Chapter 15 Swarming Attack

Disclaimer – I do not own Code Lyoko, the plot, or the story idea. I am just a fan of the show, the plot is owned by the creators, and the story idea was submitted by LittleRedRebel.

A bee flies near the stadium outside the school before buzzing near Ms. Hertz's window. Class hasn't started at this point, so the bee finds itself alone as it soars into the classroom. The bee flies onto the slide from the telescope. Pulsations can be heard in the forest sector on Lyoko, meaning Xana has awoken and activated a tower. The computer screen turns on, and a ghost of Xana travels from the server and to the bee. It examines the insect before possessing it. The bee shakes around, trying to gain control, but is unsuccessful…

Ulrich sits on his bed, reading a book. He scratches the back of his head before a piece of paper appears from outside. He closes his book and opens the door, looking around. "Hello? Is anyone there?" He sees the letter on his floor and picks it up. He opens it, his eyes widening. "What?!"

The same bee flies into the courtyard. "Ms. Hertz caught us red-handed. She made us give up our cell phones." The bee soars into the forest, flying up to the bee hives. The bees come out, a swarm appearing…

Jeremy yawns as he's with Nadia, Yumi, and Odd.

"Did you spend another sleepless night on Aelita's rematerialization program Jeremy?" Nadia asks.

"Yeah, you look really wiped out" Yumi adds.

"I worked on a little program, an advanced research engine of sorts," Jeremy explains. Yumi smirks at the others. "It's us, it's a browser which I'm trying to make to help Aelita look for more info on materialization in the Lyoko towers." Jeremy shrugs slowly after a few seconds.

"Just imagine all the things she's gonna learn when she gets here," Odd says. "She's gonna be amazed!"

"Hmm," Jeremy says in thought. "I think about it all the time. I can't wait for that day to come." He blushes slightly. "Yeah, it's gonna…it's gonna be great."

"There is still the issue of materializing her," Nadia says. "If we only knew what Odd did we could have her with us now."

"Hi Ulrich" Yumi sees him approach.

"Hello" he looks uncomfortable around them, especially Yumi. The bell rings for class.

"Okay guys, it's time for us to work up a sweat. So long Yumi" Odd says as he leaves with Nadia and Jeremy. Yumi is about to leave to go to her own class, but Ulrich grabs her arm to stop her.

"Yumi? W-Wait, I…"

"Yes?" She turns around.

"I, um…are you okay?"

"Well, yeah. Why are you asking?" She wonders. It seems like something is bothering Ulrich, which is somehow connected to Yumi.

"I just, uh…just asked. See you later" he leaves so he won't be late.

"Okay" she gives a slightly worried look.

"Ulrich, move it, huh?!" Odd calls out. She walks away to her own class.

Odd kicks the soccer ball at practice, Jeremy being the goalie. He catches it and Ulrich looks up at the sky. He closes his eyes, thinking of the letter.

Ulrich, I don't know how to tell you this, so I'm writing it. I've always admired you. I've been wanting to tell you for ages, but I didn't have the nerve. Also, I wasn't a hundred percent sure. But now I am. I love you. Signed Yumi.

He thinks of her laugh. He didn't know what to think. Yumi was a good friend to him, she'd never let him down…but was she really a friend? Did he even have those kinds of feelings for her?

"Ulrich, watch out!" Odd yells as the ball goes flying onto his face. Odd, Jim, Nadia, and Jeremy look down at him in shock. Ulrich was always paying attention in soccer, but today, not so much.

"Ulrich, are you okay?" Jeremy asks him.

"Aw, how could that happen?" Ulrich laments in the boys locker room. He was fine physically, but emotionally, he was a wreck.

"Hey Ulrich, don't take this badly, but your playing was kinda weird" Jeremy points out.

"You can say that again. Why, even Jeremy was better than you today!" Odd jokes.

"My mind wasn't on the game. Lay off, huh?" Ulrich stands up, starting to leave.

"No way," Odd grabs him from behind. "I'll lay off as soon as you tell us what's wrong."

"It's just that…well, I got this letter from a girl. The kind of letter a girl sends when she's…" Ulrich starts.

"He's in love!" Odd laughs, clapping. "Ulrich's in love!"

