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
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
"Odd's parents come for a visit, one that Odd seems to dread, despite him being the one who invited them over."
Episode 54: Family Matters
(Based on Bad Connection & The Lake)
The Lyokowarriors knew it was going to be, in the very least, an interesting day when Ulrich found himself pounding on the door to his own dorm room, with damp hair from his morning shower and wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.
"Come on, Odd!" the brunette angrily demanded. "Knock it off and open this door right now!"
For some reason, Odd had locked him out and was refusing to respond to him.
"Stern!" Someone called out to him in a faux-deep voice. Ulrich turned and smiled when he saw Jérémie walking up to him. "What do you think you're going walking around half naked?"
At the blonde's sides were William, Yumi, and Aelita, all of whom where both shading their eyes and looking in different directions.
"Ha ha, very funny," Ulrich replied, leaning against his door. "That's a pretty awful imitation of Delmas."
Jérémie pouted, "That wasn't Delmas. It was Jim..." Yumi and Aelita failed to disguise their resulting giggles.
"But he's right," William cut in. "What are you dressed like that for?"
Ulrich turned back to his door, which was still closed and locked. "I've been stuck out here for fifteen minutes. Odd refuses to open up."
Aelita raised an eyebrow, "How come?" That wasn't normal behavior concerning her cousin.
The brunette shrugged, "No idea. He won't even answer me."
"Have you tried calling him?" Yumi asked, reaching into her pocket where her phone was.
"Does it look like I have my phone on me right now?" Ulrich motioned to his state of dress—which was only a towel.
Yumi was in the midst of pulling out her phone when Jérémie cut in, "No need. I'll handle this." He then pounded a fist against the door. "Odd, if you don't open up this door right now, you can forget about my portion of meatballs!"
"Nice try," Ulrich frowned, "but it's not gonna work."
Just as he said this, there were footsteps on the other side of the door, before the door unlocked.
Jérémie beamed, "Never fails." He promptly opened the door. "After you, sir."
Ulrich went inside, and the other four followed suit. They found Odd sitting on his bed with his knees up to his chest and an annoyed expression on his face. He was sulking, which didn't normally happen. Odd was always the upbeat one, the optimist, the jokester. So seeing him like this was both strange and concerning.
"What's the matter, Odd?" Jérémie asked, deciding to just take the plunge. "Is there a problem with your film?"
Today was a scheduled screening for Odd's latest short film. It was one that he had been working on for the past two months, and he was very proud of the final result. Last night at dinner, he'd been practically bouncing off the walls with excitement because he couldn't wait for everyone to see it.
"Not really," Odd replied, his voice soft to convey his conflicted emotions. "I'm still proud of it and it's not the first time that a film of mine will be screened for an audience of ignoramuses."
"So then, what's the problem?" Aelita asked, her expression full of concern.
"My parents are in town," he quietly revealed, "and they're coming to see my film. I invited them last week so we could have one big heart-to-heart afterwards."
Translation: He invited his parents to Kadic so that he could finally tell them how he really felt about them and their family situation.
"That's really nice of them to come," Yumi gently offered, aware of those aforementioned feelings.
Odd sighed, "I guess." He didn't sound very convinced.
The others exchanged worried glances, as Ulrich sat down next to Odd, before clearing his throat and leaned in close, "You didn't have a fight with them since then, did you?"
"No, I'm just..." Odd stood up and wandering towards one of the two windows, "having second thoughts."
Oh. That made a lot of sense. He also had every right to have those second thoughts, because there was the possibility that they would react very poorly, or not believe him.
"Hold on," William interrupted, mostly out of confusion. "I think I missed an episode. What's the deal with your family? I mean, you didn't have a fight with them and you also invited them to the screening today. So why the need for a 'heart-to-heart'?"
Odd was leaning against his desk as he explained, "A weird relationship problem. My parents are always busy, so I was practically raised by my sisters. But that's not all, good buddy. Teenagers are always having conflicts with their parents. Except for one: me. My parents are always cool, kind, attentive, supportive, and understanding."
"Bummer," William cut in. "You know, most kids would trade theirs for yours any time."
"I know that," Odd replied as he turned his back to his friends, "but it's not as great as it sounds. Yes, they never fight with me, but they never punish me either. Whatever mistake I make, they overlook it. Willingly." He finished by leaning his hands on his desk.
"Oh," William understood his friend's pain now. "So, your parents are the overly positive type."
"Yeah." Odd added, "I'm not saying I want parents like Ulrich's. I'm grateful I don't have to go through that." Ulrich nodded in agreement; he'd never subject anyone else to his home life. "I'm also grateful that I even have parents at all." Here, Jérémie offered a sad smile. "I'm just saying I want...normal ones, like Aelita's."
"We understand, cuz," said pink-ette shot him a reassuring smile. "No parent is perfect. They're human, too. Maybe keep that in mind as you tell them, and give them time to process what you're telling them."
"Yeah," Jérémie agreed. "Sometimes, hearing the truth can be hard." And he was speaking from personal experience.
"Their response also depends on what kind of people they are," Yumi added. "My parents' arguments are dying down now, thanks to their couples' therapy sessions, and while they keep Hiroki and I out of their fights as best they can, they won't sugarcoat anything if there's a problem. Some parents will sugarcoat no matter what, while other parents don't care and will just continue fighting."
Ulrich cut in, "Also keep in mind their track records. If they have a history of reacting a certain way, you have every right to change your mind if you think you'll be ignored or you think it will do more harm than good."
"And if you do lose confidence, Odd," William told him, "then it's okay. Just focus on your film."
"Thanks, guys," Odd replied with a soft smile. "Your advice means a lot." His smile faded. "But with my family, things are never that simple."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
One hour later, Ulrich was dressed for the day, and Sam had joined them in greeting Odd's parents outside of the administrative building.
"Cheer up, Odd," said brunette told his roommate as they were waiting. "With a little luck, they'll hate your film."
"Yeah, that would be too good to be true..." Odd muttered.
But Sam's reaction was different, "Why would Odd's parents hating his film be a good thing?" and unexpected. "Isn't the goal here for them to like it?"
Yumi's eyes widened before she leaned in and whispered in Odd's ear, "Sam doesn't know about your parents?"
"No," the crazy-haired blonde whispered back. "All I told her was that they had room to improve."
"You should tell her," the Japanese girl shot back in a low voice.
He would have—Sam deserved to know—if it hadn't been for a black car pulling up into the nearby parking lot in that moment. A largely-built man with soft brunette hair and tattoos on his arms climbed out of the driver seat, and Odd's foul mood immediately returned upon laying eyes on him. It didn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together here.
This was Robert Della Robbia, Odd's father.
"How's it going, kiddo?" the man asked, a bright smile on his face. On the passenger side, out stepped a woman with violet hair. Knowing who her sister was (who had pink hair), this could only be Marguerite Della Robbia, Odd's mother.
"Couldn't be better," Odd muttered, ignoring Sam's elbow in his side.
Robert laughed and pointed finger guns at his son, before he and his wife then walked over to Odd. Marguerite kissed his forehead.
"Odd, it's really so good to see you," Robert said, winking. He was clearly trying to be the 'cool' dad. Was he succeeding? It was a little hard to tell.
"And you look wonderful," Marguerite added. "You've still got that great appetite, don't you?"
Odd didn't respond, his frown indicating his mood.
Robert then turned to the pink-ette standing with the others, "Hey there, Aelita! It's good to see you! How are you?!"
Aelita returned his broad smile with one of her own, "I'm doing great. Thank you."
"And these must be your guys' friends," Robert addressed the other four, beside the pink-ette. "Odd talks a lot about you all!"
Jérémie smiled, "How do you do?"
"Hello," Yumi greeted. "It's nice to meet you both."
"Hello," William added.
"Uh, hello," Ulrich said. Each of them bowed their head in tandem with their respective greeting.
