Sorry for the long wait, has been a rough few months for me. But I am finally starting to get back into the grove of things.
Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, Jeremy and Josh were sitting in history class listening to the teacher lecture about norse mythology, when Aelita began to zone out, her head dropping a bit as she began to have a flashback of the day, her father virtualized himself and her to Lyoko.
Aelita and her father were running through the sewers towards the factory, once they reached the lab, Franz Hopper sat down and began typing, to begin a delayed virtualization process. "Where are we?" Aelita asked, looking around the lab. "In my laboratory." Her father answered, before he finished typing. He walked over to her and gently grabbed her hand, "Come with me" He said, walking them towards the elevator. "Where are we going?" Aeltia asked. "To a world, where you and I will be safe. Forever." He answered and they rode the elevator to the scanner room. Once there, he directed Aelita into a scanner before stepping into one himself. "See you in a minute, honey." He said. "Alright, Daddy" Aelita said just before both scanners closed, virtualizing them both to the forest sector.
Aelita fell to the ground of the forest sector, landing a bit hard, she looked around for her father worriedly. "Daddy? Daddy, where are you?" She asked. "Here I am, Aelita." Franz Hopper said, appearing a glowing translucent white ball. "I can't materialize myself in human form yet, I have too much work to do, here on Lyoko." He responded. Aelita tried her best to hug the floating sphere that was her father, before noticing two strange looking creatures in the distance. "Daddy? What are those strange looking creatures?" She asked pointing, just before one of the creatures fired a laser towards her, but thankfully missed. "Aelita. Run! Run to the tower." Franz Hopper replied, getting between the two Kankrelats and Aelita. Aelita did as she was told and ran for the tower, but hit right into its side. "To enter it, you have to relax and be calm." Her father said, as the Kankrelats continued to attack, a laser went past him, hitting Aelita just as she was phasing into the tower.
Back in the classroom, Aelita's pen slipped out of her hand as she was having the flashback. "Aelita!" Mr. Fumey said, noticing her asleep. "Huh?" Aelita mumbled, startled awake. "You know, young lady, most of us go to sleep at night." Mr. Fumey responded, causing most of the class to laugh. "Um.. I am sorry, Mister Fumey." Aelita said, grabbing her pen off the desk and straightening up in her seat.
"Now as I was saying. In Scandinavian mythology, a natural disaster brings about the end of the Norse gods' world, scorching the earth, before a new, peaceful world can arise from the ashes, called Ragnarök." Mr, Fumey said. "And roll!" Odd said jokingly with a laugh. "What was that?" Mr. Fumey asked, not impressed with Odd joke in the slightest. "Ragnarök…and roll?" Odd said nervously, "It was just a joke, Sir." He added. "Very funny, Della Robbia. And now, would you kindly leave this room?" Mr. Fumey said bluntly. "Uh, is that a joke?" Odd said. "No, it's an order." Mr. Fumey stated, waiting for Odd to leave before continuing his lecture.
After history had finished, most of the group was sitting on a bench near the vending machines. "Odd, I am surprised you got kicked out of class for a simple joke." Josh said. "I guess as jokes go, it wasn't very funny." Odd replied. "So how was history, other then Odd getting kicked out of class?" Yumi asked after hearing this. "Who cares, its history now." Ulrich replied, with a bit of a smile. "Well, Miss Einstein! Better get a good night's sleep." Sissi said as she was walking by the group, stopping in front of them. "A super brain like yours needs a little shut-eye, and most of us, as you know, go to sleep at night!" She added. "Of course, you don't have that problem, Sissi. Because you don't have one." Odd quickly replied as a comeback causing Sissi to storm off with her group.
This whole time Aelita was silent, having another flash back.
Aelita was sitting in the tower when her father appeared in front of her. "Aelita." Her father said. "Daddy?" She asked. "Aelita, I have to make contact with Xana, and persuade him that we can live together in peace with him." He said. "Who is Xana?" Aelita asked. "A multi-agent computer program I greeted, It has achieved self-awareness and autonomy, and it's trying to eliminate us now." He answered. "By why?" She asked, to which her father did not respond. "Daddy?" Aelita asked after seeing her father disappear. "Whatever you do, don't leave this tower." Her father said, leaving Aelita alone in the tower scared crying for her father to return.
