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
A couple of corrections for this fic's TVTropes page (because, yes, I do follow along): 1) Aelita and Taelia are cousins on Aelita's father's side (Taelia's mother is Waldo's sister), not mothers'. 2) I wasn't intending on Project: Carthage being the contract Sophie was let go from, but I'll let it slide, because it ties up that particular loose end. And 3) Canon does name Jérémie's father, as Michel in the French and Michael in the English. It's the mom that doesn't have a name (nor is she ever shown).
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
"Odd and Aelita both fight for the position of class representative. However, XANA's attack will drastically change the outcome of this election."
Episode 37: Protect the Forest
(Based on Lyoko Minus One)
The moment Odd's alarm clock hit 7:00 AM, the Subdigitals' 'Break Away' song (Odd's favorite) began blaring.
Ulrich groaned, having been tousled from his sleep prematurely. He threw a pillow over his head to cover his ears, only for the sound to be loud enough to seep through.
"Odd, will you turn off that dumb alarm?!" No response. The music was still playing. "Odd?!" He sat up in his bed.
His roommate was gone. The only thing on the other bed was a snoozing Kiwi (how the dog could sleep through this music was beyond him).
He blinked in confusion. Did Odd even go to bed last night? Or did he wake up earlier to get something done?
Well, last night at dinner, Jim did say that Odd was back in the others' class. So maybe, he had to pick up his new class schedule. Today was the first day of classes, after all.
Whatever the case, it had to be important for him to be up before 7 AM.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd was in the administrative building, in the space where the principal's secretary worked. Mrs. Weber turned away from her copy machine, a stack of papers in her hand.
"Here are the photocopies you asked for, Mr. Della Robbia," she handed him the stack. "You wanted thirty-one, correct?"
"That's right!" he smiled broadly. "Thirty-one. Thank you."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
After getting dressed, Ulrich made his way to Jérémie's room. He softly knocked on the door, before opening it, without waiting for a response, "Rise and shine, Einstein. The birds are chirping away."
The blonde was asleep at his desk, his head rest on the mousepad of his laptop.
Ulrich softly closed the door behind him as he fondly shook his head. Given the recent activity from XANA, there was no way Jérémie wasn't working on something for Lyoko all night.
Smile, the brunette leaned in to the blonde's ear and softly sang, "Aelita and Hervé are going out with each other."
"What?!" Jérémie immediately sat up in alarm, but relaxed once he saw the amused face of one of his friends. He breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh, it's you, Ulrich. Awful joke." He pushed his glasses back up his nose, before standing up. "Anyway, what's the time?"
"It's time to get up," Ulrich replied, watching Jérémie yawn and stretch. "So what's the story? You've also given up sleeping in a bed or something?"
He was still wondering why Odd had woken up so early.
"I was trying to find a way to send us into the internet from Lyoko," Jérémie explained, as the two trudged towards the door, "so we can track down XANA."
Ulrich opened the door, as he asked, "Any luck?"
Jérémie was disappointed as he answered, "No."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Now inside the shower room, Jérémie turned on a faucet and began washing his face. He took off his glasses to do so, letting Ulrich get a good look at his face, or more accurately how roughed up he looked.
"Are you okay?" the brunette asked. "You've been really quiet since...y'know," since Michel and Sophie disappeared, he meant, "and you have shadows under your eyes. You've been getting enough sleep, right?"
Jérémie sighed, clearly hoping Ulrich wouldn't ask him that. "I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind."
He wasn't fine. At all. "You're still having nightmares, aren't you? Only this time, you can actually remember them..."
The blonde's following silence spoke volumes. He sighed again, "I'm fine." He was whispering now. "I just have a lot to sort through."
Again, no, he wasn't fine. But Ulrich instead chose to say, "Take it easy. I'm not going to lecture you." The pain Jérémie was going through was a type Ulrich could never fathom, not when his own parents (at least, his father) would never do what Jérémie's did. Therefore, he had no say in how the blonde felt. "I just want you to know that the rest of us are here if you ever need someone to talk to." They may not understand, but they'd for sure to try their best.
Jérémie gave him a soft, sad smile. "I know. I appreciate it. Just give me some time." He then cleared his throat. "So, what's the deal with today's election?"
He was clearly trying to change the subject, but Ulrich allowed it.
"It's just to choose our class representative," the brunette explained, as he straightened out his hair using the mirror in front of them. "This person represents our class in the school's Academic Council. It's a pretty big deal and responsibility."
"I'm glad I'm not running then," Jérémie admitting, using a towel to dry off his face. "I have plenty of responsibility already with stopping XANA."
"And me with keeping my father happy," Ulrich agreed, as the blonde put his glasses back on. "Aelita's running, though, and she'll probably win like she did last year. She's up against the lamest candidate in the galaxy, after all."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Which was Hervé Pichon.
He was sitting in the chair in front of Sissi's vanity. Sissi herself was pacing behind him. He was a long time resident of Kadic, and he always ran for class representative every year, and he always won. At least, until Aelita arrived at Kadic back in 2002.
"Let's go over one more time the one thing you will not do under any circumstances," she said. She was helping him build and maintain his platform.
He groaned. "Can we not?"
"Say it."
He sighed, "I will not just give up and vote for Aelita."
The pink-ette had first run against him in 2003, the year after her arrival, the year her cousin arrived and she became friends with Ulrich and Yumi. Hervé's crush on her began instantly, so her running against him that year had resulted in him giving her the win, since he didn't want her to hate him, and at the time, he was afraid she'd hate him if he won.
Sissi was pleased. "Good. Now, how about giving me the smile of a real winner?"
Hervé slapped on a broad, yet nervous smile.
"I said 'a smile'!"
"This is a smile," he replied, the grin on his face remaining.
Sissi slapped a hand to her forehead in disappointment, and groaned in frustration, "You'll never win at this rate!"
"You're the one who wants me to run," he reminded her. "I told you that I was willing to back out this year, so why don't you run then?" She seemed way more invested in this year's election than he did.
"I already told you why a hundred times, Pichon," she replied. "Children of those on the Academic Council are not allowed to be a class representative, which includes the headmaster. It creates an imbalance of power within the system." She sighed, "I'm just trying to be a good friend here, giving you advice on how to win. You can step down next year, but unfortunately, it's too late to back out now," she leaned forward, placing her hands on his knees, "so might as well go out in a blaze of glory this year, right?"
Hervé was smiling widely, and she noticed.
"There we go! That's the spirit! A nice, winner smile!"
He was actually cringing, "It's not a smile, Sissi. You're crushing my kneecaps." He pointed down to her hands on his knees.
