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.
Beta read and requested by FP7ETDP43, and this one is canon to the AU, but it's a filler, meaning it won't have much of an impact on the overall story
As for its place in the timeline, this takes place after 'Disorder' and before 'Sabotage'.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
"When Aelita is captured by the Scyphozoa, her worlds are turned around."
Special, Episode 41.5: Temporary Insanity
(Based on Temporary Insanity & Triple Trouble)
Today's activated tower was located in the Ice Sector.
Aelita took a quick glance at Jérémie, making sure he was still safely hidden behind the ice rock he was using as his cover. She and the others always did this out of habit, one that they didn't want to kick, especially since the Scyphozoa was still a very real danger.
Once she confirmed his safety for her peace of mind, she turned back to the Tarantula she was fighting.
It was firing at her, but unable to hit her due to her speed (her wings made her as fast as Ulrich). As she flew around the numerous lasers being shot at her, she saw Odd firing at the monster, only for all three Arrows to miss its target.
"Darn it!" he cursed. "Missed again!"
Meanwhile, Ulrich was using his Super Sprint to circle around a second Tarantula. It was pointing its two front legs, ready to fire, but it was too confused to shoot at anything. This allowed Yumi to jump into the circle from above and throw a fan at its eye. Unlike Odd, she hit her target, destroying it.
A clinking sound drew everyone's attention, and they all turned in time to see a third Tarantula (which had been chilling out in front of the tower all this time) crawl towards Jérémie. The elf, with no other choice, emerged from his ice rock cover and run away from his incoming enemy.
Unfortunately, he was being chased away from the tower—the place where he needed to be.
Odd fired a few more Arrows at the Tarantula that Aelita was still luring laser fire from. Two of them hit the underbelly of the monster, but still not the eye.
"Why am I such a bad shot today?!" her cousin cried, before being hit, resulting in devirtualization.
It then finally landed a hit on the pink-ette, sending her crashing to the ground. Ulrich and Yumi were already running over to help.
Aelita quickly got to her feet and formed an Energy Field in her left hand, before throwing it. Thankfully, it was destroyed, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
The humming of wings drew their attention to the skies—a squadron of seven Hornets were approaching.
Yumi's fans were already in her hands. "Aelita, go help Jérémie!"
"Right," the pink-ette replied, before running after the third Tarantula that was so keen on preventing Jérémie from entering the tower. She left behind Ulrich and Yumi, with the samurai blocking shots while the geisha took their enemies out with her fans.
He wasn't chased very far, since the edge of the plateau was just a few meters away. By the time she got there, she was ready to form and throw some Energy Fields at this Tarantula, only for a blue energy arrow to destroy it first.
Apparently, he didn't need any help.
"Are you sure you still need our help reaching the tower?" she asked him. "You seem to be able to protect yourself just fine." She was smiling, though, to let him know she was kidding.
His response was a sheepish smile.
They were all glad that Jérémie was finally able to defend himself and destroy monsters without using his Creativity. That being said, they would never feel comfortable letting him clear the passage to a tower by himself, not if any of them had a choice to go with him.
"Aelita, Jérémie, I hate to interrupt," Odd cut in from the controls, "but the Scyphozoa is right behind you."
The two turned around just in time to see said jellyfish monster ascending from below the ground.
Beside her, Aelita could feel Jérémie shaking in fear. She couldn't blame him—this thing had killed him once, after all.
She could feel the magnetic field as she quickly stepped in between them. "Get to the tower, Jérémie!"
He turned around and ran back towards the activated tower. They didn't know what XANA's attack was yet, so it was unwise to waste time.
Interestingly enough, the Scyphozoa didn't make any move whatsoever to chase after Jérémie. It instead chose, for some reason, to remain behind with her. But she didn't care. As long as it remained focused on her, it would ignore Jérémie. That's all she wanted.
The magnetic field somehow got stronger, despite the monster not moving in any direction. Aelita realized, with a sinking feeling in her gut, that it meant XANA had chosen to target her specifically.
She formed an Energy Field to protect herself, only for a tentacle to slap her hand away.
Aelita couldn't move as the Scyphozoa encircled her in its tentacles before picking her up. With three more tentacles, it began invading her mind, and all she saw was red...
The next thing she knew, she was collapsed on the ground and Ulrich was kneeling at her side, watching her with intense concern.
"Ulrich...?" Her head hurt, and she was holding it as she sat up.
"You were attacked by the Scyphozoa," he explained, "but I set you free. You don't seem possessed."
"Your profile says you can be devirtualized too," Odd cut in.
"I say we run a full check anyways," she replied. Ulrich nodded in agreement as she glanced around. "Where's Jérémie?"
"He should be in the tower by now," the brunette replied. As if on cue, the tower in the distance saw its halo turn from red back to neutral white. "Yep, there he is," the samurai smiled in relief. "Yumi escorted him there. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I could use some pain killers for my headache, though." It wouldn't go away, and that worried her.
Ulrich turned to the sky, "Odd?"
"Don't worry," he replied. "Materialization incoming."
The two were manually devirtualized a few seconds later.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi and Jérémie quickly followed, re-emerging in the scanners. Odd had told them what happened with Aelita, and both were concerned.
The pink-ette was sitting on the center hatch, holding her head, with Ulrich hovering close by. Odd came climbing down the ladder in a rush soon after, clearly worried about his cousin.
As soon as he was able to, Jérémie rushed to her side, asking, "Aelita, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she replied, leaving out her ongoing headache. "Whatever the Scyphozoa tried to do, it failed."
"I'd like to run a full check, though," Jérémie confessed, "just to be sure. Because why would it go after you when XANA needs to possess me? I'm the only one who can enter Code: XANA into way towers."
She shrugged, "I have no idea why it chose me as a target."