"That's the problem. I'm not in love. I-I'm not sure I am. I can't even manage to talk to her" Ulrich admits.

"And can you tell us who the lucky lady is?" Odd wonders.

"You've gotta be kidding. I'm not telling anyone. One more thing, not a word to Yumi. You can tell Nadia, but that's it. I don't wan this to get around" Ulrich walks away, the two stare after him.

"Uh…hey Odd, did I really play better than him?" Jeremy wonders.

Meanwhile, the bee hive has grown. At lunch, Odd is trying to guess who wrote the letter to Ulrich.

"Milly or Tamiya?"

"No, they're too young" Jeremy dismisses.

"Claire. Sandra?"

"No no, much too young. And they're so…you know, they're…they're too uptight" Jeremy explains.

"Maybe your both overthinking this. Who is more likely to send a letter to Ulrich confessing love?" Nadia says.

"Sissi, but she's not embarrassed enough to admit it every day," Odd replies. "Don't tell me it was you?"

"No, I'm good friends with all of you. Besides, I think someone else has something for Ulrich, and if you know who you'll know why I would never go after him."

"Well, yeah. Someone obviously wrote the letter," Odd replies, clearly missing who Nadia was referring to. "Hmm, Emily! Yeah yeah, it's her. Look, I'm an expert with girls. She's pretty, she's the outdoors type. She's the one who flipped for him."

"Oh yeah?" They turn to Yumi. "Who is Emily flipped over?"

The two boys look at each other. "It's Jim! Emily's crazy about Jim!" Odd panics.

"Really Odd?" Nadia whispers to him.

"I panicked!" He whispers back.

"Jim? You're kidding. Well, they say love is blind" Yumi says, Odd snickering as Jim appears behind her. "Oh, I, uh…I'm sorry."

"Mm-hmm" he gives her a weird look.

Kiwi barks as he plays in the forest. Ulrich rereads the letter from this morning, Kiwi sniffing around. He looks up, barking. He comes back to Ulrich whimpering. "Kiwi?" He sees the bee stings. "Who did that to you?" Ulrich turns and gasps, seeing a swarm of bees. "Come on, run!" Ulrich runs off with Kiwi, screaming, Kiwi trialing behind. He appears outside the cafeteria, panting. He looks behind, seeing Kiwi approach. "Kiwi" he falls to the ground, shaking in exhaustion.

"He doesn't look well at all. You think it's serious?" Odd asks in their room, petting Kiwi.

"Don't worry, he'll be back on his feet in no time. I mean, back on his paws" Jeremy assures before there's a knock at the door. They look up and Jermey opens it to see Yumi.

"I brought some pills and anti-venom compressors" she holds out a bag.

"Thanks Yumi. Come in" he lets her inside, taking the bag.

"This will make you feel better" Odd wraps a compress around Kiwi.

"Uh, Yumi? Come over here, please" Ulrich leads her to the door. "I wanted to tell you something."

"I do too. They say Emily's in love with Jim!" She says.

"With Jim?" His eyes widen in surprise.

"Odd told me all about it," Yumi turns to Odd, whose eyes widen. "Weird, huh?" He smiles sheepishly. "I've got class now, see ya" she leaves, and Ulrich turns to Odd.

"Hey, what's that all about?"

"I don't know" Odd replies in embarrassment.

"You better hope Emily doesn't find out about it. She might not be as forgiving as Jim was with Yumi" Nadia tells him.

"Then I heard this buzzing coming from the trees," Ulrich explains to the principal, telling him about the swarm of bees he saw earlier. The principal furrows his eyebrows. "There must be dangerous insects up there."

"Thanks for the information Ulrich. I'll take care of it" principal Delmas reassures.

In the garden shed, the groundskeeper comes out, holding a net and having a mask over his mouth. In the courtyard, the students hear screaming, turning to the groundskeeper running away from the bees. He tries spraying them, but it doesn't work. The boys and Nadia gasp as he lies down on the ground, the bees stinging him. "Help! Help! Get em off!" The bees start flying towards the four.

"We've gotta get him to the infirmary" Jeremy explains.

"What about Ulrich and Nadia?" Odd wonders.

"They'll take care of them" Jeremy turns to him.

Ulrich and Nadia jump off the steps before Yumi tackles Ulrich to the ground. Nadia ducking before going over to the two.