Marguerite turned to the dark-skinned girl at Odd's side. "And you must be Samantha, Odd's pen pal. He won't shut up about you."
Odd's face turned a bright red, as Sam turned to him with a knowing smirk, "You don't say." She turned back to his parents. "It's very nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Della Robbia."
"Oh, please," Marguerite replied, "call us Robert and Marguerite. You'll need to if you're going to marry into the family."
"M-Marry?" Sam stuttered, her cheeks hot. "But Odd and I aren't..."
"Not yet, anyway," Robert told her. "Whatever timeline you two are on, you have our blessing."
"That's, uh...that's good to know," Sam muttered, her blush making her emotions obvious.
Marguerite addressed everyone, "We're really delighted to meet all of you at last." She held up a large, gift-wrapped box, "Here, son, this is a present for you. You can wear it to the screening. Why don't you try it on?"
His parents loved Sam, because of course they did. But Sam didn't know what he had to deal with his whole life, and this was the closest to a complete family that she'd ever had. Could he really stand to tear that down? She was so happy, being greeted so warmly.
No. No, he couldn't do it. He couldn't. Why did he invite his parents here again? He shouldn't have bothered. Nothing would ever change. He had to leave. Right now.
"Okay, uh...but later," he muttered. "I'm really much too busy right now."
He then turned tail and ran inside the administrative building. His parents both smiled as his father raised an eyebrow. The Lyokowarriors, however, all shared concerned glances with each other.
Sam picked up on Odd's mood too. "Um, I'll go and see if he needs any help." She offered a reassuring smile, before following him inside the building.
"Guess he's a little uptight because of the screening," Robert shrugged.
"That's understandable," Marguerite agreed. "After all, it is a premiere!"
The others were concerned. Did Robert and Marguerite really not pick up their son's mood there? Were they not curious of how closed off he was around them? Or the why?
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jean-Pierre Delmas had dealt with his fair share of parents, most normal but some exhausting. These two sitting in front of him right now—Robert and Marguerite Della Robbia, Odd's parents—were taking 'exhausting' to a whole new level, though.
"You are absolutely right, of course," the headmaster was telling them. "Uh, Odd is undeniably talented. He's very creative, intelligent, he participates orally in class, but–"
Robert interrupted, "It's true. He is intelligent! You know, when he was barely two years old, he managed to completely take apart his uncle's stereo!"
"And I'm sure that if he'd been four at the time," Marguerite added, "he would've been able to put it back together again!"
Jean-Pierre didn't believe that for a minute. "Is that so? Well, I have to be quite an electronics buff myself, and uh...well, I..." He was getting off topic, so he cleared his throat, "Anyway, as I was saying, your son has many fine qualities, but–"
He was interrupted again, this time by Marguerite, "Oh, you needn't tell us that! He's got qualities coming out of his ears! He eats well, he laughs all the time, he has a wonderful sense of humor, he loves a good joke!"
"Even when it's not funny," Robert quickly interjected.
His wife continued, "He's a daredevil on a skateboard! And he has an excellent ear for music, too!"
The two smiled broadly, while chuckling. They were extremely pleased.
"Yes, undoubtedly," Jean-Pierre said. "No doubt about it, no erm...However–"
He was cut off yet again, by Robert again, "If he wanted to, Odd can be at the head of his class! But he's just too modest for that."
Jean-Pierre began to understand what kind of parents these two were. If they were willing to look past their son's bad grades and many unexcused absences, he didn't want to imagine what else about their son that they were ignoring. It's clear they weren't going to listen to him, so he raised an eyebrow, sighing in defeat.
"You were saying, Mr. Delmas?" Marguerite asked.
"Nothing," he chose to tell them. "It's not important." They wouldn't listen to him anyway.
No wonder Odd had a sense of 'whatever' when it came to school work. His parents would praise him no matter what grade he got.
"Oh, you've been very reassuring," Marguerite replied. "You know better than we do that young people today just don't work hard enough at school!"
"That's true," Robert added, as he and his wife stood up from their seats. "They have trouble listening."
Ironic. They hadn't listened to him even once during this entire meeting.
Jean-Pierre hummed quietly as the two made their way towards the exit. "Well, we don't want to keep you here any long, Mr. Delmas," Marguerite said. "You must have a lot of work to do."
"Uh, yes," he replied.
"Goodbye!" Odd's mother said.
His father added, "Bye, now," before they left, closing the door behind them.
Jean-Pierre leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling, exhausted by the conversation that just ended and disappointed that he couldn't say what he wanted to say. Lazily, he dropped a hand onto the keyboard, turning the screensaver off and revealing his favorite penguin computer game.
He gave a satisfied sigh, before playing the game. This was his palette cleanser, so to speak. He often, and secretly, turned on this game whenever he was overwhelmed with work, or had just finished with a tiring conversation with parents. Like just now.
Eventually, the words 'GAME OVER' flashed on the screen as he heard a knock on his door. Before he could respond, the door opened to reveal his daughter, Elizabeth (nickname: Sissi).
"Oh, what's the matter with this piece of junk?!" she muttered, as she marched up to his desk, her cellphone in hand.
"Something wrong, Elizabeth?" he asked.
She held up her phone, an irritated expression on her face. "Yes, it stopped working. I think it's dead."
He raised an eyebrow, "Really? I paid a lot of money for that."
Sissi placed a hand on her hip, "I told you it was on the brink!"
"Now, now, Elizabeth," he calmly told her. "Let me have a look at it. I'll fix it for you in no time at all." He took the phone from her while also taking a screwdriver out of his jacket pocket.
"You know how to do that?" A surprised smile came upon her face, hope filling her features.
He began trying to pry the back of the phone off with his screwdriver. "Why, of course I do! I have a true gift for delicate work like this! When I was your age, my nickname was Mister Circuit Fixer!" The screwdriver suddenly slid all the way through the phone and out the other side, cracking the plastic. Sissi cried out in dismay. "Um...is this thing still under warranty?"
His daughter ran out of the room.
"Elizabeth! Hold on!"
She didn't listen, simply closing the door behind her.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Sam found Odd sitting on the staircase inside the administrative building. He was clearly sulking, a rare sight for her, knees up to his chest, with his forehead resting on his crossed arms.
"Odd? What's wrong?" she asked, before taking a seat next to him. No response. "What's the deal with your parents? And this time, I want the details. Don't try to sugarcoat anything or be vague."
He sighed, "My parents are not normal."
"Why do you say that?" she asked.
He lifted his head up, just so she'd be able to hear him speak. "My parents' jobs make them busy all the time, so I was raised by my sisters. They're all older than me and they love to prank me, but my parents always look the other way. They also...never punish me. They always overlook every mistake I make, every bad grade I get. Whenever they talk about me to someone, they're always embellishing my supposed traits and accomplishments, most of which aren't even true. It's like they hate negativity, so everything is so overly positive all the time."
Toxic positivity. Yeah, that was definitely not a good thing.
"I'm sorry," Sam softly offered. "Your childhood must've been painful for you to keep it from me this whole time."
"Because I didn't want to sound insensitive," Odd explained. "You come from a broken home, and I didn't want to make it seem like I had it worse than you when that clearly isn't true."
She sadly smiled, "That doesn't make your feelings any less valid, you know." A pause. "Do you...resent them for that?"
Odd was quiet for a moment, before he answered, "Yes." He then finally turned to face her. It could've been her imagination, but his eyes had a tint of red to them, like he was about to cry. "You're lucky, Sam. If your father ever needs to prove that he loves you, he easily can, and most importantly, you will believe him."
In that moment, she had an epiphany. "Honesty. That's why you were upset with me after the skateboarding competition, weren't you?" It was phrased as a question, but she already knew the answer. Regardless, she still needed an answer, and he knew that. "Because I wasn't honest with you."
He briefly averted his eyes at the mention of their only fight so far, but he quickly regained eye contact, before slowly nodding.
