A/N: As you could probably have guessed when reading the previous chapter, this is when we'll be seeing more of Anthea and the Schaeffer family's past. The puzzle is more complex than first meets the eye.
Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko or CL: Evolution in any way, shape, or form.
Beta read by FP7ETDP43
The opening scene was co-written by FP7ETDP43.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~E~V~O~L~U~T~I~O~N~~~!
"One morning, Jérémie acts strangely out of the blue. Could XANA be controlling him somehow? The answer comes to our heroes via an activated tower on Lyoko."
A World Without Danger
Code Lyoko: Evolution Rewrite
Season 5, Episode 20: Resolve
This was Aelita's worst nightmare.
She had woken up to a prison cell, somewhere on Earth, and Lowell Tyron's face was plastered all over the walls and technology. Her instincts were screaming at her that he had finally found her and her friends, and sent out Charles Graven to finish the job he was tasked to do. The kidnapping went without a hitch; everybody was asleep, and those who weren't were bribed to keep silent, so there was nobody to stop it.
She only cared about her depressing situation. Her mind was raked with frantic questions—what this the same place where her mother was held? What happened to her friends? What was going to happen to her mother? What was going to happen to her?
(If she cared about the clothes she was put in, she'd see a familiar white dress, the only warning sign about what was really going on.)
All of a sudden, the bars of her cell opened on their own. Taking the chance, Aelita bolted out of her cell. She couldn't waste any time; she knew that Tyron would be sending guards (probably the elite soldiers they had dubbed the Ninjas) after her soon.
This place was like a maze, but she somehow knew the way to the exit. It was likely due to the security footage she and Jérémie had uncovered the other day, but she didn't fully believe that.
After finding a good spot to hide from any guard who may come her way, Aelita saw a familiar figure at the other end of the corridor. She looked up at them, surprised.
"Maman? Is that you?"
It was. The woman briefly glanced back before walking away.
Aelita broke out into a sprint, reaching for her mother, but she couldn't. The further she ran, the longer the corridor seemed to get. Anthea was moving further and further away.
Then her mother turned a corner, and Aelita was able to catch up. When making that same turn, she was faced with yet another empty hallway. Her mother was at the very end of it.
"Maman!"
Suddenly, a gloved hand appeared out of the darkness and grabbed Anthea by the neck, before the two disappeared back into said darkness. Aelita attempted to run after them, but failed by tripping on the floor.
Who did that hand belong to? Hannibal Mago? No, it couldn't be; he was dead. But then again, anything was possible with the Green Phoenix. Maybe he was faking it; who knows? Charles Graven?—it was possible, but then again, from what she knew of him, he didn't seem to be that kind of person. Was it Papa? NO! There's no way he would ever do such a thing! Not only that, but he was also definitely dead (even if she hated to admit it)! That left only Lowell Tyron himself.
When Aelita got back on her feet, intent on catching up with Anthea and Tyron, a certain all-too-familiar girl dressed only in black stood between her and her objective. "Well, well, well, look who's here." It was Cynical-Aelita.
Aelita raised an eyebrow, not amused at the figure in front of her, "Urgh... You again..."
Her cynical self was glaring darkly at her, "It's your fault you keep crossing over into my territory."
"What are you talking about?!" Aelita crossed her arms. "Better yet, what horrible things do you have to say this time?!"
There was not a single hint of amusement in cynical-Aelita's dark green eyes. "I am real. I'm an embodiment of your deepest fears and insecurities. I'm you! Which means that you already what I'm going to say! The Green Phoenix is a mafia-like criminal organization with vast resources. As I once said, their reach is vast; it's likely all over the entire world by now. But of course, thanks to Papa, that notion took quite a beating. That's why Tyron intends to restart Project Carthage for his own benefit: the organization could then use it as a weapon to enforce its will by pressuring the governments—for instance, by controlling communications. That's why the Green Phoenix kidnapped Maman, remember? To use as a hostage in order to push Papa into continuing Project Carthage? Oh, wait... he's dead!"
"Shut up!" Aelita found herself blowing up in indignation.
But Cynical-Aelita just scoffed, "Oh, please. Don't think for one minute that you have the situation under control. It's Tyron who has control. And besides, Maman is just a trophy for him. Those pictures you found are proof of that. Hell, he doesn't even care about what she wants. Why do you think he let her rot inside a cell for two decades, huh? I bet he's even thought about something to keep her in line. Oh, I don't know, perhaps a pair of memory-snatching gloves to mentally transform her into whatever he wants her to be?"
"No... NO!"
"And I'll let you in on another non-secret: Tyron is working on a program to control XANA. Soon, it will be his, and there's nothing you can do about it. Not even XANA can fight its fate as Tyron's puppet."
"I thought I told you to shut up already!"
"Life isn't all sunshine and rainbows, Schaeffer. You know that! You couldn't save Papa! And guess what?! You can't save Maman either! You and your friends are all doomed! Everything you guys have done so far will be all for naught!"
Aelita started feeling nauseous and scared, but she stood her ground, "Yes, my life didn't turn out the way I expected, but the rainbows following a storm are often the most beautiful."
But her cynical self merely scoffed, "Pretty words won't save you, your friends, or Maman! You can't save anyone! And when you find yourself in this exact situation for real, then you will overwhelmed with guilt, because your friends are only involved in this because of you! Especially Jérémie!"
Her blood immediately ran cold, and she seethed, "Don't you dare bring him into this!"
"I didn't. You did, remember?" Cynical-Aelita's facial expression became psychotic and demonic, "AND YOU DOOMED HIM AND MAMAN BOTH! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"
Aelita could only scream in fear and agony.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
The pink-ette woke up with a start, having broken out into a cold sweat. She breathed in and out deeply as she came to her senses. It was just a nightmare, just her fears and insecurities being given a voice and that voice wandering out of control. Just a bad dream; she was used to those...
