A/N: Here's the next chapter. No, you do not need to refresh your memory with "The Theory of Evolution" for this chapter. You just need to remember Odd constantly questioning Jérémie's decision to keep an eye out for Tyron too, because it's addressed later on.
Hopefully, you all enjoy it. I did my best to follow the canon and continuity of the original series.
Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko or CL: Evolution in any way, shape, or form.
Beta read by FP7ETDP43
Aelita's opening nightmare has a reference to my "Code: MEMORY" story, where Anthea and Aelita's roles were swapped. The idea was given to me by FP7ETDP43.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~E~V~O~L~U~T~I~O~N~~~!
"Odd thinks he's the sole winner of the national lottery, but in reality, he has to share his win with millions of other winners. But that's just the start of Odd's bad luck."
A World Without Danger
Code Lyoko: Evolution Rewrite
Season 5, Episode 12: Friday the 13th
This was certainly a strange nightmare, was Aelita's initial thought when seeing herself standing right in front of her.
The two were in a black void, and the other Aelita was physically the same. They were both the same age of sixteen, but while she was wearing white clothes, the other Aelita looked so much older and was wearing black clothes. She had dark shadows under her eyes, indicating exhaustion.
"Why bothering fighting?" the other her asked. The tone of her voice was also a sign of how emotionally tired she was.
"What?" was her reaction. What did that question mean?
"It could've very easily been you." Huh? "Maman's kidnapping," cynical-Aelita explained. "It could've been you. You were told not to wander too far, remember? You also tried to go after the car, but you failed to catch up because your little legs couldn't run very far. Those men in black only left you alone because Maman was their target, not you."
"Well, I wasn't taken," Aelita replied. "I'm here now."
Cynical-Aelita just darkly smirked, "Just give up."
The real pink-ette crossed her arms, "And why would I do that?"
"You heard Papa. He explained it all in his diary. The Green Phoenix's reach is vast, likely over the entire world by now." Right. It had been at least two decades since that entry was recorded. "Tyron is the very reason you and Papa went into hiding, remember? His spies are all over the globe. He probably already knows who you are and where you are, which means he's just toying with you guys for now. The moment he grows tired of it, you, your friends, and Maman will die and Papa's precious anti-Carthage weapon will be his."
Aelita woke up in a cold sweat. Quickly glancing around, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she saw that she was no longer in that void, but back in her dorm room.
That nightmare was leaving her shaken. Yes, it was just a nightmare, but it was scary to her because part of her did want to just give up. It would be the quickest way to solve all of her problems. That part of her couldn't understand Jérémie's determination to protect Lyoko and them all from Tyron, to not give up unless it was his only option.
But she couldn't give up. Not now. XANA was still on the loose, meaning the rest of humanity was in danger. If Tyron got his hands on Lyoko, then who knows what he would do with XANA? Make it stronger and then use it to conquer the world? Destroy it and then create a better, more powerful artificial intelligence in its place?
Jérémie was right. No matter what Tyron's end goal was, he and XANA both had to be stopped.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Later that afternoon, indifferent to the comings and goings of the students in the courtyard, Odd was sitting on a bench underneath the shade of a tree, with his eyes glued to the screen of his new smartphone (given to him by his very wealthy parents). Jérémie, Aelita, and Ulrich all joined him, having just come from the library, but Odd didn't react to them, seemingly hypnotized by his screen.
Ulrich sat down beside his roommate with a curious look on his face. What was Odd so mesmerized by? To find out, he waved his hand in front of Odd's face.
Odd immediately grumbled and slapped the other's hand away, "Stop it! I'm waiting for the lottery numbers."
The brunette sighed in exasperation, "You actually bought a ticket."
It wasn't a question, but Odd answered it anyway, "With all my savings. Today's horoscope told me it was my lucky day! So Lady Luck's gonna shine on me, I just know it!"
A book open in his hands, Jérémie pragmatically cut in, "Lucky day or not, you have one chance in seventy-six million, two hundred and seventy-five thousand, three hundred and sixty of drawing five correct numbers. You are aware of that, yes?"
"Of course I am," Odd replied. "That's why I have insurance!" He reached into his drawstring bag and pulled out a rabbit's foot, a horseshoe, and a four-leafed clover.
Ulrich rolled his eyes as Aelita amusedly quipped, "You're sure to win then!"
"Mock me all you like!" Odd retorted. "I can't wait to see your faces when I win the jackpot!"
His phone vibrated. It quickly caught his attention.
He straightened up, "This is it, it's starting!"
Jérémie, Ulrich, and Aelita all leaned in closer to Odd, who held his breath as the drawing began.
"5...23...14...18...and...44."
There was a silence and a noticeable lack of reaction from Odd. His hazel eyes were still focused on his smartphone, but there was no hint of a smile on his face. In fact, his reaction suggested the opposite of a win.
Jérémie gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder, as Aelita softly, sympathetically said, "Maybe next time."
Ulrich was trying not to laugh, "Yep. All his savings."
Odd suddenly exploded, "I won! I won!"
He stuck his smartphone in the faces of his three friends. On the national lottery website—showing on the screen—there was a map of Europe and a blinking red dot showing the location of the jackpot winner.
