Chapter 01

Sunday

February 04, 2007

"Laser arrow!" Odd exclaimed, flying on his overboard above the Scyphozoa. It felt like it had been ages since he had last seen this jellyfish. His two arrows missed the Eye of Xana he had been aiming for, slightly knocking the floating jellyfish back but not killing it. It already had Aelita in its grasp, energy coming from her head through its tentacles. Grinding his teeth closer, he tried to fire off another arrow only to hear an empty clicking coming from the back of his paw. Looking at the purple appendage, Odd made a quick decision. He had no idea what had happened back on Earth, the last he had heard from Jeremie was a cry coming from the sky when Xana's specters made it into the lab. Ulrich and Yumi had both been devirtualized and had trusted Odd with Aelita's safety. He had managed to wipe out the tarantulas that had been guarding the tower with Aelita's help but neither of them had seen the Scyphozoa.

Gulping down the fear he had, Odd readied himself before crying out, "Bonzi!" He jumped off of his overboard and readied his claws, aiming for the squishy top of the Scyphozoa's head. Falling through the sky, he struggled to ignore the digital void below, knowing that even if he killed the Scyphozoa now, he'd just be killing himself and Aelita. But Xana couldn't get ahold of her. He hadn't tried this trick since he escaped out into the network, and at the time he was using Aelita to delete sectors. Odd couldn't imagine what Xana's plan was this time around, but it couldn't be good.

Odd made contact, using his claws to gain traction. He made sure his left hand had a good grip on the top of the jellyfish, positioning his feet on the waterbed like head. He reached out his right arm and slammed his claws into the Eye of Xana. A shutter ran through-out the Scyphozoa, almost shaking him off as he grabbed tighter with both hands.

The Scyphozoa dropped Aelita before turning into the wireframe outline, losing all collision to its body. Odd fell through what remained, reaching towards Aelita's unconscious body. Even though they weren't really related, even though school believed they were cousins, he still cared for the pink haired girl that was falling towards the dark water-like abyss that layered the bottom of all the sectors. She was their princess, and Jeremie's queen. Nothing was ever supposed to happen to her.

Odd watched in horror as Aelita's body was sucked into the digital void, her body disappearing below the surface as pixels floated away from her. Odd closed the hand that had been reaching for her, closing his eyes as he accepted the same fate.

Thursday

February 4, 2016

"Marinette, Marinette, wake up!"

Marinette opened her eyes, Tikki's voice waking her up from a strangely dreamless sleep. She looked up at her red kwami, trying to blink away the sleep as she saw countless versions of her little friend floating above her. A moan escaped her lips as she reached up and rubbed her eyes, trying to clear away the sand that had to still be blocking her vision. "What is it, Tikki?" Marinette mumbled as she sat up, a kaleidoscope covering her vision as she tried to wake up.

"Something really strange is going on, Marinette," Tikki said, her voice quivering in worry.

Marinette lowered her hands to her lap and opened her eyes again only to stare in surprise at the three different types of Tikkis that floated before her, noticing a few others floating through-out her room while they followed shadows of herself. One of her other selves was pacing the room, a hand on her chin as she spoke to her Tikki in a hushed voice, throwing looks around at the others she could see. Another sat at the computer, brushing her hair as tears ran down her cheeks, her Tikki mostly black with red dots trying to console her. She thought she saw another one, but this one vanished under the bed before she could look at her too closely. She turned her attention back to the three Tikkis floating in front of her only to let out a squeak as she realized she was sitting in what looked like two shadows of herself that were still sleeping. Jumping to the edge of the bed, pressing herself up against the wall and cork board, she looked back at her Tikki and asked, "What's going on, Tikki?"

"I don't know," Tikki admitted, shaking her head. She floated closer to Marinette's face and shrugged. "Maybe someone's been akumitized?"

Marinette looked over at the clock above her other sleeping forms, surprised the window was still dark until she noticed she had only been asleep for an hour as the clock read 00:34. Giving her sleeping forms another glance, she rose to her feet and pushed herself through the sky-light, taking a deep breath of cold night air as she got to her feet. She stepped to the fence and placed her hands on the top as she looked around, not sure if there was more commotion for this late on a Wednesday night in the city of lights. She turned to her floating friend and gave her a reassuring smile. "Come on, Tikki, let's go see what's going on," Marinette said. "Tikki, spots on."