"Hurry!" Yumi tells them as the bees come back. Yumi pushes Ulrich into the science building, Nadia slamming the door shut. The bees fly past them, and Yumi turns to Ulrich. She then notices that she has small bee sting on her hand.

"Hey, you're -you're hurt Yumi" Ulrich tells her.

She looks back at him. "Oh, that's nothing serious Ulrich. It's just a scratch" she denies and Ulrich blushes at how close they are, twitching an eyebrow nervously. She notices it but says nothing about the matter, smiling and standing up.

'I knew it. But Yumi didn't write the letter, or she would've said something. Besides, she's not the type to write a letter. She's too upfront with telling us things' Nadia thinks. "If you two are done, we should leave." She tells the two as the bees leave, the swarm now bigger…

"Well?" Yumi asks as they stand in front of the infirmary.

"Mr. Reily was lucky. One more bite-" Jeremy starts.

"Yeah, that's right, but he's still not in great shape" Odd finishes as Jermey frowns.

"The principal's sent for help. They're gonna get rid of the nest. I don't know what you guys think, but I-"

"But you think it's Xana," Odd gives him a look. "Oh, come on. Cut it out. Hornet's nest have always been around, and accidents happen all the time."

"You're right. But these hornets, they were after us and nobody else" Ulrich points out.

"Xana can use the venom in those stings to become lethal and fatal to us, if we get caught in the swarm" Nadia says.

"Not to mention anyone else. If one person dies, the return won't fix it. I say we check it out" Yumi offers.

"I'll try to contact Aelita" Jeremy tells them.

"I'm going back to class, but keep me posted" Yumi walks away, Ulrich staring after her.

"Do you realize the damage these bugs can cause? There are thousands of them. If Xana is in on this attack, we can have a very serious problem, huh? Don't you think so?" Odd tells Ulrich, but he's not paying attention to him. "Hello?" He pushes Ulrich slightly.

"Uh, what? Uh yeah. Right. I mean, I don't know." Odd give shim a smug look, knowing that something was on his mind.

"Ulrich, you wouldn't happen to have a crush on this secret admirer of yours, would you? Hm, Ulrich?" He gives a teasing smile. Ulrich doesn't answer the question because he still didn't know. "Hmm?"

"Yeah, you could be right" he finally says.

Someone clears their throat, tapping Odd's shoulder. He turns to see an angry Emily. "What's all this about me being in love with Jim?!" He sweats nervously, backing away slightly. Nadia, Ulrich, and Jeremy, cringe as a slap is heard. Odd has a red mark on his cheek. "Start that rumor again and even your dog won't recognize you!" The three laugh at Odd's misfortune.

Jeremy types on his computer later in his room, trying to make contact with Aelita. In the desert sector, Aelita is sitting on a plateau, relaxing.

"Aelita, do you read me?' Jeremy asks.

"Loud and clear," she appears on the screen. "How are things in the real world?"

"We've got a problem," he states in slight worry. "And we think it might be Xana." He scratches his right cheek. "Have you noticed anything?"

"No," she shakes her head. "At least here in the desert, things are calm. But if you want, I can check out the other sectors."

"Good idea. And in the meantime, I'll run a scan to see if there's an activated tower." Aelita walks into a way tower while Jeremy does the scan. "Hmm." He rubs his chin, leaning back as he waits. Aelita moves to one side of the pad before holding out her arms. She travels to another sector and lands on the pad of the tower. Jeremy's computer beeps as the activated tower appears from the computer. "There it is." Aelita walks into the forest sector. "Aelita, the scanner spotted an activated tower in the forest."

"Okay, I'm in the forest now. I'll try to find it" she suggests.

"I'll tell the others" Jeremy turns to his phone.

Odd and Nadia sit in front of the cafeteria when his phone rings. He answers it, since its from Jeremy. "Alert! Xana has activated a tower and Aelita's trying to find it guys." It's a recorded message and Yumi finishes listening to it, hanging up.

"It looks as if something's up. Jeremy wants us to go to the factory right now" she turns to leave, but Ulrich grabs her arm to stop her.

"No no, wait Yumi."

"What?" She asks in confusion.

"I wanted to, uh…tell you something," he pauses for a second before continuing. "It's about your…about your letter."