Their friend smushed his finger on the red dot, "Look there, that's me!"
Ulrich grabbed the phone in disbelief as Odd performed a victory dance. The Italian boy jumped from one student to another, hugging the boys and kissing the girls' cheeks, excitedly proclaiming his win to everyone who would listen.
"I won! I won!"
The brunette held the phone up to Jérémie, "Did he really win?"
Jérémie nodded before frowning. At that moment, on the screen, the lottery website was showing a second blinking red dot elsewhere. A third then appeared. Then a fourth... Then ten all at once!
"Um, yeah, he won," the young genius explained, "but he's not the only one. There are several of them, lots of them, way too many..." He then showed the screen to Aelita, who quickly shared Jérémie's sudden concern.
The trio got up from the bench and went over to Odd as he was flittering around.
Worried, Jérémie showed the phone screen to Odd, who paid no attention to it. So he called out, "Odd!", in a scolding tone of voice.
It worked like a charm, as Odd turned around and looked at each of them. However, he misunderstood the expressions on their faces. "Don't worry, guys, you'll get something out of it too. I'm gonna make us a super skate park...the Giga Della Robbia skate park!"
Faced with Odd's exuberance, Ulrich, Aelita, and Jérémie all exchanged embarrassed looks.
"Maybe you shouldn't get your hopes up like this!" a red-faced Ulrich attempted to warn his roommate.
But Odd was too happy, "You kidding?! I'm rich enough for it now!"
Jérémie tried again, shaking the phone in front of Odd's face, "Odd, you really need to look at this! There's a problem!"
But Odd contemptuously pointed at the phone, "This phone works perfectly! You know what, you can keep it, Einstein! A little gift from me! I'll just buy the newest model! I'll see you guys later, I gotta tell Sam!"
He ran across the courtyard, leaving his friends behind and doing some more steps of his victory dance along the way.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Sam was exiting the gates of the school, with Sissi at her side. Odd increased his speed in order to catch up, "Sam! Hey, Sam!"
He was just about to leave through the gates when Jim stepped in front of him, blocking his path. The man pointed at the ground, "Della Robbia! What do you see here?!"
Odd blinked in confusion, "Uh, your finger, sir?"
Jim huffed before correcting him, "The line! This is as far as you can go!" He moved his finger beyond the gates, "Here, it's not good!" He moved it back to school grounds, "There, it's good. Know why?"
The boy sighed, remembering the rule, "In order for boarders to leave school grounds, they must have a pass signed by the headmaster." So, Sissi was allowed to leave because she had a pass.
"Exactly!" Jim replied. "And last I checked, Della Robbia, you were a boarder, not a day student!"
"Well, yeah, but that's going to change," Odd remembered what he wanted to tell Sam, "because I won!"
"You won?" Jim raised an eyebrow. "You've certainly won the right to do a U-turn and go back onto school grounds right this instant! And if you insist, you can even win a few hours of detention!"
Odd hung his head in defeat and began to turn around. As he did so, Sam and Sissi—in the distance—passed by a rose bush. A rose bush...
Of course! Roses! He'd just buy Sam some roses!
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
A knock came to Jérémie's door, as the genius was typing away at his computer, with Aelita at his side. Ulrich opened the door and smiled when he saw that it was Yumi and William.
"Hey, guys," he said. "Come on in." He let them inside the room, before closing the door behind them.
"We got your message," Yumi said, as she and William approached Jérémie's computer screen.
"So Odd really won the lottery?" William asked.
"They won," Jérémie corrected.
"It has to be a bug," Aelita pointed at the lottery website opened on the computer screen. "There can't be millions of winners!"
"And it keeps growing..." Yumi muttered, leaning in to get a better look at the red dots on the map still increasing in numbers.
"At this rate, they can't win that much!" William realized.
"Not even 10 euros," Jérémie agreed, typing away.
"And they all think that they're millionaires, like Odd!" Ulrich exclaimed.
"Do you think XANA's behind this?" Yumi asked Jérémie.
"We're about to find out," the blonde replied, still typing. "I just need to speed up the update to the superscan and reactivate it." In order to download said update, he had to shut down the program for the entire duration of the download. "In any case, the monoscan indicates that there's definitely some activity occurring on Lyoko." Also open on the screen was the old version of the tower scan.
William leaned in closer to the fourth window open, which showed a news article that just came out about ten minutes ago. "'Lottery organizers are attempting to correct this error, but a computer bug in their system refuses to let them'."
"Yeah," Aelita replied. "At least they know."
"But a bug not letting them fix it?" Yumi asked. "Sounds awfully suspicious."
Jérémie pressed the 'enter' key, and the superscan sprang to life, showing a familiar alert. "I knew it! Activated tower in the Forest Sector!" On their transwatches, the same alert was showing.
"Let's go!" Aelita said, leading the way.
"It's always too good to be true," Ulrich commented, before following.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Now in the park, Ulrich opened the lid to the tunnel access, the other beside him, with William a little further behind them on the phone. He joined them after hanging up.
