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
And the date is just to update you all of where we are in the timeline right now.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
"Jérémie and Aelita have developed a way to destroy the Forest Replika, while Yumi is upset with Ulrich, who isn't sure why."
Episode 52: Experiments
(Based on Lab Rat)
Jérémie and Aelita entered the cafeteria the morning of 26 November, 2007. After going through the breakfast line together, they walked over to the table their friends—William, Ulrich, and Odd—had claimed. As they approached, Odd set down his croissant, and Ulrich his banana, while William glanced up at them from his hot chocolate.
"So what's the big news?" Odd asked them with a smile. "We can't wait to hear it!" Aelita sat down on his right, while Jérémie claimed the empty seat next to Ulrich.
"Yeah, you two sounded really excited," William added, before taking another sip of his hot chocolate.
"We found it," Aelita declared. She and Jérémie had worked together on it, for the past week or so.
"What? How to build up muscles without the need to exercise?" Odd joked. William stifled a laugh.
"I wish," Jérémie scoffed. "No, Aelita and I have figured out how to materialize us onto Earth from the network, a step up from Pixelization, if you will." He grabbed his croissant. "Actually, it was much easier than we thought it would be. We applied the synchronicity principle to the supercomputer's apparatus, and then we used it to develop a kind of energizing projection." He then took a bite of his croissant, "In other words–"
Odd cut him off, "In other words, that means you two now know how to send us somewhere directly on Earth from inside the network, right?"
"Exactly," Jérémie replied, pleased.
Ulrich raised a curious eyebrow at his roommate, "You understood all that gibberish?"
"Well, yeah," Odd boasted. "After all this time, I'm finally starting to get the hang of swampum physics!"
"Quantum, Odd," William corrected.
A light blush decorated the Italian boy's face, "Y-Yeah, well, it's still muddy, though!"
Ulrich gently rolled his eyes before addressing the blonde genius beside him, "So you and Aelita can now bring us up anywhere from the Skid?"
Aelita was the one who answered him, "Well, not anywhere. But we can do it in the vicinity of a supercomputer generating a Replika. We call it 'Translation'."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi arrived at school as the breakfast hour began to wind down. The group left the cafeteria and ran into her as she was about to walk by.
"Hey, guys, what's up?" she greeted them.
"Are you ready to go and blow up a supercomputer?" Aelita casually asked her.
Yumi addressed the two Einsteins with an excited smile, "You two can get us to the real world from the network now?"
"Yeah," Jérémie told her. "We're all meeting at the factory tonight to try it out, okay?"
"You got it," the Japanese girl waved at Jérémie and Aelita as they left, waving at each other, while William remained at Yumi's side.
Ulrich approached her, "Uh, Yumi? I wanted to ask you something."
Curiously, she stared at him for a moment, before huffing quietly and walking away, towards her first class of the day. William was on her heels, though he threw Ulrich a confused look as he walked away. Ulrich just shrugged.
Odd had sat down on the stairs leading to the cafeteria. "Wow! Now that's what I call being super-snubbed! That was about as cold as the North Pole! What did you do to deserve that?"
"I have no idea," Ulrich replied, hanging his head in defeat. "The cold shoulder started the day before yesterday."
The resulting response left Odd's mouth so effortlessly, "You mean, since her birthday?"
Yumi's birthday... That's right! Her birthday was the 24 November—two days ago!
Knowing this, Ulrich began freaking out, "Oh, no! I don't believe it! You're kidding!"
"Nope. I hope you at least wished her a happy birthday," Odd calmly told him. "You know how important things like that are to her."
"No, I totally forgot!" the brunette continued to panic, his hands tightly clutching his hair. "Man, she's gonna hate me for weeks!" He turned to his roommate, "Did you remember?!"
"Yeah. We all did," Odd shrugged. "That's why Aelita took her out for a girls' afternoon that day, and why Jérémie was doing all of her homework."
Ulrich groaned in realization. He had briefly wondered why Yumi was being treated special that day, but didn't question it aloud.
Odd continued, "Yeah, she probably is going to hate you. Unless you go and buy her a nice present to make up for it, that is."
"Of course!" Ulrich began to ease up at the suggestion. It was a brilliant idea. "I'll get that necklace she's been pining for!"
"The small red one?"
"Yeah! I'll go right now!" His smile faded, as he sighed, "Well...I would if I could..." His mind flashed back to earlier this morning, before the others joined him.
Ulrich had just opened the cafeteria door when he blinked and found Jim looming over him. The man was angry and holding what looked like a large piece of fish.
"Stern!" Yep. Angry. "How many times do I have to tell you that a flounder is not a flying fish?! So there's no reason to throw it out the window! Especially when the window is open, and when I happen to be there! So I've got one word for you, and that is two hours of study hall!"
What? But he didn't do that! "It wasn't me, Jim, I swear!" Ulrich attempted. "You're making a mistake!"
Jim leaned in with an evil smile, "Well, Stern, you're right. I did make a mistake. It's not two, but four hours of study hall! And if you keep baiting me, I'll make sure that you don't get off the hook for eight hours!"
Ulrich remained silent, not wanting to push it.
His roommate was trying to hide an amused smile, along with a raised eyebrow, as Ulrich finished his story. "Forget the present. Thanks to Jim, I've got four hours of detention. And then we have Chardin's class, and there's no way I'll have time to go out into town after it lets out."
Odd stood up, "Don't sweat it. I need to do some shopping for Kiwi and myself anyway, so while I'm out, I'll pick up your present for Yumi. The small red-stone necklace, right?"
"Yeah," Ulrich replied, grateful. "And you'd do that for me?"
