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.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
"When Hervé steals Aelita's diary, Aelita will show just how far she's willing to go for Jérémie's sake."
Episode 5: A Girl's Diary
(Based on Log Book & Plagued)
Aelita was frantically ransaking her dorm. She couldn't find it anywhere. It wasn't in the box that held her CDs. It wasn't in her closet.
She was digging deep in the three drawers within her bedframe when she heard a knock on her door. "Come in!" she called out, not looking up from her searching.
She heard the door open and then Odd's voice, "Hey, Aelita. Breakfast hour is halfway over, and you haven't come down yet. Are you okay? Or are you just working on Jérémie's materialization?" He asked that last question in a teasing voice.
"You can have my portion," she told him, not looking up at him. "There's something I have to find."
"Oh, okay," Odd said. "I hope you find it, whatever it is you're looking for."
"Thanks," she replied, as she heard her door close. After rummaging through all three drawers, she sighed in defeat. "I can't believe this! Where is it?!"
Maybe she left it in Odd and Ulrich's dorm by accident? That's happened before, and they knew she kept one, and not once did they judge. Ulrich had one too. So did Yumi. And no matter how much Odd denied it, the same also applied to him.
Tense and anxious, Aelita exited her room, closing and locking her door behind her, intent on asking Odd and Ulrich for their permission to search their dorm. But things got worse when she found someone waiting for her.
Hervé Pichon was right there, leaning against the wall, obviously waiting for her.
"What's wrong, Hervé?" she asked. "Afraid the wall's going to crumble?"
He held a disconcerting smirk on his face, "Very funny. Can we talk for a second?"
"Maybe later," she replied, turning to walk away. "There's something I need to find first."
"Would this something, perhaps, be your diary? By any chance?"
He was phrasing it as if he already knew the answer, and it made halt in her tracks.
How did he know what she was looking for?
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi arrived on campus at 8 AM sharp. Odd greeted her and waved her over as soon as he and Ulrich saw her.
"Good morning," she greeted them as she approached them. But her smile faded as she looking behind the two boys at an unusual sight. "What's that about?" She nodded at the scene behind them.
Odd and Ulrich turned around to peek at what Yumi was finding so interesting, and they too became confused.
The fourth, pink-haired member of their little group was sitting on the cafeteria steps with Hervé. She was obviously uncomfortable and wanted to be anywhere but there, as she listened to whatever Hervé was droning on about.
"It's Aelita," Odd asked, "but what's she doing with Hervé?"
"What?!" they heard Aelita exclaim as she turned her head to face Hervé, a shocked expression on her face. "That's blackmail! Do you really expect me to give into that? Furthermore, do you really expect to get away with it?"
The trio strained to hear Hervé's response, but it was hard, because he leaned in closer and almost whispered, "First of all, I'm not giving you a choice. That's kind of the whole deal with blackmail. Second of all," he whispered the next part in her ear, and to their disappointment, they couldn't hear what he said.
But Aelita did. And whatever Hervé told her, it made Aelita visibly frightened.
She tensed up the way she did whenever she was scared, and if you looked close enough, you could see her tremble. Usually, Aelita put on an impressive poker face in the presence of danger or a frightening scenario, but not this time.
All three were clear signs that she felt helpless in her current situation.
That was why Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi all tensed up themselves, their fists clenched, their bodies already pumping with the adrenaline necessary to run Hervé off. Yumi called out, "Hey, Aelita! Good morning!"
Her voice was cheerful, and the greeting itself was harmless. But the fact that Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd all looked like they were ready to fight was a clear sign that it was actually a question posed to Aelita in order to determine if she needed their help.
Like they expected, Aelita glanced up, hope glittering in her eyes as she saw her friends right there, ready to jump in for her sake. But Hervé also looked up, and he immediately frowned when seeing the other three.
He grabbed Aelita by the wrist and pulled her to her feet. "Let's talk somewhere more private," his voice was cold as he led her away.
And leaving Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd lost in his and Aelita's dust.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"In the 17th century," Mr. Fumet was lecturing later in history class, "all European states were governed by either a king or a prince. They ruled over mainly peasant populations."
But three people were barely paying attention.
Aelita was writing notes like she always did, paying attention to Mr. Fumet's lecture of the European state of affairs. Nothing new there. Her poker face was back; she didn't look at scared as she did earlier, but the signs that she was were still there.
She and Hervé were sitting side-by-side at the same table, and Hervé was unable to stop looking at the pink-ette with a love-struck expression. Clearly, he was distracted, which was grounds for moving seats. The teachers did not appreciate you being unable to focus thanks to the person you were sitting next to.
Ulrich and Odd, meanwhile, were also taking notes, though they were more of what Mr. Fumet was writing on the board rather than the verbal lecture like Aelita's notes.
"He's clearly holding something over her head," Odd whispered to Ulrich, who just nodded. "What do you think it is?"
Ulrich shrugged.
"Yeah, me neither," Odd replied, still whispering. "But we're gonna find out."
"Della Robbia?" Mr. Fumet cut in, forcing Odd to face the front of the room, where their teacher was standing. "Are you listening?"
"Y-Yes sir," Odd said before hiding his blush in his notebook.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd and Ulrich had left the classroom first when the bell rang.