"When Sam hears about the bug in the lottery, she'll either think he's a liar or a total loser!" Yumi worriedly commented. "Either way, it won't be good!"
"I hope it doesn't cause a fight," Aelita was just as concerned. "Things have been going so well for them."
William felt a little powerless, "I left some messages for Odd. I can't get ahold of him."
"Yeah, that'll be a lot of help," Ulrich rolled his eyes, "knowing that Odd the Magnificent so generously gifted Jérémie his phone."
Just about to climb down the ladder, Jérémie took Odd's phone out of his pocket. "So, that's what was vibrating the whole time!"
The girls nudged the guys towards the tunnel, as the pink-ette said, "C'mon, let's go!"
One by one, the five climbed down into the secret passage.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
"Virtualization!"
Yumi and Aelita's avatars formed in the sky of the Forest Sector before dropping down next to Ulrich and William, both of whom were keeping an eye out for any enemies.
"Activated tower is 73 degrees northwest of your current position," Jérémie told them. "You should see it from where you're at."
The four all looked in that direction. Sure enough, there was a tower with a red halo visible on the horizon, located on a plateau accessible via several small paths.
"Let's go!" Aelita ordered, before taking off toward the tower. The other three were hot on her heels.
As they ran, William posed an interesting question, "The jackpot...something you'd dream of, right? What would you guys do with your winnings?"
"No chance of that," Ulrich quickly replied. "I never play." He had, once. But he didn't want to relive his bad experience with it, given how it nearly cost him his friends and place among the Lyokowarriors, as well as his relationship with Yumi.
Fortunately, William didn't know this. "So what? Can't you dream?"
Of course, Ulrich dreamed. But of other things...
William turned to the geisha, "What about you, Yumi? What would you do with all that money?"
Yumi's answer was also quick, "I'd give it all to charity." After all, that's what Ulrich had done. He'd donated all of it to a charity that builds wells in Africa, or so he said.
"And you wouldn't keep just a small portion for yourself?" William asked.
"Not a single cent," she replied.
"What about you, Jérémie?" William turned to the genius back in the lab. "What would you buy?"
"Hornets!" was his answer.
The elder raised an eyebrow, "Really? You'd buy a swarm of hornets?"
"Certainly not!" Jérémie replied. "I meant that you guys have a squadron of six Hornets coming in from behind you!"
The four halted in their tracks and turned around. He was right; flying in from the treeline above were six Hornets. Even now, the buzzing sounds their wings made still unnerved Yumi. To add insult to injury, two wireframes also appeared and formed into Tarantulas, blocking their way back. Now, they had no choice but to fight.
Yumi took up a defensive position, "Go, Aelita! We'll handle the welcoming committee!"
She was right. The tower wasn't far. "Okay," the angel nodded, before running off. "Good luck!"
For some reason, XANA paid no mind to Aelita this time, just letting her go. It was as if it didn't really care about this tower. (That was their first and probably only warning.) But they didn't have the time to think about that.
The Tarantulas immediately opened fire, and Ulrich drew both katanas to block the shots. To give him an opening, Yumi used telekinesis to pick up two rocks nearby. She threw one at the Hornets, taking out one, and the other at the Tarantulas—both of whom stopping firing and tilted their heads in opposite directions to dodge it. This distraction allowed Ulrich to Sprint up and throw a katana straight into the eye of a Tarantula.
William activated his Super Smoke to travel up a nearby tree trunk. At the top, he turned back to human form and jumped down, stabbing and destroying a Hornet with his Zweihänder on the way down. Another sprayed acid at him, but he quickly dodged it and threw his sword, stabbing it in its eye, destroying it.
Meanwhile, Ulrich turned to the other Tarantula, using Triangulate to confuse it. It shot at one of the clones, but the samurai remained, rushing up at it from behind. It exploded behind him, and as he briefly glanced back to make sure he had taken it out, one of the remaining three Hornets shot at his chest and devirtualized him.
William was focusing his energy on summoning his Zweihänder back to him, but he never managed to succeed. One of the last Hornets got him from behind while he was distracted.
Yumi was the last one standing. She summoned and threw both fans, taking out two at once. Now, only one was left. It sprayed a pool of acid at her feet as she caught her fans. But it kept spraying, growing the pool until it was too large for her to dodge. As one last effort, she threw a fan, hoping it would hit its target, as she felt herself devirtualize.
It did.
Aelita entered the tower at a sprint.
She ascended to the top platform and placed her hand on the interface when it appeared.
AELITA_
CODE_
LYOKO_
She watched the windows fall to the bottom with an accomplished smile. "Tower deactivated."
"Nice job, Aelita," Jérémie told her. "I'll bring you back in now."
She let him. Soon her wireframe disappeared from Lyoko.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
The others were back in the lab, monitoring the screen as the lottery website showed an overlay graphic of 'CANCELED' over the map of Europe.
Jérémie sighed in relief, "We did it. The draw is canceled, no money will be awarded, and all tickets will be refunded."
"That means everything's back to normal," Yumi said. "But why would XANA want to sabotage the lottery of all things?"
"Good question," Jérémie solemnly replied, now thinking since Yumi brought it up.