"Of course I would," Odd pat his shoulder. "We're friends. Besides, I owe you one." He got increasingly quiet, "Because the flying fish thing?" He offered a sheepish smile. "That was me."
Ulrich immediately grabbed the front of Odd's shirt, his expression now one of anger, "WHAT?! And you let me take the blame?!"
"I-I'm sorry!" Odd stammered. "I-I didn't know until you told me just now!"
Ulrich sighed before releasing Odd's shirt and taking a step back. The bell then rang, signaling the start of classes in five minutes. "Well, at least this day can't get any worse."
He then walked away, hunched over and annoyed, with Odd cautiously following him.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Later that night, all six ran across the bridge to the factory. Jérémie, Aelita, William, and Yumi are slid down the ropes, with Ulrich and Odd holding up the rear. Odd dug into his bag as Ulrich grabbed a rope.
"Hey, would you stop sulking for a minute, Ulrich?" Odd asked his roommate in a low voice. "Here." He held out a gift-wrapped box. "This should get you on the good side of your 'just-a-friend'."
Ulrich took the gift, "Thanks, Odd. I guess I forgive you. It's the necklace, right?"
Odd winked at him, "Of course it is. I was there too when she first spotted it, remember?"
Before Ulrich could answer, Jérémie called up to them from the floor below, "Hey, you guys! Hello!" He was standing next to the lift, his hands on his hips. "You don't mind keeping up with the rest of us, I hope. Do I have to remind you that we have a really important mission?"
"Okay, okay," Odd gently retorted as he put his drawstring bag on his back. "We're not factory workers!"
"Well, technically, we are," Ulrich pointed out, before the two swung down onto the lower floor using the ropes.
Once they had joined the other four in the lift, William pressed the 'down' button to get them moving. Ulrich attempted a smile in Yumi's direction, but he failed, as Yumi instead pointedly turned towards Aelita.
"So, how was your history class today?"
"Not bad," the pink-ette replied. "How about you?"
"Fine."
Ulrich just sighed.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The five were all on their respective transporter spots, with Aelita as today's pilot. "You guys ready?" Jérémie, their mission control, asked. "Energize." The five were teleported to their seats, one by one. "Standing by for lift-off?"
"Standing by," Aelita confirmed.
"Roger that. Supports, away."
The support arms retracted, letting the pink-ette take over. "Ignition," she announced as she pressed the button right below the left joystick, "powering vertical." The boosters on the arms fired downwards, lifting the ship. "Lift-off!"
The Skid exited the hanger through the opening in the ceiling, emerging out into the Celestial Dome. Aelita flew through the tunnel that Jérémie had opened, entering the Mountain Sector this time.
The angel then typed on her keypad, bringing up the three status screens around her, "Okay. Shields, activated. Sonar, activated. Stabilizers, online and checked. Primary access, clear. Laser generators, online. Ready to dive."
The Skid dove towards the water, as Jérémie announced, "I'm entering the coordinates of the Replika."
After pausing above the water, the submarine dove in. He waited until they were on the other side of the floodgate to continue.
"Holoweb system, online." The young genius said, as Aelita rotated the Skid to its horizontal alignment. "Okay, you're looking for a hub at 0-4-5."
"Gotcha, Jérémie," Aelita replied. "Course heading set. I'm powering up the turbo-props and auxiliary engines."
The rear propeller and engines fired up and pushed the Skid through the water.
"Replika, here we go again!" Odd exclaimed. He was excited to test out Aelita and Jérémie's 'Translation' program.
Ulrich sighed in slight annoyance, "Odd, can you shut up, please?"
"Why?" Yumi retorted. "He's nice, at least."
The samurai just hung his mouth open in surprise. That wasn't even directed at her!
"Incredible!" Odd commented. "They're talking to each other!"
"Shut up, Odd," Ulrich and Yumi both told him in unison.
As Odd silently laughed in amusement, William gently cut in, "Um, is everything okay between you two?" What was with this Forest Replika? First Odd and Aelita, and now Ulrich and Yumi. It seemed to curse its enemies with in-fighting.
"Yes, everything is fine," Ulrich retorted. "I think Yumi's cold, though. She could use a blanket."
Yumi just huffed in response.
"Take it easy, guys," Aelita calmly said, as the Skid approached the aforementioned hub. "Get ready." The ship positioned itself above it. "Broadband acceleration in three...two...one...zero."
The Skid dove into the hub, quickly traveled to the area of the network that held the Forest Replika, before exiting on the side of a separate hub.
"Reverse thrust!" The Skid slowed down. "We're clear, Jérémie."
"I see you." Because he was watching them on the holomap. It was just standard safety procedures. "You guys should be able to see the Replika now."
The submarine was approaching the Replika's entrance. "Yes, it's right in front of us." The sphere was in sight, and getting bigger by each passing second. "We're heading for the entry portal."
The ship stopped outside the floodgate and switched to vertical mode. Aelita promptly placed her hand on the touch pad in front of her, and let it be scanned.
"Digital Code, activated." A beam of light shot from the front of the Skid and connected to the entrance of the floodgate.
There was a pause on Jérémie's end, as he was clearly decoding the password. "Got it. Open sesame!"
The beam of light disappeared, and the gate opened. The Skid entered through the floodgate, the portal closing behind it.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The Skid emerged from the lime-colored water before flying up above the green forest platforms, now level with the trees.
As it did so, Jérémie got an alert on his end, "Uh-oh. There's an activated tower on the Replika."
"That means XANA is up to no good somewhere on Earth," Aelita explained to the others, "not far from the Replika's supercomputer. But what?"
"No idea."
William cut in, "Do Aelita's new admin controls allow her to deactivate towers now, Jer? Or is it still just you?"