She knew it. She may have only had her father, but he was genuine with her and she knew she could trust him with anything. It wasn't like that with Odd's parents, because their toxic positivity had resulted in him never being sure what he could trust them with, or if he could trust them at all.
Sam didn't want that in hers and Odd's relationship. She wanted him to be able to trust her.
"I'm sorry." He turned to her in surprise. "I know I already apologized, but I will always say it because I mean it. I promise, from now on, I will always be honest with you."
Odd finally let slip a smile. It was small, but it was real, and that made her feel better. He then leaned his head on her shoulder, and she let him, leaning her head against his in return.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The hall was full of students sitting in chairs, all chattering amongst themselves as they waited for the show to start. The two front rows were reserved, one side for Odd's friends and the other for Odd's parents, plus the principal and Mr. Chardin.
Robert and Marguerite entered the hall and were greeted by Jim, "Good morning, sir, ma'am! The empty seats in the front row have been reserved for you."
Odd's father put his hand on Jim's shoulder, "We'll have a large popcorn, please."
"Oh, sorry, I don't have any," Jim replied. "But I might just have half a box of Nibblejacks lying around somewhere in my room."
Robert and Marguerite began walking to their seats as the man chuckled, amused, "I was only kidding."
Trying to save face, Jim quickly added, "Uh, yeah. Sure. So was I."
Aelita opened up her laptop and tapped a key twice, before closing it again. When seeing Jérémie's confused expression, she explained, "I'm putting it to sleep. Odd would kill me if the superscan went off in the middle of his film."
"Are you sure that's wise?" he replied. "It would be really unlucky if XANA attacked during the film."
"C'mon, Jer," William cut in, sitting on the blonde's other side, "what are the odds that XANA would launch an attack during the three minutes the film will last?"
Yumi leaned in, "Never say never, William." Ulrich was nodding in agreement.
Translation: Don't jinx it.
In the back row, Sissi was visibly sulking. Next to her, Hervé asked, "Hey, Sissi, what's the matter? You don't look too excited."
"Everything okay?" Naomi asked, sitting next to Nicolas.
Not wanting to complain about her now-broken cellphone, she just muttered, "Oh, it's nothing. It's just that Odd has made fun of me in every single one of his films to date."
"Yeah!" Nicolas burst out laughing. "That's right!"
"Keep laughing, Nicolas," Sissi grumbled, "and the whole school's gonna find out what happened to Ms. Hertz's hamsters."
He abruptly shut up, "Okay, I'll stop."
"Wait," Naomi hissed at him. "That was you?! She was so devastated!"
"It was an accident," Nicolas insisted.
Marguerite looked around the room before standing up. "Where's Odd? And Samantha? It's almost time for the film to start."
"I have no idea," Robert replied.
Ulrich and Aelita both shared a concerned glance before they also got to their feet. Before Aelita stood up, she handed her closed laptop to Jérémie.
"We'll go look for them," Ulrich offered, as he and the pink-ette walked towards the doors.
"Kinda weird that Sam's not here either," Aelita added.
They left just as Mr. Delmas entered the hall. The man sat in the front row, as Jim stood by the projector in the back. Mr. Chardin made his way behind the lectern up on stage.
"Very well, now we can begin," the art teacher said. He cleared his throat. "Er, welcome, cinema lovers, to this special screening of 'Mandibles and Bellbottoms', the latest creation of our own Odd Della Robbia." Odd's parents winked at each other. "Please do forgive me for not having seen this work yet. I understand, however, that the film cleverly combines fiction with documentary. Truth, in short. But, in the end, but is truth?"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Mr. Chardin's speech continued and was audible from the other room. Ulrich and Aelita had to hurry before the audience's attention was drawn to Odd's absence. The two stood by the staircase, at a loss.
"Where could he have gone?" Aelita asked, her hands on her hips as she worried about her cousin.
Ulrich took out his phone, "I'll handle this."
He then dialed Odd's number. In response, a phone suddenly rang right above their heads. The two glanced up in surprise to see Odd sitting on the stairs with Sam at his side.
"What are you doing there?!" Ulrich demanded into the phone.
"Yeah, the screening has started!" Aelita added.
"Shh!" Odd had answered his phone and was now talking into it with a whisper instead of calling down to them. He chewed his fingernail nervously, teeth chattering, as Sam could only watch on with concern. "Quiet, or you'll give me away!"
Ulrich rolled his eyes, "This is ridiculous. Your parents are looking for you."
"I know," his roommate nervously replied. "I'm already stressed out enough."
"Oh yeah? I've got the answer to your problem." An unamused German boy suddenly yelled into his phone, "You're gonna get off your butt and get to a seat inside, you got that?!", causing Odd to flinch from the noise, drop his own phone, and put his finger in his ear.
The blonde finally looked down at Ulrich and Aelita from the stairs, "You think so?"
"Mm-hmm," Ulrich pointed to the door.
"Everything will be okay, Odd," Aelita reassured him. "We'll support you whatever you choose to do."
Unfortunately, he didn't look very reassured.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The tower XANA was eyeing this time was in the Mountain Sector, on a separate platform, slightly ascended from the main one, with smaller platforms leading to it like stepping stones.
Pulsations raced from it before the halo turned red...
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Mr. Delmas saw how bored the audience was getting as Mr. Chardin continued his speech, which was why he began tapping his watch, to speed it up.
"Right," the art teacher cleared his throat. "Now, why don't we all listen now to the filmmaker himself about his latest work?" He motioned to the entrance. "Odd, you have the floor."
Fortunately, by this time, Ulrich and Aelita had returned with Odd and Sam. Odd was nervous as most of the audience had turned to look at him, including his parents and friends. Ulrich closed the door behind the quartet, as Odd walked towards the stage, before the brunette joined Aelita and Sam in taking their respective seats.
Jérémie handed Aelita back her laptop, whispering, "Everything okay?"
"For now," she muttered back.
Unknown to everyone in the hall, a fuse box on the roof of the science building crackled with purple electricity. The door of said fuse box opened, and a spectre came out and entered the antenna. The fuse box was left smoking as a result...
Odd took his position behind the lectern, feeling unnaturally shy. "Uh, hello. First of all, I would like to–"
He was cut off by a cellphone ringing. Odd frowned before looking for the source of the noise, of the disturbance. His father, of all people, stood up and showed the boy his phone before walking out of the room.
Disappointment filled Odd's gut. Of course. Why was he not surprised?
Mr. Delmas stood up and addressed the audience, "We'll start the screening as soon as the director's father returns."
With no other choice, Odd leaned against the lectern. Typical. Even here at Kadic, without his sisters present, at an event centering around him, he was always overshadowed somehow.
Out in the foyer, Robert answered the phone with slight impatience, "Hello?" Silence. "Is this some sort of joke?" Still no response from anyone on the other end.
The phone's screen flickered to white noise before displaying the eye of XANA. Purple electricity shot from the phone's speaker into the man's ear. Wisps of a spectre came out of his nose as his mouth turned into a grimace, before he bared his teeth with a growl...
Back inside the auditorium, Mr. Delmas checked his watch as Robert returned to his seat.
"Who was it, darling?" Marguerite asked.
It was a simple, innocent question, and it had an appropriate answer ("Later. Let's focus on our son's screening first.", for example), but Robert's response surprised everybody.
"Why don't you keep quiet and stop batting your eyes at that old goat?!" Robert was unnaturally aggressive, when he was normally very laid-back and chill. His eyes were also pure white, with no visible iris or pupil.
Odd's mouth hung open in shock, before he exchanged a quick glance with Aelita, who felt the same way. Robert Della Robbia never acted this way to anybody, much less his own family! What was that phone call about?!
Mr. Delmas stood up, "Come now, let's not fly off the handle here and cause a scandal." He was obviously trying to keep the peace and save face both.
"You're the scandal that needs handling!" Robert spat back. "I'm onto your game!"
