Chapter 31 The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend (Marabounta)
A.N. – Ok, so this chapter focuses on Xana and the warriors teaming up rather than fighting each other. It's a little different of an idea, so I think this deserves its own special chapter.
Short Summary – Jeremy figures out a way to get an edge over Xana, but when the program breaks, Xana steps in to help out and A also decides to do something that will lead Jeremy to question A's connection to Aelita.
Disclaimer – I do not own Code Lyoko or the story idea. I am just a fan of the show, and the idea was submitted by James Marshall.
A was in the forest relaxing in the real world rather than Lyoko. The more time she had away from Xana and his attacks, the better. For her, playing both sides are exhausting and keeping her identity from Xana was even harder. Unfortunately for her, Xana was becoming smarter and if it were to continue, Xana might gain enough intelligence to put two and two together. She just hopes it doesn't come to that. Right now she was waiting for class to let out for the warriors.
Aelita's Point of View
Aelita and the rest of her class are in science as Ms. Hertz explains how ants operate. "Ants are social insects, like termites or bees. A single one is incapable of any personal initiative. All of the decisions are made by the colony. Ants receive a few simple orders such as search for food, mark the path leading to the food, and follow a marked path. As a result, we might have an impression that each ant is rather clever, and in fact, this has more to do with a collective intelligence" Ms. Hertz explains.
"You mean an army of Sissi's could be intelligent? I don't believe it" Odd jokes.
Everyone laughs. "Very funny. Shut up, bird brain" Sissi retorts.
"Settle down, please. As I was saying, thanks to their numbers, they manage to accomplish some fairly difficult tasks such as finding food or defending themselves against an attacker. It would seem that ants even wage full-scale wars between different colonies" Ms. Hertz continues.
'Just like us. Jeremy, Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, A…they're all fighting to protect me and solve the mystery to everything that's been happening to me ever since I arrived here' Aelita thinks to herself.
"What about killer ants? Do they exist?" Ulrich asks.
"Well yes. Maybe in movies Ulrich." The class laughs at him. "But there are in fact army ants, that destroy everything in their path. And it's true that you'd best stay out of their way."
"And do any of those filthy bugs live around here?" Sissi asks.
"No fortunately, They live in South America. Down there, the phenomenon is called Marabounta."
"Phew! I'm glad I live in a country where there's no danger." The bell rings signaling the end of class.
A's Point of View
A was heading to the cafeteria as lunch was about to end. She sees the group all heading their separate ways. "Weird. Usually they're all together. Did they break up?" A says as she sees Aelita head back the as well as Odd. Yumi with William heading off in a different direction with Ulrich not far behind. "Stalking her now?"
"I don't trust him" Ulrich says.
"It's one thing if you're in love with a girl. It's another thing if you're obsessing over her 24/7."
"Are you her to annoy me?"
"Just don't do something that will embarrass yourself. Yumi will always stand behind you, but you need to trust her to be with someone that's not you."
"I don't know why, but something about him rubs me the wrong way."
"I know that feeling. Yumi does too" A was referring to when William wanted to join. "But remember, it's not a date. They're just friends hanging out."
Ulrich walks off, A hoping he takes her advice. Jeremy walks out. "Hey A, you doing something too?" He asks.
"Other than waiting for you guys, no." Xana was quiet recently, and A had more free time than to prepare for Xana's next move. "What's up?"
"I've just found a way to slow down Xana. Wanna come to the factory to see me start it up?"
"Sure." The two exit to the factory. 'A way to slow down Xana? There was only one other program that Jeremy that failed. What was it?' A thought to herself, unable to remember the programs name.
"Moment of truth. You ready?" Jeremy asks.
"Do it" A responds.
Jeremy presses enter and starts up a virtualization process. After a while it seems the program is a success. "Yes! Franz Hopper, you're a genius! And so am I. Xana and his monsters better watch out now!"
A needed to see this for herself. "I'm heading out to check out this program of yours." She used her Lyoko door to enter the forest sector and she appeared on a plateau above the program.
"Well, what does it look like?" Jeremy says.
"Like a black blob. Kind of how Xana's ghosts look if they were organic" A replies as some head towards her. She takes flight and gets way before the blob can consume her. She lands and quickly exits Lyoko.
"What's the matter?"
"You're program had it out for me. It tried to attack me."
"Impossible. Did you do something to aggravate it?"
"No, I just looked at it. The next thing I know, it's trying to surround me." A didn't have anything that connected her to Xana except her secret alliance, but the program wouldn't be smart enough to know that. "What's with it?"
"I don't know, but I think we should send some of the others in. See if it reacts the same way."
A disappeared for a while, while she entered sector 5 using her Lyoko door. She appeared where Xana resided. "Xana, we got a problem."
"You think I don't? Your 'friend' Jeremy has been cutting my monsters down to size. They can't defend themselves!" Xana exclaims.
"Well, whatever it is, it has it out for me as well. Did you do something to my virtual avatar?"
"No, but all your exposure to me might give off the wrong idea to the program. It might see you as me."