"It's still just me, sorry," the blonde genius replied. "And before you ask, I can't virtualize myself to the Replika. The Skid isn't a relay for virtualization yet, only for materialization."
"Then why don't we give yours and Aelita's Translation thing a try?" Ulrich offered. "If we want to find out what the tower is doing, then we have to do some exploring."
"Exactly what I was thinking," Jérémie replied. "First, you're going to have to moor the Skid to a tower. There's a neutral one nearby, at three o'clock."
Aelita began to slowly fly the Skid in that direction. "Spotted."
"Gently, though," the blonde warned, as she approached the mentioned tower—its halo was indeed the neutral white. "A little to the left...be careful!"
"Backseat driving, Mr. Einstein," Odd warned with an amused smile. "Better cut it out."
"Yeah, there's nothing more distracting than that," William jokingly, softly added.
"Oh, s-sorry, Aelita. I-I know you can do it without me."
The pink-ette just smiled—she expected nothing else from him—as she positioned the Skid so that it was facing the tower, before tapping her hand on the touchpad. "Mooring." A pink beam of swirling energy connected the Skid to the tower. Smaller wisps of pink light appeared around the tower and began floating around. "Skid, secured."
"Nice one, Princess!" Odd complimented.
"Yeah, good job," Jérémie added. "Now, just give me a minute to activate the tower for our own use." About three seconds later, the tower's halo turned from white to green. "Alright, we're all set. It's go time. Ready for Translation?"
"Ready to go, Jérémie!" Ulrich reported.
"Translation."
Ulrich braced himself for whatever sensation occurred with Translation, but nothing happened. He glanced around expectantly, but he remained in his Navskid.
"Um, Jérémie? It didn't work," he said. "I-I'm still here!"
"Sorry!" said genius replied. "I forgot to tell you! I've decided to split us up into groups. Only Aelita, William, and Odd were translated. I'd rather you and Yumi stay behind to protect the Skid. If it's anything like our last visit, XANA will be sending you a welcoming committee in no time flat."
The samurai couldn't deny that Jérémie had a point, but he was still upset. "If you'd have told us before, we could've chosen the teams ourselves!" Being alone with Yumi was far from what he wanted, not when she was giving him the cold shoulder at least.
"Great!" Yumi hissed, irritated. "You sound really happy to be with me!"
"That wasn't what I meant!" he bit back.
"Take it easy, guys," Jérémie gently cut in. "You know the procedure. I'll put you ashore while I get a little work done."
The two were promptly teleported out of their Navskids, reappearing on the ground below.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie turned his attention to the other three. "Aelita, Odd, William? Do you read me?" Silence. His stomach dropped in fear. "Aelita?! Odd?! William?!" He hit the 'enter' key as he held his microphone. Still nothing. He was dismayed as he cried out, "Aelita! Odd! William!" He typed in a quick sequence meant to fix the audio, before pressing a button on his earpiece to adjust the volume. "I wish I knew what was happening...!"
"COOL, PRINCE CHARMING! IT WORKS!"
Odd's voice was a jumpscare. Jérémie almost leapt out of his skin, before his relief quickly took over as he fell back in his chair. "Glad to hear it, but that's no reason to blow out my eardrum, you nutcase!"
"Sorry," the cat replied, as Jérémie readjusted the volume to the normal level.
"It's okay. Where are you guys?"
"You're not going to believe this," Odd said, "but we're in the jungle!"
"A real one!" William added.
"And it's daytime here," Aelita finished.
Daytime? "I see. You're in a different time zone!" He brought up a world map on his screen, quickly locating their signals halfway around the globe. They were no longer in France. "You're in the Amazon region, it seems." In South America.
"Wow, that's exciting!" Aelita exclaimed. "We're on a different continent!"
"Yeah." On his screen, he could see all three of their avatars. Their respective IDs had temporarily switched to two-dimensional appearances of their Lyoko avatars.
In the lush, tropical Amazon forest stood Odd, William, and Aelita. They were dressed in their Lyoko attire, though no longer three-dimensional like in a video game. This was the real world.
"But we're dressed like on Lyoko," Odd wondered as he examined his paws. "How come?"
Aelita jumped gracefully up onto a moss-covered tree trunk and spun around to face the boys. William bent down next to the nearby river, looking at his reflection in the water.
"Because Translation isn't a real devirtualization," Jérémie explained. "Those aren't your real human forms that I materialized onto Earth, but they–"
Odd cut him off, "Whoa, whoa, slow down, Mr. Einstein. Are you trying to tell us that we're not really us?"
"Yes, you're you, but those aren't your real bodies." The young genius sighed, "How can I explain this in a way you'll understand? Remember when we said it's a step up from Pixelization? You guys are more like some kind of spectres in the image of your virtual manifestations."
Aelita jumped down next to Odd, as William rejoined them from the river.
"Oh, I see," Odd replied, remembering when he let Aelita use a spectre to possess him. "So we've become spectres?" He saw his cousin nod excitedly at him in confirmation.
"More like super polymorphic spectres," Jérémie replied. "But yes."
William whistled, "Wow, that's pretty impressive!" He glanced his two friends over. "But Aelita doesn't have her elf ears or her star bracelet."
Aelita was apologetic, "We had to make some cuts to make the Translation work, so none of us have our special powers. No Super Sprint, no telekinesis, no Future Flash, no Super Light, no enhanced senses, and no wings—for me or Jérémie. But it's okay. To destroy a supercomputer, we really only need our weapons."
"If you say so," William just shrugged.
"You can lecture us about that later," Jérémie cut in. "For now, hurry up and find the supercomputer. The Translation won't last forever."
"How long do we have?" Odd asked.
