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 by swordsdownforreview
We made it to fifty chapters! Thank you all for your support! I honestly just started this story as a fun side-project; I never really thought it would become so popular.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
"The Lyokowarriors return to explore that replica created by XANA, as Odd suddenly starts acting nastily towards Aelita."
Episode 50: Miscommunication
(Based on Replika)
Odd Della Robbia and Aelita Schaeffer first met in December of 1991, in the Northern England chateau of Eugene and Evelyn Hopper. Aelita was only six months old, and Odd five—both of them were just born that year. The first meeting they both remembered was Christmas of 1996, five years later when they were both old enough for their brains to retain long-term memories.
Odd always liked hanging out with Aelita, and he looked forward to the times where they would meet up—usually Christmas time with their maternal grandparents—and Aelita felt the same way. She lived in Switzerland due to the chalet being a Schaeffer family heirloom and needing to stay in the family, while he had to stay in Italy because his parents were happy there and never saw a need to move. In the meantime, until the winter holidays arrived, the two cousins kept in touch with each other via writing letters.
At one point, they stopped being cousins and became more like siblings, brother and sister. She was an only child and he had five older sisters—so she sought some family company her age and he wanted family company who wouldn't lock him in the bathroom all night.
When she was about to turn twelve, she was sent to Kadic Academy, and his parents sent him to that same school one year later on his request. Constantly being in the same place only brought them closer, as did finding the supercomputer, with Jérémie and Lyoko both housed inside of it.
However, their closeness was severely threatened by the following event:
It was nighttime at Kadic, and the only person up was Odd himself. He was sitting on his bed, playing his GameBoy Advance SP with the volume up.
"Haha!" he exclaimed as he played his recently-found favorite game. "Take that, you fireball!"
Across the room, Ulrich lifted his head from his pillow and looked over at the blonde, one eye still closed, unable to ignore the sound any longer.
"And you, you slimy vortex!" Odd didn't seem to notice that he had woken up his roommate. "You'll see! You think you're so smart! Wait 'til I discombobulate you into the black hole!"
"Odd, cool it, would you?" a groggy Ulrich asked, annoyed at being woken up. "Do you know what time it is?"
Odd stopped playing and glanced up at Ulrich when the brunette spoke. However, as Ulrich finished, the device made a beep, and Odd looked back to it in shock. "Ah! Great, thanks a lot! You just made me miss the bonus round! I'm dying from sleep deprivation and now you're making me start all over again!" he complained. "Some roommate you are!"
Ulrich's anger was gradually building up, "Are. You. Kidding. Me. You're playing video games. At 4 AM?!"
Odd just went back to playing, humming, "Mm-hmm!"
Seeing that the blonde wasn't going to stop any time soon, Ulrich growled and slammed his head into the bed he was laying on, pulling his pillow over his head in an attempt to block out the sound.
Sometimes, Ulrich wished he had put in a request to become Jérémie's roommate when the young genius was finally enrolled at Kadic, because there were times where he couldn't stand Odd. This was one of those times.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Four hours later found Odd asleep in his bed, snoring away, with one arm dangling off the bed and still holding the GameBoy. He had skipped breakfast, and Ulrich took great pleasure in shaking the blonde's shoulder, seeing it as payback for last night.
"Odd, wake up," he said in a teasing voice. "Time to rise and shine~!"
Odd slowly blinked one hazel eye awake. Standing next to his bed was, sure enough, Ulrich, but Jérémie and Aelita had joined the brunette. All three of them were wearing their gym clothes.
"W-What are you guys dressed like that for?" the Italian boy asked, groggy and exhausted.
"It'll come to you, Odd," Jérémie's voice held a hint of amusement. "Think it over."
It did indeed come to him—the realization. He sat up in alarm, "Oh, no! Phys. ed!" It was in half an hour. But he was too tired, so he fell back onto his bed. "Forget about it, guys. I can't go. Galactic Battle totally wiped me out..."
Jérémie gently rolled his eyes, "I thought we told you that playing video games late at night is only a good idea when you don't have classes the next morning."
"Yeah, I don't think an excuse like that is going to sit too well with Jim," Ulrich smirked in agreement. "Try again, Odd."
So he did. Kind of. "Hey, Aelita? Do me a big favor. Think of a nice, legitimate excuse so I can stay here and sleep..." She had done it before. He had faith in her.
The pink-ette immediately frowned, unimpressed. "Me? What am I supposed to tell him?" She sighed, "Just tough it out, Odd, and go to class–"
She was cut off by a loud snore. Odd had fallen back to sleep.
Aelita sighed again, "Everyone, behold my lazy cousin. That's just great. Thanks for putting me on the spot..."
Jérémie was giving her a look of sympathy.
Ulrich, however, quipped, "God forbid if he ever did that before a date with Sam." Sam would likely dump him right then and there.
Aelita, on the other hand, had the most patience out of anyone when dealing with Odd, having grown up with him. But that didn't mean that patience couldn't run out.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The eleventh grade class was gathered on the sports field, in front of Jim as he took roll.
"Della Robbia." The man got annoyed when he heard just silence. "Della Robbia, I don't wanna have to repeat that!" Still silence. "DELLA ROBBIA!"
Aelita cut in here, raising her hand, "Um, Odd felt sick this morning so he went to the infirmary, Jim."
Jim made a mark on the roll sheet, "Absent then. I guess when you're not feeling well, the only thing to do is head for the infirmary."
Aelita smiled in relief. It was the group's usual excuse—needing to go the infirmary—whenever they needed to ditch class to stop XANA, and it worked a good majority of the time. That was why Aelita had chosen to use it here. Glad to know it still worked like a charm.
Jim put the pencil in his mouth, "Delmas."
"Present," Sissi replied.
"De Vasseur."
"Present," Magali said.
"Ducroc."
"Yeah," Matthieu replied.
"You say 'present' or 'here'," Jim scolded, "none of this 'yeah' stuff, okay?"
"Yeah, okay," was Matthieu's response, as Nicolas snuck away from his spot near Sissi and Hervé and made his way to Naomi.
"Uh, good morning, Naomi," he said in a quiet voice, while rubbing the back of his neck. "Uh...how would you feel about having a fantastic and breathtaking experience together with me in the moonlight tonight?"
"I'd love to," she replied, in a voice just as soft. "But...would it count as a date? I-I mean, as far as I know, we're just friends, aren't we?"
Nicolas's cheeks turned red, "O-Only if you want it to be. In any case, it's just something nice I want to do for you."
Naomi began blushing too, "O-Oh! In that case, I accept your invitation." Nicolas may not have been the brightest student, but he was definitely a kind and friendly guy.
Nicolas's response was a bright and pleased smile.
"Right!" Jim interrupted, officially beginning class time. He motioned to the side, where a high jump bar had been set up next to some large mats. "Today, we're going to work on the high jump! For once, I won't go to great lengths to tell you how this kind of sport can take you to great heights. It's also pointless to remind you that the goal of this discipline consists of jumping as high as possible over the bar, which we can raise higher and higher over the mat." He raised a finger high in the air, "Demonstration!"
He began running towards the set up. Breathless, he said, "Gain momentum!" He held his arms out behind him as he gained speed. He reached the bar and jumped over it, "Release, and...!"
He landed on the mat, and immediately made a noise of great discomfort, before bouncing up into the air. The students laughed as he landed on the ground. He used the mat to sit up, peering over at his class, pouting.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jim had dismissed class early while he went to the infirmary. Yolanda was helping him walk, as he held his back, face scrunched in pain.
"I've told you over and over again," the young woman was lecturing him. "If you insist on doing this sort of thing, this is where you'll end up."
"Yeah, it's an occupational hazard..." he gently shrugged her off.
They had reached the infirmary by now, and Yolanda promptly opened the door. Both bed were empty, Jim noticed.
"I see you've already sent Della Robbia home."
It was just a nonchalant comment, but Yolanda's response surprised him, "Odd?" She was visibly confused. "But he hasn't been here at all..."
"Oh?" He turned to her, intrigued.
Aelita had said that Odd felt sick so he went to the infirmary. But Yolanda had just told him that Odd hadn't been in the infirmary all morning. Somebody was lying, and it sure wasn't Yolanda.
He'd been duped. "Oh, the little brat!" He suddenly stood up.
In doing so, his spinal column emitted a terrible crack. He let out a short cry of pain, before realizing that the movement had relieved his pain completely. A blissful smile grew on his face, as he sighed in relief.
