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.
And again, if you want some art to look at while you read this story, check out my DeviantArt page (same penname as here), and search 'Jerlita Roleswap AU'. If you want to request that I draw a scene from this story for you, go ahead and PM me either here or there.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
"XANA sets its sights on the skies and causes problems for everybody else. Meanwhile, who is Michel Périn?"
Episode 9: Satellite
(Based on Satellite & Claustrophobia)
"Michel Périn?" Jérémie asked, his interface showing on Aelita's computer.
The group was in Aelita's dorm, following Finson's departure from campus earlier that day. Ulrich and Aelita's plan had worked without a hitch, and now Finson was leaving, disappointed because apparently, the idea to film at the abandoned Renault factory on the banks of the Seine River wasn't really his idea.
Now with Finson out of the way, the group could focus on a more important matter.
"Yes," Aelita confirmed. "I tried to look him up on the supercomputer's databanks, but I can't. I got a result, alright, but it's protected by a heavily encrypted firewall."
"That's definitely a red flag there," Yumi commented.
"It is," Aelita admitted. "It tells me that he definitely knows something about the supercomputer, but with that firewall, I can't get any more information."
"That name ringing any bells, Jer?" Odd asked their fifth.
Jérémie's eyes were closed, a sure sign that he was deep in thought. A beat of silence, before he shook his head. "Sorry, but it doesn't. I feel like I should know who he is, but my mind is blank. Although, to be fair, I have no memories about anything, let alone about one man."
"That's a shame," Ulrich cut in. "And without that deed, we're stuck." The Return to the Past unfortunately erased Finson giving Ulrich a copy of that deed to the factory. That was the group's only regret with their plan to drive Finson away.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize, Jérémie," Aelita reassured him. "Again, your memory was most likely scrambled when the supercomputer was turned off. We'll find out who Michel Périn is eventually. We'll keep an eye out."
"Yeah, when we're not focused on classes, that is," Yumi added.
"Right," Jérémie replied. "And in the meantime, I'll see if I can crack that firewall for you. But I'll warn you right now, it will take time. Lots of it."
"Well, at the moment, we've got nothing but time," Odd pointed out.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
A couple weeks later, Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita were sitting in Ms. Hertz's class, listening to her lecture on neutrons.
"Now then, if you provoke a collision between two neutrons, what do you obtain?" She was asking, standing at the board. "Who would like to answer? Anybody?"
Hervé raised his hand.
However, just as she called on him, his cell phone started ringing, as did everyone else's, including Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich's. They all answered their phones, only to be confused when there was no one at the other end.
Aelita, her pink cell phone in hand, turned around in her seat to share a concerned, suspicious glance with Ulrich and Odd, who returned the sentiment.
Ms. Hertz, however, was tapping her foot her patience growing thin.
"Sissi! You, the principal's daughter, should know the rules dealing with cell phones! Now, why don't you remind us all what that rule is?"
Sissi recited in a monotonous tone, "All mobile phones must be turned off before entering the classroom, under penalty of having them confiscated."
"Precisely!" Ms. Hertz exclaimed, before reaching out her hand to Sissi. "Now hand it over!" Sissi sighed, but didn't protest as she handed her cell phone over to Ms. Hertz. Once it was in her hands, the teacher turned to the rest of the class, "And that goes for everyone!" She was immediately met with cries of protest. "Quiet! Put all your cell phones on my desk right now!"
In that moment, the bell rang, and the students had no choice but to leave their phones on Ms. Hertz's desk as they exited the room.
"XANA's sure gonna be happy about this," Odd whispered to his cousin and his roommate, on their way out the door.
Yumi was already waiting for them, having ran over from English class.
"We have a problem," she said, almost breathlessly. "All of our cell phones went off in the middle of class."
"And the teacher confiscated them," Odd finished. "We know. The same thing happened to us."
"Strange," Aelita was thinking. "All those calls and no one on the other end? I need to contact Jérémie. Cover for me, okay?"
The other three nodded, agreeing, and the pink-ette left for her dorm.
"We've gotta do something," Ulrich's voice was low, as he spoke to Odd and Yumi. "Whether it's XANA or not, without our phones, we're at a major disadvantage if we're faced with an attack."
"Hey, you three!" Sissi suddenly called out to them. The trio turned to face her. "I'm an organizing a meeting. They've got to give us our phones back. Are you with us?"