She looked outside. It was still dark, with stars and the moon all glowing brightly and lighting the sleeping world below.
Glancing at her alarm clock next, she read the time. 1:34 AM. The next day was barely an hour old.
She was quiet as a mouse (or she tried her best to be) as she tip-toed to the girls' bathrooms. There, she washed her face with cold water, before contemplating her haggard face in the mirror.
Despite her breathing returning to normal, those fears remained. What if those memory-snatching gloves were a reality and not just a figment of her imagination? What if Mago really was alive and just faking his death all this time? What if her mother really was beyond saving? What if Tyron really was working on a program to control XANA? What if her friends really were all doomed, that there was nothing they could do to stop Tyron now?
Jérémie... Jérémie! All during her nightmare, there was a solid focus on her mother, but her cynical self had called out Jérémie specifically. Why? Surely, there was a reason.
He was right about her living a brand new life, one that was all hers, but the guilt of dragging him into this whole mess with XANA and Lyoko, and now Tyron, remained. Her fault, her fault, all her fault–!
She had to make sure he was okay.
The hallways of the dormitories were deserted at this hour. She wasn't surprised, and she didn't really care. It meant less roadblocks on her way to her boyfriend. She reached his (closed) door in no time. After softly knocking on the door, she quietly called his name, "Jérémie...?" She hoped he was awake. He probably was, but he was likely wearing his noise-cancelling headphones. She might have to open the door without his response...
That is, until she heard a faint, "Come in."
Relieved, she entered the room and found Jérémie at his computer, working on something as per usual, with no headphones in sight. He looked utterly exhausted, but oddly lively as he was turned around to face her, her now having his undivided attention.
"Sorry..." her voice was barely above a whisper as she closed the door behind her, "did I interrupt you?"
"No, it's alright," he shrugged off her worries like they were nothing (how does he do it?). "I just finished going through the data we retrieved from Sector Five yesterday."
Her interest was piqued, and she immediately jumped at the chance for a short-lived distraction from her nightmare (sort of). She asked, "Did you find anything?", as she approached the computer monitor.
Her boyfriend sighed, one loaded with stress, "Sorry, your mother's not on Lyoko." Aelita's shoulders fell in disappointment. "But you're right; she's not on the Cortex either." The pink-ette perked up at that; that was a good thing. "She's likely still on the network, like your father was. Plus," Jérémie added, clearly trying to cheer her up, "if your mother really is hiding from Tyron, it would make sense that her DNA would be encrypted as much as her digital profile is."
He made a good point. Seriously, how was he always able to remain so calm and determined whenever she wasn't? ...Then again, she was often the steadfast one in times where he was overly stressed, so they had a tendency to balance each other out.
Her gaze softened affectionately, "Thank you for all that you do for me."
His response was automatic, "You know I'd do anything for you."
She did, and sometimes, it only ever added to her increasing sense of guilt. "I know, and it's not something I want to take advantage of." She paused briefly as she leaned against the adjacent part of his desk, "And you're not the only one willing to make sacrifices for me. Our friends are too, even William." And he was the one who came late to the party and had to be told what had happened.
"You'd do the same for us, Aelita."
And she had. "In a heartbeat," she agreed. Because it came with the territory of caring about other people, much less having friends.
There was another short pause, before Jérémie learned forward closer to her. "Now, what's the real reason you wanted to visit me? I doubt it was just to see my analysis on the data you retrieved yesterday." She was quiet, in awe of how well he knew her. "What was your nightmare about?"
"It was about my mother," she was almost whispering. "I was chasing after her throughout a prison block, but I couldn't catch up. At the end, Tyron snatched her away and a dark version of myself taunted me about how I wouldn't be able to save her..."
All of that was stuff she could only divulge to him. It was too painful to share with everyone else, even the others.
Jérémie was quiet as he digested that. "You think she's in danger?" It was a question, but he phrased it as a statement; he already knew the answer. Aelita could only nod. "So do I. I mean, why was XANA trying to copy a file on your mother of all people?"
Good question, one she didn't have an answer to.
He continues, "There's also the contents of the file itself. They're all personal photos, not at all what one expects a scientist to have within his supercomputer's database. They seem almost stalker-ish..."
"Like he just views her as a trophy," she finished, her heart falling with the realization that her cynical side had a point there.
"Yeah. XANA likely downloaded that folder either due to her connection to your father, or to gain more information on how to better trick you with her image."
"Or to gain an upper hand on Tyron," Aelita cut in, remembering the duo's hatred, or rivalry, or whatever it could be called, that had been going on behind the scenes all this time..
"Or both," was Jérémie's response. "Whatever the case, Tyron is the bigger threat to her. If he catches her, she'll suffer a fate worse than death."
Another good point. XANA had wanted her father dead (and had succeeded), but Tyron wanted to kidnap and likely torture him. Whatever XANA wanted from her mother, at least she'd been free from her kidnapper.
Aelita's resolve was absolute, "We have to find her first."
Meanwhile, Jérémie was calm and reassuring as ever, "We will." And he had never failed in cheering her up.
She finally found herself smiling, "Thank you, for everything." He returned her smile. She approached the door, "Good night. Again. Now go to sleep."
His gentle smile widened into one of amusement, and that's the image she kept in mind as she tip-toed back to her own room.
Once she left, Jérémie closed every window he had open, before putting his computer to sleep, fully intent on obeying his girlfriend's final order. Now engulfed in darkness, he yawned as he laid down on his bed.