She immediately straightened up, "Oh, s-sorry.."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The eleventh graders were all convening in Mr. Fumet's classroom, where their election today would take place. As they approached the entrance, Ulrich and Jérémie could see Aelita and Hervé standing in the entrance, passing out flyers that quickly explained their platforms.
But when they actually entered the room, two more people were joining them: Laura Gauthier and Odd Della Robbia.
At first, they thought Odd was helping Aelita, since the two were standing on the same side, with Hervé and Laura on the other. But that was before Odd held out a couple flyers in their direction.
"Take a copy of my platform!" he greeted his two friends with a smile.
The two took their respective copies, as Jérémie blinked in confusion, "Platform? For what?"
On the flyer was a picture of Odd's smiling facing, holding up a peace sign, and a graphic of Kiwi (the same one his Lyoko avatar had). Below the photo and graphic were the promises Odd was making.
"For my candidacy for the election of class representative!" Odd replied, gesturing to himself with a bubbly smile. "You're looking at the next student rep.!"
"So you're running against Aelita this year?" Ulrich asked. His roommate usually worked with Aelita and was chosen as her deputy as his reward for his loyalty, so this turn of events was quite surprising. Odd had not given any hints to this being the plan.
"That's right!"
Jérémie didn't know why Odd seemed to proud of himself here. The two cousins made a great team, both in the real world as well as on Lyoko. Why would Odd want to split them up?
"Why didn't you say anything, Odd?" the nerd in blue asked his purple-loving friend.
"Because surprise is the secret weapon of my election campaign," Odd replied, almost boasting. "Catch your opponents off-guard and they're less likely to have a defense against you." Sound strategy, actually.
"You're my cousin, Della Robbia," Aelita replied, as she handed out her own flyers to her friends. "I already have a defense against you."
"Well, I have a second weapon, cuz," Odd playfully retorted. "Poetry! 'If you all want to have your say, why not give the nod to good old Odd?' Pretty creative, right?"
"It is," the pink-ette replied with a smile. "It could rhyme a little more, though. But do you really think poetry can beat good old fashioned experience?"
Jérémie was thankful that Laura stepped in to break the argument up (Odd and Aelita would never classify their bickering as such, but this one was starting to turn into a sincere fight).
"Yes, both of you, keep fighting and destroy each other," the female blonde said, as she and Hervé passed out their own flyers to Jérémie and Ulrich. "It will make my victory so much more satisfying."
"She has a point," Hervé added, sending an apologetic look to the two cousins.
Aelita faked a smile, "I won't give you that victory, Gauthier. I promise." Her gaze was stern and determined, and her focus had swiftly been turned from Odd to Laura—and it was remaining that way.
"Of course you won't," Laura replied. "I don't want it to be that easy."
Odd was pouting. It was clear that Aelita saw Laura as more of a threat; the pink-ette's body language said it all. And he didn't like that.
Jérémie knew exactly what was about to happen: Odd would say something in his platform speech to rile Aelita up, and he would keep it up until she blew up in his face. She'd put up heavy resistance, but her outburst would be explosive, and Odd would very likely use that to show the audience that she wasn't the right fit for the job. Because what responsible person couldn't control their temper?
His concern was showing clear on his face, and Hervé definitely noticed, given how he leaned it and reassured him, "Don't worry. Aelita will win like she always does."
That wasn't what Jérémie was worried about. But he chose not to point this out.
Instead, he asked unamused, "Aren't you running too, Hervé?"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"I'm warning you!" Jim warned the twelfth graders as they took the bus towards their field trip. "Anyone who tries to pull anything—detention! You can join that smart alec William Dunbar in Study Hall!"
Ms. Hertz gently pat Jim's shoulder, "Thank you, Jim. I think you've made yourself clear."
"Roger, Suzanne," he replied, before cringing at his slip up. She was giving him a death stare; she didn't like her first name being used in front of students. "I'm sorry. I-I mean, Ms. Hertz."
She chose to ignore the misstep, instead clearing her throat, "Now, let's not forget what we're looking for, class. The purpose of our field trip today is to witness the early effects of pollution on our ecosystem, specifically in the forest. Effects that might someday mean the end of our forests, and all animal and plant life within them as well."
Jim's eyes widened at her little speech, and he leaned towards her, "Are you saying there won't be any more bunny rabbits, or little birds, or trees, or mushrooms? They'll all just disappear?" She said nothing, only glancing up at him, using her eyes to tell him that he was too close. He laughed nervously, "Oh wow...I love your perfume."
As the bus began driving away from Kadic, Yumi settled into her seat in the back of the bus by turning on her walkman and using her headphones to listen to the Subdigitals.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd was slated to present his platform first. Jérémie was honestly surprised that his friend had a lot to say. The Italian boy was making a lot of sense, delivering all good points. He was pointing out all the issues that students faced and common sense solutions to those problems.
He was wrapping up his speech now, "And so I ask you: why should good students represent the bad? Why not let a near-dropout like me speak for all the other near-dropouts?" Odd beamed with pride, his hands on his hips.
As his classmates all murmured to themselves, Jérémie instead began to frown worriedly. What was Odd insinuating here?
Meanwhile, Laura was deep in thought.
Della Robbia has a point, her mind told her. As an intellectual and academic superior, you don't know about the problems the average students face. Your brother Theo has to work to maintain his grades, and if he doesn't, he gets kicked off the football team. You don't understand those problems, because you don't have to worry about them.
But you're allowed to pick your deputy. If you win, then pick Odd. He clearly knows his stuff.
Hervé noticed her frown, and whispered, "You're not smiling, Laura? How come?"
She whispered back, "Because I don't want to look as dorky as you, Pichon."
Seriously, the smile he was wearing made him look like he really didn't want to do this. Did Hervé even want to run? Or was someone making him?
Odd finished with the following, "What do these classic goody two-shoeses behind me know about our problems, huh?" He gestured at Aelita, Laura, and Hervé. "They always get As and Bs, high grades that we will never see on our own assignments! They don't know the fear of getting left back! They're not capable of defending our cause! So vote for me!"
Aelita rolled her eyes in annoyance, while Hervé continued to keep up his dorky yet nervous smile and Laura once again seemed to get lost in thought.
But Jérémie's stomach sank in disappointment. He really thought Odd was better than this, than insulting both his internet-pen-pal-turned-friend as well as his cousin just to make himself look better, than isolating a small fraction of the class just to please the majority rather than unite everyone together.
He knew Odd and Aelita running against each other would be a bad idea. Fracturing the group was the opposite of what needed to happen—especially since XANA had been freed from the supercomputer. They instead needed to stick together.
"Bravo!" Beside him, Ulrich stood up and cheered. "Good point, Odd! Okay, near-dropouts, it's time for all of us to take a stand!"
