Chapter 62 Race Against Time (A Lack of Goodwill)
A.N. – So, I decided to skip the next two episodes due to the '90% carbon copy, 10% new content' thing. It's a situation where I don't want to write a rewriting of an entire episode, with only the A fight being different. There will be a bonus chapter after this story concludes with all the cut content that would have been new.
Short Summary – After discovering the second replica on the net, the group heads there to stop Xana and A's plans. But Xana has a different plan that could cause problems for all the warriors.
Disclaimer – I do not own Code Lyoko or the story idea. I am only a fan of the show, and the idea was submitted by James Marshall.
Aelita's Point of View
The group was at lunch and Aelita was typing on her laptop. She didn't have time to record the recent past two mission as she was rushing this morning.
The recent past two missions were pretty hectic. We blew up our first replica, and Odd infused himself with his dog Kiwi. We were able to save him, but it seems with one problem, a new one arises to halt our progress on the current one. It makes saving A a little more difficult. We don't know how many replicas Xana has made, or which one A is. Hopefully, she'll come to her senses soon and she'll see that she is on the wrong side. We need her here now more than ever.
Aelita shut down her laptop and closed it to finish eating. "Hey Aelita," Odd calls out to her. "Want to test your instincts?"
"Why? Think you can beat me?" Aelita replies.
"Why not? I did disable the shield generator and destroy the supercomputer for the last replica."
"That's not instincts ok. And considering you fought your way through ten cybernetic spiders, I call it a little luck" Ulrich says.
"I don't believe in luck. It was all skill."
"Let's test your skill then" Aelita challenges him.
Odd put a meatball on his fork. He hits the fork, and the meatball goes flying and he catches it. "See, all skill."
"Alright, now admire my Aelita like skill." Aelita does the same thing as Odd but uses an orange. And instead of catching it, it goes flying and lands in Sissi's food, splashing all over her.
"Who did that?!" She demands to everyone, Nicolas giggling. Everyone except Aelita laughs.
"You win hands down! Even at the top of my form, I can never match that!" Odd comments.
Jim walks over and immediately accuses Odd of doing in "So Della Robbia, you think doing something idiotic is funny? Well, we'll see if your laughing after eight hours of detention! Four for the result and four for the dangerous stunt. Imagine if it was a fork or glass. You could've seriously hurt someone. Try that again and I'll get you suspended!"
"Jim, you're wrong. It was me" William speaks up.
"Alright. Come with me Dunbar. We are gonna have a chat about your behavior with the principal" William walks away with Jim.
"Why did William take the fall for me?" Odd asks.
"Maybe he's trying to be a good friend. He knows about your past and we can't risk losing you" Yumi answers.
Outside, Jeremy is explaining the modifications he made. "I did improve the superscan. Now we can find other replicas out there. And with a little luck, it might pinpoint the one A is on."
"So, we just hunt until we find her?" Ulrich asks.
"That's the plan. Like I said, she isn't linked to Xana through mind control. If we find which replica she is in, we can then move on rescuing her. Speaking of, I already found a second one."
"Fantastic! When do we start?' Odd asks.
"Tonight."
"Without William?" Yumi asks.
"Without him. I know he wants to be part of us, but he knows the risk he's taking." They all look over to see Jim still yelling at William.
William's Point of View
William is walking back to his room after Jim's punishment of writing. Jeremy informed him of their mission, and he texted back 'Good luck.' He was about to enter when Milly spoke up. "William? We're doing a story on school punishment for the Kadic News. Do you think Jim throws his weight around too much?"
"No, he's a teacher and punishment comes with that job." William was wondering why they were questioning him. Everyone gets punished, but they took a special interest in him.
"Well, we heard your friend excluded you of something. Do you know what it is?"
William got a concerned look on his face. They must have been eavesdropping at some point. "No. I'll just ask Jeremy about it later. I'm sure it wasn't important if they don't need me."
"Then what's this superscan, replicas, A, and Xana? Are they all code words for some secret project?"