"Uh, fifty-two, no twenty-six, no, uh, thirteen," the young genius replied. "Thirteen minutes."
"Got it," William said, before studying the surrounding woods.
"The guy's a comedian," Odd scoffed. "Just where does he expect us to find a supercomputer? Behind a tree?!"
Aelita leaned her hand against a tree, looking at something past it. "Good guess, Odd." The two boys both turned to where her attention was.
Sure enough, not far away from them was a building, some sort of scientific research lab.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The tension between Ulrich and Yumi could be sliced in half with a sword. She was walking along a pathway, away from the Skid. He was jogging to catch up to her.
"Yumi, wait! Come on, don't be like this!" She stopped and folded her arms. "You know, if someone forgot my birthday, I wouldn't make a big deal out of it!"
"That's because I never, ever forget it! And I never will!" she retorted, before walking away again.
Ulrich just wearily groaned, rubbing his face. "You know..." He reached out towards her before groaning again and making a gesture as though he'd given up. But he hadn't. He continued to follow her. When he started talking again, they both stopped walking. "Okay, I...not you...but I mean somebody... Y-You know?"
She turned around, gritting her teeth, "Look. Quit while you're ahead. You're just making things worse."
He blinked. "I'm sorry. How can I make forgetting your birthday worse?! You're making it seem like the end of the world when we all know that XANA taking us out is worse!" His gut started telling him that it was deeper than the birthday. Something was bothering her. So he lowered his voice, "What's really the problem?"
She was quiet, only turning her back on him with a huff.
"Communication is a two-way street," he calmly reminded her. "You told us we could only be friends because you wanted us to work on our communication, and you're always on me about conveying my emotions to you clearly. Right now, I have to hold you to the same standard." A pause. "What's wrong?"
She finally spoke up, this time softly, but her back remained to him, "I'm sorry...I'm just so tired..." As in emotionally tired. It was clear in her voice.
He reached out to comfort her, but they were interrupted by Jérémie, "Yumi, Ulrich! The other three have found a laboratory. Our theory was right! They're trying to locate the supercomputer within it now. Everything okay on your side?"
"It's still a bit chilly, but it's–" 'Getting warmer', Ulrich was about to say, but he was cut off yet again, this time by a laser flying past his face.
Yumi cartwheeled as Ulrich jumped, both out of the way of more lasers, both taking out their respective weapons on the way. The two spotted a Tarantula walking on two legs along a path towards them, shooting at the same time. On another path, the Spectre—wearing its Jérémie mask—approached while sitting on the head of a second Tarantula. A telepathic command resulted in a third Tarantula on yet another path.
"Jérémie, XANA's on the move again!" Yumi announced, looking at all three directions. "Your evil twin is here!"
"I see it," Jérémie replied. "Two vehicles coming right up."
The Overbike and Overwing appeared side-by-side, and their respective pilots immediately hopped on.
"I'll take care of the evil prince!" Ulrich said, ready to fight.
"Good luck..." Yumi solemnly muttered, clearly affected by the samurai's earlier words.
The two then drove down separate paths.
"Be careful," Jérémie warned them. "If the Skid gets disconnected from the tower, it's 'mission over' for the other three."
Yumi swerved to avoid lasers from the Tarantula she was flying towards, "We'll try to make life miserable for the enemy, don't worry."
Ulrich drove towards XANA-Jérémie and the Tarantula it was riding, as he pulled out a katana, "Fighting the Clone should put me in a better mood!"
The Tarantula stopped, letting the Clone crouch on its head before leaping off of it, heading straight for Ulrich as it brandished two elbow blades. It narrowly missed thanks to the samurai swerving at the last minute, skidding along the ground for a few meters before stopping.
Ulrich drove straight for the Tarantula, crouching on the Overbike, jumping and throwing his katana. It hit the Tarantula right in its eye, making it explode to signal its defeat. The samurai then landed on the Overbike before he crashed into a nearby tree, and breathed a small sigh of relief.
XANA-Jérémie was walking towards him now, its fists sparking with dark blue energy, ready to attack.
Ulrich spun the Overbike around to gain speed before driving straight towards the Clone. Said Spectre began running, as Ulrich grab his katana on the way, dragging in along the ground before picking it up and holding it out in front of him.
When the two met, Ulrich slashed at XANA-Jérémie's head, but it just ducked and retaliated with an energy shock burst at the Overbike, sending the vehicle straight towards the edge of the platform. The samurai manage to jump off just in time before it was uncontrollably sent over the edge, backflipping and landed right on the edge, windmilling his arms to keep his balance.
He watched the Overbike fall into the unforgiving water below, before he turned back to glare at the Clone, which was just using Jérémie's face to give an innocent-looking smile.
Meanwhile, Yumi had one fan out to block lasers as she flew towards the Tarantula that was firing at her. She flew past it before throwing said fan, slicing through the monster's head and destroying it. She then flew into the trees and spun around to go back the way she came.
Just one more Tarantula to take care of and then she could help Ulrich.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd and Aelita stuck to the wall as they snuck up to the closed door of the facility on either side of it, while William approached the door head on. He assumed a defensive position used in Pencak Silat, before nodding at both of his teammates, who both nodded at him before doing the same at each other.
Odd pressed the button on his side, and the door opened. "It's open," he whispered.
"Coast is clear," William replied, his voice at the same level. "For now."
The trio stepped inside, William leading the way. They walked down the hallway, before stopping at the end. They peeked around one corner and then the other.
"Right or left?" Aelita quietly asked her two companions, who both replied in whispers.
Odd pointed to the left, "Through there."
"Why left?" William asked.
"How can you be so sure?" the pink-ette quickly added.
