down one level to the scanner room.
She entered the room in a hurry, looking for an access. It had to be around here somewhere.
She searched every nook and cranny, but ultimately came up with nothing. Maybe it was on the actual supercomputer.
But just as she turned back to the lift, the doors began to close.
Aelita hurried back, but just as she reached the doors, they closed brutally in her face, trapping her in the scanner room.
Enraged, she kicked the door, but only ended up hurting her own foot.
As she shook off the pain, she grumbled, "That dirty XANA..."
Her eyes then grazed the hatch in the middle of the room.
That was a hatch to the supercomputer room, wasn't it?
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"It's all over," Yumi said. "If we try to get through all this, we're done for."
The four were finally at the tower, and all low on lifepoints. They were taking shelter behind a boulder, and they still couldn't contact Aelita. And to make things worse, guarding the tower were two Megatanks and a Krabe.
"You never know," Ulrich replied. "We just have to hang on until Jérémie enters the code."
"It's 'yoohoo, it's us' time!" Odd told him.
"Right," Ulrich agreed. "Yumi, you take the Krabe. Odd and I will handle the Megatanks. Jérémie, you run to the tower and don't stop, even if something happens to us. Deactivating it is our only hope."
Jérémie nodded. Despite his tendency to turn back in situations like that, just to make sure his friends were okay, this time, it was different. This time, he was the only one who could save them and there was only one way how.
"Uh, Ulrich?" Yumi softly spoke up. "I, uh..." She wouldn't look him in the eyes, but this time, it was different. This time, she didn't seem mad at him. She seemed...apologetic.
Ulrich just smiled at her, "It's okay. I forgive you, and I'm sorry, too. Be careful, okay?"
Yumi nodded, "You too."
"I will," Ulrich said, before giving the order. "Let's go!"
On his command, all four of them split up, each focused on their individual task.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Using a wench and a remote controller that she held in her hand, Aelita managed to lower herself through the access base.
Beneath, the supercomputer seemed sinister. Almost as if it were alive and possessed by a demon or something. The moment she approached, still suspending, the computer seemed to wake up, like a sort of hellish monster, complete with the classic red lightning and ominous smoke.
Aelita flinched at the sight, as it was a clear sign that XANA's attack was possessing the supercomputer itself. But she quickly steeled herself, trying not to let it get to her.
Once she was low enough, she put the controller in her jumper pocket, before pressing a button and removing circuits (large computer chips) from the supercomputer.
"You don't scare me, XANA," she warned, as she began readjusting the circuits and putting them back in their proper places. "I just have to fix the circuits you messed up, and you'll fail again like all the other times!"
Aelita was sweating by the time she reached the end of her task. She reached for the last circuit, the one she needed to fix, only to get electrocuted upon touching it.
From above, XANA broke the wench down and snapped the rope securing her to it, sending poor Aelita, now unconscious, tumbling to the ground.
She had a broken arm and two broken ribs from the fall, but fortunately, she was out cold and thus, couldn't feel the pain.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
One of the Megatanks stopped and opened up. Ulrich leapt up using his Super Sprint and pierced its eye with his katana. He jumped away, as it exploded, signaling its defeat.
Yumi peered out from behind a rock, only for the Krabe she was stalking to look directly at her.
Meanwhile, Odd and Jérémie were running together as the second Megatank rolled towards them.
"Keep going, Jer!" Odd told him, and Jérémie ran past the Megatank as it opened up.
Meanwhile, Odd leapt up in the air and landed on top of the Megatank. He hit its eye with a Laser Arrow, before jumping back to avoid to explosion that followed.
But just as he landed, the Krabe hit him in the side, sending him to the ground.
As his torso flickered with lightning, and thus, lost energy, he ducked as the Krabe walked over him and towards Jérémie. "Yumi!"
Yumi, holding her arm, immediately got up when seeing the situation, and ran, unsheathing her fan on the way.
The geisha chased the Krabe from atop a bit higher platform, as the Krabe itself chased after Jérémie, firing at him as it saw his path.
Once it was finally in range, Yumi jumped up and threw her fan. It hit its target, but the Krabes explosion sent her flying back.
Yumi began to panic as her eyes caught the edge of the plateau, right in front of her but not underneath her.
"YUMI!" Ulrich cried out.
Odd watched as Jérémie entered the tower, before turning back to see Ulrich having used Super Sprint to catch Yumi before she fell any further.
"It's okay. I've got you," he said before pulling her up.
When Yumi was back on solid ground, Odd smiled before turning away when Yumi tripped and fell into Ulrich's arms. The two deserved their privacy. He instead chose to watch the tower's aura.
After Yumi readjusted her footing, she shot a quick shy glance back at Ulrich, who was mirroring her expressions and movements.
JEREMIE_
Both equally exhausted and relieved, the two smiled at each other weakly.