"Yeah and should discard all that you heard. That is top secret information." William tried to close the door, but Milly stopped it with her foot.
"Then maybe you can tell us a little about what they're working on for a small article?"
Aelita's Point of View
Aelita enters the replica and ascends to the top to see a replica of the desert sector. "We're here Jeremy. It's a copy of the desert sector."
"Ok, I see a tower. Dock it and we can begin the teleportation" Jeremy tells her.
Aelita flies over and docks.
Jeremy's Point of View
Jeremy was about to teleport Ulrich and Aelita when William calls. "William, give me a minute. I got to send Aelita and Ulrich to the supercomputer."
"Well, I got two nosy people who won't leave me alone. Apparently, they were eavesdropping earlier" William states.
"Oh rats. You know what, tell them. After the mission is done, I'll launch a return in time, and they'll forget everything."
"And increase Xana's power?"
"It's a risk have to take."
William's Point of View
"Xana? Who's this Xana?" Tamiya asks.
"A super dangerous AI. You don't notice because evetime he causes some damage we make sure you don't remember" William answers.
"So, are you some kind of aliens or something?" Milly asks.
"No, we're normal, just like you. We just live abnormal lives."
"And what's A stand for."
"Now what, a who. And let's just say she's Xana's willing servant and our biggest threat."
"If she's the threat, then why don't you focus on stopping her instead of Xana?"
"Because defeating Xana will free her."
"Is she trapped?"
"We don't know. We just assume if Xana doesn't exist, she'll have no choice but to come back to us."
"And where is this A?"
"We don't know. That what our ship, the Skidbladnir, is for. Hunting her and Xana down on the network."
"So, what are you part of the web?"
"Well, not really. But we do travel across the world because of it."
"Listen, this all sounds fake. I think you're friends are hiding something big and if we're gonna believe you, we're gonna need proof."
"You're lucky, I'll show you. But if things get bad, you leave immediately! Got me?"
A's Point of View
A was in the volcano replica awaiting her departure. "Are you ready?" Xana asks.
"Yeah. Jeremy will be no problem for me to handle. He's not nearly as skilled as the Jermey from my time" A responds.
"Dispose of him and the supercomputer and we will seal the fate of the Lyoko Warriors."
A opened her Lyoko door and entered it exiting in the supercalculator room. What she didn't know was that her appearance also triggered a motion sensor that Jeremy installed, and he knew she was there. She watched as the machine rose. The elevator opened up behind her.
"Welcome back A. But I didn't think it would be under Xana's orders" Jeremy said as she turned around.
"Nice to see you too. Happy to see me?" A asks.
"Not this time." He swings a crowbar, which A easily grabs.
"A crowbar? That's the best you can do. Very disappointed." A then flings him over her head and into the wall behind her. She smiles evilly as Jeremy slams against it. "This is the end Jeremy. Such a shame. You and me were the perfect couple in the future, despite no children."
"What?"
"You heard me. For some unknown reason, I was unable to bear a child. Most guys would find that a dealbreaker, but you stuck with me." She then picks him up by the collar. "But now, it's time I put an end to this machine of horribleness."
"What's Xana offering you A? Whatever it is, he won't do it. Once he's gotten rid of us, he'll just betray you."
"You forget, I know the past. And my mission is continuing just as I want it to."
The elevator opens to reveal William, Milly, and Tamiya. "Hey, Jeremy, I couldn't…A!? Hey let him go!" William charges her and she releases Jeremy. He crawls near the elevator.
"Come back to save your friends? Weird, you were in this situation last time."
"The tables have turned now. I'm fighting against Xana instead of with him."
"Jeremy, who's that girl!?" Milly asks.
"We call her A. She is actually a future version of Aelita," Jeremy responds. He tries to move but cries out in pain. "Listen, you two have to tell the others to get back here. We need everyone to fight A."
"Why?"
"Because she is strongest one that we have ever fought. I don't know if William can handle her."
