Note: As it's November, and there are often Thanksgiving episodes made for certain shows, it feels like I should make a chapter centered around the big meal of the year. However, I rarely do stories centered around holidays, so that won't be happening. Sorry, Bob's Burgers fans, but this won't be a Thanksgiving chapter. This chapter will be a bit of a surprise, and I'll try not to spoil the surprise in the chapter. Believe me, that could've easily been a bad habit of mine.
Now that I've said that, it's time for chapter eleven.
Chapter 11: Doomed
At the lab, Jeremy was overlooking the data he had recently documented. The war against X.A.N.A was getting much more difficult, even as the Lyoko Warriors increased their membership. Not only had their mortal enemy created a whole new Sector, one that was too deadly to stand in, but he had created a new monster that can introduce viruses that the Return To The Pasts couldn't fix. Since the group had located X.A.N.A in Seymour's Bay, they figured that the malignant AI would be easier to take down. The multi-agent program had nearly killed him, which meant that he couldn't have been as powerful as he was before had he survived. But, as always, fighting the monster of Lyoko was easier said than done.
Once he had finished going through the collected data, Jeremy searched through the file on the Fire Sector. It didn't seem to have a code that allowed anyone to be Virtualized directly into it. Jeremy remembered how he had trouble Virtualizing anyone directly into Sector Five. The first time the spectacled blonde had sent the team to it, it resulted in Ulrich's mind being separated from his body. Luckily, the Lyoko Warriors did not make the same mistake. In fact, before and after Lyoko's destruction, Jeremy was able to send anyone to Sector Five without much trouble.
Jeremy looked at the files of the other Sectors, trying to see if the code for Virtualization would work for the Fire Sector. The only time the Lyoko Warriors went there was from a wormhole, much like how they went to Sector Five before a Virtualization method was discovered for it. As he tried the code out on the file for the Fire Sector, the teen found that it had worked. However, no one else was in the lab at the moment, so the Virtualization would have to wait until later. Gathering up his findings, Jeremy left the factory and decided to head to Wagstaff. School would be open tomorrow, so he wanted to speak to his friends the moment he saw them.
It was almost the end of the day at Wagstaff, and the Lyoko Warriors (sans Odd) had finished their tutoring duties. As the students were about to be dismissed, the group was speaking to the Belchers and Henry. Jeremy had called for them to meet up in the cafeteria, as they couldn't cause a commotion in the library. Nonetheless, the team met up and decided to speak about what was going on.
"Well, our day's been going pretty good." Louise said. "Not only did I manage to get my homework turned in, but Ms. LaBonz told me that I got a B on it."
"I wish I turned in mine." Gene spoke. "I had it with me this morning, but now it's gone!"
"Did you put it in the wrong folder again?" Tina asked.
"No, I only have one folder!" The eleven-year-old said. "Looks like I'll have to start having my schoolwork on file."
"Speaking of files," Jeremy spoke, "I was poking around through the files on Lyoko, and I think I found a way to Virtualize everyone onto the Fire Sector."
"You mean that death trap?" Ulrich asked. "You're kidding, right?"
"I'm not." The spectacled blonde said. "In fact, I'm dead serious on testing this out."
"Even if you could directly send us to that Sector, it's still not a safe place, Jeremy." Aelita said.
"Yeah, you lose life points just by being in it!" Louise said.
"Well, maybe if you go to it every so often, I could find a way for you to travel through the Fire Sector safely." Jeremy said.
"Hopefully so." Tina said. "If not, then our trips there will have to be quick."
"When are we going to test it out?" Henry asked.
"This afternoon." Jeremy said. "Louise, I'll tell your parents that you'll be with us, doing homework."
"Are we sure Dad won't try to meet us at the factory?" Louise asked.
"Don't worry, this will only take a few minutes." The teen said.