"Maybe to force an ultimatum on Jérémie?" Yumi wondered. "That's happened before." She was clearly thinking of the time XANA stole her DNA sequence code, to force Jérémie to choose who to save by giving up his half of the Keys that it needed.
"What kind of ultimatum?" Jérémie asked. "The Keys I have now are ones that XANA has no use for." He had a point; it wasn't like Jérémie now being the admin of Sector Five prevented the AI from destroying Lyoko or the sectors.
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Ulrich softly cut in. "And that's to carry out a full check."
Odd checked his watch, "It's gonna have to wait. There's no time. We've got rehearsals in exactly five minutes!"
"Rehearsal?" Jérémie asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion. Until he remembered.
During the past couple weeks, Gustave Chardin assigned his eleventh and twelfth graders to an assignment: in groups of six, they would each perform for him a certain scene from the play 'Cyrano de Bergerac'. The scene assigned to them, specifically, was from Act III.
"Oh no!" the blonde in blue gasped, "I completely forgot about that! Chardin is gonna kill us!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The gym had converted into a makeshift theater, using the set from the 'Romeo and Juliet' play from two weeks prior. The two classes, Mr. Chardin, and Jim were all waiting for the next scene—which was the Lyokowarriors', plus William, who was waiting for his co-stars because they hadn't arrived yet.
"Booo!" Nicolas shouted from the crowd. "We want our money back! We want our money back! We want our money back! We want our money back! We want our money back!"
"Poliakoff, you overdone cauliflower!" Jim interrupted him in annoyance, standing in front of him with both hands on his hops. "You mind using your head for once?! How can you get money back from a show that's totally free?!"
Some students laughed as Nicolas sat there, dumbfounded. "Well, you, uh–"
"We would have to give you back nothing!" Jim continued. "Which, if you ask me, is too much. Besides, try showing some respect! Theater, don't forget, is sacred! Believe me, I know from experience." He chuckled at the memory, "Years ago, I even wrote a one-act play."
"Oh really?" Hervé asked. "What was it about, Jim?"
"Um, I'd rather not talk about it."
Some students just laughed at his catchphrase.
Meanwhile, Mr. Chardin was standing at the entrance with William. The two heard footsteps and glanced behind them to see the five students that they were all waiting for finally arriving.
"Ah, there you are. Now, all six of you, please hurry up," the teacher said. He watched the six hurry back-stage, before entering the gym. "Hush up, everyone. The wait is over. Quiet in the theater, now."
Up on stage, the six teens took their places. Odd (playing Cyrano) knelt down behind a bush cutout, with Ulrich (playing Christian) standing in front of the balcony. On the sidelines, William (playing de Guiche) and Aelita (playing the duenna) were waiting. Meanwhile, Jérémie (playing the narrator) tapped a wooden staff against the ground a few times, calling for silence. Once it was quiet, he stepped away.
"Roxane!" Ulrich called up to the balcony.
Yumi (playing Roxane) stepped up to the railing. "Who calls me?"
"Is it I, Christian!"
"Today, your words are hesitant."
Jérémie, now on the sidelines, glanced over at Aelita on instinct, only to be surprised at how pale she looked. "Aelita," he softly whispered. "Are you okay?"
She was holding her head in her hand, and the only response she gave was a stiff nod.
"Night has come," Odd spoke, the play still going on. "In the dusk, they grope their way to find your ear."
"But my words find no such impediment," Yumi replied.
"They find their way at once," Odd continued. "Oh small wonder, that, for it is within my heart they find their home. Methink how large my heart, how small your ear..."
William smiled. Odd was perfect for the role of Cyrano, being the only one who could keep up with the demand of humor the role required.
In the audience, some students were moved by Odd's performance. Jim was even shedding some tears.
"And from their fair heights descending," Odd said, "words fall fast. But mine must mouth, madame, they need more–"
A loud "AELITA!" from Jérémie cut him off.
Everything came to a halt as everyone turned to the sidelines, where a concerned nerd in blue was kneeling at the side of an unconscious pink-haired girl...
Mr. Chardin called out, "Jim, call for Nurse Yolanda!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yolanda couldn't do anything. Aelita's heartbeat was too low to be normal, so she proceeded to call an ambulance.
Her friends watched as the paramedic loaded her into the back of the ambulance.
In a low voice, Odd leaned in towards Jérémie and said, "Only one of us can go with her. You go. We'll catch up when classes are over."
Jérémie nodded, "Okay. I'll keep you posted," before climbing into the back of the vehicle with the pink-ette.
As the others watched it drive away, Odd continued, "Something happened. But what?"
William shrugged, "No idea, but don't worry. Chardin has agreed to let us redo our scene once Aelita is back and well again."
"Thanks, William," Yumi told him. "Go on to History without me. I'll catch up."
"Okay. I'll take notes for you." The eldest boy then walked away, towards the main campus.
Now all alone, the remaining three Lyokowarriors were free to talk.
"How much do you guys wanna bet it was the Scyphozoa?" Yumi asked, her expression stern.
"All my life's savings," Odd replied. "At least she's not going crazy and blabbing our secret to everyone without realizing."
"Yeah," Ulrich shuddered. "Imagine if that was either of us."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita came to a couple hours later in the Ice Sector of all places. Sitting at her side was Jérémie, dressed in his blue elf best, and when he saw that her eyes were open, he immediately perked up in relief.
"Aelita, you're awake!" A smile was on his face. "How are you feeling?"
"Groggy, but otherwise fine." Not a lie. She no longer had a headache. "What happened?"
"You passed out," he explained. "We were wrong for choosing Chardin's rehearsal over that investigation. Do you remember anything while you were out? Any strange nightmares, or...?" He trailed off, clearly hoping she'd pick up where he left off.
"No," she replied. "But is that why you guys brought me back to Lyoko?"