Marguerite also stood up, filled with concern, "Have you lost your mind, Robert? Let's all calm down and discuss this like adults."
"I prefer losing my mind than having yours!" Robert angrily retorted. He held his phone out to his wife, "Here! It's for you!" He held the device to her ear.
Electricity jumped from the phone and into her ear. Her pupils dilated before her eyes rolled back into her head. Robert removed the phone from her ear, as said body part smoked briefly. But it didn't end there.
Mr. Delmas's phone rang in that moment. He answered, a bit irritated at all the interruptions, "Yes, hello? What is it now?"
Odd's parents both bared their teeth in a growl, as phones started ringing all throughout the room. Various audience members picked up and answer—all of them except for Sissi and the six Lyokowarriors.
Jim had fallen asleep on top of the projector, but he woke up when he heard the noise. "Since when do you lot keep your cellphones on in a movie theater?! Come on, show some manners!" There was a very short silence that was interrupted by yet another cellphone. "Hey! Take the wax out of your ears and listen!"
Only to realize that the phone ringing was his own.
He gave an awkward laugh, before answering, "Mommy? Is that you?"
Electricity jumped from the phone into Jim's ear, and a spectre came out of his other ear.
Not sure what just happened, but confident that it had ended, Odd carefully spoke up, still from the lectern, "Um, if it's okay with everyone, we can begin now."
Everybody turned to him, and to his surprise, most of them were glaring at him (the only exceptions being Sissi and his friends).
"What does that little brat want?!" his mother asked, sounding annoyed.
"Maybe he wants us to shut his trap for him!" his father replied, with the same aggressiveness he had when he came back in.
"Wouldn't do him any harm!" Sam, of all people, agreed.
Seriously, what was going on?! His parents and Sam were the last people Odd expected to turn against him like this. What did he even do?!
He glanced over at his friends for help.
Aelita opened up her laptop, "Something is wrong here, and I don't like the looks of it..." With a the press of one button, she woke it back up, only to be greeted immediately by a familiar alert. "Just what you were afraid of, Jérémie."
"Activated tower..." Jérémie muttered.
Aelita put her laptop back in her bag and slung it over her shoulder, "Looks like XANA is using cellphones. If you get a call, whatever you do, don't answer it."
She then stood up and made her way towards the exit. Jérémie, Yumi, William, and Ulrich all followed her example, trying to be inconspicuous. Ulrich winked at Odd before making his way towards the door as well.
A simple gesture, but Odd knew what it meant: XANA was on the attack, the one responsible for all this strange-ness.
With that, he backed away from the lectern, to follow his friends and head for the factory where he would give the AI a piece of his mind for doing this.
To his luck, while the others managed to slip past without any interference, Odd wasn't so fortunate. He was running past the audience, towards the exit, when everyone suddenly turned on him with bared teeth and completely white eyes.
"Look at that coward!" Robert, possessed by XANA, said. "Slinking away like a little rat!"
"Are you going to let that ungrateful snot-nosed brat take off like that?!" Marguerite added.
The crowd immediately protested, with numerous "No!"s and "Yeah!"s, all at varying times.
Part of Odd found it interesting, and he would bring it up with the others after this was all over. Since they were all possessed by XANA (including his beloved Sam, sadly), he had expected them all to answer in unison, but they hadn't. They were against him, because XANA was, but Odd thought it was interesting how each person still retained their individual personality.
But he could think more about that later. Right now, he had a mob after him, a mob that was possessed by an AI that wasn't afraid to kill him.
However, in his dash towards the door, he completely missed Sissi glancing around in surprise...
Jim darted in front of Odd, blocking the door, and the boy's only escape. "Hey! It's not very polite to sneak off like a thief in the night, you know."
XANA-Robert stood up on a chair, "He needs to learn a little respect, whether he likes it or not!"
The possessed crowd all growled in agreement as XANA-Jim gripped Odd's arm in his hand, and a confused Sissi couldn't help but follow the group, not sure what was going on, as they slowly made their way towards their target.
"Now, now, there's no need to get all worked up," Odd attempted, a bit of fear coming out in his voice. "I'll give each of you an autograph."
"He deserves to be taught a lesson, doesn't he?" XANA-Marguerite riled the crowd up even more.
"Yeah!" the mob agreed, amidst Sissi's confusion.
The crowd drew closer, and XANA-Jim let go of Odd's arm to raise a finger, "I vote for, uh...voting against him." However, hearing the sounds of footsteps running away, the man glanced down in confusion.
Odd had used that chance to escape.
"Oh man..." XANA-Jim muttered.
"Don't just stand there like a bunch of house plants!" XANA-Marguerite ordered. "Go on, hurry! After him!"
Odd was running through the park now. Just a bit further and he could escape through the sewers. At least, that was the plan. Instead, he was forced to skid to a halt, as he found Tamiya, Ms. Hertz, and Milly all waiting for him in front of the manhole cover, all armed with different gardening utensils.
"There he is, the little brat!" XANA-Hertz said.
Odd panted to catch his breath as XANA-Milly added, "We've been waiting for you!"
"He's not gonna get away this time!" XANA-Tamiya growled, brandishing her sickle and shovel.
Yeah, no thanks, was Odd's first thought. He turned around, glancing back at where he just came from. The former audience of his film came charging through the trees, each wielding something as a weapon.
"Keep up the pace!" XANA-Marguerite ordered as she ran towards her son, holding a broom over her head. "We're gonna get him this time!"
"What's wrong with everyone?" Odd muttered to himself. "Is it something they ate?"
He then ran away, with the possessed mob continuing to chase him. He could only hope that the others had made it through unscathed...
The gym passage was his only other option, and he reached it just fine, only to be met with XANA-Rosa and XANA-Fumet, armed with a serving spoon and an umbrella respectively.
"Odd, my boy," XANA-Rosa asked, "how would you like a loving spoonful?"
Frick! XANA had him trapped here too!
"Thanks, Rosa, but I'm not very hungry," he replied, before opening the door behind him and leaving the gym.
There was only one option left, and that was to hide until the tower was deactivated.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The others had indeed reached the lab without any interference, but in the process, they had lost Odd. Aelita sat in the chair in front of the monitor, tapping the armrest impatiently, while the other four waited in the lift nearby.
"What's he doing?" the pink-ette muttered, mostly to herself. "Where is he?"
"I thought he was behind us," Ulrich replied. "I gave him the signal, and he seemed to understand."
William shrugged, "Must've been held up by his fan club."
"Hang on," Aelita leaned forward and began typing a sequence into the keyboard. "I'll check out what's happening by scanning the location of everyone's cellphones." She pressed 'enter', bringing up a map of the school as well as a program that scanned for the location of each student's phone. "Okay, I've found him."
"Where is he?" Yumi asked, curious.
In Aelita's green eyes was a hint of fondness, "Take a guess..."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
To no one's surprise, Odd had chosen to hide in the empty cafeteria. To be more specific, he was sitting pretzel-style underneath a table, panting heavily to catch his breath.
He quickly caught the scent of something in the air, something that smelled really good. He followed the aroma over to the counter and to a large pot with a lid on it. Removing the lid, his eyes widened in delight: mashed potatoes and meatballs.
He couldn't help but sneak a taste, "Mm, meatballs and gravy..." XANA-Rosa's taunt earlier, as well as his response to that taunt, came to mind. "On second thought, maybe I am a little hungry."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"Looks pretty bad for him," Aelita relayed, not taking her eyes off of the map on her screens. "He's completely surrounded."
Ulrich stopped leaning against the lift wall and straightened up, "We've gotta rescue him." He was ready to jump into action.
"But how?" William asked. "The whole school is out to get him!"
"It'd be faster if we deactivated the tower," Yumi reminded them.
"She's right," Jérémie immediately agreed. "It's the only guaranteed way to save Odd."
