A/N: Behold, a collection of side stories for my Jerlita Roleswap AU—an alternate universe where Jérémie and Aelita have swapped roles, if you need a refresher. These are the stories that didn't quite make the cut for the main story "The Boy in the Computer", but are still canon to the general AU.
Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko in any way, shape, or form.
Chapters of TBITC to Read Before Reading This One: 19 – Fragmented Reality
Beta read by FP7ETDP43
This chapter is in past tense in order to match the usual style of the TBITC chapters/episodes, rather than the present tense I usually use for side stories.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
"Now that the group has discovered Sector Five, they decide to go and explore it in hopes of unearthing some of its secrets."
The Girl From the Outside
Episode 19.3: Welcome to Carthage
(Based on Exploration)
Yumi was in the Forest Sector late one night, facing off against two Tarantulas that had already taken out Odd, Aelita, and Ulrich. She was the only one left to guard Jérémie's path towards the activated tower.
Briefly glancing behind her, she checked on Jérémie's progress and saw that he was just phasing through the tower's base.
A good backflip allowed her to dodge one final Tarantula laser. She glanced back in time to see the tower's halo turn back to the neutral blue, and she sighed in relief. Jérémie made it.
And hopefully, he was quick enough to prevent any damage from being done.
"Nice job, both of you," Aelita said. "We got to XANA before it could get to us."
Good. Yumi smiled, before outstretching her arms and letting a Tarantula devirtualize her with one more shot to her chest.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The other three were in the lab as the scanners warmed up. Aelita took out the headset and placed it on the keyboard before standing up and stretching out her aches.
"Activated towers, Lyoko battles, danger..." Ulrich asked, "Aren't you guys starting to get sick of all this?"
The two cousins answered in unison, "No."
Ulrich sighed, "Well sometimes, I really wish we were done with XANA," as the lift opened, letting Yumi and Jérémie enter the lab.
"We can't, good buddy. At least, not yet," Odd reminded him. "Remember? Jérémie's carrying a miserable virus that links him to our old friend, XANA. 'Goodbye, XANA' also means 'goodbye, Jérémie'."
"And I'm not even close to having anything concrete for the anti-virus," Aelita shamefully added. "I've gotten all I can from the towers."
"Why didn't you say so sooner?" Jérémie asked, before a thought came to mind. "I think it may be time to explore the mysterious sector we discovered the other day."
"The fifth sector?!" Aelita protested immediately. "No! Out of the question! It's too dangerous! There are those Creepers, that pesky countdown, and—as Odd calls it—that Scyphozoa that wants to steal your memory, and it wasn't destroyed!"
"I don't think it can be destroyed," Jérémie admitted. "I didn't see any weak spot on it. As for the time limit, there has to be some way to shut it off. If you need more data for the anti-virus, Aelita, then this new sector might be the answer."
"You're right, Jer," Ulrich agreed. "And with all three of us together," he motioned to Odd and Yumi beside him, "we'll be ready for anything that XANA throws at us."
"Hold on!" It was Jérémie's turn to protest. "You mean all four of us. I want to be part of this expedition too."
Aelita sighed, "Which brings us back to the 'it's too dangerous' part. Your safety, Jérémie, is my primary concern, and the Scyphozoa is the biggest threat to that. Remember, it also drains your lifepoints alongside your memory. The safest option I can see here is if you operate the supercomputer while the rest of us check out this new sector."
"What? No!" Jérémie pressed, "What if there's a tower to deactivate or a similar structure that only I can access thanks to the annex program? I can't do that remotely! I have to be there on Lyoko! I appreciate your concern for my welfare, but shutting XANA down is the primary objective. No one is safe while it remains active."
Odd placed an arm around Jérémie's shoulder, "Come on, cuz. With bodyguards like us, our Prince Charming has nothing to worry about." Jérémie smiled in response. "I promise to be careful."
Aelita took in a deep breath before slowly exhaling. "Fine," she relented. "We'll schedule the exploration mission tomorrow night."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
When the group emerged from the factory, heading back to their rooms, it was nighttime. The moon and stars were out, and it caused Yumi to instinctively check her phone for the time. When she saw the time (11:45 pm), she began to panic.
She gasped, "Oh no! It's so late! My parents must be going bananas!" She ran across the bridge as fast as she could, waving back to her friends, "Bye! See you tomorrow!" She then disappeared into the air of the city beyond the bridge.
Meanwhile, the others headed for the manhole cover. Odd also checked the time on his phone, "And as for us, we missed dinner again. And on spaghetti and bolognese night too." He sighed, "It's tough being a hero.."
An amused Ulrich gently patted his friend's shoulder, "It's not the end of the world. You can just dig into the snack stash you have hidden in your closet."
Odd became visibly panicked, "You found that?!"
The brunette remained calm, "I didn't. But Kiwi loved those leftover slices of pizza."
The blonde became sullen. "That darn mutt. So that's where those went..."
His three friends all laughed as they entered the sewers.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi quietly closed the door and walked up the front steps. She briefly peeked inside the window, and saw that it was dark inside. Yep, her parents and brother were probably asleep. She opened the front door and peeked her inside to confirm it.
Feeling confident now, she entered her house and quietly closed the front door behind her. But while her back was turned, the lights suddenly turned on.
