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
Diva: Make sure to check for counter offenses set up if you try to take control.
Jeremy: Ahuh. [concentrated]
Diva: Also, if you're trying to deactivate something, it's easier to shove its call to the end of the call stack than delete it.
Jeremy: I know.
Diva: And make sure there's nothing embedded in the chat window.
[Jeremy pauses, then opens up a window with scrolling code attached to the chat window with Yumi. He hits a few keys, then part of the code turns red and the window closes.]
Jeremy: How do you know this stuff again?
Diva: [secret agent voice] I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you. [dead silence] Hahahahaha.
[Jeremy isn't amused at Diva's "joke".]
Jeremy: Odd sense of humor.
Diva: I thought it was a Diva sense of humor. {This is an English based joke, but either way, Diva would understand both languages so it works}
[The elevator door opens and Odd steps out, his hair still frazzled from when he was attacked before.]
Odd: Wow. That curtain call was unexpected. Well, I'm just watching here. I'll head to the school and help out there. Diva you stay here and keep protecting Jeremy. What would we do without the brains of the operation.
Diva: Probably continue playing hero. I'll come with you. He just took care of the monsters.
Jeremy: And I have cameras to see if monsters are nearby. I can take care of myself.
Odd: That's a lie. You would forget to sleep if someone didn't tell you.
[Diva walks backward into the elevator and she and Odd go up.]
Jeremy: [text] "Okay, I'm shutting it down."
Yumi: [text] "Wait! Instead, can you virtualize me first?"
Jeremy: [text] "Well, it is a scanner."
[Yumi kicks some pieces of the monsters she destroyed out of the scanner and steps inside.]
Jeremy: Transfer Yumi, Scanner Yumi, Virtualization.
[Yumi is virtualized in the desert sector.
She wore a dark violet sleeveless gi with a black liner and a flower pattern on it. She had short black hair with a small pink hairpin in and had two grey metal studs above her eyebrows. She wore grey kneepads and a lilac bracer on her left arm. She had long dark violet arm sleeves that end in fingerless gloves. Her kneepads connected to dark red shin guards that transitioned to her heavy dark red boots with a pink locking strap. Attached to the small of her back was a small turquoise rod.
She lands at the edge of the crater on top of a krab. She flicks out her wrist and a glowing fan with a sakura blossom pattern on it appears in her hand. She throws her fan and cuts the front legs of another krab, then throws another fan into the eye of XANA of the krab she's standing on. She backflips off before it quivers and explodes. She catches her fans as they return to her.
Yumi looks at all the other krabs around the edge of the crater. Some turn to aim at her.]
Yumi: What's with the seafood platter.
[She sees the super krab.]
Yumi: Woah.
[She throws her fans at its legs, but they just bounce off of the golden metal.]
Yumi: How are we supposed to crack its shell?
[Ulrich arrives at the factory. As he dashes in the front door, Grigory watches him from the street, then follows him over the bridge. Inside the factory, Ulrich swings down from one of the ropes hanging next to the ledge and lands next to the elevator. Ulrich hits the button by the door and the elevator descends.
[Jeremy pulls up a feed of all the security cameras in the factory. He expands the one of the elevator. He can see Ulrich inside. Jeremy calls Ulrich from the computer. He adjusts his headset.]
Jeremy: [from the speakers in the elevator] Ulrich good to see you in one piece. Aelita and Yumi need help at the tower.
Ulrich: Then I better not keep them waiting. "Once more into the breech" and all that. [he smiles]
Jeremy: You happy about something?
Ulrich: I needed this. Hey, do you think we can keep the supercomputer on for a little while longer after we shut down the tower?
Jeremy: You know it's dangerous to keep the supercomputer on. We didn't even finish Aelita's restoration and an attack happens.
Ulrich: Yeah, but XANA needs time to recharge before the next attack. It's just, me and William wanted to test something. We had, had a bet on it.
Jeremy: [smirks.] If you can manage to not be devirtualized, then a few extra minutes won't hurt. But if you do, I'm not waiting for you two to shut off the supercomputer.