"And that's what we've gotta do," Aelita said, getting out of the chair. "Ulrich, you and I will head back to school and give Odd a hand. Jérémie, Yumi, William—you three take care of the tower."
They all nodded, before Aelita joined Ulrich in the lift, while the other three stepped into the lab. Yumi and William used the side ladder to climb down to the scanner room, as Jérémie began typing in the necessary commands into the monitor.
Meanwhile, Ulrich pressed the up button, thus closing the lift doors, as Aelita muttered, "Let's hope Odd can play for time."
"In the cafeteria?" Ulrich playfully scoffed. "He'll find time."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Sure enough, the German brunette was right.
Odd was back underneath the table. This time, though, he had the pot of mashed potatoes and meatballs with him, along with a ladle that he was using to eat the contents of the pot. His eyes widened and he tilted the pot towards him the look inside.
"Gravy!" he muttered. "There isn't enough gravy! And where are the chickpeas?!"
But what did you expect? He had to keep himself occupied somehow.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
William landed on the ground of the Mountain Sector with Jérémie and Yumi both on either side of him. In front of them was the tower, at the end of the winding path. It wasn't difficult at all to see the stepping stone-like platforms leading up to the structure.
"Couldn't you have virtualized us closer?" the knight asked the elf. "Or given us a ladder, maybe? Without vehicles, climbing those platforms is going to be tough."
"Not with my wings," Jérémie replied, a sheepish smile on his face. "Sorry, I was in a bit of a hurry."
"It's okay," Yumi gently cut in. "Now, let's hurry, before something happens to Odd."
With this, the three teens took off, running down the path they had landed on. As they approached the summit right before the stepping stones, however, they came to a halt when three Krabes were virtualized between them and the tower. The Clone—wearing its Aelita mask—flew up from below the platform and landed in front of the middle Krabe, morphing in a flash of orange into its Odd mask.
It growled at them with a smirk, sending all three of them into defensive positions.
"Head for the tower, Jérémie," Yumi immediately said. "William, you wanna keep me company?" She was offering him a playful smile.
He shot one back at her, "I thought you'd never ask."
With that, William summoned his Zweihänder, and Yumi her fans, while Jérémie activated his wings.
"Be careful," the elf warned, before taking off into the air.
He made his way to the tower, unaware that one of the Krabes was following his movements. It charged up its laser, but just as it fired, a ball of light suddenly appeared in front of it, briefly turning into William to block the shot with his sword, before resuming his ball of light form. All three Krabes followed the light back to the platform, with the tower now behind him.
The Spectre—still wearing Odd's face—followed Jérémie, before taking aim with the cat's Laser Arrows. It was about to fire when a large boulder was placed in front of it, blocking its line of sight.
The Clone glanced back to see Yumi deep in concentration, the light of her telekinesis surrounding her, as her mind kept a solid hold on that boulder.
She opened her eyes, "You sure are a tough customer."
XANA-Odd immediately lowered its expression into a glare. The AI needed to come up with plans that got Jérémie to Lyoko alone, or at least with the fewest bodyguards possible. It was getting sick and tired of him having (now) five people to protect him.
The geisha used her power to levitate the boulder towards her. With a heavy swing of her arm, she sent it flying straight at the Spectre. But a brief flash of orange light later, the boulder was smashed. The shards of rock fell to the ground to reveal that the Clone had morphed into its Ulrich mask.
The Yumi mask was enough to repeatedly catch the real Ulrich off-guard, and the Aelita mask was proving to be very effective against the real Jérémie, so the AI had a feeling that Ulrich's face would make the real Yumi here falter. In any case, it was fun to experiment.
Its twin katanas in hand (having used them to break the boulder), the Clone charged straight at her. She cartwheeled out of the way, avoiding one dual swing, before jumping out of the way of another.
XANA-Ulrich ended up with its back to Yumi, but she swiftly kicked, pushing it forward and making it drop one of its katanas.
With both bodyguards occupied, a fed-up XANA saw its chance. It wasn't the most ideal situation it was hoping for, but it would do.
Jérémie was flying towards the tower when he was caught off-guard by a shot from a Manta from his right. He halted in his tracks, as he watched a second quickly join the first from his left. Both were flying straight at him, charging up their respective lasers.
At the last minute, however, he quickly took off higher up into the air, causing the two Mantas to quickly dodge each other, before circling back around towards him.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Holding a dustpan above his head, XANA-Nicolas kicked the cafeteria door open. Behind him, XANA-Hervé held up a broom, "He's gotta be in here somewhere."
Odd, still eating under the table, heard their arrival. Glancing at the pot in front of him, an idea came to mind.
XANA-Nicolas stepped sideways along the two rows of tables, holding the dustpan out in front of him, "Don't worry. Watch, I'm gonna sweep him away!"
"Yeah, he'll be biting the dust when we get through with him," XANA-Hervé agreed.
Odd audibly swallowed his current mouthful of food.
As XANA-Nicolas started walking the length of the cafeteria, XANA-Hervé entered. "Hey, Nicolas!" He gestured with his broom, signaling to his friend to look under the tables.
XANA-Nicolas crouched down to look under a table, "Thought you could hide from us?!" There was no one there. "Huh?"
He stood up, only to find Odd now standing at the other end of the table, the large pot next to him, as he held a stack of plates. "Lunch tiiime!" He then started rapidly throwing plates at XANA-Nicolas.
The other blocked them all with his dustpan, "You can't touch me! I'm invulnerable thanks to my shield!" Odd ran out of plates here, at the worse time. "Go on! Keep on trying!"
With no other choice, Odd lined the pot up with his opponent.
Said opponent just grinned and wagged his finger, before holding up the dustpan in front of him.
Odd slid the pot across the table, creating sparks. It knocked XANA-Nicolas to the floor, flattening the dustpan onto his head and creating an imprint of his face on it. The remaining contents of the pot spill all over the floor, creating a huge mess.
"Now that's too bad," the Italian boy muttered. "Wasting perfectly good food on a vegetable like him..."
"Aha!" Odd quickly tensed up. He had forgotten about Hervé. "Alone at la–"
The green-clothed nerd was cut off by a clang. He fell to the floor, knocked out as well, revealing Sissi standing there with a nervous grin and a frying pan in her hand.
Sissi? How did she escape possession? "Sissi? You're not possessed?"
"What is happening?" she asked, glancing around. "It's like everyone has gone crazy!"
That's right, Odd remembered. Sissi was a Lyokowarrior now, too, albeit under the radar. "It's XANA's doing." So he could be blunt. "It caused a mass possession by taking over everyone's cellphones. How come you haven't joined the mob?"
She sighed, annoyed, "'Cause my phone's a broken-down piece of junk!", before dropping her frying pan.
Ah. That made sense, then. And was very lucky. For both of them.
The two jumped in surprise when they heard XANA-Jim announcing from outside, "The one place we haven't checked from top to bottom is the lunchroom!"
"Let's split!" Sissi said, before leading Odd to the exit the mob was seemingly ignoring.
Odd's parents, Sissi's father, Ms. Hertz, and Mr. Chardin were all lined up outside the other door to the cafeteria. Odd and Sissi tried to sneak out the other door, only for XANA-Hertz to spot them.
"There he is!" she growled.
The adults all turned to the kids, growling. XANA-Jim stepped out of the door to look as well.
"But..." XANA-Delmas pointed at Odd, "what is my daughter doing with that little scoundrel?"
"He must have corrupted her," XANA-Marguerite deduced, "forced her to be on his side!"
Knowing it was no use trying to convince them of the truth, Odd and Sissi both kept quiet.
"All of this is due to laxity!" XANA-Robert added. "Children become monsters when they're not instilled with a sense of discipline!"
"Let's get outta here!" Odd said, before pulling Sissi along with him towards the park. The six XANA-fied adults followed them.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich and Aelita weren't fairing any better.
