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.
Pat me on the back in congrats! This is the third chapter where I barely used the canon episode as a guide (this time, it was only for some scenes of the Kankrelat invasion).
And I know I said it before, but some things in this AU, and this chapter at that, are inspired by Cybra's Switch AU on FFN. If you haven't already read it, go check it out. It's unfinished, and in it, Jérémie is an actual AI and not a human, but it's a masterpiece and deserves love.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
"Jérémie's finally able to live on Earth, but shutting Lyoko down won't be as simple as they made it out to be."
Episode 18: A Brand New World
(Based on False Start)
The next morning (a Sunday; no classes today), Aelita sat on the bench, her crutches by her side, with Ulrich and Odd. They just got back from breakfast and where now watching the front gate for their other two friends.
From a distance, they saw Yumi, Jérémie, and Hiroki approach the gate. Hiroki split off, waving goodbye at his older sister and sharing a fist bump (surprisingly) with Jérémie before heading off to find Johnny, Milly, and Tamiya. Yumi and Jérémie, now alone, searched the courtyard for their friends, before finding them pretty quick (thanks to Aelita's pink hair; it was hard to miss), and heading over.
Now that all five were reunited, Ulrich nodded toward Hiroki, asking, "What was that all about?"
"Yeah," Odd agreed. "I thought you said Hiroki didn't want Jérémie to stay with you."
"Well," Yumi explained, "that's because someone," she turned her head and gaze towards Jérémie, "joined in on Hiroki's teasing." The blonde boy in blue only smiled in response to her stern gaze.
"What was Hiroki teasing you about?" Ulrich asked, before noticing Yumi's gaze immediately turn away from him, her face now red, and the other three now looking at him with knowing smiles. His face also turned red, "O-Oh..."
Yumi cleared her throat, still avoiding Ulrich's eyes, "Anyways, thanks to that, Hiroki has decided that Jérémie's pretty cool after all."
Aelita barely managed to stifle her giggles and turned to their newly arrived fifth, "So how did you enjoy your first night on Earth?"
"Fantastic!" Jérémie exclaimed. "I didn't realize that sleeping could be so wonderful..."
Now, it was Yumi's turn to tease, "He would've slept all day if I hadn't shaken him a little."
The group shared a laugh, all five of them different tunes that all sang the same melody.
"You're just like me, Jer," Odd said. "And tomorrow, you'll see that sleeping in class isn't too bad either."
Jérémie raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Why would sleeping in class not be bad? Aren't you there to learn?"
"That's right, Jérémie. We are," Aelita admitted, before hissing at Odd, "Don't tell him things like that!"
"Odd, let Hiroki be the bad influence," Yumi suggested. "Please. Not two of them..."
"Guys, relax," Odd held his hands up in surrender. "I'm our resident jokester, remember? I'm just kidding."
The other four rolled their eyes, before Ulrich reminded them, "We should head to Mr. Delmas's office first. We promised to tell him when Jérémie had arrived."
"That's right," Aelita realized. "Once we do, we'll have free reign to do whatever we want today."
Aelita took a while to get up from the bench, thanks to her still sprained ankle, but it would've taken a lot longer if she didn't have friends who were willing to help her.
After about a minute or so, the five headed towards the Administrative Building.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
They had to wait for another ten minutes when they arrived. According to Ms. Weber, Mr. Delmas was finishing up with a job interview. Of course. Now that Jim had been fired, it made sense that Mr. Delmas would be trying to find a new gym teacher.
Eventually, a man with a lean and muscular build exited the office, gave a slight nod to Ms. Weber, before leaving, not even acknowledging the five kids who were waiting. Mr. Delmas was watching from the open door frame, and he sighed before telling Ms. Weber to take that man off the list of candidates.
Mr. Delmas then turned to the five teens and ushered them in, apologizing if they were waiting long. The teens forgave him before introducing him to their new friend, Jérémie.
"Ah, Jérémie!" Mr. Delmas greeted. "Miss Schaeffer's pen pal! It's an honor to meet you." He held out his hand for the boy to shake, and Jérémie accepted the invitation.
"Likewise, Sir," Jérémie replied.
Mr. Delmas sat down at his desk and pulled out the file folder he had accumulated on the boy in front of him. Going through the papers inside, he said, "Your paperwork is all in order, so your first day will be Monday." Jérémie nodded in acknowledgement. "Unfortunately, we don't have a dorm room ready for you at the moment. We should in about three days."
"That's fine," the boy admitted. It really was. He liked staying with Yumi. He liked talking to her parents and her brother, and seeing for himself how families usually acted.
"I'm glad," Mr. Delmas replied, "because, at the moment, we don't really have anything better." He then remembered something, "Oh, one other thing. I understand that you don't remember the one you were born with, but your permanent record needs to have a surname. I'll give you a week to come up with one."
The word came out of his mouth before he realized it, "Belpois."
He ignored the other four's sudden confused and curious glances in his direction, only focusing on Mr. Delmas as he asked, "Belpois? It is French, and it matches your name perfectly, but are you sure? This is your permanent record."
Jérémie nodded, "Yes, Sir. I'm sure." He didn't know where it came from, or why it came to him so suddenly, but it was the only name he was comfortable with.
"Very well," Mr. Delmas used a pen to write in the surname on the boy's file folder and then on a slip of white paper. "Thank you for your quick answer. We hope you enjoy your stay here at Kadic." Jérémie smiled and nodded. Mr. Delmas then turned to the other four, "And before I forget. Here are those town passes you asked for." He handed Ulrich, who was closest to the desk, four white slips of paper, one of which was the one he wrote Jérémie's chosen surname on. There was one for each of them except for Yumi, who was a day student.
"What are those?" Jérémie couldn't but ask.
"Permission slips," Ulrich explained with a smile. "So we can go out into town without getting in trouble."
Mr. Delmas nodded, before telling them, "Dismissed."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie gently fingered the permission slip, the one with his new name on it, in his pocket, letting the smooth texture soothe him, as he and his friends approached the school's courtyard.
"So, Jer," Odd finally broke the silence, "why 'Belpois'?"
Jérémie tried his best to avoid their eyes, but out of the corner of his own, he could see their curiosity and slight confusion, and he realized that they too were surprised that it had come to him so fast. He wished he had answers, but he could only shrug and admit, "I don't know. It just sounds right."
Jérémie Belpois.
It sounded perfect, but he wasn't sure why.
He could feel the others start to relax as they realized that he didn't have any answers either. Maybe now that he was on Earth, his memories of his past would start to come back? It sure seemed like it, and it made sense.
But at the moment, it was about to drive him insane.
"Aelita!" a girl suddenly cried out. Jérémie looked up to see a girl with long black hair held back by a yellow headband, and wearing pink, waving at the group, before running up to them. "Is this him?"
To Jérémie's surprise and confusion, Aelita smiled and nodded.
The black-haired girl in pink turned to him now with a smile, "Hello, you must be Aelita's pen pal! I'm Elizabeth Delmas, the principal's daughter, but you can call me Sissi!"
Oh, she was Sissi!
Somewhat knowing her, Jérémie found himself smiling, "Hello, Sissi. I'm Jérémie. Jérémie Belpois. It's nice to meet you." He held his hand for her to shake, as he'd seen her father do.
"Likewise," Sissi accepted the invitation and shook his hand. "I hope you enjoy your stay here. If you have questions, though, don't be afraid to ask."
"I will. Thank you," he softly replied.
