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 FP7ETDP43
This is the last chapter before the final stretch, and what better way to indicate the 'calm before the storm' than a filler chapter inspired by a Season 1 episode, back when there was far less at stake?
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
"It's time for the robotics competition, but XANA isn't the only enemy Jérémie has to face."
Episode 63: Canine Conundrum
(Based on The Robots & Canine Conundrum)
The eleventh grade class watched as Ms. Hertz drilled a sheet of metal. She wiped the sweat off her brow before holding it up to the students, revealing that the drill had not left a single mark.
"So, as demonstrated, this sheet of titanium is far more durable than steel," she lectured. "As such, it has a great many industrial uses, including ocean vessels, aircraft, and even spacecraft."
Nicolas leaned over to his deskmate Hervé and muttered, "You should've used it for your robot."
Ms. Hertz heard him. "I'm afraid this alloy is a bit out of the budget range of average students like yourselves," she replied, with slight amusement. "But since Mr. Poliakoff brought up the subject, let me remind you all that the robotics competition is scheduled for tonight at 7 pm. I hope all participants have finished their models by now."
Amidst the excited chatter of the students, Ulrich leaned over to the desk in front of his and Odd's, and asked Aelita's deskmate, "Is yours ready, Jérémie?"
Jérémie's response was a smile and a thumbs-up.
Sissi leaned over to Hervé from the desk across the aisle, "Is yours ready, Hervé?"
"Of course!" Hervé smugly replied. "Come and see my masterpiece after classes, okay?"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
After classes, Hervé had an audience in his and Nicolas's shared dorm. Nicolas was there, of course—being his roommate and all—and they were joined by Sissi, Theo, Naomi, and Laura.
"Well?" Sissi asked, a little impatient. "Let's see it."
Hervé made sure they were all paying attention, before excitedly removing the sheet that covered his robot. "Ta-da!"
Sissi and Naomi immediately screamed, hugging each other in fright, while Theo, Nicolas, and Laura just stared at it in surprise.
The robot looked like a miniature mechanical Aelita on wheels, but not in a flattering way. It had mismatched eyes that were both different shades of green and razor-sharp teeth, with the pink wires pretending to be hair were too spaced out.
"Hervé, what is that...that horror?!" Sissi demanded, pointing a shaky finger at the machine.
"What? It's our team's robot," he replied, as if it was obvious. What was the problem here? "Iron Aelita."
"Hervé," Naomi asked, still clutching onto Sissi, "hasn't Aelita told you time and time again that she doesn't like you like that? She probably won't find the gesture sweet."
"Naomi's right," Laura, on the other hand, was calm. "Besides, if it's our team's robot, shouldn't it look more like one of us?"
She didn't dare tell him that they were not a team here. They were his friends, yes, and they'd be cheering him on because that's what friends did. But they were not super close. At least, not as tightly-knit as Jérémie's gang was.
Hervé just shrugged, "Whatever. It's my robot, okay? And it may be ugly, but watch how it works!" He grabbed his controller from off his desk behind him, before starting to work the controls.
The robot rolled backwards and bumped into his closet, before turning around and driving up to Sissi. She bent down to inspect it, not looking very impressed. Suddenly, the robot punched her cheek, and she immediately recoiled, "Hervé!", while the others watched with horror.
"Hervé, do something!" Theo grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away from the robot, seeing it as a threat. "Control it!" Hervé was the current leader of Kadic's robotics club, right?! He was elected because he was the best and smartest of them, correct?!
(Theo had also quickly become ashamed of the Bringa incident, and he was still deep in the phase of staying on Sissi's good side so she'd fully forgive him. That being said, he wasn't concerned about her safety based solely on that.)
"Don't worry!" Hervé exclaimed, as he fiddled with the controls again. "It's nothing!" The robot drove back and forth, banging against the closet once again. "A couple of adjustments, and everything will be just fine!" He put his foot in the way to stop the robot from moving, before sighing sadly. "Don't worry," he repeated to his audience. "I'll win like I always do, for the past five years."
Besides, Kadic wasn't the only school participating. That meant that Jérémie would likely be eliminated by someone else. That was the hope, anyway.
"Are you sure?" Nicolas asked, worried, having been quiet up until now.
"Nothing to worry about," Hervé reassured them all. "I've planned for every contingency."
His friends, however, weren't so confident.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Just down the hall, a similar meeting was about to take place. The six Lyokowarriors approached Jérémie's dorm, with Kiwi being carried in Odd's arms. They were coming back from the park, so the dog was all tired out.
"It's a little annoying how stingy Ms. Hertz is with her materials," Jérémie was saying. "If I had access to even a small portion of the scrap she has laying around, I could make a top-tier robot easily."
"I think I'd be grateful," Yumi replied. "Because of that, you got scrap from the factory, which makes it feel like a true team robot." The factory was what brought them all together, after all.
As Jérémie unlocked his door, Odd agreed, "She's right. That way, if you win, Jer, then we all win! It's symbolic!"
The young genius gently rolled his eyes, "I can't deny that, I guess. But I don't really care about winning. I just entered this competition to have fun." He then opened his door and entered his room, with his friends right behind him.
"But if you find yourself in a position where you can win," William asked, "you'll take it, right?"
Ulrich was the last person to enter the room, so he closed the door behind him, giving the group some privacy. Odd then placed Kiwi on the ground.