That just made it worse. Ulrich, unfortunately, didn't see the dangers of this fracturing. Yes, Odd was his roommate and friend (and had been for almost four years now), but surely, he knew that any fracturing within the group right now was exactly what XANA wanted.
The rest of the class began applauding in response to Ulrich's outburst.
On the contrary, Jérémie couldn't fault any of these people for flocking to Odd. He was clearly on their side, was also bubbly and charismatic, and cared a lot about others. Jérémie's fears, on the other hand, were mostly personal, because Odd didn't have to win over everyone else by insulting his fellow candidates, one of whom was his own cousin and a second a dear friend of his (and the third being Hervé, who was also clapping; he clearly was just trying to show good sportsmanship).
"Well spoken! You said it!"
"Odd sure gets my vote!"
"He knows what we need!"
Mr. Fumet cut in from his desk, "Alright, quiet down, quiet down. Thank you, Mr. Della Robbia. Does anyone have any questions for him before we move on to the next candidate?"
Unknown to anyone, Aelita's laptop—within her bag propped up against Jérémie's, sitting next to him—began sounding a familiar alarm.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Deep within the Forest Sector, pulsations raced away from a tower.
After a couple of seconds, its aura promptly turned from the neutral white to a bright red...
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi continued looking out the window she was seated next to. Since her music was distracting her, blasting in her ears, she couldn't tell that her classmates were all silent, also staring out the windows and watching the bus driver take them to this forest in boredom.
Ms. Hertz's science field trips plus Jim—this would definitely turn out to be interesting.
Speaking of whom, Jim was taking a snooze on Ms. Hertz's shoulder. She was giving him an annoyed look, and she tried to shrug him off, to no avail.
"Go on, Doug..." He was muttering. "Don't be scared..." He appeared to be dreaming.
The bus driver was focusing on the road when purple electricity suddenly emerged from the control panel. He yelped, recoiling in shock and slamming on the brakes.
The jolt snapped everyone to attention, including Jim, who was now awake and sitting up, fully alert, "You gotta put her down when you're in the jungle!"
Ms. Hertz was looking at him, intrigued by the outburst.
Embarrassed by what just happened, he stammered, "S-Sorry. I was dreaming of when I was a pilot in the Royal Air Force."
"You were a pilot?" she asked.
"I'd rather not–"
He was cut off by the driver, "What's going on?!"
The two teachers stood up and leaned forward to get a good view of what the driver was looking at. Alarmingly, the dashboard appeared to be shortening out, and the steering wheel seemed to be jammed. Suddenly, a dark cloud shot out of it, spreading to all of the seats except for Yumi's.
The Japanese girl was concerned the moment the bus suddenly halted. After putting her walkman back in her bag, she stood up, "What's going on? Are we already th–?"
She held in a gasp as she noticed all of her classmates and both of her teachers were glaring at her, all with the XANA symbol in their eyes—a scene straight out of a horror movie.
"Oh no..." she muttered. This was bad. Her entire class had been possessed by XANA and she was all alone to defend herself.
XANA-Jim stared at her as she backed up, before shooting a blast of electricity at her. She gasped sharply as she ducked. Fortunately, she was quick enough and the back window broke from the blast instead of her neck.
As she straightened out, she glanced at the newly formed hole and then back at her possessed class. The hole was small, but it was now weak thanks to the surrounding and accompanying cracks.
XANA-Jim fired another blast at her, but this time, she jumped out of the window through the hole.
She glanced back briefly to see XANA-Jim and Christophe standing there amidst the now completely shattered back window. She then glanced at the forest to her right; it was familiar, and it would do.
She chose to run into the woods, letting the numerous trees protect her. Fortunately, her phone was in her back pocket. Good, that meant she had a decent chance at survival.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"In conclusion," Hervé was wrapping up his speech, "I promise to put lots of pretty plants in each and every one of your classrooms. Won't that be nice, huh?"
Sissi stood up and began clapping, "Yeah, bravo, bravo! Way to go, Hervé!" She glanced down at Nicolas, while everyone else remained silent. "C'mon, clap, you idiot!"
Nicolas smiled nervously, before clapping too. He was only doing this to support his friend.
"I'm gonna vote for Hervé, aren't you?" Sissi looked to her fellow classmates, who were still quiet. It was pretty clear that they weren't going to vote for Hervé.
Besides, it really felt as though Hervé didn't want to run in the first place—that he was being forced to—and was now purposefully sabotaging himself so that no one would vote for him.
Well, thanks to Odd, they could do Hervé a huge favor and make sure he came in dead last.
"Your turn at bat now, Miss Einstein," Odd smirked at his cousin, smug as he watched her inwardly squirm. This was his payback for her focusing more on Laura than him; he was a threat to Aelita, possibly the biggest one in this room.
Jérémie was silent, yet outwardly cringing. Odd or Aelita: who should he vote for? Or should he just vote for Laura and suffer the wrath of both friends? Either way, someone would lose and the rest of the group would feel it.
His nervous reverie was broken by his cellphone vibrating in his pocket. Maybe it was his imagination, but whoever was calling him seemed to be scared and frantic, which in turn was bleeding into the ringing of his phone.
That's why he quickly picked up. "Hello?" He was whispering; he was in class, after all.
"Jérémie! Help!" It was Yumi. She was panting hard and sounded like she was running as if her life depending on it. "I'm in huge trouble! My entire bus has been XANA-fied!"
"What?!" Miraculously, he was still whispering.
XANA being able to possess more than one person at once was a massive leap in power. It made sense, given how the AI now had one half of Lyoko's Keys, but it was still concerning.
"This is not a game, Della Robbia," Aelita's voice cut through his thoughts, and Jérémie turned back to the front of the room. Sure enough, the two cousins were beginning one of their classic arguments. "Being elected as the class representative comes with lots of responsibilities. You need to be able to deliver on the promises you're making while respecting and following the school rules."
"And you don't think I'm capable of handling it!" Odd accused, pointing at her chest threateningly.
"I never said that!" the pink-ette replied.
"No, but that's obviously what you're thinking!"
"Jérémie!" Yumi's voice brought said blonde some much needed clarity.
"Listen, I've gotta hang up now," he softly reassured her, "but don't worry. We'll take care of it. You just hang in there."
"Please, hurry!" she replied, before hanging up.
Meanwhile, Mr. Fumet was not impressed by the sibling-like argument, as evidenced by him calling out from his desk, "Enough, both of you! Now, Miss Schaeffer, if you don't mind, it's your turn. What is your platform?"
Seeing his chance, Jérémie immediately stood up, with Aelita's bag in his hands, "About that. Aelita, I checked your bag and it seems that you left your notes in your room."
He, at least, had to get out before Yumi was killed. Given how she was being pursued by her entire class, the probability of that happening was higher now than it ever was.
Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich—whether it was his forced smile or how tightly he was clutching the pink-ette's bag, to the point where his knuckles were turning white—all seemed to (thankfully) immediately understand his code, that they were being faced with an emergency.
To her credit, Aelita pretended to pat down herself down as well as the following panic, "Uh-oh, I think you're right." She turned to their teacher. "Sorry, Mr. Fumet. I need to go get them. We'll be back in a jiffy!" She then grabbed Jérémie's hand and the two ran out of the room.
"I'll go with them!" Odd quickly followed. "Y'know, keep a eye on the competition!"
"And I'd better go too, to separate them if they start fighting!" Ulrich said on his way out the door.
Mr. Fumet stared at the door as it closed after Stern, before sighing. "Oh dear..."
"Um, why don't we take a break until they come back?" Laura offered. Mr. Fumet could only nod in agreement. Odd's words echoing in her mind, Laura then turned to the class, "So, what are some of your concerns for the year, something you'd like the class rep. to focus on?"
A couple hands shot up to answer her question.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
William was alone in an empty classroom (save the teacher assigned to watch him, who was snoozing away). Getting detention on the very first day was far from ideal, but he had snuck out last night to see a movie with Laura—one she really wanted to see—only for the two to be caught by Jim upon returning to campus. William had sacrificed himself specifically so that Laura could return to her dorm without being seen.
It was the only option, but he didn't regret it for one second.
He was doodling in one of his notebooks, sketching out her face. As he scratched his forehead with his pencil, he heard a familiar voice cut through the silence.
"Attack confirmed." That was Aelita. Intrigued as to why she sounded so panicked, he stood up and ran to the window. "XANA has activated a tower."
The pink-ette was sitting on a nearby bench in the courtyard, looking at something on her laptop. Surrounding her, and all standing, were Jérémie, Ulrich, and Odd.
Weren't they supposed to be in class? Their class rep. election going on today, right? (The twelfth graders' election had been rescheduled to tomorrow, no thanks to William getting detention last night.)
Regardless, Ulrich was on the phone and who he was talking to caught William's attention.
"Where are you, Yumi?" the brunette asked, pausing to obviously hear her response. "Red Trail Crossroads, got it." Another pause. "Don't worry, we're on our way." He then hung up.
"Odd," Aelita closed her laptop, "you and Jérémie take care of the tower." The two blondes nodded before taking off. "Ulrich, you and I will help Yumi."
The two ran away in the opposite direction. William took careful note of where they were going, before glancing back at the still-sleeping teacher assigned to watch him.
He snuck quietly past the desk and out the door, before running across the courtyard in the same direction he saw Ulrich and Aelita run to.
Red Trail Crossroads. That was nearby.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi was running as fast as she could. Her possessed teachers and classmates were only gaining on her. She was running out of steam, and there was no way she could take on all of them by herself.
She briefly glanced behind her as a few of them began growling, only for her to gasp as she tripped on a root sticking up out of the ground. She cursed her bad luck as she faceplanted.
XANA-Jim quickly caught up with her, but when he came upon the site where she had fallen, she was nowhere to be found.
So he continued on, his fellow puppets joining him as they walked past the area.
Yumi had chosen to hide, and she slowly sighed in relief as the group walked past the tree she was taking cover behind.
However, when she turned away, facing in front of her again, she was met with the evil grin of XANA-Jim. He blasted another jolt of lightning at her, but she managed to duck just in time.
She resumed her running, only to be hit in the back with a blast of electricity, sending her crashing into the ground once more.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd and Jérémie both landed on the dark green ground of the Forest Sector, side by side. In front of them, the Overboard was waiting.
"The tower is due north," the elf said as he slipped on his goggles. "We should be able to see it from where we are."
"Spotted," the cat quickly replied, already looking in that direction. Sure enough, there it was, its red halo making it stand out amongst all the green. "It's only a few meters away from here."
As Odd hopped onto his vehicle, and Jérémie climbed on behind him, the blonde in blue said, "This is as close as I could get us, but we still better hurry."
"Right away, Prince Charming," Odd said before speeding off.
The two flew towards the tower in a brief, yet tense silence. The elf watched as multiple trees passed by, all while he was quickly, mentally debating on, not what to say, but rather if he should actually speak up. Would Odd understand? Or would he lash out and refuse to listen further?
Fortunately, Odd spoke up first. "So how'd I do?"
"Hm?" It was sudden, which brought Jérémie back to reality. "Sorry, I was lost in thought."
The cat's grin just grew, probably amused. "My platform," he elaborated. "How did I do?"
Jérémie chose to be honest, "You were great. I have no doubt that you will win." His smile faded, though subconsciously.
Odd noticed, "What's wrong? You foresee something else I need to do to secure my victory?"
"No." He chose to go for it. "I'm just thinking about possible reasons why you would insult your fellow candidates."
"Oh, Jer," the other boy sighed, "our sweet, sheltered friend, despite being a decade older than us, you still have much to learn about real life. It's nothing to be worried about, just tactics. When running for a position, you want the voters to pick you, by making sure you stand out as the best choice."
"Which means insulting those running for the same position?"
"Yeah."
"Even if one of your fellow candidates is your own cousin?"
That made Odd actually stop and think. "W-What?" He briefly glanced back and saw the expression on Jérémie's face—it was filled with the type of disappointment that only the blonde genius could wear, the type that made his friends rethink their entire life and all decisions they had made up to that point.
"Odd," Jérémie's voice was soft, "why did you choose to run against Aelita this year? The truth, please."
The cat was quiet, as he turned back to face the front, confirming to Jérémie that there was indeed a reason the Italian boy had not disclosed.
The blonde in blue continued, "Is it possibly because you feel inferior as her deputy? Overlooked, perhaps? So you wanted to let your classmates know how much work you actually did?"
Odd's silence spoke volumes. Jérémie had hit the nail right on the head.
"I meant what I said, Odd," the elf continued. "I really do think you have the best chance of winning. Everyone immediately flocked to you, because they realized that they could trust you to keep their issues in mind. But Aelita has no idea about your true feelings. She just thinks you were trying to piss her off. Instead of blindsiding and then subsequently insulting her, you should've talked to her beforehand, let her know how you felt. Would she not have understood?"
She would; Jérémie knew that from personal experience. But did being cousins with her change that for Odd?
Said boy finally spoke, "No, she would. Sorry, I guess the common sense solution just slipped my mind. It's been almost two years, and I've gotten so tired..."
"We all have..."
Jérémie understood exactly what Odd meant. He wasn't referring to physical exhaustion, but rather mental exhaustion. Battle fatigue. Ever since XANA revealed its ability to possess human beings, and later on its polymorphic spectres, the five teens never really had the chance to actually relax, even if nothing was happening. Literally anyone could be possessed by XANA or be a spectre, and anything could be an attack or a trap.