Hervé made a huge show of holding hands with Aelita on their way out, to Aelita's dismay. She knew he liked her, but she never thought he'd go this far.
To her surprise (and delight), they were stopped right outside the door by Odd, who grabbed Hervé's arm, saying, "I have something very important to ask you, Hervé. Do you mind?"
Her cousin didn't really give Hervé a chance to answer, instead immediately pulling Hervé away from Aelita.
She breathed in a huge sigh of relief. She was finally free from Hervé, even if only for a minute or so (but knowing her cousin, Odd would keep Hervé occupied until the ends of the Earth for her sake).
Someone tapped her shoulder, and she turned to see Ulrich. A gentle smile on his face, he softly told her, "I believe you owe us an explanation."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich had taken Aelita to the arches, and Hervé was adamant on following them. Odd couldn't stop that, but Aelita still felt safe enough to reveal the truth to Ulrich.
"Hervé found my diary," she explained. "This morning, I was looking all around my room for it, thinking I'd misplaced it. I left to go ask you if I could search yours and Odd's room, and Hervé was right there waiting for me. He–..." She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. "He read all about our...sensitive activities at the factory..."
"Including who-know-who?" Ulrich asked, horrified as he was seeing where this was going.
Aelita nodded, "Especially you-know-who. Hervé told me that he was going to tell not just the entire school, but the authorities as well, if I don't do what he says. So far, he's only making me go out with him, so it's not so bad, but knowing that Hervé knows all about him and is prepared to make him suffer is what has me so scared." Ulrich could feel the fear in her eyes, almost as if it were his own fear. He'd hate to be in her position. "Please, Ulrich," she was begging in a hushed tone, "I don't what to do."
He hated seeing her so afraid, so he placed two comforting hands on either of his shoulders, "Don't worry. Odd and I will tell Yumi. She'll take care of everything while we're at the pool. Okay?"
The smile he gave her made her smile in return, a smile of relief. She nodded.
Hervé suddenly shouted at Odd in exasperation, "The answer is no! For the last time, my acne is not evidence of me secretly being an alien!"
But the relief Aelita felt didn't fade. She trusted her friends through and through.
Reluctantly, she walked over to Hervé and her cousin and said, "Leave him alone, Odd. C'mon, Hervé. It's time for study hall."
Odd looked with confusion at the sight of the two leaving together, and he frowned when Hervé glanced back and gave Odd and Ulrich a smug smirk and a snicker that made Odd really want to punch Hervé.
But Ulrich slung an arm around his roommate's shoulder, saying, "Don't worry. I'll fill you in."
At least their plan to get the truth from Aelita was successful.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi punched the nearest wall, "Hervé is blackmailing her?!"
Ulrich and Odd had found Yumi and taken her to Aelita's room, where they had called Jérémie. The door closed to give them privacy, there Ulrich unloaded what Aelita had told him.
Odd could feel Yumi's anger. She was pissed, and so was he for that matter.
"But that's not the worst part," Ulrich interrupted, though reluctant because he knew how Yumi got when she was angry, especially on the behalf of one of her friends.
"Hervé is blackmailing Aelita with the secrets found in her diary," Odd said. "What could be worse than that?"
Ulrich lowered his gaze into a glare, "How about the fact that Hervé knows the secret about who Jérémie really is?"
Yumi and Odd both immediately froze in shock, both speechless, and out of the corner of his eye, Ulrich could see Jérémie's equally astounded expression on Aelita's monitor.
"What?" Yumi was quiet, which meant she was either calm or on the verge of blowing a gasket. Knowing the current situation, it was definitely the latter.
"Hervé knows about me?" Jérémie finally spoke. His voice was soft, though unlike Yumi, his felt more out of guilt than anger. "About how I'm trapped in a virtual world and Aelita's trying to find a program to free me?"
"Yeah," Ulrich confirmed. "He knows everything about Lyoko, or so Aelita says, and he's going to spill our secret to the authorities if Aelita doesn't do as he says."
Ever the eternal optimist, Odd reminded them, "All Hervé knows about Lyoko is what Aelita's diary says. If we take back Aelita's diary, he'll have no evidence, right? I mean, it's not like he knows where the secret passage is."
"Well, it depends on how detailed Aelita's diary is," Jérémie told them. He sighed, "The most important thing right now is to get Aelita's diary back before Hervé can tell anyone else, and then we'll see if we need to launch a time reversion."
"You heard him," Ulrich said. "Odd and I need to go to the pool now, so Yumi? It's up to you. You need to find Aelita's diary before we come back. You'll have two hours."
Yumi immediately nodded, "Leave it to me."
"Good luck, Yumi," Odd said, before leaving the room, closing the door behind him and Ulrich.
Once they were gone, Jérémie apologized, "I'm sorry." Yumi turned to face him, slightly confused. "You guys are only in this dilemma because of me."
Yumi sat down in Aelita's computer chair and offered the virtual boy a comforting smile, "Hey, no one blames you. It's no one's fault but Hervé's. That no-good, dirty, rotten..."
She trailed off with a long string of curses in Japanese. Jérémie didn't understand any of it, but it made him chuckle.
She snapped back to reality because of his laugh, and told Jérémie, "Anyways, don't worry. We'll find Aelita's diary and just how much Hervé knows. I'll keep you posted."