"You bet we are," Yumi replied, with Ulrich and Odd both nodding to show they agreed. And they did.
"Great," Sissi said. "If you really mean it, meet me in the auditorium right after lunch."
The trio watched her walk away.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita had made it to her room without any obstacles, "Jérémie? You there?"
"Yes, I'm here," his interface popped up on screen. "Sorry. Two weeks, and I still haven't made any progress with that firewall. Whoever encrypted it knew what they were doing."
"That's okay," she admitted. "To be honest, that's the least of my concerns right now. Have you noticed any pulsations on Lyoko?"
"No, should I have?" he asked, his face reading concern. "Is everything okay?"
"I'm not sure," she answered, "but every students' phones went off all at the same time. I don't think it would hurt to check."
"Of course not," Jérémie agreed. "I'll keep you posted."
"Be careful," Aelita said, as his interface disappeared.
She then typed in a couple of commands, bringing up the monoscan and running it. If XANA was behind this, then it would pick up an activated a tower.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The other three were in the cafeteria, eating lunch. Ulrich and Odd had just told Yumi about their plan.
"You're going to take back your cell phones?" Yumi asked, trying to keep her voice down. "That's called stealing, you know!"
"What do you mean?" Odd whispered back. "Taking back what belongs to you in the first place is not what I would call stealing."
"Either way, it's against the rules," Yumi replied.
At the other end of the cafeteria, Principal Delmas, Ms. Hertz, and Jim were also having lunch, their conversation low enough to go unheard to the students surrounding them.
"Thank you, Gaston," Mr. Delmas said to the kitchen worker that had served them their food. He turned to Ms. Hertz and Jim, "How can you say this is a strange coincidence, Suzanne? The students were warned!"
"Every cell phone going off in every single class," Ms. Hertz reminded him, "and yet no one at the other end is what I would call strange. In any case, what if an accident were to happen? What if a student got hurt, but couldn't call for help because they were stuck somewhere obscure and didn't have a cell phone? You know that I am a stickler for the rules, but I don't think the fault rests on the students this time."
"It may be simple interference," Jim said. "It's clearly not a hoax by one mischievous student. Every single phone went off."
Mr. Delmas sighed, "Very well. Jim, check out the antenna after lunch. See if it really is interference. Then, we'll return everyone's phones with a thorough understanding of the rules."
Jim saluted.
"We have no choice, Yumi," Ulrich was saying in the meantime, the three of them still whispering. "What if XANA attacks during this time? We'll have no way of keeping in contact with other."
"Thanks, Ulrich," Odd said. "Let's go."
Yumi glanced back at the three faculty members still eating their lunch. When she turned back, Ulrich and Odd were already gone.
With very little chance, Yumi cleaned up hers, Ulrich, and Odd's trays before taking off for Aelita's dorm. The two had a valid point, but she couldn't help but feel that this would only end in disaster.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd and Ulrich quietly approached the teacher's lounge in the Administrative Building.
As Ulrich kept watch in the hall, Odd slowly opened the door. Seeing no one inside, he whispered back to Ulrich, "Just the two of us."
"The coast is clear on my end, too," Ulrich whispered back.
"Okay, here we go," Odd muttered, before entering the teacher's lounge, closing the door behind him.
He was already sweating and he hadn't even found Ms. Hertz's locker yet. And then, once he did and opened that locker, he'd need to find Ms. Kensington's locker too, to get Yumi's.
But it was okay. It was against the rules, but he knew why he was doing this. He knew that XANA attacking without their phones on them could spell out disaster.
Using a bobby pin, Odd began his work, keeping a sharp ear out for one of Ulrich's warnings.
Hearing a small click, the locker popped open, and Odd opened it and immediately began digging. He had just grabbed Aelita's (a pink phone wasn't that hard to find), when Ulrich suddenly called out, "Oh, hello, Mr. Fumet!"
"Hello, Ulrich!"
Odd quickly placed Aelita's phone in his pocket and closed the locker door, just barely managing to hide under the nearby table when the door opened and Mr. Fumet stepped in.
It took a few minutes for Mr. Fumet to leave. At one point, his pen fell off the table and rolled underneath it to where Odd was hiding. Scared, Odd winced, closing his eyes and waiting for the hammer to drop, as Mr. Fumet felt around for the pen with his foot.
