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 ribbon bridges were now weaving around buildings and plateaus so tightly they were streets between the structures rather than free floating bridges. There was a purple wind blowing through the tight crevices she was traveling down, trying to force her back. The ribbon turned a corner around the mosque in front of her.
That's when everything opened up into a giant empty expanse.
The edge of the empty space was a web of ribbons and wires leading to plateaus forming a cylindrical perimeter. Far above at the top a giant turbine like structure is blasting winds that buffet the sides of the buildings forming the courtyard, pushing her back from the entrance she found where the purple winds blew out to the rest of the sector. Far below was a white stone hexagon plateau the appeared to be made from reflective glass. Columns are sticking up in a grid pattern across it.
In the middle of the space was a floating giant hexagon shaped monolith, making a "center" to the sector. It was a deep black that absorbed all the light around it. its upper levels decked out with precious stones, gold inlay and carved statues. Wires stretched out from the plateaus, skyscrapers and temples around the courtyard and sucked into the turrets on the six corners of the hexagon castle. The turrets were made of interlocking pieces that look like a Jenga tower you can climb. They soared above the crenulations on top of the castle.
These turrets looked to be where you can enter the castle. Bridges of solid green light feed into the holes of the interlocking bricks at different points. They lead across the empty courtyard space separating the castle from the rest of the sector and connected to a few of the plateaus. One of which she was on.
POV of here looking around from the last pagoda before stepping onto the bridge to the nearest turret. Sissi runs across the courtyard around the black castle. She's heading toward the tower.
THUMP
A ninja jumps down from another bridge to intercept her.]
Sissi: Uh jer, I mean Einstein? There's a guy in my way. AH, he took out swords!
[Ninja is charging at her.]
Jeremy: Use your weapon on him.
[Sissi checks herself. Feels something and looks confused. From her vest, she pulls out a German stick grenade. Pulls the rip cord on the handle and throws it at the ninja. It cuts it and there's a burst of power-
MOOB
-and all the space around the ninja seems to get pulled toward the grenade.]
Sissi: Uh, did it work?
Ninja H LP: 50 - 75
Jeremy: Uh it did something.
Sissi: How much is it hurt?
Jeremy: You uh, hurt it for negative damage.
[Cut to Aelita facing another ninja. She keeps firing energy fields one after another. The ninja keeps blocking, but the energy overloads and destroys the swords.
TINGZZZRN
She shoves a shield forward. It has to back up and sink into the floor to dodge. Aelita flies up surveys the ground, with an energy field ready. When the ninja peeks its head up, Aelita fires. The ninja plops back into the ground, then emerges from the wall under the second floor balcony shadow. Aelita furiously dives down with an energy field in her hand. The ninja has to dive out of the way as the energy field splitters the mat and wall.
Ninja kicks. Aelita curls into a defensive stance, her arms up and her wing wrapped around her arm. As the kick lands her wing flashes black again. She lashes out again, her black wings lashing out cutting up the ninja leaving scratches on its body. Green wireframe beneath where the wings scratched it has black lines instead of green. While it's trying to get away, Aelita lets out another energy field knocking it back ten meters and into post.]
Ninja T LP: 70 - 0
DRRZZZN
[She's heaving from the effort. Resting against the wall. The black wings flicker and dissipate revealing the feathers underneath and return to their normal pink glow.]
[Jeremy is looking William vs Naja's fight. He sees Naja turn intangible to pass through William's slash]
Jeremy: That's it!
William: [avoiding an extending spike] What are you on about?
Jeremy: The ninjas. They couldn't pass through Carthage to reach the terminal. Except for this one.
William: What?
Jeremy: Why didn't any of the regular ones go right to the heart when they invaded? All ninjas can pass through the world. But this one phases through everything. If it's an upgrade, why don't all the ninjas have it. This is the only one. The rank-and-file units can only phase on Tyron's worlds. That means they aren't passing through the world; the world is passing through them.
William: You're muttering. In legible French please!
Jeremy: They couldn't use abilities like you all can. They could only simulate them. Tyron must have programmed the cortex and this world to allow the ninjas to pass through. It's a simple collision check. If something is touching them when they want to phase, that part of this virtual world turns intangible.
William: What about the new one?
Jeremy: Tyron doesn't have scanners. We saw that he uses some kind of haptic feedback suit to have his ninjas control avatars with. The ninjas we've been fighting so far have been some kind of semi-virtualized state.