She turned around in surprise, only to see her parents at the foot of the stairs. They had been waiting for her, and they hadn't even changed into their pajamas.
Her father's arms were crossed over his chest, "Yumi, we need to talk."
Yep. She was in trouble.
But her parents had graciously let her warm up her dinner. When she was sitting at the table, with her bowl of noodles in front of her, they sat down at the table with her, watching her every move. She picked at her food, taking her time picking up some of it with her chopsticks.
Her father continued from earlier on the stairs, "You come home late every single night, but tonight is the last straw. Your curfew is ten o'clock, and it's now three minutes past midnight, and you didn't even bother to call us to give a heads-up."
Yeah, that would have been, in the very least, something that cushioned the blow. Yumi dug into her noodles, using the food as a way to avoid having to talk.
"And you hardly eat dinner with us anymore," her mother added in concern. "What's going on, dear? If you have a problem, you know you can tell us."
The only problem she really had was XANA, but she couldn't tell them about it and Lyoko. That would definitely blow over well (that was sarcasm; couldn't you tell?).
Her mouth full, Yumi responded, "Everything's fine, I promise. I was studying math at Maitena's house. I told you that already."
"Maitena Lecuyer?" her father asked, sounding like he already knew the answer. That didn't bode well for her.
But she went through with it. "Uh-huh."
"Hm, that's strange," her father replied. "Well I called her, she was studying...by herself."
Busted. Yumi paused, for just a second, in swallowing her noodles.
"You're lying to us, Yumi," her mother said, upset and concerned. "That's not like you. What's the matter? What are you hiding from us?" She placed her hand over Yumi's, who was still holding the bowl up to her mouth. "We worry about you, sweetheart..."
Akiko trailed off, leaving her sentence open-ended on purpose, hoping that her daughter would pick up where she left off.
"I told you, everything's just fine!" Yumi retorted, getting defensive at all the prodding. She hated lying to her parents, but she had promised to keep Lyoko a secret. "You saw my last report card! It was great, so why worry about me?"
Her parents just sighed. No other word was spoken after this.
After finishing her dinner, she was sent to bed. As she slept, hugging her large Totoro plush, her mother opened the door and looked inside the room, causing light to fall on Yumi's face. Akiko sighed sadly and closed the door again, before turning off the hall light.
Akiko walked into the bedroom that she shared with her husband. Takeho was sitting on the bed. The two looked at each other, then away, before she also sat down. Both of them started undressing, now that Yumi was home. They had thought that Hiroki would be the problem child, not Yumi.
Akiko took off her earrings, "I'm concerned about our daughter."
Takeho sighed as he undid his tie, "We're going to have to get a lot more strict."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The next morning, Yumi was walking to school like normal, but this time was different.
"I appreciate spending time with you guys," she said, "but may I point out that I know the way to school and I'm big enough to go alone?"
Both of her parents were walking with her, flanking her on either side. Hiroki had teased her relentlessly at breakfast, once they both found out, before he was told to go to school before them.
"Really?" Takeho asked.
"Yeah."
"You think so?"
"Yeah."
"Well, if you're so big–" he began.
"Yeah..."
"–you should stop lying like a kid and tell us why you come home late every night!"
Yumi didn't even consider telling them the truth. "So you plan to watch me twenty-four hours a day until I do? At least I came home! I promise to always call you from now on, okay? You clearly trust Hiroki, given how he was allowed to go to school by himself, so why not trust me?"
"Hiroki's not grounded," Takeho reminded her.
"You're not a prisoner, sweetheart," Akiko explained. "We're just trying to understand and protect you."
By this time, they had reached the school gates. A few other students walked inside as the trio stood right outside. Hervé was inside, talking to Nicolas, Thomas Jolivet, and Bastien Roux. The four boys immediately noticed the strange sight and turned to watch them.
"I bet that you'll be picking me up as well?" Yumi quietly asked, already knowing the answer.
Akiko patted her shoulder as a goodbye.
"I'll be waiting for you here at 5 o'clock," Takeho answered. "I strongly advise you not to be late."
Yumi didn't answer, just sighing before turning on her heels and walking through the gate. It was time to focus on school. She had a math test today, after all.
Her train of thought was derailed by Hervé's teasing, "Isn't that adorable? I remember when my maman walked me to school...when I was five!"
Resisting the urge to punch him (her parents were still right there, watching her), Yumi just balled her fists without responding and continued walking.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Her destination was the vending machines. Sure enough, her friends were there, indulging in hot cocoa before classes. They were the only people she could openly discuss her situation with.
She finished explaining with, "They're not gonna ease up on me. It's just a mess." She pressed a button on one of the machines, "I hate lying to them, but I have to in order to keep our secret."
"Just explain to them that we're fighting in a virtual world against an artificial intelligence that wants to take over the world!" Odd playfully suggested to lighten the mood. "That ought to reassure them!"
Yumi rolled her eyes, "Dork." She appreciated his jokes, but now was not the time.
"You have to win back their trust in you," Aelita told her. "I think you should stay away from Lyoko for a little while."
"Huh?!" Yumi turned around in shock. "You're benching me?! What about exploring the fifth sector? It's for tonight, isn't it?"