They had emerged from the park passage, and were on their way towards the cafeteria when they were cut off by their possessed classmates.
XANA-Sam growled at them, a rake in hand, "We made a mistake letting you guys slip by. Being friends with Odd, you two are guilty by association."
Beside her, XANA-Naomi was holding a broom, "Get them!"
Sensing trouble, Ulrich and Aelita immediately picked a random direction and ran away, hoping that Odd was hanging in there without them.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Now that he had more ground, Jérémie finally went on the offensive. He formed in his hands an energy spear before throwing it at one of the Mantas as they were circling back around to him yet again.
A solid hit, resulting in an explosion, and leaving one left.
Meanwhile, William was running away from the trio of Krabes, his Zweihänder in hand. He was attempting to lead them farther away from Jérémie, and it was working. The trio of monsters were focusing their fire on him, and he was managing to avoid the lasers while running.
He casted a quick glance over his shoulder, before jumping up and landing on the back of a Krabe. He stabbed it in the eye, before jumping off to avoid the explosion.
The moment he landed, however, one of the Krabes shot his Zweihänder out of his hand, right before William himself was shot in the leg, sending him to the ground. He concentrated a bit—willing his sword to turn to light so he could summon it back to his hand—only for a Krabe claw to suddenly come down right next to his arm, interrupting the process by cutting off his concentration.
The Krabe stood above him, charging its underbelly laser, and William braced himself for the end. But it never came, the Krabe instead being hit in the eye with an energy arrow and being destroyed as a result.
William glanced up to see Jérémie hovering nearby, "You okay?"
Before the knight could respond, the last Krabe shot at the elf, the laser barely missing the blonde's face. He flew around to the other side of the monster, and it followed him, continuing to shoot.
Now free, William got back to his feet and retrieved his sword via a flash of light, before running underneath the Krabe and slashed two of its legs. The Krabe fell down and tried to move with only its two remaining legs, but it didn't get very far. William ran up onto its back and stabbed its eye, before jumping off before it exploded.
Jérémie flew back down to William's level, as the knight made his Zweihänder disappear in another flash of light. "I am now," he finally answered the elf's question. "Thanks, Jer. Now head for the tower. I'll help Yumi."
In the distance, the two could see Yumi cartwheel to avoid a couple more of the Clone's attacks, still using Ulrich's face.
"Okay," Jérémie agreed, before taking off back into the sky.
He halted when the second Manta suddenly flew in front of him and began firing at him.
In response, the elf just rolled his eyes before forming a quintet of daggers in his hand. He then flipped over the monster, throwing his daggers mid-flip, destroying it.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Sissi and Odd finally found a possible place to hide in the form of Mr. Roulier's shed. They ran inside and quickly shut the door. Only then did they breathe a sigh of relief.
"Phew!" Odd exclaimed. "Well, here, at least, we might have a little peace!"
"Peace, huh?" To their horror, XANA-Roulier emerged from the shadows. "Eternal peace is what you'll get!"
The two teens tensed up as XANA-Roulier charged at them with the rake in his hands. Sissi grabbed Odd's hand before pulling him out of the shed.
They ran off into the woods, screaming, with XANA-Roulier right on their heels.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi flew backwards thanks to XANA-Ulrich's kick to her torso. She landed on her backside, holding her injured torso as she watched the Clone walking towards her, both katanas back in hand. Any mental complaints she had about Jérémie hesitating around this Clone had gone out the window: it was indeed difficult to separate the real one from XANA's version at times.
This wasn't Ulrich. Ulrich would never hurt her. But XANA held no qualms about doing so.
Getting back to her feet, and ignoring that blank orange stare, she summoned a fan and threw it. The Spectre blocked it with both katanas before running in for another attack. She flipped out of the way as XANA-Ulrich smashed both swords into the ground.
She spun out of the way of another strike, summoning a fan mid-spin and pressed it, closed, into the Clone's forehead. She pushed its head away and waved her fan around, "You can never beat us, XANA, you hear?"
She opened her fan, before XANA-Ulrich kicked her away. She stumbled backward as a result, before jumping to avoid another attack. Right after landing, she threw her fan, only for the Clone to block it. The fan flew around wildly before returning to her.
But it slashed its owner's hand when she attempted to catch it. Yumi sadly shook her injured hand until the blue crackling electricity went away.
The Clone jumped up and brought both katanas down on her, but she was able to flip out of the way. On the next swing, Yumi jumped behind XANA-Ulrich and got low to the ground, intent on kicking it in the back again. However, the Spectre saw it coming, Super Sprinting to avoid her kick, and kicking her in the back before she could fathom what it was doing.
She landed on the ground, on her backside once again, as XANA-Ulrich quickly Sprinted over to her. It placed a foot on her chest and pushed her down to the ground with it before she could get back up. It raised both katanas, ready to deliver the final blow.
Out of desperation, Yumi yelled out the first thing that came to mind, "Do you still use male pronouns?"
To her surprise, the Clone froze. It then lowered Ulrich's katanas as it processed her question. "What...?"
"Jérémie told us that you preferred male pronouns when you two were online pen pals," she explained. "Do you still prefer them? Or was everything you told him then a lie?"
"XANA?" the sickly boy asked, typing his question on his parents' computer with a warm fleece blanket wrapped around his shoulders. "That's a strange name. Is it an acronym for something?"
Said AI remembered being almost amused as it responded to the boy its creators had assigned it to protect, "So to speak." It stood for 'Extended Artificial Network Application', after all. "To me, 'Jérémie' is a name just as strange."
"Really? That's interesting. Where are you from?"
[Alert: Your creators have forbidden you from revealing Lyoko and your status as an artificial intelligence to Jérémie until they give you permission.]
"I cannot say."
There was a brief pause, causing XANA to become worried. But Jérémie's response surprised it, "Are you sheltered? Like me?"
That's right. The boy was sick, causing him to remain trapped within his forest house all the time. He also had no friends, so he received no visitors during the day.
XANA could relate, being connected intimately with Lyoko, the virtual world that it called home. It also had no companions, being all alone.
So it was blunt. "Yes."
"I'm sorry." Sympathy, an emotion XANA wasn't familiar with. "I wish we could meet in person. That way, the two of us could explore the world together. That is, of course, after I get better."
XANA didn't know why it suddenly wanted the same thing, or why it felt sad that the boy's wish would likely never happen...
Unwanted memories resurfaced in the Clone's mind as XANA recalled its first meeting with Jérémie. It removed its foot from Yumi's chest, as the AI confessed, "It was no lie..."
She slowly got back to her feet, "So you really did care about him?" It was phrased as a statement, rather than a question, but it still nodded in confirmation.
"I still do," it admitted. "He wanted us to 'explore the world together'. I couldn't tell him that, given his tumor and my imprisonment on Lyoko, his wish would likely never come true. But it wasn't caused by any limitation in my program. It was..." It trailed off, unable to find the right word.
Yumi found it, "Sympathy? Sorrow?" She softly, sadly smiled, "Believe me, I wouldn't have been able to tell him either." A pause, during which her smile faded. "Jérémie told us it was jealousy that drove you insane, and that, even now, you still don't understand it."
XANA remained quiet, though it averted its gaze toward the ground.
The geisha continued, "Jealousy is the emotion you feel when you want something someone else has. In your case, humanity." It stayed quiet. She wasn't wrong. "But it's also when you have something you don't want to lose."
"Jérémie..." the AI muttered. "The reason I kept his memories for myself was because I was afraid that he would forget about me."
"Well, he did, briefly, and that was your own fault," Yumi pointed out. XANA couldn't deny that. "Being friends with Jérémie is the closest you have ever gotten to being human. But your newfound power clashed with your programming and drove you to insanity, to where you are now. You claim that you wanted you and him to still be friends, but now, the two of you are enemies." She took a deep breath and stepped ever so closer to it, "You can still change. You're free from Lyoko now, and Jérémie's tumor is gone, so you two can indeed explore the world together. It won't be easy, for any of us, especially you...but you can change. You can forget about destroying humanity and be friends with Jérémie again. Believe me, he won't show it...but your betrayal...tears him up inside."
