Chapter 26 The Secrets of the Fifth Sector (Exploration)
A.N. – So, this chapter will shift between A and Aelita to discover both points of sector five. Let's begin!
Short Summary – With the new discovery of sector five, the group decides to investigate it further, while A looks for something or someone else.
Disclaimer – I do not own Code Lyoko or the story idea. I am just a fan of the show, and the idea was submitted by James Marshall.
In the ice sector, A is defending Aelita with Yumi so Aelita can deactivate the tower. Yumi is hit in the shoulder and gets down to one knee. "Yumi, you only got 10 life points left!" Jeremy warns her.
"I'm still here" Yumi responds.
A glances back and sees Aelita enter the tower. "And Aelita is in the tower." There are two krabs left in front of them. A runs at them and goes under one. "Energy field!" She covers her face as the krab blows up. Yumi runs at the second one and jumps into the air before throwing her fan, destroying the last one.
"Nice work girls. I'm running the devirtualizations process." The three reappear in the scanner room after another successful mission. They go up the elevator to rejoin the group. When the door opens, the three boys are in the middle of talking about something. It seems to be Aelita's anti-virus. "And I don't know how to create an anti-virus. I mean, just not yet."
"Maybe we should explore that new mysterious sector? We need to know what's there so we can plan out our next missions when Xana's not attacking us" Aelita suggests.
"Sector 5? But we don't know what's in it!"
"That's the point of an exploration mission. To see and explore" A says. She already knows what's in there, but she has other interests with this new sector.
"Yeah all four of us will go" Ulrich says.
"You mean all five of us" Aelita interjects.
"No, all four of you" A adds.
"Good idea A. Aelita shouldn't go with the Scyphozoa around" Jeremy congratulates her.
"No, Aelita will go, but I'm opting out of this mission."
"We might need you" Odd pleas to her.
"I know, but I'm not ready to go back there yet" A says giving herself an alibi. She needed one so she could explore the restricted area of sector five alone.
"Ok then. Tomorrow night, exploration" Jeremy agrees, but not fully on board with risking Aelita.
A was in her private haven in the mountain sector. She was planning out her route to find her father. Since he was a prisoner of Xana, he would have no interest in protecting or guarding him. And since Xana would be preoccupied with trying to get the keys, it would be the perfect opportunity to get the conversation she never had. Since it was night, A decided to take this opportunity to get the fifth sector. She went to a way tower and activated a program that would bring the sphere to the edge of the mountain sector. A was there and the sphere showed up on time and she was whisked away to sector five.
Aelita's Point of View
Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich were in the scanners waiting to be virtualized. Yumi was not there because her parents started to get suspicious of her late-night activities. "I'm sending you to the forest sector. Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Odd. Transfer Aelita. Scanner Ulrich. Scanner Odd. Scanner Aelita. Virtualization." The three of them were all virtualized to the forest sector. "You need to head to the edge of the sector. Here come your vehicles."
A's Point of View
The transporter opened and A was in the arena. The door opened to the core zone. A knew that she had to hit the button before the countdown ended. She also deactivated Jeremy being able to know she was there. She remembered that during a private mission with Odd, Xana tried to destroy the core, but after deactivating the countdown, Jeremy was connected to sector five's holomap. She entered the core zone and found the key up high. She activated her wings and flew up. A laser flew past her, and she saw a creeper guarding it. The creeper fired at her a few more times and she dodged out of the way. "Energy field!" The creeper was destroyed, and she activated the key. The wall opened up and A entered the restricted area.
Aelita's Point of View
The three reached the edge of the sector. "Jeremy, we're here" Aelita tells him.
"Okay, I'm entering the code Scipio," Jeremy says as the transporter arrives, and they are taken away to the fifth sector. The transporter opens up and the three are in the arena. "Happy campers?"
"I'm starting to get use to these little trips" Ulrich comments.
"Not me. I shouldn't have had fifth desert at lunch" Odd adds.
The wall opens and the three of them rush off to the core zone.
A's Point of View
A was now in what Xana used as a private sanctuary. It was more of an open space with pulses running through the circuits. Xana appeared behind A and picked her up from behind. "Exactly what are you doing here?"
"I'm came to see your prisoner" A told him.
"He is not seeing visitors at this time." Suddenly an alert came on showing the warriors there. "Damn. We'll settle this later. I got more urgent matters to deal with."
"Finally. I'm coming to see you dad." A rushed off before Xana could return.
Aelita's Point of View
The three emerge in a zone different from the last time they were. "I'm guessing that the core zone changes each time you visit it" Jeremy tells them.