"That's right," Aelita realized. "The tower wasn't on the Cortex this time. Such a weak attack from Lyoko...you're right, Yumi. Why would it do that?"
Before anyone could respond with their own input, the lift doors opened. The five all turned to see who had arrived, but deep down, they knew who it was. Sure enough, it was Odd, who was sulking against the back wall, his arms crossed and hanging his head.
"Odd? Are you okay?" Aelita asked, as she and Yumi approached him. Slowly, as if he was an injured animal.
"I'm broke..." he muttered. He clearly just got the news of the lottery being canceled due to the error.
"Everything's okay, Odd," Yumi attempted to be comforting. "The draw has been canceled, and they'll refund your ticket." The girls slung their arms around his shoulders and led him out into the lab.
"I'm broke..." he said. "Broke, I tell ya!"
"You can't be broke," Ulrich reminded him. "You didn't even win in the first place."
"I know that now," Odd retorted, "but not when I ordered a hundred red roses for Sam!"
"A hundred?!" William asked.
"Hey, you can't put a price on love!" Odd defended his decision.
"How much did it cost you?" Ulrich asked.
"I said you can't put a price on love!"
"Just answer the question," William cut in, his arms folded, awaiting the answer.
Odd sighed, "Let's just say it's way more than the monthly allowance my parents send me."
Ulrich barely held back his snicker, "Let's hope Sam isn't allergic to roses."
"Yeah, yeah, go on and mock me..." Odd muttered, back to sulking.
"Don't worry about it, Odd," Jérémie gently cut in. "We're more than willing to help you pay it back."
Odd lifted his head, hopeful, "Really?"
"Of course," Aelita agreed with a soft smile. "It was XANA's fault that the lottery bugged up, not yours. But we did try to warn you..."
"Speaking of which," Jérémie reached into his pocket and pulled out Odd's phone, "I believe you're going to need this back."
The Italian boy snatched his phone back, "Thanks..."
Everyone's attention was drawn to the following alert on the screen. It was a window showing the Skidbladnir and its shield levels—which were dropping.
Jérémie began typing away, "I think we have the answer to our question. We've got a huge problem!"
"You don't say..." Odd began.
"Besides your money troubles, Odd!" Jérémie interrupted him. "The attack against the lottery was just a decoy! XANA took the opportunity to inject a virus into the Skid!"
"The Skid?" Ulrich asked, alarmed. "Why? XANA doesn't have access to the network anymore!"
"Without the Skid, we won't be able to reach the Cortex," Aelita explained. "That means we can say goodbye to retrieving the source codes and deactivating towers located there."
That's right. XANA had found a new base within the Cortex's supercomputer. That was the whole reason why they had to modify and then launch Jérémie's Anti-XANA program directly into its supercomputer this time. They couldn't afford to lose the Skid.
"So what?" Odd asked. "If we lose the Skid, it's only temporary, right? Jérémie can just program another one."
"Yeah, in several months," Jérémie hotly retorted, stressed out. "And we can't afford to give so much time to XANA! Or Tyron, for that matter!"
"Right. So what do we do?" Odd wondered. Now, he was more serious after being reminded what was at stake.
"We have no choice," Jérémie answered. "The Skid only has thirty minutes left. We have to head back to Lyoko and free the Skid from its supports. It's the only way to prevent the virus from propagating."
"But we can't be virtualized for another hour," Yumi reminded him. "We just came back from deactivating the tower."
"Not all of us," Aelita replied. "Odd, Jérémie, it's up to you two."
"Right," Jérémie acknowledged, before taking the microphone out of his ear and placing it on the keyboard. He then got to his feet.
"But...but..." Odd stuttered, sadly, "my roses..."
"We'll take care of them," William vowed. "You and Jérémie just focus on the Skid, okay?"
Odd sighed, "Okay. I'm counting on you," before joining Jérémie in the lift. "Man, luck stinks..." he muttered, as the doors closed on them.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
"Virtualization!"
Odd and Jérémie both virtualized side by side in Sector Five's Arena. The passageway opened, and Jérémie ran towards it, with Odd in tow.
"I know you guys said you'd pay for them, but what do I do with the roses if Sam doesn't want them?" Odd wondered.
"Odd!" Jérémie called out to him. The cat glanced up, and found the elf far ahead. "Bigger issues!"
"You don't have to say it twice, you know!" Odd replied, before going faster to catch up.
"Don't worry about your roses," Ulrich cut in from the lab. "Yumi just left to go pick them up. She's also going to see if she can cancel the order for you."
"Exactly," William agreed. "Learn to trust us more. We're your friends. We've got your back."
As he and Jérémie boarded the lift and were taken up to the Skid hangar, Odd sighed yet again. "I guess you guys are right. It just sucks that today's such a bad day. I mean, it started out so well! Kiwi didn't take a leak in Ulrich's bed and I was first in line for breakfast! I felt good, so I knew I had to take advantage of it!"
Jérémie gently pat his shoulder, "We all have those days, Odd. Some days, I feel confident about a program I've written, so I choose to keep going and write more, only for those programs to fail somehow."