"Good luck," he told her before logging off.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
No one noticed a black cloud emerge from a street-side generator nearby and creep toward the bus the year 10 students were boarding. This bus would take them to the pool a few blocks down, too far to walk to.
"Take a look, Stern and Della Robbia," Jim said proudly as the two mentioned students approached the bus, their swim trunks in their bags. "This bus is the latest in modern technology. It's electricity-driven, so it's environmentally friendly but powerful too!"
Odd shared a glance with Ulrich before replying, "Electric and powerful too, huh? I'll bet you this crate goes about as fast as a snail."
The two chuckled amongst themselves as they boarded the bus without hearing Jim's response, waving at the driver as they passed him.
Aelita boarded the bus, her laptop in her bag as well as her swimsuit, right after Hervé, just in time to see the driver freak out about the speedometer. Curious, she stepped closer, only to be ushered to her seat by Jim. "Go sit down, Miss Schaeffer." Jim then leaned over next to the driver, who was intently staring at and asked, "Is there a problem?"
Aelita walked up the steps to the seats before turning around just in time to see a black silhouette quickly race up the windshield, much to the surprise of Jim and the driver.
She wasn't the only one looking at the spectacle. The eight students in the first two rows were as well, with the third and fourth rows confused because they couldn't see anything.
But she and the other students had no choice but to obey Jim when he turned to them and ordered, "Sit back down! There's nothing to see here! Next stop: the pool!"
As the bus began to move, Aelita sat down next to Hervé, and to her luck, Odd and Ulrich were right across the walkway. While Hervé was distracted by something outside, she handed the two boys her laptop and whispered to them what she had seen just now.
"What?" Odd whispered back. "You sure?"
Aelita tapped on her pink laptop and replied in a hushed tone, "Call Jérémie and let him know." Hervé wouldn't have let her, unfortunately, so Odd and Ulrich had to pick up some slack.
Their (important) conversation ended right when Hervé was no longer distracted (with what, she never figured that out; but she was grateful for it).
Meanwhile, Ulrich shielded with his body the sight of Odd opening up Aelita's laptop, who called out to Jérémie in a hushed tone, "Jérémie? Come in, it's urgent."
Jérémie's interface popped up on the screen, and whispered back, "What's wrong? Why so quiet?"
"Sorry, we're in public and we have no choice," Odd replied. "Aelita thought she just saw one of XANA's spectres take over the bus we're in."
"I don't understand!" Ulrich overheard the driver tell Jim. "I've got it floored and it just refuses to go any faster than this!"
Ulrich leaned in towards the laptop and added, "We're also zipping along at a whopping twenty kilometers an hour."
"See? What did I tell you?" Odd quipped to his roommate. "A snail's pace."
"And that's unusual for the bus?" Jérémie asked. Odd and Ulrich both nodded. "Alright, I'll check for pulsations. Stand by."
Odd closed Aelita's laptop after Jérémie logged off.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi decided that a good place to start would be Hervé's dorm. So, after making sure no one else was around, she picked his lock and opened his room.
There were two beds, and Yumi remembered that Hervé shared a room with Nicolas. And it was pretty easy to tell which side was Hervé's. Nicolas wasn't exactly the cleanest person in the world, at least not as clean as Hervé.
She started with Hervé's side first, looking inside his closet, on top of his closet, under his desk, and under his bed. Finding nothing, she decided that it wouldn't hurt to check Nicolas's side as well. Repeating the process, she found nothing on Nicolas's side either.
Frustrated, she sat down on Hervé's bed to rest for a moment and gather her thoughts. She moved to lie down, but the moment her head hit his pillow, she felt a hard object where the shouldn't be one.
Smiling, she reached inside the pillowcase and pulled out a navy blue book.
But it wasn't Aelita's diary.
She could tell not only because the handwriting inside wasn't neat and cursive like Aelita's, but it also wasn't pink. She, Aelita, Ulrich, and Odd all knew what each other's diaries looked like, in case something like this ever happened. So Yumi had gone into this knowing exactly what to look for.
But she still smiled. This book was something just as good as Aelita's diary, if not even better.
It was Hervé's diary.
Flipping the page to his most recent entry, dated just yesterday, Yumi read, "'I'm tired of her acting like I don't even exist. I can't stand her talking so highly about this online pen pal of hers'." That was the cover story the group used whenever someone overheard them talking about Jérémie. "'So, while she was in the lunchroom today with her friends, I snuck into her room and snooped around for answers. And boy did I find them. In her diary, she explains exactly where she found this guy and what his deal is. Not only that, but apparently, it's a huge secret! Now she can't possibly turn me down! Not when I have this piece of information in my back pocket! I know what I'm doing isn't very nice, but it's the only way I can get her to stop ignoring me'." Yumi slammed the diary closed in anger, "That creep!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi returned to Aelita's room, closing the door behind her and Hervé's diary firmly in her hand. She called out to Jérémie as soon as she got there.
A second later, Jérémie's interface popped up on screen, "Yumi? What's up? Did you find Aelita's diary?"
"No, but guess what?" She held up Hervé's diary. "I found Hervé's. Aelita's right. He does know about Lyoko, but he admits that he doesn't really understand what it is. He also admits that he knows no one will believe him without proof. That's why he has Aelita's diary under lock and key. He's not dumb. And no, he doesn't know where the factory is or how to get there."