"That's a great help for finding our way around" Odd comments.
"Like A said, this is the point of an exploration mission. To see and explore" Ulrich tells him.
"I just wish she was here. I wonder what was so important that she had to pull out" Aelita wonders.
"I don't know. Be careful, you two creepers on your tail" Jeremy informs them.
A's Point of View
A walked slowly down a corridor and to a large door at the end of it. She didn't know where her father was being kept, but if she was in Xana's private sanctuary, she knew she had to be close. She walked up to the door, and it remained closed. She placed her hands on the door, and it opened upon her touch. She entered the new room and came to a box with glowing spheres. A remembered this is what her father was before he turned into a glowing sphere.
"Hello, are you Franz Hopper?" A asked.
"Who wants to know?" He responded.
"It may be hard to understand now, but it's your daughter, Aelita."
Aelita's Point of View
Two creepers appear on a structure above them. Odd fires multiple arrows but misses. "That way," Ulrich says as he points to a passage in front of them. "Come on." They run and enter a room similar to the one they were just in. "Haven't we been through here?"
"How should I know? Everything looks the same in this place" Odd replies.
Aelita stops at a path. "This way" she enters and is immediately shot back by a creeper.
"Wow! Forty life points in one go. Those creepers sure are powerful" Jeremy comments on the damage Aelita took.
Odd shoots an arrow, destroying the creeper. "They're powerful, and really ugly too" Odd adds.
"Jeremy, any ideas?" Ulrich asks.
"No, but I got news for you. You're in a labyrinth. Make a left and mark it and if it's marked, make a right" Jeremy directs them as he tries to get them unstuck.
They see a bright light coming from a distant doorway, thinking they found a way out, but instead they find an empty room with no straightforward way to go. "Jeremy, can you see anything from your end?" Odd asks, clearly stumped on where to go.
"So, you need me again huh?" Jeremy checks and spots a mechanism on a wall. "Go back to where you were. I spotted a mechanism on the wall."
They turn back and see a mechanism in the sign of Xana. "There!" Aelita says pointing to it.
"Let me at it" Odd says as he climbs up the wall. The countdown nears zero and Odd is hit by a creeper before he can hit the key, getting devirtualized.
"NO!" Ulrich screams before another creeper appears, devirtualizing him. Unfortunately, at this time, the countdown ends and Aelita is trapped within the walls.
Some time passes before Jeremy talks to Aelita. "Aelita, Odd and Ulrich didn't come back from sector five."
"What? Are they lost?"
"For the moment they are."
"So, there's no materialization from sector five?"
"Sure, there is…once I find the right program. If only we had A. She probably knows where or what it is."
"I'm pretty sure you can find it."
"Yeah but finding a materialization program is like trying to find your anti-virus. Don't worry, I'm gonna do the impossible."
A's Point of View
"Impossible. You can't my little girl. You look so much older then her" Franz tells A.
"I am though. Ask me something that only you and I would know" A tells him, trying to gain his trust.
"Alright then. What sector did you and I virtualize on when we escaped?"
"I can tell you a lot more. We virtualized in the forest sector. I hid in the tower while you tried to convince Xana to live with him in peace. But Xana rejected you and tried to destroy you and you shut down the supercomputer hoping to save the world from his wrath."
"Only my daughter would know of that day."
"What happened after that?"
"I was successful at shutting down the supercomputer. But one day, I found myself reawaken. Next thing I know, Xana appears and kidnaps me, putting me in this cell. And just recently, this jellyfish like creature just took my half of the keys. You hold the other half. You must not let Xana obtain them!"
"I'm sorry, but I don't hold the keys anymore."
"Then who are you?"
Aelita's Point of View
Aelita feels around the walls in the sector, looking for an exit. Suddenly she hears a sound. "Jeremy, you hear that?"
"It's the scyphozoa. It's coming for you. Don't worry. Yumi's on the way!" Aelita presses her back against the wall.
A's Point of View
"I come from a very distant future that is destroyed because…because…of you!" A tells him the horrifying truth.
"Me?! What did I do?" Franz replies, since he couldn't do anything in his current situation.
"Ok, it was partly your fault. Listen, two years or so from now, Xana will be defeated, but at a cost…of your life. Twenty years or so from this event, I've been having nightmares of losing you, so I though if I could end Xana and free you before he could get the keys, I could have a brighter future. I was successful, but I returned to find humanity destroyed. You explained that you tried to create a new AI, better than Xana, but lost control of it, which led to the extinction event. You told me to make sure you die to ensure that Xana dies."