"And not just programs," Ulrich added. "It also applies to schoolwork."
"And mixes," Aelita said, at the controls in Jérémie's stead.
"And XANA attacks," William reminded him. "Like this one. We thought the Forest Sector tower was the end goal, only for it to be a cover to attack the Skid."
"And I'm sure Yumi would say the same thing," Jérémie said. "What's important is learning to pick your battles. Is it important to keep going, or is it best to give up and try again after a break?"
Odd hummed, thinking, as they entered the hangar. His attention was quickly stolen by the Skid. "What in the world?"
Jérémie quickly followed his gaze and immediately tensed up. "Oh boy. We really do have a problem," he muttered, before sending a visual back to Aelita's end. His visor was active and already scanning for the issue.
The Skid was outlined with red electricity, constantly fluctuating all over the ship, including the Navskids. The magnetic supports were also lined with red, with the usual white color of the emitters now a bright red.
"This is bad, right?" Odd asked for confirmation. "Red is not a color we want to see here?"
"Of course not," Jérémie replied, not taking his eyes off the Skid. "It can still be saved, but we need to hurry. You need to take up the controls, Odd. We have to free the Skid from its docking. It's where the virus is generating from."
"But...why can't you do it?"
"Because I need to find the source codes of the virus," Jérémie told him, "and you don't have access to the Annex Program." He then ran back to the lift, which lowered out of the hangar, leaving Odd alone.
"But the last time I've driven the Skid was last May," Odd protested, despite stepping onto the center teleporter platform anyway. "That was a whole summer ago. Are you sure I still can? I mean, if I fail, then the Skid's gone, right?"
"Relax, Odd," Aelita told him. "Deep breaths. I'll guide you, okay? And it's like riding a bike. You never forget."
Odd tried her advice, breathing deeply to steady his nerves. "Right. I can do this. Go on, 'Lita. I'm ready."
"Energize."
A white beam of energy appeared in his view, and when it disappeared, he found himself, for a fourth time, back in the main cockpit of the Skid. The controls were all the same, but he still hesitated to press anything out of nervousness, out of fear of messing something up. Furthermore, the light of the cockpit was very dark.
"Remember, we have to release the Skid from its docking, and then take it out of the hangar," Aelita reminded him. "It'll limit the spread of the virus. Supports away."
Said structures dimmed as they moved away. The red color and lightning did not go away, however. Up and out, he told himself. Limit the damage as much as you can—he mentally repeated—that is your task.
"Okay, to turn on the ignition," Odd asked, "I press the button underneath the left joystick, right?"
"Yep."
He pressed said button, and he felt the Skid ascend. He grabbed the joysticks, remembering how to control them like the back of his hand, just as the ship bumped into one of the supports.
"Careful, Odd!" Aelita told him. "Pull the joysticks gently!"
Odd attempted to maintain control, "I'm trying my best! It's actually hard to control the Skid right now!"
"It must be the virus," the pink-ette realized. "All the more reason to take it out of its hangar."
"Right. Limit the damage..." he muttered, before piloting the Skid above the supports and then straightening it out just enough for it to fit the hole in the ceiling.
A sense of anxiety settled in his chest...
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Yumi reached the school grounds just in time to see the flower seller unloading Odd's order of one-hundred roses, all a red color. She ran up to the man.
"Stop, stop! We can't pay for them!" she said. "Please stop unloading the van!"
The seller stopped, "Are you the buyer?"
"Um, no," she replied. "That would be my friend Odd, but..."
The seller only heard the first two words before he continued unloading the flowers. So, only the buyer could cancel the order, and Yumi was not the buyer—that was good to know.
Yumi sighed in defeat, "Fine. I'm here on behalf of Odd. How much does he owe?"
"150 euros."
Not bad, actually, but as Odd said, he was broke and his monthly allowance was less than half that amount. So it was still a problem for him.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
The elevator stopped as the passageway to the Celestial Dome opened up. Jérémie rushed to the end of the platform as quickly as he could.
"I made it, Aelita!" he reported, as he stopped in front of the interface just as it opened. He immediately began digging, thankful that he had access to this data.
"Good. Don't waste any time," she told him.
"You know what to look for, Jer?" Ulrich asked, sounding worried.
"I'll know when I find it," the elf replied, as he dug through various programs, dismissing windows that he didn't need as quickly as they appeared.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Aelita had opened the passageway to the Ice Sector, allowing Odd to fly the Skid through it. Now he was leaning back in the chair, having set the autopilot and cruise control at 800 meters over the Digital Sea. In front of him, all three status screens were open and telling him how bad the situation was; all of the Skid's systems had been affected. According to Aelita, all he could do was wait until Jérémie found the data needed in order to stop the virus.
Out of nowhere, the Skid suddenly descended a few meters, causing Odd's heart to leap out of his chest in fear. Glancing out the window, he could see the red lightning—the virus—now spreading to the ignition.
"Um, guys?" he shakily asked. "Please tell me that you found the solution...or that I'm at least safe enough to dive..."
"The virus has damaged the Skid's shields," Aelita warned him. "You cannot dive right now. If you do, you'll be permanently deleted."