Jérémie breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness. That's one burden off our shoulders. But we have another. A few minutes ago, Odd and Ulrich called me with concerns about XANA taking over their bus."
"Are they right?"
Jérémie nodded, "I sense pulsations. I'm following them now. I was about to notify Ulrich and Odd when you called me. So as soon as you find Aelita's diary, head over to the factory."
"I'll be there," Yumi promised. "And don't worry. I know just how to get ahold of Aelita's diary."
"Good luck."
"You too," she replied, watching him log off before she left Aelita's room.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
It had been five minutes, and the bus was still moving unusually slowly. It was now being outpaced by bikers (not motorcycles; bicycles).
"Aelita!"
The pink-ette was brought out of her thoughts by Hervé calling her name. "Huh? Sorry, I was lost in thought. What did you say?"
"Oh, thinking about your little pen pal, are we?" The jealousy in Hervé's voice betrayed the tight smile he was wearing on his face. "If you do so again, you'll know exactly what will happen."
Aelita pursed her lips, biting down the insult that immediately came to mind. Hervé was definitely the emotionally abusive type of partner. He didn't want Aelita even thinking about Jérémie.
Hervé's tone changed to pleasant, "I was asking if you wanted to go to a movie tonight. Sissi could convince her father to let us go. Of course she'd be going with us, but we could go together."
He phrased it as a question, but Aelita knew that he wasn't exactly asking, per say. He was just phrasing his demand in such a way so other people wouldn't know he was actually blackmailing her.
"Okay," she replied, staring straight ahead, but she added, as payback, "But remember, I'm not doing this for you."
Jérémie was the reason she was doing this. If she didn't, then Hervé would tell the authorities and they would either shut down the supercomputer or run their own experiments. Either way, Jérémie would be in danger.
They had already confirmed that he was a human just like the rest of them whose brain was scrambled when the supercomputer was turned off previously. Who knew what would happen to him if it was shut down again or tests were run by people who didn't know the controls like the back of their hand?
To her immense pleasure, Hervé started growling at her casual reminder, but before he could respond with another one of his threats, her cellphone started ringing.
She picked it up and answered, "Hello?"
"Hey, Aelita," it was Yumi. "If you would please hand your phone over to Hervé, that would be great."
The pink-ette smiled, "With pleasure." She handed her pink cellphone over to Hervé. "Yumi would like a word with you."
Hervé scowled as he took Aelita's phone from her hand and raised it to his ear, "What do you want, Ishiyama?"
"Oh, I just wanted you to know that I really like your style," Yumi told him, before putting on an insulting imitation of his voice, "'I ran into that dipstick Jim today. He looks like such an idiot in that sweaty gym suit of his'-"
That was an excerpt from his diary! How did she get her hands on it?! Probably looking for Aelita's diary!
He frantically cut her off, "Okay, okay! Message received!" Yumi had his diary. "What do you want?!"
Yumi was firm, "Tell me where you've got Aelita's diary hidden. Now. Or else, all of your nasty little secrets will be on the front page of the school newspaper first thing tomorrow morning. Along with how much a creep you really are."
"Alright, fine!" He whispered into the phone. "It's on top of the hot chocolate vending machine! You'll need a step stool to reach it because it's way far back!"
"Oh, I won't need a step stool, Pichon," Yumi sounded supremely confident. "I am 'freakishly tall', remember? Your words, not mine."
Hervé panicked when he heard a click, signaling that Yumi had hung up. "Wait, what about my diary?!" But there was no answer.
Suddenly, Aelita's phone was snatched out of his hands by Aelita herself. She placed it back in her pocket before placing her hands behind her head, smug and relieved.
"Thanks a lot, Yumi~" she exclaimed, smiling. "It's good to have real friends, isn't it, Pichon? Now I'm off your leash, because without my diary, you have no proof to your claims." She then had the gall to wave at him, "See you at the pool~!"
Hervé could only watch as Aelita stood up with her bag and sat down next to the very little space Odd and Ulrich had left on their seat, even after scrunching up together to make room for her.
To make matters worse, Nicolas immediately took the seat Aelita had left vacant, "Finally! I thought she would never get off your back!"
"Nicolas, if you really were as smart as you claim," Hervé snapped at his roomate, "then you would shut up!"
He then turned his gaze to the life outside of the window, pouting, to Nicolas' confusion and surprise, as Aelita's cheerful laughter mixed with Odd and Ulrich's haunted Hervé relentlessly.
His plan had backfired and Nicolas just didn't get it.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi was in the girl's bathroom when she had called Hervé. With the information Hervé had frantically given her, she raced to the vending machines, where she looked up. Sure enough, there was Aelita's diary—pink cover with white flowers decorating it—right on top of the hot chocolate vending machine.
Smiling, she reached up, managing to grab it by just barely standing on her tip-toes. She never really minded that she was the tallest of her group of friends (even without the combat boots), but now she was considering it a blessing.
The diary tucked close to her chest, Yumi ran from the vending machines towards the sewer passage. On the way, she passed by a classroom, where Mr. Chardin called out to her from the open window.
"Ishiyama?" She was forced to stop in her tracks. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
"Well, I felt sick, sir," she barely managed to cook up an excuse, "but I'm fine now."