In the lab, the Lyoko Warriors, the Belcher siblings, and Henry were waiting for Jeremy to activate the Scanners. Once they came on, he told Aelita, Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and William to head for them. When they were in the Fire Sector, the spectacled blonde thought about sending Sissi, Tina, Gene, and Louise there as well. However, he figured that sending the first five would be enough. Of course, that was assuming that the Virtualization worked for the Fire Sector. Not every attempt was going to work the first time.
"The Scanners are ready to go, Jeremy." Henry said.
"Alright, everyone!" Jeremy spoke into the headset. "Get ready for the Virtualization, and try not to stay in the Fire Sector for too long!"
Typing into the keyboard, Jeremy began the Virtualization process. Inside each Scanner, Aelita, Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and William went through the Transfer and Scanning phases. When those were out of the way, Jeremy made sure that the coordinates were for the Fire Sector, as he didn't want to send his teammates to a different one. Making sure, he hit enter, sending those inside the Scanners to Lyoko. From there, the spectacled blonde watched for the others, keeping an eye out for when they would arrive in the Fire Sector. Once Aelita got there with the other four, they would have to move around and find somewhere that would keep them from losing their life points.
By looking at the screen, however, Jeremy saw that Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd hadn't made it to the Fire Sector yet. In fact, Aelita and William hadn't made it there as well. With that in mind, Jeremy immediately checked the other Sectors, thinking they could've been sent there by mistake. Finding no sign of his teammates, he looked through the Digital Sea, dreading that they had ended up there. Luckily, there was no sign of them in the area as well. As relieved as he was to see that his friends didn't wind up in the Digital Sea, the spectacled blonde knew that he was stuck, knowing that Aelita, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and William were nowhere to be found.
"So, was it a success?" Louise asked.
"No!" Jeremy said. "It was a blunder on my part, because they're not on Lyoko!"
"What do you mean?" The nine-year-old asked.
"Are they still in the Scanners?" Henry asked.
"They were Virtualized, but I can't find them anywhere!" Jeremy stated.
"Maybe they turned invisible." Gene said. "They're the Invisible Tutors!"
"If they turned invisible, they would speak, and I wouldn't see them, Gene!" The spectacled blonde said. "Aelita and the others have disappeared!"
"Did you check the Sectors?" Sissi asked.
"Yes," he said, "and I even checked the Digital Sea! I did something wrong, but my main priority is finding the others!"
"Want us to help?" Tina asked.
"It's better for you and your siblings to head home, Tina." Sissi said. "Jeremy and I will stay here and look for the others."
"Henry, are you staying as well?" Jeremy asked.
"I'd love to, but I gotta get home to my family." Henry said. "Good luck on the search, guys!"
As soon as Tina, Gene, Louise, and Henry left the lab, Jeremy continued to work at the supercomputer. Sissi was there to point for the others, assuming that they would pop up at all. Given that none of them, not even Odd, had said anything, it was easy to assume that their minds had been separated from their bodies, much like what Ulrich went through. However, by poking through the files and code, Jeremy found that no one had been sent to Lyoko, despite him having entered coordinates for the Fire Sector. With that in mind, he knew that something bad had happened.
"Any luck?" Sissi asked.
"No, it appears that Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, Aelita, and William didn't go to Lyoko during the Virtualization." Jeremy spoke.
"Then where the Hell could they have gone?!" The brunette asked.
"I don't know, Sissi." The spectacled blonde said. "Don't worry, we'll find them!"
After being Virtualized through the Scanners, Ulrich expected to be met with the high heat of the Fire Sector. However, he felt as though he was in a different Sector, as they didn't have any dangerous effects even without any monsters roaming around. In fact, upon opening his eyes, the brunette found himself in a strange area. The place looked desolate, with dead bodies and metal barrels lying around. Strange noises were heard in the distance, sounding like what someone would hear in a horror movie. With the others nowhere to be found, and with corpses all around him, it was clear that something went wrong during the Virtualization.
"Jeremy?" Ulrich spoke. "Hello? Okay, Einstein, what have you done now?"