Odd sighed again, this time in defeat, "That's what I thought..."
"Fly over the ground of the sector instead," she suggested. "That way, if you crash, you'll just be devirtualized."
He obeyed, grabbing the joysticks and tilting them to the left. Slowly and still wobbly, the Skid followed. Red lightning was still emitting from it, and knowing this, Odd could only pray that Jérémie was working as fast as he could.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
The lift doors opened and released Yumi into the lab.
"Anything yet, Jérémie?" Aelita was asking.
"Not yet," was his response.
The pink-ette barely held back a growl of frustration. That made Yumi feel better, kind of, knowing that she wasn't the only one who was suffering from bad luck.
Ulrich and William both turned to her. "Well?" her boyfriend asked.
"I hope you like roses, because your room will smell like them for the next week," she told him.
She was unable to cancel the order, or pay the bill herself—though fortunately, the seller said they could pay the bill online. To add insult to injury, Yumi had to carry all one-hundred roses to Odd's shared room with Ulrich by herself.
"Odd owes 150 euros," she finished.
"Sorry," Odd cut in, still piloting the Skid through the Ice Sector. "My bad luck is now affecting you guys too."
"Hey, it's okay," William reassured him, or tried. "Like Jérémie said, these days happen. And we told you we'd be happy to pitch in. 150 euros split evenly between all six of us is 25 each. That's doable."
"I'm still sorry." Odd went quiet, but he wasn't finished confessing his feelings to his friends. "You know, I'm actually really scared..."
"You have every right to be," Aelita calmly told him. "This is a scary situation to be in."
"I-I meant scared of Tyron," the cat revealed. "I mean, yeah, me inside the Skid when it's so unstable is scary too, but...I can't help but keep going back to your father's diary, Aelita. Tyron's reach is vast, and it may be all over the globe by now."
Exactly what cynical-Aelita had said.
"And if that's true, he may already be finding dirt on us," Odd reminded them. "He may already know who and where we are! I agree with you and Jérémie, 'Lita; Tyron is indeed our problem and needs to be stopped. It's just..."
"Scary?" she finished.
"Yeah. I mean, we've never faced an enemy like him before."
"No, we haven't," Aelita replied. "To be honest, Tyron scares me too. After all, it's my family he has such a personal connection with." After this morning's nightmare, she was more sympathetic to Odd constantly questioning Jérémie's choice to focus on Tyron and the Cortex so much. "But it's not healthy to constantly deny that he's a problem to us, Odd. In order to defeat Tyron, we need to be straightforward and unafraid when facing him."
"You're right, Aelita," Odd quietly told her. "I know you are. I just hope none of us have to be a sacrifice or something..."
She was hoping for the same thing. All Aelita wanted was her friends and mother both to survive this.
"We'll figure it out," she said. "Together."
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
"Aelita," Jérémie exclaimed, still typing away at the interface. "I think I found the source codes for the virus!"
"Not a moment too soon," she replied. "Send me the data, quickly! The Skid can't hold out for much longer."
"Already on it."
Just as he was about to send her the data, he suddenly heard a loud noise, causing him to look up from the interface in concern. A large glowing red ball shot out of the outer dome in front of him and stopped a few meters above the platform, opposite Jérémie. It glowed brightly before the light dimmed to reveal none other than the Scyphozoa.
The elf began backing away, despite the short bit of platform behind him, as the large monster floated ever so delicately above the ground. It shot a tentacle out at him, but he managed to dodge it.
"Um...but I'll have some trouble getting through..." he muttered, trying not to let his fear show.
His options here were very limited. They couldn't lose his half of the Keys, but they couldn't lose the Skid either. But if he was quick enough...
He chose to sacrifice himself, turning back to the interface and thus turning his back on the Scyphozoa. It didn't work, though, as before he could press the interface to send the data, the monster's tentacles wrapped around his body, paralyzing him...
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Aelita's entire body was shaking in horror as a window opened on the screen, showing Jérémie's memory count. "Oh no!" At the worst possible time, too! The only person available to free him was Odd, and he had to watch the Skid, and try to limit the damage as much as he could—which all meant that he couldn't!
"What's wrong?" said cat immediately asked. "Problem with the Skid?"
"No, the Scyphozoa's captured Jérémie!" she explained, before getting an idea—creating a clone of any one of them to free him. She began typing in commands to put it into motion, "Focus on securing the Skid, Odd. I'll take care of it."
"What?!" he shrieked, angry at her order. "My friend is in danger and you expect me to just sit back and let him die?!"
On the holomap, the blue triangle that was the Skid began moving back to Sector Five. "Odd! The Skid's malfunctioning!"
"You can't stop me, Aelita!"
No, she couldn't. But she knew the worst case scenario here, and she did not want it to occur.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
All Jérémie could see was red as he felt XANA invade his mind, poking and prodding his memory in order to find the Keys he now held. Since he was paralyzed, his fear of the Scyphozoa no longer mattered—there was nothing he could do, after all. There was no way to break free. He wouldn't even feel the moment his heart stopped beating, the moment he would fade into nothing...