Jérémie replied to William's question, "I suppose, since it means that much to you guys." A shy smile with flushed cheeks permeated his features. "Well then," he grabbed his controller from off his desk, "I guess I better introduce you guys to our team's robot!" He was visibly giddy with excitement as he turned on the controller.
In an open cardboard box underneath his desk (laying on its side), a pair of bright red eyes began glowing within the darkness. A couple seconds later, out stepped a mechanical dog the size and shape of Kiwi.
"I'd like you all to meet Kiwi-2!" Jérémie announced, an accomplished smile on his face.
The robot began slowly walking towards its namesake, and the others couldn't keep the smiles off of their faces. Aelita softly giggled in amusement as the real Kiwi backed away behind Odd's leg the closer the robot got to him.
"That's cool!" Odd exclaimed. "Looks like Kiwi's got a new friend!"
Even if he was freaked out by said friend looking so much like him. It was no surprise when the real Kiwi growled and ran off, barking. He took to hiding under Jérémie's bed until the robot left the room.
"He's as cute as the original," Aelita told Jérémie. "Well done." A light blush dotted his face at her compliment.
"A little too cute, maybe," William quipped.
"Kiwi-2's not a killer robot, guys," Jérémie reminded his friends, amused. "It's just programmed to play basketball."
Information on how the competition would be laid out was listed alongside the rules on their participation forms, the ones they submitted last November. That way, the participants would have the time and knowledge to build their models with the proper programming.
"Yeah, relax, guys." Odd bent down to look at Kiwi-2, as though he was talking to a real dog. "Who's a good little robot doggie? You want a wingnut?"
Kiwi-2 approached Odd, and the smile on his face fell as the robot promptly 'urinated' on his leg, with oil as the liquid.
"Sorry," Jérémie said. "I didn't have time to take him out." For added insult, the robot dog kicked its leg against the ground. "He needs to empty himself regularly."
Ignoring the laughter of the others, Odd glared at his friend dryly. "'Just programmed to play basketball', huh? When did you get so snarky?"
"When I met you guys."
Odd let a smirk slip. "Well, I'm proud of you."
An alarm from Jérémie's laptop interrupted them. Not the superscan, but for the time. It was 6 pm, one hour before the competition. It was time to leave for the stadium, where the competition would take place.
Jérémie pressed a key to silence to alarm, as Ulrich pumped a fist, "Alright, it's time! Let's go bring home the bacon!"
As the group left Jérémie's room, said blonde gently rolled his eyes, "I told you guys already. I didn't enter to win." He then reached down and picked up Kiwi-2, now holding it in his arms.
"Either way," Aelita replied, her being the last one in the room with him, "I just hope XANA leaves us alone tonight, for your sake."
He gave her a grateful smile before they left room together, with the pink-ette closing the door behind her, her bag slung over her shoulder just in case.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
A couple hours later, the robotics competition was in full swing. Milly and Tamiya filmed all matches involving Kadic students—a group that included, but was not exclusive to, Hervé and Jérémie.
Naomi was right: Aelita was not impressed by the fact that she was the namesake of Hervé's (ugly) robot. In fact, she was embarrassed, and not in a good way.
Jérémie and Hervé both survived all of their matches, coming out as the victors. It was no wonder that they both made it to the final round of the competition. However, the two could not have been more different.
Hervé took pride in his victories, and when realizing that his final opponent was Jérémie—the one he despised the most—he dealt with the pressure of this final round by solely focusing on how Iron Aelita could side-step Kiwi-2.
On the other hand, Jérémie humbly complimented his opponents, showing good sportsmanship by bringing up things he noticed about their respective models. When faced with the pressure of the final round, he chose to take comfort in knowing that his friends didn't care if he lost.
Whether he won this competition or not, they'd still back him up against XANA or everyday bullies without a second thought.
Said friends were also near the front of the stands, with their collective cheers being the loudest amongst the audience. All Jérémie had to do was briefly glance over to the sidelines and he'd see them.
There was a five minute break before the final round started. The audience's cheers almost drowned out the announcer as he talked into the microphone he was holding.
"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, ladies and gentlemen!" the man said, and the audience started shushing each other. "The grand finale! In this corner, Iron Aelita!"
He pointed over to Hervé's robot, with Hervé himself standing next to it. The crowd cheered.
The announcer continued, "And in this corner, Kiwi-2!"
He pointed at Jérémie's robot, the blonde standing next to it, like Hervé. The crowd's reaction to Kiwi-2 was far less subdued than their reaction to Iron Aelita. There was a barely audible chant coming from the Kadic students, "Kiwi-2! Kiwi-2!"
Milly and Tamiya were in the front row of the stands, the redhead filming the match with the camera the two used only for the school newspaper.
"Jérémie versus Hervé!" Milly commented. "I wonder who will win."
"Either way, Kadic's gonna take home the gold," Tamiya replied. Kadic wasn't the only school that had sponsored the competition. It was just a coincidence that both final participants were from Kadic.
Both boys stood across from each other now, with the announcer standing between them. "Remember, gentlemen," he reminded them, "robots are forbidden from using any physical force. Now, shake hands."
Jérémie politely extended his hand to Hervé, a kind smile on his face. Like before, he was being a good sport, even if he didn't like Hervé. Besides, he just wanted to have fun; he wasn't here to win.
But Hervé was. Especially against Jérémie. The black-haired nerd lowly growled before reluctantly shaking the blonde's hand.