"Because my sense of direction is infallible," the cat softly bragged. Aelita shrugged before following him.
"I highly doubt that," William muttered, but he followed the other two anyway.
The trio observed their surroundings as they made their way down the hallway, soon coming upon a window. Aelita looked inside said window, before suddenly stopping and grabbing both boys' shoulders. This caused the two to stop as well, before they looked inside the room on the other side of the glass pane.
The room through the panel was a laboratory, where a man in a lab coat was working—likely dissecting—on something that looked like looked like a tree root. The man looked over his shoulder, revealing the eye of XANA in his eyes, but he saw no one. XANA glared out the window before turning around and resuming his work.
In the hallway, the trio had crouched out of sight. They all looked at each other, and Odd pointed to the side, wordlessly motioning to his two friends to resume their trek down the hallway. Aelita and William both nodded in agreement, before the three began crawling in that direction.
At the end of the hallway was another intersection. Aelita peeked around the corner and saw that the corridor waiting for them was empty. Odd and William both walked around the corner and stood against the wall.
The sound of a door was suddenly heard somewhere nearby, as Aelita quickly joined them. Someone was coming around the corner, a bald scientist, pushing a trolley. Aelita took the hands of both boys and pushed them both into the nearest door, whispering, "Hurry up! This way!"
Odd's tail disappeared through the door just as it closed. The bald scientist appeared from around the corner and wheeled the trolley past. The trio stuck close to the door, all breathing sighs of relief when they heard the scientist walk farther past them. They then turned their attention to the room they had decided to hide in. It seemed to be an office space, with a large vivarium in the center of it.
Odd started walking towards it. "What's this, huh?" he asked, his voice quiet. "A supermarket display for...office plants?" He walked up to the glass and looked inside. "Uh-oh...guess not..."
Aelita and William both approached the glass as well, only for William to immediately freeze up and hide behind Aelita. The pink-ette didn't protest, seeing what was inside the case.
It was several gigantic cybernetic spiders, each with the eye of XANA on their backs. They were online, wandering around the enclosure.
Jérémie's voice cut through the tension, "Aelita, William, Odd? You guys might want to hurry up and find the supercomputer. Yumi and Ulrich are busy fighting off a bunch of Tarantulas."
"Just like us," William muttered, still behind Aelita.
"Yeah, funny!" Odd agreed. "Their cousins are right here!"
"What are you talking about?" Jérémie asked, not seeing what they were.
"Uh, nothing. We're on it," Odd amended, before turning to his cousin. "What do you make of these things, cuz?"
"I'd say that XANA wants to transform these tropical tarantulas," was the pink-ette's educated guess.
"But why?" William asked, still tense in fear.
"No idea," Odd shrugged. "Spiders don't attack unless you sit on them."
One suddenly launched itself at the glass in front of Odd, causing both him and William to scream and stagger backwards, away from the glass. Aelita shushed them both as the two boys hugged each other for comfort.
"Okay, okay," Odd softly replied, letting go of William, "don't look at us in that tone of voice. Relax, I'm sure nobody heard anything."
Just as he said that, the door opened to reveal the bald scientist they had ducked in here to avoid.
"You were saying?" Aelita sternly asked her cousin, as the possessed scientist entered the room and extended an arm, ready to attack.
Odd took aim, "Laser Arrow!" He fired two arrows, only for the man to catch both of them in his hand. "Hey! Anyone teach you how to play fair?!"
William summoned his Zweihänder and swung at the scientist's head. The man simple ducked to dodge to strike, before throwing both Arrows back at Odd. The cat dodged the first but fell backwards when the second struck his shoulder, hitting the floor with a cry of pain.
The scientist smiled evilly as Odd backed up into a desk, holding his injured shoulder and baring his teeth in pain. William immediately moved in front of him, kneeling as he used his Zweihänder as a shield, "You okay, Odd?"
Odd moved his hand away, revealing his shoulder glitching with purple-colored energy. "Yeah, I-I'm fine. It just really stings." Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a metal bar on the floor.
Aelita threw an Energy Field at the scientist, who ducked to avoid it, causing it to hit the closed door behind him instead. The man then lifted a hand and fired a blue beam of energy. The angel promptly protected herself with a force field (shown as a spherical shield around herself). The two remained like this for a long while, during which the scientist didn't seem bothered by the effort—due to XANA's influence—but Aelita was struggling to maintain her defense.
She suddenly gasped as her shield dropped against her will, causing her enemy's attack to hit her and send her flying backwards, landing on the floor with her head against the vivarium window.
Her body flickered like Odd's shoulder did as William switched targets to protect, now kneeling in front of her with his Zweihänder blocking the scientist's energy shots. He urged, "Odd, you better have a plan!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich's twin katanas clashed against XANA-Jérémie's energy saber. The two pushed against each other, as the Clone smirked when seeing Ulrich's face showing the effort he was exerting. Ulrich then performed a maneuver with his blades to knock the energy sword out of his opponent's hands, making it fall to the ground and quickly disappear.
"You've lost, XANA!" he declared, receiving an intense glare of the Clone in response.
The samurai held his twin katanas up, ready to fight. Kneeling, the Spectre simply lowered its head, accepting defeat. Ulrich charged to deliver the final blow, only for XANA-Jérémie to form two blue Energy Fields in its hands at the last minute and impale Ulrich with them.
XANA smiled to itself as it watch Ulrich's wireframe disappear from the virtual world.
Meanwhile, the last Tarantula was firing at the Skid, before it suddenly stopped and turned around to shoot at something behind it. Said something was Yumi as she flew towards it on the Overwing, zigzagging to avoid its shots.