Honestly, it was just motivation for Jérémie to keep fighting XANA, knowing his friends were slowly becoming psychiatric casualties of the war he and his parents had started twelve years ago.
Their conversation was cut off by a couple of notifications from the holomap. First, they were approaching the tower.
Second, "XANA's sending us four Tarantulas. How original can you get?"
The vulnerability Odd had been showing was immediately replaced with the determination and will to fight, to take everything out on XANA's monsters.
"No, it was nice of XANA. It hates when we're bored," he commented, making Jérémie playfully roll his eyes. "Now, let's be polite and say hello to them first."
"And give them another reason to hate us?" Jérémie shrugged. "Sure, let's do it."
As soon as the two came into sight, the four Tarantulas readjusted themselves, getting on their knees, and began firing.
Odd maneuvered the Overboard right to left to avoid all the shots, before firing a single Arrow himself. It hit its target, destroying the right-most monster.
Jérémie charged up blue-colored energy knife and throwing it, destroying a second, before telling his friend, "Drop me off behind a tree. While you take care of the last two Tarantulas, I'll make a break for the tower."
Because Yumi's entire class had been possessed. She was in danger; her safety and ensuring it was top priority.
"Okay."
Odd flew the Overboard behind a tree, during which Jérémie hopped off. The elf hid, peering out ever so slightly to watch the cat fly towards the two monsters still guarding the tower.
He whistled to catch their attention, before circling around and flying away from the tower. Just as planned, the two chased after him, walking away from the tower and leaving it unprotected.
As the Tarantulas stood up on their hind legs to continue firing at Odd while still chasing him, Jérémie waited until they had passed the tree he was using as cover before he took off towards the structure in a sprint.
Hopefully, he wasn't too late.
Meanwhile, Odd fired back a few Arrows, with at least one of them hitting a target, destroying the third Tarantula and leaving only one left.
But Jérémie's path was blocked by a rather shocking development.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
As Ulrich studied the footprints they had come across, Aelita was trying to get in touch with Yumi. Neither of them knew for sure if these were her footprints or not (they probably should've brought Kiwi along to help track her down), and she hadn't called any of her friends since earlier.
But no response. Aelita sighed, "Come on, Yumi. Pick up."
Ulrich, however, was looking behind him, and he caught her off-guard when he whispered, "We have company."
Aelita was immediately on edge. It was likely XANA.
She was about to ask who was on their tail when Ulrich turned around and asked, "What are you doing here? What are you following us for?"
If he wasn't immediately attacking this person, then they must not be XANA-level dangerous. When she looked behind them—where Ulrich was looking—she was relieved to see that it was William. Just William.
"I overheard it all in the courtyard," William explained. "Yumi's in trouble, right? I came to see if I could help."
Aelita blinked. That was...brave of him. And knowing XANA had possessed Yumi's entire class, Aelita and Ulrich needed all the help they could get.
But Ulrich remembered what all he said to Yumi during that call. "How do you know she's in trouble? All I asked was for her location."
"You guys sounded panicked," William retorted, sounding impatient. "I don't know how else to explain it. I just have a feeling."
Ulrich chose to flat out deny it, "I don't know what you're talking about–"
He was cut off by the distant sound of Yumi's scream.
William whipped around back to face Ulrich so fast that Aelita was amazed he didn't get whiplash. "Now you know what I'm talking about?!"
Before the two could begin arguing, Aelita cut in, "We don't have time for a fight right now! Yumi needs us!" Ulrich visibly stood down. She turned to the elder boy. "William, we appreciate your offer to help, but if you choose to go on, you will quite literally be fighting for your life."
"So you have to be sure about this," Ulrich added, sternly.
William paused, but to his credit, it lasted no longer than a second, before he lowered his expression into a determined glare. "Yumi's my friend. I'm sure."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie had a huge problem.
He slowly backed away from the tower as a familiar large jellyfish monster emerged from behind the tower, floating towards him, as menacing as ever.
The Scyphozoa. Oh god, it was the Scyphozoa, the one monster Jérémie was afraid of.
And for good reason. It had killed him once, after all.
But why was it pursuing him now?
XANA had what it needed from him: the Keys to Lyoko. The AI had used them to escape the supercomputer and into the network, which (thanks to the Keys) it now had administrative control over.
Option One: It had failed to retrieve what it was after, hence why it was trying again.
Option Two: There was something within Jérémie's newly restored memories that XANA needed as well.
Or Option Three: It wanted to steal his DNA sequence code, whether to trap Jérémie on Lyoko as it was destroyed, or for something else.
Either way, he didn't want to stick around trying to find out.
The Scyphozoa shot out some tentacles at him, but he managed to jump over them before forming an energy bow and firing a couple of arrows at it. It swerved to dodge them both, indicating a weakness to them, before continuing to advance.
Jérémie dodged another tentacle before running away. If he could fool it with a decoy...
But he reached the end of the path—quite literally—in just a few seconds.
The Scyphozoa was right behind him, its magnetic field strong and affecting him. He slowly turned around, and sure enough, it was there right behind him.
He couldn't back up or run to either side, and he definitely could not just duck underneath the tentacles to get away. He was stuck.
With no other choice, he took a deep, shaky breath and yelled.
Meanwhile, the last Tarantula took a shot at the Overboard, but Odd was close enough to a tree to bail just before the vehicle was destroyed. He used his claws to perch himself high up on the trunk. He kept climbing back and forth to avoid the storm of lasers the monster was firing at him.
"Odd! Help!"
The cat narrowly avoided a shot at his head as he turned towards the tower. He was gobsmacked as he watched his blue friend throw an energy bolt at the Scyphozoa, before it grabbed him, snacking its tentacles around his torso.
Why was the Scyphozoa here? Didn't XANA already retrieve the data it wanted from him?
Honestly, Odd really didn't want to risk finding out.
"Jérémie! Hang on!"
He climbed around the tree to jump to the next one, only for the last Tarantula's shots to stop his momentum. Apparently, his monster playmate here didn't like that idea.
XANA began invading Jérémie's mind, but not to retrieve something.
Rather to insert something...
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi was in a clearing, surrounded by her possessed class and two teachers. She was lying on the ground, clearly injured and making no move to get up or resist in any way.
XANA-Jim laughed, the AI clearly pleased at how its plan was turning out.
William and Ulrich were peeking over a nearby bush at the sight, with Aelita hiding behind a tree on the other side and waiting for them to draw the class away from Yumi.
"Hey, that's Jim and he's shooting lightning out of his fingers!" William exclaimed. "What sort of nightmare is this?"