"Alright, let's roll!" the announcer said. "The first to score five baskets is the winner. Let's go!" The man threw a small basketball up in the air.
The crowd cheered as Kiwi-2 caught the ball first. Amidst the ruckus, Jérémie worked the controls on his robot, making it score the first goal.
"Yeah!" Ulrich exclaimed, as Yumi, Aelita, William, and Odd all shared high-fives with each other. "Kiwi-2: 1, Iron Aelita: 0!"
The announcer threw up the ball again. This time, Iron Aelita caught it. Despite Kiwi-2 being overall smaller, and thus faster, Iron Aelita managed to reach the hoop and make a basket.
Score: 1-1.
As the match went on, the pink-ette noticed how Kadic as a whole was cheering for Jérémie. The only people, out of their fellow classmates, really cheering for Hervé were his friends: Sissi, Nicolas, Naomi, Theo, and Laura. And even their reactions were subdued. It was as if they were only supporting Hervé out of obligation.
Aelita didn't call it out, but she did find it interesting.
On the third run, Iron Aelita caught the ball again, and scored another basket.
Score: 2-1.
Hervé chuckled as he glanced at Jérémie's nervous expression. The fourth run started, and Kiwi-2 caught the ball. Milly caught the dog robot's second goal.
Score: 2-2.
The crowd cheered again, with Jérémie's friends being the loudest.
"Way to go, champion!" Odd exclaimed.
"Keep it up, Jer!" William added, he and Odd both on the edge of their seats with excitement.
Aelita, however, was chanting "Kiwi-2! Kiwi-2!", and both participants looked over at the audience in surprise when they all joined in the pink-ette's chant. Jérémie gave his friends, and by extension the audience as well, a sheepish smile.
The announcer blew his whistle and stopped the ball with his foot, "Time out! One minute for half time!"
Hervé sighed before walking over to a nearby bench and sitting on it, alone. Jérémie, however, walked over to where his friends were seated.
"You're doing great, Mr. Einstein," Yumi winked at him. "Keep it up!"
He sent them all a grateful smile, "Thanks. But the chant, Aelita...isn't that a bit much?"
"You reacted the same way at my concert," was her response. She was right; he was her biggest fan in that audience. "I'm just returning the favor."
His smile was promptly accompanied by a light blush dotting his cheeks.
The one minute was over before they knew it. Round two began.
Iron Aelita caught the ball first and brought the score to 3-2.
Over the next few minutes, three more goals were scored, Kiwi-2 scoring the first, Iron Aelita the second, and Kiwi-2 the third.
Jérémie took a moment to adjust his glasses before glancing at the scoreboard: 4-4. He looked over at his friends one last time, feeling their shouts of encouragement radiating throughout his entire being. In that moment, he decided that he did care about winning, but not for himself.
For them.
"Game ball!" the announcer said. Everyone watched intensely as the man threw up the ball into the air. This was it, the final point. Whoever scored this goal would win the entire competition.
Both robots jumped into the air at the same time. Iron Aelita reached for the ball first, only for Kiwi-2 to catch it in its mouth. Once it landed, it made a break for the goal. Jérémie imagined that it was a tower that he had to deactivate, by scoring a goal, and it was working.
Iron Aelita chased the canine robot across the court, and Milly captured the moment with her camera.
"Come on, Kiwi-2!" Tamiya encouraged in a whisper, she and the entire audience on edge. "You can do it!"
Milly chose to stay silent, but the smile on her face indicated that she too was hoping for Kiwi-2 to win.
The crowd cheered louder in anticipation the closer the dog robot got closer to the goal.
Hervé had already made his choice earlier. It was just a last resort, and it was now time to use it. He pressed a large red button in the middle of his controller...
Kiwi-2 jumped up to make the goal, only to suddenly explode out of nowhere.
Jérémie's jaw dropped in dismayed shock—what happened?!—while some people in the audience cried out in surprise. The other Lyokowarriors' mouths were hung open in dumbfounded speechlessness.
As the scraps of Kiwi-2 fell to the ground, Iron Aelita rolled up and collected the ball before turning around back to its own goal. Hervé laughed gleefully as Iron Aelita scored the final point.
The audience's cheering for Hervé's victory was more subdued than before due to the shock of Jérémie's (adorable) robot suddenly getting destroyed the way it did.
The announcer looked and sounded confused when he spoke up here, "Give us a few minutes to review our footage, but for now, I guess the winner of the 2008 annual robotics competition is Hervé Pichon."
It was very telling how Hervé's group of friends weren't applauding here either. Even to them, Hervé's victory felt very hollow.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The next few minutes were filled with silence as the crowd chattered amongst themselves in the stands. Most of them were confused, while the Lyokowarriors heard some comments about Kiwi-2 being cuter than Iron Aelita amongst compliments of Jérémie's good sportsmanship.
Speaking of whom, the young genius was sitting on a bench on the side of the court, pretzel-style and holding a piece of Kiwi-2's face. It was obvious that he was devastated by what had happened. Despite not caring about winning, the loss had evidently hit him hard. So the others left the bleachers to join him, knowing that comforting him took precedence.
"It's okay, Jérémie," Ulrich said, as they approached him. The blonde glanced up at his friends, but barely reacted to their encouraging smiles. "Don't worry about it."
Yumi sat down next to the young blonde and put a hand on his shoulder, "Yeah, you can't win all the time."
Aelita took the seat on his other side, though sat a little closer to him than Yumi did. "You win some, you lose some."