"Trust me, Yumes, it gives me no pleasure to bench any of you," the pink-ette explained. "I prefer Jérémie having as many bodyguards as possible. But it's either that or delaying the mission until you're no longer grounded."
The elder girl thought it over for a quick second, before wincing at the truth in her friend's statement. She relented with a sigh, "Fine. Benching it is. Don't delay this mission; it's too important."
"Alright," Aelita replied. "And don't worry. I'll give you a play-by-play. Promise."
"And it's not forever," Jérémie added. "Besides, it won't be as much fun without you anyway."
Yumi softly smiled, as the bell rang, signaling the start of the day's classes.
Odd saluted, "Come on, guys. I know you're all dying to go to Ms. Hertz's class. Off we go!"
As they all gathered their stuff, Aelita asked him, "Did you study for the marine biology test?"
"Of course I did!" Odd said, before reciting, "Listen: fish are remarkably well-adapted to water. What's more, they can swim."
Aelita gave her cousin a dry look, "In other words, no."
Ulrich and Jérémie both laughed as Yumi threw her untouched drink into the trash can nearby.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
That night, the four traded the second half of their dinner hour for the mission.
"Virtualization!"
Ulrich, Odd, and Jérémie landed on the ground of the Ice Sector, all back-to-back in formation. They stood up slowly while surveying the surrounding area.
"Everybody make it okay?" Aelita asked.
"Yes. We're all present and accounted for," Jérémie reported, briefly using his goggles to ensure that there were no monsters waiting for them. Once he did, he slipped them back up.
Ulrich narrowed his eyes and kept his suspicious gaze on the nearby glaciers. "No monsters in sight. Not even a single Kankrelat."
"Nope. The holomap says 'all clear'."
Odd's tail swished casually behind him, "How rude! No welcoming party?"
"That's pretty normal, actually," Jérémie told them. "And let's keep it that way."
"What do you mean?" the samurai asked. "We're usually up to our necks in monsters whenever we come here."
The elf let slip a small chuckle, "That's because you guys are usually here to help me reach an activated tower. Of course there are monsters during an attack. XANA requires a way to protect its tower, and monsters are usually how it does so. But there is no attack right now, so it has no objective at the moment. While it sleeps, it only has a few monsters running on basic instructions. It's only when XANA is awake that the monsters are a problem."
"That makes sense," Aelita commented.
"So the monsters are essentially sleepwalking right now," Odd commented. "Good to know. And you're right; we should keep it that way."
"Agreed," Aelita said, before bringing up all three vehicles. "The edge of the sector is south of your current position. There's no monsters nearby, but stay on your guard anyway."
"Roger that, Miss Einstein!" Odd chirped, before backflipping onto his Overboard. Beside him, Ulrich mounted the Overbike, while Jérémie hopped on the Overwing. The trio then took off.
Ulrich and Jérémie stuck to the path as Odd flew parallel to it, swerving left to right, and up and down, narrowly dodging ice rocks. The elf was concerned, not wanting his friend to crash, but the samurai was amused.
The brunette just shook his head, "Odd, you promised to be careful!"
The cat came up behind them."I am being careful!" He then zoomed up over the duo's heads, causing them both to duck.
"Yeah, right..." Jérémie muttered.
"Stop playing around," Aelita cut in with a warning, "and hurry before the monsters wake up."
A couple of minutes later, the trio reached the edge of the sector, slowing their respective vehicles to a stop.
"We made it, Aelita," Jérémie reported, as the three boys dismounted.
"Okay," she replied. "I'm entering the code now. S-C-I-P-I-O," she muttered to herself.
Like before, the Transporter (again, named by Odd) descended from the sky. The white sphere flew up above the trio before spinning around them, picking them up. It then traveled towards the other end of the sector.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi had just finished dinner and was preparing for her bath. While waiting for the tub to fill up with hot water, she sat down on the edge, wrapped in a pink towel, and dialed a number on her phone. It rang once, before the other person picked up.
"Yumi?" It was Aelita.
"Hey, Aelita," she said, her voice soft. "How's the mission going?"
"The boys are currently in the Transporter," the pink-ette reported. "So far, all is well."
"Tell them I'm thinking about them," she murmured softly and sadly. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to be grounded. She wanted to be there, with her friends.
"I will," Aelita replied, and Yumi hung up.
She held her phone in her hand for a moment before placing it on the nearby stool. She then turned off the tap, let her towel drop to the floor, and got into the bath. She leaned back, unable to stop her troubled thoughts from invading her mind.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The Transporter dropped the three boys off in the Arena of the fifth sector. Odd was in a catlike crouch.
"Everybody make it okay?" Aelita asked again.
"Yep!" Ulrich replied. "I'm beginning to get used to these little trips."
Odd stood up, holding his stomach, "Ugh, not me. I shouldn't have had that fifth dessert at lunch..."
Jérémie was studying the rotating dome above them, "Aelita, the wall's about to open."
"Right, meaning the countdown is about to start," the pink-ette answered. "You have to find a way to deactivate it. That must be the answer to exploring further."
The wall spun faster before finally coming to a stop. The exit appeared the same way it did for Jérémie. The trio ran towards it.
"Be careful," Aelita warned.
