To the readers
I appreciate any comments on the story.
Notes
[] are used to indicate stage directions
All dialogue follows a "Speaker: dialogue" format
{} are used for author comments.
CONTINUE
[The bridge finishes melding with the tower as Ai finishes using creativity and the song voice fades from the air. The pillar room was similar to the one Ethan was in, although this one had the tower in the center, it was much larger and instead of poles, it had curved wall panels that limited entry into it from the air. The intended entrance was a bridge on the other side from where Ai made hers where it connected with a different cluster of pillars on the opposite side of the valley they were in.
Ai LP: 40 – 20
She takes off at a dash toward the tower. The kanrelots scuttle out and fire. The cluster of kankrelots is fluttered by a spray TACTing and THUNKing into the ground around them and sticking out of their shells. DMG is hanging upside down from the outside of the pillar room ceiling with her spikes attaching her feet to the wall.]
DMG: Sooooorry! I'm not very good at bridging.
SNAP
[Snaps her fingers, the cards turn bright red and…
BOBOBOOOBOOM
Watches as the carcasses of the Kankrelots rain down around the tower.]
[Axel is bleeding and is up against the wall.
Frosch is approaching Axel.
Ai slowly sinks through the tower wall.
Ethan is down in the valley beating the mutilated hummingbird cyborg with his "club".
He flings his back pack at Frosch with one good arm. Frosch creates a blade out of lightning from his hand and cuts the backpack in half: note book pages, duct tab, wires, controllers and plastic hard drive bits flying everywhere.
Ai steps up to the center of the tower platform.
Frosch raises his hand sheathed in lightning to strike.]
Ethan: One is the loneliest number.
SMASH
[Ai rising up through the tower.]
Ethan: Two tickets to paradise
SMASH
[Frosch thrusts the blade into Axel's face.]
Ethan: Three times a lady
SMASH
[She hits the screen. The words "Ai. Code Lyoko" appear.]
Ethan: FOOOOOOREVER YOUNG
SMAAAAASH
[The Hummingbird bursts into goo and a flurry of code, completely destroyed.
The lightning blade stops an inch before Axel's face. Frosch goes limb and hits the ground. Axel collapses against the wall, then stumbles over to his dropped phone. He's shaking and clearly scared for his life. One arm limb. Breathing heavy.]
Axel: [clearly in pain. Speaks all in one breath.] RTTP now!
Ai: Okay okay. I just need someone to hit the button in real life. Are you okay!?
Axel: No. Very not okay. Just RTTP NOW.
Ai: [speakers] Hainer, Connor, Disc!
[They are playing smash again.]
Hainer: Yo
Ai: [speakers] Hit the enter button, Axel is in trouble.
Hainer: But it's so far awayyyyy.
[Connor eliminates Hainer. He gets up reluctantly.]
Axel: Whoever is there! My arm is broken. Get up [winces in pain. Gasping for air. His voice is weak.] the terminal.
Hainer: Fiiiine.
[Hainer walks to the terminal stairs, purposely slowly. He hits the button.]
[Ines is back in the mall walking behind Zoe, Landry, and Mabel looking at her phone. Ai is up on the phone screen with the tower in the background.]
Ines: What is this?
Ai: Ethan invited some friends over. Axel tried to make Remote Controlled avatars so we could stop towers from the school-
[Ines flashes back to when she was tied up in the chair. She sees Zoe, Mabel, and Landry fighting the possessed Frosch.]
Ines: [thinks] They actually came to help.
[Flashes back to her leaving everyone on the sandbar.]
Ines: Maybe, maybe I should-
[Flashes back to what the woman in the store said.]
"You're only going to hurt them"
[Ines shakes her head to get out of that headspace.]
Ines: Ai, do I really have to go back? Do I have to fight?
Ai: Well, we really needed your help today. You were a big help.
Ines: What are they going to think if I keep ditching them all the time? But if I do nothing…
[Flashback to Frosch attacking them.]
Ines: I don't want to lose my friends again.
[Each of the screens Ai has pulled up shows of POV footage the EXO avatars and the team members that were virtualized. She sees Ai's footage.]