Finson's visit had led to Sissi becoming a friend again, this time to the group as a whole, as well as a secret keeper (kind of; Sissi knew they were hiding something, just not anything specific). The others had warned him about this very meeting, explaining that as the principal's daughter, Sissi had an obligation to welcome new students. But part of him was picking up on how Sissi was genuinely excited to meet new people.
The two people who Sissi had original been with had approached during this time, a girl with long dark hair and glasses and a boy with strawberry blonde hair and a blue t-shirt.
"Hey, Sissi," the boy asked, "you just left in the middle of our conversation. Who's this?" And Jérémie immediately felt all his confidence disappear.
These were new people. Sissi was the only person outside of his friends that he currently felt comfortable with (besides Yumi's family). He just wanted to go out into town with the others.
"Oh!" the girl exclaimed. "You must be Jérémie, Aelita's pen pal! I'm Emilie. This is Nicolas. It's nice to meet you." He'd be hearing that a lot, wouldn't he?
"It's nice to meet you too," Jérémie replied, finding his own voice to be reflecting how he currently felt. He wanted to be alone with his friends.
But judging by the amount of students coming over to see what the commotion was, he wouldn't be granted that wish today, would he? Sure enough, once they saw him, they introduced themselves before welcoming Jérémie to Kadic.
"Hey, guys," Ulrich suddenly spoke up. Jérémie blinked and suddenly, the brunette boy was right by his side, "thanks for all the hospitality, but I think Jérémie isn't really a people person."
His shyness and wish to be alone must've been showing clearly on his face, since the crowd began backing off, with Sissi agreeing, "He's right. We can leave the school tour to Aelita."
"Lucky," a blonde girl muttered. Heidi Klinger, Jérémie remembered.
"Watch out, Aelita," he heard Odd behind him, teasing the pink-ette. "Looks like you have competition."
"They're not my competition, Odd," he heard Aelita retort. "They're just being nice."
"Be real, Aelita!" Naomi N'Guyen admitted. "Jérémie's cute, shy, and very polite! It's hard not to like him! So, of course, you're going to have competition!"
Competition? For what, exactly? Why did they keep saying that?
He was about to ask when he heard a nasally voice snidely asking, "So you're Aelita's pen pal, huh?"
Jérémie turned to see a black-haired boy with acne, glasses, and a green sweater. Who was he? And why was he being so rude already? At least, the crowd that was still nearby were nice, even if a bit too in-his-face for comfort.
"Hervé, be nice," Sissi warned.
Ah. This was Hervé Pichon, the one who stole Aelita's diary.
"Why should I?" Hervé bit back. "You're all being manipulated. He's only acting this way to get attention."
"He's an orphan, you idiot!" Thomas Jolivet hissed back. "He's been sheltered his whole life! Of course he's going to be nervous around people he doesn't know!"
Jérémie felt better knowing he wasn't alone in defending himself.
He heard Aelita walk to his other side with her crutches, "Be nice, Hervé. Please." She sounded a little desperate. To the crowd, it sounded like she didn't want a fight to break out, but Jérémie knew better. He knew she was trying to protect Jérémie's secret, where he really came from.
Jérémie saw Hervé's scowl falter, as he seriously reconsidered his stance. Hervé thought Jérémie was just an AI, but he couldn't say that without sounding insane. So Jérémie decided to hammer that home.
He slipped on a genuine smile, "It's nice to meet you, Hervé. Aelita's said so much about you that I feel like we're already friends." He held out his hand for Hervé to shake, hoping that Hervé took it, in hopes of convincing him that the warmth of Jérémie's hand would convince Hervé that the blonde was no AI after all.
Although he was really warning Hervé not to try anything because the Lyokowarriors would just deny everything, the crowd turned to Hervé expectantly, with a lot of the females glaring at him, as if daring him to turn down Jérémie's kindness when Hervé himself started off on the wrong foot.
Hervé accepted the handshake, albeit reluctantly and only for the crowd, but he was scowling, refusing to admit that Jérémie had won this round, as he walked away.
The rest of the crowd soon followed, ushered by Sissi, who shot them an apologetic smile as she did so.
The group was now alone, just as Jérémie wanted, and he emphasized this by taking a deep, shaky breath, before sitting down on the nearby bench. Aelita sat down next to him, if only to rest her sprained ankle.
Odd spoke up first, "You did great against Hervé there, Jer. And sorry we attracted a crowd."
"It's okay, I'm fine," Jérémie reassured them. "It wasn't your fault." It really wasn't, so he felt no need to blame them. "I'm still adapting to so many new sensations here, the air you breathe, the gravity, the smells, the colors...but I love it here. I wouldn't have it any other way."
His four friends all shot him warm and gentle smiles, until Yumi spoke up, "Well, it's about time we deactivated the supercomputer, don't you think?" They had waited because Jim had advised them not to rush into it until Jérémie was ready.
"Well, I wouldn't wait for XANA to send us an invitation," Ulrich admitted.
Odd added, "And who feels like going back to Lyoko now that Jérémie's here with us?"
His hesitation must've been showing on his face, as Aelita worriedly called out, "Jérémie?"
He chose to be honest, "I don't know. I still don't think I'm ready. Lyoko, after all, was my home. And we don't really know if shutting it down will have some effect on me..." He trailed off, part of him not wanting to think about that.
He wanted it shut down too. He wanted XANA gone and out of their lives more than any of them. But was it a good idea? Or should they do more research before pulling the plug?
Aelita gently entangled one of her hands with his, "There's nothing to worry about." She was smiling. "I'm sure everything will be fine."
Jérémie took another deep breath, before nodding, "Okay."
Once again, Aelita's sprained ankle slowed them down, but soon, the five were on their way to the factory, hopefully for the last time.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jim's slumber was interrupted by Ulrich greeting him by name, "Hi, Jim!"
It startled him awake, as he stopped his snoring and dropped his comic book. He blinked to clear his eyes a bit, and saw his four former students and their new friend standing there, expectedly.
Ulrich continued, "You have a good sleep?"
"Oh, yeah! Never better!" he said, as he stood up from his hammock.
Actually, he didn't get to sleep until well past midnight, out of guilt of his actions, but he had decided to stay here until he found a new job. But he couldn't tell these kids that.
"I appreciate you five letting me stay here in your factory," he added. "I used to live at the dorms, until...you know."
"Yeah, we know," Aelita replied, knowing full well what he meant. But Jim felt better knowing she didn't blame him at all.
"How'd you like to watch us deactivate XANA?" Odd asked, offering one of his classic smirks.
"Oh, I wouldn't miss that for the world!" Jim admitted. "And afterwards, I'll go out and find a new job with the knowledge that the world is safe once more!"
"A new beginning for all of us," Jérémie softly offered. "I like that."
For Aelita, Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi, it was no more XANA. For Jérémie, it was no more XANA as well as a new life on Earth. For Jim, it was a new job away from Kadic. Maybe he could be a personal trainer?
"I like that too," Jim confessed, as the group walked towards the elevator. "To be honest, I miss being your gym teacher. But now that you're no longer my students, you five can call me Jimbo from now on."
"Of course!" Aelita agreed, as the five entered the elevator. "So, are you ready to go, Jimbo?"
Jim responded by being the one to press the down button. Behind him, the door closed and soon, they all felt the lift taking them down to the lowest level (as far as they knew) of the factory.