"I'm outta here" Tamiya says as she backs away in fear. She doesn't want to be anywhere near what's happening before her eyes.
William is able to get a hold of A and throw her in the elevator. He quickly presses the button. And the door closes on her.
"Plan B. Screw up everything from the source" A says as she enters the code for the lab.
The door opens and A walks in. Tamiya has a look of fear in her face. "Beat it, unless you want to experience a world of pain." She quickly gets up and leaves to the corner. She sits down and starts by disabling the scanners. The elevator reopens with only William inside.
"Don't think you got rid of me that easily A" William comments.
"Lucky for you, you're not the clone, so I can't disintegrate you. No matter, I'll finish you. But first-" She disables the cooling chamber, making danger for Jeremy and Milly.
"What did you do?"
"Oh, just a little self-destruct manual program when the cooling chamber is deactivated."
"What?!"
She laughs at his remark. "Guess the last thing Jeremy and that twerp will see will be an explosion to the afterlife."
"You'll kill all of us!"
"Even better, six for the price of one old, abandoned factory. And a few innocents while we're at it."
"Not if I have anything to say about it." William lands a punch to her face, pushing her back. "I normally won't lay a hand on a lady, but I don't think you qualify."
A gets up and wipes the blood from under nose. "Blood? Impressive. Out of all my opponents, you actually managed to hurt me." A looks over and sees the others, all devirtualized. "I don't have time for this nonsense. We'll settle this next time."
She opens her Lyoko door and returns to the volcano replica.
William's Point of View
William tries to go after her, but the door closes before he can reach her. He pounds the ground in frustration. The others arrive to see him in grief.
Aelita's Point of View
"Where's A?" Aelita asks.
"She used her Lyoko door to return to Lyoko. I wanted to stop her, but I couldn't" William responds.
"Don't beat yourself up." Aelita then tuns over to the computer and reactivates the colling system. "Try to blow us all up huh. Looks like I managed to stop it just in time."
The gang is getting interviewed by Milly and Tamiya in the lab. "How long have you been fighting against Xana?" Milly has a little interview with Jeremy.
"We began almost two years ago," Jeremy answers her.
"And does this happen a lot?" Tamiya asks next.
"Are you kidding?" Odd answers as Tamiya tuns the camera to him. "It happens all the time! We fight Xana almost every day!"
"Wow! This has gotta be the best scoop we've ever had!" Milly writes this down.
"Hold on a sec. Let me tell you one last secret" Jeremy tells them as the others smile in amusement.
"Oh great, let's hear it!"
"The reason you're not gonna remember any of this is…return to the past now!" he taps the button and time is reversed.
"So A can now use her Lyoko door to go to Earth from the network. That means she isn't restricted" Aelita says.
"Yeah, well it just means stopping Xana is our top priority. A doing that, just confirmed if Xana can do what he wants to do, A will launch a worldwide attack," Jeremy says. "Uh Aelita, can I talk to you privately?" Jeremy whispers to her.
"Yeah." The two step outside behind the cafeteria. "Back there, when I was fighting A, she revealed that you are unable to bear a child."
"And you believe her?"
"I don't know what to believe. I want to say its false and move on, but then I can't live with the fact till we find out together. Just thought it was important." He grabs her hand.
"Well its not. For right, I don't trust A or anything she say. When she comes back, we'll confront her about everything. But for right now, don't believe she says!"
Aelita runs away, nearly in tears. She was sad by the revelation, but also angry that A would resort to nasty tricks to throw them off. She was an enemy, and Aelita would need to start fighting her like one.
A.N. – More questions arise. I am planning on one big reveal either in Down to Earth or Fight to the Finish. Don't know which one yet. Still too early. Next chapter will NOT be skipped. This is a big one for both Aelita's. It reveals Xana's grand plan and reveals a character from season 2 that we didn't see after The Key. That is all next time though. PM me with story ideas! Review with questions or comments! I will respond! As always, till next time! See ya! -lyokowarrior97