The next day, Jeremy and Sissi were working in the lab again, trying to see where Ulrich and the others could have ended up. As they weren't on Lyoko, it was clear that they ended up somewhere else. Wherever that would be, Jeremy needed to find it before something bad happened to his friends. Sissi occasionally looked through the supercomputer, hoping that she would be able to find her friends as quickly as she could. However, the brunette had a hard time reading the code, even with Jeremy's assistance. It was going to take a while before they heard from their teammates.
Upon hearing the door to the lab open, Jeremy and Sissi turned around. Standing in the doorway were Bob, Tina, Gene, and Louise. Jeremy had called the kids an hour ago, and they agreed to show up on the condition that their father could come. As it was a Saturday, the Belchers likely had a busy day ahead of them at the restaurant. Of course, that was assuming they weren't closed for the day. They were a family who owned a business, after all.
"Well, anything new?" Tina asked.
"Nothing." Jeremy spoke. "Still no sign of the others?"
"C'mon, they couldn't just disappear into thin air!" Louise said.
"They're warriors," Gene spoke, "not magicians!"
"I must've done something wrong!" Jeremy said. "But, for now, I don't know what!"
"What's worse is that there's no sign of them anywhere!" Sissi said.
"Well, we should go through this." Bob said. "The others could be dead for all we know!"
Taking a step closer, the Belchers (sans Linda) looked at the supercomputer. By looking at the screen, Bob and the kids scrolled through the programs that Jeremy had opened. They even had him look through a list that displayed what had been used as of late. On the list were just the programs that were primarily used by the Lyoko Warriors, with LyokoLand on top of the list. However, by scrolling, Bob eventually reached the end. It was there that he found an interesting outlier to the search.
"DOOM?" Bob spoke. "Have you been playing DOOM?"
"What's DOOM?" Gene asked.
"Is it a fighting game, or some kind of adventure game?" Louise asked.
"DOOM is one of the most iconic video games of the early '90s." Jeremy spoke. "It made headlines back in the day for being violent, to the point where it was one of the instigators of the rating system for games."
"You don't think that Aelita and the others could've ended up in there, do you?" Tina asked.
"Hopefully not!" The spectacled blonde said. "If they're in it, then we need to get them out of the game before they end up splattered all over the place!"
"Select it!" Bob said. "Quick!"
Typing in a command prompt for DOOM, Jeremy waited for the supercomputer to start the game. Eventually, the game started, and those in the lab were greeted by the iconic title screen, featuring the Doom Slayer (known only as DoomGuy back then) fighting off demons. The booming music was echoing out of the speakers, albeit in the MIDI style many games for the PC had back then. Upon hearing it, Tina jumped, feeling frightened by it. Gene and Louise watched in awe, not expecting such an intro from an old game. Bob, Jeremy, and Sissi only wanted to start the game, hoping that the other Lyoko Warriors were alright.
By hitting the "enter" key, Jeremy saw the options in front of him. He tried the first one, but it didn't work. As such, the spectacled blonde looked through the other options, eventually pressing "Load Game". Surprisingly enough, there was a single save file under Jeremy's name. The Lyoko Warriors had not played the game before, nor did they play anything on the supercomputer aside from LyokoLand, as it was what they used to enter Lyoko. Despite that, Jeremy knew that he had to go through it to see if his teammates were alright. He clicked on the save file, then waited for it to load.
(Soundtrack: At Doom's Gate (from DOOM))
Upon starting up the save file, Jeremy found himself in the first level of DOOM, complete with the iconic music playing. He began to move around, looking for his teammates. Checking the first area, the spectacled blonde pressed a switch, which revealed a secret area. There was nary an enemy in sight, which meant that he was likely playing on one of the easiest difficulties. The Belcher kids watched as their computer tutor went through the first level, feeling disappointed on how primitive the game looked compared to video games that were released nowadays. Bob and Sissi didn't mind how the game looked, as their priority was knowing if everyone was alright.
After looking through the first part of the level, Jeremy found himself entering an area that featured the first enemies he encountered: The Zombies. The green-haired, rifle-wielding monsters came towards him, so he clicked on the mouse, killing them with a few rounds from the pistol. Once they were dead, the spectacled blonde moved on, finding more zombies waiting for him. In addition to that, something was firing a fireball at him. The creature turned out to be DOOM's version of an Imp, and Jeremy was unable to reach it at the moment. He moved on, continuing his search for Aelita and the others.