Yumi looks confused. "Huh? But-"

"No, let me finish," he interrupts, not noticing her confusion. "You said in the letter that…that you had certain feelings for me and…I wanted you to know that…that I feel the same thing for you. There, I said it."

"But I never sent you any letter Ulrich" she shakes her head. He hears laughing as he raises his eyebrows, and they turn to see Sissi.

"Kind of embarrassing if you ask me" they continue to laugh at them and Ulrich looks angry. Yumi turns to him.

"Forget them. Don't worry" she places her hand on his shoulder.

"I don't care. Leave me alone!" He moves her arm off, upset as he leaves. She stares after him.

"But…" She turns to Sissi, who has a smug look on her face. She snickers, having done all of this so Ulrich could see that she was the ideal girl for him and not Yumi.

(This idea could have also backfired as well. Seriously, if this was real, then Sissi never considered that Yumi would actually say 'I never wrote the letter, but I accept you confession and also have feelings for you.' But you know, show plot.)

Odd, Nadia, and Jeremy ride in the sewers on their respective rides. They stop suddenly, looking in shock. "Oh no!" Jeremy exclaims as they look at the dozen of bee hives.

"Oh wow, nice going Xana. Jeremy, any suggestions would be very welcome" Odd offers nervously.

"Uh, get away from here as fast as we can?" Jeremy asks.

They speed off in the other direction, the bees chase after them. A swarm appears in front of them. Stopping them in their tracks.

"We're trapped!" Jeremy says nervously.

"Yeah, and about to be stung to death!" Nadia adds.

"Hey, you got any other ideas?" Odd suggests.

"Uh, jump!" Jeremy pulls Odd into the water and Nadia follows them. They hide in a tunnel.

"This is your idea?" Odd asks in disbelief.

"Insects are very sensitive to smells" Jeremy explains.

"Even if Xana controls them, he can't get around their sense of smell" Nadia adds.

"They're not the only ones, huh? Ugh!" Odd says. The bees show up but fly away immediately. "Hey, I think it worked!" Odd calls out as Jeremy steps into the water.

"Looks like it" Jeremy says as Odd and Nadia step out.

"What do you know?"

Ulrich sulks in his room as footsteps approach. "What's that smell?" Yumi asks wondering.

"We had a little sewer swimming exercise" Nadia replies.

"Ask Jeremy about it" Odd adds before he opens the door.

"We left you a message, didn't you get it?" Jeremy asks Ulrich.

"What do you think?" Ulrich replies. "I didn't feel like checking my messages." Yumi bends down to him, worried.

"Look, I think we should talk" she offers.

"I know what you're gonna tell me. And I don't wanna hear it" he stands up, facing the wall in shame.

"Ulrich, this is all on account of Sissi" Yumi explains, the others just watching.

'So it was Sissi. She must suspect they're dating if she's trying to break them up, but she only made matters worse' Nadia thinks.

"Don't you think I know that? Because of her, I'm confused. Every time I see you, I don't know what to think. So just leave me alone, okay?" Yumi's mouth opens in shock and disbelief. She closes her eyes while Odd is confused.

"He's losing it" Jeremy murmurs to the others.

"Not really. He is struggling how to handle his heart and mind emotions. He needs to listen to one" Nadia says.

Jeremy opens his laptop and Aelita appears. "Aelita? Are you okay?"

"Yes, I found the activated tower, but it's guarded. I can't access it." She hides behind a rock, looking at four hornets surrounding the tower.

"Don't worry, help is on the way." Ulrich leaves, not in the mood to help. Yumi stares after him before they take their leave as well.

"Hey guys, hold on a minute," Odd calls out, not wanting their friendship to be like this, but there was the matter of one thing. "The bugs have blocked the factory entrance. And I would rather stay out of the sewer."

"Don't worry guys, I'm way ahead of you two on this one" Jeremy answers.

Aelita slightly peeks from her spot, the hornets flying right towards her.

Jeremy looks at the beehives in the sewers. "Well? What's the deal?" Odd asks. Jeremy simply gestures to his backpack before using a beeping robot. The robot moves all the way to the ladder, creating a safe path to the ladder. "Bingo!"