Fortunately for Odd, Mr. Fumet found the pen and then used his foot to roll it back out from underneath the desk, before picking it up without looking under thetable.
Odd smiled when Mr. Fumet finally left the room.
Now, he had a little more time. He grabbed his phone and Ulrich's as well, before picking the lock to Ms. Kensington's locker too. Once he had Yumi's, he slowly and quietly opened the door, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw only Ulrich waiting for him.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi and Aelita were both keep solid eyes on the pink-ette's computer screen, watching as numerous wire-frames of towers flashed by. They knew the monoscan wasn't quick, but this was agonizingly slow.
All while Kiwi was resting on Aelita's bed. Oh, to be a dog without any worries...
The door suddenly opened and in came Odd and Ulrich. Odd took out four cell phones from his pocket and dropped them all on the bed. "Mission accomplished!"
"Let's hope nobody finds out," Yumi warned, as Kiwi began sniffing the phones.
"I'd rather hope we're worried over nothing," Odd admitted.
"The monoscan is far from finished," Aelita relayed from her seat in front of her computer, "but no results yet."
Whatever Odd was about to say next was cut off by a sudden gasp in surprise, as he dropped his phone, startled by what was on the screen.
The eye of XANA.
"XANA!" Yumi exclaimed. This was all the proof they needed to know for certain that XANA was behind this.
"Why would XANA be interested in cell phones?" Ulrich asked.
"No idea," Aelita admitted. "The only way to find out is by checking out the school's antenna."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi had to head to Sissi's meeting. They had promised to be there. So Aelita was left on her own to check the antenna for network problems.
The pink-ette marched up to the antenna on top of the Science Building, and she was greeted by Jim. He was using a step stool to gain access to its cords.
"Jim? What are you doing up here?" she asked.
"Trying to check out the signal," Jim admitted, "but I can't seem to get it working."
Aelita held up the small device in her hand, "It would help if you had an EM detector."
"So you're here for the same reason?" Jim asked, as he stepped down. Aelita nodded. "I take it you find everyone's phones going off all at once strange too, huh?" Aelita nodded again. For good reason, she thought. "Very well. Go ahead and hook your little gizmo up to the antenna."
The pink-ette smiled, "Thank you, Jim."
Once she had her EM detector hooked up, the thing immediately started going off. Jim was looking over her shoulder, but she didn't really mind. This was a sure sign that something was wrong.
She glanced up when it detected a stronger electromagnetic field in the direction of the dish atop the nearby TV station tower.
Jim was caught off-guard when Aelita suddenly unplugged her device from the antenna, "What's up? Is it interference?"
"Sort of," Aelita explained. "I'm sorry, Jim, but I can't explain it all to you right now. You'll just have to trust me. We have to disconnect the antenna."
Jim only shrugged, but the moment he touched the cord, he received a nasty shock that knocked him out.
With no other choice, Aelita dragged him to the infirmary by herself.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Meanwhile, in the Auditorium, Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd were the last three people to sign the petition.
"Perfect!" Sissi exclaimed. "We have over fifty signatures! That's all we need to show it to the principal!" She rolled it up.
"Just what is going on in here?!" came Mr. Delmas's voice from the entrance. All students turned to face him. Standing on either side of him were Ms. Hertz and Ms. Kensington.
Sissi walked up to her father, "Oh, Dad, uh, I mean, Sir! Perfect timing! What's going on here is this!" She unfurled the petition in front of her father. "You see? We all signed a petition, so you have to give us back our cell phones!"
"Oh really?" Mr. Delmas was unamused. "First, let me remind you that, in this establishment, the students do not make the rules! Secondly, Ms. Hertz and Ms. Kensington here have both just learned that some students forced their lockers open to get back their cell phones!" The two teachers flanking him looked furious, even Ms. Kensington who was normally very laid back.
It took a lot of willpower for Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd not to look at each other out of guilt, knowing full well that those students were them.
Sissi, however, did not bat an eye, "It's only normal, Sir! Nobody can live without their cell phone! You shouldn't have taken them away from us!"
"On the contrary," Mr. Delmas revealed, "I was going to return everyone's phones once classes today were done. But now that someone in this school has shown a blatant disregard for the rules, I think I'll be keeping them until I discover who had the nerve to take back his own!"