"W-Wha...?" He was confused; she assumed it was about how she worded it.
So she tried again, "The Scyphozoa clearly did something to me, right? So I have to stay here until you get it sorted out?"
But to her surprise, he was still baffled. "W-We're not..."
A Krabe suddenly appeared behind Jérémie. Aelita immediately tensed up.
"Miss Schaeffer," the monster talked, to her surprise, "you're awake." And it was an adult female's voice, at that. "How are you feeling?"
Did XANA have a broken hard-disk or something?! Its monsters could never talk before!
Instead of answering, the pink-ette snapped. "Jérémie, get behind me!" she cried, leaping to her feet and placing herself between him and the Krabe, ready to fight no matter what XANA did to her.
"Aelita, what–?" Jérémie attempted.
But she cut him off, "It's a Krabe! It managed to sneak up on us!" Where were the others?!
"A Krabe?" he asked, before turning around. He finally saw the monster, and turned back to her. But he wasn't scared. Instead, he was bewildered, still. "You mean her?"
Aelita responded by throwing at Energy Field at the Krabe. She felt some of her energy leave her, like normal, and saw her weapon connect with the mechanical beast, but her attack had no effect. The Krabe was still there.
"What?!" Something was wrong. Very wrong. "My Energy Fields aren't working!" XANA messed with her avatar. It had to. There was no other explanation.
"Miss Schaeffer," the Krabe spoke again, with the same voice, "please, calm down."
"Listen to her!" Jérémie cried out. But Aelita was surprised that he was addressing her, not the monster. "That's the doctor!"
The pink-ette didn't obey him, instead lunging at the Krabe to attack it bare-handed. If she couldn't use her powers, she could at least use hand-to-hand. She knew Pencak Silat, after all.
But her idea didn't work, as she was promptly pinned down by the Krabe's front pincers.
"Doctor Delacre, I need a sedative!" it called out.
She saw a Megatank roll into view, before opening up, causing Jérémie to run away. It then rolled over to her and somehow cast a spell on her that made her feel instantly tired.
"Jérémie, help!" This was her last chance. "It's one of XANA's traps!" And she was scared. "It has to be...!"
She would have continued, but she couldn't, as she blacked out not long after.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Deep in thought, Jérémie entered the waiting room after being escorted out of Aelita's room by Doctor Delacre. Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd were sitting in one of the corners. He promptly approached them, and they all quickly got to their feet when they saw him.
"Well?" Odd asked as soon as the young genius was close enough. "How is she?"
He was quiet for a moment. "They had to escort me out of her room."
His friends immediately expressed surprise. "What?" Yumi asked. "Why?"
"She seems to think she's on Lyoko," he slowly explained. "She appeared normal to me until Doctor Phan came in, and Aelita went berserk because she perceived the doctor as one of XANA's monsters. Doctor Delacre had to sedate her as she tried to warn me that she was in another one of XANA's traps."
"I think she's right about that," Ulrich replied.
"So do I," Jérémie quickly agreed.
"Why didn't she see you as, say, a Hornet, Jer?" Odd wondered. "Why only the doctor?"
"Probably because she's seen me on Lyoko before," the blonde in blue said. "It's very likely the same deal with you guys."
"So what now?" Yumi asked. "We can't leave her like this."
"We're not," Jérémie replied, without missing a beat. "You guys stay here with her. I'm heading to the factory to run that full check that we should have chosen over the rehearsal. Keep me updated."
"We will," Odd promised.
Jérémie then left the hospital, leaving his friends behind. Said friends approached the reception desk, with Yumi in the lead and the two boys both on either side of her.
"Hello," she greeted the lady sitting at the desk with a warm smile. "Is Aelita Schaeffer allowed visitors?"
"Not at the moment," the woman replied, flipping to the next page of the sumo magazine she was reading. "She's under observation. Come back later."
"Okay, thank you," Yumi replied, muttering as the trio left the desk. "Sorry we interrupted you."
As they found their way back to the corner seats they were occupying just moments ago, Odd followed up with his own flair of sarcasm, "Super warm welcome, by the way, lady. Never change."
Ulrich just shrugged at him, as if to say, 'What can you do?'.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita awoke to the Ice Sector once again, but this time, Jérémie was absent. She didn't know where he was, or why XANA didn't take her out while it had the chance earlier, but she was frightened and on edge because of them both.
A familiar voice—the voice of the Krabe from earlier—sounded again, "Did you give her something to calm her down?"
"Mm-hmm." She didn't know who that voice belonged to, though. Probably another monster.
Sure enough, the same Krabe from earlier came into view from behind a large glacier on her left. It stopped in front of her. "Hello, Miss Schaeffer, I am Doctor Chantel Phan. I've been assigned to your case," it calmly told her. "Don't bother trying anything. The paramedic we've stationed right outside your door gave you the strongest sedative we have, and I am a tenth dan in aikido."
This Krabe (or doctor?) was right. Aelita's body felt very relaxed, despite her mind being incredibly tense.
The monster continued, "Now, tell me, are you having any problems at the moment?"
"No." The pink-ette's answer was short and curt. This was XANA talking to her, after all. Obviously trying to deceive her.
"I see. Are you sleeping well? Any nightmares? Or restless nights?"
"No." Actually, yes. But she wasn't going to give XANA a single bit of satisfaction knowing the true extent of the trauma it had caused to her and her friends.
"Troubles at school, perhaps? Or with your parents?"
That crossed a line. "Why would I tell you about my parents, XANA?! Leave them out of this!"
"'XANA'..." the Krabe muttered. "Interesting. Do you see this XANA as an enemy?"
"Of course I do! You ruined Jérémie's life!" Truth. She would always hate the AI for Jérémie's trauma most of all.
"Your friend from earlier? Also interesting. What is the nature of the relationship between your friend and this XANA?"