"I'm okay," he quietly reassured his friends, softly stroking the broken piece of his robot. "I once promised Maman that I'd build a dog that could never get sick and die."
"What do you think I'll grow up to be?" If I ever do, went unsaid. But the Périns didn't like thinking about that. Not yet, at least.
"Maybe a doctor?" Sophie suggested. "So no one else has to suffer the same way you did?"
He shrugged, "I'm thinking about robotics. So I can build us a dog that will never get sick and die!"
"I just wasn't expecting to be so emotionally attached to Kiwi-2," Jérémie continued in real time.
Odd sadly smiled at him in response. "Don't worry, Jer. You'll always have the real Kiwi."
Jérémie finally let slip a smile, but it didn't last long. Now frowning in confusion, he asked, "I don't get it. What happened?" He was referring to Kiwi-2 suddenly exploding, and the others knew it.
"That's why they're reviewing the footage," William explained. "They don't understand what happened either, so they need to make sure Hervé's win is legitimate."
"We could show you now." The group turned around to see Milly near them holding up her camera.
Tamiya was at her side. "We decided to review our footage too, in case their cameras caught a different angle. As reporters, our duty is to the truth."
"We found something you really need to see, Jérémie," Milly said, handing her camera over to him. "Take a look."
Jérémie took it, before playing the footage, with Yumi and Aelita peeking over his shoulders. The screen showed Kiwi-2 heading for the last goal with Iron Aelita right behind it. Just as Kiwi-2 jumped, the slow motion effect kicked in. Iron Aelita's mouth opened, releasing a nut that flew into Kiwi-2's back, piercing its shell and causing it to explode.
"So that's what happened..." Jérémie muttered. "That nut damaged Kiwi-2's internal circuits. With those circuits out of commission, a forced shutdown is what resulted." He looked up from the camera. "I thought our robots were forbidden from using physical force!"
"They are," Ulrich curtly replied, anger visible on his face. "It means that Hervé cheated, Jérémie."
The others would always get angry and defensive on Jérémie's behalf, but this time, the young genius was beginning to tremble with rage himself as he handed the camera back to Milly. And that was fine with them; they'd just watch his back.
Odd turned to the two reporters, "Would you two be willing to back us up? We need to exchange a few words with you-know-who."
"If by backing you up means 'submitting the footage to the administrators of the competition'," Tamiya replied, "then absolutely." Beside her, Milly nodded in agreement.
On the other end of the court, Hervé was being surrounded by his own friends. But the topic of conversation didn't include any sort of 'congratulations', but curiosity-filled questions.
"See?" Hervé was gloating, polishing his fingernails on his sweater before blowing on them. "I told you that everything was fine. I've managed to maintain my championship for the sixth year in a row now." Nicolas and Naomi shared an unassured look.
Laura was particularly suspicious, but she maintained a good poker face, "What is your professional opinion on what happened to Kiwi-2?"
"Sorry, I didn't notice," Hervé shrugged, acting too nonchalant. "I just saw the ball drop to the ground, and I took the chance."
He saw Theo and Sissi share unsure glances with each other.
"It's the truth!" the black-haired nerd insisted. "I was too fixated on the ball. It was the final point, after all."
"Whatever happened," Sissi muttered, "I still think it's the ugliest robot I've ever seen."
They were cut off by someone outside of the conversation, "Hervé?"
The six all turned to see Jérémie standing there, his arms crossed over his chest and looking upset. Behind him, his five friends all looked angry, with Yumi and William cracking their knuckles as a warning.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Jérémie asked.
"Sure," Hervé replied. As the blonde then walked up to him, the acne-faced boy continued, boasting, "Are you here to congratulate me on my victory? Be a graceful loser?"
"How modest," Aelita cut in. The glare on her face indicated that her comment was sarcastic.
"Actually," Jérémie said, as if the pink-ette had not spoken, "I was–"
He was cut off by a muffled sound coming from Aelita's bag. The other eleven kids watched as she pulled her laptop out of her bag, though only revealed what was on the screen to her friends. Said friends all seemed to understand, but tensed up as if they were expecting an incoming assault.
Before the other six could react, or even ask, a black cloud emerged from a nearby outlet. All six watched as it covered all pieces of the broken dog robot before absorbing into them. The pieces then began to shake before reforming back into Kiwi-2, though a lot more angular and scary than the original. Its eyes glowed a bright red—indicating that it was back online—but the eye of XANA was now flashing as well.
"Nice trick, Belpois," Hervé laughed, to shake off the weirdness of this moment. "You explode your own robot for these theatrics later?"
"Why would Jérémie destroy his own robot, you idiot?!" William seethed. Laura couldn't unsee the rage in his eyes, directed at Hervé. That's when she knew for sure what had happened. Why else would Jérémie's friends be acting this way?
The robot dog growled before splitting into, spawning a second Kiwi-2—also controlled by XANA. It then split up even more, until there was an army of at least twenty-five occupying the court.
Everyone else promptly screamed in terror and ran away, in the opposite direction, towards safety.
"Well, I definitely didn't program it to do that!" Jérémie hissed at Hervé.
The army of dog robots charged at the twelve teens. Jérémie managed to side-step a couple before noticing that none of them had really paid him any mind. Instead, the robots were focusing on Jérémie's friends—his bodyguards.