Amidst the red, however, was a brief flash of yellow—an explosion from some kind of torpedo. Then the red faded from his view, and he felt himself collapse to the ground. His vision cleared up within a couple of seconds, and he sat up, remembering where he was.
That's right. He was at the Sector Five interface, looking for the source codes to the virus XANA had injected into the Skid.
"Jérémie, you okay?" he heard Aelita asked. He couldn't ignore the fear evident in her voice.
And he had found those codes. He was about to send them when he was captured.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Remembering that he had been alone, for a reason, he began to wonder how he was freed. "But how...?"
He didn't get a chance to finish his question. His gaze wandered to, of all things, the still-infected Skid. Odd was visible in the cockpit, angry and both his thumbs hovering over the red buttons on each joystick as he closely watched and made sure the Scyphozoa retreated. It was a torpedo that had freed him—a Skid torpedo fired by Odd.
"Odd, did you...?" Risk his life to free him in the damaged Skid? It seemed like it. "That was dangerous, you idiot!" His heart was pounding in fear of losing his friend.
"Lecture him later," Aelita cut in. "I'm bringing you back in now, Jérémie. We can't lose you, Odd, and the Skid all in the same day."
"No, don't!" he immediately told her, turning back to the interface. "I was just about to send you the data!" The screen had gone blank thanks to lack of use, but it didn't take him long to find the data again. "It'll just take a second."
Just then, the Skid short-circuited, as it quickly descended a few meters once again. "Um," Odd said, "I don't think we have a second..."
Jérémie spoke into his bracelet, letting his friend hear him over the comm. system, "Odd, I know how to repair the Skid. You'll need to deactivate the gateway firewall, reconfigure the intrusion detection system, and then defragment the packets and reactivate the new firewall."
"Woah, woah!" Odd protested. "Slow down, Einstein! You know it's all Greek to me!"
"I'll walk you through it," the elf reassured him. "But it has to be you. You're the one in the cockpit."
"I won't get it right!" the cat shook his head, in despair. "The autopilot just went down! The good news is...if I fail, at least today will be my last unlucky day!"
"Odd, you need to pull yourself together," Aelita told him. "You can do it! Just type into the keypad the codes that Jérémie tells you to input."
All that came from Odd's end in response was a frightened whimper.
"Odd, luck and superstitions don't actually exist," Jérémie quietly, calmly told his friend. "It's all mental. Things are going bad for you right now because you're only focusing on the worst case scenarios here. Believe in yourself."
"But the lottery–"
Jérémie cut him off, "–Was XANA's doing, not yours. And yes, you bought roses you didn't know you couldn't afford, but it could've been a lot worse than that."
His friend was right, Odd realized. He didn't get news of the error right away, but the others did. And once they knew something was wrong, they immediately sought to fix it—in this case, deactivating XANA's tower to fix said error. They also had volunteered to help him pay for the roses, unprompted.
"You can do it, Odd," he heard Ulrich say. "We know you can."
Whenever one of them wasn't strong enough, the others would always make up the difference. They were a team until the end. Whatever threats from XANA and from Tyron they would face in the future, they'd deal with them together.
"Right," Odd replied, before cracking his knuckles. "I'm ready, Einstein. Fire away." He would place his life in Jérémie's hands, like he'd always done. The young genius hadn't failed them yet.
"First, eject the Navskids," Aelita told him. "Buy yourself some more time."
Right. Better the Navskids than the main frame.
He pulled down on all four levers. One by one, in quick succession, all four Navskids were released from their docking points on the lower half of the ship's pole. Without any pilots, they just fell to the bottom of the Celestial Dome, and disappeared into the abyss. The main frame, on the other hand, ascended, no longer having any dead weight to hold it down. "Success," he reported.
"You can't make any mistakes, Odd," Jérémie said into his bracelet. "Type in exactly what I tell you. Ready?"
"Ready," the cat replied, before hovering his hand over the keypad on his left. "I just hope I hit the jackpot this time..."
"7XAM873PPV-slash-32."
Odd typed in that exact command. Once he pressed 'enter', and seeing that nothing had gotten worse, he felt more confident. "Faster, faster..."
"Next, 22-dash-43-slash-676SQVT34."
Odd typed in exactly what the blue elf down below told him to. He pressed 'enter' again, and waited. It felt like an eternity, but it was worth it. The status screens went back to maintaining a smooth blue color without being tainted by flashing red.
"D-Did I...?" he asked. "Did I do it?"
Jérémie was smiling down below, but Aelita was the one who answered, "You did it, Odd. You saved the Skid."
Odd looked out the window and saw that the Skid was no longer outlined with red lightning. It was now completely normal. This brought a relieved smile to his face. "I did it!" he cheered, much like he did earlier when he thought he had won the lottery. "I actually did it! Wahoo!"
Down below, Jérémie was shaking his head in amusement. He didn't expect any less from Odd Della Robbia. "Crisis averted, Aelita. I'll send you the source codes to the virus anyway. It'll help us create a patch for the Skid's security system."
"Good thinking," was her reply, as he pressed 'send' on the interface.