The relief continued as the anger at being duped returned. It was time for busting a couple of students.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd woke up about an hour later to someone opening the door to his and Ulrich's room. He was still in bed, his back to said door. Thinking it was his friends, he asked tiredly, "Well, what kind of lame-o speech did GI Jim bore you guys with today? That's about the only part I'm sad I missed. Every time he opens his mouth," he gently laughed here, "he cracks me up..."
That amusement went away when he heard Mr. Delmas angrily respond with, "Well, why don't we all share a little laughter in my office, now?!"
"Uh-oh..." Odd turned onto his back, looking up at his visitors, mortified. Sure enough, Delmas and Jim were standing there, slowly coming into focus, moreso after the boy rubbed his eyes to clear the grogginess. "Oh no, please tell that I'm still sleeping and that this is a nightmare...!"
Jim wagged a finger at him, "Uh-uh. You're wide awake, Della Robbia. But you're right about one thing: this is your nightmare!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd and Aelita (both dressed in their casual clothes now) both sat in front of Mr. Delmas's desk, in his office. Jim was standing behind their headmaster, as the two teens glared down at their shoes. The infirmary excuse usually worked, but not today, apparently.
"Disappointed, disappointed," the principal was saying. "That's the only word for it. Miss Schaeffer, Mr. Della Robbia, I am deeply disappointed in both of you." The two forced themselves to look up at him.
"I agree with that, sir," Jim added. "These two took me for some sort of idiot!" No, we didn't, the two mentally swore.
Mr. Delmas continued, "You shamelessly acted with total indifference to the ethical values that this institution was designed to teach you! You lied, both of you! Therefore, four hours of detention."
The two cousins glanced at each other in surprise. That was mild, especially when compared to the eight hours of detention and one day suspension punishment as detailed in the rule handbook if one ever lied about their reason for skipping class.
"Really?" Jim was just as surprised as them. "Only four, sir?"
"Yes!" Delmas replied. "And that's because I consider myself to be too..."
"Too weak?" Jim asked.
The headmaster glared at him, before correcting him with, "...Magnanimous."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd was visibly sulking as he and Aelita left the Admin Building following their meeting with Mr. Delmas. The two entered the courtyard with a palpable tension building between them.
"Thanks for the lame excuse, Aelita," Odd broke the silence with a bitterness that he rarely showed to anyone, much less his own cousin.
They stopped walking, as Aelita defended herself, "Hey! How could I possibly predict that Jim would pull his back out and need to go to the infirmary?" Wanting to ease his anger, she chose to be optimistic, "Besides, it could've been worse. Four hours of detention–"
'Four hours of detention is mild' is what she was going to say, but Odd cut her off.
"If you had taken the time to think of a better excuse, Miss Einstein, I wouldn't have four hours of detention to serve this afternoon!" Yep, he was still pissed at her. Why?
She scoffed, "And if you were just a bit less selfish, you would realize that I got stuck with four hours of detention too! And for what?! Because you needed your beauty sleep! YOU LAZY LOSER!"
It was Odd's turn to scoff, as he crossed his arms, "Better lazy than pretentious!"
"What?!" She was flabbergasted. Where did that come from? "What is that supposed to mean?!" The only response she got from her cousin here was a huff of anger. "You know, you've been becoming increasingly antagonistic towards me the past couple days." It had started Sunday, with a mild insult from him directed at her over dinner. She had shrugged it off at the time. "What's going on?" But maybe she shouldn't have.
This was her extending the olive branch, so to speak. It was the only way to resolve things. But he had to meet her halfway for that to happen.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" And judging by his attitude here, he was refusing to accept that olive branch of hers.
She gritted her teeth, trying to hold back her anger, "Yes, I would. That's why I asked, dumbbell." That should've been obvious.
That seemed to be the last straw for something, because Odd just snapped, "Stop treating me like I'm an idiot!"
"Stop treating me like I'm a braggart!" Seriously, why did he call her 'pretentious'?! "I'm giving you a chance to come clean here!" Nothing but silence. But that was answer enough. "Well...I guess it's wasted."
She turned to leave, and she heard her cousin call out, "Yeah, go ahead and be pretentious, string bean!"
She retorted, "Better than being a selfish potato!", before leaving him all alone.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The other four Lyokowarriors knew about Odd and Aelita getting busted by Jim, but they remained unaware of their following argument in the courtyard. At least until lunchtime.
Ulrich had a fork full of French fries. "Man, are potatoes delicious!" he commented, as Odd approached the table.
His roommate sat down across from him with an annoyed humph.
Ulrich blinked in surprise, before asking, slightly amused, "Did I say something wrong?" Odd didn't respond, but his sour demeanor didn't change.
As a smiling Aelita sat down between Ulrich and Yumi on the other side of the table, William (sitting on Jérémie's other side) cautiously threw out a question of his own, "Did something happen between you two?" It was directed at the two cousins. Something had clearly gone down.
Odd just sent a glare in Aelita's direction. The pink-ette was refusing to look at him in any way, but she was also smiling as if nothing was wrong—a clear sign that she was giving him the silent treatment. And everyone in the group was aware of that.
The Italian blonde lowered his glare at her, before taking a handful of fries from Ulrich's plate and started munching on them.
That was answer enough: the two had gotten into a fight.
Sensing the obvious tension, Yumi grimaced, "Well, it looks as if we've got a bit of a cold war on our hands."
"Exactly what Mr. Fumet was teaching us in class earlier," William remembered, and Yumi nodded. Strange coincidence there, he felt. "Hopefully, it doesn't escalate."
Jérémie forced a smile and some optimism, "Take it easy, guys. Let's focus on more important things."
The young genius despised in-fighting within the group with a passion. It stemmed from his deep-seeded fear of his only support system—his friends—breaking up and thus, leaving him all alone. And it was obviously because of past trauma that developed while he was sick and stuck at home by himself. Everybody in the group knew this, hence why they always tried to keep fights between themselves to a minimum. That was also why Ulrich, Yumi, and William were quick to jump in with their responses here.
Ulrich leaned in, smiling, "Like exploring the network with the Skid some more?"
"That's right," Jérémie replied, his smile becoming less forced.
William leaned in as well, "What about that sphere we found?" This was a genuine question from him. He really wanted to know what it was.
"Especially that," the blue-clad blonde admitted.
"Great!" Yumi leaned in too, to join the conversation. "When are we going?"
"Well, the longer we wait, the stronger XANA gets. So I say we try tonight," Jérémie replied. "That is, if our beloved cousins are ready to bury the hatchet." His smile was back to being forced.
Odd huffed, "As long as I don't have to talk to that string bean!"
Aelita, however, remained silent.
Ulrich nudged her side, sitting next to her, "'Lita, aren't you going to respond to Odd?"
"Nope," she was calmly smiling. "I have nothing to say to that potato."
With this, the brunette began to understand Odd's sourness earlier when he sat down. It was because Aelita had called him a 'potato' as an insult.
"That's progress! Sort of..." Yumi commented. She didn't sound confident, though. The two wouldn't even look at each other. But she was trying to be optimistic for Jérémie's sake.
"Is it?" William asked. "One party is giving the silent treatment, while the other is just hurling insults."
Elsewhere in the cafeteria, Nicolas sat down at his usual table. Sitting down at said table where Naomi and Hervé, the latter of whom was nose-deep in a book. He turned to his maybe-girlfriend, "Hey, Naomi. Are we still on for tonight?"
She immediately put on a sheepish expression, "I'm sorry, Nic. I really am. But I can't." His smile faded into disappointment. "I have a paper to revise for Ms. Kensington, remember?" Oh, yeah. That was part of the feedback she had gotten in earlier in English. So the excuse here was legit. She put on a hopeful smile, "Can we reschedule to this Saturday?"
"Of course," he replied, his own smile reassuring. Though, secretly, he was sad. He really liked her.
"Great! I'll see you later!" She then stood up and walked away, likely to start on that revision.
Well, he didn't want the experience to go to waste. It wasn't for him, after all. He glanced up at Hervé, who was still deeply invested in his book while munching down on his lunch, probably unaware of what just went down between Nicolas and Naomi.
"Hey, Hervé," Nicolas asked, "how would you feel about having a fantastic and breathtaking experience with me in the moonlight tonight?"
His friend immediately looked up at him in confused surprise. "Huh?"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The hook of a fishing rod landed in the water of the Seine River next to the abandoned factory, creating ripples over the reflection of the night's full moon. Nicolas grinned as he reeled in the line, as he sat on a stool by the edge of the water, surrounded by boxes that contained fishing gear and one that held snacks and drinks.