He had nearly dozed off completely when a bolt of pink-colored lightning shot out towards him from a nearby light socket. The jolt woke him up the moment it entered his body.
What was that?!
He snuck a glance at his computer screen, only to see that it was still dark, the machine deep in its own slumber. If it wasn't XANA, then it could only have been a subconscious thought scaring him awake.
'My apologies,' the unexpected voice made him jump, 'It was my doing.'
But that voice sounded awfully familiar... It belonged to a woman, soft-spoken yet intent on completing some sort of mission. 'Who are you?' he asked.
'Call me Memory', she calmly told him. 'As much as I dislike the name, I have no choice in the matter, given who pursues me. I need your help.'
'I recognize your voice...'
'I knew you would. I have been watching the six of you for some time now. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I need a huge favor from you.'
He found himself trusting her. He had an instinct on who he was talking to, and she had just basically confirmed it. 'Okay. What do you need me to do?'
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
The next morning, Yumi entered the cafeteria during breakfast hour. Amidst the hubbub, she made her way through the tables before arriving at the one her friends had claimed, all but Jérémie sharing a moment of chatting over a meal.
"Don't say that, Ulrich!" Odd was saying, and he sounded slightly annoyed. "You never liked him!"
Ulrich rolled his eyes, "I never said that, you idiot. My initial dislike had more to do with you."
Odd huffed indignantly as he crossed his arms, "But how you could dislike me? I'm a delight!"
As Yumi sat down in an empty chair, the others burst out laughing, aside from Aelita, who didn't seem to be fully into the general good mood. Instead, her mirth seemed superficial. Must've been another nightmare...
"Hello, friends!" Yumi greeted. "What are you talking about?"
"Kiwi slept in Ulrich's bed last night," William explained, heavily amused, "and Odd's acting like it's the end of the world."
"And you're not?!" Odd asked, being as melodramatic as William had said. "He always slept in either his drawer or my bed!"
"Why are you so upset, Odd?" Aelita asked, her voice soft and sounding as if she was currently preoccupied with something else. "You're the one who wanted the rest of us to get along with Kiwi."
"I know," her faux-cousin fake-cried. "I just wasn't ready to see my baby spread his wings and fly away from home."
"You say that like he's dead," Ulrich chuckled.
There was another burst of laughter, and Yumi noticed that Aelita, once again, looked off in her own world.
"Hey, 'Lita, are you still with us?" Yumi asked.
The pink-ette jumped, "Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry. I'm fine, I'm just worried about Jérémie. Breakfast hour is almost over and he's not here yet. I sent him a text reminding him, but he hasn't responded."
Odd shrugged, "He was probably up late working on a program of some sort, so he overslept. You know how Einstein is."
"Yeah. Besides," Ulrich added, "he'll make it to class on time. That's how he is."
Aelita just sighed, "If you say so," before turning to the window, her head in hand.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Jérémie ended up not coming to breakfast, but that wasn't really a surprise, given the exchange in the cafeteria. That didn't stop Aelita from worrying, however. She hoped he had actually gone to bed last night like she told him to do, but she had no way of knowing unless she went back in time to last night and watched him herself. She was on the verge of skipping class in order to find him when he made it to class with fifty-four seconds to spare.
She, Ulrich, and Odd watched Jérémie approach Ms. Hertz and hand him some sort of note. They couldn't see what was written, but their teacher could. She nodded in understanding before telling him, "In that case, I'll be sure not to call on you this time. I hope your voice returns soon." She gave the note back to him. He bowed to show his gratitude (something he probably picked up from Yumi), before taking his seat next to Aelita.
"About time you showed up," the pink-ette softly teased him as he took out his notebook and pencil bag. "You missed breakfast. You promised you'd stop doing that."
He shot her an apologetic smile to convey his regret in letting her down, even if for a simple promise such as that one.
Odd leaned forward, "What's up, Einstein? Why aren't you talking?"
In response, Jérémie produced the note that he had just shown to Ms. Hertz. It was a note written and signed by Nurse Yolanda, excusing Jérémie from any physical activity due to a possible sore throat that had taken away his voice for the time being. In other words, their friend physically could not talk until he got his voice back.
"Oh," Ulrich realized. "So that's why you skipped breakfast."
Jérémie nodded.
"You lost your voice, eh?" Odd teased. "Can I hear you squeak? Just this once?"
The young genius just raised an eyebrow, unamused, as Ulrich rolled his eyes and gently punched his roommate's shoulder. "Back off, Odd. Just let him rest his voice."
Odd relented and Jérémie smiled at Ulrich in gratitude, as Ms. Hertz began her lecture on the orbits of planets.
During the lecture, Aelita instinctively snuck a peek over at Jérémie's notes. However, she was surprised at what he was actually writing. Instead of a perfect copy of notes containing what Ms. Hertz was lecturing about and writing on the chalkboard, he was writing down gibberish. She leaned over to get a better look; it seemed to be some kind of cipher.
What...? Why was he writing that down?
She glanced up and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Jérémie looking directly at her. His expression was hard to read (for once), but she felt like he wasn't impressed. Embarrassed, she turned back to her own (legitimate) notes.
Jérémie returned his focus to what he was jotting down. 'There's no way Aelita doesn't already suspect something by now. She's just as clever as I am.'
He wasn't talking to himself, but to Memory, as she replied, 'I don't want to get her hopes up too soon. What you're writing is everything I need to say, and for now, that is enough. This favor is too much to ask of you already.'
But he objected, 'I told you, I'd do anything for Aelita.'
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Thanks to Yolanda's note, Jérémie was given permission to sit out of phys. ed. class. He sat on the bleachers, writing in his notebook like his life depended on it, while the rest of the class played football.