William: Or to put it another way, they are controlling their avatars from the real world with virtual reality tech.
Jeremy: It's a bit weird to call it virtual reality when Lyoko is involved, but yeah, they are remote controlled avatars.
Sissi: AHHH
[She's running away trying to not be cut by the ninja.]
Sissi: Okay, training. Stay defensive. Look for an opportunity. Don't overextend.
[It cuts her as she tries to feint one way, then dash the other way toward the castle turret.]
Sissi LP: 100 - 90 - 80 - 70
[She readies another implosion grenade. She fumbles it and it clatters against the ground behind her. The ninja attacks again.]
MOOB
Sissi LP: 70 - 95
[The implosion pulls her out of the path of the ninja's blade.]
Sissi: Huh?
[She chucks another to the side of the ninja and in the air off the bridge.]
MOOB
[The ninja is sucked toward the side and only barely catches itself on the side of the bridge. She gets up and runs towards the turret.
The turret itself was a series of interlocking bricks. Like a Jenga tower. With spaces missing in between the edge of the bridge led to one of these spaces. Looking down there's empty space as the center of the turret is hollow. There's some light she can't make it out down below. She chucks a grenade at the ledge of the layer of bricks where's there' an empty space on top of this layer's brick. She jumps after it as the ninja catches up and attacks her again.
MOOB
She's pulled to the point where the grenade hit.]
Sissi: [strikes a fabulous pose] HAHA. Silly green boy, you really thing you can catch me?! I am the star of this show, the main character. Scram you little twig. I'm climbing to the top. You can stay here. I don't need baggage.
[IRL in the ninja VR room]
Ninja G: She called me a green boy.
[He's looking at the guy next to him in the identical VR suit.]
Ninja X: SO?
Ninja G: She's green too!
[She chucks another healing grenade upward and repeats the process to pull herself up to each ledge of the tower.]
[Jeremy is watching Naja vs William]
Jeremy: This new one is actually using an ability like telekinesis or super smoke. That's why it could phase on Lyoko. But she's activating a program. Its limit is human ingenuity. So that must mean there's a hard limit to what the new ninja can and can't do.
William: So how do I beat it?
Jeremy: I'm doing the equivalent of taking my math, French, and chemistry finals at the same time here.
William: You would love that.
Jeremy: Okay bad example.
Jeremy: You need to figure this out. What was it doing when it used its abilities?
[Flashback to every time the ninja used its ability to pass through attacks.]
William: It always fell.
Jeremy: What?
William: Its strong point IS its weak point. It can pass through anything, but it has to pass through everything.
Jeremy: Wait! William explain-
[William is cut off.]
[Naja jumps toward him and disappears below ground.]
William: Smoke screen
[Her head breaches from the waves of smoke. Then the transparency effect ends and the ninja turns solid. There's sparks across the avatar as it takes damage and it jerks violently around until it's out of the smoke cloud.]
Naja LP: 110 - 108 - 106 - 104 - 102 - 100
William: Huh?
Jeremy: Of course! A collision glitch. Even though the smoke particles are small, if they overlap Naja when she turns solid it thinks she's being crushed.
William: [sly] Huh. Smoke screen! Smoke screen! Smoke screen!
[Plumes of smoke flower across the pristine shrine. The ninja jumps back out of the effects, then blocks as a black whip lashes out. It doesn't notice that a wisp of smoke is closer to her than the other spots. William reforms and uppercuts. He hits nothing. Naja slips back into the floor.]
William: DAMN IT. How am I supposed to win?
Jeremy: Careful, this is how it got Yumi. It will attack from underneath you. But she can't stay underground forever.
William: One, two, three…
[Naja explodes from the ground under William like a geyser.]
William: …sixSUPER SMOKE.
[The ninja's stab misses. It spins around and throws the T-Spike hitting the will O' wisp dead on, deactivating the super smoke and pinning William to the wall, buckling it from the impact as he's in the center of a huge circular depression. William is trying to tug the senbon out of his arm, his entire body weight hanging from the spike.
William: Hgggh… huh huh. [he can't make it budge. He turns to face his enemy] Well? What are you waiting for monster?
Naja: [Exasperated] It's Naja. Jingu Bang.
BANG
[A hole appears in William's head and his form collapses.]
CRRSSH
Jeremy: …and watch out for her "death from below." She can use the collision glitch to spring herself out of the ground.
Aelita: And you're sure he said, "she has to pass through everything"?