"You already know that, XANA!" Aelita exclaimed in unbridled anger. "I shouldn't have to remind you! I don't know what your plan is here, but take your Krabes and your Megatanks and just leave me alone!"
She then collapsed back on the bed, refusing to answer any more questions as tears stung her eyes.
Strange. You couldn't cry on Lyoko...
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
It was about thirty minutes later or so when Yumi's cellphone vibrated in her pocket. She quickly picked up, knowing who it very likely was. There was only one person it could be.
"Yes, Jérémie?" she answered.
"XANA is definitely behind Aelita's madness," the blonde genius explained. "The Scyphozoa inserted a virus into her brain that's causing hallucinations. The only way to get her head straight is to get her to a way tower somewhere on Lyoko where I can give her an anti-virus."
"You mean we have to spring her from the hospital?" she asked, curiously. On either side of her were Odd and Ulrich, both of whom were intently waiting and listening to her half of the conversation.
"You got it."
She relented, "Okay. If you say so." She then hung up and put her phone back into her pocket. "We have to bring Aelita to the factory," she explained to the two boys with her, her voice low. "It's the only way to get her back to normal."
"We'd love to," Odd replied, "but it's easier said than done. Observe."
He then walked up to the reception desk. The same woman was still sitting behind it, still (somehow) reading the same magazine.
"Aelita Schaeffer?" the boy asked.
"No visitors allowed," the lady immediately replied, before turning yet another page. "She's under observation. Come back later."
Odd didn't even bother to respond, only turning away and heading back to his friends.
"See?" His hands were buried deep into his pockets, uncharacteristically solemn. However, given his concern for his cousin, it was understandable.
"What do we do now?" Ulrich asked.
Yumi glanced at a scene behind her, "Quiet. Listen."
It was a scene of a young Asian doctor talking with the doctor who previously treated Jérémie in a previous take (Doctor Delacre), as well as one they'd never seen before.
"The young lady in Room 237," the woman was saying, "appears to be seeing any other human being as an imaginary enemy she calls 'XANA'." She was reading off of a clipboard in her hands. "She despises this person, whoever they are, for harming the friend that arrived with her in the ambulance. She's also fighting imaginary monsters called 'Krabes' and 'Megatanks', and they seem to be underlings of this 'XANA'."
"Has she said why she hates them?" Doctor Delacre asked.
"No," the lady shook her head. "When I asked, she immediately shut down and refused to speak another word."
For good reason—Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd all felt. XANA had killed Jérémie after all, had taken away his parents, and in the process of stealing his half of the Keys, had also attempted numerous times to break down his only support structure: his friends.
And that was leaving out that Aelita herself had a front row seat to Jérémie's death and subsequent resurrection.
Delacre turned to the third doctor. "Doctor Frelion, what do you think?"
"Where does she get such crazy names from?" Frelion asked, letting loose a few chuckles. "Typical of today's youth."
Ulrich fought back a growl that threatened to erupt. He only succeeded in keeping quiet because he knew that Lyoko and XANA were supposed to stay a secret for everyone else's protection.
From an outsider's perspective, the whole thing did seem absurd, but it wasn't Aelita's fault that she was hallucinating Lyoko in place of the real world. It wasn't her fault that she was letting slip, mostly out of anger, the secret of the old abandoned Renault factory on the bank of the Seine River. Nor was her current condition 'typical of today's youth'; it was a genuine problem.
(Besides, Odd was the one who named the monsters, not Aelita.)
Yumi turned back to the boys. "And now we know what room she's in," she smiled.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The trio peeked around the corner, seeing the paramedic standing guard in front of Room 237. The first in what they feared would be a long line of obstacles in getting Aelita to the factory.
"Leave him to me," Yumi whispered to the boys.
She then emerged from around the corner, walking up the man while holding her hands out, as if using them to 'see' like a blind person would. She then bumped into him, and she stumbled a bit before catching herself.
"Oh, excuse me, ma'am," she muttered.
The paramedic seemed to quickly catch on that she was (pretending to be) blind. "'Sir', actually," he corrected. "Um, do you need help?"
"Oh, yes, please," she replied, with a hopeful smile. "I-I'm looking for my room. Room, uh, 217, I believe."
"Come with me," the man said, placing a steady arm around her shoulders. "I'll take you there."
"Thank you."
Ulrich and Odd shared a victorious smile with each other as they watched the guard escort Yumi to Room 217, away from Room 237.
Once the hallway was completely empty, the boys snuck over to the open doorway. Inside the room, Aelita was laying on the bed, restraints around her wrists—obviously there to prevent any more lashing out like Jérémie had earlier described.
"'Lita?" Odd asked.
She lifted her head up and immediately cried out, "Watch out for the Hornets!"
"What Hornets?" Ulrich asked, confused.
That is, until they noticed the pink-ette struggled against her wrist restraints. "Why can't you guys see them?! Jérémie couldn't either!"
Because he saw the reality. Aelita was hallucinating.
"Because they're using some kind of cloaking program," Odd told her, playing along. "But don't worry, Jérémie just programmed a way for us to see them too! Laser Arrow!"
He then acted as if he was shooting at these 'Hornets', as Ulrich ran up to her side and undid the restraints.
She immediately sat up and rubbed her wrists to ease the soreness away. "Thank goodness you guys are here! I thought those Hornets would never let go of me!"
"It was probably love at first sting," Odd joked, assuming a protective stance as he hovered close by his cousin.
"Don't worry, you're safe now," and Ulrich meant it. "But we must hurry. There's an activated tower, and Jérémie needs our help getting through."
The pink-ette immediately jumped into action. "Then, what are we waiting for?"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi saw the paramedic open the door to the aforementioned room for her, "Here you are, Room 217."
"Thank you for showing me the way," she replied, closing the door behind her.