"And I say we don't set foot in the classrooms without our cell phones!" Sissi exclaimed, rallying up the other students.
Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd were silent as the entire auditorium were in an uproar. In that moment, they saw Aelita waving at them from the window, motioning them to follow her.
In the midst of Mr. Delmas, Ms. Hertz, and Ms. Kensington trying and failing to calm down this riot, Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd slipped out of the auditorium.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita had led her three friends back to her dorm. There, she plugged her EM detector into her computer and showed them the results she had gotten.
"You see these waves?" Aelita asked. "XANA is using the school's antenna to try and plug into the main television dish."
The other three were crowded around her as they studied the monitor.
"That's why all the phones rang?" Yumi asked.
"Yes," Aelita explained. "It jams their frequencies. If XANA manages to take control of the dish, it'll have direct access to the satellites that are now orbiting the Earth!"
"And?" Odd asked.
"And it'll be able to guide a military satellite!" Aelita answered.
"Okay," Yumi said, "but for what reason?"
Aelita shrugged, "I wish I knew. In peacetime, these satellites are used for spying, but if XANA reprograms one, who knows what will happen?"
"Nothing good, I can tell you that!" Ulrich cut in. "We have to stop XANA at all costs! What if we just unplugged the school's antenna?"
Aelita shook her head, "Jim and I already tried that. All it got Jim was a nasty shock and a trip to the infirmary."
"Then, we'll have to stop it directly at the source," Odd reminded them. "We have to go to Lyoko."
Aelita's monoscan suddenly started beeping, showing the hazard symbol over the wireframe of a tower. "Not a moment too soon! Jérémie!"
Jérémie's interface popped up on screen just as Aelita called his name, "Aelita! I've found pulsations! They lead to the Ice Sector!"
"We know," she told him. "We're on our way."
Jérémie's interface closed up, and Kiwi stood up on Aelita's bed as the group began heading towards the exit.
"No, no, stay here, Kiwi," Odd told him, before closing the door behind him.
Kiwi, however, disobeyed and leapt at the door, his mouth grabbing onto the door handle. When he landed, the door was open.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"'No more phones, no more school'," Sissi told her fellow protestors, who were all holding up signs that supported their cause. "Perfect!"
That was what the four Lyokowarriors exited the dorm building to see. Turning to Aelita, Yumi said, "Go on and help Jérémie on Lyoko. Ulrich, Odd, and I will stay here."
"Right," Ulrich agreed. "With the level of danger we're in, it's all hands on deck here."
"Yeah, it's up to us to protect everybody else," Odd added.
Aelita nodded, "Okay. Good luck!" She then ran off towards the passage in the park.
"Hey!" Sissi's voice called out to the other three. "Are you three with us or not? We're in the middle of a crisis! Ever heard of solidarity?"
"Don't worry, Sissi," Ulrich reassured her. "We're with you one hundred percent."
He, Odd, and Yumi then walked up to the rest of the group, chanting, "No more phones, no more school! No more phones, no more school!", much to Sissi's surprise.
But she quickly got over it, "Okay, let's go!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita had just opened up the manhole cover in the park when Kiwi walked up to her and sat down, looking at her expectedly.
"Odd told you to stay in my room!" Aelita told him. But Kiwi didn't budge. She sighed, "You're one stubborn dog, Kiwi. You know that, right?"
But she held out her arm, and he promptly hopped onto it, letting her carry him down the ladder, and hopping onto her scooter once she opened it.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Fortunately, Kiwi was small enough to fit inside her jumper when she swung down the ropes, and he was also obedient enough to follow her into the lab once she arrived.
Kiwi rested on the floor next to the supercomputer monitor, while she sat in the chair and slipped on the earpiece, "Jérémie!" She called out as she started typing. "I'm here in the lab!"
"Aelita, I'm in the Ice Sector," Jérémie replied, his yellow arrow on the holomap showing him leaving the way tower. "Where to now?"
"The monoscan indicated the tower to be in the Ice Sector, 15 degrees West, 94 degrees South."
"Okay, I'm on my way." His yellow arrow then showed him taking off in the direction she pointed him in.
"Alright, I'll join you soon," she told him. "But first I have to do a little research."
"It's just you?" Jérémie asked as he ran across the ice floe. "If the others stayed behind, then XANA must really be pulling out all the stops this time."