Hervé stood beside him, unimpressed, "This is your fantastic and breathtaking experience? A dumb fishing trip?! I can think of way better date ideas than this, and I'm a geek!"
"Naomi's late grandfather used to take her fishing when she was a kid," Nicolas explained, reminding Hervé that this experience was for Naomi, not him. "Knowing how to fish myself, I decided to give her a good memory. Well, hopefully. I'll find out this Saturday. Besides, you wouldn't believe how fantastic and breathtaking it can be to catch a big, fat pike!"
"You're the big, fat pike!" Hervé retorted.
Nicolas quickly shushed him, placing a finger to his lips, "Shh! You'll share the fish away if you talk too loud!"
Hervé reluctantly sat on the ground, muttering under his breath, "You clownfish..."
Overhead, the six Lyokowarriors ran across the bridge towards the factory entrance, ready for their mission to explore the sphere they came across on their first trip into the network. Odd, however, was walking instead of running, letting the others quickly leave him behind.
Nicolas and Hervé would've remained unaware had they not heard Aelita call out to her cousin, "Take your time, why don't you!" This caused them to look up at the bridge.
"Give it a rest!" Odd called back, before he too disappeared within the factory.
"Was that...Odd and Aelita?" Nicolas asked.
"Yeah," Hervé slowly got to his feet. "What are they doing up at this hour?"
"No idea," Nicolas shrugged.
Hervé, however, smirked as he got an idea. "Let's find out." Whoever, or whatever, Jérémie really was, Odd and Aelita clearly knew the truth. If he caught them here, whatever they were doing, he could use it as blackmail to get said truth from them.
But when he glanced over at Nicolas, his smile faded a little when he saw that his best friend looked uncertain. It was likely because going into an old, abandoned factory at night was usually a bad idea.
To reassure him, Hervé told the other boy in a gentle voice, "If they're doing something illegal, then it's up to us as good citizens to find out and report it to the proper authorities."
That wasn't actually what Nicolas was unsure about. He was really concerned about his friend's mental state lately, how the green-clad nerd was so fixated on Jérémie Belpois and his friends, how he was so sure that they were up to something, that Belpois wasn't who he and his friends were saying he was. It bordered on obsession, and it was a little creepy, if Nicolas was being honest...
But Hervé would never listen to him if he confessed all of that aloud. Hence why Nicolas mentally sighed, relenting, "You're right." He put his fishing rod down and stood up as well, "Let's go."
Besides, Nicolas couldn't deny his curiosity: what were Odd and Aelita doing here at this hour?
The two scrutinized the factory entrance together.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Now that they were a group of six, and there were only three scanners, conversations in the elevator about who would be virtualized first were becoming increasingly common—especially since missions with the Skid were now becoming a thing. This time, they agreed that Ulrich, William, and Aelita would be transferred first, and Yumi and Odd next.
They dropped Jérémie off in the lab first, before heading down a level to the scanner room. As soon as the elevator doors opened, Ulrich and William made a break for the scanners, with Aelita on their heels.
However, Odd suddenly ran over and got into the scanner she was heading for, cutting her off. He smiled and laughed teasingly, putting his hands behind his head, as if he just won a game they were playing. The pink-ette just put a hand on her hip, glaring at him disapprovingly. He was clearly just trying to get a reaction out of her, to speak to him again, even if just to insult him.
"Odd, aren't you overdoing it now?" Yumi asked, emerging from the elevator because unlike him, she actually planned to honor their agreement in the elevator.
Odd immediately became offended, "Gee, thanks, Yumi. It's obvious whose side you're on!"
Yumi just rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"We weren't aware that we were supposed to take sides, Odd," William cut in. The only side he, Ulrich, and Yumi were on was Jérémie's, who just wanted them all to get along, and their loyalty would never waver.
"Incredible!" Ulrich commented, as all three scanner doors closed. "You'd think they were back in kindergarten!"
"Cool it, guys," Jérémie cut in, as calmly as he could. "Let's concentrate on our mission. Transfer Ulrich, transfer William, transfer Odd." The scanners began to warm up. "Scanner Ulrich, scanner William, scanner Odd." The white circular bars began scanning them. "Virtualization!"
The three reformed mid-air, before landing in the middle of Sector Five's Arena. Shortly after, Aelita and Yumi arrived in a similar way.
Aelita and Odd caught each other's eyes, but Aelita turned away, folding her arms, in a huff. Odd shook his head, groaning his frustration. He wanted a reaction, yes, but not the one Aelita just gave him.
The passage was open by now, so the five teens exited the Arena. The corridor in front of them opened up as a flat floor, and they ran inside and to the end of the catwalk, before waiting for the lift to arrive. Once it did, they got on, and it took them up to the Skid Hangar. When it stopped, they each ran towards their respective transporter spots, which were the same as last time.
"You guys ready?" Jérémie asked.
Odd was the one who spoke up first, but he didn't answer the young genius. Instead, he turned to Ulrich, "Doesn't it freak you out to have a pretentious brat at the controls?"
Partway through his sentence, Ulrich scoffed and waved his arm dismissively, obviously fed up because it was clearly yet another insult directed at Aelita. Said pink-ette also scoffed, shaking her head, before turning her nose up at him as she tried to keep her anger under control.
William rolled his eyes, as he sternly ordered, "Odd, knock it off! You're acting like a child!"
Yumi just sighed before actually answering Jérémie's earlier question, "We're ready as we'll ever be."
Their mission control sighed, his disappointment palpable, "Acknowledged. Energize."
A bright light engulfed them all, teleporting each of them into the Skid, with Aelita in the main cockpit and the others in their Navskids.
The pink-ette broke through the tension, "Ulrich? Would you please ask your roommate if he still remembers how to use his Navskid?"
The false kindness didn't fool the samurai one bit. "Cut it out, Aelita. Just ask him yourself."
Odd was finally smiling, happy that someone (he felt) was on his side, "Good answer, Ulrich!"
That happiness disappeared when Ulrich quickly retorted, "Oh, you're starting to get on my nerves too, Della Robbia."
"And Ulrich's not alone there," William sternly warned the cat.
Yumi was quick to cut in, "Yeah, we've all had enough. So cut it out, both of you."
Jérémie ended this tussle with a sigh, half-disappointed and half-relieved. "Thank you." That was obviously directed at Ulrich, Yumi, and William. "Now, what do you say we take off? Supports away."
The supports arms immediately retracted, setting the Skid free.
Aelita took over the controls from this point on, pressing the red button underneath the left joystick, "Vertical propulsion, operational."
The Skid's boosters started up, and the vehicle flew out of the opening in the ceiling, before exiting Sector Five, into the Ice Sector this time. The ship paused outside of the sector entrance.
"Ready to dive," Aelita announced.
The Skid then plunged towards the Digital Sea, stopping briefly above the surface before diving in. The ship, at last, left Lyoko through the floodgate.
As said floodgate closed behind him, Aelita relayed to the lab, "We're in the network, Jérémie."
"Holoweb system, connected." Jérémie replied, "Aelita, set course for bearing 1-70. Your destination is a hub."
"Gotcha."
The Skid now in a horizontal position, they set off towards the hub the blonde had called out.
"I'm enterig the coordinates of the sphere that you guys saw during your last mission," Jérémie relayed. One second later, Aelita received those coordinates.
"Coordinates received," the pink-ette announced. "Hub in sight."
'Hub' was what they had decided to call the portal-like devices connected by various cables that traveled upwards, the ones that were scattered all around the network. And it turned out that these hubs were massive.
The Skid approached the hub, as Jérémie asked, "Are you ready?" This was the first time they would be entering one. They were all kind of nervous.
"Roger," Aelita replied, switching the Skid back to its vertical position as it arrived at the hub. In the middle of the giant, circular structure was a circular hole, and inside that hole was a spiraling pink vortex. "Hyperfluid aspiration in three seconds."
After a pause, the Skid was surrounding in swirling blue lights before shooting down into the vortex, making a splash. The blue light traveled across the surface of the hub as well, lighting up all its components.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
It really interested Nicolas how, the moment they entered the factory and saw the two ropes hanging from the ceiling, Hervé began to get cold feet.
"This place is strangely sinister," the green-clad nerd commented, shivering. "Let's get out of here! It gives me the creeps!"
Nicolas grabbed a rope, "Don't worry, I'm here with you. We'll do this together." He then slid down the rope with no issues.
Hervé grabbed the other rope as he flatly muttered under his breath, "Thanks, glad to hear it..."