Ulrich: It's a deal then.
[Odd and Diva emerge from the manhole in the park. They start running toward the gymnasium. Lasers cross their path. They dive in some bushes.]
Sissi: Hey! Get your own. Haven't you heard three is a crowd.
[Sissi, also in the bushes, is holding a ladder against her leg. They peak out and see two tarantulas guarding the door to the science building. Other monsters are on patrol around it. There are burn marks around the doors and all the windows on the first floor are broken.]
Odd: What are you doing here?
Sissi: What does it look like? I'm saving everyone in there from the monsters.
Odd: You came all the way over here by yourself?
Sissi: Of course, you think I can't do it on my own? Well also, Laura did ask for parts to create weapons from the monsters. Something about "exponentially increasing our chances of survival."
Odd: Those Einsteins love throwing out that "exponentially" word don't they.
Sissi: They think it makes them soooo smart. What does it even mean?
Diva: [matter of fact] Anything whose rate of change must be expressed using exponents. [they stare at her.] so "greater very fast".
Sissi: [satisfied] Oh, so that's what.
Odd: We're not getting in the front.
Sissi: That's what the ladders for.
Diva: If only we had a way to draw those monsters away.
Odd: [looks towards the lockers] I think I might know.
Diva: [logic] But they would never chase you when they have ranged weapons and you're moving away from what they are guarding.
Odd: [changes tune] Oh, you're right.
Diva: [realized she corrects too far.] But if you're a high priority target, they might risk chasing you.
Odd: [changes tune again] Of course, no one could take their eyes off me.
[Back in the desert, humming fills the air. An orange aura covers a boulder by the edge of the crater. Yumi is using telekinesis. She lifts up a boulder, spins it around her to let it build up momentum and then releases her ability. The boulder takes out two krabs as it tumbles into the crater.
Aelita is startled as there's a thump, dust clouds kick up, and the rock rolls past her.]
Aelita: [realization] Yumi! It's legs!
[Aelita provides an example as she uses creativity. The ground around the super krab's left front leg deletes itself. Its tri-pincers fail to find purchase and the leg slides into the crater. The giant super krab shifts a bit as it rebalances.]
Yumi: Nice. I get it.
[Yumi throws her fans near the base of the left back pincer, creating cracks in the ground. As they return to her, she uses telekinesis to slingshot them around her and repeats this several times. She runs up and takes out the turquoise pole. From its ends materialize the ends of a staff with a curling white vines pattern curling around it. She shoves it into the cracks and uses it as a lever to force the cracks to widen.
Yumi starts to use telekinesis to lift up another boulder. The krabs from the other side of the crater have circled around to attack her. She stops and cartwheel dodges, dropping the rock. Yumi throws a fan in the middle of her dodge. The krab braces and deflects it upward. Aelita, from the bottom of the crater, throws an energy field up. It hits the fan, covering it in pink energy and knocking it back down. It pierces the krab's shell right on the eye. The pink energy spreads to the krab as it glows, shutters, and explodes. The explosion knocks the fan right back into Yumi's hand.]
Aelita: What are we going to call that one?
Yumi: I dunno.
Aelita: Descending Shimmer Fan?
Yumi: Maybe. Let's pitch it to Odd.
[Yumi resumes telekinesis. She repeats what she did before with this boulder and knocks the final leg on the super krab's left side into the crater. The entire beast of a monster tilts as it falls into the lip of the crater, crushes the lip of the crater, and causing debris to fall. Its left legs are pinned underneath it and stick out into the ground floor of the crater. With all the debris and dust, Aelita sees her chance.
A Megatank spots her and attempts to roll over and crush her.]
Aelita: Energy Shield.
[Aelita creates an energy shield and projects it across the ground. As the megatank passes through it, it's stunned and slows to a halt. It quickly starts to move again, but Aelita's already activated her wings and flown past it. She flies through the side of the tower, her wings auto deactivate, and she lands in a roll.]
Aelita: Fun. I need to rush more often.