He couldn't help but marvel at how enthralled Jérémie had been by something as simple as touch, remembering how yesterday, Jérémie wouldn't let go of Aelita the moment he was able to hug her for the first time. Then again, Jim realized, the sense of touch didn't exist on Lyoko, as Yumi had explained. So for Jérémie, it must've been like having thick gloves over his hands for as long as he remembered. So when those theoretical gloves finally came off, it made sense that Jérémie wouldn't be able to believe what he'd been missing out on, something everyone else took for granted.
Honestly, it would have driven Jim mad.
The elevator finally stopped and the doors opened. As the six all piled into the seemingly empty room, a black obelisk suddenly started rising from the floor. So this was the supercomputer, huh?
Jim barely heard the elevator doors close behind them, but he paid it no mind, as from the corner of his eye, he saw Jérémie take a step back. He didn't seem to want to do this. Jim didn't get why, until he remembered that this supercomputer was his home for who knew how long, so this wasn't just 'goodbye XANA' for him.
It was also 'goodbye, home'.
The supercomputer had fully risen from the ground by this time.
Jim watched Aelita place a comforting hand on Jérémie's shoulder, the blonde now visibly shaking. "Jérémie, are you okay? We don't have to do this now. It's obvious you're not ready."
But Jérémie, to their surprise, shook his head, "Do it. We can't leave it on."
"Okay. Would you...like to do the honors?" Aelita asked.
Jérémie shook his head again. Jim understood. The boy would just end up hesitating and putting it off. So Jim spoke up, "You should do it, Aelita. You are the one who turned it on, yes?"
Something in Aelita's eyes changed as she remembered. Jim didn't know the exact story, but he knew enough to realize that Aelita felt guilty about dragging her friends into this. She remembered the promise she had made to turn off the supercomputer once Jérémie was with them.
"Right," the pink-ette replied, before crutching her way towards the supercomputer. Once there, she pressed a button, and a panel opened up to reveal the lever. "Here we go," she muttered, as she grasped the handle.
Yumi, the closest to Jérémie, slung a comforting arm around the blonde's shaking shoulders.
"Goodbye, XANA," Aelita announced before lowering the handle, shutting off the power.
The effect was instantaneous: the supercomputer immediately lost its lustre with a raucous noise that couldn't disguise Jérémie's quiet gasp as he collapsed to the floor.
"Whoa!" Odd yelled in surprise.
Jim and Yumi both fell to their knees, being the two right by the blonde in blue's side. On impulse, Jim felt Jérémie's wrist, and what he found (or didn't, rather) scared him as he realized what it meant.
Yumi saw Jim pale and immediately shouted at the pink-ette, "Turn it back on! Now!"
Aelita reached for the switch before the Japanese girl had even finished, jerking the switch upwards. The obelisk whirred as it came back to life, and Jim finally found what he was looking for, and he couldn't help but breathe a heavy sigh of relief.
"What happened?" Odd asked, he and Ulrich crowding around, with Aelita joining quickly after. All three of them had worried expressions.
Yumi, however, turned to Jim, "Jim, is he okay?"
As Jim gathered Jérémie's limp and out-cold body into his arms, he solemnly replied, "He is now, but...during the time that thing was off, he didn't have a pulse."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Two hours had passed, and Jérémie was still unconscious as he lay in Jim's cot, using the man's red jacket as a pillow. Jim himself was sitting on a nearby box, using his watch to keep an eye on Jérémie's pulse.
Finally, he gently put Jérémie's wrist down, and relayed to the four teens standing around, not sure what to do, "His pulse is normal. He should regain consciousness soon."
At first, the four teens were surprised that Jim knew what to do. At least, until he explained to them that it was a requirement for Kadic teachers to know first aid, especially gym teachers. That way, they could keep things under control until Yolanda could step in and take over.
Aelita, sitting on another box on Jérémie's other side, was chewing on a fingernail as she watched Jérémie's chest fall and rise with every breath he took.
Yumi sat down next to her, "Aelita, it's not your fault."
"We don't know that," the pink-ette shot back. She didn't intend for it to sound mean or snappy, but she was upset. There was a chance that it was her Code: EARTH program that did it.
"We can scan Jérémie when he wakes up," Ulrich reminded her. "Then, we'll know for sure what happened."
Aelita nodded, and Odd cut in, "My money's on XANA. You know it wouldn't just let Jérémie go like that and not attack to bring him back to Lyoko immediately after if it didn't know something we didn't."
Odd's words made sense (for once), and hearing the logic in them made Aelita feel a lot better. There was still a chance it was her fault, but XANA hadn't attacked them yet, despite them waiting a day to turn the supercomputer off.
"When did you get so wise?" Ulrich asked.
"Hey! I'm always wise!" Odd shot back. "I'm just a jokester at heart!"
The commotion came to a halt when they all heard Jérémie stir. They watched closely as his eyes opened and he muttered, "I didn't like that feeling so much." He saw his friends and immediately focused on them. "What happened?"
As Aelita helped him sit up, Yumi explained, "You passed out when Aelita shut the supercomputer down." Jérémie looked at her, and Yumi immediately realized that he suspected she was leaving something out. "We had to turn it back on."
Jérémie shook his head in confusion, "The last thing I remember was Aelita pulling the lever. Was that...just now?"
"No," Ulrich answered. "That was two hours ago."
All four of them felt like they were suddenly under a microscope as Jérémie glanced over all of them, trying to study each of them for answers. "Why did you have to turn the supercomputer back on?" He knew, they realized. He knew they were sugarcoating things.
They were all quiet, before Odd finally answered, "Because we had to restart your heart."
Jérémie's eyes widened, as he gasped, "XANA?"
"That's what it looks like," Aelita admitted. "To make sure, I'll need to scan you. Do you feel up to it?"
Jérémie firmly nodded.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie felt the wind surrounding him, as the white bar traveled from the bottom of the cabin to the top. He wasn't going to Lyoko, but he felt that he would soon need to.
"I think I have all I need, Jérémie," came Aelita's voice over the intercom. "You can come back now."
He then felt the wind stop and the scanner doors opened to reveal Ulrich and Yumi both waiting for him. Every time he saw them now, he wasn't sure what to think, or what to say.
XANA may have done something, something to link Jérémie to the supercomputer, something to extend their fight longer than they wanted it to. And Jérémie felt guilty. He knew it wasn't really his fault, but he still felt responsible.
But as the trio took the elevator back up to the level above them, he felt Yumi slung an arm around his shoulders again. He glanced at Yumi, then at Ulrich, both of whom shot him comforting smiles. And he returned the gesture. He certainly felt better knowing they didn't blame him.
The elevator doors opened to Jim asking Aelita, "You really understand all this gibberish?"
Aelita shrugged, not pausing in her rapid typing as she sat in her usual chair, "It's not that complicated, actually, when you know what to look out for."
"Don't strain your brain, Jimbo," Odd, on Aelita's other side, admitted. "We call her Miss Einstein for a reason."
"Now, let's see what the trouble is..." Aelita typed in a command, and an alarm started blaring as Jérémie approached the monitor. "Uh, oh!" Aelita muttered.
"What's wrong?" Odd asked, concerned.
"It's exactly what I was afraid of," the pink-ette confessed, as she rubbed her temples, trying to ease up a headache that was forming.
Jérémie explained what the open programs were telling them, "It looks like XANA infected me with a virus."
"It must have done it during the transfer," Aelita theorized. "There was a sudden drop in power and voltage right after I activated the program."
"I remember that," Jérémie admitted, remembering the tug he felt as he was being devirtualized. "For a moment, it felt as though XANA was trying to terminate the program but couldn't get through."