"Yeah, or in the very least, it's threatening it," Aelita admitted, typing into the search engine the website for the French government. "At the moment, XANA's still not in control of the dish it needs to take over. I'm trying to find out which satellite it's after, but it won't easy."
As Jérémie's arrow continued to move across the holomap, Aelita entered the access code and got into the site she needed. There she was treated with hundreds of spreadsheets filled with information.
"U4-66," she muttered, before exclaiming, "Jérémie, I found it! XANA's after a military satellite that's armed with a highly accurate and destructive laser beam! If it manages to gain control of it, it can destroy whatever it wants!"
Jérémie's yellow arrow continued to move across the Ice Sector, "The factory is safe. XANA wouldn't fire at itself."
"Right! That'll give us some time to take care of things on Lyoko!" Aelita replied. "But then, it may target the school instead!"
"Knowing that Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd are there, that's for sure what it's going to do!" Jérémie reminded her. "You have to warn them!"
"How?! Without our cell phones–!" Aelita cut herself off when Kiwi started whining.
He was standing on all four legs, wagging his tail, and Aelita smiled when she got an idea.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The protestors were sitting right outside the window leading to Mr. Delmas's office, chanting, "No more phones, no more school! No more phones, no more school!"
Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi were all keeping sharp eyes out for anything XANA related.
"No more phones–"
But they eventually joined the chant, "No more school! No more phones, no more school!"
Mr. Delmas finally came out of his office, "I demand you stop this absurd strike now! Huh?"
He was cut off when a dog ran up to Odd from out of the woods. "Kiwi?" he asked, before noticing the note attached to his red-colored collar.
"Della Robbia!" Mr. Delmas demanded, marching up to where Odd was sitting. "What is going on?!"
"Well, I, uh..." Odd stammered, trying to search for an answer.
Mr. Delmas picked Kiwi up by the collar, "This is inadmissible! To my office! Immediately!"
With no choice, Odd followed Mr. Delmas, who still was carrying Kiwi by his collar, to the man's office.
"Did you see that?!" Sissi angrily asked her fellow protestors. "We've got to save him from the dictator! Free Odd!"
The rest of the students immediately joined in. "Free Odd! Free Odd!"
As this new chant began circulating throughout the group, Yumi leaned in to Ulrich and whispered, "Kiwi had a note attached to his collar. What do you want to bet it's from Aelita?"
"Then, let's join in," Ulrich whispered back.
The two promptly joined this chant as well, "Free Odd! Free Odd! Free Odd!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"Okay, Jérémie! I'm back!" She had to leave the lab to let Kiwi out of the factory. The holomap was finally showing a red-colored wireframe of a tower, aka: the activated tower. "The tower is just across that narrow bridge!"
"I know!" Jérémie replied. "I'm there!" His yellow arrow was indeed at the entrance to that bridge, but it had stopped moving. "But it has some guards!"
Three red circles were right in front of him. The IDs attached to those circles indicated that they were Hornets. "Watch out!" Aelita warned. "The poison they're carrying will kill your life points!"
A green spot suddenly appeared on the map in front of Jérémie, whose yellow arrow immediately moved back, as the green spot got bigger before it covered the entire width of the path. A pause, before Jérémie relayed, "It seems like they just want to keep me here. Despite the poison, they're not firing at me at all."
"Because they're trying to buy some time until XANA takes control of that satellite," Aelita realized. "Stay there, Jérémie! I've programmed your coordinates!" She then typed in some more commands, and then started the countdown.
She reached the scanner in no time, before the familiar wind signalled the transfer to Lyoko.
Her avatar formed in mid-air and she landed right behind Jérémie. Taking a quick glance at the surrounding area, it seemed that nothing had changed since she began the self-virtualization program. There were still three Hornets, and the only poison that had been sprayed was their attempt to keep Jérémie at bay.
"Any ideas?" Jérémie asked her.
"Just one," she softly replied. "I'll be the sacrifice. While they're focused on me, you slip right by and head towards the tower."
"Okay," he agreed, before readying himself to run.
Aelita then ran forward, down a side path, trying her best to side-step all of the poison still on the ground. The three Hornets immediately chased her, allowing Jérémie to run down the narrow bridge.
She formed two Energy Fields in her hands, and threw them, with only one hitting a target.