She could still feel Mr. Chardin's eyes following her even after she resuming her running. But she didn't care.
Jérémie said he had found pulsations.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita's laptop began to beep frantically. Odd (still possessing it) quickly opened it, and he, Ulrich, and Aelita saw Jérémie's interface pop up on screen.
"Odd! Ulrich! You guys were right!" he told them, almost panicked. "XANA's activated a tower! I have a visual on it now! But I'll need some help getting through!"
"Okay, hang on until Yumi gets there," Aelita told him. "The three of us will try to find a way off the bus."
Jérémie nodded.
Just as he did so, the driver up front suddenly exclaimed, "What's going on now?!"
The trio all looked at each other with concern, right before the bus began to accelerate, freaking out everyone else. They shared another glance, this one knowing, before getting up from their shared seat, ignoring Jim calling out to them to sit back down.
But as Odd and Ulrich raced up front, Aelita stayed behind with her laptop. Jérémie was still logged on.
"What's going on with this bus?" Ulrich asked the driver, once he and Odd got there. The two saw that the steering wheel was sparking with electricity, and the speedometer was showing the bus accelerating.
"That, kid, I wish I knew!" the driver exclaimed. His hands were off the steering wheel. It wasn't him that was doing this. "All I know is that it's out of my control!"
Jim joined them, visibly freaking out.
"It seemed to be just fine before you recharged the batteries," Ulrich recalled.
"Yeah, everything was just fine!" the driver replied. "But now, I can't do anything!"
Odd pulled out his phone and called Aelita. They could see her pull out her phone from where they were standing. It was faster than racing back to their seats. He and Ulrich were already by the door; they just needed to know what her orders were.
"Aelita, XANA's taken complete control of the bus," he told her. "We're in for a rough ride. Ulrich and I are already by the door. Should we jump?"
"Jérémie's going to need a hand on Lyoko, so yes," Aelita said. "I'll stay here and figure out what XANA's trying to do. Yumi will take over for me. Good luck."
"You too," Odd said, before hanging up. He turned to Ulrich and nodded. Ulrich returned the gesture.
As Jim and the driver were distracted with their futile attempts to control the bus, Odd pressed the button to release the door. It opened, suddenly letting in a gust of wind. Odd then jumped, with Ulrich following shortly after.
Aelita saw them jump, and the door closed immediately after.
"XANA's controlling the bus?" Jérémie asked.
"Yes, but I need to triangulate our position," Aelita admitted, "so I can see where XANA's taking us." She glanced out the window, "Let's see we just crossed Molière Avenue and Méliès Street, and the bus number is 7210." She typed in those pieces of information.
Meanwhile, the bus had accelerated to one-hundred kilometers per hour, smashing through multiple cars at an intersection and causing a massive accident in its wake, but XANA didn't care. It continued on its intended route.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The lift doors opened on Ulrich and Odd, revealing to them that Yumi was already at the controls.
"Finally!" Yumi exclaimed. "It took you guys long enough! Jérémie's being pinned down by two Krabes!"
"XANA's taken over the bus we were in," Ulrich explained. "Aelita stayed behind. She said for you to take over for her."
"Got it. You two, head for the scanners quick," Yumi said, before turning back to the monitor, "Hold on, Jérémie! Ulrich and Odd are on their way! Now, how do I virtualize them?"
The holomap was showing Jérémie running away from the tower and the two Krabes that were guarding the tower and now chasing him, "You have to type in my current coordinates! Desert Sector, 79 degrees West, 34 degrees South! Then bring up their ID cards and once they're scanned, press Enter!"
"Okay," Yumi began typing, but her finger accidentally pressed '1' instead of '7'. Other than that, when she brought up Ulrich and Odd's ID cards, everything went smoothly. "Transfer Ulrich, transfer Odd!" Two windows popped up, showing their avatars were being scanned. "Scanner Ulrich, scanner Odd!" Once the scanning was complete, Yumi pressed Enter. "Virtualization!"
When no error window popped up, and instead it showed the holomap forming two green arrows, Yumi breathed a sigh of relief. She did it!
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich and Odd's avatars both formed on Lyoko, and they fell from the sky.
They were in the Desert Sector alright, having landed in the middle of the plateau.
"It's okay," Odd reassured their mission control. "You did it, Yumi. We're here."
"Do you see Jérémie?" Yumi asked.
The two looked around. But there was no one in sight.
"No," Ulrich replied. "But he should be around here somewhere."
Yumi paused, before exclaiming, "Oh no! I'm such an idiot! Jérémie said '79 degrees West', not '19'! I accidentally typed in the wrong coordinates and virtualized you too far away from Jérémie!"
"That's okay," Odd calmed her down. "We could use a little exercise to get warmed up."
With that, he and Ulrich took off across the Desert.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jim was crawling through the isle, "Now hurry up and get your seatbelts fastened!"
The driver was reassuring Hervé, who was terrified out of his mind, "Come on kid, take it easy. Calm down." He turned to Aelita, "Do you need any help?"
"No, but thank you, sir," Aelita replied, not taking her eyes off of her laptop or her typing. Jérémie had logged off so it was just her. "We just passed the Constellation intersection...got it! I got us localized!"
"Localized?" the person in front of her, Heidi Klinger, asked.