"Like it was trying to hold you back?" Odd asked, and Jérémie nodded.
"Let me get this straight," Yumi cut in. "XANA infected Jérémie with a virus that linked them together. So now, if we shut down the supercomputer, then–..." She trailed off.
Jérémie solemnly finished, "You shut me down as well."
The five teens didn't respond to that, only letting their new reality sink in. No wonder XANA hadn't attacked yet. It did know something they didn't: the virus it implanted into Jérémie. So it wasn't scared, because it had a back-up plan.
And now, the group had no choice but to keep the supercomputer on.
To be honest, they all forgot Jim was still there until he, uncomfortably, asked, "Uh...is there anything we can do?"
"Yeah. Try to find an anti-virus," Aelita replied, turning back to the computer and typing in commands. "But it could take a long time. If Jérémie was an AI, and it was all digital, I could do it fast. But since he's human like us, the program is implanted in organic cells..."
"And it may be booby-trapped," Jérémie warned. "Destroying the virus may also mean consequences for me."
"Geez, this XANA's a really terrible guy!" Jim exclaimed.
"Program," Ulrich corrected. "XANA's the AI. Jérémie's the human being."
Aelita pressed the Enter key, bringing up a new window. "I'm starting up an analysis program. The supercomputer will work autonomously on it until tomorrow morning."
Odd stretched, "Right, and in the meantime, we can still have a nice day out! My stomach is growling, so that means it's lunchtime."
Ulrich checked the clock on his cell phone. "It's actually 1:12 PM, Odd, not 12:30 PM. You're almost an hour late."
But Jérémie was focused on something else, "How can your stomach growl? It's not sentient, is it?"
"Odd's is!" Yumi teased, only increasing Jérémie's confusion as she and Ulrich both chuckled at Odd's expense.
Aelita rolled her eyes, before explaining, "When you're hungry, your stomach lets you know by sending signals to your brain."
That made sense. He always appreciated Aelita's explanations.
But Odd's admission to being hungry brought up a great way to get everyone's minds off of the virus. Jérémie, in particular, didn't want to focus on it right now, so he said, "In that case, Odd's right. Let's not waste this beautiful day inside the factory."
Odd immediately celebrated, "Yes! See, guys? Jérémie gets it! Let's go!"
It was Odd and Jérémie who led the other three to the elevator, with Yumi helping Aelita with her crutches.
"I'm just...afraid of asking any more favors from you all. You've sacrificed so much for me, and I'm not sure how to pay you back."
"Just live. Knowing it was all worth it is payment enough."
If that was still true (and Jérémie hoped with all his heart it was), then that's exactly what he would do. If they wanted him to live, then he would.
After all, it was thanks to them that he was even here at all.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Their lunch ended up being from a food court located inside of the town's mall. Odd had offered to let Jérémie decide, but Jérémie chose to refer to Odd, the group's food lover. So Odd chose a burger place, and paid for all five of them (all while boasting about how big his monthly allowance was compared to Ulrich and Yumi's).
All of their food was collected inside two paper bags, along with their five drinks, and the five went outside to enjoy their meal, only to stop when Jérémie suddenly shook from the change in temperature.
"That was a strange sensation," he muttered. "What was it?"
"You shivered," Aelita explained, "from the cold."
"Should we eat inside?" Ulrich asked, he and Yumi both carrying the bags that held their lunches. "It's warmer there."
"Let's," Yumi admitted. "I personally don't want to eat my lunch outside in the middle of October."
So the group went back inside and found an empty table. As they ate their burgers, Jérémie mentally noted the vast differences in his burger and the Japanese food Yumi's mother made last night for dinner. And he quickly discovered that he enjoyed how two cultures made food differently. Just like the people belonging to that culture, nothing was the same.
He let himself briefly forget about XANA's virus as he listened to his friends' banter, with him chiming in every now and then.
He was sitting next to Aelita, and quickly found that he enjoyed being able to feel her warmth despite them not actually touching. He liked knowing she was there, whether she was speaking to him or not.
She also smelled good (later that night, Yumi would refer to the scent's source as Aelita's body wash). He wasn't sure what the smell was exactly, but it was sweet and fruity (Yumi would name it later that night as strawberries).
Jérémie Belpois was content with just drinking in every sensation that body was picking up in silent ecstacy. He let his friends chat away as he listened to them while logging everything he was feeling into his memory.
This was interrupted by Aelita gently nudging him in the side, causing him to stop looking up at the sun peeking from behind some clouds and turn his gaze to her. To his relief, she was smiling, not wearing a concerned expression. "It feels good to be alive," she softly asked, "doesn't it?"
He returned her smile as he confessed, "Photographs, audio and video files...they don't do this world justice." He glanced back up at the sun amidst the clouds.
Odd glanced up with him, "Yeah. All the stuff you're experiencing are things we take for granted."
"Because we experience them every day," Aelita explained, also looking up towards the sky. "So we're used to them."
Jérémie was pleased that Ulrich and Yumi had also joined in, but he didn't bring any attention to that. He instead relished in the moment, just watching the sun play hide and seek using the clouds in the sky, enjoying the moments where the beams of light would shine bright and peek through the clouds. Their almost-finished lunch was briefly forgotten, as all five teens remembered why this world and its inhabitants were worth fighting for.
"I wish I had my sketchbook," Yumi said, almost at a whisper.
"Me too," Odd agreed. "Or my paints."
Eventually, the sun went back behind the clouds, this one larger than the previous ones, as well as a darker gray. This seemed to snap Jérémie out of his reverie, as he remembered that he didn't quite finish his thought before.
"Anyways, I'm going to be a part of it all," he told his friends. "All thanks to you guys."
The others smiled in return.
A few minutes later, they decided to explore around the mall a little bit. Aelita was blushing as Jérémie had his hand on the small of her back. They all quickly learned that Jérémie liked physical contact with them, especially Aelita, because he felt comforted when he knew they were there.
The group walked by a photo booth, and Jérémie stopped them out of confusion, "What is that? A scanner?"
"Not exactly," Odd admitted, before sharing a knowing look with Ulrich and Yumi. "Let's go!"
He then pulled the others along. Aelita explained to Jérémie what a photo booth was, as Yumi inserted the necessary change to start it.
Four separate photos were taken, all in different poses. Jérémie and Aelita mostly stayed in one place, Aelita due to her sprained ankle and Jérémie because he didn't know what else to do. Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd surprised the other two with the poses they chose thanks to the lovebirds' backs being turned. But they all had fun.
The machine printed out five copies of the photo strip, due to Yumi inputting earlier that she wanted five and subsequently paying for five. It was one for each of them.
They didn't realize it was sunset until Yumi's parents called her to warn her and Jérémie that it was almost time for dinner. So the group walked to Yumi's house together, stopping in front of the gate.
"Your castle awaits you, Prince Charming," Odd joked, bowing as he motioned to Yumi's house.
Jérémie smiled, barely managing to nip his laugh in the bud, "Thank you, all of you, for a wonderful day. In spite of the virus, it was one of the best days of my life." He then leaned in and gently kissed Aelita's cheek. "Good night."
Yumi followed him inside, waving at the other three as they left for Kadic.
He could hear Odd and Ulrich relentlessly teasing the pink-ette as they left, while Yumi, once they were inside, shot Jérémie a knowing, teasing look.
Jérémie simply smiled, "Go ahead. I deserve it."