"I can't sacrifice myself now. Xana has me trapped."
"I know, it won't be now, but when the time comes, you'll know. Once this is done, only then can I return to my time. I only came here, because I want to have some memory of talking to you one last time."
"I know my darling. Dealing with Xana will always take a toll. Where is my current daughter?"
"Somewhere here…on this sector," A has a realization what Xana meant. "He is making an attempt to steal the keys!"
"I thought you said you didn't have the keys?"
"My current self does. This is too early."
"What do you mean?"
"Xana does escape, but it needs to happen at the exact time as it did before. Listen, I got to go. If you ever speak to the warriors, don't tell them anything about this. They have to find out or I have to tell them."
"Go my darling, and good luck in your quest."
"Goodbye dad."
Aelita's Point of View
The scyphozoa arrives. Soon after the wall closes separating Aelita from the scyphozoa.
A's Point of View
"Damn it!" Xana says as A returns.
"Your monster failed again?" A asks.
"Those 'friends' of yours are becoming a real thorn in my side."
"Well, get used to it, because they ain't going away."
"We'll see about that" Xana sounded a little suspicious at this statement. But then again, the warriors are probably that good that he won't be able to kill them.
Aelita's Point of View
Aelita pops up at a opening and sees Yumi on an elevator. "Yumi!" She calls out as Yumi passes her. Yumi grabs her on the next pass. "Where are you taking me?"
"I have no idea," Yumi responds as the elevator stops and the wall opens up to the celestial dome. "There's an interface."
"I can get into it. Incredible. This interface holds access to Xana's own data! Sector five is where Xana lives!"
"Try and find Ulrich and Odd's rematerialization codes" Jeremy instructs here.
"Xana's not a very good housekeeper. There are some weird things hanging around this place," Yumi comments as she sees something about to pop out of the walls. "Jeremy, I'm gonna need the Overwing."
"Uh oh, bad news. While Aelita is working on the interface, I can't do anything on my end."
"I think I found it. I'm transmitting it to you" Aelita reports. At this time, three flying mantas appear and head towards the girls.
"Okay, I'm taking over again." Jeremy quickly programs an Overwing as the mantas begin to fire at the girls.
They both hop on and fly away from the platform. "There are some tunnels" Aelita point out as four data streams extend to four corners of the dome.
"They're closed" Yumi adds.
"Let's see," Jeremy starts to work on opening one of them. "Hey, it works."
One of the tunnels opens and Yumi heads towards it. She is shot off and devirtualized and Aelita navigates between the mantas and into the tunnel, reappearing a mountain sector way tower. She navigates to another tower and is brought back, and Jeremy tries to bring back Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd.
Jeremy and Aelita wait patiently at the scanners to see if the three of them come back. They all open and all three of them are successfully rematerialized. At this time, A also arrives.
"Hey, guys. What did I miss?" She asks.
"Just a great success and scare" Jeremy says.
A's Point of View
The six of them arrive in the elevator finding Jim, Mr. Delmas, Kiwi, and Yumi's parents waiting for them.
"Yumi, what are you doing here?" Her father asks.
"I believe you all have some explaining to do. Especially the adult along with them" Mr. Delmas states.
"Okay, this may look bad" A states. She quickly hits the button as Jim slips in the elevator on time.
"Ah ha! You two are trying to outsmart me huh?" Jim comments, thinking he's trapped them. The elevator opens into the lab and Jim is stunned by the sight. "What the? Belpois, what-what is this place?"
"Nothing rings a bell Jim. Funny you've been here before" Jeremy says.
"And just like last time, you'll forget everything too" A adds with a smile.
"Return to the past now!"
Everything is engulfed in white, and time is reset to this morning.
A meets privately with Yumi to discuss her parents before school begins. "So, what did you tell them?"
"I told them I'm in love" Yumi responds.
"And are you?" A comments on the past.
"Maybe, but with William now-"
"Don't tell me you're falling for him now."
"No, it's just he wants me, and he knows who the other one is so it's kind of complicated."
"Try to be kind to him. You never know. He may be your greatest ally one day."
A walks back.
"An ally? Huh? Maybe…" Yumi ponders that for a second before heading off to class.
A.N. – A little foreshadowing, but only me and the submitter knows what's gonna happen, but you're always welcome to try and figure it out. I'll just PM you and tell you how right or wrong you are. Also, Aelita had a conversation with her father. Next time, Xana's power grows, and A's secret becomes clearer to him. How? Only one way to find out! PM me with story ideas if you have any! Don't forget to review with questions or comments! I will respond! As always, till next time! See ya! -lyokowarrior97