"Pretty clever huh?" Jeremy explains. "This thing generates ultrasounds of about 30,000 hertz. Like all insects, hornets are capable of receiving the-"

"Fascinating, but we don't have time, so let's move" Yumi interrupts, moving forward.

Aelita runs from the hornets, tripping and falling onto the ground. She looks up nervously at the monsters as they turn the corner.

The firefighters are looking around the school before seeing a bigger swarm of bees. They all scream and and they go flying near them.

"Get inside!" One of the firefighters gestures to the door of the cafeteria. The students run inside. "Come on, hurry up!" He shuts the door as everyone is inside. They all stare out the window in shock. The bees are right outside.

"Headquarters," one of them uses a walkie-talkie. "We've got a problem. We're at the junior high school. Right."

The robot continues to beep as Ulrich is the last one to climb. He was doing fine until the beeping suddenly stops. Jeremy looks down in confusion and so does Ulrich. "Your thing stopped. How come?"

"Uhh…battery's dead?" Jeremy shrugs slowly.

"WHAT?!" Ulrich's eyes widen in shock. The bees start flying to him.

"Hurry up!" Yumi pulls him outside just in time.

"Perfect time for batteries to run out" Nadia says sarcastically.

Aelita runs through the forest, silently hoping that her friends would get here soon.

The five run across the bridge. Yumi presses the button when they're in the elevator. It goes down to the lab.

Aelita races as fast as she can, the hornets still chasing her. Yumi and Ulrich are silent around each other, Ulrich still upset about earlier. Jeremy is in the lab while the others are in the scanner room. "Okay, here we go. Aelita, do you read me?" Aelita covers her face with her arm. "We're on our way. Hang in there. No time to lose to the forest! Nadia, you go with Yumi and Odd, while Ulrich goes last. Transfer Nadia. Transfer Yumi. Transfer Odd. Hurry, hurry!" He types as fast as he can so they can help Aelita. Their ID cards appear in order except for Ulrich's. Scanner Nadia. Scanner Yumi. Scanner Odd." They are successfully scanned and virtualized. "Virtualization." They land safely in the forest sector. "Come in Aelita. Aelita, answer me." There's no sign of her or the hornets on his computer. "Oh no, this cannot be happening. Virtualization!" Ulrich lands behind them. "Do you see her?"

"No, not yet" Yumi states. Jeremy gives a worried look, hoping that she hasn't been devirtualized…or worse.

Sissi walks with her crew down the hallway. "Oh, and talk about embarrassing situations. I'm sure that Ulrich's not about to forget this for a long time. What a genius I am!" Herb and Nicolas gasp. "You could say something!" Instead of saying anything, they run off screaming, She looks at them in confusion before turning around to the bees. Sissi drops her books in shock, screaming. She speeds past Herb and Nicolas to the cafeteria.

"Wait up!" Herb calls out before the two run inside. Sissi slams the door shut and they pant before seeing everyone else. They look outside in worry.

Four red dots appear on Jeremy's screen in front of the four warriors. "Four hornets coming at you. Get ready" he warns them. The hornets come flying, one of them shooting a laser. Odd jumps out of the way. Yumi pulls out her fan, throwing it, but she misses it. One comes charging at Nadia. She tries to slash it but also misses. A hornet fires another laser, Yumi blocking it with her fan. Ulrich just stands there and does nothing. He was still upset about what happened with the letter.

"Laser arrow!" Odd fires an arrow, but the hornet moves out of the way, hitting Yumi in the back.

"Less than 50 life points left Yumi. Be careful, Odd and Nadia." Just as he says that the two are hit. "Odd, 80 life points left. Same goes for you Nadia."

Yumi looks up at Ulrich, who does not respond or act. "Ulrich, what are you doing? Wake up, will you?!" Jeremy notices his silence as well.

The bees surround the cafeteria, everyone screaming.

"Odd, Nadia, enemies at three o'clock!" Odd sees them and Nadia dodges out of the way. Odd looks up, readying his paw.

"Laser arrow!" He misses yet again.

"We are not on our game today" Nadia says. Yumi runs, looking for Aelita.

"Aelita!" A hornet stops her short, firing at her again. Yumi misses using her fan. She turns and sees Aelita climbing up to her. "Aelita!" Since she's distracted, the hornet hits her again.