All windows were replaced with a loading bar, backed with the emblem of XANA behind it. The bar quickly filled, before the interface shut down.
As Odd piloted the now-stable Skid back to the hangar on Aelita's orders, Jérémie let the pink-ette materialize him before XANA could retaliate.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Later in the day, Odd was sulking in his room, sitting on his bed in the middle of his one-hundred roses. It was only four bouquets of twenty-five flowers each, but it was still a depressing sight to look at. The door was open, but he didn't see who approached his room due to remaining limp on his bed with his head in his hands.
What was he going to do with all these roses? There was no guarantee Sam would even want them. Talk about a serious lapse in judgment...
A knock came to his doorframe, mildly startling him. He looked up to find his five friends standing there with Sam. He sat up a little straighter, "Sam? What are you doing here?"
"Well, five little birdies told me," she snuck a glance back at the others, "that you bought me one-hundred roses for me." She sat down next to him. "And that it was your first thought when you thought you had won the lottery."
"I...I didn't actually win, you know," he muttered, looking back down at his knees.
"I know," she surprised him. He glanced back up at her. There was a fond smile on her face. "But you still thought of me first. Don't think of yourself as a loser, Della Robbia. You're just someone having a bad day."
That's what Jérémie said earlier, that all the luck stuff wasn't real, that it was all mental-based.
"I have to go home now, but I accept your roses. All one-hundred of them." Her smile was sweet as she kissed his cheek. "Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow."
His cheeks now red, he managed a crooked smile as he watched her stand up before grabbing two of the bouquets. Yumi then grabbed the other two, "I'll see you guys tomorrow too."
"You want me to walk you home?" Ulrich asked her.
"No, it's okay," the Japanese girl replied. "I've got Sam for company today."
So Ulrich resorted to just giving her a wave goodbye.
Once the two had left, his morale boosted from that exchange with Sam, Odd happily joined the other four for dinner.
On the way to the cafeteria, out in the courtyard, Jérémie leaned in, "Don't worry about your bill, Odd. I've taken care of it."
Odd turned to the young genius in surprise. "All of it?"
The blonde in blue just smiled. "All of it. The rest of you won't have to pay a single euro. It's my thanks for saving me from the Scyphozoa. You really shouldn't have. It was a very dangerous move on your part, for both you and the Skid."
"I had to, otherwise I would've regretted not trying," Odd was quiet as he replied. "And I would've done the same for any of you. Any stroke of bad luck, no matter how big, is nothing compared to losing a friend." A member of his family, he actually meant to say there.
The teasing he was expecting from the others never came, to his surprise. All he got from them were smiles of agreement.
Regardless, wanting to take the attention off of him and his feelings, Odd changed the subject, "Now, let's hurry before the good food is taken! I'm starving!"
"You always are," his roommate replied.
"Yeah. When are you not hungry?" William asked.
"Hush you! It's the good ol' Della Robbia appetite!"
He was still scared of Tyron, but he could face him now. That man had to be stopped. And they would all defeat him together.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~E~V~O~L~U~T~I~O~N~~~!
Inspiration: CLE's "Friday the 13th"/"Betting on Odd"
Up next: Episode 13, Haunted - "Aelita and Laura get into a fight, and only Jérémie knows why. Meanwhile, XANA tries a dirty, underhanded tactic to protect its tower."
A/N: Chapter Meaning: Friday the 13th is a day in Western culture that is associated with bad luck and superstition. The exact origins of the superstition are unknown, but there are some theories.
-Aelita's nightmare is meant to voice her insecurities and fear about facing Tyron, which Odd later voices aloud. Seeing as how XANA is a computer program, but Tyron is a human being (thus, he's making very conscious decisions according to how he feels and not based on any sort of protocol or coding), it makes sense for our heroes to be so scared of him.
-The tower XANA activates is the same one it uses in "Routine" and the same one Aelita's first materialized in "Code: Earth".
~Evolution concepts~
The canon episode "Friday the 13th" isn't actually a bad one. There were a couple of errors and as well as a plot hole to fill in, but those were easy to correct. That plot hole was, I suppose, why the ones controlling the lottery didn't do anything. Here, it's because of XANA's computer bug not letting them. I also changed Odd's worries to the possibilities surrounding Tyron from issues with Sam. I didn't change much of the overall plot; I just gave Odd more depth than what the episode gave him.
That being said, I do have to address the idea of Laura going to Lyoko. In this story, Laura's not part of the group at this point, but in the episode, Aelita suddenly knows how to get rid of the virus after spending most of the episode so frustrated that she demands Laura's help, which Ulrich and William point out as out of character for Aelita. It comes across as shallow, that she knows how to get rid of the virus but was holding back for some reason until Jérémie got the idea to send Laura to Lyoko to work on the Skid directly (correct me if I'm wrong, though). However, again, Laura's not part of the group in this story (yet), so I had to change how they found the solution. Here, Jérémie finds it through the interface via the virus's source codes, which makes a lot more sense.
Someone pointed out that Odd being unable to control the Skid very well could be a side-effect of the virus, as when the virus is deactivated, he has perfect control. It's not confirmed in the episode, but here, that is the case.