"Yes, using satellites," Aelita confirmed, before muttering, "but I still don't understand what XANA's target is." The screen then calculated a path to an insane goal, and her laptop began sounding an alert. "Oh no!"
As the bus went through a tunnel, Jim used a pair of pliers to cut the wires, hoping that would stop the bus. But it didn't. The bus kept going.
"It's no use," the driver told him. "We'll have to jump." He then pressed the button, but the door did not open. "You idiot! Now look what you've done! By cutting those wires, you blocked the door!"
Jim looked sheepish.
But their conversation about what to do was interrupted by Aelita standing by the front, her laptop in hand, and she was still typing out commands, "Jim, based on my calculations, our destination is the petrochemical complex."
"You mind explaining how you know that?" Jim asked, a perfectly understandable question.
"Yes, I do mind," she admitted. "You guys just have to trust me."
Hervé interrupted, speaking from behind her, "Why? Did Jérémie tell you that?" His arms were crossed, and his expression confirmed that he was still sour at the fact that she was no longer on his leash.
Aelita almost growled. So if Hervé couldn't blackmail her, then he would spill her biggest secret and biggest weakness regardless? He had just reached a whole new low.
"Why would her penpal be telling her things like that?" Naomi N'Guyen asked.
"I'll tell you why," Hervé lowered his glare at Aelita, his eyes telling her that he was indeed willing to go there. "It's because this Jérémie is actually a computer program!"
To Hervé's surprise, Aelita just smiled, "That just proves to me how much you actually read, Pichon. If you really read my diary in its entirety like you claimed to have done, then you would know that Jérémie is not a computer program at all, but a human being just like you and me who is trapped inside of a supercomputer."
"Dude!" Romain Le Goff exclaimed in disgust. "You read a girl's diary?!"
"Not cool, man!" was Thomas Jolivet's reaction. "Every guy knows that a girl's diary is off limits!"
"What a creep!" Claire Girard whispered to Magali De Vasseur. "Who knows if he'll decide to snoop through our rooms and read our diaries too?!"
"Hervé," Sissi cut in, "is that true? Did you really sneak into Aelita's room and read her diary?" She sounded like she was in shock.
"Uh, well, I, uh," Hervé stammer, trying to find an explanation that did make him look so bad.
"Let me save you a lot of trouble," Aelita calmly said. "Yes, he did, and I have three friends who will swear to that."
When Hervé didn't object to that, Sissi turned from shocked into disgusted like the girls as well as disappointed like the boys in one second flat, "Everybody knows that a person's diary is sacred! How could you just invade Aelita's privacy like that?!"
Hervé didn't have an answer.
"Another thing, Hervé," Aelita cut in, still calm. "If you were paying attention to what I was writing, what did I say was something only Jérémie could do, regardless if he was a computer program or a human?"
Hervé mumbled something.
Aelita leaned in closer, "I didn't hear that. Speak louder, please?"
"That only Jérémie can stop XANA," Hervé repeated. He said Jérémie's name with such disgust, obviously out of jealousy.
"By deactivating the tower that XANA uses for its attacks in the real world," Aelita finished, "that's right. It should be obvious to you by now that XANA is currently possessing this bus to drive it into the petrochemical plant, definitely to get rid of me, as well as Odd and Ulrich if they had stayed behind. And even if Jérémie was hearing how you're talking about him right now, he'd still deactivate that tower to save you. And you? Would you do that if your roles were reversed?"
Seeing that Hervé, now speechless, had rightfully been schooled by the girl he had wronged, Jim sternly cut in, "If we ever survive this, Pichon, you're going with me straight to the principal's office for violating another student's privacy. But on the task at hand, I'm inclined to believe you, Miss Schaeffer. How can we stop this bus?"
"We can't," Aelita admitted. "I told you, only Jérémie can."
"But there must be some way we can help him," Sissi surprised her.
"Leave that Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi," Aelita replied, sending Sissi a reassuring smile. "All we can do now is survive until Jérémie enters the code."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich and Odd came to a stop at 79 degrees West, and Yumi asked, "Do you see him now?"
In the distance, the two saw Jérémie running towards them, with two Krabes right on his tail.
"Yeah," Odd replied. "The problem is he's not alone!"
"Be careful!" Yumi warned.
Jérémie skidded on his knees, stopping right in front of Ulrich and Odd.
"Hey, Prince Charming," Odd greeted. "Sorry we're late."
"That's okay," Jérémie sent them both a smile. "I'm just glad you're here."
"These two Krabes bullying you?" Ulrich motioned to the two monsters that were chasing Jérémie as they came to a halt as well. "Don't worry, your two knights in armor have come to protect you."
Ulrich and Odd began walking forward, slowly, with Ulrich's hand resting on his katana. Jérémie remained behind them, fearfully keeping an eye out for any enemies besides the two Krabes, who were now burrowing their legs into the ground.
But as they walked, the ground beneath them began to tilt. Though the trio continued their trek forward, Odd commented on the strange tilting, "Well, this is kinda weird and unexpected."
The ground continued to tilt, and pretty soon, they wouldn't walk forward anymore.
"Ulrich? Odd? Jérémie?" Yumi called out, sounding panicked. "What is happening?!"
"That's a good question," Ulrich replied, as the plateau was dangerously tilted on its side, but not stopping. What was going on here?