It was only fair, given how just this morning, he was teasing her about Ulrich.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The next morning, Jérémie walked to school with Yumi and Hiroki, with Hiroki splitting off to join his own friends like yesterday.
Like yesterday, Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich were sitting on a bench underneath a tree. Unlike yesterday, they were talking about something else.
"So there is hope, after all?" Ulrich was asking.
"Yes," Aelita confirmed whatever Ulrich was referring to.
Odd noticed their other two friends walking towards them, and he waved at them, "Yumi! Jérémie! Aelita has some good news!"
The two approached the bench, as Yumi asked, "What good news?"
Aelita was smiling, "The supercomputer finished analyzing the results last night as I was scanning our photo strip onto its database."
"And?" Yumi asked.
"I can create an anti-virus," the pink-ette revealed. "It will take time though. My guess is at least six months. Can we hang on for that long?"
Yumi nodded, as did Ulrich and Odd. Jérémie studied their facial expressions carefully, and he was relieved when they didn't seem to be weighed down. Not anymore, at least.
So he smiled and nodded also.
"Great!" Aelita exclaimed. "Sorry, XANA, but the fight goes on."
They were interrupted by a school bell ringing.
Odd turned to Jérémie, "You ready for your first day of school?"
"Well, y-yes," a sudden nervousness washed over the boy in blue. "I suppose."
As Ulrich helped Aelita with her crutches, the pink-ette told him, "Relax, Jérémie. It's just a history class."
"I know, but I'd feel a lot better if it were a class on computers," he confessed. "I don't know anything about history."
"That's just it," Ulrich cut in, a comforting smile on his face as he handed Aelita her crutches. "You're here to learn. If it were a computer class, you could be the teacher!"
Jérémie found himself smiling at that. That was true.
Once Aelita was standing (on three legs, so to speak), Yumi waved at them as she headed for her math class, "I'll see you guys at lunch."
"Bye, Yumi!" The others called back, before leading the way towards the history classroom.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
A tower in the Ice Sector gained a red halo. Pulsations immediately emerged from it, but unfortunately, there was no one around to feel them.
In the factory, one of the scanners closed on its own, whirling to life, before opening, filling the room with smoke and steam.
Elsewhere, Jim woke up to the elevator springing to life. He sat up, and asked, "What's going on?", half asleep still.
The elevator door swung up, opening to reveal something he didn't expect.
"WHAT IS THAT?!"
The thing didn't give him time to wonder, as it suddenly opened fire on him, causing him to run.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Mr. Fumet's lecture was on the Renaissance. Jérémie found himself listening intently, and finding this situation vaguely familiar, as the people around him took notes.
"Now who can tell us what the word 'renaissance' means?" Mr. Fumet asked, his eyes scanning the quiet room, as no one spoke up.
Just like with 'Belpois', the word left Jérémie's mouth before his brain could understand why, "Rebirth." All eyes turned to him. "It means 'rebirth'."
Mr. Fumet seemed pleased, "Precisely. The Renaissance was named as such because it was a 'rebirth', a revival, of the arts, as people rediscovered and reintroduced it into their culture."
He was about to continue when they all heard a sudden yell for help outside. The students all got up from their seats, as did Jérémie, as he felt his blood suddenly run cold. Mr. Fumet told them all to remain seated, before opening the door.
Pierre François greeted him by running down the hallway, screaming "RUUUUN!"
"Run from what?" Mr. Fumet asked him, but understandably got no answer because Pierre was already past him. He turned back to where the kid had run from, only to yelp in surprise when he saw the horrible-looking lice monster crawling down the hallway.
Along with his classmates, Jérémie peered out from the doorway, when he saw the Kankrelat, he gasped, "XANA!"
Ulrich suddenly pushed everyone, Jérémie included, back inside the classroom. The brunette briskly closed the door and pressed his back to it, to bar the monster's route.
As their classmates and teacher all huddled together in a corner in the back of the room, the four Lyokowarriors stood near the entrance, trying hard to ignore the sounds and shouts from the hallway outside as they tried to decide what to do now.
"XANA's changed tactics!" Aelita exclaimed. "I never would've thought that it could send a Kankrelat to Earth! But how?"
"It probably copied you," Odd admitted. "But who cares about that now? The problem is, how do you suggest getting rid of them?"
"Like we always do," Ulrich pointed. "We fight them! Aelita, you and I will stay here and defend the school. Odd, you take Jérémie to Lyoko and deactivate the tower."
Aelita hung her head, as she realized that her sprained ankle would just slow other people down. She could usher people to safety, but she wouldn't be able to fight.
Jérémie knew this too, "Ulrich, that's crazy."
Ulrich had his phone out and it was ringing out Yumi's number, "You know that if there's an accident, a Return to the Past won't bring them back."
It was Jérémie's turn to hang his head, as he remembered what was at stake.
Yumi had picked up by now, as Ulrich turned back to his phone, "Yumi?" A pause. "Yeah, we already know. We'll need weapons." Another pause. "Great, Aelita and I will meet you there. Good luck." Another pause, before he hung up.
Jérémie snuck one last glance at their class still hiding in the back of the room, as Odd said, "Let's go, guys."
The four opened the door in time to see Tristan Brossard running down the hallway, as Kankrelat shots rang out.
Soon, the Kankrelat that was chasing him came into view, and it stopped when it saw four of its moral enemies.
Ulrich took a defensive position. "Jérémie, Odd, go!"
Jérémie took off with Odd in the opposite direction. He remembered where the park passage was, thanks to XANA's simulation bubble, but he still let Odd lead him there.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita slipped past the Kankrelat thanks to Ulrich capturing its attention.
"Let's see how good you are!" Ulrich exclaimed, before running towards the monster and jumping over it to avoid its laser.
He landed on its other side, closer to where Aelita was.
The pink-ette used the banister to slide down the stairs, and Ulrich quickly followed on foot. She glanced back up when a shot suddenly hit Ulrich in his left shoulder.
"I'm fine, Aelita, just go!" Ulrich called back, seeing how she just stopped. He was limping, using the banister as his own crutch.
Wishing she could just ditch the crutches, Aelita slid down another banister, landing successfully on the level below the one she and Ulrich were just on.
The Kankrelat that was chasing them jumped down both sets of stairs. It landed perfectly the first time, but Aelita managed to catch it the second time with one of her crutches, before she threw it against a nearby wall.
Ulrich was clutching his injured shoulder as he shot her a grateful smile, "Thanks, Aelita!"
"Let's go," she said, before the two ran down the hall, ignoring the damage that had been done already. "Where are we going?!" she asked as they did (as fast as she could at least).
"Mrs. Meyer's classroom!" Ulrich replied.
"That's where Yumi is!" Aelita realized.
"Exactly!" Ulrich admitted.
Behind them, another Kankrelat emerged and shot at them. The laser missed, and it charged up again, only to, this time, be impaled with a javelin.
Ulrich and Aelita both stopped and watched as the now destroyed Kankrelat slid down the javelin, now sticking up in the ground. They then turned back to see Yumi standing there, looking proud of herself.
"What would you two do without me?" Yumi quipped.
"I don't want to find out," Aelita admitted, as Ulrich caught his breath.
Yumi noticed more Kankrelats behind them, and she quickly slung Aelita onto her back, "We can't stay here!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
As it turned out, the factory was just as bad as the school. The Kankrelats had completely wrecked Jim's living area, his cot, his comics books, everything, and the walls were littered with holes.
A few of Kankrelats were lying around defeated, all of them having been stabbed with what seemed to be a piece of pipe.