"Game of tiddlywinks?" came an unfamiliar voice from the opposite end of the room.
Yumi gasped at the sudden sound and turned around to see an old woman sitting in one of the beds. She was looking at the teen hopefully.
"U-Um, what?" What was tiddlywinks? She was kind of afraid to ask.
"Just one game. Whoever wins gets to take the other person's medicine!" The woman asked, "Well, what do you say?"
Yumi blinked in confusion, before bowing, "Sorry. Another time, perhaps."
She quickly booked it out of there, closing the door on her way out, much to the old lady's confusion.
The Japanese girl turned two corners before she ran into Ulrich and Odd, who were both leading Aelita to the exit.
"Yumi," Ulrich greeted her with some sort of false optimism, "thank goodness you made it to the factory in one piece. Now, we can all go to the activated tower and help Jérémie." He and Odd then winked at her.
Of course. Play along with Aelita's hallucination. That was the easiest way to get her to the real factory, where Jérémie was waiting with that anti-virus.
"Oh yes, of course, the tower," she replied. "Follow me, I know where it is."
"How's Jérémie holding up?" Aelita quickly asked.
"He's defending his own just fine," Yumi answered, as she turned in the direction of the hospital exit. "But I'm not sure how much longer he can last. C'mon, we're wasting time."
Next up were the vending machines, where the doctor assigned to Aelita's case (Doctor Phan) was still talking with Delacre. The three quickly told the pink-ette to keep quiet and not engage, and she obeyed.
"But it's strange," Doctor Phan was saying. "The girl's anger at this 'XANA' seemed very real. I don't think it is imaginary..."
"The girl..." Delacre was, to the teens' horror, staring right at them.
Phan turned around to see what he was seeing, "What the...?" She dropped her drink onto the floor, and it spilled all over the floor. "Where do you think you're going?!"
"The Krabe's caught up with us!" Aelita exclaimed, but Yumi pulled her away.
"No time! Let's go!"
All four teens took off into a run towards the exit, with Yumi leading the way.
Doctor Phan chased after them as they ran past the receptionist. "Out of my way!" She ran past the desk, trying to catch up with them.
They managed to escape, with the doors closing in front of Phan. By the time they opened for her again, the four kids were getting smaller on the horizon.
She pulled out her cellphone, "Hello, is this the police headquarters?"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"Just a little further!" Yumi reassured the pink-ette following her. "The tower's not far now!"
The four were still running, and they were getting tired. They wanted to stop and rest, but they had to reach the factory as quickly as possible.
Police sirens began sounding.
They turned around, while stopping in their tracks. A police car was heading right towards them.
Yumi glanced around, looking for a shortcut, but unfortunately, she didn't see any way to get them off their trail.
"Let's just go!" Ulrich urged.
But Aelita, it seemed, had a different idea. She stepped forward, boldly claiming, "Go on and help Jérémie! I'll take care of the Megatank!" She then ran towards the police car at full speed.
It was clear what she was about to do. Hence why Yumi cried out, "Aelita, no!"
But it was too late. Aelita was already in motion, and she didn't want to stop.
She ran up to the police car, right in the middle of the street.
"Huh?!" The driver exclaimed in surprise. "What is this crazy girl trying to do?!"
The pink-ette jumped up, preparing a flying kick. The car swerved out of the way just in time so as to not hit her by accident. It skidded to a stop in front of a brick wall.
Aelita glanced behind her, as Thomas Vincent appeared from his van nearby, with Edna the camerawoman right behind him with her camera.
TV stuck a microphone in the two police officers' faces. "Well, tell us what it feels like to be part of the evening news!"
The two officers just stared at him.
Meanwhile, Aelita returned to her friends with a proud smile, "That should take care of them."
The other three were flabbergasted, staring at her with shock and open mouths.
"I–...What–..." Odd stammered. "C'mon, that doesn't even–..."
The pink-ette just shrugged.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie remained unaware of all of this, instead completely focused on the anti-virus for Aelita. He'd already run two test runs already, both of which were successful, but a couple more wouldn't hurt anything.
He was interrupted by an alert from the superscan, the window showing a tower turning red.
"Oh great," he muttered, deadpan. "That's all we need." XANA was just making all of this more difficult than it already was.
He promptly typed in Yumi's number.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The four were taking a quick rest on a set of stairs when Yumi's phone rang again. She quickly picked up, knowing it was probably their missing fifth.
"Yes, Jérémie?"
"Activated tower in the Mountain Sector."
"We're on our way," she replied. "Hang in there." She then hung up, and turned to the others. "We need to hurry. Jérémie's on his last legs."
Not really, but mentioning that Jérémie was in danger was always the most sure-fire way to get Aelita's attention.
As expected, the pink-ette perked up, "Then, let's go!"
But Odd was looking at something behind them all. "What is that?" The other three turned around to see what was happening.
"What's what?" Aelita couldn't see anything, due to her brain making her think she (and the others) were on Lyoko.
But Ulrich and Yumi saw a dark grey cloud of smoke begin to appear on the horizon. A couple was running away from it, and the teens saw the woman trip and immediately turn to stone once the smoke touched her. The man succumbed to the same fate not long after, the two now statues.
"Well, they say smoking's dangerous for your health!" Odd quipped.
How many people had already been turned into statues? XANA just activated the tower.
"Is that a blizzard?" Aelita asked, reminding the others that she thought they were in the Ice Sector.
"Yes," Odd replied, the other two forever grateful of his quick thinking. "And it will take away our lifepoints if we touch it!"
"Right!" Yumi quickly added. "Our only safe haven is the nearest way tower! Let's go!" 'Way tower' was code for 'the factory', obviously, but again, Aelita didn't know that.