While he understood the elder's shock, Ulrich chose not to answer that nightmare question. "William," he narrowed his eyes, "do you want to help Yumi or not?" She was in danger, after all—right in front of them, no less.
"Of course I do."
"Good. Now, are you ready?"
William nodded.
Aelita watched Ulrich and William both jump out from their bush cover. Both walked up to the possessed class.
"How're you doing, zombies?" Ulrich casually greeted.
They turned around to face them, XANA expressing mild surprise at Ulrich's arrival, before twisting their faces into glares. It didn't care about William, but it was pleased to see Ulrich.
"Oh, we know we're not welcome," William added, just as offhandedly. "But we love strolling through the woods for no reason."
The two then turned around and ran away.
"After them," XANA-Jim ordered, and XANA-Hertz and the class all took off after the two boys. Jim remained behind, turning to the hurt Yumi. He smirked widely, before leaving as well, confident that she would be able to fight back in her state.
Seeing her chance, Aelita removed herself from her tree cover and ran over to Yumi, before kneeling at the elder's side. Like she suspected, Yumi was out cold, having been electrocuted one too many times.
The pink-ette shook her shoulder, "Yumi! Yumi, wake up!" Hopefully, she wasn't dead.
There was no response.
Aelita prepared herself to carry Yumi to the factory—so they could help Odd and Jérémie—when she heard a twig snap behind her. She whipped around, on edge and ready to fight, only to gasp in horror.
Apparently, XANA-Jim never left the area. He was just hiding.
Yumi was groggy as she opened her eyes, but she recognized Aelita by the massive amount of pink in front of her, and she recognized XANA-Jim by the electricity surrounding his hand. She couldn't move, only watch as Aelita briefly glanced back at the elder girl with a worried look, before taking off, verbally egging XANA-Jim on.
Yumi had to help her friend. She couldn't move without experiencing massive pain. But she had to.
She powered through the agony as she got to her feet and limped after her friend.
It took a while—she couldn't run without ignoring the pain—but she finally reached a clearing, where her friend had run away to.
As Yumi ducked behind a tree, she was (surprisingly) quickly joined by Ulrich and William. The two immediately knelt at her side.
"You okay, Yumi?" Ulrich asked.
"We lost the class," William added. "Somehow."
"I'm fine," she replied, before turning back to the clearing. "But now, Aelita's the one in trouble."
Said pink-ette was now being surrounded by the entire possessed class, including the two teachers.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd was hiding behind a tree as the Tarantula fired at him without mercy. He had to hurry and free Jérémie—unfortunately, XANA really didn't like that idea.
He stepped out and fired a trio of Arrows, but none of them connected. He quickly stepped back behind the tree to avoid the next couple of lasers.
C'mon, think fast, Della Robbia. Your friend is in trouble.
He then saw a rock on the ground. Getting an idea, he quickly picked it up and threw it. Fortunately, the Tarantula fell for it, allowing Odd to crawl up to it, jump onto its arms, and leap off using its head as a launch pad, before running away towards his friend.
The monster followed after him—XANA angry that it had been tricked.
But he was too late.
Right as Odd got there, the Scyphozoa dropped Jérémie onto the ground, the elf lifeless and unmoving.
The jellyfish retreated as the cat ran up to his friend and knelt at his side, unable to believe the ramifications of this, what this meant and what had happened last time. It couldn't be...Jérémie couldn't be dead. And this time, it was likely for good because his parents weren't present to save him.
He shook the elf gently, "Jérémie! Jérémie, wake up! It's me, Odd!"
The cat breathed a huge sigh of relief when Jérémie to stir—he was still alive. So then, what had happened? What did XANA take? Or do?
Jérémie's eyes remained closed as he slowly got to his feet.
"Are you okay?" Odd asked. "C'mon, you can take a nap later. You need to deactivate the tower."
There was no response, only a sudden twist of events, as Jérémie formed up some energy in his fist and used it to punch Odd, sending him flying back a few meters.
Bewildered, Odd got back to his feet. What was going on? Something was wrong with Jérémie.
"Um, Jer...?" he asked. "I-I don't think you're okay..."
The Scyphozoa did something, alright, he realized as Jérémie began walking towards him.
The elf's irises had been replaced with the eye of XANA—a classic sign of possession.
Uh-oh.
"Jérémie, you gotta wake up!" Odd cried out, backing up because he wasn't sure what to do. "Yumi's in trouble!"
He couldn't just devirtualize him, even if he could do that now due to the elf no longer missing any fragments, because the tower still needed to be deactivated. In that vein, he couldn't leave Jérémie possessed either, because he didn't know what XANA's plan here was.
Why did it possess Jérémie?
Aelita would have an idea, Odd told himself. She was always better at organizing things than you, as well as remaining calm under pressure. There's no way you can do this by yourself; you're better off with a partner or a team.
XANA-Jérémie formed a bow and arrow and fired it at Odd's head. Odd just narrowly dodged it, making the arrow hit a tree as the cat hid behind an adjacent one.
The Tarantula joined the elf, but it didn't fire at Odd's cover. Instead, it lowered its head to Jérémie, letting him jump on and ride it in the opposite direction of the activated tower.
What...?
Clearly, XANA needed Jérémie to do something. But what? What was its goal here?
Odd glanced at the tower, before deciding to instead follow Jérémie and that Tarantula—on foot, obviously, due to no longer having the Overboard.
Without Jérémie, the tower couldn't be deactivated, so Odd had no choice but to follow them.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi tried calling Jérémie. No connection. Then Odd. No connection either.
As she put her phone away, she shrugged, "We're on our own." Apparently, they hadn't deactivated the tower yet.
"Yeah, against at least ten students plus two adults," Ulrich sarcastically quipped. "Sure, nothing to it." He turned to William, who had found and was now holding a long and thick stick to fight with. "You ready to fight, William?"
Said boy glanced at the stick in his hand before back at the class. He then nodded, and the trio turned back to their targets, just as XANA-Jim send a blast at Aelita, which sent her flying into the tree behind her.
The pink-ette groaned in pain as the entire possessed group held out their hands, ready to cause more pain.
"Yoo hoo!" Yumi interrupted. Everyone turned to face her as she waved at them with a smile.
"Grab her!" XANA-Jim ordered and the class ran up to her.
But she jumped out of the way.
The students were instead greeted by William, who jumped over all the bolts of electricity before stabbing the stick into the ground and using it to spin around, kicking all of the possessed students to the ground in one fell swoop.
XANA-Jim turned to XANA-Hertz, "After him! Right now!"
Now, only Jim remained with Aelita. She tried to inch away, only for him to step on her ankle, stopping her in her tracks.