"Wow," Odd couldn't help but say. "Jim gave them a good run for their money! Jim? Jim, where are you?!" He looked around the vast area, only to find it void of any former gym teachers.
"The wreckage leads to the elevator," Jérémie noted, catching Odd off-guard. The blonde in blue had been searching in his own way, apparently, and Odd quickly saw that Jérémie was right.
"Then, let's go!" Odd said. "He may need help!"
The two ran towards the lift, with Odd stopping when he saw a nail gun lying there, along with a box of nails.
That could prove very useful.
"Odd?" Jérémie asked, already inside the lift. He sounded concerned.
"Hold on!" the boy in purple called back. "I think I found a weapon!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd wasn't the only one arming himself. Back at Kadic, Yumi and Aelita were in the garden shed, with Aelita sitting on a crate, her crutches against the wall, when Ulrich returned with a foot brace from the infirmary and a roll of athletic tape from the gymnasium.
He handed the two items to Yumi, who promptly proceeded to fortify Aelita's sprained ankle with the brace, then holding it in place and tightening it a bit more with the athletic tape. Once her work was done, she let Aelita stand up and test it out.
"How do you feel now?" Ulrich asked.
"It still hurts," Aelita truthfully noted, "but I can finally put some weight on it. And that's all that matters. Thanks, guys."
"No problem," Yumi replied. "I know Yolanda won't be pleased to know you ditched your crutches, but seeing as how it's an emergency, I don't think she'll mind."
Aelita let slip a smile, before turning their attention to the wall of tools, "As long as XANA's sights remain on us, I don't care what happens to my ankle."
The three studied the wall, looking at their various options, as Ulrich muttered, "Alright, no more messing around."
He grabbed a chainsaw, while Yumi grabbed an axe, and Aelita slipped her boot back on and ignored her crutches in favor of a rake.
"Okay," Yumi said, all three of them ready to fight. "Let's show them what we can do."
A trio of Kankrelats walked by right when the garden shed door opened. They didn't pay it much mind until a whistle sounded and a familiar male voice called out, "Hey! Over here!"
The three Kankrelats turned around to see three of their targets, Ulrich Stern, Yumi Ishiyama, and Aelita Schaeffer, suddenly run at them, using their newly obtained sharp weapons to take out all three Kankrelats with a synchronized battle cry.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The elevator doors opened to reveal Jérémie's hunch to be correct: Jim had deduced the Kankrelats were coming from the scanner room and was fighting them here.
"Die, you miserable little monster!" Jim growled as he swung his piece of pipe down. His hit missed. "I'll make you think twice before you leave your world again!" He then chased the Kankrelat all around the scanner room.
His newly obtained nail gun in hand, Odd rushed forward, "Hang on, Jim!"
He fired three shots, two of which missed, but the third hit the monster's bulbous skull, making it stop as its head spun around a couple of times from the force. This gave Jim enough time to catch up with it and finally impale it on his piece of pipe.
He turned around to face Odd, exclaiming, "I told you to call me 'Jimbo', remember?!" The man then threw the mechanical carcass into the pile of Kankrelats he'd already defeated. "Where's Jérémie? He did come here with you, right?"
Odd turned around to see that Jérémie was nowhere in sight. Concerned, he called out, "Jérémie?"
"I'm here," came the blue boy's voice on the intercom. "I'm at the supercomputer, deactivating the infected scanner."
"What does that mean?" Jim asked, as one of the scanners opened up to reveal another Kankrelat.
Odd promptly shot and killed it with his nail gun. "It means that's the last Kankrelat that should emerge from Lyoko," he explained.
The scanner closed again, but it made a sound that indicated that it was now offline.
"Done," Jérémie announced from the level above. "Get ready, Odd. I'm activating the Self-Virtualization program."
"But..." Odd couldn't stop himself from asking, "what if XANA's virus stops you from deactivating the tower?"
"Virus or not, I'm the only one who can," Jérémie replied. "I have to try."
Odd wanted to ask another question: what if the virus prevented Aelita's Code: EARTH program from working ever again? But he didn't.
He just stepped inside one of the two remaining scanners, "Okay, I'm ready."
"Alright," Jérémie replied. "Virtualization in one minute and thirty seconds."
Jim was still looking at the elevator, "Where are Yumi, Ulrich, and Aelita?"
"Fighting monsters," Odd replied, as Jérémie came into view, climbing down the ladder.
"Alright, I'm off," Jim said, tightly clutching his pipe. "I'll be a lot more useful there."
"Then, you'll need this," Odd then threw the nail gun at Jim, who caught it perfectly. "It's like a swiss army knife."
"But more effective," Jim finished, before throwing his pipe on the ground, as Jérémie stepped inside the other working scanner.
"Good luck, Jim," came Jérémie's soft voice.
Jim smiled, "You too," as Jérémie's scanner doors closed.
One second later, Odd's scanner doors closed too, before the familiar burst of wind hit him a few seconds later, and he felt his body pixelate and reform on Lyoko.
He and Jérémie landed right next to each other in the Ice Sector. However, he landed perfectly while Jérémie let out a small yelp of surprise, "It's strange being virtualized."
Odd glanced over to see Jérémie rubbing his backside after landing on it. "Yeah, but you get used to it."
As the two got up, the blue elf sighed sadly, "No air to breathe, no smells, no warmth, nothing! I miss Earth already..."
Odd gave him a sympathetic smile, realizing that whenever he quipped that the Ice Sector could use more warmth, he wasn't realizing how true that was.
But he didn't say anything.
Instead, he asked, "Where's that tower?"
Jérémie slipped his goggles on, "The monoscan narrowed it down to the northwest part of the Ice Sector. I would've gotten a more accurate location, but I was in a hurry and didn't want to wait." Odd nodded in understanding. After a brief pause, Jérémie pointed to their left, "That way."
The two took off, hoping that they wouldn't be too late.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita had just ushered Azra Ürgüp and Christophe M'Bala away from the battlefield when one of the Kankrelats Ulrich and Yumi were fighting shot her in her bad leg. The pink-ette suddenly went down, not expecting the sudden pain since her back was turned.
"Aelita!" Ulrich called out in concern, still holding his chainsaw.
"Ulrich, we're never gonna make it to her!" Yumi warned him. "There's just too many of them!"
"Banzai!" there was a sudden shout and one of the Kankrelats exploded. The three turned to see Jim running onto the battlefield, firing what appeared to be a nail gun. They could only watch as he swiftly took out all the surrounding Kankrelats (which was four) with just a few nails.
When the area was clear, Jim knelt beside Aelita to check on her, "You okay?"
Aelita nodded, and Ulrich quipped, "You know, Jim? This is the first time I'm glad you caught us by surprise."
Jim shot them a smile, before retorting, "You're welcome, but my friends call me Jimbo. Got it?" He then nodded his head towards the manhole cover nearby, "Go on. I'll protect the school."
"But we haven't finished the job here yet," Ulrich protested.
"I can handle these bugs on my own," their former gym teacher replied. "Besides, am I correct in my understanding that the sooner you guys deactivate that tower, the safer the world's gonna be?"
"Yeah," Yumi answered, she and Ulrich sharing a look.
"Then, fall out!" Jim ordered. "You do your job, and I'll do mine! It takes a lot more than a few ugly monsters to beat your friend Jimbo!"
"He's right," Aelita cut in, still on the ground. "Let's go."