"Don't worry!" Ulrich told her as they ran. "Odd promised he would be, remember?"
"I do, but does he?" she asked. The question was rhetorical. "You know what will happen if Jérémie loses all of his lifepoints!"
"Don't worry," Ulrich reassured her. "We have no intention of losing him."
The trio stopped and waited for the wall to open further. The passageway opened up to reveal a long staircase. They ran down it, Odd on all fours.
"Last time, there was a big room at the end of this hallway," Jérémie recalled.
The trio ran out into a large, open room—proving the elf to be right. But the layout was different.
"But it didn't look like this," the blonde in blue continued.
"Looks like the architecture of this place changes each time you visit," Aelita commented, as the boys stopped at the edge of a platform.
"That's a great help for finding our way around," Odd commented sarcastically.
"If we knew everything, we wouldn't be exploring," Ulrich calmly interjected. "Come on, let's go."
He Super Sprinted off to his right, and the other two followed after him.
"Look out! You've got two Creepers on your tail."
Two Creepers emerged from the way the boys just came. The monsters fired at them as the humans went through a doorway, and Odd stopped to return fire. He fired a single arrow before continuing to follow the other two.
"You've only got three minutes left to stop the countdown," Aelita told them.
They ran into another room and looked around.
"That way," Ulrich said, before leading them to their left.
They ran past another doorway before doubling back. They ran inside and ended up in yet another large room. After running across a pathway with a lot of sharp turns, the trio took the next exit...into another large room.
Ulrich stopped and looked around, a bit taken aback. "Haven't we already been through here?"
"How should I know?" Odd retorted. "Everything looks the same in this place."
"It's a castle," Jérémie cut in, to the other three's surprise. "Everything here is a defense mechanism meant to protect the heart of this world. Don't ask me how I know that; I have no idea." He turned to his left, "This way."
He ran inside the doorway he had spotted, only to get shot backwards by a laser. As he was curled up on the ground, in pain, a Creeper crawled towards them. Ulrich pulled the elf to his feet and behind cover, while Odd fired at the monster before ducking behind the wall with his friends when the Creeper shot back.
"Jérémie, you're down to sixty lifepoints," Aelita warned, as the boy remained hunched over in pain safely behind Ulrich and his katana. "Geez, those Creepers are more powerful than the Tarantulas."
Odd moved out in front of the doorway again and fired multiple Arrows at the Creeper, destroying it. He flipped out of the way of the explosion, "Yeah, and uglier too!"
"Any ideas, Aelita?" Ulrich asked, not sheathing his katana.
"Well, you guys are in a labyrinth, right?" the pink-ette suggested. "Make a left at each fork and leave a mark there with your katana. If the way is already marked, then make a right."
"Sounds like a plan," the samurai commented, before the three took off running again.
"This is incredible!" Odd exclaimed, as they ran. "We'll never get out of this thing!"
"You'd better!" Aelita said, as the trio ran through another doorway. Ulrich slashed the wall, leaving a mark. "Two minutes left to stop the countdown!"
The trio entered yet another room. This time, though, the only exit had bright light shining through it: the final exit. They stopped and smiled at the sight of it.
"We made it out, Aelita!" Jérémie said.
"Why complicate things, huh, Miss Einstein?" Odd sighed in relief. "Sometimes, all you need is a little bit of luck!"
"Sure, whatever you say," was the pink-ette's deadpan answer. "It wasn't like it was my idea that let you guys find the way in the first place or anything..."
The boys ran all the way to the other side of the room, to the doorway. But it was a dead end, leading to nowhere. It was just a small opening on the outside of the current zone they were in.
"Oh great. Now what?" Ulrich asked, somewhat bitter that their success had been short-lived.
"Aelita, can you see anything from your end?" Odd asked.
"So you need me again, huh?" Aelita was clearly rolling her eyes. "Go back to where you just were. I spotted some sort of mechanism on the wall there. Hurry! Time is running out!"
The trio ran back into the room and stopped to look around. Jérémie, after studying the wall, pointed to something on it, "There!"
It was a push mechanism shaped like the emblem of XANA, stationed high up on the wall.
"I'll take care of it!" Odd ran over to the wall, before nimbly climbing up the small platforms that made up the wall. He stopped just underneath the key and looked up at it.
Aelita started counting down, "Fourteen. Thirteen. Twelve. Eleven. Ten."
Odd jumped up and leapt for the key, stretching out his hand.
"Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four–!"
He was going to save the day, just in time like in the movies. But he was shot by a nearby Creeper before he even touched the button. The force made him fall to the ground, away from the key, and he felt himself devirtualize...
"ODD, NO!" Ulrich cried out, he and Jérémie both horrified. They had lost him at the worst possible time.
Ulrich frowned at a Creeper as it approached him and Jérémie. The monster fired three times at very close range before the samurai could raise his katana to block the shots. He was also devirtualized.
"Ulrich!" Jérémie cried, suddenly left alone.
"Jérémie, the countdown is over," Aelita solemnly told him. "The room is about to change."
The blocks making up the floor he was standing on suddenly rose up, trapping him within four walls all coming together to make a room. The Creeper scampered off just before the room was sealed with the elf trapped inside.
"Jérémie? Are you there?"