Seeing the blonde's hesitance in going on without them, Aelita told him, "Go on, Jer! We'll play with them!", as she ducked, letting a robot hit the wall behind her. It flickered away, disappearing, upon impact. "Just don't drag your feet!"
With no other choice, Jérémie turned back around and safely slipped out of the exit.
Hervé had no such luck. In fact, it seemed to be the opposite as XANA began promptly surrounding him with the Kiwi-2 clones. It was as if the robot was taunting Hervé with its ghost, demanding revenge. It would've been funny had the situation not been so dire.
William and Odd took to defending the people Hervé considered to be his friends as Aelita motioned them all to follow her into the backstage area. There, they would be able to hide long enough for Jérémie to deactivate the tower. Fortunately, they all obeyed.
Hervé tried, but the robots refused to let him move in any single direction. They all growled at him, demanding a piece of him. Despite being sour at the nerd for earlier, Ulrich chose to step in between Hervé and the clones. He fought against the robots, ignoring the pain of their bites, as Hervé took the chance to join the group in safety.
Ulrich was on the verge of passing out thanks to his various injuries by the time the others had regrouped in Aelita's chosen safe room. He felt his legs give out, but he never hit the ground. Instead, he was caught by Yumi and Sissi. Yumi kicked a robot away before she and Sissi dragged the boy's hurt body back to a storage room backstage.
Once they were inside, Theo and Nicolas immediately closed the doors and barricaded them by sitting against them.
Ulrich managed to maintain consciousness long enough to ask Yumi, "Did...did Jérémie make it out?"
"Yeah," she calmly replied.
With the relief he felt then, he allowed himself to pass out in her arms. Jérémie was on his way to the factory, and that was enough for him.
On his other side, Sissi remained worried for her childhood friend. "Yumi," she shakily asked, "he'll be okay, right?" This wasn't her first XANA attack, but this was the first time she had seen any of her teammates, her friends, get hurt.
The elder could only respond with a quiet, "I hope so..."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie raced through the sewers using Odd's skateboard. He had chosen to forego his scooter this time because the robots had followed him down here. When he reached the staircase, he jumped onto the railing, then off the skateboard, and landed on a pipe on the wall. The board hit several robots, which then flickered out of existence. He quickly jumped off the pipe and landed back on the skateboard again.
There were no clones waiting for him at the factory, surprisingly. Just in the sewers. After promptly descending in the lift down to the lab, he raced up to the controls. He didn't sit in the chair, but he placed the microphone in his ear and called Aelita's number.
"Jérémie?" She picked up right away. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he replied, typing in rapid-fire commands to bring up the delayed virtualization program. "I'm just calling to let you know that I'm at the factory now."
She breathed an audible sigh of relief, "Oh, good. Now, I don't mean rush you, but you need to hurry up. Ulrich's in bad shape already."
Uh-oh. That was bad. XANA's attack on Jérémie with the clones was also mild in that regard. Hopefully, the others could hang in there for a few more minutes.
"I'll try my best," he told her, before hanging up and then removing the microphone from his ear.
The phone call window closed. Then, his ID and timer window, showing sixty seconds, both opened. He pressed 'enter', starting the countdown. With this, he raced down to the scanner room using the side ladder. He made it with ten seconds to spare.
The scanner's doors closed. The cabin then filled with light. One gust of wind later, Jérémie felt his body depixelize and then reform mid-air in the Desert Sector.
He could see the tower from where he was, northwest of his current position. It was small on the horizon, but he could see the red halo and the fact that it was next to a rock formation, which meant a place for him to take cover if he needed to. He activated his wings and took off in the direction of the tower, not wishing to waste any more time.
But the closer he got, the more nervous he got. His visor—the holomap—was completely silent. There was nothing around. He was the only sign of life here.
He had to be careful. XANA had played this card before. It just meant that it was planning something.
Reaching the tower in record time, due to meeting no opposition, Jérémie landed in front of the tower and deactivated his wings before running towards the tower wall. He had to hurry...
But he halted in his tracks when his visor alerted him to an enemy presence emerging from the tower—something he already knew, because he could see it. Surrounded in red ripples, the Clone walked out before standing in between him and his objective.
It smiled at him with faux sweetness using Aelita's face, "Hello, Jérémie. I've been waiting for you."
In a flash of orange, it then morphed into Ulrich, before unsheathing its dual katanas and lunging at him with insane speed.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich may have been in far worse shape than anybody else, but the others weren't particularly well-off either. Due to a bad bite to his ankle, Odd couldn't walk anymore without a bad limp. Theo received a few bites to his right arm, which happened to be his dominant hand, rendering it useless. Naomi's knee was busted thanks to an earlier attempt to kick one robot resulting in two more biting her there, rendering her unable to walk too.
This left William, Aelita, Yumi, Sissi, Nicolas, Hervé, and Laura to fight. Only four of them knew what was even going on, while two remained unaware of how to fight at all. And one of them was severely shaken by what had happened.
Said person was Hervé, who couldn't take his eyes off of the beaten Ulrich. The brunette was still surrounded on either side by Sissi and Yumi as the two worked together to bandage his injuries as best they could.
"W-Why would he...?" the black-haired nerd asked, his body and voice both trembling. "I-I mean, Ulrich and I, we're not...we're not friends. Why would he...?"
"Save you?" Odd finished for him. Hervé's friends easily noted how sour the Italian boy sounded. No, not 'sour'. The more accurate word was 'pissed'. "I'm honestly wondering that too, but I also know that he's too good a person to just leave someone defenseless."