"No Yumi! Aelita! Aelita, are you okay?" Jeremy says.

"Yes, I'm fine Jeremy" Aelita replies as Yumi holds her sparkling arm.

"Yumi, in front of you!" A hornet comes flying and she pulls out her fan, throwing it. She finally destroys it. "Yeah!" Jeremy exclaims with a smile, Finally, they were having some luck.

Back at the cafeteria, a bee manages to get in through a window.

Odd looks around, no hornets in sight. "Watch it! They're coming back!" Jeremy warns. A hornet flies behind Yumi, hitting her again. "Yumi, you've got 20 life points left." Yumi clutches her stomach.

"Ulrich, wake up!" Odd calls out, Ulrich just blinking. Odd stares at him, not knowing if his friend would ever help…

"Ulrich, I know you're confused right now. But if you start thinking, you'll see Sissi is trying to separate you and Yumi. If she needed to tell you something, she'd tell you upfront. She wouldn't write it in a letter" Nadia tells him.

Odd narrows his eyes, turning to a hornet. He runs forward. "Odd!" The girls shout. The hornet fires acid, taking most of his life points.

"Odd, you hardly have any life points left" Jeremy explains gravely. Odd continues running anyway.

"Now!" As he's devirtualized, he fires an arrow, destroying the second hornet. Yumi walks up to Ulrich, who still does nothing.

"Ulrich are you with us or not?! I know you're unhappy, but there's no reason to be. Our friendship's stronger than that, right? Nadia's right, you can't let Sissi's dirty tricks break us up, can you? So forget all about that, please. We need your help!" Yumi says, turning to Ulrich.

"You three head for the tower. I'll take care of them" he runs up to the two hornets and they charge at him. He destroys one with his sword.

"Well, it's about time" Jeremy comments in satisfaction.

The bees start to come in, everyone yelling in fear.

Aelita, Nadia, and Yumi run past Ulrich, who points his sword. A laser is fired, and he blocks it. He blocks the next one as the girls have almost reached the tower. A hornet is following them without their knowledge. Ulrich runs after it, dividing int three. "Triangulate!" His clones make a triangle around the hornet, who looks around in confusion. It charges at one, devirtualizing the clone. The hornet turns around just in time to be hit by the real Ulrich. "Impact!"

Aelita looks at the tower, the three girls is now noticing the hornet. Yumi throws her fan, but misses. The hornet fires at her, devirtualizing her.

"Yumi!" Nadia and Aelita shout.

"Oh no" Jeremy's mouth drops open.

"Go on Aelita," Odd encourages.

Nadia draws her sword, ready to strike. Ulrich speeds up to them, backflipping. "Impact!" He destroys it.

"Welcome back" Nadia tells him.

"Ulrich, you're the greatest!" Jeremy exclaims.

Aelita walks up to the tower.

The bees have grown larger in numbers, the students hiding under tables.

Aelita enters the tower. She steps up to the middle. She floats to the top.

The students scream as they try to protect themselves.

Aelita makes it to the top pad. She steps up to the middle. Herb and Nicolas look in fear.

Aelita presses her hand to the interface as it appears.

Aelita

Code

Sissi whimpers, trying to swat them away. "Go away!" She covers herself as the bees come closer to her.

Lyoko

The bees suddenly stop as the tower deactivates. Jeremy presses the enter key. "Return to the past now." Everything is engulfed in white, and time is reversed.

Sissi appears at Ulrich's door with a letter. Before she can slide it under, Ulrich suddenly opens the door.

She blushes in embarrassment. "Uh, hi. I was just passing by and I-" She laughs nervously. Ulrich takes the letter.

"What do you know?" He starts to open it. "Let's see now."

"It's uh-"

"Well, that's a pretty embarrassing situation, don't you think?" Yumi suddenly asks, leaning against the wall.

"I, uh, this wasn't the right door," she takes the letter back and runs off.

"It sure isn't. Why not give it to Nicolas or to Herb? They'd be delighted!" Both Ulrich and Yumi laugh at her and a bee flies past the students in the sky…

A.N. – And thus ends this chapter. Next time, destruction. How? Find out next time! PM me with story ideas! Review with questions or comments! I will respond! As always, till next time! See ya! -lyokowarrior97