Her vehicle was eventually hit, and she jumped off, taking out her fans and throwing them, hitting and destroying the Tarantula. The geisha smiled as she caught her fans. But it quickly faded when she heard footsteps behind her.
She turned around to see the Spectre—still wearing Jérémie's face—approaching her, its hands sparking with dark blue energy. It didn't waste any time the moment she laid eyes on it, running towards her, intent on taking her out.
"Not so fast, Prince of Darkness!" she warned, before throwing her fans again.
The Clone ducked to dodge them, not stopping its sprint, until the geisha used her telekinesis to control her fans, bringing them back towards her opponent.
XANA-Jérémie halted in its tracks and carefully watched the dual fans fly around, before jumping up (using energy boosts to do so) and catching one after the other. The Clone turned back to face her, and XANA smirked at her as the fans glowed red in the Spectre's hands. They were then covered in dark blue energy before being shattered into energy shards.
Yumi was surprised as she backed up in fear, now defenseless. The Clone morphed into its Ulrich mask before it taunted her, "It's over, Yumi," with its dual katanas both pointed directly at her chest.
"Jérémie!" she quickly spoke up. "Mayday! S.O.S.! I need two more fans right now!"
He appeared to sense the urgency in her voice, "Uh-oh. 'Right now' is a pretty tall order, Yumi, but I'll see what I can do. Hang in there!"
She'd try her best.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita's image stopped flickering, letting her look up to find the possessed scientist blasting shots at her, only for William to be blocking them with his Zweihänder. At the same time, Odd had snuck up behind the scientist and swung at him the crowbar he had found, only for the man to turn around and catch it mid-swing.
He and Odd shared at each other—the eye of XANA flickering where the man's irises should've been—before the scientist threw the metal bar across the room, taking Odd with it. While the man's back was turned, Aelita stepped around William and threw at Energy Field at their enemy, sending him flying backwards through the door (which opened automatically).
"Nice shot," William complimented her.
"Thanks for being a shield," she replied.
The scientist had crashed into the wall in the hallway, before falling to the floor. His image flickered as Odd walked up to him, before looking at a door not far along the hallway. He opened said door to reveal a room that looked empty and dilapidated, with tally marks scrawled on one wall.
He glanced back at the scientist, "Here we go..." He began dragged the flickering man over to the door, dragging him across the floor. "Back in your cage, now..."
However, the scientist opened his eyes, still flickering with the sign of XANA, and smacked Odd across the hallway. The man walked towards him and stopped in the open doorway.
"Hey, you!" Aelita called out, successfully getting the man's attention.
He threw a blue electricity shot at her, only for it to be blocked once again by William's Zweihänder. Aelita then stepped out from behind William, yet again, to throw another Energy Field, sending the man flying back into the room, flickering from his injury. Odd promptly pressed a button on the screen next to the door, closing it.
"You two make great spectres!" Odd complimented his two teammates.
"You really think so?" Aelita asked.
"Don't celebrate just yet, guys," William turned back towards the hallway. "We still have to find the supercomputer."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The holomap showed the Clone—represented by a red exclamation mark—continuing to advance at Yumi—represented by a green arrow—who had no choice to keep backing away to avoid the Spectre's constant strikes.
"Jérémie...!" she worriedly called out.
"I'm almost there!" he immediately replied, typing at rapid speed as he ignored the sharpening pain in his right wrist from the strain.
He ignored the elevator doors opening, but he knew it was Ulrich. It could only be, seeing as how he was just devirtualized. The brunette stepped into the lab, slightly fatigued and winded by the Clone's hit. He placed a hand on the back of Jérémie's chair, "How's it going?" Hopefully, Yumi was doing better than him.
"You wouldn't have a rabbit's foot, a four-leaf clover, or a horseshoe on you, would you?" was Jérémie's tense response, his hands glued to the keyboard and his eyes to the screens in front of them.
Ulrich raised an eyebrow. "That bad, huh?"
Jérémie didn't answer that.
The brunette turned back to the screen, on which was the source code for Yumi's fans. Ah. Jérémie was trying to program a new pair. Which meant that Yumi was currently defenseless...
"Yumi, use Pencak Silat," he advised her. "Hand-to-hand." Anything to help her hold out for as long as possible.
"I'm trying, Ulrich," she replied, sounding scared, "but the Clone currently has your face and your abilities!"
A speechless Ulrich didn't answer that.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd, William, and Aelita ran out of the hallway into a large room and stopped in the middle of it to look around.
A breathless pink-ette put her hands on her hips, "'Infallible sense of direction', huh? I was positive that we should've gone the other way!"
She turned to leave, only for William to grab her arm, stopping her, "Hold on a minute!" He was eyeing a door with a small window in it. Odd followed him in approaching said window.
Inside were several computer workstations and a very advanced-looking computer. William smiled, as Odd turned and gave Aelita two thumbs-up, "Bingo! I was right, after all!"
Aelita ran over and joined in their mini-celebration when she laid eyes on what was inside the room. "Jérémie, we found the supercomputer."
Ulrich was the one who replied, surprisingly, "Hurry up and destroy it! Yumi can't hold out much longer!"
Uh-oh. Ulrich had been devirtualized, apparently, and Yumi was on her last legs. Things weren't going well on the Replika.
"We're on it," William vowed.
Odd tapped three different parts of the screen controlling the door lock. It didn't open, though, instead turning red, and started beeping at him, denying access. "Oh, no! An entry code! Why not a couple of guard dogs while XANA's at it?!"
"No thanks," was William's response. "We've already seen those cyber bugs. I do not want to think about what XANA has for guard dogs."