"Aelita, everything okay?" Josh asked, noticing Aelita, being so silent. Hearing Josh, Aelita was startled out of thought, and looked over at him. "I am fine. I was daydreaming, I guess." She said quietly. "Was it about your father?" Josh asked, having had quite a few of her memories in his mind before Franz Hopper took them and gave them back to Aelita before disappearing. Hearing Josh mention Aelita's father, Jeremy turned to be part of the conversations. "Do you think my father is still alive?" Aelita asked. Jeremy and Josh looked at Aelita a bit surprised. "Aelita, I should have told you sooner but I didn't know how to break it to you, I have searched all of Lyoko I could without needing Sector Five or an activated tower, and I haven't been able to find a single trace of him." Josh said. "He managed to survive being unnoticed by us the whole time I was trapped, when if he just went back into hiding?" Aelita said, not wanting to accept the fact her father could be gone. "Your father sacrificed himself for you, Aelita. And he had to have used whatever little strength he had left in him to bring you back to life. And to transfer your missing memories out of Josh." Jeremy said. "I know, but…but I thought there might be a hope. That maybe you could find a way…" Aelita started to say before getting cut off by Jeremy. "Impossible. I went over every qubit of data Josh collected, there wasn't even a trace of him." Jeremy replied. "Jeremy, I couldn't check from Sector Five. What if there is a chance that he is alive?" Josh asked, not wanting to give up, seeing how emotional Aelita was about her father. "Aelita… I've been working really hard on a way of getting into the World Wide Web, so that we can fight XANA and you should think the way I think. I-I mean…think about the future." Jeremy added pushing his point of view. "And just forget my past, huh? You think it's easy? You didn't spend ten years of your life as some sort of…computer software!" Aelita said standing up, upset and angry. "I wish I'd never recovered my memory" She added as she walked away.
"Jeremy, you need to learn when the truth is too much to say." Josh said, finishing his food before getting up and walking away.
After leaving the cafeteria Aelita ran towards the Hermitage, having more of the flashback as she ran.
Aelita was in the tower, but ran out looking for her father. She say him floating a bit away from the tower, being attacked by a number of Xana's creatures. "Daddy!" She yelled. "No Aelita, get back to safety! In the tower!" Her father said.
Aelita has arrived at the hermitage, making her way to her old room.
"You possess the Keys to Lyoko, Xana must never get his hands on them, do you understand?" Her father said still being attacked trying to make it back to the tower. "It's over a Aelita. Xana has become too power, he's become a threat to all mankind, I have to shut down the supercomputer." Her father said as they entered the tower. "But does that mean we will die?" Aelita asked, as her father floated to the top of the tower."No, but you mustn't forget me, never forget Aelita." Her father said.
On her old Bed, Aelita was curled up in a ball crying.
Outside the Hermitage, Josh was just walking to the door, knowing Aelita would have came to the Hermitage. "Aelita?" He asked, walking up the staircase to her room. "Leave me alone.. You don't know what I am feeling…" Aeltia said, still crying. "Aelita, I do know what you're going thru… I have had the memories of your father and you in my head before your father took them from me to save you." Josh said, walking into her room. Aelita looked at him, tears still on her face. "I didn't know…" She replied. "And I do know what it's like to be some sort of computer software…. Because that is all I am, and probably all I ever will be." Josh said, trying to not get emotional over that. "I have to go to Lyoko. And search for my father." Aelita said. "You know Jeremy, probably wouldn't agree to help with that." Josh replied. "So? We don't need Jeremy." Aelita stated as a fact. "We?" Josh asked, a bit concerned. "Yeah, just the two of us." Aelita responded. "Just the two of yous?" Odd asked, having just walked into Aelita's room, using the same logic as Josh to know where Aelita would be. "Odd, you don't plan on telling Jeremy do you?" Aelita asked. "No, Einstein may be a computer whiz, but sometimes he doesn't know what he says hurts." Odd said. "So are you going to go with us then?" Josh asked, having decided he was going to help Aelita with her goal. "Well, Aelia is going to need some protection, if she is going to Lyoko, no offense Josh, but Xana has been targeting you lately, and devirtualizing you quicker and quicker." Odd said. "So you noticed that too?" Josh said. "Still haven't figured out why." He added. "Then let's head to the factory." Aelita said, smiling a bit.