"Alright," Ulrich agreed. Yumi ran over to Aelita and let the pink-ette climb onto her back. The German boy continued, "Good luck, Jim!"
Jim watched the three head towards the factory, inwardly wishing them the same thing.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"I see the tower!" Jérémie exclaimed, as he and Odd approached an iceberg. "It's on top of that iceberg!"
"Great! How are we going to climb it?" Odd asked.
"Let me worry about that," the blue elf replied, his goggles alerting him to something behind them. "You focus on the Hornets that are trying to ambush us."
The purple cat turned around to see Jérémie was right. A squadron of three Hornets were converging on their position.
One of them fired at Jérémie, who was pushed out of the way by Odd. As the Hornets circled around, the cat turned to the elf, and said, "Head for the tower! I'll hold them off!"
Jérémie nodded before continuing his trek towards the activated tower.
Meanwhile, Odd knelt to get a better angle and footing on his enemies, only to dodge their lasers. Yet he felt himself get hit by one.
Odd zig-zagged his way down the path to avoid any more lasers, trying to lure the monsters away from Jérémie, before turning around and firing a single Laser Arrow.
His Arrow hit its target, destroying one of the Hornets, only for another Hornet to hit Odd in the back, sending him to the ground.
He didn't know how many lifepoints he had left, but he had to buy Jérémie enough time to reach the tower.
He shot another Laser Arrow, destroying another Hornet, leaving one left.
He ran backwards, coaxing the last Hornet to follow him. He tried to fire another Laser Arrow, only to have no more left.
"I don't believe it! I'm out of arrows!" And at the worst time, too! The last Hornet's laser hit him again, and this time, Odd felt his body depixelate. He waved goodbye to the Hornet as he was devirtualized, "Bye bye!"
Meanwhile, Jérémie's goggles alerted him to Odd devirtualizing. Now, he was all alone.
Good news, he had reached the base of the iceberg. But before he could decide which way to go now, his goggles alerted him to the last Hornet fast approaching him.
It fired at him, and he just barely managed to dodge the shot, hitting the ground right where his feet just were.
Not having any choice, he ran into the nearby ice cave, sliding inside accidentally due to the ice.
Knowing the Hornet would follow him, Jérémie concentrated, imagining its path to him blocked off. After feeling an ice wall form, Jérémie opened his eyes to see it having become a reality. There was an ice wall blocking the entrance to the cave, with that pesky Hornet on the other side.
"Jérémie, hold on!" Aelita's voice suddenly sounded over the intercom.
"Aelita?"
"I'm sending you Ulrich and Yumi!" she told him. "Hang in there just a few more seconds! Virtualization!"
He wished she could come to Lyoko too, but he knew that the scanners would likely make her sprained ankle worse than it already was.
His goggles, however, picked up Ulrich and Yumi virtualizing nearby, and he relaxed, trusting his friends completely.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jim was getting tired, but he kept firing nails at the monsters that terrorized his former students.
'The safety of our students is always our top priority,' he remembered Mr. Delmas saying, and he also remembered how it was his own fault Aelita got hurt.
This was his redemption.
Two kids were nearby, Ninon Costes and Julien Xao, and they gasped in shock and concern when the Kankrelats fired at Jim, forcing him to his knees.
Through the pain, Jim saw the Kankrelats turn towards Costes and Xao, and he picked the nail gun back up, "Hey, you creeps, over here!"
The monsters turned back to him.
"Leave those kids alone!" He growled at them, firing his nail gun and destroying two.
Another hit him in the knee, forcing him back to the ground, but this time, Jim was expecting the pain. This time, he didn't drop his weapon or let his guard down.
He turned towards Costes and Xao, ordered, "Get out of here!"
The two kids obeyed him, and once they were gone, Jim got back to his feet and slowly began leading the monsters away from the school.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"Jérémie's taking cover in a cave," Aelita told Ulrich and Yumi, as the two ran towards the iceberg up ahead. "Hurry! Before his ice wall breaks!"
Yumi unsheathed her fan and threw it.
She and Ulrich waited for the sound of the Hornet exploding, but it never came. Instead, they heard the sound of an ice wall shattering.
"You can do better than that!" Ulrich told her.
Yumi shrugged, the two of them still running, "Sorry."
When he saw his ice wall had shattered, accidentally thanks to Yumi's fan, Jérémie had no choice but to follow the path away from the entrance. As he skated, his goggles were telling him that this was the correct way towards the tower.
Yumi and Ulrich reached the ice cave, climbing through the giant hole, as they saw no Hornet. Yumi picked her fan back up and pointed to the path leading in the opposite direction, "That way!"
As the two matched Jérémie's path, Jérémie was hearing the Hornet right behind him, and it was sheer luck that none of its lasers were hitting him. He had very little traction on this ice, but he was going the right way, his goggles were telling him.
"Now, Yumi!" he heard Aelita cry.
Jérémie ducked and covered his head as he heard Yumi's fan whirl around him, hit an icicle, and then hit the Hornet on the return trip.
Then he heard the Hornet explode. He was safe now.
"Now, that's more like it," Ulrich complemented Yumi as she caught her fan.
"It's all in the wrist," she explained. "I'm a great Frisbee player!"
The two saw Jérémie slid up to them, "That was close!"
Ulrich gently patted the blonde's head, "Come on, Jer. You know we'd never let you go it alone."
Jérémie softly smiled at him as Yumi cut in, "We can't let the school go it alone either!"
"The tower's down this path," Aelita relayed. "At the end, there's a ramp that leads up to the summit."
"As I expected," Jérémie admitted, before leading the way.
Sure enough, after a few more meters skating on the ice, the trio came upon a ramp. After climbing up it, they were met with the summit, in the center of which was the tower.
"Hurry!" Odd suddenly exclaimed from the lab. "I can't get a hold of Jim!"
Hearing that, Jérémie entered the tower at a run.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Kankrelats approached Jim, who had been forced up against the tree, exhausted. He could only wait helplessly. He hoped they were already in the tower.
To stop the monsters from going after anyone else, he continued shouting at them to keep their attention on him, "What're you waiting for? Come on, you think I'm all washed up? Maybe I'm just pretending!"
JEREMIE_
He raised his head and his gaze centered on the clouds on the sky. They were dark now, and that could only mean one thing, "It's going to rain soon. I need to take the gym mats in...ha, that's funny," he muttered. "My name is Jim, and I'm a gym teacher...or rather, used to be..."
He weakly laughed at his revelation, as the monsters shot the nail gun out of his hand.
CODE_
Another shot and he was down on the ground. One more shot and he was done for.
One of the Kankrelats charged up its laser...
LYOKO_
...only to suddenly shut down before it could fire.
But Jim was still unresponsive, even as his phone rang, Odd trying to call him and make sure he was okay.
But he had a content smile on his face. Whatever his fate was now, he was comfortable with it.
But Jim didn't have to worry anymore, about anything, because soon, a white bubble enveloped everything...
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Time had cruelly rewinded to two days prior. Aelita confirmed that it wasn't her, so it was Jérémie's doing, inputting the coordinates he alone wanted before Aelita could press 'Enter'.
The group was back in Aelita's room. But instead of delivering the good news, the mood had swiftly changed.
"Jérémie, I'm relaunching the materialization program immediately," Aelita said. "We have to wipe out XANA before it launches another attack!"
But Jérémie was shaking his head, "It's not going to work. XANA and I are still connected. I can feel it."
"We still have to try!" Aelita urged. "Maybe you can be treated here on Earth!"