He then slid unsteadily down the rope, swinging around a lot and not descending very fast. Nicolas landed and looked up to his friend, only to see that the geek had stopped outright, desperately clinging to the rope in fear.
"What are you doing up there?" Nicolas asked, his voice quiet just in case Odd and Aelita could hear them. "Come down!"
"I caaan't...!" Hervé's eyes were squeezed shut, and he had sweat rolling down his face. "I've got vertigoooo..." Which mean, he got dizzy whenever he was high up.
"Don't worry," Nicolas quietly replied. "You're only fifteen meters above the ground."
"Nicolas, would you shut up?!" Hervé retorted through clenched teeth.
Nicolas silently rolled his eyes, muttering, "And you're the one who wanted to do this," as he grabbed the rope is friend was stuck on. "Stay where you are. I'll come up and get you." He then climbed up the rope towards the nerd.
"Oh, no, this is horrible!" an upset Hervé muttered to himself. "I don't wanna die now! I've never even gotten a single kiss from Aelita!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The Skid traveled at high speed through a bright pink tunnel full of many sharp turns before emerging through a blue portal on the side of another hub. The Skid came through it in a horizontal position, sending a ripple of blue across the vehicle and the hub.
Aelita slammed her fist on a big red button, "Retro-brake!" The ship came to an abrupt stop, as she pressed a few more buttons. "Lights, operational." The Skid continued to move forward, and in no time, a familiar sphere was on the horizon. Even amidst a blue light and not red, it still looked sinister. "Jérémie, we're approaching the sphere now."
"I see you," on the holomap, he meant. "Check the south pole for a floodgate, like on Lyoko."
Despite being the smallest part of the sphere, the floodgate stuck out like a sore thumb. "Spotted! I've got a visual on it!" They approached the floodgate and stopped right outside it. Unlike Lyoko, however, it remained shut. "But it's locked. What do we do now?"
Odd, once again, cut in, this time before Jérémie could offer a suggestion, "Why don't you knock, you idiot? Maybe they'll open up for you! C'mon, you're supposed to be the smart one!" Again, it was obvious he wanted to provoke Aelita.
William deeply sighed in annoyance. This again...
"Odd?" Yumi asked.
"Yeah?"
Ulrich and William both teamed up with Yumi, "Shut up!"
Jérémie pretended as though Odd had not spoke, "Your avatar should now recognize you as a co-creator of the new Lyoko, Aelita. Just use your Digital Code. It should work just as well as my Keys."
"Like admin controls?" Yumi asked. Though a bit surprising, it didn't really surprise any of the others.
"Sort of," Jérémie admitted. "She can't deactivate towers like I can, but her Code should let her gain access to restricted areas and programs that XANA tries to lock us out of." It would prove useful if XANA ever tried to play dirty with the new Lyoko. It hadn't yet, but that could easily change.
"It's worth a try," Aelita replied, before pulling the right-side lever. "Rotation."
The Skid went back to its vertical position. Odd did not like how it made his seat recline and force him back to a standing position.
In the main cockpit, Aelita places her hand on a panel in the middle of her control panel. The panel glowed blue and scanned her hand, before flashing, "Digital Code, activated."
Light gathered around a circular hole on the front of the Skid before it shot a beam of light at the door of the floodgate in front of it.
"There's an access code to crack," Jérémie announced. "Give me a couple of minutes."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"You can let go now."
Hervé, now dangling about a meter above the ground, gently dropped to the floor. Nicolas didn't wait for him and headed straight to the lift instead. Hervé quickly fell in line behind him.
"Hey, um..." the green-clad nerd quietly stammered, "about what I said a minute ago, about Aelita? Forget it, alright? I-I didn't really say it."
"Okay," Nicolas replied, as he stopped by the lift panel. Said lift was clearly on a lower floor. What was down there? "I'll be sure to deny you wanting to kiss Aelita to anybody who asks."
"You know what I mean! I mean, don't tell Aelita that getting just one kiss from her is on my bucket list!" Seriously! They were both nerds, equal in terms of the status quo, so why did Aelita prefer Belpois over him?!
Nicolas shrugged, "Whatever you say?" He turned back to the control panel and went to press the button to call the lift back up to the surface.
Or he would have, had Hervé not stepped in his way, stopping him. "Hold on." Nicolas raised an eyebrow, one arm still raised and ready to press the button. His friend began ranting, becoming increasingly panicked the more he spoke, "This looks really ancient! Think about it. What if the cables snap or the floorboards give away under our feet or the rusty motor quits with us inside, and emergency services find our skeletons gnawed away by rats–"
Nicolas cut him off, "Okay, okay, I get the idea. We won't use the lift. You're in charge, despite your lack of courage," he muttered the last part under his breath. His voice back to normal volume, he suggested, "We'll look for a staircase. I think I spotted one somewhere..." He glanced around, finding it rather quickly, despite being rather far away. "Over there!"
He pointed in that direction. Hervé sighed and started walking to the staircase, with Nicolas following close behind.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"Got it!" Jérémie announced, sounding a little proud of himself. "I cracked the code!"
Right after he said this, after a bright burst of light along the beam, it dissipated, leaving the gate door glowing.
"Way to go, Jérémie," Aelita praised, a genuine smile on her face. All she did was enter her Digital Code; he did most of the work here.
The floodgate slowly opened, eventually becoming large enough to let the Skid pass through. The ship flew inside, the gate closing behind them. The group emerged from the Digital Sea into what looked like the Forest Sector. They all examined the immediate area in surprise as Aelita maneuvered the Skid above the green, tree-filled platforms.
Of all things they were expecting, a copy of Lyoko was not on the list.
"Unbelievable!" Jérémie exclaimed, amazed. "You guys are on an exact copy of Lyoko, except it's only the Forest Sector!"
"XANA created another Lyoko on the network?" Ulrich asked, surprised.
"Why?" Yumi added, in agreement with her just-a-friend.
"I have no idea," Jérémie admitted, obviously deep in thought. "But you can bet it's not to save humanity. And knowing our friend XANA, I'm sure it's made lots of other copies exactly like this one."
"Maybe it's part of XANA's ultimate plan to destroy humanity," William suggested.
"Very likely," Aelita agreed, before addressing their mission control, "So what do we do now? Should we check it out?"
"You bet!" came Jérémie's quick response. "I want as much data on this new virtual world as possible!"
"Acknowledged. Disembarking," Aelita typed in a command on the keyboard on her left. When she stopped typing, she placed her hands in her laps one moment before she slowly vanished in a flurry of white lightning. In the four Navskids below, the others disappeared in a similar manner.
The five all reappeared on the ground underneath the Skid. Each of them were warily keeping watch, waiting for XANA to reveal itself at any moment.
"All this for another Forest Sector?" Odd quipped. "We've already got one at home. It seems we're not out of the woods yet!"
"If we don't want him freaking out or crying," Aelita retorted, "I guess someone should laugh at his joke. I would, but I didn't find it funny."
"Hey!" Odd cried out in anger, before the two turned away from each other, with Aelita glaring and Odd sighing as he rolled his eyes.
The others just sighed in frustration.
"I know this is going to spark a debate," Jérémie slowly said, trying to keep the peace, "but I'd prefer if you guys split up. Three of you go out exploring while the other two guard the Skid."
Odd raised his hand, "Right! I'll work with Ulrich, or Yumi, or William!" Anyone but Aelita.
"For once, I agree with the potato," Aelita said, her voice hard with anger.
"Well, too bad!" Yumi cut in, her own anger even more pronounced than the pink-ette's. "We've had it with you two! Ulrich, William, and I are out of here, pronto! We could use a vacation!" Beside her, the two mentioned boys had similar glares on their faces.
"Yeah," Ulrich agreed. "You two can stay here, where you can fight all you want as long as we're not around to hear it!"
Odd and Aelita were looking at their three friends in surprise and worry. They weren't really leaving them alone, were they?
"But–" Odd attempted to protest.
William cut him off, "No! Odd, you are being childish by resorting to insults! Aelita, you are no better than him for using silent treatment! Neither of you are the winner nor the bigger person here! You two need to use actual words to talk out the problem!"
"I tried!" Aelita replied. That wasn't a lie. She had extended an olive branch, but Odd was too sour at the time to accept it.
"Then try again!" was the raven-haired boy's response. His voice grew softer when he saw the two cousins' defeated expressions, "Sorry, but our minds are made up. Ulrich, Yumi: let's go. Jérémie: vehicles, please."
"Coming up." A moment later, all three vehicles appeared next to the group. Ulrich and Yumi occupied their usual vehicles, while William claimed the Overboard.