Two Hornets remained.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"I don't understand what's going on, Mr. Della Robbia!" Mr. Delmas was lecturing him.
But Odd's focus wasn't on the principal. His eyes wandered to his dog, who was still sitting there.
"A strike, a dog! I mean, yes, you're a prankster, but you usually have a regard for the rules!"
Odd leaned down, pretending he was tying his shoe, when he was really reaching for the note attached to his dog's collar.
He had just finished reading it when the principal called his name, "Della Robbia! Will you listen to me?!"
"Huh?" The note was from Aelita. She had very bad news for them. "Oh, I'm very sorry, Sir, but I have to leave right away!" To Mr. Delmas's surprise, Odd stood up and made his way to the door. "You too, as a matter of fact! Everyone around here has to leave!" He promptly closed the door behind him, with Kiwi hot on his heels.
Mr. Delmas did not heed his warning, however, just leaning back his chair and sighing.
Odd and Kiwi made it out of the Administrative Building, and was greeted by Sissi, Ulrich, Yumi, and their fellow protestors.
"He let you go, Odd?" Sissi asked, somewhat in shock that Odd was freed so quickly and easily.
"Not really, I escaped," Odd admitted.
"What? Why?" He couldn't blame Sissi for her blatant confusion.
He discreetly handed the note over to Ulrich and Yumi as he told her, "Because our, uh, our demands are more important than anything for me! In fact, we should increase the strength of our movement and protest in town!"
"He's right!" Ulrich immediately after reading the note, and now handing that note to Yumi. "We've gotta get all the schools on our side!"
"Well, I never really thought to take our protest that far," Sissi admitted.
Yumi's eyes bugged out of her head in surprise at the note's contents, but she quickly slipped the note into her pocket, and slapped on a fake smile, "It's a great idea, Sissi."
Sissi shrugged, "If you say so." She then addressed the other protestors. "They're right! Let's go!"
Up in space, the satellite's targeting lock showed the crosshairs zooming into the continent of Europe, then the country of France, then a suburb near Paris, and then to the city block Kadic Academy was on. In no time at all, Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich were within its sights, as they helped Sissi usher their protest towards the school gates.
"High school students! Middle school students! All for one and one for all!"
But then Mr. Delmas physically stopped the entire movement by blocking the gates with his body, "You will not leave the grounds!"
Sissi immediately, hotly retorted, "You have no right!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie reached the top of the iceberg, the coordinates that Aelita said the monoscan specified.
But there was nothing there. Not even a stray monster.
What was going on? Where was the tower?
Just then, he heard Aelita cry out in the distance, having just been hit by a Hornet's laser. Remembering that he was running out of time, Jérémie promptly jumped off the ledge, landing on the ice floe below.
For Aelita, the pain didn't last for very long. She quickly recovered and formed another two Energy Fields. One missed, but the other hit a second Hornet.
One Hornet left.
Her enhanced hearing picked up Jérémie asking himself, "Come on, where is it?" Her enhanced sight, when she looked in his direction, picked up him running around that iceberg, looking lost.
Apparently, the tower was pretty well hidden.
The last Hornet charged up its laser and fired, but she managed to dodge it and throw another Energy Field at it at the same time.
She cheered when it hit its target and destroyed it.
But then her enhanced hearing picked up something else. The sound of two monsters being virtualized, and then two Krabes making their way to Jérémie.
The pink-ette immediately took off running in his direction. He was in danger. Kankrelats and Hornets, Jérémie would handle, but anything above those two monsters, then he had trouble.
She only hoped she would get there in time.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The satellite's crosshairs locked onto one of the student's heads, with infrared imaging confirming that it was Odd Della Robbia himself.
Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd immediately went to the front of the line to back Sissi up. "You're making a terrible mistake!" Odd urged. "We beg of you, Sir! We've all got to get out of here!"
"I have had enough, Della Robbia!" but the principal wasn't biting. "I am suspending you for a month! You and your dog will come to my office where we will have a nice long chat with your parents! As for the rest of you, back to the classrooms! This strike is over!"
"Please, Sir!" Yumi cut in, just as desperate as Odd. "It's a matter of life and death!"
"Let us all leave, please!" Ulrich threw in. No one but he, Odd, and Yumi knew what was really going on, and Mr. Delmas was sincerely making a huge mistake.