Unable to ignore her deputy's choice of words, Laura finally voiced her suspicions. "Hervé, be honest. You do know what happened to Kiwi-2, don't you?" She phrased it as a question, but she already knew the answer.
Regardless, she still wanted Hervé to confirm it, and he knew that. "...Yes. Yes, I do..."
"Just so you know," William cut in, he and Aelita trying to come up with a plan in the corner, "Milly and Tamiya have it all on tape. Might as well come clean about everything."
Nicolas was staring at his roommate, hard, "Hervé, what are they talking about?"
Hervé swallowed the lump in his throat (unaware it was there until now), before finally admitting, "I was the one who destroyed Kiwi-2."
"What?!" Theo asked in surprise. "But that's cheating!"
"Why?" Naomi asked, her voice on the verge of cracking. "What did Jérémie ever do to you?"
"He stole Aelita from me, that's what!" Hervé vehemently defended himself.
"I was never yours, Pichon!" said pink-ette vehemently immediately cut in.
"Well, I liked you and he liked you too!" the green-vested boy told her, getting more emotional the longer he talked. "Do you know how difficult it was for me to accept the fact that your affections were taken by someone I'd never met? Then, he enrolled at Kadic to be closer to you! Actually seeing you two interact in person hurt even more! But then it extended far beyond you! He started exploring his interests, and imagine my reaction when I found out from third parties that he was interested in robotics! And that he's apparently far better at it than I am! If you were in my shoes, Schaeffer, you'd feel like he was copying you too!"
"But he's not," Yumi cut in. "Yes, it feels like that to you, but if you actually got to know him, Hervé, you'd realize that it's not for any malicious reasons."
"Jérémie's been sheltered for most of his life, Hervé," Aelita calmly reminded him. "It's only natural that he'd want to explore what he finds interesting. Yes, robotics stuck with him, but so did photography, believe it or not. He's also pretty good at the piano and loves reading poems. I'm pretty sure you have other interests outside of robotics too."
Said nerd redirected his resentful gaze to the ground. He did have other interests. With the way things were going for him, he was beginning to prefer the career of a doctor over his father's wish for him to make his company a family business.
"We'd also never risk telling Jérémie that he couldn't explore something," Odd softly cut in. "If it's something dangerous, we're always right there next to him. If it's one of our own interests, like, say, art like me or music like Aelita, we would never dare tell him not to, because then we'd be doing him a huge disservice by restricting his freedom more than it has already been."
If Hervé had this right, his own interests were purely academic. He pretty much already knew everything; he just needed to decide on a career. But Jérémie's current interests were really just exploring the world around him. In fact, the blonde likely hadn't gone any farther than France, and that made Hervé's heart twinge with sympathy.
"Oh, God! I'm sorry," he muttered. "I'm really sorry." What was he thinking, blowing up Jérémie's robot like that?! Yes, he won, but at what cost?! Ulrich was currently injured because of him, after all!
"Jérémie's the one you should be apologizing to," Sissi quietly told him.
"I know, and I will," Hervé promptly replied. "But first, we need to get out of this mess."
"Jérémie's on it," Yumi said, sounding steadfast in that belief. "The rest of us just need to survive."
"But how?" Naomi asked, Nicolas kneeling at her side. "Those doors can't hold forever."
"I think," Hervé cut in, deep in thought, "I may be able to disable the robots." The others turned to him. "When they're hit, they disappear as if they're mirror images. But they were all cloned from the original, which was reformed somehow by that black cloud. If we take out the original Kiwi-2, it might take out the rest of the clones."
He then started searching the various boxes in the room.
"What are you doing?" William asked.
"A-ha!" Hervé exclaimed, holding up a toolbox. He promptly set it down on a nearby closed crate and opened it. He then pulled out a power drill, and smiled, "Perfect. Just what I needed." He turned to the others, "I have an idea, but I'll need some time to put it together."
"Shouldn't we just call the police or an ambulance?" Theo asked, unsure. "Ulrich really needs one."
"It wouldn't be of any use," Odd replied. "The robots wouldn't let anyone through. There's only one way out of this situation." And that was Jérémie deactivating the tower, thus stopping the attack at the source.
"He's right," Aelita took charge. "Again, our job right now is to just survive. Hervé, you work on your idea. Finish it as fast as you can. Laura, you help him with whatever he needs." Aelita turned to the rest, "Nicolas, Sissi, you two find weapons for the rest of us. Whatever you can find. Yumi, William, you two help me barricade the door with all these crates."
Everybody nodded before going their separate ways.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
XANA-Ulrich slashed at Jérémie with both katanas. The elf threw a few daggers in response, only for the Clone to duck and easily avoid them.
It then morphed into its Odd mask in a flash of orange, before firing a flurry of Laser Arrows at him. Jérémie tried his best to dodge them all, but three slipped past and hit him square in the chest. His visor immediately alerted him to the change in his lifepoints.
It was just him this time. He couldn't be devirtualized, not now. He had to deactivate the tower first!
Not willing to take the chance, Jérémie chose to fire an energy blast at the Clone—successfully causing it to stumble back—before running towards the rock formation behind him. He had to think of a plan.
"You can't hide from me, Jérémie!" XANA watched the elf hide within the cluster of rocks. "I will find you no matter what!"