With a flash and a wonderful feeling, Tikki was sucked into the dark earrings as red and black covered her body. Grabbing her hands in fists as the transformation was finished, Ladybug gave a glance at the rooftops around her home and took hold of her yo-yo from around her waist before flicking it out and taking to the sky. The air previously feeling cold now woke her up fully as she flung herself from rooftop to chimney as she kept an eye down at the people below her. She headed towards the Louvre, wondering if one of the many people that were drawn from around the world to that area might have been the victim.

Her yo-yo let out a beep sound as she landed her feet atop a line of rooftops, slowing down to a normal paced run as she slid the yo-yo up and answered the call. "Morning," Ladybug said to the video call of Chat Noir that she already expected to see. She held it so he wasn't looking up her nose but paid more attention to her path than him. "Got woken up by about five other versions of myself. You?"

"Something similar," Chat Noir said, a little dismissively. "Do you know who's causing it?"

"No, I'm looking around though," Ladybug admitted. "Heading towards the Louvre so maybe you should head towards the Eiffel Tower."

"Sorry Mini-bug, but I need you both to come to the school," a third voice said, getting Ladybug to come to a stop as she came to the edge of the row of roofs she had been traversing. She looked down at the yo-yo in her hand to see Chat Noir's face fade in static only to be replaced by a pink haired girl with a blue and white mask on her face.

"Bunnyx?" Ladybug exclaimed, remembering the bunny miraculous holder from her second encounter only a month ago.

"So it is a time thing!" Chat Noir exclaimed, his face no longer visible through Ladybug's screen.

"More like a paradox thing," a second version of Bunnyx's voice said as the Bunnyx on screen looked up at the other voice.

"Who's that?" Ladybug asked, already turning around so she could start heading back towards home and the school.

"We'll fill you both in once you get here," Bunnyx said, looking back at the screen only to Ladybug to notice worry on her face. Before Ladybug could ask anything more, the older girl's face disappeared, leaving Chat Noir's face back on the screen.

"You know much about paradoxes, bugaboo?" Chat Noir asked, paying more attention away from the screen then looking at it.

"Enough to be worried," Ladybug admitted, remembering the Paris that she had seen the last time she had worked with Bunnyx. "See you in a bit." She closed her yo-yo and swung it out, sending it towards the neighboring line of roofs to swing towards to make her journey faster. A knot started building itself tight in her stomach as she got closer to Françoise Dupont High. She landed on a building across the street from her place, making sure she was hidden behind a billboard as she checked out the street and stairs up to the school only to be surprised at seeing not just the Bunnyx she had seen and one other of the same age but one that looked almost the same age as Alix was right now if she had the rabbit miraculous. The younger one looked almost identical to the older one Ladybug was familiar with, but the third one made Ladybug wary. The older teen's costume was black and dark blue with tears through-out it as if she had just come from a rough battle and the suit wasn't repairing itself. She was pacing the top most step of the school while the other two talked between themselves down at the sidewalk level. Motion caught Ladybug's eyes to the rooftops coming from the other side of the school to see Chat Noir making his way from that direction. Not wanting to be seen spying, Ladybug quickly swung out her yo-yo and dropped towards the ground, running across the sidewalk and up to them at the base of the stairs just as Chat Noir dropped from his pole and reattached it to the base of his spine.

"Them?" the darker Bunnyx asked, stopping in her pacing to look down at the two. She put her hands on her hips and looked at her counterparts as she asked, "How are they supposed to fix this mess?"

"Ignore her," younger Bunnyx threw off with a flick of her hand at the darker girl.

"What's going on?" Ladybug asked, giving the darker Bunnyx a glance once more before focusing her eyes on the older Bunnyx she was used to.

"And how come there's three of you now?" Chat Noir asked.

"I'm from a few months in the future," younger Bunnyx informed. Throwing her thumb over her shoulder she added, "And she's from the problem."

"I shouldn't exist, you know how messed up it is to keep telling yourself that?" darker Bunnyx asked. She griped her elbows as she hugged herself tight, continuing in her pacing.

"Mini-bug, can I see your yo-yo?" older Bunnyx asked, holding out her hand.