"Thanks, Jérémie," Yumi replied. Aelita and Odd shared concerned glances with each other.
"See ya! Have fun, you two!" Ulrich said, as he revved up the Overbike's engine.
"Behave yourselves!" Yumi called back, as the trio took off, quickly leaving the two cousins in the dust.
Of course, once they were alone, their argument from this morning continued,
"I don't understand how I've put up with you all these years! You selfish potato!"
"Neither do I! You pretentious string bean! It's your fault the others can't stand us now!"
"Me?! Have you ever considered that it's actually your fault?!"
"Yeah–"
Jérémie cut them off with a stern and pained, "Stop." And they did, before glancing up at the sky, their shared concern returning. "The others may be able to relax, but I still have to listen to your arguing, and I really wish you'd stop, both of you."
"Jérémie..." Aelita's voice was barely above a whisper, "do you agree with the others?"
"Yes." The blonde genius's stress and pain was palpable. "Both of you are in the wrong. Aelita, you shouldn't have lied for him, and Odd, you should've just sucked up the exhaustion and gone to class. I honestly don't know why you guys are fighting. You've both been through worse, so I'm assuming that there's something else at play, something one of you is refusing to talk about. You need to."
"But–" Odd attempted again.
"Let me finish," Jérémie cut him off. "You need to talk about it, no matter how much it hurts. I don't care how you guys make up, just that you do. Just...stop arguing. Please..."
"Jer–" Odd spoke up.
"Don't. Talk to each other. Work it out. Just don't drag the rest of us into it."
Both of their hearts sunk. He sounded so defeated. And it was all their fault.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Hervé and Nicolas reached the bottom of the staircase leading into the boiler room. They didn't know what they were expecting, but this was just a normal factory.
"I wonder what Aelita and Odd are doing here," Hervé wondered.
"No idea," Nicolas shrugged. "But they're not here now. I think we should go now. We don't want to get in trouble with Jim." He turned around to walk back up the stairs. "So let's go."
"Hold on!" But Hervé stopped him, before pointing to something on the other side of the vast room. "Check out that light!"
He was pointing at a small opening in the wall opposite them. Green light was coming out of it.
It was the upper entrance to the lab...
The two boys made their way towards the ladder leading up to that opening. While walking, Hervé accidentally kicked an old, empty can, "Ouch!"
The shout caught Jérémie's attention. He glanced up at that opening in surprise, "Huh?"
Meanwhile, Nicolas immediately put a finger to his lips, "Shh!"
"Sorry!" Hervé whispered back, in an annoyed tone, before the two continued their trek towards that ladder.
In the lab, Jérémie had stepped up to the ladder leading up to that hatch and was carefully watching it. Silence.
"Huh, false alarm, I guess..." he muttered.
On the screen that he was not facing, several of XANA's monsters appeared on the holomap.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd and Aelita were sitting on the ground a few meters apart, their backs to each other, with the Skid floating in the sky between and above them. Odd sat cross-legged and was fidgeting while Aelita was hugging her knees. She glanced over her shoulder, upset, before looking down in front of her again, missing how he did the same thing one second later.
The cat gave a short exhale, before quietly speaking up, "Well, you could have thought of a different excuse, you know..." It felt flat, though, but he didn't care.
"And you could stop thinking about yourself for once," she gently retorted, as she hugged her knees tighter. Sighing, she decided to extend that olive branch a second time, "I tried to give you a chance to come clean earlier, but maybe I didn't try hard enough. Why the sudden antagonism?"
He was quiet.
She gently pushed a bit harder, "I may not understand, but I'll try my best."
After a few more seconds of silence, he finally spoke, but his answer wasn't what she was expecting. "I wasn't what Chris was looking for."
Surprised, she turned around (a bit awkwardly) to face him, "What?"
"It wasn't your fault. I was too sour to accept the chance you gave me." He sighed, "I wasn't what Chris was looking for," he repeated. "But you were. The Subdigitals contest? During my audition, both of them, he just crossed my name off before calling out 'next'. But for you, both times, he asked you to stay behind and answer some follow-up questions he had. I...poured my heart and soul into playing for him! I tried so hard to make sure it was my best! And it wasn't good enough!" His back remained to her. "I mean, I knew you were going to win, but I guess a part of me was hopeful that things could take a surprising turn of events."
He let out a sigh, which sounded as though he was relieving some stress from his shoulders.
"Congratulations, cuz. Really. You deserve it. Chris is right—you have incredible talent and it needs to be nurtured. I'm just letting my jealousy get the better of me. Even just a casual mention to Chris that I was your teacher would've been enough..."
"You think that didn't come up during those follow-up questions with Chris?" Aelita asked.
Odd finally turned around to face her (just as awkwardly), just as surprised as she was.
"It did. He asked me where I learned to mix, and I gave you full credit for giving me that interest and teaching me everything you knew about it, as well as buying me books and showing me videos and songs from the experts. Chris credited Jim as his inspiration for striving for his dream. I credited you."
His hazel gaze went soft, "I'm sorry. For everything."
She smiled in return, "I'm sorry too. I wish you had just told me upfront." It would've saved everyone the trouble. "And you know, I've always been a bit jealous at how good you are coming up with clever ideas, as well as executing them. And I'm not just saying that to cheer you up. I mean it."
With this, the two shared a warm smile, any tension between them now evaporated and nowhere to be found.
Jérémie suddenly cut in, "Odd, Megatank at three o'clock!"
The cat looked up in that direction, before getting to his feet just in time to avoid a Megatank laser. However, it hit the Skid's shield instead.
"Oh no!" Jérémie cried out, and Odd's stomach immediately sank as he glanced up at the Skid. Apparently, letting the ship get hit wasn't a good move.
He looked back to the paths in front of them, as two Megatanks rolled down two of the paths connected to the large platform they're on. One of them opened its shell and fired. "Aelita, watch out!" he called out.
The angel got up and moved in time to avoid the laser, which once again hit the Skid instead. She turned to her cousin, "Thanks." He nodded back, and they turned back to their enemies, ready to fight.
Yumi, Ulrich, and William were driving along one of the many winding paths, still riding the three vehicles.
"Ulrich, William, Yumi!" a worried Jérémie called out to them. "XANA's attacking the Skid! We need you back there now!"
"Got it, Jérémie," Yumi replied. "We're on our way."
The trio promptly performed a collective U-turn and headed back in the direction they came from.
Elsewhere, Odd fired a round of Arrows at an approaching Megatank, as Jérémie warned, "Odd, Aelita, listen. The Skid's shields can't hold out for much longer." The cat's Arrows, however, hit the monster's shell, doing no damage. "And without the Skid, I can't guarantee you guys a return ticket to the scanners!"
The Megatank stopped before opening its shell and firing at the Skid, as Aelita asked, "Can you generate more power to the shields?"
"I think so, but I'll need time. To reinforce the Skid, I have to reroute a chunk of energy from the supercomputer itself..."
To buy some time, Aelita closed her eyes and held out a hand in front of her, concentrating hard. "Isn't taking energy from the supercomputer...kind of risky?"
"We don't have a choice," Jérémie replied. "It's the only solution I can think of right now."
The Megatanks made their way onto the main platform. A shield made of many small hexagons began to rise up from the ground in front of Aelita. Odd managed to jump over it just in time before it stretched up high, ending up several meters in height. A Megatank fired at it, but the shield remained standing.
"Nice one!" Odd gave her a thumbs up.
"Thanks," she worriedly replied. Her force fields was one of the upgrades she gave to herself, so this was the first time she was using them. "But I'm not sure how long it's going to hold..."
"As long as it needs to," was her cousin's immediate response. "I have faith in you." She sent him a grateful smile.
The two glanced back at the two Megatanks, as they started firing repeatedly at the shield. Sure enough, it remained standing. But they were ready for the moment where it fell.
"Done!" Jérémie announced. "The shields are regenerating! Now, we won't have enough power to launch a Return to the Past, but because XANA hasn't attacked anything in the real world, it shouldn't be necessary."
"Don't jinx it, Prince Charming," Odd warned.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Nicolas and Hervé were standing at the foot of the ladder. "What if it's not their voices that we're hearing?" the green-clad nerd asked, his voice in a whisper.
"Well, whose voices do you think they are, then?" Nicolas, just as quiet, asked. "Ghosts? Werewolves? Bloodthirsty vampires?"
"I wouldn't laugh at things like that, especially not at nighttime!"
Nicolas rolled his eyes, "That's ridiculous. Now, let's climb. You said you wanted to catch Odd and Aelita red-handed, didn't you?"