They didn't have to tell the pink-ette twice. She took off in the opposite direction—which, fortunately, was still a smoke-free zone—and the other three were hot on her heels. The smoke was slow, but it was providing them with an excuse to get to the factory faster. Probably not what XANA wanted...
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Miraculously, they arrived at the factory with the smoke about five minutes or so behind them. It didn't take much to coax Aelita into the elevator, surprisingly, just a suggestion to take a quick break to catch their collective breath. While she was looking at Yumi, Ulrich had pressed the down button.
Their first stop was the lab, where Jérémie was seated in front of the monitor, the microphone resting within his ear. He was turned around to see who was arriving, and when he saw it was his friends, his expression turned into one of relief.
"There you are! It's about time!" he told them. On the screen, they saw as they approached him, was a news window showing XANA's smoke turning people into statues. "We've got work to do."
"Right, you need to get some information from a nearby way tower," Odd said, winking at Jérémie—his way of telling him to play along. "Right? To find out whatever the Scyphozoa did to Aelita?"
So the genius nodded, "Yes, I do. So, Aelita, you need to stay with me. Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd, you guys go on ahead and clear the passage."
The said trio all nodded before taking the elevator down to the second level.
Aelita stood tentatively at his side, carefully watching the surrounding area for any monsters ambushing them (not wanting a repeat of earlier). Fortunately, this let him type in the needed commands to send to the other three to the real Lyoko.
He selected all three ID cards. "Transfer Yumi, transfer Odd, transfer Ulrich." Their avatars began to load. "Scanner Yumi, scanner Odd, scanner Ulrich." Once the loading was complete, he pressed 'enter'. "Virtualization!"
On the holomap, he saw three green arrows appear in the Mountain Sector, all very near the tower.
Now to get Aelita into the scanner. He needed her on Lyoko for real in order to administer to her the anti-virus. But how?
Which sector did she believe they were in? Only one way to find out.
"We need to get to the Mountain Sector," he told her. "The information I need is there."
"Okay," she replied. "Then our next stop is that way tower in the distance."
Way tower? So, she thought they were in the Ice Sector. That solved his dilemma.
"Then let's go."
He got up out of the chair, after taking out the earpiece. He led her to the elevator, and fortunately for him, she followed him, afraid of letting him out of her sight. He pressed the button to go down.
When they let out at the scanner room, he called out, "Way tower in sight!"
As if on cue, Aelita ran up to one of the scanners and got in. He was close behind her, but instead of getting in with her, he pressed a button on the side of the cylinder, which closed the doors of the scanner. He ignored her confusion as he did so.
She was where he needed her to be, so he used the ladder to climb back up to the lab. Slightly out of breath, he brought up his and Aelita's IDs, typed in the necessary coordinates, and then brought up the timer. He pressed 'enter' again, starting the timer, before climbing back down the ladder to the scanner room.
He made it to an empty scanner with fifteen seconds to spare.
Once gust of wind upwards later, he felt himself depixelize before reforming in mid-air. He dropped down to the ground of the Mountain Sector, with Aelita at his side. The way tower was about few hundred meters away, visible on the horizon (it would've been closer, but the Mountain Sector had very awkward landing points).
Speaking of his companion, the pink-ette's eyes immediately lit up with unbridled joy. "We're home, Jérémie! We're in Switzerland!"
So the game had changed. In the real world, she imagined she was on Lyoko, but once she was actually on Lyoko, she imagined she was on Earth. More specifically, her chalet in the Swiss Alps.
He slipped his goggles down over his eyes. "Um, yeah." He didn't know how else to respond.
"My house is nearby, and my parents should be home," she told him with an excited smile. "I don't really know how you and I ended up here, when we should be in the Mountain Sector," ironically, they were, "but my parents have been asking to meet you for a long time."
And he wanted to meet them too; that wasn't a lie.
To play along, he returned her smile with a soft one, "Then, let's go. Take me there."
Her grin got even wider, which he didn't think was possible, and she grabbed his hand before running down the path towards the tower.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Meanwhile, Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi all landed in a circle. Odd was the only one facing the tower, and he pointed at it, "There it is! Let's go!"
He took off running, with the other two on his heels—all three cursing this sector's long narrow paths giving very little options for landing points. The tower was in sight, but it was rather small on the horizon.
They were fast approaching a roundabout, and from the farthest entrance to it appeared a Megatank. It immediately opened up and fired.
Fortunately, all three teens managed to avoid the laser by jumping to the sides. Now taking cover behind two large rocks, they glanced at each other, wondering what to do now.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie and Aelita were halfway to the way tower when a Tarantula and two Kankrelats formed in the air before landing in front of them, blocking their path. He immediately tensed up, ready to fight their welcoming committee, but beside him, the pink-ette was trembling.
"Aelita?" he asked, genuinely concerned. What was she seeing?
"W-Wolves..." she muttered, before taking a shaky step back. "I-I've always been scared of them..."
That's right. Wolves were Aelita's biggest fear ever since she was a child, and her nightmares prominently featured them as allegorical figures, usually for other things she was scared of or her insecurities.
He remembered that conversation. He was trapped on Lyoko, and had asked what fear was, prompting her to tell him all about the various things people were afraid of. For her, it was wolves due to childhood experiences.
Knowing she was scared of wolves enough to run in the opposite direction (he needed her to stay with him), he concentrated hard, before a rock cocoon enveloped Aelita.
"Jérémie?!"
Sorry, he wanted to tell her. I know you're already scared, but I had no choice.
Instead, he said, "Stay there. I'll be right back."
He then rushed towards the trio of monsters patiently waiting for him. The Tarantula got onto its hind legs and fired at the cocoon with its front legs. Meanwhile, the two Kankrelats opened fire at him.
He leapt out of the way, avoiding the shots, before forming a dagger and throwing it at one of the Kankrelats. It exploded to signal its defeat.