"Lyoko and the concept of me was her idea," XANA told her, through Jim's mouth. "She managed to convince that husband of hers to go along with it." Her? That husband of hers? Aelita realized here that the AI was referring to Sophie Périn. "What I must do has nothing to do with Jérémie. If you want to blame someone, blame them." Sophie and Michel, that is. "They're the ones who made me this way." It growled in anger, "If only you and Jérémie didn't constantly remind me of them!"
Interesting. XANA saw her and Jérémie as 'Sophie and Michel 2.0', essentially? But what it had to do had nothing to do with Jérémie; he was basically just caught in the crossfire here?
What did XANA have to do? Destroy humanity? Or something else?
XANA-Jim glanced up when he heard a whistle. Yumi jumped down from the tree above and landed a solid kick on his head, as Ulrich snuck in and began preparing for taking Aelita away from here and to safety.
Yumi landed behind XANA-Jim, who held out his hand and fired a wave of electricity. She leapt over it and aimed another punch at him, only to phase right through him.
She ended up right on top of Ulrich, and the two couldn't help but stare at each other, flabbergasted.
They snapped out of it thanks to Aelita's, "C'mon, guys! Focus!"
Meanwhile, William twirled his stick before running up to his opponent. He swung down, only for XANA-Hertz to easily stop him. Her hand sparkled with electricity, but the purple energy didn't get redirected at William, to her confusion.
William just lowered his glare, "I shouldn't need to tell you that wood doesn't conduct electricity!"
She just growled before using her super strength to throw him to the ground.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd was running fast enough to keep Jérémie and the Tarantula within his line of sight, but not fast enough to overtake them. If only he had managed to keep the Overboard...
A tower was in sight—a neutral one. Wait a minute, the coordinates were familiar. Wasn't this...a way tower?
What did XANA need with a way tower?
The monster came to a stop at the base of the tower and lowered its head, letting Jérémie climb down. Odd was too late, arriving just as the elf entered the tower.
The Tarantula, meanwhile, immediately turned around and opened fire at him.
Odd dodged the shots, as Jérémie ascended to the top platform, XANA twisting his expression into a smirk—glad that its plan was succeeding.
The moment the interface appeared, he used his handprint to log in.
JEREMIE_
CODE_
Instead of inserting the normal code he usually did, he input something else.
XANA_
Odd aimed at the Tarantula as it stood up onto its hind legs. He was about to fire, but the monster suddenly burst into pixels. It wasn't the standard defeat explosion—no, it was like it had just been outright deleted in that moment.
Those pixels were absorbed into the ground, which caused the entire ground to shake. The way tower began disappearing as well; that had never happened before.
"W-What?" Odd couldn't help but ask. "What's going on?"
Jérémie fell from the now-gone second platform and onto the ground. He stirred again, and when he sat up and opened his eyes, they were back to normal.
"Odd? What just happened?"
"I was hoping you'd tell me. The way tower you were just in is now gone."
Jérémie immediately froze, as that appeared to sink in. "Way tower?"
Odd nodded.
The elf's response was surprising as well as concerning, "We need to devirtualize. Now."
"But what about the activated tower?"
Jérémie nodded at something behind Odd, "The activated tower is the least of our concerns right now!"
Odd turned around to see what his friend was so afraid of, only to see the land of the sector disappearing as well. The entire sector was being...erased from existence.
In response, the cat turned back to the elf and fired an Arrow, just as said elf threw a dagger at the cat. Both of them were devirtualied right before the ground (now formerly) underneath them disappeared.
Meanwhile, Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita were getting electrocuted by its Jim and Ms. Hertz puppets. The adults paused for a moment, sinister smiles on both of their faces. The three teens prepared themselves for the next assault, only for it to never come. Jim and Ms. Hertz both were released from XANA's control and they fell to the ground, out cold.
The activated tower had disappeared, as had the entire Forest Sector...
None the wiser, Ulrich crawled over to the two girls, asking, "You guys okay? William's out cold, but he should be fine."
"I'm okay," Aelita softly replied, slightly shaken up by what XANA had told her about Sophie.
"I'm aching all over," Yumi answered, "but I should be fine too."
The Japanese girl's phone then started ringing. She put it on speaker phone before answering, "Hey, Jer. I take it the tower's been taken care of?"
"Took you long enough," Ulrich muttered as he massaged his left shoulder.
"Sorry," Jérémie replied. In the background were the sounds of the lift; he and Odd appeared to be heading back to the surface. "And sure...let's go with that..."
Strange. His phrasing was...off. Jérémie was usually straightforward, especially with his explanations. He never really saw a need to sugarcoat things where XANA was concerned, so he didn't. So why now?
Concerned, Aelita asked, "Jérémie...is everything okay? Did something happen on Lyoko?"
The resulting silence spoke volumes.
"Um, yeah," Odd replied.
"We'll explain later," Jérémie said. "Right now, the five of us need to get back to class."
He then hung up, leaving the trio to stew in confusion for the rest of the day.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi's classmates and two teachers began to stir. Most of them were confused: Why did they feel so groggy? Why were they on the ground? Why did they pass out in the first place?
The last thing they remembered was driving to the forest. What had happened?
As they all got to their feet, they glanced at each other, hoping for an answer.
"Look over here!" Yumi's voice cut through the tense silence. They all turned to where she was, next to a tree, pointing a green spot on its trunk. "This moss must be the result of pollution!" She smiled, "Boy, do I love science field trips!"
Her smile was very strained, but everybody else was none the wiser, as Ms. Hertz took her observation and began running with it.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita opened the door to the detention, before helping Ulrich drag William inside and placing him into the chair that was clearly his (due to his notebook and pencil bag next to it). Fortunately, the teacher assigned to watch William was (still) asleep.
"Nap time, Dunbar," Ulrich muttered, as he and Aelita left the room, "but don't you dare dream about Yumi."
The two didn't wait long for William to stir. Once he was awake, he was clearly groggy, but he took in his surroundings, including the still-sleeping teacher.
He sighed, "Wow...what a nightmare." He held his head, feeling a light headache coming on. "That's the last time I fall asleep in detention."
Ulrich and Aelita smiled in relief before quietly closing the door behind them.
A Return to the Past wasn't needed if William was under the impression that the whole ordeal was just a dream.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
It had been thirty-seven minutes by the time the four eleventh graders returned to their classroom. When Odd saw that Laura was taking charge and maintaining a conversation with their classmates, that's when he made his choice. Jérémie's words from earlier rang in his mind as well; he was right, and it was also bad for his mental health, for getting rid of that battle fatigue.
Mr. Fumet sighed when they returned. "Thank goodness. Thank you, Miss Gauthier, for taking charge, but now, we must continue with the platforms. Miss Schaeffer, I believe it was your turn. Are you ready?"