Their smiles suddenly faded as they looked at each other in the eyes, both intensely and tenderly.
CODE_
Imperceptibly, their faces drew closer and their eyes closed.
LYOKO_
Ignoring how they were no longer held down by XANA's virus, the distance between the two closed.
Just centimeters before their lips touched, Odd saw the tower's halo turn from red and blue, and then from blue to a bright white bubble, as Jérémie launched yet another Return to the Past.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Time rewinded to earlier this morning, as Yumi watched Ulrich talking and laughing with Emilie once more. But this time, rather than jealousy, Yumi was filled with affection. She was smiling.
"Yumi?" Oh, that's right. Sissi had approached her in regards to seeing Ulrich with Emilie. "Can I talk to you?"
"Sure," Yumi replied, same answer as last time, but this time, with a smile.
"Has Ulrich confided in you lately?" Sissi, once again, asked. Like before, her question had no malicious intent, but genuine curiosity. "I mean, if he hasn't told you, then he's keeping it a secret. But then, how did Nicolas find out?" Sissi trailed off.
"Find out what?" Yumi asked. She already knew, but just to keep up the charade...
"That Ulrich and Emilie have been dating for two months."
This time, those words didn't sting. They stung Sissi though, and Yumi finally saw through the lie.
So she smiled, "That's not true. They're just friends."
"What?" Sissi was confused. "But Nicolas said–"
Yumi cut her off, "Nicolas lied. And don't worry, Sissi. Ulrich still needs you. But I think he deserves to make new friends, don't you?"
Sissi turned to Ulrich and Emilie, both of whom were still laughing. Yumi watched the younger girl softly, fondly smile. "Yeah, I do. He seems happy, and that's all I really care about."
"Me too," Yumi admitted. She meant it.
A wave of affection shot through the two girls, on both ends and into the other, before Sissi lowered her gaze into a glare, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to pound some sense into a certain dorky friend of mine. Who's a bad liar too."
"Have fun," Yumi called back as Sissi left, stomping away to find Nicolas.
At this moment, Ulrich waved goodbye to his companion, "I'll see you later, Emilie."
"So long!" she waved after him. She watched him reunite with Yumi with a fond smile, "Ain't love grand...", before walking away.
Ulrich approached Yumi very awkwardly. But it wasn't the same tension as earlier. This time, it was positive.
"Hi," he softly greeted her. "I was waiting for you."
"So was I," she replied, just as gently. "Two months is a pretty long time." She winked to let him know it was just a joke, "But Sissi was here to keep me company."
"That was very nice of her," he commented. "Where is she, anyways?"
"Hunting down Nicolas," she relayed. "Apparently, he was the one who started the 'you and Emilie have been dating for two months' rumor."
"Ah," he nodded in understanding. "In that case, I think we should give her a hand."
"Nah," Yumi shrugged. "Sissi's got it handled."
Ulrich shrugged in agreement, before beginning to blush, "Uh, Yumi, you know, about what happened on Lyoko..."
He didn't have to finish that sentence. He was referring to their special moment, "Let's keep it a secret from the others. For now, at least. Just keep it between us." Her face was just as red as his own.
"I agree," he quickly said. "Not a word!"
The bell interrupted their moment.
"Come on, lovebirds!" Odd called out. "Time for class! We have Mrs. Meyer again!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
While sitting down in the math classroom, Odd commented, "You missed quite a bit, Aelita. It wasn't all that boring in the end, with all the stuff we went through on Lyoko. Was it, Ulrich?"
Ulrich ignored Odd's smile, indicating that he was planning on teasing him.
Instead, he simply smiled and admitted, "You're right, Odd. And I learned something too."
Because for a split second, before the Return to the Past enveloped them, his and Yumi's lips actually did touch...
"Something really important," he finished.
Maybe there was hope for him and Yumi, after all...
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
Next Episode: 14 - Party Hard / A girl Odd has a crush on arrives, while Yumi's greatest family heirloom is stolen.
A/N: Odd, going to sleep in the middle of your friend's rant is very rude. Here, I change it to where Odd actually gives Ulrich good advice. I know he falls asleep in canon to add to Ulrich's sense of isolation, but in reality, it just makes him look like a bad friend. Also, it's never stated why Emilie needs to talk to Jim, so I made up a reason.
Again, I had to switch up the deal with Sissi, Hervé, and Nicolas, because again, Sissi is no longer a problem. Hervé is, but since this AU's Hervé has no stake in Sissi's love life, this time, it falls to Nicolas to seize this chance to win Sissi's heart, which obviously fails.
I've seen a lot of people wonder where Odd was during that kiss scene. Here, I answer that question. He simply turned around to give them their privacy. Also, yes, Ulrich and Yumi did kiss, for a fraction of a second. You're welcome.