[She walks to the center of the platform. A blue aura covers her, and she floats up to second level. Once she lands, she reaches out to make the screen appear. She places her hand on it.]
"Aelita" appears.
She types in "Code Lyoko"]
Aelita: Tower deactivated. Ready for a Return to the past?
[In real life, all the monsters freeze.]
Odd: Hey, Aelita deactivated the tower. It looks like they…
[The monsters start moving again.]
Odd: [sighs] Nevermind. Looks like they have extended warranties.
[Jeremy's screen lights up. The superscan locates another tower.]
Jeremy: You're going to hate me for this.
Aelita: Why would I hate you?
Jeremy: There's another activated tower. Same masking trick as, oh wait, you wouldn't remember. XANA activated two towers, the second masks the first. The second one is in Carthage.
Aelita: But we just came from there.
Jeremy: [sarcastic] Oh, good. Then you know the way.
Yumi: [lab speakers] If It was easy, it wouldn't be XANA. You shut down the scanner?
Jeremy: Of course. That thing isn't coming back online soon.
[Jeremy receives a call.]
CRUSH
[Jeremy holds the headset away from his ear at the loud noise.]
[In the Hermitage, William smashes the last of the monsters with weedwhacker. He tosses the wrecked tool to the side. He is looking at the scanner.]
William: [headset] So I found another [SMASH] another scanner. Can you activate it and send me to the tower?
Jeremy: [broods] …
[Aelita is flying on her wings. Yumi is riding her Overwing. It's a metal hovering platform with a handlebar from the frame on the front. The bottom has a fin sticking out of it.
They land the at edge of the sector. There are no other plateaus, just wires from all of the plateaus flying out past them and disappearing toward the white horizon.]
Jeremy: I've entered the code for the transporter. SCIPIO [presses enter]
[A sphere descends from the sky and approaches the girls. One side has the eye of XANA on it. As it rotates, there is a flash and one side of the sphere disappears out of sight. The transporters rotates around the girls and there is another flash. On the next rotation, it's a complete sphere again and it takes off toward the horizon with its passengers.]
[Jeremy has an alert on his computer. He looks over. The window of the security footage is flashing. The window shows Grigory crossing the bridge.]
[Ulrich is on his way to the desert sectors edge. He's sprinting at impossible speeds with a blue contrail streaming behind him.]
Jeremy: Ulrich wait.
[Ulrich slams on the breaks and his feet skid for several meters before stopping, kicking up dust. The first clear view of his avatar can be seen.
Here, his brown hair was almost black. He wore a manila bandanna and a yellow skintight streamline suit with black arrow accents down the length of it. On his back, he was equipped with a dullish green scabbard on his back that curved around his torso to clip to the front of his suit. The sabers in the scabbard were obviously longer than the scabbard's height so some size changing property was involved with the sheaths. The blades themselves were simple with a black hilt with yellow L shape accents as their only decoration. Two black bracers were on each wrist that he could use to block attacks.
Around his waist was an olive-green belt that had loops for him to place his swords through if he wanted to carry them that way instead of his back for whatever reason. The leggings of the suit were black on the outside, yellow on inside. Tall maroon boots with a high cuff that had a red stripe on it.]
Ulrich: Okay first, I'm too late for the tower deactivation and now you want me to go back?
Jeremy: We have an unexpected guest with what looks like a claw on his arm. I think you'll want to go meet him. I need you to go to a tower.
Ulrich: Him? [changes his tune] Okay.
[Ulrich super sprints back in another direction from where he came from and away from the edge of the sector.]
Jeremy: Transfer, Scanner, Virtualization.
[William is virtualized directly into Carthage in the Arena. He lands on an aqua blue floor with a giant white eye of XANA on it. The floor was suspended within a larger sphere that was spinning around in all directions, a slit in the side the only indication that it was moving. Soon it slowed down and eventually settled into place at the top of the eye stalk. A white light emanated from the opening, beckoning to the labyrinth beyond.