"For now," he told her. "The Creepers are gone, so that's a start. But I don't think it's a good thing."
"Don't worry," she reassured him. "We'll get you out of there."
"Please, hurry..."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Odd and Ulrich's ID cards were gray, and that concerned Aelita a great deal. That had never happened before. Either the cards were loaded in or on stand-by. There was no in-between, so what was going on?
She tried to run a diagnostic on those IDs to see what the problem was, only to run into an exclamation mark flashing on her screen. Her stomach immediately sunk to the floor. She once had a similar problem before. That could only mean...!
Bringing up the security camera feed to the scanner room, she confirmed her suspicions. Said room was empty, with all three scanners open and neither of them warming up.
"Jérémie? We have a problem!" she exclaimed, distressed. "Odd and Ulrich didn't come back!"
"What?! How?! ...They're lost in Limbo, aren't they?"
"Probably," Aelita held her head in her hands. "It seems like there's no materialization from this sector. At least, not without the right code."
"Then our primary objective is now to find that code. But to complete it, I need to get out of here."
"I bet we just need to trip that mechanism in order to sway the pendulum in our favor," she reassured him. "And we still have someone we can call to do just that."
She brought up the calling program and dialed Yumi's number.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The Ishiyama family were all in the living room. Akiko sat by the table, reading a magazine. Hiroki was on the steps nearby, playing on a silver GameBoy Advance SP with the volume turned up loud. Yumi and Takeho sat on opposite sides of a Go table.
Yumi was frustrated by her brother's game, "Hiroki, could you make some more noise, please?"
"Sorry, Nee-chan, the volume's as high as it can go," he called out.
"Turn the game down, sweetie," Akiko calmly, yet sternly, told him. Hiroki rolled his eyes but lowered the volume anyway.
Yumi's phone began vibrating on the floor next to her, indicating that she was receiving a call. She quickly noticed, her eyes darting down to the device quickly before turning back to her father.
"I pass," Takeho stated, as she pressed a button to cancel the call.
"I pass, too," she agreed.
"Then the game is over." He laughed, "I have five more points than you."
"On the goban, yes," she replied with a smile. "But don't forget about komi. Since I played the whites, I win this game by half a point."
Goban was the name of the board on which the game Go was played. Komi was a compensation rule that gave the white side more points to make up for black making the first move.
"Oh..."
She giggled, and it was genuine. Despite her displeasure at being benched from Lyoko missions, it was nice to take a break and spend some time with her family.
She then yawned and stretched. "Well, it's time for bed." She picked up her phone and stood up. "Good night."
"Good night, sweetheart," Akiko said as her daughter closed the door.
As soon as she was sure the door was closed and she was alone, Yumi called Aelita back, "Hey, 'Lita, how's it going?"
"Badly! Head for the factory, now!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie felt the walls of the room, trying to find a way out. Suddenly, he heard a screech alongside a slithering sound. He slowly turned his head, afraid of being right as to what that sound was.
"Aelita...? I just heard something..."
"It's the Scyphozoa!" His virtual stomach plummeted to the ground—he knew it. "It's heading towards you! Stay calm; Yumi's coming!"
"How?!" Jérémie pressed himself against the wall as the noises drew closer. "I'm trapped in here!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
A few minutes later, after putting Hiroki to bed, Akiko walked up to her daughter's door and knocked quietly. "Yumi? Can I come in? I want to talk to you for a minute."
No response. Yumi was probably asleep.
Akiko approached the room, but when she tried to open the door, it was stuck. Surprised, she tried to open it again. "Yumi! Open up!"
Still no response. Not even a single rustling of sheets.
The realization began to dawn on her. She quickly ran to the master bedroom and grabbed the spare key. When unlocking and opening her daughter's door, her suspicions were confirmed when she saw the open window. She ran over to it.
"Yumi?!" she called out, horrified.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi was long gone by that point. The moment she swung down the rope and got into the lift, she called Aelita back. "'Lita, I'm in the elevator now. Do you mind explaining now?"
"You have to get to Jérémie in the fifth sector! The Scyphozoa is hunting for him!"
"What about Odd and Ulrich?" Were they devirtualized? Or just separated from him?
"Do you want the best case scenario?" the pink-ette asked.
"It would be nice."
Her friend was blunt, "I've got about a one in a million chance of finding the right code to bring them back."
Yumi gasped, before lowering her phone from her ear. So everyone was counting on her...
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jim and Mr. Delmas stood outside of the school gates in their pajamas, both tired (as evidenced by the former's yawn) Akiko and Takeho pulled up and got out of their car, fully dressed.
The Ishiyama patriarch shook Delmas's hand, "So sorry to bother you at such a late hour, Headmaster Delmas."
"But we're very worried..." Akiko added.
"Yes, yes, I understand." Being a parent himself, the fear of not knowing where your child was so late at night was real. "But it's quite possible that Miss Ishiyama is somewhere on the campus."
"Why sure!" Jim agreed. "She's probably hanging out with her little gang of friends, all four of whom live in the dorms."
Akiko was reminded of something, "Of course. Sometimes, she needs to leave in order to help a friend of hers with his nightmares. I believe she said his name was 'Jérémie'..."