Jérémie's visor told him that the Clone, still as Odd, wasn't moving, just waiting for him to emerge. So that was XANA's plan here: to wait it out, when Jérémie could not wait. Not when Ulrich was counting on a Return to the Past to save him, when the others needed that tower deactivated in order to protect them from the Kiwi-2 clones...
The clones...
That was it! He reached out in front of him and concentrated...
The Clone morphed in its Yumi mask right as Jérémie ran out from behind his cover, making a break for the tower. But it threw a fan at him, promptly knocking him to the ground. Curiously, the boy did not fight back, or even stir, when XANA-Yumi activated its telekinesis and picked him up with its mind.
But it chose to overlook that. Its goal was about to be fulfilled.
XANA-Yumi levitated the elf over the edge of the platform, before releasing its hold on him. He fell towards the Digital Sea, and the AI smiled when the boy hit the water without the interference of his pesky wings.
"I told you that you couldn't hide from me, Jérémie," the Clone said, as a column of light erupted from the water, signaling the elf's deletion. "And neither can your parents."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
After a few minutes of work, Hervé set the drill down and screwed the drill bit into a small robot that he had built, as Laura watched with interest. It was a four-legged, winged robot with a drill on the end. Once he was done, he held it up.
"There we are!" he announced to the group.
"Thank goodness it looks better than Iron Aelita," Sissi quipped.
"Hush, you," he replied. "Let's hope that black cloud didn't reform the original with titanium." He turned to Laura, "You remember what to do?"
"Mm-hmm," she nodded, as she passed him his robot controller. "This should be recalibrated to control your new robot." That was the task he had assigned to her, or one of them.
"Thank you." He passed her the bird robot, before turning to the others. "We're ready. Are you guys?"
Sissi was holding a crowbar, Nicolas and Aelita both wielding wrenches, William had a bucket full of mini basketballs, and Yumi had a piece of pipe slung over her shoulder. Several boxes and crates were stacked against the door.
"Ready as we'll ever be," Aelita replied. "But let's not take the barricade down yet. The longer it stands, the more time we'll be buying ourselves."
"Good luck," Naomi muttered, holding her knee as the pain was becoming more and more evident on her face.
"Don't die," Theo added, having moved to Naomi's side while the others were working.
Similarly, Odd had moved to Ulrich's side, the latter of whom was still out cold.
All of a sudden, bangs and rattling were heard from the other side of the door.
Naomi huddled closer to Theo as he cried out, "They're getting in!"
"Bring 'em on!" William tightly clutched the handle of his bucket. He stood on a bench, ready to throw the mini basketballs that he had.
Yumi and Sissi both positioned themselves on either side of the door, as more bangs came from the other side of it. Nicolas and Aelita both stood in front of the four that were injured, protecting them in case the robots tried to attack them again. Hervé and Laura, meanwhile, hid behind crates that had not been used for the barricade, both ready to put Hervé's plan into action.
Suddenly, the door buckled, the metal bending as if someone had just punched it down. A couple more hard hits and the door flew right off its hinges. Kiwi-2 clones came flying through the now-open doorway.
One was taken out by a miniature basketball and another by Yumi's pipe.
"Take that, you filthy beast!" Sissi cried as she batted one away with her crowbar.
Aelita took out three of them in quick succession, while Nicolas took out two. Sissi batted another clone away, as one jumped at her from behind. She turned around in time to see one of William's basketballs make it disappear. She looked over at him, grateful, and he just responded with a wink as he tossed a ball up and down in one hand.
While the others were fighting for their lives, Hervé nodded at Laura. The girl nodded back before stepping out of her cover. She side-swiped a clone before throwing the bird robot. Once it was flying, Hervé immediately and successfully took control of it, still hiding behind his own cover.
He maneuvered it from afar through every robot in the room, and it made a buzzing noise as it did so. They all flickered away when hit, until its drill ran into the nose of a clone—the real one. Hervé quickly got to work. The bird robot crawled all over Kiwi-2, before drilling a hole into its back, climbing inside.
Kiwi-2 immediately reacted, shaking like a dog would before sitting and scratching at its metal skin with its back paw.
It didn't take long for the small droid to damage all of Kiwi-2's internal circuits like the nut did before. The dog robot suddenly exploded a second time, losing its cohesion as it fell to the ground in scattered pieces. Miraculously, the bird robot was still intact, and Hervé flew it back to his hand.
They all breathed a collective sigh of relief when the clones all disappeared as a result. Hervé's plan was a success. The teens took the time to double-check each other for new injuries.
But right as they thought they were safe, the dark cloud reformed around the broken pieces of Kiwi-2. They all watched in horror as the dog robot was, once again, reformed. This time, it was surrounded in a dark aura, making it look more threatening than before.
Sure enough, it also reformed all the clones, which then approached the group once more while the real Kiwi-2 wisely chose to retreat in order to hide, lest Hervé succeed in destroying it for a third time.
Of course. They should've figured. It wasn't over until Jérémie punched in the code.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
XANA-Yumi chuckled as it looked expectantly at the Digital Sea, clearly waiting for Michel and Sophie Périn to arrive. But the more time that passed, the more suspicious the AI got. Something was fishy here...
"Did you expect my parents to show up to bail me out again?" Jérémie's voice caught XANA off-guard.
It immediately turned to where the voice came from, only to see that Jérémie—the real one—was standing next to the tower, arms folded and an angry expression on his face. The AI should have realized it sooner. No wonder the boy didn't struggle once caught!