William had messy black hair. Her wore a grey skin suit. He had black shoulder pads with a red outline. He wore a black plackart over his torso with red stripes running down the side. On either arm, he wore long black gloves that have tattered ends. The frayed ends transition from black to grey to orange frayed tips and glow softly like embers. Over the glove on his left forearm, he had a chrome spiked gauntlet. He had two noticeable black belts wrapped around his upper left leg. He also has an orange corruption over his skin suit. Unlike the precise circuits on the other Lyoko Warriors, the pattern is like tendrils creeping over his skin.
Then a sphere transporter zooms in through the rotating gap in the outer dome. The sphere opens and Yumi and Aelita step out.]
Aelita: Woah! Who is that? William?
William: Yeah.
Aelita: Really? Kinda evil. Or emo. Evo?
William: It's XANA's fault. He did something to my avatar. Now it doesn't update.
Jeremy: Everything bad is XANA's fault. We've established this. Now it's time for the final sprint.
[The three run into the breach in the wall, cross the bridge. As they cross, the wall at the end parts into two small slabs and so does the wall behind that. Again and again forming a passage for them to run through.
They cross a huge white bridge into a T shaped intersection, each new branch of the bridge leading into a passage on the other walls. Below the bridge was more pale blue pillars peeking through white mist that prevented them from seeing the bottom of the room. As they reach the crux of the intersection, a hoard of Creepers spawn on the bridge.
William summons his weapon. A zweihander with black tendrils surrounding the hilt and a ruby red pommel.]
William: What do we do Yumi?
Yumi: … Uh, we …
Aelita: Has anything changed in Carthage since I got my energy fields?
Jeremy: We made it so we don't need to trip a key.
William: So what do we do? [looks to Yumi]
[Yumi looks to Aelita]
Aelita: I'll take the lead with my shield. Apparently I have a shield now. Yumi, take out anything that would flank us. And rookie, you take care of the ones that come behind us when I poke in.
William: I've been here for 2 seasons! [they look at him] 5 months I mean.
[Aelita and Yumi throw energy fields and fans. A wave of creepers go down, but one lands a shot on Yumi.]
Yumi LP: 180 - 140
Yumi: [grumbles to herself] Why is it always me!?
[Yumi jumps over a laser, rolls and double push kicks a creeper off the edge. The other creepers have locked their gaze on her and she's right in the middle of them. She rolls on the ground to avoid lasers. She's getting closer and closer to the edge, then, purposely, rolls off the bridge and hangs on with one hand. She watches as one of her fans falls into the mists below and prepares the remaining one in her free hand. Three creepers turn to finish her off. They charge up lasers in their mouths…
…just to get bisected by William. Yumi throws her remaining fan down. It arcs under the bridge, back up, and slices two creepers. She catches it as she flips back up and lands with a spin.
William super smokes over to the left wing of the intersection. Now the monsters have to split their attention between the three.
While Aelita was able to get a kill off the bat, every time she pokes out from behind her shield, she has to dodge back. She tries it again, but takes damage.
Aelita grimaces in frustration.]
Aelita LP: 130 - 90
[Aelita retreats after she's hit and doesn't poke out again.
Cut to William exiting Supersmoke midair and kicks a creeper off the bridge as he lands.
He gives a thumbs up to Yumi. Pan to Aelita taking on a couple creepers trying to flank her on either side of her shield. She drops it and creates an energy field to take out the one on the left, but the one on her right gets her in the back and she's knocked to the ground.]
Aelita LP: 90 - 50
[Aelita's avatar sparks from the damage.]
[In the desert sector, Ulrich is dashing to a tower on an island connected the nearest plateau by a thin bridge. He runs through the wall of the tower leaving the blue after trail as he passes through.
He walks through the center platform and floats up. He lands on the second platform and the screen appears.
Jeremy: Okay, now touch the screen.
Ulrich: How long should this last?
Jeremy: Well, transposition only lasts short time as we're creating something new, while this is altering something that's already there.
Ulrich: So, longer than 13 minutes.
Jeremy: Ideally an hour.
Ulrich: And there won't be any negative consequences.