"Yes, sir," Aelita replied, before turning to the class. "I am no longer running." She and Odd remained up front, while Jérémie and Ulrich sat back down at their table.
This alarmed Odd. "You're not? Why?" Was it because of him?
She sent her cousin a soft, reassuring smile, "If running against you risks our relationship, Odd, no matter who wins, then I don't want to risk it. I prefer us as a team like last year, rather than remain divided."
Odd returned her smile, feeling the slight sting of tears in the back of his eyes. He felt the same way, and this is when he knew for sure that he'd be okay.
"I'm also stepping down," he revealed his choice. The entire class immediately protested. He sent them all an apologetic smile, "Sorry. If it's any consolation, I meant what I said. The problems of the average students are very important and should be addressed by the class rep., but the way I presented my platform...well, I'm not proud of it. I was feeling exhausted mentally, and I let it out during my speech, at the expense of my cousin, my internet pen pal, and my classmate." A weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He felt so much better.
He snuck a glance at Jérémie, who was smiling at him with pride.
Odd returned the gesture, before continuing, "Besides, Aelita's right in that being a class rep. takes a lot more than representing all the students, genius and average. It takes a lot of preparing, organizing, and the need to stay cool under pressure. It's a big job." Today's trip to Lyoko had hammered that home. "Knowing this, I'd like to endorse Laura."
"So do I," Aelita added.
Laura was evidently flustered, "W-What? Are you sure?"
Odd sent her a wink, "Of course. I wouldn't have said anything if I wasn't." Aelita wasn't running anymore, Hervé clearly didn't want to run, and Laura was the only other person (besides Jérémie) he trusted to be organized and get the job done.
The blonde girl was blushing, "Thank you, Odd. But I have yet to choose my deputy." Like Hervé, she planned to wait until the election was won. "Would you like to fill that role?"
"Wait, really?"
She smiled, "Really. You're right; I don't know the problems of the average students, so I need someone at my side who does."
Aelita leaned in to her hesitating cousin and softly told him, "Y'know, that's why I chose you as my deputy too."
He turned to her, slightly surprised.
"I needed someone who knew how to talk to people," the pink-ette continued. "And the nature of our relationship always reminded me that you would not be afraid to tell me if I was doing something wrong."
So he was never second-fiddle. He and Aelita always were a team.
Knowing this, he turned back to Laura with a smile, a real one, "I accept, Miss Gauthier."
Aelita took her seat as the speeches resumed (and finished) with Laura presenting her platform. Following this, Mr. Fumet wrote down the two candidates on the board (Hervé and Laura) and let all the students write down their choice on a piece of paper, before folding that paper and placing it in a basket.
He then took the next few minutes to count the votes. Once he was done, he quieted the class.
"And your newly elected class representative is...Laura Gauthier," Mr. Fumet announced, and the entire class erupted into cheers and applause, "with Odd Della Robbia as her deputy."
The two blondes got up from their seats and stood at the front of the room.
"Nicolas!" Sissi gave the said boy an accusing look. "Don't tell me that you voted for Laura too!"
"Uh, yeah," he answered nervously. He and Hervé both agreed amongst themselves to not vote for Hervé, due to the nerd in green not wanting to run in the first place.
Sissi glares at the grinning Hervé, "Take that grin off your face, dorkhead!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Later that afternoon, after classes for the day had ended, the Lyokowarriors met up in Aelita's room. With the door closed for privacy, Odd and Jérémie kept their promise from earlier, explaining exactly what had happened on Lyoko.
"They're right," Aelita reported from her computer. On it was a window with a view of the current state of the holomap. "The Forest Sector doesn't exist anymore. XANA has totally wiped it off the map." Within the window, the aforementioned sector was completely gone.
"But how did XANA manage to do that?" Yumi asked. "And why did it need Jérémie to do it?"
So they were aware that some pieces were missing from his story. Jérémie sighed, before speaking.
"Code: XANA is the command XANA enters into any tower in order to take control of it," he explained. "It's automatic, and once it's entered, it allows XANA access to all of the tower's functions. However, our friend cannot enter way towers, not even with the Keys, and this is for a reason. Way towers hold the functions over the entire sector they're located in, including the option to manually delete it. Since XANA's monsters can't enter towers in general, that's why it possessed me to enter the code myself. So all I really did was place the way tower under XANA's control; XANA took care of the rest." But he still felt guilty.
Aelita sighed, "In that case, I'm glad I'm not class representative this year. I have my work cut out for me finding the key to virtualization directly into Sector Five."
"Wait, what?" Odd asked. "Why?"
"XANA launched an attack just to lure Jérémie to Lyoko," Aelita told her friends. "If the surface sectors disappear, we won't be able to get to Sector Five anymore."
"So you mean that XANA's going to destroy all the sectors one by one?" Ulrich asked.
"Just to get us away from Sector Five?" Yumi added. While this was a new tactic, and unexpected, but it was definitely up XANA's alley.
"Yep, to stop us from protecting the Core," the pink-ette replied. "We know a way exists, and XANA knows it." Because it had used it once when wearing Michel's appearance. "So, this is now a race against time."
"We'll find it," Odd reassured them all.
Jérémie, however, was still troubled. "Are none of you disturbed by how XANA can now possess any of us through the Scyphozoa?"
"Oh, we are," Yumi told him. "But we have to focus on stopping XANA from destroying Lyoko first and foremost."
"We will," Aelita cut in. "XANA won't win."
Jérémie sighed again, this time heavy with stress, "I hope you guys are right."
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
Next Episode: 38 - Jérémie / Jérémie can't move on. The others know it's unhealthy, but it's easier said than done.
A/N: Since a new school year as arrived, the group has now each moved up a grade. Ulrich, Jérémie, Aelita, and Odd are in eleventh grade, while William and Yumi are in twelfth as of this chapter.
Jérémie worrying about the election splitting up the group is just his fears being blown out of proportion. Yes, his fears are valid, because he's just lost his parents (or so he thinks) as well as the fact that he can (now) remember being friends with XANA, but it's mostly just him overreacting. Just wanted to let ya'll know. (It's also an extension of the fear we see from him in canon 'Echoes'.)
Me sprinkling in some hints about how much Jérémie's suffering following his parents sacrificing themselves for him is important. Aelita went through the same thing, but for some reason, the show didn't foreshadow that 'Aelita' episode when they probably should've. They also placed it five episodes into Season 3 (which was only thirteen episodes long, not counting the two prequel episodes), rather than three like I've done here. But this AU's version of that episode will get a pretty big overhaul. It's an important episode because it (sort of, in canon) emphasizes the pain of the one who died in 'The Key', but the canon version is not my favorite. I'll save the full rant for when the actual chapter goes up.