Ulrich led one team, while Theo led the other. While Odd and Aelita were with their friend, Hervé had been chosen by Theo. Since Theo's team was losing, Hervé's mood was soured more as he grumbled to Nicolas, "Belpois and I are equal in terms of physical strength, so why does he get a pass today and I don't?!"
"Jérémie has a note from the nurse," Nicolas reminded his friend, "remember? Yolanda cited a possible sore throat as the reason for his missing voice and warned the teachers not to make it worse."
That did little to cheer Hervé up, but he didn't respond, instead taking up his position for another play.
While his friends were playing the game (and winning), Jérémie finished the second of two letters, both written in the same cipher Aelita had caught him writing earlier in science class. One was addressed to Aelita and was four pages long, almost five. The second was addressed to all six Lyokowarriors and was only about two pages in length.
He glanced up in time to see Ulrich perform an impressive move to sidestep Julien Xao and score another goal.
Ulrich's team cheered again, as Odd and Aelita shared a high-five, being the ones who set that shot up. Odd looked back at the bleachers, "Hey, Einstein, did you see that?"
Jérémie smiles and nods, before giving a thumbs up. In response, Ulrich winked at him.
Aelita, however, watched her boyfriend with an increasingly worried expression. He was hiding something from her...
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
When classes were over, the six friends reunited at the vending machines. There, Yumi and William were caught up on Jérémie's mutism today. When the others were finished explaining, Yumi asked her silent friend, "How do you feel now?"
Jérémie gave her a smile and shook his hand side-to-side and up-and-down simultaneously to gesture 'I'm betting better.'
But Aelita interrupted, "I don't buy that." The others turned to her in surprise. "No offense, Jérémie, but I visited you last night and you were fine then."
Her boyfriend frowned, his eyes filled with desperation to tell her the truth. He opened his mouth to do so, but an unheard voice made him stop.
'Not here,' Memory warned him.
Instead, Jérémie gently grabbed Aelita's hand and gestured to the others, with his finger, to follow him. Though confused, they obeyed.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Jérémie led his friends to his room, and he closed his door once the others were inside. Now with the privacy he evidently wanted, the others came forth with questions of their own, becoming equally suspicious as Aelita was.
"Now that I think about it, Aelita's right," Ulrich wondered. "You seemed just fine last night before bed."
"Yeah, you're being really weird right now. Just tell us what's going on!" Odd demanded.
But Jérémie remained silent. The expression on his face read the same torn emotion as earlier at the vending machines, when Aelita had asked him the same thing. Either they still weren't in a private enough place, or...
William caught on fairly quickly, "You really can't speak, can you?"
Jérémie's gaze averted to the side, and his friends weren't sure what to make of that. His body was tense and he seemed to be having a mental debate in his mind.
Well, they were right. It was just more literal than they expected.
'I'm afraid I don't have any ideas on how you can talk to them,' Memory was admitting to him. 'Speaking and writing are both out of the question.'
'There's morse code,' Jérémie replied. 'I learned it in case of emergencies concerning XANA, and I would definitely call this an emergency.'
'Do any of them know morse code as well?'
'Yumi does. That's why I brought it up at all.'
A sigh. 'Very well.'
So Jérémie approached Yumi and began gently tapping on her hand in morse code. She concentrated for a few seconds, until she understood. "Ah, I see now. He's explaining everything to me in morse code." Jérémie quickly sighed in relief; his idea was working.
"What's he saying?" Aelita asked, leaning forward ever so slightly, unable to contain her intrigue and concern.
"According to him," Yumi translated, concentrating on her friend's taps, "late last night, after Aelita left his room, he was about to go to bed when he was visited by our mystery avatar, possessing him the same way Franz Hopper previously possessed Sissi." The others also leaned in closer in surprise and curiosity, but didn't dare to interrupt. Yumi continued, "She calls herself 'Memory', and she asked him to do her a favor: to convey her message to us by possessing him before she runs out of time. Since this possession is consensual, Jérémie is still aware of his surroundings. However, the trade-off is that while Memory is occupying his body, he can only speak, type, and write in the cipher she's using, thus forcing him to remain mute."
"So that's why you're pretending to have lost your voice, Jer?" Odd asked.
Jérémie tapped more in response. Yumi translated, "Yes, in order to avoid speaking out loud." He tapped out some more. "He's very sorry to have hidden all of this from us until now, but Memory forbade it until her message was all written out, due to not wanting to get Aelita's hopes up."
Said pink-ette jumped slightly due to her name being said, as William asked, "Are the letters done?"
Yumi once more translated Jérémie's response, "Yes. They're in his notebook."
With this, the young genius reached into his school bag and took out said notebook. As he opened it and pulled out the two encoded letters, Aelita softly asked him, "What does any of this have to do with me?"
Her genuine confusion was met by Jérémie's guilt. Once again, he knew something about her that she didn't, but this time, he couldn't say anything. He instead tapped on Yumi's hand, who thankfully relayed his regret perfectly, "The answer, Aelita, is in the two letters. He's sorry, but that's all he can say until then."
This only made Aelita more lost, but she didn't say anything.
Jérémie continued, as Yumi relayed, "However, the job is still not done. Memory still needs to provide the cipher key for the letters. To do that, she needs the supercomputer."
Memory, in the boy's mind, suddenly tensed up. 'And we need to go there now.'
'Something wrong?' Jérémie asked, slightly concerned.
'Now,' she sternly reiterated. 'You'll understand when you get there.'
Despite wanting answers, he trusted her. He tapped on Yumi's hand once more, which she translated, "Memory highly suggests going now."