Jeremy: I didn't say that. I just made this on the fly. Ready?
Ulrich: There's no right answer is there? [touches the screen]
[Sam and Ms. Hertz, the science teacher at Kadic with bushy grey hair, enter a chemistry class room. There is a window looking out the North side of the building.]
Ms. Hertz: You sure this is where he said to come? I don't exactly have confidence in Della Robbia's planning skills.
Sam: The principal's daughter is with him.
Ms. Hertz: You're supposed to be convincing me.
[Sam looks out the window. She can see Diva, and Sissi in the bushes where the edge of campus meets the park. She turns to see Odd hiding behind the arches in the arcade lining the Cafeteria courtyard. Odd waves to her. He mimes skateboarding.
Sam nods in understanding and waves back, then and turns to Ms. Hertz.]
Ms. Hertz: Go get the students.
[Odd calls Sissi. She picks up in the bushes.]
Odd: Plan "Aurélien Giraud: Monster rally" is a go.
[Odd skates by on his board. He jumps up and grinds off a tarantula's head, shoving it to the ground. Then rides on teasing them.]
Odd: [falsely charming] Sorry Benedict and Eleanor. Normally, I would insult you personally, but I just don't have the time.
[The tarantulas roar as if they're pissed, then scamper after him. After the monsters leave, Ms. Hertz throws a fire extinguisher through the window. Sissi runs up and puts the ladder up. Sam arrives with the students. Diva climbs up and fastens the ladder to the window sill. Then lowers herself inside the classroom.]
Diva: [dramatic bow] Your savior has arrived.
Ms. Hertz: Now's not the time for showmanship uh miss uh... anyway we need to evacuate.
Sissi: [from below] Everyone is in the gym.
[Sam is the first one down the ladder. As soon as Sam hits the ground, she takes off toward the lockers.]
Sissi: Uh, the gym is the other way.
[Cut to Diva's in another storage room of the science building. She's digging through some parts. She takes some, fits them together.]
Current power: 0.08%
Ms. Hertz: [in the hallway] Is there anyone still inside?!
[Diva looks up wide eyed and concerned, then takes a handful of parts and dumps them on the floor in front of her.
Then some sparks fly out of her hands and assemble the parts morphing them into something new with the same pixilation warping effect from before.
Maximum power reached: 0.1%
Ms. Hertz: [turns the corner into the doorway] What are you doing? Everyone else is out.
Diva: I know, I needed these. [Holds out the new pieces she made.] Laura said she needed them for a counter strategy.
Ms. Hertz: Strange. I don't remember having these-
Diva: We should get back. [steps past the teacher.]
[Cut to the gymnasium as all the students from science building and Ms. Hertz arrive at the gym.]
Delmas: Is that everyone?
Ms. Hertz: Yes, I double che - What, where did that girl with the guitar go?
[Jim is at guard by the door.]
Jim: Everyone, take positions in the intruder drill.
[All of the students line up against the wall. Show Nickolas is crouching in the corner. Laura has all the machines taken apart and is working on exposing some wires. Milly brings over a first kit to treat Hiroki's legs.
They all hear marching of the machines outside. Then all of a sudden, the noises stop. Jim gets suspicious and he carefully walks over to the door to the gym. He peers through the crack.
He watches.]
Jim: AHHH!
[Then he jumps back as the doors break off their hinges and the monsters flood in.]
[Odd is riding through the dining trailer courtyard. He's enjoying himself as he dodges a laser shot at his back. So much so, that he doesn't notice that a tarantula steps out from behind the Dining trailer, holds out an arm and he is clotheslined onto his back.
He's in a daze as it approaches him.
It fires down at him. He rolls, but he's still burned in the side. He can't move from the sudden pain.]
WHAM
[Sam has slammed her skateboard into the tarantula's face, knocking it onto its back. She helps him up, they have a cute moment where she smiles, then he smiles back.
Sam: Where have you been all this time?
Odd: Saving the day. Where did you think?
Sam: Eating, or a food coma.
Odd: I don't get food comas. I get food epilepsy.