In the library, Jeremy was reading a book while Ulrich tried to work on some homework. "Ulrich, do you think I was too hard on Aelita earlier?" Jeremy asked quietly. "What do you think? It wasn't easy for her to learn she was human or about her father." Ulrich replied before putting his hand on Jeremy's shoulder. "You should talk to her." He added just as Jim walked up behind him. "No, you shouldn't talk to anybody, there is no talking permitted in the library. Anybody I find talking from now on, is gonna have a little conversation with me! And if you hadn't had enough, after our little chat, you can just walk down the hall, and have a talk with the principal!" Jim said before walking back to the table he was sitting at before. "She must really hate me." Jeremy said to Ulrich, quietly. "No she doesn't. Hey, I bet she's running around looking for you to make up, right now!" UIlrich replied, just as quietly.
Meanwhile Odd, Aelita and Josh were running through the sewers to the factory, before getting to the bridge and swinging down to the main level to take the elevator down. Once in the elevator Aelita began explaining the plan. "I am going to start a delayed virtualization for the three of us." Aelita said. "You know how to do that?" Odd asked, surprised. "Yea, it's simple enough, I am not going to bother programming a timer for the transporter, since I can just summon that myself, like I have in the past." Aelita added walking over to the console to set up the delayed virtualization. Soon after programming the virtualizations, the trio walked to the ladder and took it down to the scanner room, each getting in a scanner before virtualizing in the desert sector.
In the library, Jeremy's computer began to beep, he opened it to find the superscan going off. "Oh no, an activated tower, in the mountain sector" Jeremy said before closing up the laptop. "If we act quickly we can get it deactivated before he does any damage." Jeremy said getting up. "Talk plan?" Ulrich asked, referring to a plan to stage an argument to get kicked out of the library. Jeremy nodded before they both staged a fake argument getting Jim's attention. "I want you two out of here immediately! Now go on, out of my sight, you hear!" Jim said, having moved next to the two while they were arguing. Once they left the library, Ulrich texted Yumi that there was a Xana attack, while Jeremy tried to call Aelita. "Strange, Aelita isn't answering." Jeremy said before trying to call Josh. "Neither is Josh." He added, worried.
Meanwhile on Lyoko, Aelita, Odd and Josh made their way to the edge of the sector. "Strange that we haven't encountered any monsters." Odd said noticing that Xana wasn't putting up any sort of resistance to them getting to Sector Five. "You're right. Maybe he is distracted, elsewhere." Josh said knowing that even a multi-agent could get distracted. "You two ready?" Aelita asked, waiting by the edge. Both Odd and Josh nodded before Aelita used her creativity to summon the transporter.
Shortly after the three were picked up by the transporter, Ulrich and Jeremy got to the lab. "Any word from Odd, Josh and Aelita?" Ulrich asked as Jeremy sat down. "No, I am going to try calling them again" Jeremy said, using the supercomputer's calling interface getting a busy signal on all three phones. "Stange, its like they have their phones off." Jeremy added as Yumi came down the elevator. "Where is everyone?" Yumi asked, seeing only Ulrich and Jeremy. "I don't know." Jeremy said before noticing something odd on the console. "This is strange." Jeremy said typing rapidly. "What is?" Ulrich asked, walking over. "There's activity in Sector Five." Jeremy said bring up Sector Five on the Holosphere system. "Well, I found the three of them…" Jeremy added.
In Sector Five, Aelita, Josh and Odd had managed to get all the way through the main rooms of the sector and activate the key. "Aelita, Josh and Odd, I know you're there. While you three are in Sector Five, Xana activated a tower." Jeremy said, getting the three's attention. "I guess we will have to deal with that." Josh said to Aelita. "Yeah…" Aelita said looking down as they headed for the access to the celestial dome. "I will virtualize some vehicles for you." Jeremy said, while getting ready to also virtualize Ulrich and Yumi. As the three reached the celestial dome, Josh put a hand to his head. "This can't be good." Odd said, noticing Josh. "Jeremy, can you check on the core, Josh seems to be in some distress." Aelita said, causing Jeremy to bring up the window to see what was going on around Lyoko's Core. "You're right, it looks like Xana is attacking the core. You three should head for the core, I will get Yumi and Urlich there to help." Jeremy said, having just finished virtualizing those two near the activated tower, "Yumi and Ulrich, you need to head for the edge of the sector, Xana is attacking the core." Jeremy said, virtualizing the Overbike for them, since he had virtualized the Overboard and Overwing for the other three earlier.