The others turned to Aelita. "Princess?" William asked. "It's up to you. Jérémie seems to trust this Memory, but it always pays to be cautious. What do you think?"
Aelita took a deep sigh to calm her nerves. "Despite how crazy this whole situation seems, I trust Jérémie. Besides, Memory is our mystery guest, and she sought refuge on Lyoko's network to hide from someone. Let's go."
Without that, Jérémie nodded before leaving the room, with the others closely following.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
The others seemed to sense Memory's urgency in going to the factory, so the group wasted no time. They didn't have to wait long for any answers, because the moment the lift doors opened, the group was greeted by an alarm coming from the monitor. Jérémie promptly rushed to the controls, with Aelita right on his heels.
Aelita relayed what the screens were saying, "XANA's converging on a tower in the Ice Sector."
This was met with confusion. "With the intention of activating it?" William asked.
"XANA can take over a tower automatically," Yumi reminded him. "Is it a way tower, Aelita? Because you once said that it can't take over those unless you enter code: XANA into it first."
The pink-ette could only shake her head, "No, the coordinates listed don't match any way tower known to us. According to the holomap and superscan, it's just a normal, inactive tower."
That was when Memory gave Jérémie another order, 'Type in exactly what I tell you to.'
He obeyed. Her instructions brought up the source code for the superscan. Further commands were familiar to him; he had done this before, for both Franz Hopper and Tyron. To his friends' surprise, when he pressed the 'enter' key, an alert for an activated tower popped up on both the monitor as well as the six transwatches.
The tower's halo was pink.
It was then that Aelita understood why their guest seemed so urgent. "XANA's attacking the tower because it's already been activated by Memory."
"It's the tower controlling her possession of Jérémie," Yumi finished the thought.
Jérémie nodded, and it was Aelita's turn to translate, "Yes. We need to hurry. The holomap reads three Megatanks converging on the tower." She tapped on her boyfriend's shoulder, "Let me take over. You and Memory just focus on completing that cipher key. The rest of you head for the scanners."
"So we're protecting the tower?" Odd asked, already moving towards the elevator. "Just like we did for your papa's towers?"
Aelita tensed slightly at the mention of her father, but she pressed on, "Yes. Protect it for as long as you can."
Ulrich and Yumi moved to join Odd in the lift, but William remained in place, "How do know we can trust you, Memory?"
Memory briefly took over Jérémie's body to send them a nonverbal pleading look, urging them to trust her.
Her voice quiet, Aelita sternly told them, "I trust her, because I trust Jérémie."
"Besides," Yumi gently nudged William's side, "if XANA's attacking the tower, we can bet it's because XANA either has plans for it or feels threatened by it somehow."
William shrugged, "True," unable to deny the truth in any of that.
As Memory began her work using Jérémie's laptop, Aelita took up the controls.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
"Virtualization!"
William dropped down from the sky, joining the others on the ice below. The three vehicles appeared not long after. Their respective pilots immediately took their places, while William hopped onto the Overboard behind Odd.
"I brought you up as close to the tower as I could," Aelita told them. "The tower is direction 32 degrees northeast. Be careful, you're not far from it."
The quartet took off. Just as Aelita had warned them, Memory's tower appeared on the horizon within about ten seconds. The three Megatanks were still there, surrounding the tower and charging up for attacks.
"Game plan!" Odd said as they approached. "Ulrich, Yumi, and I take a Megatank each. William, you're our back up and lookout for surprise attacks."
"Right!" William agreed, while Ulrich and Yumi nodded in understanding and affirmation.
When they were close enough, William jumped off and activated his Super Smoke, signalling the start of their assault.
One of the Megatanks fired its laser, only for Ulrich to block it with one of his katanas. The brake on the Overbike helped keep him from sliding back, at least long enough for William to enter the fray by snaking around the large metal shell and stabbing the monster's eye from above. William then jumped off to avoid the resulting explosion.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
There was a beat of heavy silence as Aelita watched the fight from the holomap. Behind her, the tension was only interrupted by the rapid-fire typing that had saved all of their lives more than once. She hated this.
She missed the sound of his voice, and this avatar, person, Memory—whoever she was—had taken that away from her.
The fact that Memory had specifically called her out didn't help matters here.
"Memory," she glanced behind her, finally breaking the silence, "do I know you personally?"
Memory, using Jérémie's head, nodded.
"Is the answer really in one of those letters?"
Memory held up two fingers from the boy's hand in response.
"In both letters?" Aelita realized.
Another nod.
The pink-haired girl tensed up, "Why Jérémie?"
No response, verbal or physical.
"Let me guess: the answer to that is also in the letters."
But to her surprise, Memory shook Jérémie's head, before pointing to the boy himself—the answer to that question actually laid with Jérémie.
Writing down a mental note of that, Aelita sighed. "I have so many questions, but most of them cannot be given a simple 'yes or no', but rather those that require a verbal answer. So I guess I have no choice but to wait until those letters are deciphered. But let me be clear: there is no one more important to me than Jérémie. If you do anything to place him in danger, I will make you regret it." And she meant it.
Memory and Jérémie both smiled at her, neither of them expecting anything less.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Back on Lyoko, William provided cover for Yumi, using his Zweihänder to shield her from the laser, as she destroyed a Megatank with a fan strike. Meanwhile, Odd sped past the third Megatank on the Overboard and struck its eye before it could fire at him, destroying it.
"Be careful," Aelita told them before they could start celebrating. "About seven Mantas and a squadron of six Hornets are coming in!"
She was right. Said monsters appeared on the horizon immediately after she said that.
"Man, XANA must really hate Memory!" Odd commented. "It's only ever gone out like this for Franz Hopper!"