Ines: Wait, that's what I look like on the Annex?
Ai: Did you really not notice? You have been there twice.
Ines: Yeah, but… that's not me. I don't remember anything after stepping into the scanner.
Ai: But then who-
Mabel: Watcha looking at?
[Zoe, Landry and Mabel had stopped talking and hung back to let Ines catch up with them.]
Zoe: Oh, whose this?
Mabel: New app? Never seen her before.
Ai: UHHHHHH hi. I'm Ai.
Zoe: [surprised] Oh sorry I thought you were a character.
Mabel: Didn't realize you were helping her stream.
Ines: Hmm?
Zoe: What's the channel name?
Ines: [confused] I'm just showing her around since there's no cameras working.
Zoe: Right, but what's her Vtuber name? You're collab-ing for a stream.
Ines: Uh, I've just called her Ai. What is your "registered Vtuber name" Ai? [She's stressing words]
Ai: [mutes herself. Pouts] Don't you go putting this on me.
[looks at one of her screens she has floating off to the side.]
Words to look up
Otaku
Instantiate
Factory Model Education
Tilted
OHKO
Ai: [umutes] I'm Ai the Otaku.
Zoe: Oh overseas company. Here you probably want commentary. Landry, tell her what we doin'. [turns to get Landry's attention]
Ines: Well that turned out for the better. I would make a Vtuber channel quick otherwise she might figure it out.
Ai: Sure thing. Hey Ines?
Ines: Hmm?
Ai: What's a Vtuber?
[Axel and Ethan are on Ethan's new speedboat with the sun cresting the horizon. Both look like they just woke up.
Ethan: Why are we here? The suns not even out yet.
[beat]
[Ethan yawns.]
Ethan: I feel like crap.
Axel: I had a broken arm and got bodied while DMX was playing in the background. I will never emotionally recover from that. You don't get to talk. And it's your own fault for staying up all night playing Warfield.
Ethan: I'm NOT going to sleep after you tell me XANA can POSSESS US! …and I can sleep in class.
Axel: I said it can possess people.
Ethan: Can it possess us?
Axel: I don't know. I don't know why not, but it would if it could.
Ethan: Because we have immunity?
Axel: We have to. Otherwise why hasn't it attacked while we're asleep? And this time it was just to deliver a message.
Ethan: So, it tries to warn us about something that wants to kill us … while trying to kill us. This AI is following looney tunes logic.
Axel: We can try and increase our numbers so we have at least one person who won't be possessed.
Ethan: NO! I am not protecting scrubs again.
Axel: I need to improve the user interface and figure out respawning before we bring anyone else in. It's not even worth it to use these Remote Control Avatars as a test run. Bad data.
Ethan: They couldn't even use my ability. And how do they keep on dying. They have guns. They should be OP.
Axel: Well, yeah, I don't know how to program your ability, so I couldn't implement it. There's no way we're letting anyone else be virtualized without experiencing at least one attack. But there's no way to safely do that without RCAs.
Ethan: We could always just speedrun this. The silver subroutine says she saw the room duck into the core.
Axel: Well, that's progress. It can't run away any more.
Ethan: Hey Sherlock?
Axel: Yeah.
Ethan: Did we have to ride out this early?
Axel: [ignores the question] Team EXO poked a lot of holes in my dream. I needed to flesh out some more details, make some SMART goals before the next pitch. The plan's still on. That's not changing. [Ethan eyes him to get on with the point] I want to have an emotional heartfelt conversation on how to take over the world.
Ethan: So? Why do we need to be on a boat just to talk.
Axel: So when we flashback to this moment later it will look really cool if the sunrise is in the background.
Ethan: Ahhhhh. How far in the future are you thinking the flashback will be?
Axel: Well, to be honest, probably less than a year. I'm only going to care about the problem while it affects me. So I'm setting a time limit. Take over the world by the end of this school year when I graduate.
Ethan: You mean we?
Axel: Keep kidding yourself. First step, bring everything to the virtual world. It's too hard to explain topics in an interesting way in reality. Second, gamify everything. Make learning a byproduct of an entertaining experience. I'm simplifying a lot, but it's a global scale I kinda have to.