"Sorry," the elf shook his head, "but they won't be coming today." He unfolded his arms and motioned to himself. "I've used this trick on you before, XANA! I can duplicate myself, too, remember?"
The Clone morphed into the William mask in a flash of orange. It then quickly summoned its Zweihänder and threw it. It hit the tower wall, however, just after Jérémie entered the structure.
Jérémie immediately ran to the center of the first platform, hoping he wasn't too late...
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The teens huddled in fear as Aelita and William remained the only ones willing to face the threat.
JEREMIE_
The two were approached by several snarling robot dogs, and separated as a result. One of William's robots jumped at him and bit down on his arm, making him fall to the floor as he tried to pry the robot off his hand.
One of the few facing Aelita bit down on her leg and she cried out in pain.
CODE_
The others all screamed in horror before cowering against each other as various robots all came flying at them. Yumi hugged Ulrich protectively, as Hervé stepped in front of Laura. He wasn't sure what he could do now—his plan had failed—but he'd do what he could.
LYOKO_
The robots all suddenly made a strange sound, causing them all to look up in surprise. One by one, all the Kiwi-2s disappeared in a burst of pixels. The one surrounded by the aura, the real one, lost the cloud and shattered into pieces once more.
Now it was over.
Before anybody could ask any questions, a white bubble quickly engulfed everything...
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Time rewinded back to the competition just an hour earlier. Iron Aelita shot a goal, bringing the score to 4-4. The crowd clapped and cheered.
The announcer blew his whistle. "Game ball!" He then threw the ball up in the air, and like before, Kiwi-2 (now restored) caught it in its mouth.
"Go on, Kiwi-2!" Odd cheered. He and the others were still the loudest amongst the crowd.
(Fortunately, their injuries had been healed, and if anyone had any complaints about Yumi ignoring Ulrich's personal space out of relief, they didn't say anything.)
Iron Aelita chased Kiwi-2 towards the goal. Kiwi-2 jumped up to put the ball in the hoop, and the crowd gasped in anticipation.
Hervé's contingency plan was a last resort, and this certainly was. He pressed a large red button in the middle of his controller...
But Jérémie was watching him, smiling, having expected him to do this. This time, he controlled Kiwi-2 to twist out of the way of Iron Aelita's projectile, thus successfully avoiding it and claiming the final goal.
The crowd immediately erupted into cheers, as Hervé looked on in shock, "Huh?!"
It was his turn to be confused, to not understand what had happened, how he lost. How did Jérémie read his mind? Where did his plan go awry?
Wait...Aelita's diary had mentioned a time-reversing mechanic. What did she call it? 'Return to the Past'? Is that what happened? Did Jérémie retain some type of knowledge from a previous lifetime and use it? If so...what happened the last time?
"And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer exclaimed. "Jérémie Belpois is the winner of the 2008 annual robotics competition!"
Jérémie's victory felt deserved, contrasting the previous take where Hervé's felt hollow.
The Kadic crowd was cheering loudly, and Jérémie's friends were all high-fiving each other. The blonde turned back to his friends one last time, this time with an accomplished smile on his face. This time, he prevented Hervé from cheating, and he won the competition fair and square.
The announcer brought the two boys back to the middle of the court. They faced each other.
"One last handshake for good sportsmanship, boys," the man told them. "Come on."
Jérémie immediately extended his hand, smiling. This one was a warning to Hervé that the blonde would never sink to his level, that whatever contest or competition he won, he'd follow the rules to do so. That he'd never even consider cheating as an option.
However, it was a good match. Their robots were equally competent, even if Jérémie's was more aesthetically pleasing.
Hervé looked down at Jérémie's hand, feeling conflicted. Should he take it? He had lost to Jérémie again! When would it end?! No...no! He couldn't.
"No way!" the black-haired boy cried out before running off the court.
Jérémie looked a bit surprised, while the announcer was just confused.
Still in the audience, Odd crossed his arms and muttered to the others, "What a sore loser..."
"Yeah," William agreed. "Storming off the stage like a petulant five-year-old? That's not a good look."
"No, it's not," Aelita said in a low voice, "but he can change. We know he can. Had it not been a XANA attack, his plan would've worked."
"But how can we convince him?" Yumi asked.
"We'll think of something," Ulrich said. "But remember, our top priority is Jérémie's safety."
No one could disagree with the brunette, so they didn't.
But there was still hope concerning Hervé. They just had to wait for another good opportunity that wasn't followed immediately by a Return in time.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
Next Episode: 64 - Cousins Once Removed / A boy named Patrick Belpois comes to Kadic, and his arrival leads to the breakdown of the group's lies on Jérémie's behalf.
A/N: You'll notice that I've drawn a few comparisons between Hervé and Jérémie here. That's on purpose. I have a post on my Tumblr (the-writing-artist) that details the comparisons between them in "The Robots" in full, so if you want more info, go check it out.
This chapter is also meant to be a mirror of "A Girl's Diary": in it, Hervé is humbled by Aelita basically telling him how much of a better person Jérémie is, even if Hervé thought of him as an AI in that chapter. In this one, he's humbled by Jérémie's friends risking their lives to save him and decides to take an active part in protecting everybody until Jérémie deactivates the tower. Yes, that means a Hervé redemption, but before it can officially start, the next chapter needs to happen first.
The idea of Hervé's robot looking like Aelita instead of Sissi is from AO3's horus100. And Jérémie's flashback concerning the robot dog was shown before in 35: Reminiscence.