Jeremy: Yeah. Do you have a way to take advantage of it?
Aelita: I have a plan of action. I need to test it.
[Naja spawns in as they finish talking.
She changes her senbon into a spear. Aelita readies and hurls energy fields at the ninja. She vaults off the ground with her spear and the spheres pass right through her and detonate on the far wall. Aelita lengthens the wooden beam above them into a wall with creativity. Naja passes right through it, rolls and pivots to face Aelita and stabs with her small spike. Aelita grabs her arm and crushes the energy field she had readied against the spike, sending it crashing through the wood wall. Aelita makes two energy fields linked with a electric current. Naja takes a step and stabs. Aelita bounces the point off one of the fields. Naja tries to weave her way around Aelita's "dodgeball defense." Aelita uses the current between the two fields to catch and redirect the spear around her head and slip past it. The ninja twists and kicks Aelita away, then turns transparent as she drops through the ground.]
Aelita LP: 130 - 125
[The ninja flies out of the ground making a swipe with her spear, but hits nothings.]
Aelita: …six.
[Aelita is flying above the tower, way above the second floor. She has been charging a giant energy field in her hands.]
Naja: Jingu BANG
[Extends the spear out to snipe Aelita out of the sky. Aelita dive bombs. She launches her attack and is about to hit the new ninja. Aelita and the tip of the spear are about to collide midair...
-And she passes right through the weapon. The ninja starts to fall back to the floor, having phased through the giant energy field. The transparency effect starts to flicker.]
Aelita: So William was right. You can't touch anything while you're intangible. Energy field!
[Naja turns solid again just as it hits the ground. The energy sphere hits it. It's absolutely glowing with pink current across its body, shimmering and spasming.]
Naja LP: 108 - 8
Aelita: If you jump out of the ground again, I'll make you turn back immediately and you'll fall right back through the floor. And since you take damage every time you solidify inside an object… what's it gonna be? It's your choice. Do you bury yourself or do I have to do it after I'm done with you.
[The spike that Aelita had disarmed earlier had crushed the second-floor balcony where it fell and make a weirdly huge hole in the floor from where it hit the floor tiles. Naja emerges and picks up its spike. She points it at Aelita, then seemingly dropped its arm and began to sink into the floor.]
Aelita: Giving up?
[Points both arms at Aelita the one with the spike on top. Aelita looks confused. Naja turns intangible for an instant, releases the spike, then turns solid.]
Naja LP: 8 - 6
[Something is whistling through the air at Aelita.]
Aelita: Energy shield!
[Even though she blocked the tiny projectile perfectly centered, she's sent flying back and makes a crater in the wall.]
Aelita LP: 125 - 85
[She sees it was the tiny hand spike. Only 10 cm long, now falling to the ground.]
Aelita: That thing is denser than Nickolas.
[Naja raises its spear.]
Naja: JINGU BANG!
Aelita: ENOUGH!
[Aelita's wings turn black.]
Naja: [French with Danish accent] Why the black wings?
Aelita: Oh do you not have these? Shame. They're in style.
Naja: Are you a soldier or a punk rock DJ?
Aelita: Why? Afraid I'll remix your death rattle?
Naja: The battlefield is no place for a musician
Aelita: [Trying to think of a come back] Oh they're more alike than you think they both... [realization] OHHHH. I get what Ulrich and Yumi were trying to tell me!
[As Sissi lands on the top of the tower at the top of the castle, she sees a green flash above her.]
MOOB
[The last grenade she threw went off and pulled her and the ninjas that had ambushed her together and they all end up in a pile on the ground. She throws out her hands to stop herself and ends up more or less shoving several of the ninjas as she falls. Something is glittering on the ninja. Before they rise, she chucks another grenade at empty space off the tower and leaps to the wall of the turret.]
MOOB
[The pile of ninjas is dragged into empty space as she clutches the corner of hexagon wall. She was on the rampart area of the Central terminal, a thin strip walkway around the edge of the fortress with ramps located by each corner turret that led down into the interior of the castle. The raised central hexagon area was nothing but pylons of luminescent blue energy in a strange pattern. They grew from the floor and up toward the giant fan above where their tips sparked with energy. The wind twisted and howled through the maze. The winds are constantly pressing down on her and trying to push her back out over the parapet, making it hard to move forward.
She runs toward the interface at the center of the room, spotting it through the forest of metal pillars. Two ninjas rise up out the ground to intercept her. She tries to jump over them by tossing a grenade above them at the pillar using it's pulled to lift her over the ninjas and...
