Chapter 12 Saving Myself (Just In Time)
A.N. – So, this episode will be a little weird towards the end, but there is another time paradox thing that goes on here. At the end, I'll explain a little more about what happens.
Short Summary – Jeremy has more information on how to materialize current Aelita, but future Aelita tries to put a hold on Jeremy's research by destroying it. But after a mistake causes the unthinkable, the only risk isn't who is involved in Xana's latest scheme.
Disclaimer – I do not own Code Lyoko or the story idea. I am just a fan of the show, and the story idea was submitted by James Marshall.
With all the issues settled from Xana's animal parade, the Lyoko Warriors on a high alert from A and any unusual events on Earth. Jeremy wants to also rematerialize the current Aelita, and he believes to have a breakthrough. Aelita doesn't know this, and she is also unaware of what Jeremy has done to achieve this dream. She steps out to give Xana his attack this week.
"Okay, listen up. They're on high alert now because of your antics last week. So, we need to move silently. Use some kind of soundwave so we can keep them on the fence for a little bit" Aelita tells him.
"Soundwaves? This will take a while to set up. Just be patient" Xana informs her.
After Xana disappears, she leaves for the real world to check in on the others.
The group converges in the courtyard and Aelita sees them doing their normal day-to-day life. She walks up to them. "Hey guys. Everything okay?"
"So far, everything's cool. Why do you ask?" Odd questions to her.
"Oh, just asking. Nothing unusual on Lyoko either."
"Weird. You seem to pop up just before an attack."
"Must be a coincidence."
"Twelve times in a row though."
"Five. I wasn't there for that clone."
"Why did Xana target you though?"
"Maybe he found out it was easier to go where he wanted with me." Aelita was feeling Odd was asking too many questions and it would only take one wrong answer for him to investigate. She had to keep this a secret until Xana is defeated.
Jeremy suddenly runs up to them. "Hey guys, I believe I found something amazing. I made a breakthrough on materialization."
'Too soon. We are not ready to move into phase two,' Aelita thought.
Jeremy then pulled out a test tube.
"You managed to materialize a test tube?" Odd asks.
"No dummy! It's what's in the test tube!" Jeremy fires back.
They all look inside and see a small strand of pink hair.
"A hair strand?" Ulrich questions.
"Yeah, from Aelita."
Odd snatches it and puts it next to Aelita.
"Exactly what are you doing?" She asks him.
"Trying to figure out why your hair and her hair are about the same length and color."
"Coincidence?"
"But short and pink too. Are you sure you don't know Aelita?"
"One hundred percent. Never knew her until I met you all."
The group then moves to Jeremy's room in order to explain to them how he did it. Once he does, he decides to move to materialize Aelita. He tries it and it fails.
"I don't know where I went wrong!" Jeremy says in frustration.
"Obviously this is a sign that it's not her time" Aelita tells them.
"On top if that, if were to work we would have to wait a day or two to set up everything for Aelita. I know you want to see her, but there is a lot of prep work before we rematerialize her" Yumi adds.
"Yeah maybe. I'm still going to try to materialize her. The hair strand was only a step in the right direction" Jeremy says as they all head to the cafeteria.
Aelita then picks up the test tube and holds it in her hand. She was unaware of how Jeremy was able to rematerialize her. The only thing she remembered was the Code: Earth. She didn't know how he achieved this. But, if this was going to help him get to it faster, she had to destroy it.
She moves to the school's incinerator room. Since everyone was in the lunchroom at this time, the yard should be completely empty. She entered the room and threw the test tube into the fire. "Sorry Jeremy. But I can't let you rematerialize me yet."
When Aelita headed out to the yard, she saw Ulrich holding Yumi's hand and she noticed a small cut in her palm. "What happened to her?"
"She gripped the glass a little too hard and it shattered" Ulrich explains. She looks at her palm.
"Just clean up the wound and put a band-aid on it and she'll be fine. Luckily, it didn't cut your wrist."
Aelita didn't know that Xana was behind this, and she didn't even think Xana played a role in this. And this was only the beginning…
Aelita met up at Jeremy's room later in the day due to a problem. "Like things weren't bad enough! First, Aelita's hair strand disappears and now Aelita's annex program is messed up!" Jeremy explains.
"Annex? Doesn't sound so bad" Odd says.
"Yeah, if Aelita didn't have to be the one to deactivate towers" Aelita explains to them.
"What do you mean?" Ulrich asks.
"Exactly what she said. The annex program links Aelita to the towers. If she enters the Code Lyoko, she'll be completely reformatted."
"As in…" Yumi starts.
"Completely disappear" Aelita finishes.
"Well, can't you fix it Jeremy?" Ulrich asks.
"Well yeah, but it's gonna take some time. I just hope Xana stays quiet in the time" Jeremy says.
"Hey, you and Aelita are geniuses. You'll be done in no time" Aelita said. She can only hope that they'll save her this time. Xana was on the move…
Aelita had to figure out when Xana was moving on his attack and how he was doing that. As her, Odd, and Ulrich were walking past Odd and Ulrich's bedroom, they heard Kiwi barking from inside.
"Odd, that dog of yours is gonna get you and Ulrich in serious trouble if you don't shut him up!" Aelita tells them.
Odd and Ulrich enter and Aelita sees the glass starting to crack. She gets a look on her face of confusion. It then looks like it might burst. "Watch out!" Aelita tackles them and shields them from the shattered glass. They all look back at it.
"Did you do that?" Odd asks as he looks at Kiwi.
Aelita decided not to say anything, because this confirmed that Xana was active, but she had to let them find that out themselves.