In Sector Five, Odd, Aelita and Josh made their way to the south pole of the dome, as they reached the stairs heading up to the core room, Josh was having a harder time concentrating, "You two, keep going. I will try my best to get there eventually." Josh said, leaning on a wall, holding his head. Aelita and Odd continued up the staircase to begin defending the core. Josh watched as the first shield layer exploded outwards from the core, a manta sweeping down towards Josh.
Aelita jumped up the platforms getting behind a creeper and destroying it with her energy field while Odd jumped off a platform and landed on the back of a manta, riding it up toward the top of the core area, as it tried to buck him off of itself. As it neared the top of the core area, Odd jumped off its back towards the platform at the outer wall, rotating in the air as he did so, to fire a laser arrow at the manta, destroying it. Meanwhile, Aelita was working her way up that staircase, destroying each creeper as she got to it.
Back near the bottom, Josh was struggling to climb the staircase, using his sword to block laser blasts from the manta that had came after him. He slowly made his way up to be level with the core. "Odd can you deal with this thing?" Josh yelled, still blocking the blasts.
"Yea, just let me finish with this one." Odd said jumping on the back of another manta riding it towards Josh before shooting it twice in the back and jumping onto the one attacking him.
As all this was happening, Yumi and Ulrich were just reaching the entrance to the core chamber,
"Guys hurry up, the second shield layer can't take much more of this." Jeremy said as Josh finally was able to start helping and destroyed a few of the creepers attacking the core. Shortly after Yumi and Ulrich arrived Odd was devirtualized by a creeper shortly after he took out the last manta that was flying around. "The last shield is about to blow." Jeremy said. "Thats fine, there is only one creeper left." Ulrich said using his super speed to get up to the creeper as quickly as he could. Just before Ulrich killed it, the creeper managed to shoot the shield, destroying it leaving the core exposed. "Good job guys." Jeremy said seeing that all the monster had been destroyed, even if the core was now exposed till the shields regenerated.
"Aelita, there is still a tower to deactivate but you could stop by the terminal for a bit if you still want to." He added, bringing their vehicles back up to return to the terminal in sector five. "Yeah, why not." Aelita said with a smile. "Jeremy, I am going to stay here, and watch over the core while Aelita is busy." Josh said, feeling better now that the core was not actively under attack but still feeling a bit weak. "That's fine." Jeremy responded.
While Aelita and the other were off at the terminal, Josh as on the edge of one of the platforms staring at the core, his legs hanging off the edge. He closed his eyes and sat there, in silence, trying to concentrate on the core of Lyoko, trying to feel Lyoko throughout the link provided by his code being integrated into it.
Back in the lab, Jeremy noticed, the information panel relating to the shields of the core flickering a bit as one of the shield began to reform. "Well that's odd. It normally takes hours for the shield to reform…" He said to himself, going to look back at the information Aelita was sending him, his vision passing over a window indicating power draws of different areas of Lyoko, and saw that something was transferring a large amount of energy from the surface sectors towards the core. "Josh? Are you doing something, I am getting some weird readings over here?" Jeremy said.
"I am just sitting here, sort of zoning out really. Why? What sort of weird readings?" Josh asked. As his attention was taken away from his thoughts the energy flow returned to normal. "There was a strange surge of energy from the surface sectors to the core." Jeremy said, "But it seems to be normal again." He added. "I was sort of concentrating on the Lyoko, trying to feel Lyoko. Maybe that could be it?" Josh said, hypothesizing. "That could be. Either way, get ready to come back, Aelita finished up getting the data she wanted and the group is heading for the tower." Jeremy said starting the devirtualization for Josh.
Later that night in Jeremy's room, Aelita and Josh were looking over his shoulder as he searched through the data that Aelita had recovered. "Anything?" Aelita asked. "No… Nothing yet." Jeremy said, looking through some more. "Jeremy what's that?" Josh asked, noticing a bit of data in a format he somehow recognized. "Josh you're right." Jeremy said, focusing on the area Josh had noticed. "You two found something?" Aelita said, getting a bit excited. "It looks like a fragment, a fragment of a DNA sequence belonging to Franz Hopper." Jeremy replied. "You were right." Josh said. "My father might still be alive somewhere on Lyoko!" Aelita said with a smile.
Hopefully I will have the next chapter out a lot quicker then this.