"Jérémie Belpois, yes," Jim told them. "He's an orphan who just enrolled at Kadic last week, with bad nightmares according to his neighbors. Let's start with his room."
Jim promptly led the other three to the dormitories.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi raced across the Mountain Sector on her Overwing. She made sure not to drag her feet; the boys were all counting on her.
"You're approaching the edge of the sector, Yumi," Aelita warned. "Be careful. XANA's going to do all it can to prevent you from accessing the Transporter."
In that moment, Yumi flew past two Bloks, not noticing them. One of them fired and destroyed the Overwing. She rolled around on the ground, but managed to catch herself, and broke into a run.
"Aelita," she panted as she ran, "enter the code now!" Before those Bloks caught up to her.
The pink-ette did so as quickly as she could, and the Transporter descended into view. Yumi cartwheeled to the edge of the platform, looking back at the monsters and gasping just as the sphere reached her.
"Yumi?!" Aelita called out in concern.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Mr. Delmas returned from searching the girls' floor. Jim and the Ishiyamas were looking inside Belpois' room.
"Huh, no one's here," Jim softly muttered, in awe because students had managed to sneak out without his detection. "No one in Stern and Della Robbia's room either."
"Nor in Schaeffer's room," Delmas reported.
"Looking for someone?"
The four adults turned to see Hervé standing there, dressed in his pajamas.
"What are you doing out of bed, Pichon?" Jim asked. No one else would be breaking the rules tonight. Not on his watch.
"I was just using the restroom, Jim, I promise," Hervé replied, sounding sincere. "Ask Nicolas if you don't believe me."
"Pichon," Delmas asked, "would you happen to know where Belpois, Stern, Della Robbia, and Schaeffer might be?"
This was his chance, Hervé realized, so he took it. "No idea, but if I had to guess, they're probably up to no good. Wherever they are, I'm sure their little mascot can find them for you."
The headmaster raised an intrigued eyebrow, "Mascot? What mascot?"
Hervé approached Odd and Ulrich's room and opened it. The boy walked inside and went over to Odd's closet, before pulling the top drawer open. Sure enough, that mutt was there, among a mess of dog toys, medicine, open packets of food, and various personal effects. "Tadaaa~!"
"A flea-bitten, mangy mutt!" Jim exclaimed. "So I'm not crazy!"
"Della Robbia owns it," Hervé informed them. "He calls it 'Kiwi'." He then held his nose as he presented one of Odd's socks to the dog, who sniffed it eagerly. "Hey, little puppy, where's your master, huh?" He dropped the sock and pointed to the open door. "Go get him!"
Kiwi ran out of the room and around the adults' legs.
"Let's follow him!" Akiko said, and the adults followed the dog at a walking pace.
"Thank you, Pichon," Mr. Delmas hung back. "Go back to bed now." He then jogged to catch up with the others.
Hervé obeyed, doing so with a smug smile. If it all went according to plan, then Belpois would get into trouble. Best case scenario, he'd be expelled, but that could be asking too much. So getting detention would have to suffice.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie remained against the wall, just waiting for the Scyphozoa to capture him.
"Hang in there, Jérémie," Aelita informed him. "Yumi's on the way."
He sighed, "I hope so."
The wall in front of him suddenly opened, and the Scyphozoa glided through the gap. The elf didn't have any more ground to claim. He was as far away from it as he could possibly get. Once the monster was fully inside the room, the wall closed back up, obviously to prevent Jérémie from somehow getting away.
Said elf then got an idea. He didn't know if it was possible in this sector, but he had to try. Concentrating hard, he envisioned a wall appearing between him and the Scyphozoa, and his knees almost buckled in relief when he felt said wall become reality.
He opened his eyes and saw that the room he was trapped in was now smaller in size, but he was safe. For now.
Jérémie fell to his knees, "Aelita, I've bought Yumi some time. But she should still hurry. To my luck, XANA will find a way to break through."
"Okay."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"Yumi, can you hear me?" Aelita asked. The geisha had been quiet as the pink-ette called up the Transporter for her.
But she made it. "Yes. I'm in the Arena. The Transporter got to me just in time. Darn Blok."
The room stopped spinning and the exit opened up. She took off into a sprint towards the walkway.
"Okay, good. Now, listen. Jérémie's found a way to buy you some time, but he's not sure how long his defense will hold. So you need to get to the corridor and trigger the mechanism before the countdown runs out."
The passage opened up into a staircase like the one the boys encountered earlier. Yumi ran down it, "Roger that."
"If I'm right about how this block zone functions, it should work," Aelita reassured her.
Yumi exited the passage into a large room. The path through it was criss-crossed with red laser beams. She ran up and flipped into the mess of beams, and grazed her arm on one before she reached the ground. She cried out and held her injured arm as she landed.
"That's ten lifepoints lost," Aelita reported. "You've got two minutes."
The geisha scooted underneath the next beam and then picked herself up. She stepped over the next beam while ducking underneath another, and found herself in a clearing...only for more beams to appear.
But she flipped through the rest of the lasers with ease. When she landed, she heard Aelita tell her, "The mechanism is located on your right. Hurry, you have ten seconds!"
Yumi spotted the key on the right-hand wall at the end of the path in front of her. She ran towards it and pressed it the moment she was able to. The layers on it depressed into a single, flat shape (the emblem of XANA) and the door opened.