Sam: You mean starving?
Odd: [joking] Oh that's what it's called.
[Odd takes a running start and jumps onto his board. They both ride off as the tarantula struggles to flip itself onto its feet.]
[In Carthage, they are almost through the room. Aelita sees a creeper prepare to attack Yumi from behind.]
Aelita: Yumi!
[Aelita projects her shield across the room to stun the would be assassin. She activates her wings and tries flying, but a creeper on the edge of the room shoots her down, landing a shot on her wing. She hits the metal bridge and manages to stay on.
Aelita, frustrated, sees a creeper right in front of her and tries to throw an energy field at it. It moves its head and the attack misses entirely.
At wits end, she tries to straight up punch it in its face. She lands a hit, but it barely causes the creeper to move its head. It then swishes its tail around and sweeps her legs out from under her.
Aelita LP: 50 - 40
She's hit by a laser before she can get up.]
Aelita LP: 40 - 0
William: NO!
[The scanner bursts open in a cloud of steam. Aelita bangs her head against the scanner.]
[Yumi takes out Aelita's slayer in revenge.]
Yumi: [As her fan returns to her] Serves you right.
William: We can't waste any more time here.
[There are three more creepers guarding the exit they need to pass through.]
William: Heaven…
[His zweihander glows white as he channels virtual energy into it.]
William: Piercer!
[He unleashes a white arc of energy from a sword slash and obliterates the creepers. They are sliced in half, the tails hanging in the air for a second before they collapse and then explode a second later.
He and Yumi move on.]
William: I'll take point. You're the only one left that can deactivate towers.
[They enter another room. The floor ends in a balcony. In from of them is another tower with a red aura, its wires draping from the bottom and connecting the tower to the wall. Again, there is only mist far below. And in front of them is…
PHLEW
PHLEW
PHLEW
[All the creepers in the room unleash a volley of lasers on them. William slams his blade into the ground and he and Yumi use it as a shield against all the lasers. Yumi peaks out. There's a half a dozen creepers in the room and two mantas behind them guarding the tower.]
William: Too many to charge through.
Yumi: Just use your blade beam again.
William: I only have enough energy for the one.
Yumi: Then keep blocking. Their attacks are 40 LP, it shouldn't take long to charge up another.
[By the time the creepers have charged up another volley, Yumi has already rolled back into the hallway. William heaves the sword up onto his shoulder and feints an attack before he blocks. The tendrils on the sword glow orange and encroach more on the blade.]
William: Jeremy?
Jeremy: You're good.
William: Heaven Piercer!
[This time, when he sends out the arc, the creepers fall flat against the ground and the attack safety passes over them. William looks disgruntled. From behind him, Yumi throws her last fan.]
VSHUR
[One of the mantas shoots Yumi's fan as it tries to pierce the other manta. It spins down into the mists below. The two retreat back into the hallway.]
William: Well, there goes all of our ranged options.
Yumi: You could throw the sword.
William: And then what would I do after that?
Yumi: You would hold up your hand, the sword hilt would turn orange, and it flies back into your hand, and if we're lucky, it takes out some on the return trip.
William: Like Mjonier?
[Yumi nods.]
William: I CAN DO THAT?!
Yumi: You could when you were Xanafied.
William: Why didn't you tell me?!
[William impales the sword into the other wall of the hallway. He holds up his hand.
Nothing happens.
Yumi: [channeling her inner Jedi] …feel the force around you.
William: [irritated] Not helping… It's not working. When specifically did I use it? Did I use it to devirtualize you?
Yumi: [Yumi, the boss, lets him down gently] Oh nonono. You tried to. I kicked you off a cliff. [points to the deathtrap of the room] How are we going to do this? I couldn't get through that.
William: I can speed run through with super smoke.
Yumi: But you can't deactivate the tower.
Jeremy: Not yet.
KEEP READING. NEXT PAGE.
AFTERWORD
The line "Diva: I thought it was a Diva sense of humor." is an English based joke, but either way, Diva would understand both English and French so it works.