One down, two more to go.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The Megatank was constantly shooting its laser, despite not hitting any targets. Its intention was clearly to prevent Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi from reaching the tower.
"This is crazy," Ulrich muttered. "We can't move. We're stuck!"
"I have an idea," Odd told them, before stepping out in between the two rocks that stood on either side of the path. The Megatank fired at him, but he remained where he was, blocking the laser with his violet energy shield. "Go on, both of you!"
Ulrich and Yumi took this chance to emerge from their rock covers, both taking opposite sides of the massive laser.
The geisha reached her next rock cover first (with Ulrich's a little farther along). When she did, she glanced back, and called out, "Odd, watch out behind you!"
The cat turned around in time to see a second Megatank laser coming towards him. He dropped his shield and leaned back so that both lasers passed right by him. The Megatank behind him was hit by the laser from the first one, and was destroyed as a result.
Odd glanced back at Yumi, who shrugged. The cat leapt back to his cover in time to avoid another shot from the first Megatank.
Ulrich told his friends, "Both of you, stay there," before Sprinting out from behind his own cover.
The Megatank fired at him repeatedly, but he managed to easily dodge all the shots, before running on the underside of the pathway. Having lost sight of him, it looked around, confused, before he jumped back onto the path.
It immediately fired at him, but he dodged that shot too, before jumping up and stabbing its eye with his katana. The resulting explosion knocked the samurai back a bit, but not enough to devirtualize him.
However, his katana slid away from him.
He turned to his friends, "Come on, the coast is clear."
Odd and Yumi began to run down the path to meet up with him, only for them to stop, to his confusion.
"Ulrich, watch out!" Yumi cried, pointing at something behind him.
The samurai turned around in time to see a third Megatank roll into view from behind the tower. He reached for his katana, only for to be destroyed by a circular laser.
He groaned in frustration, before running away from it and back to his friends—his only other option. The Megatank on his tail, he was about to go faster, "Super Spr–ah!"
But he got run over and devirtualized instead.
Back in the scanner room, he punched a wall. "It wasn't enough that they shoot at us," he grumbled. "Now they're trying to run us over. That's really not fair."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The rock cocoon he had created to keep Aelita safe was about to break thanks to the Tarantula's relentlessness. Knowing this, Jérémie ran up to it and leapt at her, soaring through pieces of rock, and tackled her to the ground.
She was still shaking in fear as she lay flat against the ground. Jérémie encouraged her to stay in that position, if only to avoid the lasers from the remaining two monsters.
"Back off, XANA," he growled as he formed another dagger and threw it at the second Kankrelat, destroying it.
"XANA?" She asked. "You think we're on Lyoko or something?"
He didn't respond to that, not having the time right now to explain to her the irony. He formed a blue-colored Energy Field of his own and threw it at the Tarantula, just as it fired.
The two shots met in mid-air and canceled each other out.
The Tarantula stood up on its hind legs and walked toward them, firing at them. Despite his blue energy shield, Jérémie got hit in the leg.
And despite his best efforts, Aelita got hit in the arm. "Ow! Something just stung me!"
"Stay down!" he ordered. He didn't mean to be harsh, but she was actually on Lyoko and she had no idea, which was very dangerous, especially in the presence of enemies.
The Tarantula got back down on four legs, reassuming its classic firing position. Seeing this, Jérémie concentrated and formed in his mind a large boulder. Once it became reality, it came crashing down on top of the Tarantula, destroying it.
The elf breathed a sigh of relief before turning to the angel. He gestured towards the tower, "This way, hurry up!"
But she pointed to behind her, "No, the chalet is that way!"
Getting increasingly frustrated by the minute, he simply grabbed her hand and pulled her along towards the tower. He'd apologize to her later, but either of them being devirtualized right now was not an option.
Once they reached the base of the tower, he positioned her in front of him and ushered her through the wall by her shoulders. He made her stop at the edge of the circular platform, with a sharp, "Stay," before rushing to the center and summoned the interface.
He brought Aelita's digital profile, with her DNA. After swapping some windows around and exiting out of others, he finally inserted the anti-virus into her profile, intently watching as it got to work.
A couple seconds later, he heard her ask, "Jérémie? What just happened? Aren't we supposed to be in Switzerland?"
He turned around to see her being surrounded by a green aura, before it faded. Smiling with immense relief, "The Scyphozoa inserted a virus into you that made you hallucinate the real world as Lyoko, and vice versa."
"Really?" He nodded. "I guess that explains why XANA's monsters had voices for once, and why you didn't see that 'Krabe'." Because he saw it for what it really was: Doctor Phan. "And you guys being super weird about explaining things. The blizzard the others said would deplete our lifepoints, for example..."
"I'm not sure what that means," Jérémie confessed, "but I have a feeling they were trying to explain to you the cloud of smoke turning people into stone."
"We were," Ulrich cut in, from the lab. "And I'm glad you're back to normal, 'Lita. Sorry for the weirdness, but we had to play along to make it easier for you to follow us. Speaking of that smoke, you still need to deactivate the tower, Jérémie."
"I know. Send us a vehicle?"
"It'll be waiting outside for you."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Said cloud of smoke was coming into the factory from the bridge, heading towards the elevator. It snuck in through the shaft, heading for the lab...
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The last Megatank fired at Odd, devirtualizing him. Yumi jumped up and threw a fan, hitting the eye and destroying the monster. She landed gracefully before catching her fan, only to be caught off-guard by a Tarantula firing at her from behind, devirtualizing her.
Aelita and Jérémie arrived on the Overwing in time to said Tarantula join a second in guarding the tower.
The pink-ette immediately got an idea, and she turned to Jérémie (she was piloting) to ask, "Ready to jump?"
He nodded, before leaping off the vehicle. Aelita steered it towards the two monsters, before she jumped off as well.