Hervé sighed, "Right," before grabbing the ladder and beginning the ascent.
Nicolas was not far behind him. At one point, Hervé stepped backwards onto a lower rung, crushing his friend's fingers under his shoe. "OWW!" Nicolas cried aloud, before whispering, "What's wrong with you?!"
In the lab, Jérémie whirled his head back towards that hatch near the ceiling. He definitely heard that. Was somebody there? Turning back to the monitor, he brought up the security camera feed located in the boiler room, "Eh?!" Near the corner were two human figures climbing up the ladder. "Uh-oh..." He zoomed in on their faces.
His stomach sank in dread when he saw that it was Nicolas and Hervé. Frick...
"I bet they came here to do some industrial espionage!" Nicolas was whispering.
"Odd and Aelita? Industrial spies? In an abandoned factory? What's wrong with you?!" Hervé retorted.
"Well then, maybe they're into witchcraft!"
Hervé sighed, "You are not helping!"
Frick, frick, frick! Jérémie didn't know how he managed to keep his composure when he turned his attention back to Odd and Aelita, "Guys, I've got a huge problem here at the factory." His voice remained low. "Hervé and Nicolas are the verge of discovering the supercomputer, and launching a Return in time is out of the question."
"Huh?!" they both exclaimed, as the holomap showed Aelita's shield still under fire.
"You can't let those morons get near the supercomputer!" Odd added, furious.
"Take care of them, Jérémie," Aelita agreed, though calmer than Odd. "We can manage without you."
Right. The others could handle this, and the two cousins would soon have back-up in the form of a samurai, a geisha, and a knight.
"Okay. Good luck," he replied, before taking out the earpiece.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
It was up to him, Jérémie thought to himself as he emerged from the elevator. The others were on Lyoko, guarding the Skid, so he was the only one. He could do this.
Besides, the last thing he wanted was to get the others into trouble for covering for him if their secret ever got out. It was only 'their' secret because they were the ones who created this false identity for him in the first place...
He sprinted down the staircase and ran over to the door, entering the corridor. He opened the door, entering the large boiler room. Hervé and Nicolas were miraculously still climbing the ladder. Good, he still had time. And despite their whispering, he could still hear their conversation clear as day.
"I'm not going any further than this," Hervé nervously announced. "I'm stopping."
Nicolas stared at him in disbelief, "You're stopping halfway up?"
Hervé's hand was shaking, "You better believe it."
The other boy rolled his eyes,"You're the one who wanted to do this!"
Smiling at Hervé's cowardice despite this snooping apparently being his idea, Jérémie dropped a metal bar near the boiler, making a loud noise. Hervé and Nicolas immediately looked around for the source of the noise.
"Did you hear that?" the green-glad nerd was still whispering. "They're behind us now!"
"Then we just head back down!" Nicolas climbed down the ladder, and Hervé followed. Jérémie waited until the other boy was half-way through turning back around until he ran off, through the nearby door to the turbine room. That was on purpose—he wanted them to follow him, to lure them away from the important stuff.
Sure enough, Nicolas saw blonde hair and called out, "Odd, I saw you!"
Huh? They were mistaking him for Odd? Well, their conversation that he witnessed on the security footage had them mentioning by name only Odd and Aelita, both of whom were being a little loud on the bridge...
He heard Nicolas running after him, with Hervé hot on his heels.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
As the two Megatanks kept firing at Aelita's shield, a dark figure began leaping from tree top to tree top, making its way along the paths connected to the platform. The two only saw its face when the Spectre, wearing its Jérémie mask, landed in front of them, behind the shield and between the two monsters.
It glanced up, glaring at the two cousins with piercing orange eyes, and growled at the obstacle in its path.
"Uh-oh," Odd said, "The Skid's done for if XANA's prince gets its hands on it!"
XANA-Jérémie formed an energy bow, preparing to strike at Aelita's force field with an arrow.
"It'll be fine," Aelita calmly replied. "The real Jérémie had enough time to reinforce it. I hope..." she added under her breath.
Both Megatanks fired just as the Clone fired its arrow. The combined attack destroyed the angel's force field, shattering it into individual hexagons that fell to the ground before disappearing. Odd and Aelita shielded themselves from the debris.
A Megatank fired at the Skid, knock it back a bit, but the ship remained intact.
"Sorry, good buddy," Odd teased the Clone, as he jerked a thumb back to the Skid. "You came a little late to wreck everything. Our mechanic's already stopped by."
Aelita formed and threw an Energy Field at a Megatank, hitting and destroying it. XANA-Jérémie began running towards them, but Odd shot it in the shoulder, causing it to stop and grab its shoulder in pain.
But it was brief. The Clone began charging at them again, and Odd attempted to continue laying down fire, only for his glove to make a familiar clicking noise—the one that signalled he was out of Arrows.
"Jérémie, I need some reloading!" No response. "Oh, bummer! I forgot he's not there!" That's right, he was doing something (whatever it was) to lure Hervé and Nicolas away from the supercomputer.
The cat jumped out of the way to avoid the handful of daggers XANA-Jérémie had thrown at him. The Clone charged, and Odd met it halfway, deciding hand-to-hand combat here was better than just dodging blows and being generally defenseless.
Meanwhile, the remaining Megatank fired at Aelita. She caught its laser with two Energy Fields combined into one, using it as a shield. However, the force quickly pushed her back towards the edge of the platform. Seeing this, she got out of the way just before she was pushed into the forbidden waters below, watching the laser go past her, harmlessly.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie hid in a corner right next to a turbine, as he overheard Hervé order Nicolas, "You go that way. I'll go this way."
Now what? He had to escape somehow. Both of his classmates were walking down along either side of the main water channel, and Nicolas was about to discover him; all he had to do was turn the corner.
A loud splash thankfully drew Nicolas's attention. He jumped across the channel and stood in front of the rippling water, looking boastful, "Aha! I got you, Della Robbia!"
It was Hervé who surfaced from the water, "It's me, you idiot! Help me!"
Nicolas knelt down and took Hervé's arm to help him out of the water. Jérémie took this time to escape the turbine room and back to the factory floor. He just had to escape through the machine room first.
Nicolas saw him leave, again only seeing him at an undiscerning angle. This made him inadvertently let go of Hervé, who slipped back into the water. Nicolas looked back down at his friend in confusion, "Hm?"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd continued to dodge several blows of XANA-Jérémie's vast range of energy weapons. It reminded him a great deal about the time XANA possessed Jérémie to delete the Forest Sector. The Clone was fighting the exact same way Jérémie did then.
The cat was doing pretty well. He was hanging in there just fine. At least, until the Spectre aimed a charged punch at him, knocking him off the edge.
Odd landed on the ground, near the edge of the platform, tumbling until he slipped off the edge. The Clone approached the spot where he fell.
The cat was holding onto the edge with just one hand, and his claws were slowly slipping. He reached up with the other hand, but XANA-Jérémie stomped on the hand he was hanging from with a charged kick, causing the boy to lose his grip and fall screaming towards the Digital Sea.
"Odd!" he heard Aelita call out to him as she avoided a Megatank laser. Then, he saw a flash of pink, before feeling himself get hit with an Energy Field, devirtualizing him before he could hit the water.
He next found himself in the scanner, sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall behind him, his eyes closed as he breathed a sigh of relief, "Thanks, cuz..."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie pressed the button to summon the lift back up to the surface. It was an expected development, because he knew he had left it open on the factory floor here for the moment he came back, for a quick getaway. One of the others must've been devirtualized and had taken it back to the lab.
"Come on! Move it!" he urged, in a hurry. Hervé and Nicolas were getting closer and closer to him.
Fortunately, it arrived without a hitch. He then slipped inside of it and closed the door without being seen.
He arrived in the lab to (like he suspected) Odd leaning on the holoprojector. His face lit up the moment he saw his friend, "Jérémie, you're back! I–"
Jérémie cut him off as he ran straight to the monitor, and typed in a command, "Hold on, I've gotta shut the elevator down!"
Odd watched over his shoulder as a window popped up, showing the lift being locked into place.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Hervé (who was dripping wet from the water) and Nicolas arrived at the lift in time to see it descending into whatever was below their feet.
Seeing this, Nicolas turned to his friend, smug, with his arms crossed, "Looks as if the elevator works just fine."
Hervé just muttered, "Shut up..."
Once the lift stopped, Nicolas pressed the button, only for the elevator to remain down there. He repeated the motion, but no matter how many times he pressed that button, the lift stayed down below, not moving.