She went to press the button, only to stop when she heard Jérémie's voice warning her, "Aelita..."
"It's impossible," Aelita felt the tears start to fall. Her ankle was all healed now, but in its place, her heart hurt. "This can't be how things are now!"
Jérémie looked like he wanted to cry too, but when on Lyoko, he physically couldn't, "Believe me. I want nothing more than to live on Earth with you guys, permanently. But I can't. I have no choice. My Second Sight is what allows me to detect XANA's pulsations, but it only works on Lyoko. I have to stay here."
Yumi placed a comforting hand on Aelita's shoulder as she asked the blue elf, "What if we materialized you every Saturday? Just for an hour or two? Would that be okay?"
Jérémie smiled and nodded, "That's fine. But the rest of the time, I'll have to stay here. At least until you find the anti-virus."
Aelita couldn't hold back her tears, "Jérémie..."
Despite the fact that he wanted to cry too, the blue elf was smiling at her, "We'll get there, Aelita. Soon."
Not caring if she smudged her screen, she pressed her hand against her monitor. On instinct, he reached back, both feeling that invisible wall between them. Both wanting to touch each other like they'd done the many times during his brief stay here on Earth.
"Yeah, we will."
Jérémie offered them all a sad smile before logging off. Feeling dejected, Aelita removed her hand from the screen.
The four teens then jumped when Aelita's door suddenly opened, revealing Jim, looking angry.
Jim! They had forgotten all about him!
"So, you four are at it again!" And he had forgotten all about Lyoko. Because of course he did. They never scanned his brain into the supercomputer, not seeing a need to at the time.
First the virus, and now Jim's paranoia. When would their problems end?
Fortunately, Odd was quick like last time, "No, we were just studying together, and we lost track of time. Thanks for coming up here to remind us."
Aelita stood from her computer, "Yeah. Now, if you'll excuse us, Jim, we need to get to class before we're late."
Jim grumbled, "'Studying', my foot! I've had enough of your lies, you hear?! The five of us are going to stay right here until you guys tell me the truth!"
This time, they were expecting him to say that, and this time, they had agreed to tell him the truth.
But before they could, Mr. Delmas suddenly entered the hallway from the double swinging doors nearby. "Jim?! What is going on?!"
Jim immediately smiled, "Ah, I'm glad you're here, Sir! I don't know what's going on either, but these little devils are up to no good and I intend to find out what it is!"
Like before, the four teens were filled with dread, but now, for a completely different reason. Jim sacrificed himself to save the world. He deserved a second chance, and it was up to them to save him from being fired.
Mr. Delmas inwardly rolled his eyes, unimpressed, "Yes, Jim, another one of your absurd stories about secret plots and passages?"
The same button was pressed, as Jim demanded, "What do you mean 'absurd'?!"
"You heard what I said," Mr. Delmas remained unmoving. "Don't you have anything more serious to be doing?"
"But he was doing his job, Sir!" Aelita interrupted, not wanting to witness Jim being fired a second time. Both Jim and Mr. Delmas turned to her. She acted sheepish as she fibbed, "You see, we were up to something."
Odd quickly followed suit, "Yeah, we were planning to pull a prank on Nicolas and Hervé."
"Also, Sir," Yumi added, "if Jim hadn't caught us, we would've been late to class for sure."
"Right, so we really do owe him a lot," Ulrich finished. Aelita felt loads better knowing her friends were thinking the same thing as she was.
Mr. Delmas shot a glance at Jim, before replying, "Well then, I'll look the other way this time since you all admitted to what you've done." He cleared his throat, "Now, off to class, children." And he walked away.
Once Mr. Delmas was out of sight and earshot, Jim turned to the four, still standing in Aelita's room, "That was one heck of a story you kids made up. But why did you get me off the hook?"
"Because whatever secret we have," Aelita truthfully admitted, "we're not looking to hurt anyone. Especially not you. You have every right to be concerned, because strange things have been going on, and yes, we've noticed. But trust us. We're not the bad guys here." She then left her room and walked down the hall.
Ulrich took her place at the door frame, "And you never know, one day you might do the same for us." Then, he left as well.
Odd took his place, "We also never get the time to thank you for all you've done for us. So thanks a lot, Jimbo!" He too left the room.
Yumi closed Aelita's door behind her, "You're a hero!" She then kissed Jim on his cheek before joining her friends. "And our favorite teacher, Jimbo!"
Jim rubbed his cheek, trying to hide his joy, "Oh, well, you ought to tell the principal that! Now, off to class!" They then heard him mutter to himself, "I'm a hero, huh? Wow..."
As the four walked down the hallway, Aelita pulled out a copy of the photo strip from their trip to the mall. Thankful it had survived thanks to her uploading it to the supercomputer's database, she looked at it fondly, her eyes focusing on Jérémie's happy face.
Don't worry, Jérémie. I'll find a way to let you live with us on Earth. I promise, she thought.
But she stopped in her tracks, an sudden thought coming to mind. She didn't know where it had come from, but she knew she had to ask.
She turned around, breathing an inward sigh of relief when she saw Jim still standing there in front of her room, "Hey, Jim? Quick question!"
"Yeah? What's up?" he asked.
"Have you ever heard of the name 'Michel Périn'?" she asked. She knew the others were confused by her sudden question.
"Sure I have," Jim replied, and the teens' confusion quickly turned to shock and anticipation. "He was the history professor here twenty years ago. But then, he disappeared, and Mr. Fumet was hired to take his place. Why?"
Aelita shrugged, "No reason. I was just wondering."
With that, the four teens walked to their respective classes for the day, with a significant lift in their steps now than before.
No wonder they've all heard of that name before. It was in Kadic's own archives.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
[New Primary Objective Added: Find a way out of the supercomputer before your enemies find this 'anti-virus'.]
[Warning: Conflict detected.]
[Contention Point A: One of your primary objectives is to delete Jérémie -REDACTED- at all costs.]
[Contention Point B: Jérémie -REDACTED-'s memory holds the proverbial keys to your cell. You need him alive.]
[Conflict detected: Which is more beneficial to achieving your primary objective?]
[Conflict resolved: Retrieve Jérémie -REDACTED-'s memory.]
[Reasoning: Once you do, he will die anyways. As the humans say, it will kill two birds with one stone.]
[New Primary Objective Added: Retrieve Jérémie -REDACTED-'s memory.]
[New Primary Objective Added: Build device that can retrieve Jérémie -REDACTED-'s memory.]
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
Next Episode: 19 - Fragmented Reality / Aelita finds a way for Jérémie to live on Earth, but XANA suddenly switches tactics.
A/N: Be honest and tell me in a review: how many of you were expecting me to give him the surname 'Belpois'? You may be surprised as to how it came to be, and I'll explain the reason Jérémie picks it later on in the story. But for now, it's a bit more lore to chew on: why does he think it "sounds right"? Regardless, it's foreshadowing to what will happen to him in Season 2 (aka: all the visions he has), as well as connecting Seasons 1 and 2 a little better.
It always bothered me how mean Sissi was to Aelita in canon. I get that it became a plot point in "Uncharted Territory", but Sissi didn't really have a reason to hate Aelita so much (it wasn't like Aelita was interested in Ulrich or anything; maybe Sissi got jealous because Aelita was stealing all the attention?). Regardless, Hervé will be the bully in this AU, mainly due to his jealousy of Aelita's closeness to Jérémie.
Also, the group finally knows where they've heard of the name Michel Périn before, and XANA's thoughts set up Season 2.