"It works, Aelita!"
"The entire place is being reconfigured in our favor," the pink-ette reported. "Just as I suspected. Great job, Yumi! When was the last time someone told you that you're amazing?"
"Not recent enough," Yumi beamed with pride as she exited the room through the now open doorway. "How's Jérémie?"
"He's fine." Aelita was relieved. "His defense held up, and he'll meet up with you soon. Just keep taking the path you're on."
Yumi reached the end of her path and stopped. It was a dead end, with nowhere else to go...until a platform swung past her.
"Wow! I think it's some kind of elevator!"
"An elevator?" Aelita said. "Try to get on it!"
The geisha anticipated the next rotation and prepared herself. "Easier said..." When it came past again, she jumped. Fortunately, she landed on it. "...than done!"
The elevator switched from a horizontal track to a vertical one. Yumi smiled as she watched the scenery fly by.
"Yumi!"
Jérémie called out to her from a similar exit to the one she had found herself on earlier. The elevator whizzed straight past, before switching tracks again.
"Try to grab Jérémie as you go by," Aelita said.
Yumi leaned out and reached out her arm, and the elf did the same. They caught each other's hands, and Jérémie felt his body leave the current, stable platform with a jerk as Yumi grabbed hold of his wrist. She swung him onto the elevator beside her, and he let out a brief yelp of surprise.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"I have no idea," Yumi answered him honestly. "But it's kinda fun getting there."
He smiled just as the elevator switched tracks again. Then, it began slowing down before coming to a stop. Intrigued, the two ran to the end of the elevator platform, where there was a closed door. The wall opened up, allowing them to run through.
The path led them to the outside of the entire sector. It was a large sphere surrounded by data windows much like the walls of the towers. It was actually quite the sight.
Jérémie was feeling a pull to the edge of the walkway. When he obeyed the feeling, Yumi followed him, seeing his trance (if one could call it that) and afraid that he was about to jump off. To her surprise and relief, a screen appeared there, floating just like it did in the towers.
"Is that an interface?" Yumi asked, before touching it. Nothing happened. No windows popped up. "It looks like I don't have access."
Jérémie stepped forward and tapped on it. Unlike with the geisha, the interface came to life. "And it looks like I do." He started working on it. "Incredible!"
"Guys, what's going on?!" Aelita asked suddenly, sounding panicked. "As soon as Jérémie activated that interface, my controls froze!"
"Everything's fine, I promise," he replied as he manipulated screens. "But this is unbelievable! There's so much data compiled here! I think this sector is where XANA lives!"
"What?!"
Yumi peered over the elf's shoulder, "Are you telling us that this is XANA's own data?"
Jérémie could only nod, still sifting through calculations, codes, and various other data windows.
"Then we'll definitely be coming back for information on the anti-virus," Aelita said. "But for now, look for the devirtualization code for this sector. If you find it, we can rescue Odd and Ulrich from Limbo."
"Already working on it," Jérémie reassured her. "I'll send it to you as soon as I find it."
"Make it fast," Yumi warned. "Something's coming out of the wall over there, and I don't like it."
Jérémie glanced up to see a large lump forming on the outer dome. Said lump then hatched and three manta ray-like creatures emerged from it. They began gliding slowly towards the two humans at the interface. The elf turned back to his task, trusting Yumi to take care of them.
The geisha retrieved both of her fans from her obi. She blocked a couple of shots with one before throwing the other. The Manta she was aiming for twirled around to dodge her shot, though. She caught her fan on the return trip. She could really use her Overwing, but Aelita had said that she couldn't do anything as long as Jérémie was working on that interface.
As if on cue, Jérémie reported, "I think I found it. I'm sending it to you now, Aelita!" The interface deactivated as he turned to Yumi, who was watching the monsters.
"Got it! I'm taking over again now. Here's the Overwing. Now get out of there, both of you!"
Just in time. The Mantas had reached the two, flying above them menacingly. The moment the vehicle appeared at the end of the platform, Yumi hopped onto it, and Jérémie joined her. The two flew away.
But now they had a different problem.
"Now, how do we get out of here?" Yumi asked, still watching the monsters.
Jérémie noted the four large streams of data leading to gateways in the outer wall. "There are some tunnels."
A Manta started firing at them, and Yumi dodged the lasers. "But they're closed!"
"Tunnels...tunnels..." Aelita was thinking. "Of course! What if they corresponded to those that open onto the Arena?"
Another monster fired and Yumi narrowly avoided the shot.
"Yes! It's working!" the pink-ette suddenly cheered.
The duo on the Overwing saw the data stop flowing from the fifth sector to the connected surface sector, leaving the tunnel open and a gaping hole in the side of the outer wall.
"Nice one, Miss Einstein!" Yumi complimented, as she flew towards the tunnel, still being pursued by the Mantas.
The geisha frowned in concentration as she steered the Overwing into the tunnel. A Manta came up in front of them and fired, hitting her and knocking her off the vehicle and devirtualizing her.
"Yumi!" Jérémie cried out, before quickly grabbing the handlebars.
He flew right between the three Mantas with no issues from them monsters, heading right into the tunnel. They didn't follow him either. So XANA really did need him alive...