Ulrich's mind quickly came up with a strategy, "Odd, Yumi, you two take the Hornets. William, you and I will focus on the Mantas."
Basically, they were splitting up based on close and long range weapons; it was easier for Yumi and Odd to destroy Hornets than it was for Ulrich and William. They all had their strengths and weaknesses, so it was often smart to split up accordingly (that was something they had learned very early on).
The quartet promptly split up, with Ulrich and William (using the Overbike and Super Smoke, respectively) to take on the Mantas, and Yumi and Odd using their respective vehicles to approach the Hornets.
XANA 2.0 didn't stand a chance here. In record time, Ulrich and William each took out three Mantas, before double-teaming to destroy the seventh, while Yumi and Odd used impressive acrobatics, Yumi's dual fans and telekinesis, and Odd's Laser Arrows and Teleportation to destroy the six Hornets like they were nothing.
The four regrouped in front of the tower, just as two Tarantulas virtualized in front of them. They were ready for them too, though. No matter what XANA threw at them here, they had seen most (if not all) of XANA's tactics by now.
However, while they were distracted, the cables connected to the tower began flashing with red pulsations...
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Aelita knew something was wrong when Jérémie/Memory suddenly stopped their typing. She glanced back to ensure that they were okay, only to see Jérémie's panic-stricken face.
"Aelita?" Yumi called out, turning the pink-ette's attention back to the monitor in front of her. "We have a little problem here."
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"The Tarantulas aren't firing at us," William explained. "They've taken up that stance, but they haven't shot a single laser yet. It's like they're waiting for something."
As if on cue, an alert sounded from the superscan. "They are," she translated. "XANA's trying to take over the tower." And Memory had sensed it before the superscan did.
"Um...should we just let it?" Odd asked. "I mean, when XANA shut down your papa's tower that one time, Sissi just slumped over and lost consciousness. The same will probably happen to Jérémie, right?"
But Aelita looked back at Jérémie, and Memory vehemently shook his head. In a quick beat of silence, a realization came to the girl's mind.
Turning back to the monitor, she typed in commands to simulate what would happen if XANA were to take over Memory's tower right now, and the results came back expeditiously. "I knew it," she muttered. "She was right."
So that was the real reason why XANA was attacking this tower.
She promptly addressed the quartet on Lyoko, "No, we can't. Remember, that tower is controlling Memory's possession of Jérémie. If XANA takes over this tower while it still has a pink halo, it will be able to access his digital avatar and take his half of the Keys at will." She finished with a panicked order, "Destroy those cables now!"
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Understanding the danger of the situation, and why Memory was so panicked, the quartet made a break for the cables connected to the pink tower, the ones flashing with red. In that moment, the two Tarantulas opened fire, which wasn't all that surprising, considering they were both pieces of XANA.
Yumi and Ulrich remained behind to block the lasers with their respective weapons, while Odd stayed behind a nearby ice rock in order to search for an opening to destroy the Tarantulas.
Meanwhile, William used his Super Smoke and headed for the cables by himself. However, when he got there, the second after he turned back into human form, he was shot from behind. He turned around, only to be greeted by a lone Krabe.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Back in the lab, Aelita brought up the self-virtualization program and her own ID card. She pressed 'enter', starting the timer, before rushing to the side ladder. As she climbed down, she noted the fear and reluctance to let her leave on Jérémie's face.
"I'm sorry," she told him and Memory both, "but I have to deactivate the tower before XANA can take it over. Just get as much of that cipher key done as you can."
Being unable to speak without voicing legitimate gibberish, Jérémie and Memory were unable to do anything but watch as she took the floor hatch down to the scanner room.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Aelita's wireframe appeared in the sky, and once it was fully formed, she dropped down from the sky. She arrived in time to see William be devirtualized by the Krabe mid-jump.
Seeing this, Yumi broke off from the duo of Tarantulas with the intent to take out the Krabe and cut off the cables herself.
Odd took up her place in return, blocking lasers with his shield. That is, until a shot hit his knee, making him drop his shield. This allowed the Tarantulas to devirtualize him with a few more shots to the chest.
Yumi jumped up and threw a fan, striking the Krabe's eye, destroying it right as it devirtualized her.
Still blocking the Tarantulas' lasers, Ulrich called out, "Aelita, head for the tower!"
He was right. Her odds of reaching the tower were better than Ulrich reaching and destroying the cables.
So she made a break for it, her heart pounding in trepidation...
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Jérémie could only watch the monitor with fierce anxiety. He and Memory both were becoming increasingly concerned as William, Odd, and Yumi's IDs all unloaded from the system. Being mute (to avoid speaking only in the cipher), neither of them could warn the others about any incoming threats.
But they could still read in any language, so both of them knew exactly what the readings from the superscan were telling them—if the cables weren't cut within the next two minutes (thus isolating the tower from the network), then the tower would be under XANA's control, and sixty seconds later, Jérémie Belpois would no longer be among the living.
In his mind, Memory was panicking. The way it was set up, there was no way for her to gather energy from Lyoko's core in order to strengthen her tower's defense.
'I can help you buy some time,' Jérémie informed her. 'I can use my administrative controls better here when virtualized.'
She immediately protested, 'But isn't XANA after those very controls?'
'We have to risk it. If we fail, my Keys will be stolen either way.'
Memory was quiet, unable to debunk or deny what he just said. But he could also feel her pain—she was being forced to make a choice between finishing the cipher key and doing the right thing by stopping XANA. And judging by how she let him bring up the self-virtualization and his own ID card, she had chosen to do the right thing.
After pressing the 'enter' key, the countdown began, and Jérémie made a break for the scanner room by the way of the floor hatch.