'Or my connection to Aelita'. "The Marabounta. Oh no…Aelita!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Aelita is in danger! If she comes here. defend her at all costs!"
"Why?"
"No keys, no leave."
"I'm listening?"
"This program, if it catches her, it will destroy her, making her disappear forever. And with her, goes the keys and your means to an escape."
"I'll help, but this is for me, not for them."
"Just protect her."
Jeremy and A were waiting in the lab when Odd, Kiwi, and Aelita arrive. "Ah, there you are. But…where's Ulrich?" Jeremy asks.
"He's sulking. I don't know what his problem is" Odd responds.
"I warned him, but he didn't listen" A adds.
"What did you warn him about?"
"A bunch of different things but I don't know which one he didn't follow."
Aelita walks over and looks at the screen. "What's the program?" She asks.
"It's Marabounta, my own creation" Jeremy tells her.
"And what does it do exactly?" Odd asks.
"Well, it should hunt down and destroy Xana's monsters but when A went in earlier, it tried to attack her, like she was Xana or something. I decide we send you two in and see if it reacts the same way."
"Oh, so we are your guinea pigs now?" Odd retorts, a little irritated.
"Listen, if things go south, I'll destroy the program. I just want to know so we can maybe diagnose why it attacked A." The two headed down to the scanners and were virtualized in the forest sector. "You guys are south of the Marabounta. Take the path to your right. Sorry, but you'll have to go without vehicles. I don't have enough machine resources to bring them up. And watch out for bad guys! Xana may have his hands full, but you never know."
"Roger General" Odd replies as the two take off.
A monster appears on the screen. "A krab at two o'clock!" It heads in a different direction rather than towards them. "Follow it. It's headed in the right direction."
They follow it.
A few moments later, the two arrived at where the Marabounta is. "Target dead ahead" Jeremy announces to them.
"Jeremy, I got it! I can see the Marabounta!" Odd replies.
"It looks like a blob right?"
"Yeah, and pretty scary too." The screen shows Xana's monsters disappearing one by one. "Never thought I'd say this, but I feel sorry for Xana."
"I'll uplink you a visual Jeremy" Aelita tells him as Jeremy gets a visual of the Marabounta.
"I like it better this way. Safe from behind a screen" A says.
"Yeah, we just gotta find out why it attacked you now" Jeremy responds.
"Jeremy, I've seen enough. I wanna come back" Aelita tells him.
"Yeah, okay, Aelita. I'll bring you back. Head southwest. There's a tower nearby." Suddenly, Aelita screams Odd's name in distress. "Odd, Aelita, what's going on?! Answer me!" He gets no response. "Any of you, answer me!"
"Your Marabounta seems to have it in for us!" Odd reports.
"Just like me…" A says.
"Tell me Odd, did you do something special to it?" Jeremy asks.
"No, except firing a few laser arrows" Odd tells him.
"That wasn't the smartest thing to do."
"Jeremy, Odd didn't have a choice. The Marabounta was attacking me!" Aelita adds.
"What!? But how?" Jeremy looks into it. "Oh, I'm such an idiot! It's the virus Xana implanted in Aelita! It thinks she's one of Xana's monsters."
"That explains why it attacked me! The connection I have to Aelita. It thinks I'm her" A realizes.
"Okay, I'm ending this now. Get to the tower!" Jeremy tries to kill the program but is unable to.
"Anytime now Einstein!" Odd tells him.
"I can't deactivate the program. The Marabounta doesn't want to die. It's now beyond my control. It will submerge everyone and everything in its path." Jeremy calls Yumi and Ulrich, but only Yumi answers.
Jeremy keeps trying to find a way to destroy the Marabounta program. Unfortunately, nothing was working. "Jeremy, bad news. The Marabounta got here first. The tower is unreachable now!" Odd says.
"I'm heading in!" A says, knowing that this is getting out of hand.
"But it'll target you!" Jeremy tells her.
"Odd and Aelita aren't any different. Saving Aelita is top priority." She opens her Lyoko door. "For both of us."
A arrived to see the Marabounta advancing towards them. "Energy fields!" She fires two orbs, but only makes a small dent before it regenerates. Aelita gets surrounded. A krab lands in front of her. It kneels in front of her and sends her flying away from the Marabounta. "He's protecting her."
"That's' crazy. That krab just sacrificed itself for you" Odd notices.
"Xana wants her memory. If she goes, so does whatever he wants out of her."
"That's right. Use them as allies to defeat the Marabounta" Jeremy informs them.
A sees this as a moment to use Xana's monsters. She lands in front of them. "Okay, follow my lead. Protect Aelita at all costs" A says, commanding them like a general. A knew with her alliance with Xana, she could easily lead the monsters.
Yumi suddenly comes in and she accidentally destroys one of the monsters instead of the Marabounta. "No, Yumi. Not them. The Marabounta is the one you want to target" Aelita tells her.
"What is that horrible thing?" Yumi asks, in horror and shock.
"One of Jeremy's bright ideas. Luckily, Xana's her to give us a hand" Odd responds.
"The world has turned upside down."
A lands on top of a blok. "It's like they say: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. At least for today."