Once he reached the end of the level, Jeremy hit the switch. After a brief screen showed his progress, the spectacled blonde went to the next level, finding himself in a desolate area with a quiet track playing. He moved ahead, only to see that some of the monsters in the level were already dead. Surprised, the spectacled blonde continued on through the level. While doing so, he picked up the shotgun and pressed a button that revealed an area deeper into the level. The teen kept the shotgun out, thinking that it would help speed things up.
Upon entering the next area of the level, Jeremy heard a noise, followed by the familiar sound of certain enemies dying. It sounded almost like the pistol, but faster and playing on repeat. The noise was coming from just outside where the spectacled blonde was, so he decided to go see what was causing it. Once he was out where the sound was playing, he moved ahead, getting as close as he could. After that, the teen found something unusual: there was another Doom Guy fighting the monsters. However, something told him that this wasn't an NPC.
"Who's that?" Louise asked.
"I don't know," Jeremy said, "but it doesn't make any sense. The player character is said to be the only one left to combat the hordes of Hell."
"Then who is the guy standing in front of you?" Bob asked.
Deciding to use the headset, Jeremy spoke to the other player in front of him. As online gaming did not exist for DOOM's release back in 1993, it felt like a pipe dream to speak to another player. Speaking to NPCS was also hard, given how the game was an FPS and not an RPG with dialogue options at the player's disposal. However, Jeremy needed to find out what happened to his friends, and where they were at.
"Uh, hello?" He said. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm not your enemy!"
"Jeremy?" A voice came out of the headset.
"Ulrich, is that you?" Jeremy asked.
"Yeah, it's me." Ulrich spoke. "What's happening? Why am I suddenly standing in an old computer game?"
"The Virtualization must've messed up," the spectacled blonde said, "and instead of sending you to the Fire Sector, it teleported you to the original DOOM. Have you seen Aelita and the others?"
"Not at the moment." The brunette said. "C'mon, we should keep moving before something bad happens to them!"
Knowing that there was no time to waste, Jeremy and Ulrich traveled through the second level, killing enemies and opening doors. Once they were done with it, they went through the next one, doing the same. However, Jeremy figured that the others could've entered the secret level, so he went to trigger certain parts that would lead to it as Ulrich continued to kill monsters. Meeting up, they decided to go to the secret level, hoping to find someone there. The secret level wasn't terribly small, so it seemed like the others (mainly Odd) could've gotten stuck there. Unfortunately, Jeremy was unable to find anyone else, and Ulrich was running low on health.
"Four levels in, and Ulrich is the only one I found!" Jeremy said. "If we can't find Aelita, Yumi, Odd, and William, then we might be too late!"
"Don't give up, Jeremy." Sissi spoke. "They might be okay. You just have to keep looking!"
"I hope you're right about that." The spectacled blonde said.
Upon entering the fourth level, Jeremy was greeted by the aggressive, heavy metal-like track. Opening the door, he had Ulrich stand back, not wanting him to take more damage. The spectacled blonde worried that running out of health would trap the brunette in the game, as opposed to be Devirtualized like on Lyoko. Leading his teammate through the level, he had Ulrich replenish his health while he fought the many enemies awaiting them. However, by the next level, the brunette had lost some health, to the point where he would die. Jeremy went through the sixth and seventh levels with him, doing most of the fighting.
(Soundtrack: Sign of Evil (from DOOM))
Once he entered the final level of the first episode, Jeremy had Ulrich kill the demons that were awaiting them at the beginning. After that, they went through the area, ending up in the part where the player faces off against the two Barons of Hell. With their highest weapon being the rocket launcher, the spectacled blonde and the brunette immediately fired at the massive enemies. However, they didn't have enough rockets, so they wound up using their chain guns, which seemed to do the trick. The moment the Barons were dead, the walls collapsed, revealing the environment around them. All that was left was to head for the exit.