Yumi remembered Jérémie crying into her shoulder after a nightmare late one night over summer break. "Why? Why did things have to turn out this way?!"
She didn't know how to answer that, so she didn't. She just hugged him ever so tighter.
He sniffed, "It didn't have to, you know. XANA had a choice." Another sniff. "He had a choice to return my memories, but he didn't!"
She was quiet, the only thing she could do being to comfort him as he let out all of the pain he felt.
"You had a choice then," she finished, "and you have a choice now."
XANA used the Clone's face (still wearing its Ulrich mask) to sadly stare at the ground. It was aware of that choice. The choice to destroy humanity would only bring it farther and farther away from acheiving humanity itself. It knew that.
In that moment, XANA made that second decision—it kicked her in the stomach, causing her to stumble backwards. Ulrich's dual katanas in hand, it turned to her, solemnly telling her, "I'm sorry, but I can never go back to that version of myself."
Its goal of destroy humanity—and its wish to kill its creators—was too ingrained into its programming. It could not give up now. Not when it was so close to victory.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Sissi and Odd came to a stop in front of the manhole cover, both ready to take refuge in the sewers, if not the factory. But they weren't the only ones with that idea.
Ulrich and Aelita had reached the spot right when they did, from the opposite direction.
"What are you guys doing here?" Odd asked his roommate and cousin.
"What are you doing here?" Ulrich demanded. "Aelita's tracer program located you in the cafeteria, but you weren't there!"
"We're here to help you, Odd," Aelita explained. "But now we have a mob on our tails because apparently, we're guilty by association."
"We should all run," Sissi cut in. "We have a mob on our tails too."
The four all blinked and suddenly a large group was surrounding them, comprised of all the possessed students and staff.
"Um, too late..." Ulrich muttered.
XANA-Jim pounded his fists together. XANA-Delmas held up his cup-and-ball game. XANA-Rosa and XANA-Marguerite pat their hands on their respective serving spoon and broom. XANA-Robert played with something obscured by his wife's head. XANA-Chardin almost pretended to play his pickaxe like a guitar. XANA-Fumet opened and closed his umbrella. XANA-Hertz held up her air pump.
"Odd, run," Aelita whispered. "We'll cover you."
Said Italian blonde began backing up in response, but he didn't get very far, as he quickly walked right into XANA-Roulier's rake, startling him. The gardener wordlessly pushed him back towards the pack of growling XANA victims.
Odd just sighed, "Typical. You just can't get good gardeners nowadays."
XANA-Marguerite shook her head, "I do not think it is a very good idea to frighten these poor children with your gardening tool, sir."
XANA-Roulier withdrew his rake, "Well, that's a pity."
"Rest assured, we're not the type of parents who would ever shirk their responsibilities," XANA-Marguerite told the four. "We promised you a fitting punishment, and you're going to get it!"
Odd scoffed amidst Sissi's fear, "Sounds too good to be true. Prove it."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi mentally apologized to Jérémie before quickly flipping back to her feet to avoid the Clone's next strike. She jumped over a rock, only for XANA-Ulrich to Sprint around the rock to greet her when she landed. It swung both swords, but she evaded, causing it to hit the rock instead and create cracks in it.
The Clone swung both katanas again, but Yumi backflipped out of the way, stopping right on the edge of the platform. Right behind her was the Digital Sea. One more step back and it was game over for her...
XANA-Ulrich smirked as it prepared to hit her off the edge, only for it to be hit out of nowhere by an Energy Slash. As a result, the Clone fell off the edge itself, devirtualizing in a cloud of black smoke and brief flash of red.
Yumi briefly glanced over to see her rescuer, and was relieved to see William. The knight de-summoned his Zweihänder as he walked over to her, "You okay?"
The geisha turned back to the edge, staring at the spot the Spectre fell.
"Yumi," William asked, now worried because of the lack of answer. "Something wrong?"
She closed her eyes and sighed, before looking back at him, "I think the real XANA came back for a moment..."
"But Jérémie said that the XANA he knew back then was never coming back," William softly reminded her. "He was adamant."
"Because it's easier on him that way," Yumi quietly confessed. That was the sad truth; it was much easier on a mourning Jérémie if he convinced himself that his friend XANA was forever gone. After what Yumi just witnessed, she had to agree.
XANA had made its choice a long time ago: it had chosen destroying humanity over experiencing it.
"In that case," she finished, her voice barely above a whisper, "it would be wisest not telling him about this."
"Agreed," William replied, his voice at the same volume.
Meanwhile, Jérémie remained unaware of what had just happened to Yumi as he approached the tower, at last. He had to back off, though, when he saw two Tarantulas virtualize at the base of the tower.
Both of them assumed their firing positions, before lasers came flying at him. Jérémie dodged the first barrage with a couple of loops, before flying up, hovering about a dozen meters above his two enemies. There, he stabilized himself and placed his hands on his temples, closing his eyes. In doing so, he became a sitting duck.
Yumi and William both took notice, with the geisha calling out from several hundred meters below, "Jérémie, look out!"
One Tarantula fired, and Jérémie was hit right in the chest. He recoiled under the impact, gritting his teeth, but he managed to retain his concentration.
Beneath a Tarantula, part of the platform began to disappear. It tried to save itself, but it was too late. It fell into the void, still continuing to shoot in an uncontrolled fashion.
A burst of blue light spiraling upwards signaled its deletion, leaving one obstacle left.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd regretted his earlier 'prove it'. He, Sissi, Ulrich, and Aelita were now standing on the edge of the science building's roof, facing the sports field. The possessed crowd was standing behind them, no longer holding their weapons, with the exception of XANA-Delmas.
"Okay, okay, I take it back!" he cried, afraid. "I believe you now!"
"Trust us, kid," his father stated. "It's for your own good."
"Come now," his mother added. "Just a little step forward and it'll be all over."
"Obey for once in your life!" XANA-Jim exclaimed.
But Odd had to delay this as much as he could, until Jérémie punched in the code. "But don't we get a last request?"
XANA-Delmas played with his cup-and-ball game, considering this, "That's true. They do have the right to that."
The four teens turned around, as Odd informed the mob, "I'd like last one last club sandwich with organic mayo, please."
Sissi was confused, but she quickly caught on to what the Italian boy was up to.
"Okay, one club sandwich," XANA-Rosa replied. "But forget the organic mayo."
"I'm good, thanks," Ulrich said.
"So am I," Aelita added. "But perhaps, we could do this one at a time?" That would definitely buy some time. No guarantee of survival, but their odds would be greater than if they all jumped at the same time.
"And I would like a fuschia parachute, please," Sissi cut in. Way to make it obvious, Sissi...
XANA-Robert immediately made a time-out gesture, "Time out! Don't try to delay this! Just for that, forget the last requests!"
Odd hung his head, "Okay," resigning to his fate. He then turned to XANA-Sam. "I love you, Sam. Don't ever forget that."
The four teens them turned back to face the long drop to the ground, with Sissi making a nervous whimper.
Sam, however, blinked in surprise, as a red blush came across her face. That was the first time he'd ever told her that...
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie flew around the platform, dodging fire from the last Tarantula, still perched next to the tower. He flew underneath the platform, waiting for the Tarantula to walk up to the edge and look down underneath, searching for him.
Hook, line, and sinker.
The elf formed an energy bow and fired an arrow. His attack hit the Tarantula's head dead on, knocking it off the platform. It fell a short way before exploding.
Jérémie flew back up to the platform and de-summoned his wings. Now safely on the ground, and having no more obstacles, he entered the tower at a sprint.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The eye of XANA flickered in Marguerite's eyes, "I think these children could use a little parental 'guidance'!"