"I don't know what to do!" Yumi cried. "It could've been my mistake, but–!"
"It's not you, Yumi!" Jérémie cut her off. "It's XANA! It's changing the slope of the plateau!"
The tilting finally stopped, but the plateau was now completely sideways, thus leaving no place to hold onto. The Krabes were fine, but the three Lyokowarriors began falling down.
Jérémie concentrated hard and quickly envisioned a small platform for them to land on, as well as some rocks to climb up with. Within seconds, the platform and rocks were created.
The trio landed on the said platform safe and sound. Now, they were at least safe from the Digital Sea.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The bus zoomed past two police cars, which were now in hot pursuit of the runaway bus.
Aelita was in the front seat, keeping an eye on the route shown on her laptop screen. "We're about to bear left!" she called out. "Get to the left side of the bus and brace for collisions!"
The entire class, including Jim and the driver, went to the left side and leaned their weight against the wall. The bus careened into a guard railing, but it continued on its course.
Sissi and Jim breathed a sigh of relief, and Jim suggested something, "Maybe we should jump off the bus! Or let it flip over on a bend! At least, that way, we'd be sure not to crash into the petrochemical plant!"
"At this speed, there's no way we'd survive either of those ideas!" the driver replied.
Aelita pulled her cellphone out of her pocket and called Yumi's number, "Yumi, how's it going on Lyoko?! We're ten minutes away from the plant!"
"Sorry, the others' world has been flipped on its side," Yumi explained. "Literally. It's going to be awhile."
Aelita glanced back at her laptop screen, not yet hanging up, and called out, "We're going to turn left again! Everyone, to the right!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"Well done, Jérémie," Odd said, referring to his Creativity saving their hides, just as the two Krabes opened fire.
Of course, their primary target was Jérémie, and having nowhere to run, he was completely cornered. He cowered, bracing himself for the multiple impacts, only for Ulrich to take them all.
"Two Krabes," Yumi relayed, "a battery of lasers! Ten lifepoints lost per impact!"
The Krabes continued to fire, while the trio braced themselves against the (now) wall (formerly the ground).
"Ulrich, protect Jérémie," Odd said. "He's lost too many lifepoints. I'll try to distract them away from you."
Odd then turned and jumped, grabbing one of the rocks Jérémie had created. He pulled himself up and used that rock as a stepping stone, before jumping up three times, each time grabbing a rock created by Jérémie's power. He then leapt to a bigger rock beside him, wide enough to stand on while also firing his Arrows.
One of the Krabes turned to face him, and Odd fired three Laser Arrows as the Krabe fired its laser continuously. Two Arrows were destroyed upon meeting the lasers, but one Arrow made it through.
The Krabe was hit and subsequently destroyed.
But the other Krabe turned on him and immediately began firing its laser. Odd tried his best to dodge, but one of the lasers hit him, causing him to fall. The Krabe continued to fire, despite Odd being down.
"Odd, get out of there!" Ulrich called out.
Odd began climbing again, only for one of the lasers to hit the rock he was holding onto.
He began falling towards the Digital Sea, only to be saved by that Krabe, which devirtualized him just in time.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd was not allowed to rest once he got out of the scanner.
He was greeted by Yumi upon exiting the cylinder. "Odd, hurry up to the controls! Virtualize me! I have to help!"
"Got it!" Odd said, before using the ladder to climb up.
Ulrich had barely any lifepoints left, Jérémie was essentially cornered, and Aelita was trapped on that bus. Odd had no other choice but to do as Yumi said.
He just hoped he didn't screw it up.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Multiple police units were after the bus now, not just two.
Aelita turned back to her phone, which was pressed between her ear and shoulder, "Yumi? Any news?"
"It's Odd," came the reply. "I got devirtualized, so Yumi's heading in now."
"Odd, listen, we're six minutes away from the plant," Aelita explained. "That's how long you guys have left to deactivate the tower."
"Got it!"
Meanwhile, Jim smashed the glass box containing the emergency hammer. Taking it, he smashed on of the windows. But then, suddenly, he lost his balance when the bus swerved, and went crashing through the window.
Fortunately, however, he was saved by Sissi and Hervé, both of whom had a tight hold on his clothes. "What's the matter, Jim?!" Hervé asked. "Don't you like it here with us?!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich used his katana to block the Krabe's lasers, as the Krabe continuously fired at him and Jérémie while walking down to the platform Jérémie had created.
Despite Ulrich's best efforts, he was hit twice, sending him to the ground.
Now, the Krabe was on the same platform as them, and both Lyokowarriors were cornered.
Ulrich lowered his gaze, knowing what he had to do, or at least attempt.
The Krabe began firing again, and Ulrich leapt forward, his katana in hand. He managed to stab the Krabe in its laser eye, but the thing remained unfazed. It fired at Ulrich one more time, and Jérémie stared in shock and fear as he watched Ulrich get devirtualized right in front of him.
Now he was all alone. And he had no weapon to defend himself with.
The Krabe raised its leg, prepared to deliver the final blow, and Jérémie cowered, but the impact never came.
He opened his eyes just in time to see Yumi's fan return to its owner, having sliced the Krabe's leg off. Yumi stood on top of the sideways plateau. Once she had her fan again, she leapt off and threw her fan once more. This time, the fan sliced into the eye on XANA on the Krabe's back, destroying it.