The end of the tunnel was familiar. He quickly came upon the bottom platform of a tower, and he let his instincts take over, steering the Overwing out of the wall. He found himself in the Desert Sector.
"Aelita, I got out through a way tower!" he reported.
No wonder the Mantas didn't follow him inside the tunnel. XANA's monsters couldn't enter towers in general, much less way towers.
"Hurry and materialize yourself," the pink-ette told him, "and we'll see if you got the right code!"
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie was filled with anxiety as he exited the scanner, after using Code: Earth on himself. He stepped partway out of the machine, leaning on it for support. "I'm here, Aelita. But what about the others?"
"I'm entering the code now. Materialization Odd. Materialization Ulrich. Materialization Yumi." All three scanners closed and started warming up. "Now all we can do is hope."
Jérémie tightly clenched his hands together, hoping with all his might that he had found the right code. Please, let his friends be okay...
Behind him, Aelita climbed down the side ladder as quickly as she could, before joining him in waiting. She took his hand, letting him squeeze hers instead of his own.
The room lit up as the scanner doors opened, steam pouring out. Their three friends were thankfully inside, weak but still alive.
"Yeah!" Jérémie cheered.
"We did it!" Aelita exclaimed with relief. She then rushed to her cousin's side and knelt down beside him, "Odd? Can you hear me? Say something!"
Odd managed a smile through his fatigue, "Something..."
Aelita smiled while also shaking her head, "You dork."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
However, there was a surprise waiting for them on the factory floor.
The five teens headed back above ground, with Jérémie supporting Yumi, and Ulrich and Odd supporting each other. When the lift door opened, Kiwi immediately crawled inside and jumped up at his owner, who caught him in surprise, "Kiwi?!"
"Yumi?" Said girl glanced up only to see her parents standing there, staring at the lift—rather, who was inside—in surprise. "What are you doing here?" her father asked.
Jim and Mr. Delmas were with them. Their headmaster crossed his arms, "I believe you all have some explaining to do."
Ulrich glanced back at Aelita, who nodded. She hit the lift button as Jim grabbed Ulrich's arm, and Yumi and Odd walked out. Jérémie created a distraction by sprinting out of the lift.
"Hey!" Jim exclaimed in surprise.
"Belpois, where are you–?!" Delmas began.
Jim managed to duck into the lift just as the door was closing. "Aha! Trying to outsmart me, eh?"
The lift descended, but Aelita wasn't at all fazed. She knew exactly what to do, and unless Jim was super angry, he would not stop her. He would be too intrigued by what was inside the lab to prevent her from doing what she had to do.
The doors opened, and Aelita walked out into the lab. Like she suspected, Jim was so stunned by what he saw that he didn't even move. "What the...! Schaeffer! W-What...what is this place?"
"Nothing rings a bell, Jim?" the pink-haired girl playfully asked, already knowing the answer. "Funny, 'cause you've been here before!"
Jim took a few steps inside, "What are you talking about? I'd have remembered this!"
She was already working on the program, entering the time coordinates. "Well, yes and no." Despite Jim's confusion, she pressed 'enter'. "Return to the Past now."
A white light erupted from the holosphere, spreading out and engulfing everything...
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Time rewinded back to that very morning. Yumi was about to separate from her parents after they had escorted her to school.
"You're not a prisoner, sweetheart," her mother was explaining. "We're just trying to understand and protect you."
This time, she decided to be honest. "A-Alright, I'll tell you. I'm, uh...I'm in love." She felt her cheeks get hot. "That's why I keep sneaking out. When I'm not helping Jérémie with his nightmares, I'm spending time with, uh...with him."
Akiko smiled, as Takeho put an arm around her. "That makes so much sense!" her father exclaimed. "We knew there was a reason!"
"And would you tell us your boyfriend's name?" Akiko asked, relieved that it was nothing dangerous.
"He's not my boyfriend, actually," Yumi confessed, "but he is one of my best friends. I'll introduce you one day." Her parents didn't protest to that, fortunately. "I'll see you tonight." She waved and walked over to the gate, with her parents waving back before leaving.
Yumi stuck her tongue out at Hervé as she walked past, and Hervé looked taken aback.
The other four Lyokowarriors were watching the exchange just out of earshot. It took Yumi with all of her willpower to not look at Ulrich as she was talking to her parents, but now, she could.
"Well, that sure seemed to satisfy your parents," Ulrich asked, curious. "What did you tell them?"
Yumi crushed some hair out of her face. "The truth." She smiled at him, despite him raising an eyebrow when she just left it at that. They knew she didn't tell Takeho and Akiko about Lyoko, judging by her smile, so they left it alone. As long as she had her parents' trust again; that was all that mattered.
But one day, she would feel confident enough to say this truth out loud to Ulrich's face.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
A/N: If you have any ideas for side stories of this AU, please let me know in a review or a PM.
Chapter Notes: I didn't add this chapter when writing TBITC because it was the same plot as in canon, when I probably should have. Yes, things happen the same way, but they are important plot points to consider. Same with "A Great Day".
Some scenes were, once again, inspired by Cybra's Switch AU found on FFN. And Jérémie has no idea, but since this chapter is coming out after TBITC has already ended, you readers know exactly why.