Hervé growled in frustration, but Nicolas just shrugged, "No big deal. We'll just wait them out. They'll have to come back this way."
The green-clad nerd couldn't deny that. Odd and Aelita had no choice but to use the lift to head back up to the surface. All he and Nicolas had to do now was guard this spot.
But it was taking too long for his liking. "Ugh, what's taking so long?! Why won't they hurry up?!"
Nicolas was leaning against a nearby column, hands behind his head, "Just be patient. Like when you're fishing."
Hervé sighed in frustration and began pacing in front of the lift shaft.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
How dare XANA try to throw her cousin into the Digital Sea too?!
"You're gonna regret that!" Aelita growled, as she formed and fired another Energy Field, only for the Spectre to quickly morph and block it with Odd's shield.
It then lowered down to all fours and crawled slowly towards her, growling. She backed up a couple of steps, before stopping, aware that she was also dangerously close to the edge.
XANA-Odd suddenly leapt up and lunged at her. She braced herself for the attack, but it never came. The Spectre instead fell to the ground after one of Yumi's fans struck it across the chest.
Both Aelita and the Clone looked up (and back for the Spectre) to see Yumi flying in on the Overwing, as she caught her fan. She then hovered in the air, her fan remaining in her hand, thus claiming the space.
The Spectre was given no time or room to breathe, as immediately after, Ulrich drove into view before jumping off the Overbike. The vehicle slid across the ground, creating sparks, before slamming into the Megatank and knocking it off the edge. Both vanished into the Digital Sea below, as Ulrich Sprinted up to Aelita's side. He unsheathed his katanas, "Everyone knows that speeding is really dangerous."
XANA-Odd turned around, seeing a way out behind it, only for William to leap off the Overboard and claim the space for himself, his Zweihänder in hand. "Don't even think about it, XANA."
Aelita smiled in relief, "Thanks, guys. You came just in time."
Ulrich shot her a quick smile, before he, Yumi, and William all began to slowly advance towards the Spectre, still wearing Odd's face.
The pink-ette remained behind, but she warned, "Better face facts, XANA. You're not going to win this time. The Skid's shields have been reinforced and you're surrounded."
The AI seemed to be aware of this, as it backed away before jumping off the edge of the platform and into the Digital Sea below, admitting defeat.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd and Jérémie both breathed identical sighs of relief when they saw that the Skid was safe for now. The Italian boy, however, then turned to the young genius, asking, "So why are Hervé and Nicolas here? Or were you too busy luring them away from the lab to find out?"
"They must have seen you come into the factory with Aelita," Jérémie replied. "They only named you two. Now, they're looking for you, something about catching you two 'red-handed'..."
Odd was deep in thought, "Well, if it's Aelita and me they want, then Aelita and me they shall get! I have an idea that should get rid of them, but I'll need Aelita to make it work." Before the other blonde could jump in, he continued, "And yes, it has to be her. She's the only one whose brain has a similar wavelength to mine."
Jérémie raised an eyebrow in mild confusion, "I don't understand. I thought you two were fighting."
"Not anymore," Odd shrugged. "At least for the time being. And we're sorry for dragging the rest of you into it. Especially you."
Jérémie warmly smiled, "You're forgiven. Now, are you sure your plan will work?"
"Of course!" came the response. "Have faith, Prince Charming!"
The young genius just smiled in jest, gently rolling his eyes, "Alright. Good luck," before turning back to the monitor.
Odd promptly climbed down the ladder to the scanner room.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The other four were standing guard next to the Skid, though standing down now that XANA had given up for the day. Aelita had just finished apologizing to her friends for dragging them into hers and Odd's fight.
Jérémie cut into the now peaceful air, "Guys, we've got an emergency here at the factory. One of you will have to devirtualize Aelita."
Everyone immediately expressed confusion. "What?" Aelita asked, "If I'm devirtualized, then who will pilot the Skid back to the hangar?"
"I can guide one of you in, no problem," Jérémie reassured her. "Yumi?"
"If you say so," she shrugged in acceptance. "I just want to know what's going on."
"I'll explain on the way back to Lyoko," the blonde genius promised.
Aelita sighed, relenting, "I guess there's no choice. Go on, Ulrich. Do it. Strike fast, though, so the pain doesn't linger."
Ulrich warmly smiled at her as William tried to reassure her, "I'm sure it'll be fine."
"He's right," the samurai agree, unsheathing both of his katanas, slinging one over his shoulder. "Don't sweat it, Princess. I'll devirtualize you on three, okay?" He held up three fingers with his other hand.
Aelita nodded, before closing her eyes and bracing herself for the impact.
"One...two..."
The strike was quick, so the pain, to her relief, only lasted a split second before she was devirtualized.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
When Aelita emerged from the scanners, she was greeted by Odd and his usual, bright smile, "Hello~!"
She found herself smiling on instinct, "Hey, Odd. What's going on? I assume you're the one who asked that I be devirtualized."
"You'd be correct, dear cousin of mine, but I have a good reason." He then explained, "Listen, according to Jérémie, Nicolas and Hervé are waiting upstairs for us two specifically to return there in the elevator."
She raised an eyebrow in confusion and intrigue, "Us? As in just you and me?" Odd nodded in confirmation. "Why? Our arguing on the bridge, perhaps?"
He shrugged, "Probably. But what's done is done. It just means that it's up to us to drive those morons away. I have an idea, and I need your help in making it work."
She smiled, "What did you have in mind?"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The lift cables starting shaking, getting the attention of Hervé, who stopped pacing, and Nicolas, who immediately slid in front of the elevator landing, dusting his hands off with a pleased smile. The lift was finally moving, and what's more, it was moving upwards.
"You see?" Nicolas asked. "The most patient fishermen catch the biggest pikes!"
"Yeah, time to bust some illegal activities!" Hervé agreed with a victorious smirk, wringing his hands together. Odd and Aelita better be prepared to beg him for mercy. Whatever they were doing, he would use it to convince them to tell him exactly who (or what) Jérémie Belpois really was...
The lift arrived and the doors opened, only for Odd to immediately back out of it, his phone in hand and in camera mode. "And...action!"
Aelita came walking out, "Oh, what can I do?" She was obviously performing a heroine-esque monologue scene. "I'm all alone. My friends don't believe me..." Her expression turned from defeated to determined. "It's up to me. I'm the only one who can do this. Now, think, Maya," she began tapping her head, "think. What's the machine's weakness–?"
She was cut off by Odd suddenly tripping over Hervé's foot. It was on purpose, though not Hervé's fault, but Odd's, who yelled out, "Cut!", before sighing in frustration.
Aelita immediately turned apologetic, "I'm sorry for messing up the scene again."
Her cousin waved her off, "No, no, you're fine. Actually, you were perfect this time! I just tripped over a piece of scrap metal."
The two turned in the direction of that 'scrap metal', only to see it was actually Hervé.
"Oh, hey, Hervé! Hey, Nicolas!" Aelita cheerfully greeted them. "What are you guys doing here?"
Said two boys were speechless. Whatever they were expecting, it certainly wasn't something has innocent and mundane as this.
Odd snapped in their faces with his fingers, "Hey, you two doing alright?", successfully catching their attention. He then began smiling, "You guys enjoying the show?"
Hervé and Nicolas glanced at each other, before Hervé signalled for them to leave, and led the way. Once their backs were turned, Odd and Aelita barely managed to hold in their laughter. The plan worked like a charm.
"So that's why they were hiding in the factory..." Hervé muttered. "They were filming one of Odd's short films and didn't want to be disturbed."
"This place is just a perfect backdrop for certain scenes, I guess," Nicolas added. Unlike his friend, he was actually pleased with the conclusion. "As a filmmaker, Odd would know."
Hervé, on the other hand, was sour at his defeat. "I guess..." His attempts had been foiled yet again.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
It was a few minutes when the six Lyokowarriors are reconvened in the lab. Ulrich, Yumi, and William entered the room from the elevator, and found Odd and Aelita both leaning on the holoprojector and enjoying each other's company—obviously not fighting anymore—and Jérémie sitting in the chair, deep in troubled thought.
Yumi chose to address their friend in blue, "You look awfully serious, Jer. Did I scratch the paint on the Skid or something?" It was a joke, meant to cheer him up.
And it worked, sort of. Jérémie forced a tiny smile of reassurance, "No, you're fine. I'm just worried about this Lyoko copy."
"Replika," Odd promptly corrected. Everyone else turned to him in confusion. "Replika," he explained, "captilized and with a 'k'."