The Overwing hit both Tarantulas, destroying them both through its sacrifice.
Aelita watched as Jérémie entered the tower at a sprint.
In the lab, Ulrich saw the smoke cloud start covering the ground. In response, he stood up on top of the chair. "Hurry up, Jérémie!"
JEREMIE_
CODE_
Down in the scanner room, the smoke was seeping in through the panel in the ceiling, the one that connected it with the lab. Odd and Yumi, both alarmed, scrambled up on top of the floor hatch in the center of the room.
LYOKO_
But then the smoke disappeared. Ulrich smiled in relief.
"Tower deactivated," the elf announced. "Everyone okay?"
"Yep, no sweat," the brunette replied. "But I strongly suggest a Return to the Past."
Jérémie let loose a small chuckle, "Already on it."
A couple of seconds later, a white bubble engulfed everything, undoing all of the petrifications out in town and erasing the consequences of Aelita's hallucinations.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Time rewinded to rehearsals earlier that day. Since there was no tower to worry about, the Lyokowarriors weren't late this time. Nor did Aelita (or anybody) pass out.
"Methinks that your last words have learned to climb!" Yumi said, channeling the character of Roxane.
"With practice such gymnastics girl as hard!" Odd spoke Cyrano's lines from his bush cutout.
"In truth, I seem to speak from distant heights!" Yumi replied.
"True, far above at such a height, t'were death if a hard word from you fell upon my heart!"
The play was once again interrupted, by Mr. Chardin this time. "Stop, stop, stop!" The five teens, plus William (their partner) turned to him, surprised and a bit confused. "It's not bad, but you're not there, not just yet. What it's missing is a bit more, um..."
"More passion?" Ulrich asked, curious.
"No, no, some..."
"Some popcorn?" Jim chimed in next to him.
"No."
"A touch of insanity?" Aelita offered from the sidelines with Jérémie and William.
Chardin snapped his fingers, "Exactly, yes! That's it!"
The five Lyokowarriors just laughed at the irony.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The five were in hanging out in the courtyard, having all claimed a bench.
"You did great as Cyrano, Odd," Yumi was saying. "Don't be surprised if Chardin asks you to take up the role if we ever do the play for real."
"And I'll be sure to take it," Odd replied with a smile. "Cyrano's the only character I can find myself easily slipping into."
"Well, the role requires the same humor and wit that you use on us all the time," Ulrich told him. "You're the perfect fit."
"Why, thank you, good buddy," was Odd's response. "But I hope Christian and Roxane are played by other people. The subtext was a little too on the nose there for you and Yumi."
Both Ulrich and Yumi blushed at his teasing. "We're just good friends, Odd," the brunette muttered.
The Japanese girl added, "And that's all."
Aelita decided to show her two friends some mercy here and interject with what was on her mind ever since the tower was deactivated.
"Thank you guys for saving me," she said. "And I'm sorry if I was difficult to handle."
"Don't worry about it," Yumi waved her off. "You weren't difficult at all."
"Besides, it was just you," Ulrich added. "Imagine if it was two of us, like, say, Odd and me. We would've been difficult."
"Oh, for sure," Odd agreed. "But to be honest, there was something pretty fun about pretending we were on Lyoko like that. I know it sounds wrong, but it was like when you're a kid and you play make believe knights and dragons, and all that good stuff."
"Except there were real dangers this time," Yumi reminded him.
"And again, that made it fun," Odd replied.
"Well, I'm glad you guys had fun," Jérémie cut in. "But we should issue out an official warning for everyone to avoid the Scyphozoa. Yumi lost her DNA sequence code and Aelita was given a virus that turned her worlds around. It's also able to steal anything within our memory and possess one of us at any given time. Any of you could be next, and who knows what XANA could be planning then?"
"Don't worry," Aelita reassured. "Lesson learned. Next time we find ourselves cornered by the Scyphozoa, I'll run away with you."
Jérémie let slip a smile. "Much appreciated."
Odd stood up and began stretching. "I'd love to continue this conversation, but I am very hungry. Something tells me it's time for lunch."
"Probably your growling stomach," Ulrich shot back, he and Yumi getting up from their spots on the bench.
"Yeah, we can hear it from here," Yumi added in jest.
The three began walking towards the cafeteria, with Aelita and Jérémie following them.
The pink-ette turned to the blonde and said to him in a low voice, "One day, I'll take you home to meet my parents for real. I promise."
He sent her a warm smile in return, "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 (Still): 42 - Sabotage / XANA has sabotaged the supercomputer but a dorm inspection ends up wasting precious time, forcing Jérémie to take drastic action.
And now, a message from the beta-reader and requester of this chapter: "Hello, it's me, FP7ETDP43. How are you all doing?
You know, once the first special episode was published, I knew that there must be other special episodes to be made in this series. After all, exploring unexpected angles and logical conclusions was the reason why the "Worst Case Scenario" episode was written in the first place.
So, I very much dug into the episode list to find something that would make for a good special episode. Alack and alas, all episodes of Season 2 didn't have any interest for me. There simply wasn't anything that could be used for a special episode. And after searching inside Season 3, I came up with a simple but effective idea.
What was going to be originally a special episode version of Temporary Insanity was born from an obvious observation: Aelita can fight on Lyokô and operate the supercomputer, essentially merging her role and that of Jérémie's in the original show. So, what if X.A.N.A. focused on her rather than Ulrich and Odd? I reached out to SepticAbzies, asked her if she could write this episode and she agreed to write it.
In early November 2023, she proposed to me that this should be a standard episode, since the last one, which merged "A Fine Mess" and "Temporary Insanity", leaned more towards the former than the latter. It was such an honor to receive such a proposition that I immediately agreed to this and I even proposed my services for this chapter. And here we are, now. I really hope you enjoyed this story!"