The fan blows the grenade back down where it detonates on the ground and instead of bringing her up, it drags her back down, flipping back down and faceplanting on the ground.]
Sissi LP: 100 - 95
Ninja G: …So she's an idiot.
Ninja X: Definitely an idiot
[More Ninjas reinforcements who were around the edges of the central terminal platform surround her. A few jump to attack. There's an orange flash from behind her and a red line bifurcates the crowd. Multiple ninjas drop.]
DRRDRRDRRDRRZZZN
Sissi: Ulrich?! [glee] Oh you saved me!
[The orange figure steps back to guard her from the ninjas better.]
Rama: [annoyed] Idiot. I cut a path for you up the middle of the fortress and you took the HARDEST path to get here!
Aelita: [thinks] Music is fighting. Combos are like motifs. You use them where appropriate and where there's openings
[She slashes with her wings, leaving black strokes on the floor mat. Naja is evading her, twisting, coiling around, and doing everything to avoid the attack.]
Aelita: [thinks] This is so cool. I can feel the way I'm thinking changing. Evolving. I know what to do next to make her act how I want. I'm not just panicking on how to survive. I'm actually controlling the tempo of the fight.
[Naja strikes back with her staff. Aelita flares her wings to fly away but black ones don't get much lift. She takes the hit on the head and goes down.]
Aelita LP: 85 - 35
Aelita: [thinks] If each attack, block, grab, swing is a note, then there's a tempo. I can read it. If she's moving like that her tempo limits her options. And if there's not a transition to a motif…
[Several things happen at once. Aelita creates and projects forward an energy shield along the ground. Naja jumps forward and turns transparent. Aelita dives forward. Both the shield and Aelita pass through Naja. She turns solid, lands, and turns around to face Aelita.]
Aelita: [thinks] I'll just add a bridge that forces her to be where I want.
[Aelita swipes down with her hand causing the black wing to claw down at the ninja's neck. The ninja blocks with one of its hand spike and retaliates with the other. Naja's holding it by one of its prongs it like a night stick catching the wing along the long shaft at the same time Aelita is hit.]
Naja: JINGUBANG!
Aelita LP: 35 - 0
CRRSSH
Naja: Why are you smiling?
Aelita: Oh don't mind me. I'm just enjoying my revelation.
CRASH
[Naja looks down at the ground where something landed. It's the few centimeters of spike from her weapon. Surprised, she brings her right hand down.
Not only was the shaft sheered from the handle, but her arm underneath was nearly severed off. Only a little bit of wireframe and cloth of its avatar kept its hand attached to its arm. And everything where the black wing hit was midnight black nothingness. It's not like the material her weapon was made of was in the center of the cut. There's was nothing. No color. Just empty.]
Rama: I would ask how you managed to become the center of attention, but that's EXACTLY what YOU would do.
Sissi: How was I supposed to know you cleared the way? And how did you get out of the trap? If your able to get out, why am I here?
Rama: [sighs] I'm not Ulrich. I'm Rama. Also you may want to stop that.
[Sissi looks down. Where the ground around her hand is turning a glittering gold color and spreading fast. She takes her hand away.]
Sissi: Huh, did I do that?
Tyron: Why aren't you attacking?
Random ninja in the VR room: Boss... a thought occurs. This guy single handedly took out two ships of soldiers by himself and he slaughtered his way up the core to rescue this. [points at Sissi.] He purposely got himself surrounded and despite that… he's more annoyed at the inexperienced girl, not two dozen military trained soldiers. I do not think we should engage this man.
Tyron: What is he talking about. Get him out of here. Finish them now!
[The glowing ninjas seem irritated and all raise their swords ready to shish-kabob her.]
Sissi: Ah! Not the face!
CLANG
Rama: Why are you still here? You need to get the others out.
Sissi: HOW?
Rama: Hey Jeremy, give her a key so she can get the code.
Jeremy: Who are you to- I'm already doing that!
[Rama princess carries sweeps up Sissi (still with one arm locked behind his back), super sprint around the perimeter and back behind the ninjas and deposits her right in front of the terminal.]
Rama: I need to keep you alive. You need to stop making me regret that.
[Rama goes back to clearing out the enemies around them, red flashes in the background while Sissi focuses on the terminal.]