Jérémie quickly accepted this, "Right." Odd did name the monsters, after all. "Well, if there's a Replika out there, it...means that there's also another supercomputer infected by XANA somewhere else on Earth."
"And if it's anything like this one, Jérémie," Aelita cut in with a reassuring smile, "then it can be destroyed. We just have to figure out some way of sending us into the real world from the Replika."
"More work being added to your ever-growing to-do list, Miss Einstein?" Odd asked. "You really okay with that?" On his face was a smile of concern.
"If we can destroy that Replika," Aelita pointed out, "then it means taking out a portion of XANA's power. It's worth it."
"Good luck. Something tells me you'll need it," Ulrich encouraged. "In the meantime, we'll just hold XANA off by deactivating its towers and keeping Jérémie safe like we always do." William nodded in agreement.
But Yumi kept her gaze focus on the blonde-in-blue, "Are you sure that's your only worry, Prince Charming?"
Jérémie was quiet for a moment, briefly glancing up at all of them, before turning his troubled gaze back down to his shoes. When he finally spoke, his voice was just barely above a whisper.
"Hervé got dangerously close to discovering our secret today." The others immediately went silent, as the reality began to sink it. "Ever since he first discovered I existed," as Aelita's online pen pal, "he's been intent on finding out who I really am. And if he ever figures it out, then you guys will get in trouble along with me, for even just knowing about it, much less having a hand in creating the false identity I have now." And he couldn't let that happen. He tightly clenched his fist, the fabric of his khaki's bundling up with it.
The others took a moment to make sure he was done, before responding.
"Don't worry about Hervé, Jer," William told him, his tone and facial expression serious. "Worry about XANA. We'll handle Hervé."
"Yeah, we have a secret weapon we officially recruited for that purpose," Odd revealed.
Jérémie was immediately confused, "What? What 'secret weapon'?"
His five friends all sent him equally apologetic looks. "Sorry," Yumi told him, "we recruited them without your knowledge, input, or permission. But we had a good reason for it."
"Yeah," Ulrich explained, "we wanted a back-up plan in case Hervé ever tries to repeat the events of him taking over the Kadic News as editor-in-chief, but generally sticking his nose in business that doesn't concern him."
Oh. So, this 'secret weapon' was meant to protect him, Jérémie realized. "I see. Can you tell me what it is or...have you guys sworn each other to secrecy?"
"We can't tell you their identity or gender," William replied, "for their protection, but it's a person. They are a friend of ours, or at least, are on generally good terms with us. We see them every day at Kadic and they are trustworthy and responsible. We've recruited them as our official secret 'secret keeper', you could say."
"Their job," Aelita cut in here, "is not to fight. Protecting others during an attack will obviously take precedence when the time arises, of course, but their main job is to keep an ear out for any rumors of our secret—any piece of it—or people snooping around our business, and then dissuade those people from those rumors being true. We didn't say anything about Hervé when we officially recruited them, but they already know to be on the lookout for him especially."
Jérémie was quiet, again. "Will I ever find out who they are?"
"One day," Ulrich promised. "Probably when we have no choice. But for now, you and Aelita just focus on what's important, and that is–"
"–stopping XANA," Jérémie finished for him, knowingly.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"How do you feel now?" Ulrich had asked, on their way back to school.
"Better," was the truthful response. "You guys go through that process for every trip to Lyoko?"
"Yep. It's not so bad once you get used to it," Ulrich had explained. "Besides, you were only scanned to place your brain pattern within the supercomputer, to make you immune to the Returns to the Past, so it wasn't that bad for you."
"I know. Does Jérémie really not know about...me being recruited?"
"Nope, but that's for a reason." He changed the subject. "Now, do you understand your role?" Ulrich had asked. "It's a very important one. Just as important as the rest of ours."
A nod. "Yes. My job is to keep away secret-diggers because it's a lot harder for you guys to save the world with snoopers on your backs."
"Exactly right. Now, we have to go our separate ways, but trust me, we will be keeping in touch with you. All of us. Except for Jérémie, of course."
"Right. I'll try my very best." Pleased, the brunette began walking away. "Ulrich?" He stopped and turned back. "Thank you for trusting me, and giving me a second chance."
He gently smiled, "Props to you, Sissi, for not wasting it." He then walked away, leaving her pleased with herself.
Said secret ally—Elizabeth 'Sissi' Delmas—was leaning against the vending machines, she and Nicolas listening to Hervé explain the adventure the two had last night.
"You have a 'sneaking suspicion' that something's going on in that factory just because you saw a strange light and heard voices?" she asked, pretending to be skeptic, before scoffing, "That's the dumbest story I've ever heard since the one about Mr. Chardin's toupee!"
"Well, how would you explain the light and voices?!" Hervé demanded, getting angry because no one else was sharing his suspicions.
"You said you caught Odd and Aelita there filming for another one of his short films, right?" she asked. And that was all she had to do.
Because Nicolas promptly took over, "That's what I keep telling him! Those voices really were theirs and there was that light because they were filming a scene in that room!"
"Then why the secrecy, huh?" Hervé continued.
"Maybe one of the scenes they needed to shoot was a kiss scene," Sissi nonchalantly suggested, "and since they're cousins, they didn't want anyone else taking it the wrong way. Seriously, Hervé, you tend to overthink things a little too much sometimes. Ever heard of Occam's razor?"
Hervé promptly explained, "'Whenever you're faced with two competing explanations for the same phenomenon, the simplest answer is usually the correct one'." He sighed, "I guess you guys are right."
"Of course, we are!" Nicolas replied. "On one hand, you have 'illegal activities going on that old abandoned factory even though you have no proof', and on the other, you have 'filming scenes for a short film'. I know I'd pick the latter. Saves me the headache."
"Yeah," Hervé said, nonverbally admitting defeat. For now.
"C'mon, let's go to lunch now," Nicolas said, and Hervé let his friend walk him to the cafeteria.
Sissi remained behind, catching the eyes of Odd and Aelita standing next to a tree in the distance. They both winked at her knowingly, and she winked back. Mission completed, for the moment. She then walked away, joining Hervé and Nicolas.
"You were right," Aelita commented to her cousin. "You indeed had the perfect plan." She had to ask. "Now, if Hervé asks us if there was a kiss scene involved, should we agree?"
Odd shrugged, "Why not? Sissi's right. It perfectly explains the secrecy."
"I guess." A pause, and then a proud smile. "She did great."
"She's doing great," he corrected. "She's technically one of us now, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember."
"And you're supposed to be smart."
She tensed up, "Hey, I've been busy. Can you blame me for forgetting things?"
He began laughing, "Chill out, cuz! I'm just kidding!" The two began walking away together, towards the others to give them a status update. "Wow, it doesn't take much to wind you up!"
"I'll show you wound up!" She playfully punched him on the shoulder. He started running, prompting her to chase after him, both of them laughing. "Get back here!"
"Haha! Never!"
That one incident of staying up late playing video games could've easily been the end of their history. But it wasn't. History still had use for their bond.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
Next Episode: 51 - Celestial Body / XANA manages to alter the path of a comet, which threatens to crash into the academy, thus endangering the lives of Yumi and William's class, along with Hiroki and Johnny's.
A/N: The canon episode ("Replika") is another one of my least favorites, only due to how it was written. The episode perfectly showcases Odd and Aelita's dynamic, especially how they tend to fight like siblings do, but their reconciliation as well as the ending could've been written better. This chapter's changes are meant to emphasize that Aelita and Odd, despite their close bond, are still humans and thus make human mistakes that can effect that bond (such as Odd's jealousy and resorting to childish insults, and Aelita thinking she's the bigger person by using the silent treatment instead of insults).
Nicolas/Naomi will continue to be a thing, just like William/Laura and Theo/Sissi. I decided to make Nicolas/Naomi a thing this season mainly because of this episode, where the canon version has Nicolas asking out Aelita (who says yes for some reason, even though she likes Jérémie; I think she accepts the invite just to get back at Odd). However, I had to change that bit, because I don't think Nicolas is the type of person to ask out his best friend's (Hervé) crush.
Yes, Aelita has a new power, sort of, because she is the co-creator of the new Lyoko. The other co-creator is Jérémie, of course, but he already has the Keys to Lyoko (and specifically those of Sector Five). Aelita can't deactivate towers or access the Sector Five interface (those powers still solely belong to Jérémie), but she can borrow more power from Sector Five than before to better protect her towers, access and use the interfaces of the towers, and unlock the floodgates of Replikas, as seen in this chapter, plus more.
Sissi's arc does not end here. I still have plans for her for the finale (the final five chapters).