Yumi landed immediately after the monster exploded, and she sent a reassuring smile at Jérémie, a gesture he returned.
"Nice timing, Odd," Jérémie congratulated the boy currently at the controls. "How much time do we have left?"
"According to Aelita, three minutes," Odd answered.
"Alright, then let's reset the plateau quickly," Jérémie said, before turning to Yumi. "Let's work together."
Yumi nodded and summoned her Telekinesis. She used it in tandem with Jérémie's Creativity to put the plateau they were on back in its proper positioning.
It took about a minute, but working together was the best choice.
Once the plateau was reset, Jérémie and Yumi ran towards the direction Odd said the tower was in.
Finally, at last, Jérémie entered the tower.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Everyone on board the bus screamed as the vehicle crashed into the security gates of the petrochemical plant, the cries of fear and for help quickly drowning out the police sirens behind them.
Her laptop kept sounding the proximity alarm, but Aelita calmly closed her eyes, and whispered, "I have faith in you, Jérémie."
JEREMIE_
Odd and Ulrich, by the supercomputer monitor, were seeing the route mapped out as well. They braced themselves, fearing the worst.
CODE_
LYOKO_
Seconds away from the deadly collision, the bus stopped mere inches from a massive chemical tank.
Feeling the bus come to a stop, Aelita opened her forest green eyes, and smiled. Her faith was not misplaced. They were still alive.
Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, she heard Odd call her name through phone, which was still connected to Yumi's number. In the background, she heard her classmates cheering.
"Yes, Odd?"
"Everyone still alive?" Odd asked.
"Yep, everyone's okay. Fantastic job. Looks like you guys can handle things without me," she took a deep breath. "Now it's time to launch the Return trip."
"How do we do that?"
She just smiled, "First, type in the coordinates, the date and specific time you want to go back to, and then press Enter."
After hearing Odd press the necessary keys, with Ulrich attempting to correct him in the background, soon a white bubble enveloped everything.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Time rewinded back to that morning, just as 7 AM hit.
Aelita watched as Yumi used her height to her advantage, reaching Aelita's diary from on top of the hot chocolate vending machine with just a slight lean on her tip-toes. Once Yumi had it, she gave it to Aelita, who immediately hugged it to her chest.
"Thank you, Yumi."
Words could not express how grateful she was for her friends. She was very lucky to have them. They could've chosen to back out of the whole deal with Lyoko and Jérémie, but they didn't. They stayed right by her side through it all.
"You're welcome," Yumi replied, as they began their trek back to Aelita's room. "And don't worry. I didn't read it."
"I know you didn't," Aelita said. "But you know I don't mind if it's one of you. I do mind, however, if it's Jérémie."
Yumi's gentle smile turned into a knowing smirk, "You have a crush on him, don't you? And you write about it on those pages?" She phrased it as a question, but she already knew the answer.
Aelita's face turned red as she nodded, "Yeah. The definition of 'crush' is not one I'm looking forward to giving him. That conversation is going to be an awkward one."
"And inevitable," Yumi winked, making Aelita's blush darker. "He is a human being, after all. Just like us."
Unable to deny the truth in that, Aelita merely giggled.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"Holding up the wall there, Hervé?" Odd asked the nerd in green, as he and Ulrich approached Aelita's dorm.
There was Hervé, leaning against the wall, smiling as he was clearly waiting for Aelita.
"Buzz off," Hervé immediately, calmly replied. "This business is only between Aelita and me."
"You sure about that?" came Aelita's voice. She had just arrived with Yumi.
Hervé was about to reply when he saw the diary in Aelita's arms.
"Looking for something?" Aelita asked, smiling innocently.
"U-Uh, n-no," Hervé stammered. "I'll, uh, being going to breakfast now."
And he left them alone, obviously defeated and confused.
Aelita used her key to unlock her door. She opened it, letting her three friends inside first, before she followed up the rear, closing the door behind her. She sat down at her desk, and called out, "Jérémie? You there?"
His interface appeared on screen, "Yes, I'm here. A problem?"
"Nope," Aelita shook her head, before holding up her pink-colored and white flowers-covered diary.
Jérémie's expression broke out into a smile, "You found it!"
"I did," Aelita admitted. "Thanks to Yumi. Blackmailing the blackmailer worked!"
Yumi winked, "You're welcome."
"I'm glad you have your diary back, Aelita," Jérémie cut in. His smile faded into a frown. "I'm sorry you were being blackmailed in the first place. It was me you were trying to keep a secret."
"Not keep you a secret," Aelita corrected. "I was trying to protect you. Listen, I can't exactly explain my reasons as to why I made that choice," she held up her diary, "but one day, I'll tell you all about it. I promise."
Jérémie softly smiled, "I'd like that very much."
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
Next Episode: 6 - Double Trouble / Ulrich acts out of character and causes chaos.
A/N: The switch in this episode came to me when I asked myself, "What if Jérémie's diary was the one that was stolen rather than Ulrich's?". It would've been a complete mess, and the situation a lot more dire, because I guarantee he would've written about Aelita along with Lyoko and XANA.
I was surprised that the canon episode never pointed out how creepy Sissi stealing and reading, and then blackmailing Ulrich with his own diary, was. In real life, people would be massively creeped out by that, regardless of who owns the diary.