Down in the aforementioned room, he came across a recovering William, Yumi, and Odd. The only female there asked him, "Jérémie, where are you going?", sounding the same as Memory felt—like him going to Lyoko was a bad idea.
But his determined glare was all the answer his friends needed.
The scanner doors closed on him, and he soon felt the gust of wind depixelize his body.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
Jérémie reformed in the sky of the Ice Sector, before feeling himself drop down to the glacier below. As he stood up, he surveyed his surroundings, seeing Ulrich still deflecting the Tarantulas' conjoined laser barrage, and Aelita running towards the tower.
Taking cover behind an ice rock, he took up the position he favored when using his power of Creation, but this time, their conjoined spirits allowed Memory to extend the reach of his admin controls. It took up a lot of their concentration, but it was working; together, they were blocking off the cables and halting XANA's progress in taking over the tower.
In the meantime, Yumi had taken up the controls. "Jérémie, watch out behind you!"
One of the Tarantulas had broken off from its formation in holding Ulrich back and walked up right behind Jérémie. Yumi's warning happened a tad too late, as the monster's following shot made Jérémie falter. This led to Memory's concentration breaking, thus allowing XANA to continue its attempt to take over the tower.
Seeing this made Aelita hesitate, noticeably slowing down, while Ulrich used Super Sprint to run and over destroy the Tarantula that had fired at Jérémie.
"Keep running, Aelita!" the samurai called out. "I've got him."
The angel nodded before continuing onward to her objective. Meanwhile, the remaining Tarantula began firing at Jérémie, only for Ulrich to block its shots with his katanas, as Jérémie and Memory regained control of the cables.
'Aelita trusts all of you with her life,' Memory noted. 'You must be great friends to her.'
'We're the best,' Jérémie replied. 'Now, it's your turn to trust us. Aelita will make it in time. She always does.' To the point where her timing could be considered uncanny.
By this time, Odd and William had joined Yumi at the monitor, watching the holomap with her. She warned once again, "Jérémie, a Kankrelat is approaching you on your left!"
Her warning came in time, but Jérémie and Memory couldn't divide their concentration enough to keep the pulsations at bay while also protecting the boy from the said monster. So the Kankrelat got the upper hand, as the shot once again caught them off-guard.
This time, the tower's halo succeeded in turning from a nice, calming pastel pink into a strong, horrifying red...
Ulrich destroyed the Kankrelat, only to be taken out seconds later by the Tarantula.
Aelita, however, had arrived at the tower, entering it in a desperate sprint.
The connection was immediately broken, and Jérémie found himself alone in his head. But in place of Memory was a fierce, painful ache. He felt it all over his body as his admin controls were no longer effective in holding XANA back.
In the lab, the memory count window popped up, showing the AI draining Jérémie's half of the Keys (without the use of the Scyphozoa), while Memory was unable to do anything to help...
AELITA_
CODE_
LYOKO_
As the windows around Aelita started falling, signaling the deactivation of the tower, XANA's intrusion within Jérémie's digital profile was halted, before it was promptly driven out, no longer having access.
Outside, Jérémie collapsed onto the ice in front of the Tarantula, exhausted but still alive.
In the lab, the other four sighed in relief. Crisis averted.
"Materialize us, Yumi," Aelita urged, still inside the tower, which was now dark due to the blank walls. "Hurry! Before XANA can retaliate!"
"On it!"
Jérémie and the Tarantula had a face-off, with the human wondering what the AI was going to do now that its plan with the tower had failed. But before XANA could decide, Jérémie felt his body revert to its wire-frame. He smiled in relief as he disappeared from the virtual world.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
The young genius emerged from the scanner, collapsing straight away, but Aelita was waiting for him with open, relieved arms. The other four emerged from the elevator as the two lovebirds fell to their knees.
"Jérémie!" he heard Ulrich call out.
"You okay?" Odd asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." His speech was back to normal. Now that Memory was no longer possessing him, he didn't have to speak in her cipher anymore. He sent his friends a smile, "Thanks for trusting me."
"Well, we knew you had a good reason for letting Memory take over you," Yumi admitted.
He nodded, "I did."
But his girlfriend turned on him, "Really?" She sounded unimpressed. "What reason could you possibly have to risk your life the way you did?"
He just went for it. "Aelita, your mother is indeed alive."
This rendered the pink-ette speechless, and a bit confused, "I-I know, but–... our priority is XANA!"
"Just listen to me," he pleaded. "You know the theory I presented the other day, about Memory and your mother sharing a connection?" She nodded. "You were right. They're the same person."
The others were surprised to hear this as well. "They are?" William asked.
"They are," Jérémie explained. "She hid within Lyoko's network in order to hide from Tyron, using the codename Memory whenever she had to interact with anything. She's been watching us this entire time, to decide on whether or not she was able to trust us. Last night, she asked me for a favor: to send along a message to her daughter, Aelita."
But Aelita was stubborn, "But XANA was adamant on taking over her tower! It was still an unnecessary risk!"
And Jérémie knew why. It was her way of keeping her hopes of reuniting with her mother under control.
So he replied with, "I think XANA only tried to do so because of the unique opportunity it presented. It seemed to want to just destroy it at first, like it previously did with your father's."
"But it was still dangerous!" she exclaimed.
"Oh, I'm not disagreeing with you there, Aelita," he reassured her. "Your mother knew that too. There was just as much risk on her end; after all, there's a reason she was using a cipher and a codename."
"Did she finish the cipher key?" Ulrich asked, focused on the letters now that he and the others knew who Memory really was.
"Unfortunately, no," Jérémie answered, "but she did share her coding style with me before the tower was deactivated."