"Ready, Ulrich?" Jeremy spoke into the headset.
"Ready." Ulrich said.
Approaching the final area of the level, Jeremy pressed a switch that caused steps to appear. He and Ulrich went up them, finding a portal waiting at the top. Taking a step inside, Jeremy found himself in a dark room, with Ulrich following soon after. Without warning, the spectacled blonde and the brunette started taking damage. They fired their weapons, causing damage to whatever was attacking them. Unfortunately, nothing could stop the one-sided onslaught in favor of the evil monsters of DOOM.
"Jeremy!" Ulrich shouted. "Jeremy, we're -!"
The level ended with the familiar intermission screen that showed the data that was collected during gameplay. However, Jeremy was worried, knowing that DOOM's first episode ended with the DoomGuy being on the receiving end of a brutal attack from demons. As Ulrich was with him, the spectacled blonde immediately tried to contact him. Something bad happened to his teammate, and he needed to make sure that he was alright.
"Ulrich, can you hear me?!" Jeremy spoke into the headset. "Ulrich?! Speak to me!"
"Hey, one of the Scanners is opening!" Gene spoke.
True to Gene's word, a Scanner opened up, meaning that something was going to come out. Luckily, it turned out to be Ulrich, and he was still in one piece. However, he was the only one in a Scanner, as the others were not with him. It was evident that Yumi, Odd, Aelita, and William were in the later levels of DOOM, and Jeremy had to keep playing the game in order to find them. The spectacled blonde knew that X.A.N.A was likely planning something, so he needed to get them back as quickly as possible. As Tina and Louise helped Ulrich out of a Scanner, Jeremy entered DOOM's second episode: The Shores of Hell.
Once he started The Shores of Hell, Jeremy saw no sign of the other Lyoko Warriors who were trapped. He expected to be greeted by Odd's wisecracking, Yumi's deadpan attitude, Aelita's kindness, and William's determination to fight, but that didn't happen. Going through level after level, the spectacled blonde slaughtered demons and found hidden areas, but was not able to find anyone else. Upon reaching the final level for the episode, he knew that he was going to face off against the Cyberdemon. The teen dreaded the encounter, but knew that he couldn't press on until after he beat the monster. With the ammunition in his inventory being high, Jeremy decided to face the boss at the end.
Beginning the battle with the plasma rifle, Jeremy did some damage to the Cyberdemon. The massive beast returned the favor by firing its rocket launcher, but the spectacled blonde was able to dodge a majority of them. He fired the plasma rifle again, but switched to the rocket launcher, knowing that he couldn't keep using the same weapon in a single battle. Once the Cyberdemon was dead, the teen was greeted by a wall of text that awaited those who managed to complete The Shores of Hell. However, he had no time for reading idle congratulatory messages. Backing out of it, Jeremy decided to head for the last episode of DOOM: Inferno.
"Jeremy, shouldn't we check and see if X.A.N.A's activated a Tower?" Ulrich asked.
"I checked earlier." Jeremy said. "What happened during the Virtualization wasn't his doing, however. It might have been a glitch, or maybe I entered the wrong coordinates."
"Work it out later!" Louise said. "Just go through the last part of the game!"
Entering Inferno, Jeremy went through the levels and grabbed whatever weapons he could. As this was the last episode of DOOM (not counting a fourth one that was released much later), he was able to get every weapon of the game as he killed enemies and found secret areas. During gameplay, however, the spectacled blonde did not find anyone. He even played through the secret level, hoping to find Odd if he had gotten stuck there. There was no sign of the jokester, or anyone else for that matter. Continuing on, Jeremy went through the penultimate level of the episode, intent on reaching the ending as quickly as possible.
Upon entering the last level, Jeremy found himself in a small building. With him were four other marines, who were all looking at one of the doors. Knowing that Ulrich had been turned into a marine when he was accidentally sent to DOOM, Jeremy figured that the four new ones were Yumi, Odd, Aelita, and William. He tapped the headset, hoping that he could speak to the other four.