"I'll handle it," Aelita said, trading places with Odd and pressing her hand gently to the red screen. She closed her eyes to concentrate, before using her Digital Code (aka: her new admin controls) to unlock the door. The door opened, and she smiled at her mini-victory.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the facility, the light above the door they trapped the XANA-fied scientist in turned from red to green. The door opened and the bald man stepped out of the door, XANA eyes flickering.
Now inside the room, the trio was staring directly at the supercomputer. A force field was protecting part of it, they could see.
"Now, we've gotta get rid of this thing for good," Aelita informed the two boys. "Before Yumi's devirtualized too."
"I got it!" Odd aimed. "Laser Arrow!" He fired a single shot at the computer, only for the force field to block the attack, dimming for a moment before returning to full strength. An upset cat turned back to his friends, "I don't believe this!" It was a perfect shot.
"Great," William muttered. "Just what we needed..."
"Jérémie, we've got a problem," Aelita informed the blonde, troubled. "The supercomputer has a force field around it."
"You have to find out where the force field is getting its energy from," Jérémie replied, sounding very stressed. They didn't blame him. "I can't do anything from here. Do whatever you have to, but hurry up!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi was breathless as she ducked her head again, dodging a few more blows from XANA-Ulrich. She landed with her back against the base of the tower—the one the Skid was moored to.
"Jérémie, it's now or never!"
"Got it!" he exclaimed.
One split second later, two new fans appeared in her hands, identical to her old ones. She smiled in relief just as she was impaled with twin katanas by the Spectre. Ulrich's evil grin was the last thing she saw as her wireframe disappeared from the virtual world.
She emerged in the scanner room, defeated, "Jérémie, I'm sorry..."
Up in the lab, it was Jérémie's turn to be speechless as he and Ulrich worriedly watched as the Clone morphed back into its Jérémie mask, before entering the Skid tower...
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The trio quickly glanced around the room for the energy source for the force field.
"There!" Aelita spotted a lens near the supercomputer apparatus and pointed to it. "That must be the lens that's projecting the force field! If we destroy it, there's a good chance we'll deactivate the shield!"
"You could have found me a bigger target," Odd lamented at the tiny lens. "No one could possibly hit that from this distance. That is...except me!"
William rolled his eyes, "Beggars can't be choosers." Suddenly, the door opened to reveal three more XANA-fied scientists, including the bald one that they had fought earlier. "Now, hurry up!"
"He's right. We'll handle them, Odd. You take care of the force field!" Aelita agreed. The scientist at the front shot a blue energy beam at her, which she blocked with her own force field.
They remained unaware of XANA-Jérémie ascending to the top platform of the tower the Skid was moored to, surrounded in a dark aura...
While Aelita and William both blocked shots from the scientists, Odd took aim at the lens, "Laser Arrow!" It hit its target, fortunately, deactivating the force field. "Yeah!" he cheered. "Adios, amigos!"
XANA-Jérémie placed its hand on the interface, knowing the DNA it possessed from the real deal would grant it access to the tower's programs...
JEREMIE_
CODE_
XANA_
The tower's halo turned from green to red. The pink energy connecting the Skid to the tower disappeared.
"Laser Ar–"
Odd was interrupted when he, Aelita, and William all vanished into the thin air, reappearing in their respective spots in the Skid, out cold.
"Aelita, William, Odd!" Jérémie's frantic voice woke them up. "Come in, please!"
Odd woke up, alarmed though groggy, "W-What is this? What's going on now?"
William rubbed his head, "What happened?"
"XANA has taken over control of the tower," Jérémie solemnly informed them. In the lab, on his other side, Yumi hugged herself in self-blame, upset. "The Translation has stopped. We have to abort the mission. It's time to come home." A brief pause. "Wake up, Aelita!"
Aelita was startled awake, and she blinked rapidly before leaning over the control panel out the window. On the ground below, XANA-Jérémie emerged from the tower, in red ripples rather than blue, before glancing up at her with its piercing stare, as a Tarantula joined him.
"Let's get out of here, cuz," Odd told her. "The dark prince has just arrived with the royal guard."
"I can see that," she replied, before pressing the white button to her right. "Let's go!"
The Tarantula was about to fire, only for a mental command from the Spectre to make it stand down.
XANA had accepted its victory, and was now letting them piloting the Skid away from the tower and back down into the Digital Sea.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The six were gathered in the lab, standing near the lift doors. The atmosphere was filled with a sense of defeat.
"There's no sense dissing ourselves," Ulrich reassured the others. "We did our best. We know what to expect now, and all we have to do is prevent that Clone from donning Jérémie's face and entering Code: XANA into the Skid tower." Apparently, it could only use said code as the elf, given how it had given up its samurai mask to do so.
"Yeah, nothing to it," Aelita lightly scoffed. "We also need to find out what XANA's planning to do with those cybernetic spiders."
William just shuddered.
"We'll have to go back to the Replika, Translate you back in, and destroy that supercomputer another day," Jérémie softly declared.
Odd yawned, "Sounds like a plan, but until then, anyone mind if I sleep for a few years?"
"Okay, okay, we get the message," an amused Yumi replied. "We could all use some sleep after the adventure we just had."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The six walked across the bridge together, towards the manhole cover. It was late at night, with the moon shining brightly in the sky. Ulrich lagged behind as he took out the present Odd had graciously gotten for him.
"Yumi?" he softly called out.
She turned around, looking over her shoulder, tiredly asking, "Yeah?"
"Here." He held out the present to her. "A little birthday gift. I really am sorry for forgetting."
She softly smiled as she took the gift from him, "I forgive you, because I forgot too. Recent XANA activity can be thanked for that. Or blamed, rather..."