The warriors and Xana's monsters continue to battle the Marabounta. But no matter how much they shoot it, the Marabounta doesn't shrink or retreat. "Jeremy, how are you doing?" Aelita asks.
"I'll never make it! I'm the biggest loser to walk the face of the Earth!" Jeremy says with frustration.
"You couldn't have known my virus would put me or A in danger."
"A virus? Of course!"
As Jeremy works on a possible solution, A commands the monsters along with Odd. "Remember the closer this thing gets, the more it has a chance to destroy us from behind."
"Yeah, so don't let it make any headway" Odd adds.
"I think I found a way to destroy the Marabounta. Odd I inserted a code for a deadly virus in one of your arrows. If you hit a sphere with it, the whole colony will be infected But-" Jeremy tells him.
"No sweat" Odd says as he takes aim.
"Wait! It will only work if you hit the first sphere! The one I sent to Lyoko. It's at the heart of the Marabounta!"
"And how am I supposed to reach the heart of the Marabounta? On a camel's back?" Odd asks, annoyed. A krab offers to help him.
"Wait!" A says. "Aelita, I'm gonna send you back."
"But how?" She wonders, since she can't be devirtualized normally.
"My Lyoko band has a feature to send humans back to the real world."
"But I'm not human."
"It has a feature on it to send someone like you back only once. You got trust me on this Aelita! If Odd fails, it'd make no sense for you to go as well." A opens the Lyoko door and she enters and Odd prepares to go after the Marabounta.
Aelita's Point of View
Aelita looked at the portal that was in front of her. She stepped through and was blinded before she tripped and found herself back on Earth in the factory. "Incredible…" Aelita said in awe of the device A always uses to travel.
"Aelita!" Jeremy runs up to her, hugging her. "I'm so glad your safe!"
"You have A to thank for that."
Odd's Point of View
Odd is standing on top of the krab, and they both look in the direction of the Marabounta. "Charge!" Odd yells as the krab charges forward going through the Marabounta. "Jeremy, do mind telling me how to find the right sphere in this mess?"
"I'll guide you" Jeremy tells him.
A's Point of View
A watched as Odd went further into the Marabounta. She didn't notice the Marabounta around her leg and was captured and devirtualized.
"A, no!" Yumi screamed and it was the last thing she heard.
She reappeared in the scanner. "Thanks for protecting her Xana" she said weakly and quietly.
Odd's Point of View
The krab Odd was riding was starting to get consumed by the Marabounta. Odd would be next if he didn't get there fast. "You're almost there Odd. I'll give you the exact location of the first sphere" Jeremy tells him.
"I think I found it" Odd says as he takes aim at the floating sphere.
"You've only got one shot" Jeremy reminds him.
He fires and hits the sphere. The Marabounta was destroyed in an orange fireball and the nightmare for both ended.
A's Point of View
Everyone except Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich who showed up at the last second were watching the screen. A window popped up showing Xana's monsters bowing. "Look" Aelita said.
"Don't buy it Aelita" Ulrich informed her.
"He's right. Even with the Marabounta gone, Xana is still our enemy" Jeremy added.
"This just proves that we can rely on him when we have a common goal or enemy" A says.
"Maybe, but after that resolves, he becomes our enemy again. He isn't our ally and never will."
"Next time you want to play being a mad scientist, inform us a little" Odd tells Jeremy.
"Yeah, you put Aelita at risk. Lucky for her, Xana cares for her deep down" A adds.
"It was you who saved me though A. I guess I owe you one" Aelita points out.
"Don't mention it. You don't owe me anything."
"But why?"
"Let's just say you'll repay me in one way or another." A was referring to either the keys or destroying Xana by sacrificing her father, which would complete her mission.
"A, your connection to Aelita, it puzzles me. Is it possible you could be Aelita in a way?" Jeremy asks.
A was stunned that Jeremy was able to figure I out. "No, I can't be. Time travel doesn't exist."
"Maybe not in our time, but what about where you come from? I mean it seems like you're here for a different reason than just defeating Xana."
"You're wrong Jeremy" Aelita speaks up. "If she was me, she would have a lot more features of me."
"Aelita, look at her. She pretty much does. She just twenty years older."
"Doesn't mean she's me. She could be a sister. How do you know Franz Hopper didn't use her DNA to create me?"
"Listen, since we're pretty divided on this, we'll let is slide. The quicker we decipher the diary, maybe some light will be shed on who A is and how he created Aelita" Yumi says.
"Okay, we'll leave it there" Jeremy says.
Xana's Point of View
Xana was listening to them through the supercomputer and was no interested in A. "So A, maybe you have what I need. But first, I need to ensure my survival. But you and me will have a 'talk' soon."
A.N. – So, the suspicions begin surrounding A. Nothing will be confirmed for the warriors till The Key and Xana will get his answer after Temptations, which will be combined with Common Interest next time. I want A Bad Turn to be it's own and I don't think Temptations will be long enough. Might be a longer chapter next time. PM me with story ideas if you have any! Don't forget to review with questions or comments! I will respond! As always, till next time! See ya! -lyokowarrior97