Ladybug gave the older teen a glance before realizing she trusted the girl enough to let her go through-out time. Giving her a short nod of the head, she reached for the yo-yo around her waist and handed it over to the girl.

Older Bunnyx took the yo-yo and dropped to her knees, unstringing the yo-yo enough to take the string in both hands and lay it on the ground. "Time is normally shown with a straight line but it's more like a ribbon, going the way that's easy and all. Kinda like a lightning bolt, you get it?" She looked up and waited as Ladybug nodded her head, following her analogy. Older Bunnyx looked back at her presentation on the sidewalk and pinched a part of the string between two fingers. "Last night something happened that messed with that easy path, something that wasn't supposed to happen. Nine years ago the time line turned from an easy path to a knot," she said, quickly entangling her fingers into more of the yo-yo's string to bring more into her hand.

"So what happened nine years ago?" Ladybug asked. "And why is it only just now effecting us?"

"Because they dealt with time travel too," darker Bunnyx said, getting Ladybug and Chat Noir to look up at her. The older teen had stopped pacing, dropping her arms to her side as she started walking down the steps.

Older Bunnyx removed her hand from the yo-yo's string, keeping her eyes to her task of rewinding the string around the yo-yo as she rose to her feet.

Darker Bunnyx joined the group at the base of the stairs, eyeing the two who were not rabbits before asking, "Have you ever heard about Project Carthage?"

Ladybug shook her head, the name not sounding familiar. She gave a look at Chat Noir only to see him looking more confused than she felt.

Older Bunnyx handed back the yo-yo as she said, "You gotta remember we only learned about it from you. And it started before any of us was born." She shook her head and looked at Ladybug and Chat Noir. "Back in '94 some crazy dude worked with the government to create an AI."

"In '94?" Chat Noir asked, surprised.

"Dude was wicked smart," older Bunnyx said with a nod.

"Problem is, the AI got too smart," younger Bunnyx added. "Wanted to take over technology and kill humans."

"Okay, normal sci-fi horror," Chat Noir said, crossing his arms over his chest as he nodded his head.

"And where did the time travel come into it all?" Ladybug asked

"The same old man who created the AI and the world it lived it, also created a time travel program," darker Bunnyx informed.

"That's just asking for trouble," Chat Noir mumbled just loud enough Ladybug could hear him.

"And this project Carthage was?" Ladybug asked, hoping to get all the pieces put together.

"The government project that funded it all," darker Bunnyx said.

"But wait, you said this happened in 1994, what about the whole thing about nine years ago?" Ladybug asked, resting her hand on her yo-yo.

"Let us tell our story, Mini-bug," older Bunnyx said with a bit of a smile. "Sure, the old man built the thing in '94, but the whole thing didn't get dangerous until 2004 when some middle schooler turned back on the super computer."

"When he turned it back on, he woke that AI back up," darker Bunnyx added. "For two years he and his friends fought the program from destroying humanity. They were supposed to finally win against it in April 2007 but something happened in February."

"Something?" Chat Noir echoed.

"We can't see what it was," younger Bunnyx admitted. "We can see the week leading up to it, but after that- it's like we can't touch it."

"That's where you two come in," older Bunnyx said, her normal smile on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest. "If you haven't noticed, right now we're having multiple timelines overlap one another. It's only gonna get worst as the day goes on, and time wasn't meant to run like this. We've gotta find out which timeline is the correct one so we can help the Lyoko Warriors defeat Xana and put everything back the way it was." She reached into her pocket and pulled out her watch, pointing it towards her left and away from the five. "Burrow!" she called out, calling forth the white portal. Placing her watch back in her pocket she led the way inside, throwing over her shoulder, "Come on, we've got a plan."

Ladybug gave Chat Noir a glance, secretly not sure about traveling through time herself, only to see a wide excited grin plastered on his face.

Chat Noir turned to her and bowed deep, swinging his arm towards the portal as he offered, "Ladies first."

"Of course you're thrilled, you crazy cat," Ladybug mumbled towards her partner as she passed him to follow the Bunnyx she knew. She took a careful step through the portal and found herself in the large ball of circles all showing different time periods, walking along a pathway invisible to her eyes.

"Whoa, this is awesome," Chat Noir exclaimed as he followed her in.