"You think it's a mix of both, don't you?" It would always surprise her at how well he knew her. She nodded. He continued in a soft voice, "You were upset because your birthday this year is your eighteenth. You're now a legal adult in both Japan and France. On top of that, another year has passed since we started this fight with XANA. So you're exhausted as well as stressed."
She could only nod in confirmation. She was tired. Physically and mentally. He did understand her, and she was now beating herself up for not opening up to him before.
"Thank you, Ulrich," she softly said. "For everything." She leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek, willingfully ignoring how red his cheeks turned when she pulled away.
He was smiling, too, "Y-You're welcome." A pause. "Um, aren't you...gonna open it?"
"I will," she reassured him. "Later. In Japan, you never open a present in front of the person who gave it to you."
"Oh, well, that's fine with me," he relented, and her heart soared with warmth. "In that case, I really hope you like it."
Not far from them, Aelita had noticed the solemn, longing expression on Jérémie's face as they, Odd, and William watched the two lovebirds make up. "You're thinking about your own birthday, aren't you?" she asked, knowingly. "Your real one?"
"It's one of those things that's still fuzzy to me," he quietly explained. "I remember the leaves starting to turn color whenever we celebrated it, but that's it..." He began perking up. "At least I have a birthday as Belpois." He turned to her, "Do my records say it's the 9 October still?"
She smiled, "Nope. I actually changed it. It's still in October, don't worry, but a later date came along that was more perfect than our first meeting."
"So you're actually sixteen, Prince Charming," Odd cut in. "Not fifteen."
Jérémie softly smiled at him, "Noted." He turned back to Aelita, stepping ever so closer to her, "Well...aren't you going to tell me what it is?"
"Of course not!" the pink-ette replied, amused. "It wouldn't be a surprise if I did!"
Odd just smiled at the exchange—he knew what the new date was, what was listed on Jérémie's falsified records. Ulrich and Yumi knew as well, and they had all agreed that it was indeed a way more fitting day.
It was the 28 October, the day their friend was first materialized with Code: EARTH, the true birthday of Jérémie Belpois.
William interrupted the two moments with a gentle yawn, "Hey, are you guys coming or not?"
"Yeah," Odd added, "hurry up before William and I fall asleep standing up."
"Don't worry, we're coming," Ulrich replied, as he and Yumi rejoined with the others together. "No need to wake the whole town up."
Yumi giggled softly in response.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Later, after returning to their dorm, Odd and Ulrich were sitting on their beds in their pajamas. Kiwi was sitting on the floor expectantly, barking at Odd as he rummaged in his drawstring bag.
"Who's the pretty present for, huh?" Odd asked his pet. "Who's it for, my little diggity dog?" He pulled out a gift-wrapped box, one larger than the one he had given to Ulrich for Yumi.
"Hey, Odd," Ulrich softly called out as he watched the scene in front of him. "Thanks again for helping me with Yumi. You really saved me this time."
"No problem, good buddy," Odd said, as he opened up the box and pulled out a plastic dog bone. "That's what friends are for."
Ulrich just contently smiled as he looked at the bone, "A dog bone, huh? Classic."
"Make fun all you want," Odd teased back, "but my dog loves the classics." He then tossed the bone to Kiwi, who caught it in his mouth.
"Play on, Kiwi," Ulrich said, in a generous mood, before placing his ear plugs in his ears. "Good night, Odd."
Odd just smiled at his roommate as the brunette slipped under the covers and began softly snoring away, before turning back to his dog.
Yep, today was a good day after all.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Meanwhile, Yumi (also in her pajamas) sat criss-cross on her bed as she unwrapped Ulrich's gift. Her breath immediately disappeared as she saw what was inside.
It was the necklace she'd seen last week. The one with the small, red stone. She'd been pining for it ever since she saw it, because she couldn't afford it with the allowance her parents gave her. She had planned to save up, but it seemed that Ulrich had witnessed the moment her heart began wanting it.
She smiled, with unshed happy tears in her eyes, as she slipped it around her neck herself.
"Thank you, Ulrich," she whispered. "I can always count on you to cheer me up."
Yes, she was legally an adult now, but she still had friends to help her through it. She still had Ulrich watching her back and her heart.
And that was a gift she would always treasure.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
Next Episode: 53 - Bragging Rights / Odd takes up a bet that's difficult for him to keep, as the gang returns to the Forest Replika, hopefully for the final time.
A/N: As of this chapter, Yumi and William are both 18. Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita are all 17. Meanwhile, Jérémie is 16 (like in the S1 graphic bible, he skipped a grade as a kid), though off the record, he's actually 26. Also, I'll probably never reveal this in a later chapter, so I'll say it here: Jérémie's real birthday is 10 September, 1981.
When I posted 'Harmony and Discord', I mentioned in the ending section that the episode that chapter was based on ("The Pretender") was the start of the group being mean to each other for no reason, and that from that point on, I'd be pointing out those moments and fixing them. This time, from "Lab Rat", it's Yumi giving Ulrich the cold shoulder for forgetting her birthday. That's it—just for forgetting. Yes, I'd be upset, but I personally would've given Ulrich a pass, because my friends and I are in the midst of fighting XANA in the height of its power (free from the supercomputer and has lots of Replikas). Whenever I watch "Lab Rat" (the episode this chapter is based on), I keep thinking that Yumi's anger stems from something that's a lot deeper than Ulrich forgetting. This is my take on what that something could be, but keep in mind that in this AU, the characters are two years old than they are in canon.
Pixelization was first used on 'The White Tower'. In this AU, it's the step before 'Translation' (what canon calls Teleportation). And remember, William's scared of spiders, hence his reaction to the cybernetic ones. Finally, yes, I switched the gifts around, back to their proper recipients. No special reason; I just thought it was a better ending for the changes I made to the chapter.