Jeremy: Sissi! You're the only one left. Here. [A DMA card spawns in her hand] This is a DMA card, plug it in. It will search for the devirtualization relay code I need.
[She jams the card into the console.]
Sissi: I got it. It's in. HRGH.
CRRSSH
[The ninja that had escaped the mob finishes its slice and removes the key. Just as its about to clean its blade, a red blade pierces its chest.]
DRRRNZZZZ
Tyron: [audio] Well, Mr. Belpois, a valiant effort. Unfortunate that your opponent was me. Now, that you have no more pieces to play, I'll give you the relay code you need to bring your colleagues back. In exchange, all I ask is you tell me the location of Schaeffer's supercomputer.
Jeremy: [to himself] Um, no. One, you're a slimeball who would double cross anyone if it meant a slight increase in your power. Duos, if your seriously think I wasn't able to get the code in milliseconds, then your skill level isn't even in the same league as me. Bub-bye Imp.
[The scanners whirl to life and the doors open. All six virtual warriors are soon in the scanner room.]
Jeremy: [to himself] I'm going to have to make some firewalls for the skid before we get ourselves in that mess again.
Yumi: Wait, Sissi? You were virtualized?
Sissi: It took me this long to get join the gang. I decided I was going to show you that I deserve to be here! So when I saw I could help you guys, I stepped up. [holds her chest] Ouch, that hurts. You guys do this all the time?!
Odd: Hold your headbands. How did Sissi win the tournament?
William: She didn't. It was a trap.
[Ulrich gives William a look. They look eyes for a few seconds while the others celebrate. Ulrich give a reluctant nod. William looks towards Yumi.]
Aelita: Sorry I went a little crazy back there. I wish you could have made it to the end of the tournament arc.
Odd: It's fine. Wasn't a tournament arc, more like a tournament episode.
Aelita: [pat him on the back] We'll make sure you win the next one.
Odd: …You owe me.
Aelita: Sure thing. My desert for a week.
[Odd doesn't respond.]
[Back on the New City Sector, there's a garden around a Ziggurat on a plateau. Rama is laying on the ground next to a garden of crystal flowers with his eyes closed. He looks up at the sky with the rain falling down on his face. He reaches up and watches the rain splatter against his hand.
From his POV, the world has an orange tint. Words appear in AR overlaying his vision.]
Rama: I know I know. I'm a rival. I just wanted to know what it was like to be a savior for a change.
[New words appear]
"Do you really think it was YOUR choice?"
Rama: I don't know.
[Cut to the computer lab]
Jeremy: Let's formally induct Sissi Delmas into the Lyoko Warriors. Place your hand on the bible.
Sissi: You guys have a bible?
Jeremy: It's a 3-ring binder of my notes on how to run the supercomputer. It's the closest thing we have.
Yumi: You swear not to give away the secret of the factory, Lyoko, or XANA?
Sissi: I swear.
Odd: And you also swear not to go tell your father if you get scared and lead him to the factory.
Sissi: What! no?! The only reason I would reveal your secret is if it were the only way to save your lives.
William: You do realize we can reverse time, right?
Sissi: [dumbstruck] So, you can turn back the clock, make it so no one remembers anything, and undo any damage?
Aelita: Yeah, consequences don't matter.
Sissi: [Incredulous] Well of course I wouldn't tell anyone then. What do you take me for, a snitch?
Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, Jeremy: Ahuh.
[Cut back the Deckard.
Anthea is in the lab seen in evolution season 1. It was a small rectangular room with a desk wrapping around half the room with work computers in the front, a sliding electronic door on the side wall and a hallway disappearing into rows of server banks in the back.
She steps out as she here hears someone struggling past the door.]
Sensible Ninja: I'm just saying we should look at the facts. There was no way we could possibly-
Anthea: Stop.
[Anthea stops the guards as they are about to take the ninja past the lab door.]
Anthea: What's your name?
Sensible Ninja: Keith.
Anthea: Thank you Keith for your advice.
Keith: Well you're welcome, Dr. Tyron.
Anthea: I go by Shaeffer actually.
[Back inside the control room, Tyron gets up from his place in the back.]
Tyron: Did you get it?
Deck hand 1: Yes sir. When each of the five combatants was defeated within the altered zone, the data packets they sent off for the process they called devirtualization was recorded.
Tyron: And… [Looks to one of their technicians off to the side]
Researcher: Using this, we should be replicate their virtualization process.
[Tyron smiles.]
Episode 20 end
AFTERWORD