Aelita was outside with Odd and Ulrich after, now confirming that Xana has awoken. "It's Xana for sure" Ulrich comments.
"Oh, it's him for sure" Odd adds.
"How does he do it?"
"Soundwaves" Aelita answers.
"So, Kiwi can hear the attacks coming. He can hear the waves as they move" Odd comments.
Ulrich's phone rings. "Hello?" He pauses. "That's what we thought." He pauses and then hangs up. "It's real this time. Xana has woken up."
The loudspeaker comes on. "Your attention please. Due to a safety issue in structural integrity, the building is being evacuated immediately. No one will be allowed back into the building until further notice."
"Kiwi! He's still in Jeremy's room! I'll go grab him!" Odd says before running off.
"Odd, wait! It's too dangerous!" Aelita calls out knowing he's walking into Xana's trap.
"Let's go! The quicker we get to the factory, the faster we can stop this attack" Ulrich says as Aelita nods and the two head off for the factory.
As the two entered the lab, they explained the situation to Jeremy. "Where's Odd?" Jeremy asks.
"He's saving Kiwi at the school. He'll be here soon" Aelita answers as Ulrich's phone rings.
"Odd?" He pauses. "Stuck at school." He pauses then has a look of horror. "Odd! Odd! Jeremy, virtualize us now! Odd's in trouble!"
"But the program is not complete!" Jeremy retorts back.
"It's better then risking Odd, Milly, and Tamiya's lives!"
"Jeremy, virtualize him! I'm going back!" Aelita tells him.
"What are you doing?!"
"Saving those three…" Aelita answers as the elevator closes.
When Aelita returned to the building, she saw it in almost ruins. "Xana, what have you done?" Aelita said quietly.
She ran up to the building entrance and was stopped by Jim. "Hey! No one is allowed to enter the building! It could collapse at any time!"
"So, it's better to let Odd, Milly, and Tamiya die within?"
"The firemen are on their way."
"And if they don't get here within time?" Aelita asked this knowing the answer would allow her access.
"Just know, if anything goes wrong in there, it's on you."
Aelita bashes through the front door and begins her search for Odd, Milly, and Tamiya. After searching for about 30 minutes, her foot hits something. She picks up the object and sees it's Odd's phone. "Odd! Odd, are you there?"
"A, is that you?" Odd responds.
"Yeah."
"Why are you here?"
"I'm here to save the four of you."
"Well, the stairwell is blocked."
"It looks worse on the outside. Xana has done a number on the building."
"Xana' what's that?" Milly asks in terror.
"Nevermind. Anyway, we need to…" Odd starts before the building shakes again and the upper half is now tilted and Aelita can see them.
"Well, that answers your question" Aelita responds.
"What do we do now?" Milly asks.
"Slide down."
"Are you crazy?!"
"Trust me. Nothing will happen."
"I'll go first. You two follow" Odd says as he slides towards Aelita. He lands safely and then Tamiya follows shortly after. Milly, however, is too scared to go.
"I can't do it" Milly says, obviously blinded by fear.
Aelita knows the next surge is coming. "You have too, and fast." The building starts shaking and Milly comes. She screams as she slides down to the bottom. Aelita grabs her wrist as she lands. "Gotcha ya." Aelita's phone rings. "Jeremy?"
"Listen, the tower is unreachable. Please tell me you're out of the building" Jeremy asks.
"No, but I got them all with me, but the surges are coming more quickly. Xana is planning to collapse this building. You got to deactivate the tower."
"The program is still not complete! Do you want to lose Aelita?"
"She is an acceptable loss. I think our lives are worth more than hers."
There is a long pause on Jeremy's end. "A, Aelita is deactivating the tower."
The building starts shaking and is in the process of collapsing. Soon after the building stops and soon time is reversed.
The group, including Aelita, is in the lab. They all know that the current Aelita sacrificed herself for the good of the group. "I know it seemed like a jerk move, but it had to be done. We would not have been brought back with the return if we perished" Aelita tells them.
"What's even more is since I lost the hair, I have no way to bring her back" Jeremy realizes.
"There may be another way to go about doing that." Aelita climbs down to the scanner room. She knows that her genetic structure matches Aelita. If Jeremy virtualizes current Aelita with a fragment of her hair, it should materialize current Aelita in Lyoko. She plucks a piece of her hair and places it in the scanner. "Jeremy, virtualize Aelita."
Jeremy fires up the virtualization program and sees whatever A put in was being recognized. Soon after, the current Aelita pops up on screen.
"Jeremy," current Aelita says as Jeremy opens his eyes. "I'm ready for my materialization now."
The group all cheers as Aelita returns to see her on the screen.
"How'd you do that?" Odd asks.
"I used my hair" Aelita answers.
"So, you must be related to her."
"Maybe you were right. My hair and her hair match for a reason."
"Well, do you remember her?"
"No, but there are some things that must remain a mystery for now" Aelita answers before she reenters Lyoko through her door.
The group was thankful for A's action, but now a new mystery is how A and Aelita are connected.
A.N. – And thus ends this chapter. Okay, so the reason that the current Aelita didn't disappear is because the future Aelita kinda took the place of current Aelita in this timeline. Only once the current Aelita came back did the timeline get restabilized. It's a rule in time that if someone is a relative of someone who dies, that relative will take the place of the individual. It's weird, but it's some kind of time paradox rule. PM me with story ideas if you have any! Don't forget to review with questions or comments! I will respond! Stay safe and healthy out there! As always, till next time! See ya! -lyokowarrior97