"Absolutely!" Mr. Delmas agreed, the same emblem showing in his own eyes.
The two stepped forward, approaching their respective children. At the same time, XANA-Jim approached Ulrich while XANA-Robert walked up to Aelita. Sissi covered her eyes, whimpering in despair. This was it...
JEREMIE_
CODE_
"Alright, let's get this over with!" XANA-Rosa announced, her own eyes flashing with XANA's sign.
The four adults lifted their hands up and reached out, ready to push the teens off the edge to their death...
"NOOO!" XANA-Sam cried out.
LYOKO_
Marguerite, Mr. Delmas, Robert, and Jim all lowered their arms as everyone's eyes returned to normal. They all glanced around in confusion.
"What are we doing up here?" Robert asked, before noticing how close his niece was to the edge. "Aelita, get away from there! It's too dangerous!" He then pulled her back to safety, to her immense relief.
Odd had his eyes closed, but he opened them in surprise when he felt his mother grasp his shoulders and pull him away from the edge. Mr. Delmas and Jim did the same to Sissi and Ulrich, respectively.
"Odd, you know better than to get so close to the edge, don't you?" Marguerite gasped in concern.
Odd grinned at her, "Oh, yeah? I wonder who could have pushed me to the edge!"
Marguerite just looked at him in confusion, "Huh?", her head slightly tilted to the side.
They weren't confused for long, as a bright white bubble soon enveloped everything...
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Time rewinded to earlier, when Odd's parents arrived in their rental car, parking in the lot next to the administrative building. Like before, Robert stepped out first, "How's it going, kiddo?", with Marguerite quickly following.
"I'm fine," Odd's response was different this time, letting more of his nervousness show. Like before, Sam gently elbowed him, but this time, he glanced over at her. She was offering an encouraging smile—because this time, he made sure she knew the deal with his parents—and he couldn't help but smile back.
Robert laughed and pointed finger guns at his son, before he and his wife then walked over to Odd. Marguerite kissed his forehead.
"Odd, it's really so good to see you," Robert said, winking.
"And you look wonderful," Marguerite added. "You've still got that great appetite, don't you?"
"Yeah," the boy replied. "Listen, I, um...actually called you two here because I need to come clean about something."
Both adults raised an eyebrow in curiosity and concern. "Oh?" Robert asked. "What about?"
This was it. He took a deep breath, "We're not a normal family."
"What are you talking about?" They immediately tried to save face, as Marguerite stammered. "Of course, we are!"
"No, we're not." They immediately went quiet. "Please, stay quiet until I'm done. I have a lot to say." The two adults just solemnly, and wordlessly, nodded. "Thank you. Your constant positivity and overlooking of my flaws and mistakes has made me feel like I can't trust you. My sisters also being forced to babysit me has led me to feel like they resent me, so they always pull pranks on me to get back at me."
Robert sighed, "Son, my job as an opera singer forces me to almost always be on stage performing. Your mother's job as a script supervisor requires her to usually be somewhere else in the world on a film set. So we're always busy."
"And if your sisters ever had a problem babysitting you, they never said anything," Marguerite muttered. It was strange, seeing the two so solemn and not upbeat. "Although...that probably just proves your point about us not having your trust..." Seeing it now, though, the optimism was very likely a facade.
"Since we're always busy," Robert continued, "we try to make up for it by always being positive, and never giving any of you a reason for hating us. But we didn't realize it was having the opposite effect..."
The following silence gave Odd a chance to speak up, "I can't speak for my sisters, but I want to be able to trust you. I want to have a better relationship with you and my sisters both. The only way to do that, as I understand it, is you guys no longer overlooking my mistakes or flaws. I get that you're both busy, I really do, and I can deal with my sisters' pranks. But I just want us to be normal, in the moments where we are together. I want you to punish me when I get a bad grade, or when I get detention."
Marguerite offered a slightly forced, almost tearful smile, "We can't make any promises, but we'll try our best."
"Just be honest with me," he told them. "That's it."
Marguerite's smile began less forced, as Robert mirrored her expression, "We can do that."
Odd finally smiled, at last feeling like there was hope. "Thank you." He stepped back, "Now, I'd like you to meet my friends. You already know their names. I never shut up about them."
His parents' warm smiles were quickly matched by those of his friends.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd was showing his film, looking and sounding far more confident than the first time around. "And here, we have a splendid specimen of a dung beetle!"
On the screen, Jim had a soccer ball sort of stuck in the ground. He was bent down and trying to push it by moving his legs, but his feet were just sliding across the grass and the ball wasn't moving, his face scrunched up with the effort. The audience laughed, as in the footage, Jim finally collapsed to the ground.
In real time, by the projector, Jim began laughing as well.
Odd continued, "And now, we have a magnificent field grasshopper!"
The next clip was of Mr. Delmas in the courtyard, playing with his cup-and-ball game. He tossed the ball up and it detached from the string, landing on his foot. He grabbed his foot in pain and started hopping around.
Again, the audience laughed, while the real Delmas looked embarrassed.
"Next, we have the amazing dragonfly transforming into a star!"
The next clip showed Sam on her skateboard, performing an expert move, with the shot of her jumping up into the air against the sun. Most of the audience applauded at the executed move, while the others aww'd.
The real Sam just held her head in her hands, smiling fondly. Odd had remembered her favorite insect.
The next clip came on, showing Sissi's bed filmed from up on the ceiling. Sissi was in the bed, but wasn't visible, instead completely wrapped up in blankets like a large cocoon.
The real Sissi sighed in resignation, "This is it. He's saved the worst for last..."
The blanket cocoon on the screen scrunched up as Sissi shifted inside.
"But what could this strange creature be?" Odd continued, "A spring roll? No, no! It's an enormous larva!"
The audience laughed again, especially Nicolas. Sissi frowned. Odd's parents laughed as well as they shot each other amused glances.
In the video, Sissi had emerged from her blankets and was sitting on the edge of the bed, stretching. She then stood up, smiling.
"A caterpillar," Odd finished, "metamorphosing into a lovely butterfly."
As the audience aww'd, Sissi blinked in surprise. What? That wasn't making fun of her. But her image had been saved in the supercomputer, so she remembered the previous take.
She had saved Odd. That was right.
From the lectern, he winked at her, confirming that this was indeed payback for saving him from XANA-Hervé.
Knowing this, she smiled. It felt good—she couldn't deny—doing and being a good person.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
Next Episode: 55 - Lost at Sea / Hiroki steals Yumi's diary for her secrets to try to make up with Milly after a fight, only to risk his relationship with his sister instead.
A/N: Why did I move 'Bad Connection' so far up from its canon placement? Honestly, I can't remember. I think it was because I needed a buffer/filler between the Forest Replika arc and the Mountain Replika arc (which starts next chapter), and 'Bad Connection' was my best option. And will 'the real XANA' re-emerge in the future? I'm honestly not sure, but it will continue to speak its thoughts aloud through the Spectre/Clone.
As for the changes I made: The others already know the deal with Odd's parents, aside from William and Sam, and Odd isn't insensitive when describing the situation because he knows that Ulrich and Jérémie (in this AU, at least) have it much worse than he does. Speaking of Sam, I added her mostly for the conversation she and Odd have on the stairs, to explain why Odd was disappointed in her in "Final Round" and "Renaissance".
Fun Fact: I originally intended to add in Odd's five sisters as well, but it didn't pan out that way. Also, Sophie Decroisette has confirmed that XANA doesn't actually stand for anything. What I propose in this chapter is just for the sake of this story. And Odd's parents' jobs come from the Season 1 Graphic Bible.
Lyoko fight inspiration: Jérémie versus the Mantas comes from canon!'Bad Connection'. William versus the Krabes comes from 'Wreck Room'. Yumi versus the Clone (obviously) comes from 'The Lake'. The tower is original, but I took inspiration from the tower in 'Killer Music'.