"Hey, aren't you three being a little overdramatic?" Sissi asked them.
Just then, Kiwi began barking like mad, directly at the sky. Seconds later, the sky suddenly got dark, before a red twinkle sparked into existence, growing bigger and bigger, until a giant laser crashed into the ground right in front of the entire group. Yumi pushed Sissi out of the way, as Ulrich did the same with Odd.
The sky turned back to normal, but in the laser's wake was a massive, smoking crater.
"What in the world is happening?" Mr. Delmas breathed out, staring at the smoldering crater that just narrowly missed all of their heads.
"You believe me now?" Odd asked without waiting for the man's response. "Get everyone to safety!"
Mr. Delmas could only nod and begin ushering students and faculty alike off campus.
Ulrich whispered to Odd and Yumi, "Aelita's note said the factory was safe. Let's go!"
The other two nodded, and ran after the brunette, with Kiwi hot on their heels.
They could only hope that Jérémie would punch in the code soon.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Why couldn't he find the tower? Jérémie had searched this entire iceberg twice now, and yet, there was still no indication that the activated tower was actually here.
Just then, he heard two Krabs walking towards him, and getting closer. And yet he was unable to see either of them.
So he began to panic. Hopefully, Aelita was on her way already.
He was standing by a small pond when (it felt like) both Krabes came into view out of nowhere. One was standing behind him, having exited from the waterfall nearby, while the second had jumped down from the ledge above him and landed behind him.
Don't panic, Jérémie. You're not alone.
Focusing his mind and energy, he created in his mind an ice column in the middle of the pond right next to him. Once he felt the energy leave him, he then levitated himself to the top of that ice column. He kept his eyes closed, and held out his arms in surrender.
I have faith in you, Aelita.
He heard both Krabes charge up their lasers and fired, but neither shot hit him.
Instead, he felt Aelita push him out of the way. The force made him lose balance, causing both of them to fall onto the ledge below. Once safe on the ground, the two watched as both lasers hit the Krabe on the opposite side, thereby destroying them both.
Aelita turned back to Jérémie, a knowing smirk on her face, "That's not what I'd call 'being careful'."
He just softly smiled at her. She was on top of him, in what humans (Aelita included) would call an awkward position, the two having landed that way, but honestly, Jérémie didn't mind.
His faith was not misplaced. That's all he really cared about.
Aelita returned his smile as she shook her head as she got off of him, letting him sit up. Her gaze brushed by the waterfall, but something her enhanced sight picked up made her pause on it.
"Does that waterfall seem a little...red to you?"
Jérémie followed her line of sight, turning around to see what she saw. "Not really. It seems normal to me."
"Do the pulsations lead in there?"
"The pulsations lead to this point in general," he admitted. "If they were more specific, I would've found the tower by now."
"Let's search behind that waterfall," she told him. "Trust me."
Jérémie took a moment to process her suggestion. Then he shrugged, "Okay. It can't hurt."
He then stood up, and she followed, only for both of them to be stopped by two more Krabes virtualizing behind them.
"Go!" Aelita told Jérémie, assuming a defensive position. "I'll hold them off!"
Jérémie turned around and ran towards the waterfall. A few steps inside revealed an ice cavern, and a couple more revealed what Jérémie was looking for all this time.
There it was, the tower XANA was using to control that satellite.
Smiling, he called back to Aelita, "I found it!"
Wasting no time, he quickly skipped the ice pieces like stepping stones and then entered the tower.
Aelita's enhanced senses picked up the sound of Jérémie entering the tower just as her Energy Fields destroyed one of the Krabes.
Turning her attention back to the remaining Krabe, she smiled as she let it devirtualize her, which it promptly did.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich all hid in the tree line.
The cafeteria was gone. So were two demountable classrooms. All three of them reduced to nothing but shrapnel in the middle of smoldering craters. Fortunately, no one had gotten hurt, thanks to Mr. Delmas evacuating the rest of the school, but XANA wouldn't stop targeting Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi until they were all gone.
They had decided to all take different paths to the same destination, and not stick so close together. That way, all three had greater odds of surviving until they reached the factory.
They had also decided not to take either the sewer passage or the gym passage, all three preferring to stay outside, where they could easily see if XANA was about to fire the laser.