"Hello?" Jeremy spoke.
"Jeremy, is that you?" Aelita's voice came out of the headset, in tandem with a marine turning around and looking at the screen.
"Aelita, you're alright!" The spectacled blonde said.
"Good to see you too, Einstein." Odd's voice came out of the headset.
"Jeremy, what happened?" Yumi asked. "Why are we here and not in the Fire Sector?"
"I messed up with the coordinates during the Virtualization." Jeremy said. "We'll try it again later. For now, I've gotta get you out of there!"
"Does that mean we'll have to fight more enemies?" William asked.
"This is the boss level, so all we need to do is kill the boss." Aelita stated. "Jeremy, when should we strike?"
Walking up to one of the doors, Jeremy opened it up. This caused all the doors to open up simultaneously. He stepped out of the small area, only to see one of the most powerful enemies of DOOM nearby: the Spider Mastermind. It was far from where the spectacled blonde and his teammates were standing, but it could still damage them from afar. With that in mind, he armed himself with the rocket launcher, then fired at the boss a few times. It did some damage, though it wasn't enough to really phase the enemy.
Returning fire with its chain gun, the Spider Mastermind was hell-bent on annihilating those who dared to fire at it. As a result, Jeremy waited for it to stop firing. When it was done, the spectacled blonde only hoped that someone had the BFG 9000: the most powerful weapon in the DOOM franchise. If no one had it, then the battle would've ended with more than one casualty.
"Alright, everyone, attack!" Jeremy shouted.
He got out of the small building, with Yumi and the others following him. After that, they began to attack the Spider Mastermind. Yumi and Aelita resorted to using rocket launchers, while Odd used the chain gun to attack. Their attacks were barely effective on the Spider Mastermind, as it only let out its pained sounds a few times. Giving his friends a hand, Jeremy decided to use the plasma rifle. It appeared to do more damage to the monster, but not before it fired back with its chain gun.
"Everyone, stand back!" William spoke.
All of a sudden, a massive green ball came from William. Not only that, but there was an electric noise, complete with what sounded like the activation of a large machine. It was clear that the brunette had used the destructive weapon itself: the BFG 9000! One shot from it managed to finish off the Spider Mastermind, and it collapsed in a bloody explosion. The moment it had died, the level ended and Inferno was finished. Of course, Jeremy was met with a wall of text and a bleak cutscene afterwards.
"It's over!" Jeremy breathlessly said.
"Yeah, but will they come back?" Sissi asked.
"Hopefully so!" The spectacled blonde said.
Four of the Scanners activated, albeit one at a time. Once they opened, Yumi, Odd, Aelita, and William walked out. They were visibly unhurt, if not a bit tired. Nonetheless, everyone was happy to see them back. As that happened, Jeremy quit DOOM and went back to DOS. He was about to enter LyokoLand, until Louise came up to him.
"Don't you think we've been through enough today?" Louise asked.
"I'm only checking to see if there's an activated Tower now." Jeremy said.
"Go ahead and do that." Bob said. "The kids and I should probably go home, because I don't think Linda will be able to handle the restaurant by herself for much longer."
"We'll probably be seeing that game in our nightmares now." Louise said.
"You can even say that our dreams are doomed!" Gene joked, being met with a chuckle from Odd.
As the Belchers left, the Lyoko Warriors watched Jeremy look for an activated Tower. Luckily, there wasn't one, so they didn't need to go on a mission. However, Jeremy decided to work on the data for the Virtualization, so that the others didn't get sent somewhere else. Hopefully, next time he tried to send someone to the Fire Sector, it didn't wind up doing something different.
Note: Didn't think that a simple error in the program would send the Lyoko Warriors to DOOM, did you? Can Jeremy send his teammates to the Fire Sector the next time he tries to do so? Is there anything else waiting the team on Lyoko? Will the team be forced to grow some more? If so, who will join? What could X.A.N.A be planning next?
Until next time, guys, this is Newcomer24, signing off. Peace!