Before anyone could respond to that, Aelita finally blew up, "I don't care about the letters! I care more about the risk you took, Jérémie! Your sleep schedule and work ethic is one thing, but I never asked you to endanger your life for something I didn't ask you to do!"
Jérémie was quiet and solemn. "Your feelings are valid, Aelita, but I still maintain my belief that I made the right choice. You may have never asked me, but I know it's what you want."
She was surprised, "Huh? What makes you think that I want...?!" She trailed off.
"Because you've never understood why your mother disappeared, or why she was imprisoned by Tyron in the first place. So, the one thing you want most, Aelita, is to see her again. You don't have to say anything; your desire is that palpable. You're ready to put your life in danger for that. You've already done so!"
He was referring to the false Anthea spectre, the one controlled by XANA. And he was right.
Aelita was surprised by Jérémie's abrupt tone. The others watched the exchange, speechless.
He continued, gentler this time, "Your mother came to me because she needed a favor, and I agreed, because it was the only chance she had to contact you, even if she had to use someone else as a buffer. That's why I made the choice I did. And I know you disagree, but I don't regret it."
The pink-ette was speechless, slightly distraught but it was vastly outweighed by how touched she was. Her boyfriend really was willing to go far for her sake, and he did it all without prompting. Her cynical self was wrong—the guilt would always be there, but she didn't drag any of her friends into this mess. Like Jérémie, they all chose to get involved, and they could have backed out at any time. But they didn't.
Unshed tears were stinging her eyes as she softly asked, "How long will it take for you to decipher those letters?"
She reached for his hand, and he took it as if on cue. "At least twenty-four hours."
"You'll let me know when it's done, right?"
"You really have to ask?"
She smiled through her unshed tears. She used the back of her hand to wipe them away, before she and Jérémie both got back to their feet.
"Now, we have two reasons to resist XANA!" Odd cheerfully exclaimed, and the others nodded in agreement, all feeling moved.
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!
The six teens emerged from the tunnel, out into the park. After climbing out, Yumi glanced at her transwatch and noticed the time, "Whoa! I have to make it back home before my parents freak out and call the police! See you guys tomorrow!"
The others bid her goodbye, as she sprinted off in the opposite direction of the school.
"Cool! The cafeteria isn't closed at this hour!" Odd said. "We can still have dinner!"
Ulrich rolled his eyes, "Are you really still thinking about eating at a time like this?"
Odd defended himself, "What? I'm hungry!"
But Aelita spoke up, "Odd's right. I'm hungry too." The others looked at her, stunned. She gave them a weak smile, "And with some luck, we can have seconds too."
Smiling broadly upon hearing this prospect, Odd joyously cheered, "You heard the lady! Come on! Let's eat!"
The good mood returned. Everyone started heading towards the campus, but Jérémie stayed behind for a moment with Aelita. They both looked at each other for a moment, before she, smiling, extended her hand to him. He took it affectionately, before the two shared a quick kiss.
They'd talk more later, but for now, both of them were exhausted by the day's events.
The two proceeded to follow their friends as the sun began to descend upon the horizon.
TO BE CONTINUED_
!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~E~V~O~L~U~T~I~O~N~~~!
Inspiration: CLE's "Resolve"/"Obstination"/"Tenacity" & CL's "Contact"
Up next: Episode 21, Vis à Vis - "Anthea creates a simulation bubble in hopes of reuniting with Aelita face-to-face. However, XANA takes this chance to accomplish its own goals."
A/N: Chapter Meaning: Refers to Jérémie's resolve to help Aelita reunite with her mother
-The memory-snatching gloves and the codename 'Memory' are both allusions to Chronicles.
-Again, 'football' in this case is referred to as 'soccer' in American terms.
-The morse code bit is a reference to "Skidbladnir", where it's revealed that Jérémie and Yumi both know it, though likely for different reasons.
-The tower used in this chapter is the one from "Image Problem" (or rather, a copy of).
~Evolution concepts~
The original episode stands up pretty well, and the fact that it was written by a writer from the animated series (Bruno Regeste) really helps. In it, Aelita is determined to take down XANA, and Tyron's supercomputer with it. However, she's faced with a choice when her mother suddenly appears on the webcam feed, revealing that yes, Anthea is still alive, but she's with Tyron for some reason (which a second season probably would have explained). Knowing how torn she really is, Jérémie makes the choice for her, choosing to give Aelita more time to reunite with Anthea, which leads to "Espionage" (which I've already adapted into this story as 'Suspicions') and later "Massacre/Disaster". Despite how good the episode (surprisingly) is, I had to change it quite a bit, because currently in AWWD (well, prior to this chapter, that is), the group now knows that Anthea is on the run from Tyron somewhere in the network, which means the revelation that Anthea's still alive has already happened. So the revelation in this chapter is who the mystery avatar really is: Anthea (which most people correctly guessed). However, the chapter/episode being Aelita-focused is still the same.
Aelita's opening nightmare is changed to yet another encounter with cynical-Aelita, with the latter's true nature being revealed/confirmed (for those who already suspected). My beta reader wrote something out that was slightly different than what I ended up writing, but I changed it because poor Aelita is constantly being faced with Jérémie and Anthea comparisons and contrasts throughout this story on purpose. I'll explain more in a future chapter.
Another thing I love about the original episode is how well Jérémie knows Aelita. I called it out earlier, but him making the choice for her due to knowing how torn she really is counts as the primary example of the episode. However, there's also earlier on in the cafeteria, where his response to Aelita admitting that she's having nightmares again is "Why didn't you tell me?", demonstrating his recognition of the patterns between Aelita's nightmares and her late-night visits. I wanted to keep true to that for this chapter.
As for the final scene of the original episode, the script version is superior. I will not budge on that.