Ethan: That sounds a lot better than the first time. Just so I know what I'm getting into, you're not gonna get a ego, ya know... make yourself [leans so far back he's almost doing the limbo with arms outstretched in exaltation as he screams at the sky] THE GOD OF THE NEW WORLD? [loses balance as a wave hits the boat and has to grab the rail to avoid falling over] You were hellla overdramatic during that speech for the MIB.
Axel: The monologue was just to buy time. But Disc wasn't wrong. People are subject to change. I might think one way now and then as things get tougher, I might make compromises or bad choices in the moment because I don't know what to do. And then once I have power-
Ethan: Absolute power corrupts blah blah blah.
Axel: So that I don't become a megalomaniac, I have rules to fall back on. From now on:
Axel: I will not lie, I will not verbally tell a completely untrue fact to a person.
Axel: I will not kill. I will not take an action that will causes a human to die.
Axel: I will take over the world. I will create a world where everyone has fair starts and where they end up depends on their choices. Apart from those three absolutes, anything is possible. But I can't do any of that while I don't have control of the super computer. So I have to find a way to kill XANA and-
Ethan: You just said you wouldn't kill.
Axel: Wouldn't kill humans. You have to put wiggle room in the rules. I can't say "no killing to intelligent life" because what does the I in A.I. stand for? But also restrictions breed creativity. What happens if someone asks us about the supercomputer. I'll use half truths or writing.
[beat]
Axel: You're in.
Ethan: You demanding?
Axel: Stating a fact. It's obvious you've made up your mind
Ethan: I hate rules. I don't want anyone deciding what I can and can't do.
Axel: So no orders, just [grins] fun-gestions. But I am going to take over the world. That means making rules.
Ethan: [sly] They don't have to apply to me.
Axel: I cannot for the life of me understand why, why would you ever want to help me?
Ethan: I hate that school. I hate every school. Every second I'm there I want to leave and every second I'm out I want to forget I have to go back.
Axel: I don't factor.
Ethan: .…Because as long as I'm by you, I will never be bored.
Episode 4 end.
AFTERWORD
I was nervous for this episode since it deviated from the Code Lyoko formula so much. But part of the goals of this arc is showing how a different team would learn and grow to adapt to the tower activations and attacks. So this is one of the many case studies of how they would handle it differently than the Lyoko Warriors.
The day in the life section was something I really wanted to fit into episode 3, but it didn't work since it was still handling the events of the 2 part pilot (episodes 1 and 2)
There's a ton of color related details that are important to the plot. I worked very hard and doubled checked to make sure they were all accurate, thought I'm still worried I may have missed one.
I worry the real life attack might be hard to adapt to animation. Not because of what the characters do, but because of the background music and licensing.
Quiet a few video game references this episode. I mean there always is with a virtual world, but more than you would think than usual given the Gamer side characters this episode.
As always, no episode exists in a vacuum. It's always setting up ideas for the future even if those ideas aren't apparent in the moment.
For those of you who were confused by the explanation of how equipment works on virtual worlds:
Every avatar has three slots.
When your avatar is first created, you are given three pieces of equipment for those slots.
When you gain a new piece of equipment, it replaces your existing ones. The replaced equipment goes onto your profile (the scan of you the supercomputer saves) where it can be swapped with any of your current equipment either from an IRL terminal or from a tower.
There are three types of equipment:
Conduits
You are guaranteed a conduit when you first spawn in. A conduit is something that allows you to interact with the virtual world in ways such as attacking and defending. There are other ways of interacting with the virtual world.
Developer tools
Physical devices or objects that have some purpose, but can be destroyed easily or require VEN to use.
Developer abilities
Voice activated or passive abilities.
You can mix and match any way you want, but its recommended you have at least a conduit.
For example, Ulrich in Season 4 has two conduits (sabers) and ability (super sprint).
Meanwhile, Ethan has a conduit (pistol), ability (technomancy) and a tool (footbombs)
Aelita has a conduit (energy field), ability (creativity), and tool (angelo wings).
Code Lyoko is considered a developer ability, but doesn't take up an equipment slot since it's special.