Ladybug glance over her shoulder, realizing this was his first time seeing the Burrow as he looked in every direction he could turn his head in. She gave him a smile, recognizing now was not the time to point out that she had been in here before. She turned back to older Bunnyx and saw her reach out to a circle of time to direct what it showed them as two more sets of footsteps sounded against the invisible floor behind her. "So what's the plan, Bunnyx?" Ladybug asked.

"Like Mini-Me said, we can't see but a week up to the event that caused the break in time," older Bunnyx informed as the circle she was pointing at stopped with a school's arcade in view. Ladybug could make out a number of students, some with books out while others carried old cell phones and one blonde with a laptop in his grip as he balanced it opened in his arms around his friends.

Darker Bunnyx walked around them to stand beside her same age counterpart, touching the circle beside hers to bring it to an identical point in time as the first circle had been brought. "We've narrowed it down to two timelines that could be the starting timeline, so we're going to place you two at Kadic Academy at the point in time when we can get in, one in each timeline," she informed, looking at the three still standing away from the walls. "With you being there, our Mini-Me can keep track of you from the burrow easily. Once we find out which timeline is the one you're supposed to be in, we'll take the other back to join you so you can help the Lyoko Warriors win."

"Wait, so we've gotta go to school in the past for a week?" Ladybug asked, pointing at the portals behind the two older Bunnyx's. "But what about Paris?"

"It's time travel, Ladybug," younger Bunnyx said with a laugh as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"But how are we supposed to just start going to a school?" Chat Noir asked. "Other than the fact that we have no past record for the time period, our birth records would be all messed up as well. Also, the whole secret identify thing."

"All handled," older Bunnyx said with a smile.

"Huh?"

Ladybug turned to her partner and threw her thumb at the older Bunnyx in front of them. "She knows."

"She knows?" Chat Noir asked, shock plain on his face as he turned to look at the pink haired superhero.

"When we split, we'll tell you more about how we've set you up at the school," older Bunnyx admitted.

"So who are the Lyoko Warriors?" Ladybug asked.

"What even is a Lyoko?" Chat Noir added.

"Lyoko's the world that the AI, XANA, lives in," darker Bunnyx informed. "It's housed in an old Renault factory on the Seine." She turned to the portal and pointed to the blonde haired teen holding the laptop awkwardly around his friends and added, "And these are the Lyoko Warriors. Jeremie Belpois, Odd Della Robbia, Ulrich Stern, Yumi Ishiyama, and Aelita Stones."

"Interesting hair style?" Chat Noir pointed out, getting Ladybug to notice Odd's hair was stuck up and had a purple splotch in the center.

"So you two up to it?" younger Bunnyx asked, getting the two to turn towards the girl beside Ladybug.

"Don't really have a choice, do we?" Ladybug asked, remembering what her room looked like as she remembered one of the Bunnyx's saying it was going to get worst as morning came. She looked up at the older two and nodded her head. "I'm ready."

"Me, too," Chat Noir said, nodding his head beside her. "Besides, it'll be interesting to see what the world was like when we were five."

"Mini-bug, you're coming with me," older Bunnyx said, giving a glance behind herself at the portals location as the two sat frozen together. "Kitty Noir, you're with my other self. We'll take you to the headmaster and get you set up for the week."

"Good luck, m'lady," Chat Noir offered with a smile.

Ladybug returned the smile as she said, "You too. Guess I'll see you in a week." She turned her eyes back on the older Bunnyx she was familiar with, a part of her glad she was going with this one instead of the one from the darker future. She followed the white and blue clad hero through the portal and found herself not exactly where she had expected. She could see the arcade from where she stood, but they were hidden behind a building with a park behind them.

"Fluff, counter clockwise," Bunnyx said, pulling her watch out of her pocket as the little white rabbit flew out of it and took her costume with her.

Ladybug took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trusting this older Alix once again, as she said, "Tikki, spots off." She opened her eyes once she registered her costume to have disappeared, holding out her hands to catch her kwami as the little red bug fell out of her earrings. Marinette looked down at herself only to let out a squeak at her clothes. She looked up at Alix, about to point out that she was still wearing her pajamas, only for the older teen to be already handing her a shopping bag.

"Grabbed these from your room when I was getting stuff for your dorm room," Alix offered. She nodded her head towards the building they were hiding behind and added, "Go ahead and change before we introduce you around here."