"Okay, to the manhole cover," Odd told Ulrich and Yumi in a low voice, holding Kiwi tight in his arms, "and then, we'll head southwest to the industrial district. There should be very few people there."
A beat of tense silence, before Yumi said, "Alright, it's now or never. Let's go!"
All three took off, running in zig-zag patterns while watching the sky.
The sky grew dark, indicating that XANA had already fired.
JEREMIE_
Odd and Ulrich made it to the manhole cover, but Yumi had tripped over a root.
The laser shot right at her.
CODE_
"YUMI! NO!" Both boys called out to her in a worried panic.
LYOKO_
The red laser stopped, just inches from Yumi's face.
Odd smiled with a sigh of relief, "They did it!" Meanwhile, the relief Ulrich felt made him fall to his knees.
Not wishing to waste anymore time, Aelita promptly launched the Return to the Past, and a white bubble enveloped everything.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Time reset to the beginning of the day, at the tail end of breakfast and before classes started.
The group was in Aelita's dorm, and Jérémie's interface was on the monitor. He had a very important question to ask them.
"Do you guys really wish to keep fighting XANA for my sake?" he asked them. "This was the second close call in such a short time frame. Next time, we may not be so lucky."
He had a point. None of them could deny that.
"We know, Jérémie," Yumi softly told him. "But we made a promise. And we won't go back on that promise. Not until you're able to live with us here."
"Are you sure?" he asked. He wasn't worth it, he wanted to scream at them. But he didn't.
"We're positive," Odd reassured him. "You don't control XANA's actions."
"But I am responsible for them," he reminded them. "I'm the only one who can shut the towers down."
"And you do so with our help," Ulrich cut in. "We're sure, Jérémie. We're not going to give up on you."
Aelita offered Jérémie a kind and reassuring smile, "You heard them."
"Yeah," Jérémie's scared and sad expression had turned into a soft smile, one that showed a hint of sorrow. Even if he didn't agree with them leaving the supercomputer on, he was still touched by their loyalty. "Good luck with your classes today."
Jérémie logged off, and Odd asked, "What was that about?"
"He doesn't feel worth all of the effort we're putting into this," Aelita translated. "Despite us doing this for the past six months, he still thinks we're better off shutting Lyoko down and trapping him inside if it means our safety is ensured."
She felt guilty. How long had he been feeling this way?
Yumi placed a hand on Aelita's shoulder, "Well, we'll have to change that, won't we?"
Aelita returned her smile.
Jérémie was worth it. He was one of them. He was their friend, and he deserved more than anyone to have a normal life. Yes, he was separated from them via a supercomputer, but they cared about him.
And now it was clear that he reciprocated those feelings. He cared about them too.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Later that day, the four were heading to the cafeteria, ready to brainstorm ideas on how to convince Jérémie that he sincerely was worth the effort over lunch.
Right outside the cafeteria doors, they were given a flier by Sissi.
Odd read it out loud, "'Official School Policy Reminder to All Students: All cell phones not turned off before entering the classroom will be immediately confiscated'. Turning into a teacher's pet, are we, Sissi?"
"No," she admitted. "Doing my duty as the principal's daughter. It's my job to remind everyone of the rules. I have to set a good example for others. But it's also my duty to stand up for students' rights." Ah, so that was the whole deal with that petition.
The four Lyokowarriors smiled. "Well, thank you for the reminder, Sissi," Ulrich softly told her. "We'll keep it in mind."
Sissi beamed at the praise. She had to admit that doing the right thing felt good.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
Next Episode: 10 - Amnesia / Something happens to Ulrich after he and Odd get into a fight.
A/N: Again, Sissi will no longer be a problem, but an ally. This episode, hopefully, helped solidify that.
It always bugged me how the adults in this episode not once wondered about the strangeness of every phone going off all at once. Instead, they just cared about the rules. Seriously, what if an accident were to happen? Here, I change it to where they're suspicious and when Odd and Ulrich steal back theirs, Yumi's, and Aelita's phones, their stubbornness in this situation is then justified, because it proves to them that some students aren't willing to play by the rules.
Sorry, you won't find out who Michel Périn until a few chapters from now. If I gave you all the answers here, then the story wouldn't be as interesting.
And finally, we have poor Jérémie feeling as though he's not worth the effort, still trying to convince the others to shut the supercomputer down. Before you ask, yes, this plot point will come up again later.